As soon as Alex realized his surroundings. His attention flashed in all directions, soaking in information and assessing his options.
The queen was stationary on a throne of opulence, webbing, metals, and treasures, and she was large, nestled with a transparent womb filled with countless tiny cores of unborn Spiderlings. The top half of her body appeared like a porcelain doll with beautiful, near-perfect features, save for the twelve eyes arrayed around her forehead like constellations, and the dark, thin lines that patterned across her form, detailing the segments of deceptive carapace that shone reflectively in the light of the chamber. She had eight long, thick, spindly, and hairy limbs, each able to stretch the width of the cavern. The womb was many times larger than she was and seemed to root her to her throne as a trunk would root a tree. He mentally sighed in relief at the sight. She did not seem like an immediate threat, but the length of her large limbs caused him to pause. He shifted imperceptibly, his back touching the wall, and his grip on his blade tightened until his knuckles turned white. The words ‘Mana Blade’ were on the tip of his tongue- if she made a move he wouldn’t take any chances.
If she made a move he’d make the monstrous thing regret it.
For a second, the queen seemed content to just stare at him and his group, for some reason. All three held their breath in anticipation, none of them wanted to break the stalemate and initiate hell. Even Alex found himself hesitating at the prospect.
So she’s just going to watch us? He thought, still surveying the contours of the room to find an escape route. Ok, he thought, so the way out has to be through one of those hallways, we just have to kill the soldiers and the queen bolt before their evolution ritual ends. He doubted his companion's ability to survive the encounter, it made him hesitant to act. He knew that the moment he acted, the two of them would most likely die.
But at some point, he would have to. How do I guarantee their survival? The question rattled his thoughts as he desperately searched for an answer amid the stalemate.
His eyes flicked to the queen's body and finally noticed her swords. She had two weapons close to her body- a sword of pure gold and a sword of smithed bronze, both blazing with mana. They looked somewhat dangerous to Alex’s Outer Vision, but he was pleased to see that the queen had not reached for them. They lay on the ground beside her womb, ignored as she swallowed beast cores and studied him in turn. She reached towards a metal pile beside her and retrieved a core of mana, consuming it with relish.
Arachne soldiers stood guard around her, three m in total, as silent monstrous knights, myriad swords sheathed. We’ll have to deal with them, first, Alex decided. I'll take two, and John and the kid will have to take out the other one, somehow. The prospects for his companion's survival looked grim, but they would have to make it work, somehow.
The chamber lit further as dozens of seemingly harmless luminous Moss Arachnae entered and left with each breath, each lighting paths to execute unknown tasks required of them.
An Arachnae soldier entered the chamber through one of its many pathways, accompanied by a congregation of glowing Moss variants, but this soldier was different from the rest. Its chitin armour held a deep green hue, and light seemed to emanate from between the gaps in its carapaced helm and torso- a contained luminance. Antenna crowned its head with twists and splits, forming something akin to antlers. It joined the other Arachnae soldiers and stood at ease, Silent with their knightly forms. Its movements appeared rigid and forced.
That one’s clearly evolved, but how dangerous can a stringy Moss variant really be? Alex decided he would target it first with swiftness- to remove any unpredictable elements. But now there were four soldiers present for them to face, alongside the Queen. The quest had claimed she would be defenceless, is this what the system considered defenceless? Alex's gut sank further. So I'll take two, and John and the kid will have to face two? The probability of his companion's survival had just dipped further
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There had been humans present also, but they had seemed incoherent and barely cognizant. They had stood and sat as if in a daze, and had barely begun to protest until they belatedly realised Queen's grasping palms had engulfed them. Some of them hadn't even screamed as they'd been consumed. They were under the influence of some lesser form of venom, and the mouth and fangs of all Arachnae present would have to be avoided like a plague, Alex decided in an instant.
There was a pile in one corner of the room, slightly to the right of the Queen. Alex’s' eyes widened as he realized it was items taken from the town: swords, armour, and a pile of metals of all colours, interspersed with glowing cores and tiny red gems that sparkled like fireflies, reflecting the light of the chamber.
A gasp escaped Alexis' lips as he realized he was looking at about 20 healing potions, nestled beside the Queen. He swallowed hard.
That was it. That was how all three of them could survive the encounter. He would have to make it to the potions.
A rumble shook the chamber.
Alex was pulled from his concerns by the sight of the queen's large hand raised. She pointed a finger towards his group and spoke with a delicate voice that croaked as if barely used.
Still, her words swept across the chamber, and all the arachnid beings present shifted in discomfort at her command. It was as if her voice affected them in some unseen way, the sound of her words appeared uncomfortable to the surrounding Arachnae in a way that Alex couldn't fathom. Alex noted the girl beside him had subtly shifted with discomfort too, in perfect sync with the surrounding Arachnae.
Shit. He thought, she’s one of them, isn’t she?
“Come, humans,” the queen's voice bounced through the walls of a chamber as a church organ would, demanding obedience. As she spoke she stretched a carapaced limb, thick as a tree heading in their direction. The limb reached for them, grasping, fingers as thick as men, splayed “GREET ME,” she said.
***
At the sight of titanic fingers reaching toward him, Alex immediately crushed the dark crystal in his palm. To be honest, he should have done it before entering the room, but he hadn’t given up on the second quest despite their attempted escape. he had planned on waiting until they found an evolved creature before deciding on whichever skill the crystal held that would allow him to counter and slay it.
But they had found something much worse.
The world went dark as Alex's consciousness was transported, and he found himself strapped for time once more, swimming in a sea of systemic inky blackness and forced to make instant decisions with consequences that would fray the lines between life and death.
That is to say, Alex had to pick a skill, and whatever he picked would have to be chosen fast as hell.
[Skills limited by differing race]
[…]
[Skills Altered for host race compatibility]
[System Message: Choose one of 4 Skills]
[Lesser-Hivemind (Passive): Grant mutual mental cognition and communication between yourself and accepting beings of your choosing. The number of hive mind members will be limited to skill mastery. Current mastery: 0% - 1 member]
[Beastial Senses - Arachnae (Passive): become highly attuned and sensitive to vibrations transmitted through surfaces such as the ground, plants, or the walls. detect air currents and vibrations and sound waves, chemical signals in your environment, and gain a detailed, almost three-dimensional view of your surroundings that transcends several mundane materials and limitations]
[Predation (Active - 5 minutes): consume the flesh of your enemies to gain temporary stat boosts, by consuming the flesh of living foes gain a chance at temporary stat gain. Consuming the hearts of living foes will guarantee temporary time-limited boosts to your stats. Stronger foes will yield better and more guaranteed results. High mastery will yield better and more guaranteed results. at mid to lower mastery, the consumption of beast cores will result in mana overload and subsequent death]
[Abyssal Chitin - Arachnae (Active - 5 minutes): consume a large portion of mana to transmute your skin into a layer of dense Chitin. This skill grants the ability to alter your exoskeleton at will, morphing your body's surface shape into different forms. Lower levels of mastery will produce limited shapes, Higher levels of mastery can range from growing exoskeletal constructs to sprouting additional limbs for added defense or offense.]
As the shadow of the Queen’s grasping digits loomed, Alex reviewed his options in a blink and instantly made his decision.