A few moments after Elroy confirmed the existence of the rank 2 Ash Spider Queen, Antonio had commanded all the civilians that were guarding the north and south city entrances to gather at the east city entrance.
Antonio made a trip to the east city entrance as well and addressed all 3000 civilians that were gathered there.
“People of Milton, our city is in grave danger. My soldiers are currently putting their lives on the line to protect us from the invading zombie horde from the west. However, we’ve just received news that a beast tide is heading towards us from the east.”
“What? A beast tide is coming too?”
“We’re doomed!”
“Let’s flee!”
A wave of frightened chatter swept through the crowd.
Antonio gestured with his hands to quiet down the crowd and continued his speech in a passionate tone.
“My soldiers alone are not enough to hold back both the zombie horde and beast tide. However, with your help, I am 100% confident that we can defend Milton.”
“Over the past few days, you’ve all had the life-changing opportunity to fight against zombies and cursed beasts. Although some were resistant at the time, you can see now that we were just trying to provide you with the strength to protect yourself.”
“City after city had fallen to these monstrosities that seek nothing short of total annihilation of the human race. Milton is the last safe haven around here. It’s time we make a stand! Raise your weapons! Defend your home! Protect your loved ones! I will personally lead the fight against the beast tide. Who’s with me?!”
A few seconds of silence passed by. The civilians looked at each other with uncertainty in their eyes.
“Count me in!”
A middle-aged man shouted and raised his sword up high. Thinking of his wife and kids that were hiding inside their home right now, he decided to fight.
A brief second of silence passed, then more people started to chime in.
“Yeah, me too!”
“I’m in as well!”
“Thank you! With all of your help, I swear on my family name that I will lead us to victory!” Antonio said in an overjoyed tone. “Everyone, please spread out along the east city entrance. My soldiers and I will take care of all the rank 1 cursed beasts. All you have to do is to deal with the regular cursed beasts.”
After giving some more instructions, Antonio commanded the 3000 civilians to head to their designated positions along the east city entrance.
Standing beside Antonio, Elroy asked in a hesitant tone, “Sir, are we really going to fight against the beast tide? We’re already having trouble just dealing with the zombie horde.”
“Of course not,” Antonio scoffed. “These weaklings won’t even be able to serve as cannon fodder. My only hope is that they can buy us enough time while my other plan is being executed.”
“By ‘other’ plan you mean…?” Elroy spoke in a low voice.
“Using bait to lure a portion of the beast tide to the zombie horde,” said Antonio with a stoic expression. “That’s our only option now.”
While Antonio was addressing the crowd, the 20 soldiers that were guarding the south city entrance had been tasked to round up 400 kids and elderly under the pretense of escorting them out of the city in case the city defense fell. Some people were skeptical of the reasoning; however, under the “forceful persuasion” of the soldiers, they had no choice but to allow the children and elderly to be taken away.
A few minutes later, Antonio observed the beast tide’s movement from behind the east city entrance.
“A large portion of the beast tide had taken the bait,” said Antonio with an astonished tone. He never thought that even the rank 2 Ash Spider Queen would be lured away.
Elroy looked at the remaining cursed beasts charging towards the city and said, “There are only a few hundred regular cursed beasts and a dozen rank 1s coming our way. If it’s this much, then we should be able to handle them.”
“Perhaps we won’t have to abandon Milton after all.” A hint of hope appeared on Antonio’s face.
A few kilometers south of the city, ten military trucks were driving west while tossing out live human bait to lure the beast tide that was chasing after them.
The horrified cries and screams of the children and elderly rang out along the road but were soon drowned out by the beast tide that swept over them.
After driving for ten minutes, the military trucks made a sharp turn and headed northwest.
Soon, the zombie horde could be seen just over the horizon.
The military trucks sped up even more and drove straight towards the zombie horde. When the military trucks were only 200 meters away from the zombie horde, the final batch of live human bait got tossed out. Then, the military trucks made a sharp left turn to drive away from both the zombie horde and the beast tide.
Out of nowhere, massive amounts of green acid fell from the sky and landed in front of the military trucks.
Sizzle! Sizzle!
A large glob of green acid landed directly on one of the trucks, melting through the metal like it was a thin sheet of paper.
Ahhhhh!
The two soldiers inside the military truck couldn’t react in time and got drenched by the green acid. Their agonizing screams were cut short as the green acid dissolved their body within seconds.
“Dodge!”
A soldier in another truck screamed at his driver. The military truck swiveled in a zig zag pattern and managed to dodge the incoming acid projectiles; however, with so much green acid hitting the ground, the tires got splashed by the residual green acid.
Pop!
The tires couldn’t handle the damage from the green acid and got blown out. The military truck swerved hard to the left and fell on its side.
The two soldiers inside barely managed to get out of the military truck before noticing a large shadow descend upon them. A large patch of green filled their vision. Green acid soaked their entire bodies, melting through them before they even had a chance to scream.
Somewhere inside the zombie horde, Bob continued to command the Devourers to launch their acid projectiles at the military trucks. Over 20 Devourers obediently followed Bob’s orders like loyal subjects.
Just as Bob was about to send in a few Flickers to finish off the remaining military trucks, he witnessed an unbelievable scene unfold in front of him.
Only four out of the ten military trucks managed to escape unharmed from the Devourers’ acid projectiles.
“Phew, that was a close one,” said one of the soldiers driving a military truck.
The soldier sitting in the passenger seat looked over and said, “Let’s get out of here quick… Eh? Your forehead is bleeding.”
The soldier driving the military truck tilted his head forward slightly and touched it with his finger. A fresh drop of blood could be seen on his finger.
“What’s –” The soldier was in the middle of speaking but suddenly stopped speaking and moving.
“Hey, what’s wrong –” The soldier in the passenger seat grew concerned and lightly tapped his fellow soldier.
Splat.
The top half of the soldier’s forehead fell onto his lap. A portion of his brain slid out of his skull and dropped onto the floor.
Over to the side, the soldier in the passenger seat also had his head bisected in half horizontally.
Clank!
The entire top half of the military truck had been cleanly separated from the bottom half and flipped over onto the ground.
With no one left to drive the military truck, it continued to speed forward.
Crash!
The bottom half of the military truck crashed into a small, forested area.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
The remaining military trucks all had their top half cleanly sliced off and fell onto the ground.
Crash!
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
With all the soldiers inside dead, the remaining military trucks crashed into the same forested area.
“Wha…?” Bob opened his eyes wide in amazement.
Upon closer look, Bob saw a thin strand of reinforced spider silk. Following the thread, Bob turned his head and saw the other end was attached to the Ash Spider Queen that was 7 meters tall.
The Ash Spider Queen, who was still standing near the back of the incoming beast tide, had shot out this special type of reinforced spider silk from over one kilometer away!
The reinforced spider silk was so sharp that it had cleanly bisected both the trucks and the soldiers without getting a shard of metal or a drop of blood stuck to it.
“Exotic meat…” Bob eyed the spiders with drool in his mouth.
“Go kill… I want meat… from eight-legs...” Bob gave a command.
Half of the zombie horde split off and engaged the incoming beast tide.
Ten Devourers turned their plump bodies and shot out their acid projectiles.
Splash! Splash!
Massive amounts of green acid rained down on the incoming beast tide.
Many Ash Spiders had nowhere to run and got buried by the blanket of green acid.
A dozen Ash Spider Lords that were leading the vanguard managed to dodge in time by using their own spider silk to swing away to safety.
Skree!
While one of the Ash Spider Lords was in mid-swing, it suddenly felt a great pain in its abdomen. Turning its head, it saw a dark shadow flash by. Looking down at its abdomen, it saw a deep, long gash had appeared on it. Before it had a chance to react, another dark shadow flashed by and cleaved its body in two.
Thud!
The top and bottom halves of the Ash Spider Lord tumbled onto the ground, spilling green blood from both ends.
The remaining Ash Spider Lords became alarmed at the two Flickers that had just used their innate abilities. They sprayed out spider silk to ensnare the two Flickers, but nothing managed to hit as the two Flickers promptly retreated using their lightning speed.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Fifteen Bruisers took off running and shook the ground with every step. They charged straight for the eleven Ash Spider Lords.
The Ash Spider Lords took advantage of their distance and shot out spider silk once more. However, instead of trapping their target, the Bruisers simply grabbed onto the spider silk and yanked hard on it.
Skree!
The Ash Spider Lords were caught off guard by the Bruisers’ great strength and got pulled into the air towards the Bruisers.
The Ash Spider Lords let go of their existing spider silk and shot out new ones at another direction to swing themselves away. However, fourteen Flickers activated their innate abilities simultaneously and sped towards seven unfortunate Ash Spider Lords.
Slash!
Slash!
These seven Ash Spider Lords that were still swinging in mid air couldn’t react in time and got their body sliced in two by the coordinated attacks of the fourteen Flickers. Several small pools of green blood formed on the ground.
One of the Flickers grabbed the upper half of an Ash Spider Lord and brought it back to Bob.
Crunch!
Bob bit through the Ash Spider Lord’s tough exoskeleton and savored the juicy flesh underneath. Green blood trickled down the corner of his mouth.
“Eight-legs… Such a delicacy…”
Bob continued to munch on the upper body of the dead Ash Spider Lord and while his zombie horde engaged the beast tide.
Although the beast tide outnumbered this half of the zombie horde, under Bob’s command, his zombie horde managed to gain the upper hand.
“Eh?”
Bob suddenly felt his connection with two of his Bruisers disappear simultaneously. Looking over, he saw the two Bruisers’ bodies had been cleanly sliced in half like the military trucks.
A thin strand of reinforced spider silk was flailing around wildly amongst his zombie horde. Every flick of the reinforced spider silk harvested the lives of several regular zombies. Ten Flickers were working in conjunction to keep the reinforced spider silk at bay.
Four Flickers traced the reinforced spider silk and charged into the beast tide. With their innate abilities continuously activated, none of the Ash Spiders nor Ash Spider Lords could stop them.
In less than a minute, the four Flickers had reached the other end of the spider silk and found the Ash Spider Queen.
Using the unstoppable momentum that they’ve built up, the four Flickers split up at the last moment and attacked the Ash Spider Queen from four different directions with lightning speed.
Puchi! Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!
The four Flickers, who were just about to sink their claws into the body of the Ash Spider Queen, were suddenly stopped mid air.
Four slender spider legs of the Ash Spider Queen had moved even faster than the Flickers with their innate ability activated and pierced all four Flickers through their forehead. The four Flickers instantly had their lives extinguished; their bodies slumped like puppets with their strings cut.
The Ash Spider Queen brought one of the dead Flickers close to her mouth and chomped down on its right shoulder.
Crunch!
The dead Flicker’s entire right arm was ripped off of its shoulder. The Ash Spider Queen happily chewed and swallowed the arm.
Skree!
The Ash Spider Queen let out a haughty screech. She looked over at the rest of the zombie horde as though they were nothing but insignificant insects waiting to be devoured.
Seeing the Ash Spider Queen acting all superior, Bob couldn’t help but get angry.
“Arrogant eight-legs… you shall know your place…”
Bob recalled the portion of his zombie horde that was still attacking Milton and had them redirect their aim towards the beast tide.
Since the beast tide got lured by the soldiers to the middle section of the zombie horde, the two halves of the zombie horde swarmed the beast tide from two different directions in a pincer attack.
The regular zombies and Ash Spiders clashed in a direct frontal assault.
Even with the entire zombie horde fighting against the beast tide, the regular zombies were still outnumbered by the Ash Spiders.
Several Ash Spiders swarmed a single zombie and ripped out pieces of flesh from various parts of its body. However, the Ash Spiders were too dumb to aim for head, which allowed the zombie to freely grab hold of the Ash Spiders and bite their heads off one by one.
The Ash Spider Lords outnumbered the rank 1 zombies as well, but under Bob’s command, the rank 1 zombies managed to fight the Ash Spider Lords to a stalemate.
A group of twenty rank 1 zombies broke off from the rest of the zombie horde and tried to circle around the beast tide to get to the Ash Spider Queen.
This large group of rank 1 zombies attracted the attention of over two hundred Ash Spiders and thirty Ash Spider Lords.
Rumble!
Five Devourers paved the way in their rolling form. Any Ash Spiders that got close to them were simply squashed into meat paste.
Thirty Ash Spider Lords came from all directions and sprayed spider silk at the twenty rank 1 zombies. The five Devourers managed to shake off the spider silk from ten Ash Spider Lords with their fast-rolling momentum. Four Bruisers simply grabbed onto the spider silk and engaged in a tug-o-war with another ten Ash Spider Lords. Four Flickers flashed around and cut up the spider silk from the remaining ten Ash Spider Lords. The thirteen rank 1 zombies went all out in order to protect the seven Bloaters that they were escorting.
When the rank 1 zombies were only 500 meters away from the Ash Spider Queen, the Four Flickers grabbed onto a Bloater each and activated their innate abilities. Their speed increased to the extreme and zoomed towards the Ash Spider Queen in a straight line.
The Five Devourers and Four Bruisers began to rampage wildly without regard for their own safety in order to hold off the pressure from the Ash Spider Lords.
Seeing the Four Flickers rapidly approach, the Ash Spider Queen sneered in disdain. She had already killed off four Flickers earlier. These Flickers were carrying a zombie with them, which made them slower and even easier to kill.
Puchi! Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!
Just like before, the Ash Spider Queen easily penetrated the heads of all four Flickers with four of her spider legs.
Several Ash Spider Lords that were nearby sprayed out spider silk and dragged the Bloaters away before they could detonate.
Skree!
The Ash Spider Queen screeched triumphantly and rewarded herself with the head of a Flicker as a snack. Just as she was about to bite into the Flicker’s head, she instinctively felt something was wrong. She looked down and saw that three Bloaters had somehow appeared underneath her.
Earlier, while everyone was distracted, three Bloaters had activated their innate abilities, which allowed their hands to transform into shovel-like claws. They quickly dug out a hole while hiding behind the Devourers and dove underground. They tunneled straight towards the Ash Spider Queen.
While the four Flickers and four Bloaters used their lives to distract the Ash Spider Queen, these three Bloaters emerged from beneath the Ash Spider Queen. They quickly grabbed onto the underside of her abdomen.
BOOM!
All three Bloater detonated. Massive amounts of deadly acid sprayed onto the Ash Spider Queen’s body.
SKREE!!!!!
The Ash Spider Queen let out a painful cry. The deadly acid had melted the underside of her sturdy carapace and caused the flesh underneath to fester.
SKREE!!! SKREE!!!
The Ash Spider Queen continuously let out loud and furious screeches. Getting hurt by such lowly rank 1 zombies was a great humiliation for her regal self.
Hearing their queen’s angry screeches, all the Ash Spiders and Ash Spider Lords went into a frenzy. They attacked the zombie horde without any regard for their own safety; the only command that dominated their minds was to tear apart these abominable zombies for hurting their queen.
As a result of sacrificing twenty rank 1 zombies to hurt the Ash Spider Queen, the zombie horde’s strength had been depleted by a significant amount. Faced against the relentless onslaught of the beast tide, the zombie horde fell into a great disadvantage.
The Ash Spider Queen did not stay still either; she created another strand of the reinforced spider silk from her spinneret and used it to cause great havoc amidst the zombie horde from a distance. Every whip of the reinforced spider silk harvested the lives of multiple zombies.
Faced against this unfavorable situation, Bob had to command ten Flickers just to keep the reinforced spider silk at bay. However, this allowed numerous Ash Spider Lords to rampage freely within the zombie horde.
“These eight-legged freaks… I fix you good…”
Bob cursed angrily at the spiders that were decimating his zombie horde.
“Time to build…”
Bob commanded several zombies to bring him the corpses of Ash Spiders and Ash Spider Lords. A minute later, a small pile of spider corpses formed in front of him.
Bob tinkered with the corpses as though they were machine parts. Using his skillful hands, he expertly dismembered the body parts and reassembled them into a strange bio-based contraption.
Glurg!
Bob regurgitated an egg-sized blue nucleus from inside of him. Immediately after producing the blue nucleus, Bob’s expression became unwell, as though he had been weakened.
Bob carefully placed the blue nucleus in the center of the contraption.
Whoosh!
An invisible pulse resonated from the contraption and swept outwards rapidly. Within minutes, various noises could be heard coming from the directions of Durham and Wingham.
Over the distant horizon, numerous figures had appeared and were headed towards the pulsating contraption. Upon closer inspection, thousands of regular zombies and hundreds rank 1 zombies could be seen.
“Wahaha…”
Bob laughed triumphantly. Seeing his contraption draw in all the zombies from far away, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment.
Bob commanded his zombie horde to go on the defensive while waiting for the arrival of the distant zombies.
Skree!
Seeing the appearance of more zombies in the far distance, the Ash Spider Queen let out an irritated screech. She inhaled deeply, then breathed out massive amounts of dark green gas that spread out rapidly towards the zombie horde.
Poison Bog!
The dark green gas washed over the beast tide harmlessly. However, once it reached the zombie horde, all the zombies started to decompose rapidly. The rank 1 zombies fared better and decomposed slower than the regular zombies.
“This damned eight-legs…” Bob glared hatefully at the Ash Spider Queen.
Left with no choice, Bob sacrificed a portion of his zombie horde to hold back the beast tide while the rest retreated. He grabbed his contraption and retreated safely as well with the help of a Flicker.
The beast tide did not relent and chased after the retreating zombie horde.
Countless strands of spider silk were sprayed out from the beast tide. One zombie after another got ensnared and dragged back into the beast tide to be devoured.
After half an hour of chasing, all the regular zombies had been eliminated. Most of the Bruisers and Devourers got decapitated by the Ash Spider Queen’s reinforced spider silk. The Bloaters tried to detonate but were flung far away by the Ash Spider Lords, causing their explosions to hit empty areas. Only the fast-moving Flickers managed to retreat successfully and merge with the new horde of zombies.
The Flicker that was carrying Bob joined the new zombie horde as well and placed him down carefully.
Standing amidst this 4000-strong zombie horde, Bob regained his confidence and look arrogantly at the incoming beast tide. Although he couldn’t control all 4000 zombies yet, with the help of his contraption, he can slowly extend his control once certain conditions are met.
“Time for round two… you eight-legged freaks…”