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Evangeline
The platoon arranged themselves into a strategic formation to effectively confront the spider army. Chad, the shieldier, led the charge, followed closely by David, George, Gordon, and Paul. I was positioned securely in the middle, flanked by Alice and Jeanne, while Fred, Ferdinand, and Florian, protected the rear. Scout, the only non-fighter, played the role of information relayer throughout the group.
Under David's guidance, we headed northwest towards the forest's core, hoping to find a weaker section of the spider army since their nursery was in the southeast.
Our march was a silent one, the tension was high. Every pair of eyes was vigilantly scanning the surroundings for any hint of the arachnids. As we edged closer to the more vibrant areas of the Forbidden Forest, we encountered a daunting sight: massive spider webs that formed a barrier resembling a great wall, with wolf spiders patrolling its expanse.
Before David could issue an order, the fire mages, unleashed a barrage of fireballs, incinerating the spider silk barrier. "Well, that was easy," Scout commented. However, as the smoke dissipated, a horde of shrieking spiders, previously concealed by the web-wall, surged towards us. "You just had to jinx it, didn't you?" Alice remarked, her voice tinged with exasperation.
David quickly gave out orders as they charged "Scout, stay alert and keep us informed of any openings. Mages, focus your fire on a straight line to create an opening, infantry, it’s time to gut some spiders. Go! Go! Go!".
During the first fifteen minutes, it was a massacre. Despite the spiders' numbers, their size made them prone to friendly fire, the bigger one couldn't do impactful attacks without accidentally killing its peers.
Among all the wolf spiders, the lieutenants struggled the most, their agility hampered, making them no different than regular ones with a bit more health and durability.
As we advanced, fighting our way through the heart of the enemy army, we soon found ourselves encircled, with attacks coming from all directions.
And as if it couldn't get worse, when we killed a rather fat wolf spider, its body started spewing a horde of spiderlings.
Two of the mages shifted their focus on incoming cubby arachnids to incinerate them, while Alice maintained the fireball rain to open a path.
Thirty minutes in, despite my healing, the humans were getting sluggish, and I was starting to suffer some signs of mana fatigue. Our deteriorating state made thing worse by the minute. Despite us having mana potions and stamina potions, the body could only take so much.
Several times, I narrowly escaped death from lieutenant spiders sneaking up on me, it was the same for everyone else, since our reaction time was dulled by all this fighting.
Just when Scout glimpsed a potential escape route in front of us, where the spider concentration was thinning, a massive shadow loomed over us.
"BRACE! INCOMING!" David warned as a huge spider came crashing down from the sky.
The last thing I heard was Chad's defiant shout, "I STAND UNMOVABLE", echoing through the chaos.
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Once the disorientation cleared, I found myself laying near the giant spider. Ferdinand, Paul, and David were battling it. The other spiders, either intimidated by the presence or showing respect towards the newly arrived arachnid, formed an impromptu circle around the battle.
Nearby, Scout was dragging an injured Jeanne toward an unconscious Alice, guarded by Fred, George, Florian, and a severely wounded Chad. I quickly moved away from the spider to go heal Chad.
Faced with a towering spider as tall as a tree and armoured in military green chitin, the soldiers' attacks seemed futile. Their swords left no other trace than the sound of steel hitting steel.
As for magic, it was even worse, the spider was fully covered by a purple-ish aura that negated all fire balls thrown at it. Sometimes, when the crest on top of its head shone, its movement accelerated fast enough to wound the soldiers without them having any time to parry.
David called for my healing, urging me to focus while quickly explaining the situation "this big boy is a spider duke, I don't think we'll be able to deal with it, Paul has a plan though, so we’ll just listen to him".
As if directly answering David's directives, Paul shouted "CLOSE YOUR EYES. NOW!". I closed my eyes as quickly as I could. As I closed my eyes, the typical darkness was abruptly replaced by a blinding white light, quickly followed by the sound of a railgun that finished with an explosion. Clearly, the spell that had been launched was formidable.
"RUN! FORWARD! NOW!" said David. I opened my eye, Paul was on the commander's shoulder, clearly too fatigued to stand up. After seeing the disoriented spiders around us, and the clean scorch mark that cleared a path straight through the horde, I started running without any hesitation.
Stolen story; please report.
We ran relentlessly until no more spiders could be heard anymore. When Scout confirmed that it was safe, we all stopped.
Exhausted, everyone collapsed on the ground to recover. Alice had regained consciousness, and I immediately went to Jeanne to patch her up.
We all started drinking the remaining stamina and mana potions, just to be on the safe side.
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After ten minutes of waiting in silence, observing our surroundings, the tension broke, and we all started laughing.
Scout began running circles around us, joyfully exclaiming, "We are alive! We made it! We are al-glurg"
This sudden interruption made us turn towards him only to see that he was now frozen in place, mouth frothing with blood. Then, there was a crack, and the sharp point of a crystalized spider claw exited his skull.
"ARACHNE!" screamed David.
We scrambled to form a defensive line, but the chilling laughter that followed seemed to freeze the whole platoon in place.
Emerging from behind a tree was a figure of unsettling beauty, resembling a porcelain doll. With ruby eyes, pale skin, and snow-white hair, she initially appeared almost too human to be a monster. However, the illusion was shattered as four pairs of spider legs unfurled from her back, each moving with a life of its own.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Isn't this delightful? Freshly tenderized meat, delivered right to me. Kekekekeke," she taunted with a sinister glee.
Before anyone could react, she vanished, only to reappear beside Fred. With a swift motion, she cut him in half with a mere hand chop.
With her hand now smeared in the soldier’s blood, the Arachne looked at us with a devilish grin. "So~ who's next?" she taunted.
David, assessing the situation, confidently declared, "She is bluffing. That attack taxed her more than she's letting on."
Enraged by his comment, the woman charged at David, but her movement was noticeably slower than before, almost human like.
Slow enough for Chad to quickly recite in a solemn tone what sounded like a prayer of sort "Let my flesh be the shield, my spirit the fortress. Gods, grant me this final grace; let all harm pass unto me, and spare those I guard!" just before the Arachne's strike connected with David's body.
Chad collapsed to one knee, coughing up blood, while David remained unscathed. "Heal me, Eva," Chad weakly muttered. `what happened? ` I thought.
As Jeanne noticed my confusion, she leaned in and whispered to me, "Chad is going to die. He's diverting every incoming attack against us to himself. Even with your best healing, he won't last more than half an hour, since he gave his life to Prometheus in exchange of this ability only Saints and Heroes can have”.
Despite Chad's protection, David was struggling, merely stalling for time.
George quickly whispered to Paul's ears. After Paul agreeing to whatever he told him, he saluted us and started running away.
As the Arachne turned, ready to pursue him, David drew her attention back in a booming voice, "I am your only enemy right now." His body glowed with a red hue that seemed to have the effect of attracting all the woman's aggro on him.
The rest of the party cautiously encircled the monster, with the exception of Chad and me who was now exclusively healing him.
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After about thirty minutes, the tide of battle remained unchanged until Chad roared one final time before collapsing.
The Arachne, as if aware of the end of the humans' pseudo immortality, shrieked triumphantly and swiftly incapacitated the others, one by one with extreme ease.
Powerless, I watched as each of my comrades were unceremoniously hurled against the surrounding trees.
Then, the Arachne walked towards me with a sinister smile. She was momentarily blocked by Alice, who bravely stood in her way, only to be swatted aside like a fly.
"You" the Arachne said, pointing at me. Before I had the chance to reply, I felt a sharp sting at the back of my neck, followed by the sensation of a liquid spreading through my body.
"You watched it all, right? So, how does it feel seeing your courageous companions struggle, only to be squashed in mere seconds? Now it's your turn to fight healer.".
Seeing that I wasn't reacting at all, she tranquillity approached and started whispering "Looks like little Missie blanked out huh? Oh wait, I forgot, I just paralysed you oopsie~"
Her clawed hand tenderly caressed my cheeks. I couldn't move a muscle, as if trapped within my own body, merely a spectator. She sniffed me playfully, occasionally interspersing her actions with invasive and repulsive licks.
"Trying to put up a tough façade, huh? Maybe I should first take a bite of the woman who tried to protect you? I bet that'll coax some emotion out of you, watching me eat her right before your eyes. I'll even wait for her to wake up, so we can all savour this delightful bonding experience~" she taunted, her words dripping with malevolence.
Overcome with despair, tears began to stream down my face. The Arachne, revelling in my misery, slowly licked the tears from my cheek and mockingly smooched one of my eyes. This final, violating act shattered something within me. Instinctively, my body moved in its own accord, and I began casting [Displace] spells relentlessly.
To my dismay, the Arachne merely stood there, amused, as my spells harmlessly bounced off an invisible barrier surrounding her. It was as if she exerted control over the very mana around her, rendering my attempts futile. Realizing the hopelessness of my actions, I collapsed to my knees, engulfed by a sense of utter defeat.
"Ara? ~ Looks like I should have used a bit more poison, huh? But that's okay, it just adds to the fun, right? Also, space magic, how cute~ You're going to be one delicious meal, little elf," she said joyfully.
Then, after quickly checking around, the Arachne's jaw grotesquely extended to unnatural proportions.
She was aiming to devour my entire head in one swift bite.
All I could see were countless rows of razor-sharp teeth, glistening with drool descending on me. The stench of blood and death emanated from her mouth, overwhelming my senses.
"I'm... I'm sorry everyone... For being so useless..." Is the only thing I could say until-