As the Arachnid let out a terrible hiss I felt my spine crawl with fear. I was already struggling to breath, and the pain in my left arm was growing into agony with each motion. My heart was racing so terribly fast I was worried I would pass out from the building pressure inside of my body, I felt ready to puke from it.
My eyes kept moving desperately to try and find anything, anywhere I could run to but I knew I could never outrun the massive Arachnid with how fast it moved. the Arachnid stood still, it's forelimbs cycling in a slow rattling motion whilst it watching me, the dozens of red eyes standing so distinct like pools of blood on its emerald, chitinous hide.
Desperately I tried to start forcing mana into my palm to do a blast again, but as if the Arachnid sensed my mana moving around it screamed so loudly that I feared my ears would burst. Alongside the scream it pushed itself further from the ground by extending its legs, pressing them together as it tilted its rear under itself.
Without question I began moving again, desperate I knew I had no other choice than to start running. I started to circle around the clearing as fast as I could, desperately looking around for anything I could possibly use to protect myself, or to fight the beast.
Just when I was beginning to wonder just what the strange motion the Arachnid did was, it answered by firing a shot of webbing towards me that expanded out, catching on the ground it tore at the compacted dirt with impressive force before slapping to a halt expanded out.
The Arachnid let out a hiss as its attempted attack missed, lowering itself back to the ground it began charging forwards again, running straight over its own webs without any regard for them, I could see the web tear upwards from the ground as it ran over just to go back down as if it couldn't stick to the Arachnid.
I kept desperately trying to focus on moving my mana around while running, it felt like trying to breath while under a hundred feet of rubble. Every time I felt like I might find a ground to start moving mana I get set back by having to dodge around strikes from the Arachnid, every second it came closer and closer to hitting me, and I knew it was just a matter of time before I would end up taking a hit that could very well end up killing me.
I thought that strike would come as I tripped forwards on a root that had been uncovered from the frantic fighting between myself and the Arachnid, with one of the creatures forelimbs striking down hard I barely brought my leg up in time to force the blade away from piercing straight through my chest, leaving it to tear into my left shoulder, I clenched my jaw down tight to try and keep my screams of pain in while my focus turned greater than ever towards my mana.
The Arachnid was directly over top of me, its mandibles opened wide as it was about to lunge down and bite straight into me with its arms poised, ready to strike, while I let my arm raise upwards to meet it. I felt a rush of mana through my adrenaline shot body, I could see a brilliant glow forming in my palm, while the spider came crashing down. I heard a brilliant sound, like that of shattering glass, and then my eyes closed.
For an instant everything went dark, for an instant I thought I was dead as the pain was gone, and then I felt a pain in my chest, I wasn't able to breath, I pushed against an overwhelming pressure that was on top of me, I could feel the first semblance of air rush into my lungs as I shoved as hard as I possibly could with my one functioning arm. I was able to shift the corpse of the Arachnid to the side, just enough for me to breath, and to see exactly what I had done.
There was a a complete lack of anything where the arachnids head had once been mere moments ago, the heat of the mana blasted out from my hand leaving it a sizzling, bleeding mess. I could barely even bring myself to move, everything felt like it was spiraling, I was dizzy, and looking at my left arm, or what was uncovered, I could see why.
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The gash ran far deeper than I thought, and unlike before, I wasn't lucky enough for it to miss any veins. I let out a defeated sigh, was that really it for me? I knew I couldn't do anything about it, but hope stirred in my chest as I rest my head backwards. I could hear a voice, no, multiple voices.
"Over here! I see her!" I heard Tulip call out, my eyes tried to focus, but exhaustion was screaming through my body so quickly that I could barely keep my eyes open. I saw one figure, then a second, the first I could tell was Tulip, her silver hair was plain and easy to identify. But the second figure appeared taller, and perhaps older, but I couldn't make out any real details.
"Oh my... Quick get her out from under the Crawler." I heard a gentler, elder voice from the second figure. "Dear where are you injured?" The older voice asked, it was clearly feminine, and as my eyes tried to focus my words came out as slurred groans.
"Shoulder... Stabbed..." Was all I managed to speak before my body started giving out from exhaustion, I didn't feel cold, but I knew I wasn't going to last much longer.
"Alright dear, just close your eyes and rest, you'll be fine when you wake up." For some reason I felt inclined to listen to the voice, it was gentle and peaceful, an almost motherly tone that left me hopeful that she was telling the truth. And so I listened, letting my eyes close, I let sleep take my body slowly.
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"It's been almost three weeks now and we have no further leads?" Lotus spoke, fear and dread was ringing in her voice. They already had to make an excuse to the public as to why the crowned Heir wasn't at the ceremony with Silver Sky landing, and now no one had seen her for so long that rumors were starting to spread. The only people who even knew about it were the Arch Mages, the King, and the few that were running the investigation.
"Nothing Ma'am. It is quite simply as if they dropped off of the face of the planet, and the elves are not making our job any easier. They know they hold an advantage over us with whoever we are searching for, and it is leaving them to barely cooperate, refusing to even let our groups into the region and search for them." The guard across the desk from Lotus spoke courtly, he seemed far less stressed than she was, albeit he also looked like he hadn't slept in a week.
"Every part of this keeps going wrong... Did you make any progress on the corpse of the portal mage at the very least?" Lotus asked desperate for at least some good news.
"Nothing yet, while the corpse was recovered, it was barely held together from the massive strain of dying within a portal. It will take a few more days before the mana can be attuned and we can track where the portal went to with some form of exact location." The guard spoke, holding back a yawn.
"Go and get some rest then. And take tomorrow off, you're working yourself to an early grave. And it should only be my head on the line for this stupid mistake." Lotus spoke kindly as she stood up, just for her eyes to snap to the door as someone barged into the room.
"We have a lead Ma'am!" The young runner shouted out, barely taking in the time to breath before his words came spilling out. "We've identified a human mage in the region with extreme mana output akin to what the Archmage spoke that the Vulender child could potentially output. We do not know how old these rumors are, but supposedly in the Elven city Nime an elder was seen bringing two silver haired human girls into her abode." The Runner deflated after he finished speaking, looking about ready to collapse.
Lotus just looked at the older male guard, leaving him to sigh heavily and nod.
"I'll get on it, or, get my men on it and then get some sleep." He forced a smile to his face, this was the first good news in weeks.
"How old are these rumors?" Lotus was forced to ask the hardest question now.
"About a week and a half... There was also a rumor going around that the same elderly Elf had brought them out of the city, but we don't have any way to confirm that since it came from a known drunkard." The runner said with a deflated tone, and far less hope to his voice, but Lotus simply walked over and placed steadying hands on his shoulders.
"You did well, go and get something to eat and rest, and Darek, keep me updated on the situation." Lotus spoke, a smile was on her face. At least they had reason to believe the girls were still alive now.