Reivyn ran alongside his company, keeping an eye out all around and an ear to his communication device. The battalion was moving as one, but in such a situation where everything was unknown, it made more sense to keep in touch with magic even with these small distances involved. The interference with the communication devices apparently only affected connections between inside and outside of the sphere of the Runic Spell.
Reivyn could see dust clouds where larger enemy forces were converging on either side of them, but they were still considerably further ahead than they were. Their harassment of the one enemy army they had conducted had apparently delayed them enough that they were nowhere close to the position they were supposed to be.
He couldn't see them, but he could also imagine that there were over ten other such plumes of dust and sand occluding the air from where the rest of the armies converged on the central position of the desolate sands.
There was no coincidence of running into the lizaldons from the village down below, but Reivyn assumed they had gotten to safety. After they had determined that the goal of the invading force was either the Spider Matriarch or the Abyss connection, Kefira sent a group of people to relay that information to the lizaldons and evacuate them from their predicament.
They weren't a warrior race, despite their nuisance of distant cousins and living situation with the spiders, so there was no reason to even ask them to entangle themselves in the conflict if they didn't have to. Their hometown was going to be affected, and possibly their ability to trade in the lucrative spider silk, but that was all secondary as compared to their lives. Kefira had told Reivyn that they had accumulated a vast amount of wealth over the many years that they had sent out trade caravans, but nobody knew what they did with it.
Reivyn's company was to the rear of the battalion, in the same location that it had always been. His contributions hadn't changed the arrangement of the battalion, and it hadn't really been any kind of issue up to this point, anyway, as they had mostly been operating independently or in groups rather than a battalion as a whole. They only ever marched together in columns as a battalion when they moved from one location to another.
Reivyn surveilled the troops arrayed before him as they ran at a decent pace to try and make up for time. He had memories of learning about the folly of allowing oneself to be ambushed while in a column, but that particular nugget had never really been applicable to this unit because they had enough Strength and Stamina from their Classes and Levels to be decked out in full battle gear at all times. A lot of the devastation from getting caught flat-footed, according to his Dreams, had had to do with not being equipped to deal with suddenly being attacked at the wrong time.
That had also been a major factor in their success against the perpetrators, too. Over 80% of the enemy force didn't have any kind of armor or weapons to speak of, and they were basically just pugilists with extremely high Pain Resistance that attempted to hinder their ability to fight with their bodies. Without supernatural healing abilities, it would never work, and against someone who recognized the tactic early and managed to counter it, not adapting to the change had also contributed to their high casualties.
The sun glinted off of the metallic armor and weapons as the long line of soldiers ran through the desert. Since they were a volunteer battalion, they didn't have uniform equipment, but they were all fairly close to each other in capability. As such the armor and weapons they could afford were made of almost entirely the same type of materials, so even though they had different styles and fits, they still looked like a decently impressive military force.
Reivyn mentally nodded his head as he watched them.
They've all been baptized through fire, he mused. Through both success and failure. They've all been hardened toward fighting other people, and the volunteers and officers both will be able to spread their experiences along as they progress through life. If we can manage to make it through this last ordeal, there is no telling what kind of impact this will have on Drallo and Wispan, and other empires with a close enough relationship with them.
The terrible screeching that had accompanied the tremors after the activation of the Runic Spell intensified as the hours passed. It wasn't a constant bellow from the Spider Matriarch, but every now and then, a large roar would emit from the destination they were running to. Reivyn felt an increasing tingle pass through his spine, and his hair stood on end as they drew closer and closer.
It was well past midday, though still some hours until sunset when Reivyn was finally able to see more dust clouds in the distance converging on the same location. They hadn't bothered to stop to rest or get a meal, and they would simply suffer the Stamina expenditure until they got close enough. The soldiers simply pulled out dry rations and their water to eat and drink as they ran.
Chow is continuous in the field, Reivyn thought. No reason to let yourself get low on energy and nutrients just to maintain a consistent eating routine in such a situation.
A shadow, backlit by the light of the Runic Chains, became visible after a little bit longer, and Reivyn was finally able to see just how large the Spider Matriarch truly was. It had been pitch black in the caves, and he hadn't had Night Vision, nor had he dared to use his Mana, so he had never gotten a good look at the creature.
It was massive. From what he could estimate, based on its size and distance, it had to be as large or larger than the entire city of Magron. Not only that, but if it had traveled to the city, it would be able to tower over it on its huge pillars of legs.
It thrashed about in the distance, fighting against the magic of the Runic Spell, but from what Reivyn could See and Sense of the Mana, the efforts of the Spider Matriarch weren't depleting the power of the Spell. Instead, the Runic Chains were slowly but surely draining the Stamina of the spider.
The plumes of dust in the distance had settled, and the Spider Matriarch, surrounded by the enemy armies, grew ever closer as the battalion continued to run. Eventually, they crested a sand dune to witness the entire struggle in all its glory.
The Spider Matriarch had woken up from its slumber and immediately exploded out of the ground, throwing huge boulders, rocks, and debris everywhere. The landscape of the entrance to the caves beneath the desolate sands was completely alien to Reivyn. It no longer looked anything like it once had.
There was a huge, gaping hole in the ground where the spider had obviously come from, and the armies of the enemy surrounded the hole while keeping a respectable distance from it. Even after so many hours between the time the Runic Spell had activated and the time it took for the battalion to arrive, there were still hordes of lesser spiders spilling out of the hole to attack the waiting armies.
Now that I see it, and considering the words of Aeriella, this is probably the original intention of bringing such a large force of soldiers along.
There was a growing mountain of spider corpses littering the ground, and the enemy armies continued to back away in the most disciplined, military manner that Reivyn had ever seen them perform. They acted like a regular army should, instead of a band of raving lunatics that fought to the death.
They still fought to the death, it would seem, as Reivyn also spotted many corpses of the enemy soldiers as well. Reivyn guessed that there were far more dead than what the bodies indicated, though, as he witnessed spiders snatching soldiers up, only to retreat into the horde of their brethren to feast on their still living flesh.
Reivyn heard hacking and gagging sounds from the men of his company, and he saw that all along the battalion, soldiers bent over to empty the content of their stomachs after witnessing the macabre scene.
Even though they've experienced warfare against other humans, it's still been relatively tame compared to a lot of my Dream memories. They're still not to the point where seeing such horrible things won't affect them. Even I, with all the tempering the Dreams had given me, almost lost my lunch the first time I killed a person, much less these people who've only experienced this one, rather tame, campaign. The monsters they're used to fighting aren't the kinds that will snatch up their friends and eat them alive.
Several soldiers collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. Many more saw the scene and started to lower themselves to the ground to get some rest, even if they weren't as affected by the gruesome scene.
"Do not sit down!" Reivyn yelled, projecting his voice across the entire battalion with Commanding Shout. "Don't lie down! Eat some food, drink some water, but rest standing up!"
A lot of the soldiers, those not in his company, turned their heads to give him a baleful look, but Reivyn just returned a similar gaze. The other officers reiterated his command and ordered their men to continue standing.
"Why not let them sit down to recover?" Jek asked, sidling up next to Reivyn. "We're not engaged with any of the enemies, be they beast or men, right now."
"We're in a combat situation," Reivyn shook his head. "Even though we're not engaged right now, it would be a bad habit to get into. If people start sitting down to rest while they're not on the front lines, then they won't be able to get up in time in case of emergencies. It might be harder on them in the short run, but it's definitely better for them in the long."
"I see," Jek nodded his head.
The order came down for the battalion to align themselves for battle, even though the enemy armies had the spider horde under control for the time being, and none of them were looking back toward their battalion. Reivyn and his officers obeyed the order, and after they were online, the officers were ordered to convene with the Major and Kefira.
"Captain Reivyn," Kefira called over to him after everyone was assembled, "you've been down below the lizaldon settlement where the Dungeons are, do you have any estimate of just how many spiders are down there?"
"No," Reivyn answered. "I only saw a small part of it, and it only consisted of several hundred spiders. I had thought that that was the main nest. This is a complete surprise to me, too. It seems like the spiders near the lizaldon village were just a tiny fraction. Not only that, but if you look closely, you can see some spiders that are obviously higher Level and more ferocious than the majority."
It was true. There were some spiders that were more than twice as large as the ones that Reivyn had seen in the skirmish with the lizaldons. Maybe only the younger ones had been near the surface, and the older spiders, using some unknown hierarchical method, made their abode deeper into the earth. Considering the size of the Spider Matriarch, there were obviously countless more branches stemming from where she slumbered than the main one that led from the surface to the Dungeons.
"Very well," Kefira was in Commander mode, and she immediately turned her attention to the Major after not getting any new information. "Do you have any suggestions, Major?"
"I say we let the enemy take care of the spiders, but we should be ready to go at any time," Major Dobrik said. "They seem to have the situation in hand, at the moment, and we have no idea how many spiders there are. I see no reason we should give them any kind of assistance, even if that means there's a breakout somewhere else along their line.
"The reinforcements from Wispan will arrive shortly, and even if they don't get here in time to participate in this battle, they'll at least be here to put a stop to any mass of spiders that make a break for it in the desert."
"I agree," Kefira simply stated. "Anyone else have any other suggestions?" She looked around the conference of officers, but nobody stepped forward to offer any other plans. "Then that's what we'll do. After your men have recovered enough from the run, you can let them sit in place, but they are not to break formation. I also want the first two rows of soldiers to always be standing in case of any unexpected occurrences. We will not be making camp, here, we will be waiting in the battle array for any changes.
"Dismissed."
Kefira caught Reivyn's eyes with her own and indicated for him to join her to the side as the other officers returned to their men. Reivyn instructed his lieutenants to head back without him, and he made his way over. He saw that Gauis and Rayha had joined the group of officers, but they had stood at the back. They remained in place, though, after the officers split up, but Reivyn didn't think anything of it.
Probably wants to speak to me, Kefira, or both of us.
Reivyn walked up to Kefira and frowned when he noticed her shivering a bit. It was most likely not visible to anyone without a really high Perception Stat from far away, but Reivyn was extremely in tune with how she normally acted.
"What's wrong?" Reivyn asked as he approached. She looked up at him with wide eyes.
"You never told me they were so icky!" Kefira exclaimed. "Blegh!"
Kefira turned her head and spit onto the sand. Reivyn was stunned for a second, never having seen her spit before, but then he just laughed out loud.
"Of course, they're 'icky,'" he laughed. "They're spiders! Have you ever seen a spider that you didn't think was disgusting?"
"You have a point," Kefira tilted her head as if lost in thought.
"Hey! That's not fair," Rayha's voice reached them, and they both looked over to see her walking over toward them. Gauis just stood back, holding his face in his palm.
"It's not nice to eavesdrop, Rayha," Kefira scolded, but there was no fire in her voice and she had a smile on her face.
"You guys weren't being circumspect. You can't blame me for hearing what you didn't intend to hide."
"That's true, but what do you mean it's 'not fair?'" Kefira questioned.
"Not all spiders are disgusting," Rayha said, looking over at the giant spider in the center of the conflict. "That Spider Matriarch, for example, is quite elegant, if you think about it."
"Elegant?" Reivyn guffawed. "Look at its face. Look at its mouth. It has giant fangs with venom and saliva dripping down from it, not to mention the halo of darkness surrounding it."
"It's cute," Rayha retorted.
"Cute?!" Reivyn was flabbergasted. "I would call it many things, but 'cute' isn't one of them."
"Look at the raw power that's in its body," Rayha said with passion. "There's a certain elegance to that, alone. And if you look at it without the preconceived notions of human standards, then maybe you can see what I'm talking about." Rayha turned away from the struggling Spider Matriarch to look Reivyn and Kefira in the eye in turn. "Don't judge everything based on your own perspective."
Reivyn folded his arms and tapped his lips as he studied Rayha. Kefira just folded her arms and harrumphed.
"You know what, tha'ts actually really good advice," Reivyn conceded.
"Exactly," Rayha nodded her head once in satisfaction.
"Even then, it's not cute," Reivyn smiled.
"Oh! Look," Rayha pointed to a spot in front of the giant spider.
As if on cue, a huge red beam of death scythed through the lesser spider horde. They were tiny from this distance, but there was no mistaking Aeriella striding out into the opening, followed by a huge coterie of Mages at her back. Even at this distance, Reivyn could sense the huge amounts of Mana running through them.
They must be linking together, somehow, Reivyn speculated.
Even though he could Sense the tremendous amount of Mana being directed into and by Aeriella, there was something strange about it. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, though.
"Do you Sense anything weird about the Mana?" Reivyn turned toward Kefira. She nodded her head absentmindedly as she watched the spectacle.
"Yeah, but it appears to be beyond my Level," she answered. "I can tell that there's something strange going on with it, but I can't tell what."
"Me, too," Reivyn confirmed.
"What are you talking about?" Rayha asked, peering into their faces one at a time.
"Ahh, nothing," Reivyn said. "There's just... something."
"Ok," Rayha shrugged her shoulders.
They all three turned their attention to Aeriella and her Mages. The Spell that she had cast had not only killed a huge amount of the lesser spiders, but it had also burnt their bodies to ash. There was a giant open space for her to stand in as she confronted the Spider Matriarch as the Caster of the Runic Spell.
Not all of the Mages behind her were joined to the link that fed her Mana to do whatever she was doing. Several of them stepped forward and blasted any spiders that tried to move into the open space once more. It didn't stop the newcomers from within the hole in the ground from popping up right there, but they managed to keep the space almost entirely clear all by themselves.
Reivyn watched as Aeriella, hands thrown out in front of her and in obvious deep concentration, manipulated the Runic Chains. The Spider Matriarch hissed and screeched, a terrifying sound now that Reivyn was so close, as it struggled against the bindings of the chains. Whatever Aeriella was doing, it was causing the spider to lash out and expend more of its deep resources.
It didn't seem to matter, though, as even now that the Runic Spell wasn't just passively restraining the spider but actively working against it, the power in the chains never seemed to go down. The Spider Matriarch, however, had obvious signs of flagging.
Its lunges and snaps with its horrendous maw weren't as sharp as before, and there was more time between them. The chains dangling from the sky continued to bind the spider, and as the resistance the spider put up lessened, it split into more, smaller chains that wrapped around the other appendages.
The chains split up and wrapped around the giant spider in an intricate pattern, one that Reivyn could see was there but not make sense of, until a ball similar to the initial dome covered the entire spider, blocking it from sight.
The new ball pulsed and shook from the struggles of the Spider Matriarch, but it slowly began to condense. It was hard to notice at first, but with his Perception and Mana Sense, Reivyn was able to make out the subtle shrinking of the ball.
Aeriella's body slumped after the ball was fully formed, and some heavily armored, obviously higher Tier soldiers strode forward to escort her back to the rear of the ranks. The rest of the Mages, though they were showing similar signs of exhaustion, were left to fend for themselves, but the ones not part of the link covered their retreat with their Spells until they could get behind the line of soldiers guarding their retreat.
"So, did you have anything specific you wanted to talk about?" Reivyn finally turned back to Kefira.
It seemed that Aeriella was well on her way to accomplishing her task, and it didn't seem like there was anything they could do about it at this point. Based on the changes in the Runic Orb that had been built out of the chains, it was going to take a while before whatever it was doing was complete, and the horde of spiders from below were still spilling out of the hole.
"Not really," Kefira said, twirling her hair with her finger. "It just seemed like this was the best time to have you to myself. Once something happens and we have to get fight, there won't be any time to do anything else, and your lieutenants have everything in hand for the moment."
"Oh, really?" Reivyn smiled as he took a step closer to Kefira, standing right next to her. "You're not afraid of exposing our relationship to everyone else?"
"I mean, everyone already knows," Kefira turned her head, a slight blush on her face. "And considering the circumstances..."
A force crashed into the side of Reivyn and Kefira, nearly knocking them off their feet. They both quickly regained their balance, though, and they realized a third figure had intruded into their personal space.
"Yay! That's a great idea! Good thinking, sis," Rayha exclaimed, hugging the both of them together.
Reivyn and Kefira just stared at Rayha, not moving. The girl had her eyes closed at first with a smile plastered across her face, but after a moment of silence with no movement, she peeked her eyes open. After noticing the deadpan stares the two of them were giving her, she slowly released her grip on the both of them and took a couple of steps back, chagrin on her face.
"I'll just, uh, be over there," Rayha said before scampering back to Gauis's side. Gauis just rolled his eyes at her antics.
Reivyn turned back to Kefira and started to reach around her when a sudden influx of Mana from a location within her clothes caught his attention. It also caught her attention, as she immediately fished out the communication device Reivyn had seen her use previously to speak to her incoming brother. She infused her Mana into it, and an image of her brother once more sprang up.
"Kefira! You're Ok," the man visibly relaxed as he sighed. "I came with my fastest people. We can see the light ball in the distance, and we should arrive at your approximate position in just a moment. Do you need help?"
"No, everything's fine at the moment," Kefira said. "In fact, we're not in any immediate danger. That being said, now would be the perfect time to attack Jezebel, the enemy commander, as she just did something that drained her a lot. She's on the east, northeast side of the circle. The rest of her army is holding off a huge horde of lesser spiders that are spilling out of the underground. There seems to be no end to them."
"Good," Kayzor nodded. "My men and I will launch a sneak attack on her position to try and stop whatever it is she's doing, and I'll relay orders to my officers to bring the main force up but not engage right away. Might as well let them wear themselves out, first."
"That's exactly what we thought."
"Alright. Since you're not in any immediate danger and in need of rescuing, consider this formal order of transfer of command. I am assuming command of this operation, and you are to coordinate your forces with mine from his point forward."
"Yes, brother," Kefira replied.
"You know better than that. For now, it's 'sir,'" Kayzor gently reprimanded.
"There's no one else here, so no," Kefira stuck her tongue out at her brother.
Kayzor just rolled his eyes before shaking his head.
"Fine. I'll see you soon."
Kayzor cut off the communication and Reivyn and Kefira stared at the spot where his projection had been for a moment. Kefira eventually put the device away once more.
"He got here fast," Reivyn idly commented.
"Yeah," Kefira replied. "Then again, he's a whole Tier higher with his speed-based soldiers, and they didn't have the army to slow them down since they ran ahead."
"I remember it took us several days to get out of the desolate sands when we emerged from the caves."
"But we weren't in a hurry. If we had pushed it to the limit, we could have done it in just over a day, and it took my brother most of the day."
"Looks like we have even less time than you originally thought," Reivyn said, finally grasping Kefira in a hug. She looked up at him with a sly smile.
"Nu-uh," she shook her head. "After this fight, we'll have more time together. Don't forget. You're my Imperial Liaison."
Kefira winked.