The first day passed without much going on. They all mostly stood in silence, without moving or talking much, except when asking useless questions to try and make the wait less unbearable. They ate a ration each, keeping at one meal a day since they had no idea of when the Sand Crawlers would be gone. Jado gave his spear to Jackal since he now had the Bone Flamberge to defend himself with. Oberon seemed still satisfied with his broken halberd, but the young man knew the rusty weapon wouldn't last long without breaking or becoming completely useless.

They were a little more restless on the second day. The most active were Jackal and Zen. It seemed like eating and drinking once a day had restored their initial states, Zen acting much more like the kid he should be, often walking up to people to ask them for precisions on things he didn't understand. The communication remained quite complicated with the kid since he wasn't able to talk. It seemed like Shade had taken a liking to him, often following him with protective eyes. It also seemed like the enigmatic woman was going to stay silent most of the time. Except when she gave them her name, Shade, she never opened her mouth again. She also never showed her face, keeping her mask/coyote skull even when sleeping.

To be honest, Jado wasn't even sure the woman was sleeping, and he didn't feel the need to try and see if she was. His life was already threatened by too many things, he didn't need another reason to worry.

On the other hand, Jackal had begun moving restlessly in circles, trying to spend the energy he had gained by resting in the Small Shrine. The room wasn't wide, so he was restrained to walking around the Altar, grumbling and praying for the spiders to begone. Jado had tried to pry some information out of him, but it didn't work as well as intended.

"Damn it, I don't have time for this..." Jackal kept on muttering these words, walking around the room with a worried expression. Jado, following him with a curious gaze, was unable to restrain himself and finally asked him the question that tugged at him for a while.

"Where are you from, Jackal?" He asked, crossing his arms together. He was sitting at his usual spot, against the stone gate that led outside, keeping an ear out for any movements of the Sand Crawlers. Jackal stopped in his steps and turned toward Jado with frowning eyebrows.

"Why do you want to know that?" Jackal asked defensively, surprising Jado with his behavior. It wasn't like he had asked something extremely private or sensitive, so why was he reacting like that? He shrugged before scratching his chin. A few hairs had grown on it, making it a little rougher than it usually was. The young man usually shaved with a razor blade at home, but at this instant, he only had the Bone Flamberge to try and do that. He wasn't going to risk his throat just to get rid of a few pesky hairs.

"I'm just curious," Jado answered, leaving Jackal unsatisfied. The man shook his head, his eyes lost in the void, before turning back toward Jado.

"Let's just say that I'm from a small village that survived in this desert against all odds," He said concisely, not giving any more precisions. The tone he employed left no place for any other questions, so Jado didn't try to force his way any further.

After that, the day, or night, Jado couldn't tell, since the only light source was the never-extinguishing soft hue coming from the stone embedded in the center of the ceiling. They all ate a single ration that day too, all hoping that the spiders would disappear the next day. That time, the young man was unable to fall asleep, his eyes stuck on the map and the endless wave of red dots on it. They seemed to have stopped moving entirely, occupying the nearby region without any care for the Small Shrine or its inhabitants. On one hand, it was happy news, since that meant that they were safe in there, but on the other hand, that also meant they were probably going to stay longer than Jackal thought.

And that was no good news.

On the third day, something different happened. Jado, and all the others sleeping at the time, namely Zen, Noah, and Jackal, got woken up by a serious Oberon. They opened their eyes to the sound of something scratching against the walls of the shelter as if trying to see if something was interesting in it. Jado had opened his map, to realize in horror that the big, purple dot was right on their position. There was no doubt that it probably was the creature scratching against the walls. He also checked the structural integrity of Heavensbane, but it didn't move and was still at a hundred percent, so no worry on that side.

That day, no one talked, moved, walked, or even ate. No one slept either, their eyes too busy searching up the walls for any breaches. At some point, the scratching finally stopped, and silence replaced the disturbing and nerve-wracking noise. They could still hear the occasional clacking of the Desert Crawlers mandibles, but it seemed like the big one was done with the Small Shrine.

The fourth day was particularly hard to bear, thanks to the tension and tiredness in each member of Heavensbane. Thankfully, the food seemed to relieve this feeling somewhat. Everyone could think better with their stomachs filled.

On the fifth day, another thing happened. Jado announced that they had consumed half of the rations already. Indeed, by eating six of these each day, without counting the time when the big one came over, they used a total of eighteen rations. They had exactly fifteen left, so the young man decided to put in place a rotation for who would eat and when. The only one who was excluded from said rotation was Zen, by a mutual agreement of everyone but him. The kid couldn't defend himself, he was asleep when it happened. Jackal had even joked around, saying "that he wasn't like he could talk back, right?". Shade's intense glare quickly stopped him from laughing.

The rotation would work this way: three would eat on the fifth day, and two would eat on the sixth, then three on the seventh, etcetera... They all agreed on such terms, Jado and Oberon proposing themselves for the two that would skip eating this day. It seemed not to bother Oberon too much, but Jado felt the pang of hunger much too intensely. He spent most of the day trying to think of something else than his desire for food or water. Thankfully, it was still bearable thanks to him knowing he would eat the next day.

Noah, too, had begun to behave strangely, staring from time to time at Dune's fleeting silhouette, thoughts running through his mind but never reaching his mouth. Jado couldn't blame him, nor was he very worried. If the dark-skinned man intended to attack the tiny snake, his death would be slow and agonizing under the effect of the powerful venom. Jado would make it so that he would enjoy each second of sacrificing himself to the Small Shrine to hope and level it up to the next level. But it wouldn't come to that.

Oberon seemed to want to teach Zen something, a nice activity that was guaranteed to stop his boredom from killing him before his old age. He had given the heavy steel halberd to the kid and taught him how to stab with the weapon. The halberd was also a weapon that could be used to cut and slash, but it didn't seem to be the main focus of the old man's lessons. Jado watched carefully, not missing a crumb of the teachings. His pride stopped him from participating in the lessons, but he wasn't stupid enough not to listen when an opportunity to learn presented itself.

Shade was, well, as always, a shade. Silent and unmoving. Jackal had tried walking up to her but had stopped midway and turned back without any other thoughts.

On the seventh day, they had four rations left.

That's when the screw came unscrew. The first to act was Shade. She had propped herself up from her resting spot next to Zen and had walked up to Jado, pointing at the stone gate behind him. He had weakly looked up, still affected by the last day of fasting. Her red burning eyes seemed to stare a hole through him, but he didn't let it affect him. He had looked in his inventory, at the four meatloafs and water flasks left, and gave Zen and Oberon their part.

"Can you wait for me to eat?" He asked Shade, enduring her gaze for a good minute before she stepped back and dropped to her knees on the ground, her axe resting on her thighs. Jado took out his ration and savored every bite, every crumb of the meatloaf. He drank drop by drop from the gourd, licking his lips in sadness once he'd finished both. There was one last ration left in his inventory, but he left it there. With any luck, he wouldn't have to share it with the others.

Finally done with his meal, he pushed himself up, feeling his strength come back after the filling meal. He slowly took out the Bone Flamberge from his inventory, looking at his map for one last confirmation. The purple dot was far from their positions, probably a day of walk or so from what he could calculate. But a day of walk could probably be a minute of flying/jumping over the sand for the apex spider. Noah looked at him and Shade, a puzzled expression in his eyes. He raised a finger in front of him, opening his mouth as if to ask something, but stopped himself and shook his head with a chuckle.

"No way you're madder than me..." He spoke low so as not to wake Zen, but loud enough for everyone awake to hear him. Jackal, whose head was drooping sleepily, jerked himself up, looking at them with worry. He pushed himself up with difficulty, before walking up to Jado.

"Kid, you're not going to...Are you?" He asked, half-worried and half-expectantly. Jado stared back at the man, not answering, his fingers tightening distinctively on the handle of his flamberge. Oberon didn't move, leaning against the wall without a word, but watching and listening to everything. Jackal rubbed the back of his neck, and turned to look at the stone gate, but sighed and went back to sit against the wall, hiding his face in his hands.

Jado looked at Shade, who looked back at him. The woman stood up swiftly, assuring her grip on the hand axe. Jado nodded at her, and approached the stone gate, placing his hand on it. It felt the same as it did during the past week, the same warm feeling as if it had bathed in the sun for a while, but not long enough for it to make it burning hot. He couldn't tell if it was day or night, but he would soon know. He just had to open the stone gate. Jado took a deep breath and willed the stone gate to slide down onto the ground. He somehow managed to control it so that it didn't make any noise during this process. The cold light of a cloudless moon washed over his face, instantly answering his thoughts.

He tensed himself, looking at the exterior with a certain apprehension. Shade was waiting behind him, axe in hand, ready to strike. His eyes quickly got used to the obscurity, and he directly noticed the most problematic thing outside. From the entry, he could watch the Processing Silo, its figure casting a dark shadow on the ground. From this silo came a gigantic web, which linked the small shrine with its neighbor structure. Jado looked at the huge creature sleeping silently on the web, its size comparable to a small hut. The moon was shining a beautiful, pale light on its dark, hairy body, its legs stuck to the web in waiting for prey to get caught in its trap.

Jado looked around and almost stepped out, when Shade caught him by the arm, pulling him back. He looked at her with confusion, but she pointed at the ground silently. He looked down, only to see that the sand was covered in a white, silky material. Even the entry was trapped, ready to welcome any unsuspecting victims. Jado scowled, before shaking his head. He stepped back, and let the stone gate close behind him. A breath of fresh air was injected into the room, waking up Zen and doing the most good to the others.

Jado planted his sword on the ground, resting his hands on its pommel. Shade was looking at him silently, probably also thinking of the same matter as he was. Oberon's questioning gaze made him speak of said matter.

"The ground outside is completely covered in cobwebs, and a huge one is sleeping right next to us," he explained slowly, speaking with a low voice, instinctively scared of waking up the predator sleeping outside. Zen rubbed the tiredness off his eyes, before widening them.

He pointed at the gate with a shocked gaze, which seemed to ask "Did you just open the gate?" Jado answered with a grave nod. Zen opened his mouth in protest, but his stomach grumbling made him close it swiftly.

Oberon propped himself up and opened his mouth to say something, only to lunge suddenly at Jado, his halberd aiming at the young man. Jado didn't even have the time to react that the halberd went past him, piercing a small spider on his shoulder. He looked at it with a shocked pair of eyes, his mouth gaping widely. He still had the Predator's Gaze Amulet, how could he not sense the spider? He looked at what the old man just destroyed, a hand-sized spider, unmistakable to the sight.

And yet, he didn't see or feel it.

Jackal stared at the creature in disgust and horror, before spitting on the ground.

"We should burn these things out of sight, I swear."

Jado agreed silently when the remark made something tilt in him. Burn these things out of our sight?

Burn?

He looked through his pocket, finding the flint and steel he had used to light the clothes on fire some time ago when he was still alone. He looked at it and then looked up at everyone staring at the items in his hands.

"Shall we...?" He didn't finish his sentence, and already everyone was nodding in agreement. He gulped, placed his flamberge at hand's reach, and reopened the stone gate. He kneeled on the ground of the Small Shrine, approaching the flint and steel close to the cobwebs, his hands trembling slightly. He looked back one last time in confirmation, and struck the items together, summoning a few sparks. The sound echoed in the night, and the web on the ground trembled slightly. Sadly, it didn't catch on fire, the sparks not powerful enough.

The one thing it managed to do, though, was to wake up the gigantic spider sleeping a few meters away. It woke it up, alongside the wave of smaller spiders that were slumbering peacefully. The darkness of the night seemed to move toward the entry of the Small Shrine, a single entity made out of hundreds of thousands of small spiders. That sight made Jado lose his breath, and he struck the steel and flint with more insistence. The ground shook as the big spider came down from her web, approaching the entry.

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Finally, a spark strong enough was produced, and the web lit up with a red light, surprising both the spiders running up the cobweb, and the one who created the fire. Jado jumped back, the stone gate closing up in front of him. A second passed, and another. A crisp sound echoed outside the Small Shrine, and everyone held their breaths expectantly, listening for any hints on the situation. It began with a shriek, weak, almost imperceptible. Soon enough, it was followed by another shriek of pain, then another, until a literal cacophony of screams of pain echoed in the night.

Even if no one could see the situation outside, they could all imagine it simply based on the sounds. The Small Shrine suddenly shook, and dust fell from the ceiling. A window flashed in front of everyone, warning them.

WARNING!

The Small Shrine is getting attacked!

Structural Integrity: 94%

"Shit! The big one is angry!" Jackal shouted, tightening his grip on his spear. His face was pale, and he was shaking slightly, but a determined feeling painted it. It seemed like the man didn't intend to die tonight. The Small Shrine shook once again, and the black window flashed once again, the structural integrity lowering down to 87%. If they were allowed to keep on going, their shelter would soon be reduced to a pile of rubble.

"We need to do something about it!" Oberon yelled, his eyes steady and empty of any panic. Zen was shaking on the ground, hugging himself with a terrified expression. Shade was beside him, at a loss about what to do. Soon enough, she grabbed her hand axe and approached the stone gate, staring at the only one who could open it. Noah gulped, and a strange excitement appeared in his eyes. He took out his pair of curved knives, barely restraining a wicked smile.

"We...We're not going to fight them, are we?" The second he finished asking his question, a black, thick limb covered with similarly dark hair pierced through the walls of the Small Shrine, sweeping him off his feet. He rolled down and quickly propped himself back up, raising his knives defensively. In the moment that it happened, both Oberon and Shade had lunged forward, one with his halberd and the other with her hand axe. A mystical light appeared around Oberon's halberd, making it look...sharper, somehow. He hacked down with his halberd, making a deep cut in the spider's leg, spurting black blood everywhere. He quickly retracted himself, and Shade lunged forward, the blade of her hand axe falling like a guillotine, separating the leg in two. The action only took a few seconds, and both Jado and Jackal didn't even have time to react, clearly highlighting their lack of combat experience.

The spider outside shrieked in pain and was momentarily out of the fight. But the hole she made in the wall was big enough for her smaller brethren to enter through, and that's exactly what they did. Jado finally woke up from his stupor, and he jumped toward the crack, the Bone Flamberge tightly held in his hands. The weapon shone with a dim light, and Jado felt his strength leaving him, fueling the power of the Flamberge. He ignored the flow of spiders, and planted the sword exactly in the crack, lighting up a fire that burnt everything that passed right through it.

"ARGHHHH!!!"

The heat burned his face and hands, but he gritted his teeth and held on because he knew that if he were to let go of it, the mystical effect of the burning blade would stop, and the spiders' swarm would remain unstoppable. If he was going to die anyway, he'd rather do it while fighting instead of getting bitten to death by those horrible things! Zen's eyes lit up, and he rushed next to Jado, stepping on the small spiders and crushing them under his feet.

"Fucking spiders!!!" Jackal soon joined them, enthusiastically stepping on the creatures, black blood tinting the previously clean bricks making up the ground. The others also proceeded to crush all the spiders that succeeded in their entries, getting rid of all of them. All this while, Jado was holding on for dear life, his mind going blank from the pain. He already couldn't feel his hands, and his legs were about to give up from under him. Some spiders had managed to climb up on him and bit him, making him feel an atrocious pain. Suddenly, he felt as if he was standing on nothing at all, and fell back because of the disappearance of his sense of balance, his hands letting go of the Bone Flamberge. The blade remained stuck in the wall, letting him see that the stone making up the walls had melted under the heat of the blade, fixing the hole and keeping the weapon stuck in it for now.

He crashed down on the ground, feeling a warm liquid flowing down from his nose. Zen rushed to his side, a panicked expression on his face. Jado was lying down with his limbs trembling, bleeding profusely from the nose and his ears. His face was pale his eyes bloodshot, and foam had begun to accumulate at the corner of his lips. The bite marks on his body were swelling up with a dark green color. Dune suddenly slithered next to him, looking at his master with panicked and worried eyes, hissing helplessly.

Zen felt warm tears falling from his eyes, and he clenched his hands together, praying for whatever gods watched over this wretched world to help the young man lying down in front of him. The sound of something breaking replaced any other noises, and silence appeared for a long second. Zen opened his mouth slightly, taking a small breath before a huge light fell from the ceiling and crashed down on both him and Jado. The young man's body was slowly pulled upward, and the spider bites disappeared, alongside his pale complexion. A screen flashed in front of Jado's eyes, who slowly felt his numbs limbs coming back to life.

Congratulations !! You've lit up the Ember of a Legend, starting a fire that will never die out! [And so his legend begins, the one who shall even burn the myths away...] Reward: [The One Who Creates Legends]

He was barely done understanding this window when a new one appeared in his eyes, replacing it.

Congratulations !! One of your citizens awakened a class Of Legends! Concerned Citizen: Zen, [The Ember of a Legend]

"What the...?" Jado blinked with difficulty, pushing himself on his elbows, and looking around in confusion. A sudden surge of strength filled his veins, alongside a new notification.

[The One Who Saw Death]

[You saw the light but were pulled back in your pitiful life.

You've seen it, but Death shall not claim you yet. Live to fight another day]

Effect(s): You receive one last push of energy when you're on the brink of death.

"Too much..." His mind was receiving too much new information at the same time, and he felt his head hurting immensely. On his right, Zen was sitting down with a shocked and happy expression on his face. Jado's thoughts were racing, processing as much as it could. The walls of the Small Shrine shook once again, and the Bone Flamberge was suddenly ejected from the wall, the weakened part of it crumbling under a new hit from the gigantic Sand Crawler. The Bone Flamberge fell beside Jado, who felt his instincts lighting up. A red burning light passed through the breach, accompanied by endless screeches. Jado picked up the Bone Flamberge, stood up brusquely, and rushed to the stone gate, unable to even muster a word.

"Wait!" Oberon tried to stop him, but he was unable to catch the young man.

The gate slid down to the ground and he jumped outside, the mystical power of The One Who Saw Death fueling him. He was at one hundred percent of his capabilities, but he still received the bonus energy of when he was on the brink of death. Jado felt as if he could do anything, and right now, he knew where to use this power. His feet sank in the mix of ashes and sand on the ground, and his eyes took in the sight of the desert burning in the night. Everywhere the spiders had made their webs were now burning intently under the fire he started. He turned his head, seeing an enraged, black gigantic spider, getting burned alive.

It seemed like the pain had made the creature lose his mind, only caring about destroying the hiding place of these puny two-legged and eating them for the sin of destroying so many of her kin. Jado's right hand tightened around the handle of the Bone Flamberge, and he rushed forward, aiming to destroy this beast, a beast that dared to attack his home! He roared with a desire to battle, unable to contain the power in his body.

His heart was racing madly, and surprisingly, he finally felt the tenseness of the past week disappear. Waiting passively, watching their rations disappearing slowly, feeling Death creeping around without doing anything... He couldn't bear with it. But now that he was faced with Death itself, staring into its dozen disgusting eyes, he could only feel excitement and happiness. Did he... enjoy fighting?

"FUCKING SPIDER!!" He yelled, his blade burning with a red light incomparable to the one he previously lit. Under the flames lighting up the night, with his smoldering clothes and his burning flamberge, Jado looked like a fighter of legend, ready to tackle even the worst monstrosities. The Desert Crawler answered him with its shriek of pain and rage, and it pounced on him with his whole burning body.

Behind Jado, the other members of Heavensbane witnessed the scene, gasping at the absolute chaos and the fight occurring outside. Oberon quickly understood that Jado's strength was only temporary, and rushed to his help with his halberd covered in mystical blue light. Zen gazed upon the outside chaos and looked at his hands in wonder. Shade ran out without showing any hesitation, following Oberon's lead. Noah also rushed behind her, smiling wickedly, both of his knives glistening under the flames' light.

Jado avoided the black limb that tried to pierce him, his body twirling like a gale, and he hacked down with his blazing flamberge, the hairy leg catching on fire in a splurge of black blood. Oberon jumped impressively high, his eyes cold as he landed on the back of the spider, and he aimed his halberd down. With the spiky end of the weapon, he pierced through the corpse, plunging the halberd a few inches deep. The wound wasn't fatal though, so, with a concentrated expression on his scowling face, he increased the intensity of his Blade Infusion, and the blue light around his halberd shone with an even stronger light. The halberd pierced downward even more until the spider finally reacted and rolled on itself, getting rid of both Oberon and the planted halberd, who broke in the maneuver.

Shade jumped back to avoid the rolling spider, waiting for it to come back on its legs. Oberon was lying down on the ground, but he quickly pushed himself up, an ominous and dark energy fueling his body. Noah was following the woman closely until he felt a tinge in the back of his neck. He turned his head around, seeing a few dog-sized spiders coming to support the gigantic spiders. He looked back at the huge spider with a longing expression but ended up turning back and fighting with the group of smaller spiders. Jackal soon came to his help, feeling much more helpful in fighting against this kind of enemy. His skin was as red as a tomato, and his whole body was emitting white vapor.

"HAHAHAHA!!" Noah laughed maniacally, unrecognizable from how he previously was. Jackal looked at him with widened eyes and decided to shrug and focus on his enemies. For now, they handled the group of spiders pretty easily.

On the other side of the battlefield, the gigantic spider managed to hit the nimble Shade, hitting her in the stomach and making her fly away. The sound of bones breaking echoed in Jado's ears, fueling his rage and his desire to destroy the damned Desert Crawler. The battlefield was blazing with fire everywhere, smoldering corpses of smaller spiders surrounding them, but Jado couldn't feel the heat.

The only feeling he could perceive was how alive he felt.

Oberon stumbled to his feet, his hands covering his face. The shadows cast by the fire around him seemed to be drawn to his body, sheltering under his cloak. He dropped his right hand beside his body, and darkness began to gather there, slowly but surely forming a long shaft similar to his previous halberd. Suddenly, he let out a cry of pain, screaming to the heavens.

Jado proceeded to ignore him, his eyes accurately noticing the weakness in the leg he previously attacked. If the spider moved on this side of its body, it would probably break its limb, destabilizing him. Shade suddenly pounced out from behind a wall of flame, jumping through the fire. Blood was flowing down under her coyote mask, tinting it red. Her hand axe dripped with black blood, indicating that she probably fought another spider during her ejection from the fight.

Jado watched her for a second, blinking when he thought he saw some kind of reddish aura surrounding her body. She rushed forward, hacking at the incoming limb with an impressive strength, slapping it in the ground. She blocked it under her feet, and without hesitation, hacked down with her axe. One hit wasn't sufficient to cut the limb off, but it was enough to make the spider shriek in pain. It tried to get its leg back, but it was stuck under Shade's foot, the woman holding up without any issue. She hacked down again, revealing the half-cut bone under the skin. One last hit would do the trick. The spider tried to pull as hard as it could, forcing on her other already damaged limb, breaking it, and falling on its side.

The burning flames had already weakened her, and she had lost several limbs and a lot of blood. It started tiring out.

Jado saw the occasion, and rushed forward, avoiding the pitiful attempt of the spider to slap him away. He jumped over her sweeping leg and approached its head. She tried to bite him whole, but he skillfully stepped back, before plunging his flamberge hilt-deep in one of its eyes, burning a smoldering hole through its head. The spider fell back, shrieking and trembling.

Oberon, who was still struggling with his shadows, suddenly pulled his arm back, moving like a stringed puppet, and threw his spear made of darkness. Jado could only see a streak of black piercing through the flames and the skin of the spider, pinning it down to the ground.

"DIE!!!" Jado jumped up, aiming his flamberge down, and pinned down the head of the spider on the ground, the flaming blade finishing it. The sound of the crisping fire replaced the shrieks of pain, as Noah and Jackal got rid of the last smaller spiders. Jado pulled his flamberge up, feeling a strange sense of vertigo, and fell on his butt, landing on the bloody back of the spider. That's only then that he realized that this night was pretty warm compared to the one he experienced back then. All thanks to the fire devouring the webs covering the desert, of course. The black screen ridged with gold reappeared, signaling that the battle was finally over.

Congratulations!

You pushed back the Monster Wave assault!

Structural Integrity: 57%

Jado scowled at the sight of the structural integrity. Their fight with the gigantic spider had indeed damaged the Small Shrine and the Processing Silo quite a bit, but both structures still held on. Jado opened his map, seeing that the rest of the Desert Crawlers were already long gone, chased out by the fire. It already disappeared beyond the range of his map. Only then did he truly feel relief washing over him.

Coincidentally, a new light appeared over the burning desert, adding a new layer over it.

The sun was rising. This night was over.

They survived for another day.