That night a few Tarantulas had found the camp but were disposed of before they could make a sound. The next morning the group prepared for their upcoming fight. They decided on a formation for the fight which they would stay in from the camp until the fight was over. It had Titania and Francois at the front since they were stealthy, and they’d scout ahead. Douglas was just behind them with Jeff and Ava behind him. Gaia’s party was in the middle with Fern, Stephanie, Jess, and John in the back to protect the rear.
They travelled in the formation with Gaia using her Mana Influence to find any hidden monsters. They didn’t come across many hidden Tarantulas, but they did kill two before they arrived at the nest. When they arrived, Gaia shaped her mana to increase the distance she could feel in front, and she felt a massive number of monsters. She realized she could guess their rank by what she could feel. She gasped when she felt them, and she relayed to the group. There were hundreds of monsters that she could feel, most were only normal rank but there were at least fifty stone ranks and one powerful monster that she assumed was the Matriarch.
She was a bit worried since that monster wasn’t moving but the group prepared for the worst. Just before they entered the nest, she got off Malachite’s back and Liv activated her armor. They swiftly started into the nest, and she heard Titania growl. The nest was apparently a maze of webbed tunnels. They proceeded inwards at a slow pace as everyone was slowed by the webs which gave her an idea.
“Liv, can you send your golems out to find any monsters and the path forward?” She asked.
“Yeah. I don’t have a lot, but they can probably go around without being seen since they’re small. I’ll send them out now.” Liv replied.
Gaia had almost forgotten about the small golems until she had gotten off Malachite's back as they climbed onto her back when she did. She could feel the small spider golems crawling down her body before going in each direction of the tunnels.
“Titania, Liv can scout out some of the tunnels with her golems. Let’s hunker down and wait till she finds a path or some monsters.” Gaia stated.
“Really? What the heck are your bonds?” Titania asked as she called for everyone to stop.
“My strong and cute family members.” Gaia replied
“Fair enough.” She said back.
It took Liv’s golems about ten minutes before they found the first path inward but found a number of the Tarantulas in the way. The group slowly pushed forward. The only ones not effected by the webbing were Gaia because of her armor, Malachite who was floating using his skill, and Shadow who was currently incorporeal. Everyone else was fighting their way forward against the adhesive webbed floor. The progress was slow, but they made it to the tunnel about ten minutes later. Titania killed one of the Tarantulas with a thrown dagger, while the other ran forward and slammed into Douglas’ shield before Jeff cleaved the monster with his great sword.
The monster died but screeched as it did, and Gaia heard a number of monsters stampeding in their direction. She let the group know and they prepared for the incoming monsters. When they entered Gaia’s range of influence, she realized there were only about ten of them with about six being normal rank.
The group swiftly dispatched the monsters with Titania killing one with her throwing knives, another was slammed into the wall by Douglas and was crushed. Francois killed one by crushing its skull with his fist. Ava killed two through sheer strength by lodging her axe in one and smashing another into the wall with it. Jeff killed two with some swift slashes that left massive cuts in their bodies. Fergus killed one with a couple well placed arrows, and Griff killed one with a shoulder charge into the wall crushing its head. The last was killed after a surprisingly quiet gunshot from beside Gaia and it slid to a stop in from of the group.
Gaia turned towards where the gunshot was and asked Stephanie if that was from her ‘boom stick.’
“Yep. I added a minor silence enchantment.” She stated proudly.
Gaia just sighed. This girl was incredible. The group continued after ensuring the monsters were dead and made it to the next tunnel that headed inwards. Gaia was having to relay directions as they went since Liv could only speak to her and the other bonds through the link. They stopped before continuing allowing Liv’s golems to scout some more. The group continued like this killing any of the monsters they came across until they reached the final tunnel that led to the center of the nest.
They took a short break there to relax after the arduous journey through the nest. It had taken them hours to trek through the maze of tunnels. Thankfully Liv had been able to send some golems out to scout because Gaia was sure the group would have gotten lost otherwise. They rested to recover their strength before they went into the main chamber of the nest.
Just before they went in Gaia shaped her Mana Influence and checked the chamber. She could still feel the powerful monster and it seemed it still hadn’t moved. She relayed this to the group since it worried her, but it seemed no one else was worried about it. The group walked through the tunnel, and Gaia could tell the area opened up into a large chamber by how the air felt, it didn’t feel as stagnant as the tunnel.
The group continued out and abruptly stopped as everyone prepared to fight. Gaia could hear the sound of hundreds of spiders hissing. It caused every hair on her body to stand on end. She could feel a massive pressure fall over the group as she felt the Matriarch move through her Mana Influence field. When she heard it hiss it was one of the deepest and loudest sounds, she’d ever heard. She almost whimpered from the assault on her ears.
She then heard Titania yell out orders.
“Flora focus on the Matriarch. Legion assist as you can with the matriarch but focus on clearing out the horde. Gaia, stay in a central area. Griff and Fergus stay by her and help as you can but stay safe.” Titania barked.
“Stephanie, stay with them. Ranged attacks and only close combat when the monsters come close.” Douglas told her.
With the commands given, Flora jumped into action and attacked the Matriarch. Legion worked near their fight to keep the horde off of Flora. Gaia and the others were in between them and focused on ranged attacks and combating the horde when it got close to them.
Flora was a well-trained party that worked well together. Titania dealt small amounts of damage or aimed for weak spots in the monster's carapace while she danced around her party members attacks. John was a heavy damage dealer and hit the monster with large strong attacks with his great sword that kept the monster focused on him. Francois would do hit and run attacks like Griff but used strength and speed while maneuvering around Titania and John. Jess slung different kinds of magic at the monster and dealt constant damage.
Legion was similarly coordinated. Douglas stood as a wall between the monsters and the rest of the party. He had some kind of skill that caused the monsters to target him instead of the rest of the party. He would take out a few monsters when they got close enough by slamming his shield down on their heads or slamming them back to take a hit from another monster. Jeff was a whirlwind of slashes as he swung his great sword around like he was dancing. Ava was a beast when it came to her style of fighting. She would rush into clumps of monsters and cleave them with her axe while punching and kicking monsters to create distance before moving back to protect Fern. Fern was mainly a healer but had a small shield and a mace that she used to smash the monsters that came close when Ava took off into a group.
They were more independent in their combat styles, but it worked out with Jeff staying near Douglas and Fern while dealing with the monsters Douglas attracted. Ava was the wildcard and would randomly run off to take out groups then come back for Fern to heal her when she took some bigger hits.
Gaia was in the center of her formation and had her Mana influence covering the entire group. Malachite was being the distraction and blocking hits while Fergus fired arrows at the monsters attacking him. Griff was doing hit and runs on the opposite side from Malachite since he could take some hits. Stephanie was firing her rudimentary musket into the horde by Griff. Gaia used her vines to bleed any monsters that came close enough while Liv’s golems bit into the ones near her as well. Shadow was dashing around guarding the party where she could and biting or clawing the tarantulas as she did so. The fight continued like this for a few minutes before Gaia heard the Matriarch screech.
As she did, Titania yelled. “Everyone run from the Matriarch I think it’s mutating!”
Everyone heeded the advice and started moving away. This was at least the third or fourth time that Gaia’s reflex stat had hurt her. She was once again too slow to escape before the monster mutated. As it finished, it let out an eerily harmonic hiss. Immediately after, Gaia felt a sharp pain in her left leg, and she fell to the ground. She tried to crawl towards her companions but felt like something was pinning her leg to the floor. She felt the area and found a large conical protrusion with sharp spines going straight through her leg. It had pierced straight through her defensive barrier.
She couldn’t move but quickly heard John roar and run towards her with the rest of Flora alongside him. A few moments later she felt something oozing down from the top of the spider's leg that had impaled her limb. When it touched her skin, she felt like acid had just been poured on her. She tried to remove the offending object but as she grabbed it, her hands started to burn. She used all of her strength and still wasn’t able to remove it.
She was stuck with what felt like acid pouring into and onto her wound and was likely still almost underneath the mutated matriarch. She couldn’t do anything, her body felt like it was starting to go numb. What remained of the horde had flooded in during the time it took for Flora to attack the Matriarch again.
The monsters were biting her and crushing her under their weight. She was expecting to black out from the pain at any moment, but she continued to try and remove the Spiders leg before trying to just pull herself away, and let it take a chunk of her leg if it meant she’d get out of the way. After what felt like an eternity, she heard Griff and Fergus’ voices through the haze of pain and monster hisses. They’d cleared a way to her, and she’d actually managed to crawl a short distance but had a large chunk of her leg missing now. Malachite was launching water shots and biting while shell bashing monsters quicker than he ever had before while Fergus lifted her up and they retreated.
A few moments later she was casting healing shot continuously into herself. Fergus was firing arrow after arrow into what remained of the monster horde. Griff was casting healing shot at Gaia while attacking any monsters that dared to approach. Stephanie had Gaia on her back while she fired her musket into the monsters and pulled a large hammer out, bashing the monsters with it when they got too close. Liv was controlling her armor to keep the blood from flowing out any faster.
Gaia could barely hear what was happening and only roughly knew that Stephanie was carrying her while Flora dealt with the Matriarch. Fern was nearby casting healing when she could while focusing on the larger fight. About fifteen minutes later the monster horde was dead and the Matriarch was on its last legs, literally. The monster only had one leg still intact.
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Gaia wasn’t fully healed when the Matriarch died but she wasn’t on deaths door anymore. She still couldn’t walk and likely wouldn’t for a while because she had a massive chunk of her inner thigh missing. There was a six-inch-wide hole from the center of her thigh to the inner side. The bone and muscles were just gone, like they we cut out.
She was laying on the ground when the group came over after the monsters were all dead.
“Is it dead?” She asked.
“Yes, it is. Are you alright?” John asked before he saw her leg.
“I’ll survive. Gonna be a while before I can probably walk, though.” Gaia replied.
Fern was healing her while the group talked. It wouldn’t replace the missing parts but would keep it from bleeding.
“I really need to find a way to increase my Reflex stat though. This is what? The fourth time I’ve gotten hurt because I can’t react quick enough?” Gaia joked trying to lighten the mood a bit. Even though she hurt like hell.
It didn’t work and everyone had a somber tone when they spoke as they started moving out of the nest. Gaia was placed on Malachite’s back who had grown to a size where she essentially had a bed made from his armor. She talked with Stephanie as they made their way back to Boundary. It was slow going since everyone needed a break after escaping from the nest.
The group arrived in town just before nightfall since they took it slow, and everyone’s spirits were raised when they were back in the safety of the city. They all went to the League and went to the desk while Malachite took Gaia to the infirmary with Fergus and Griff close behind. They’d gotten some minor injuries but were already healed by Fern. When they arrived, the healer checked Gaia’s leg but couldn’t heal it since the muscle and bone were completely gone. Healing couldn’t replace parts that were missing. If someone’s arm was cut off, they could reattach it but not regrow one without a high rank healer. They did give her a wooden crutch so she could walk herself.
The party made their way out after that and got their reward, which had increased since it was a much larger nest than anyone had thought, and the Matriarch had mutated. In total it came out around two-hundred stone cores or two bronze cores per party. This was a huge amount, and they decided to check shops tomorrow for something to help heal her leg or allow her to walk easier.
They slowly made their way to the inn and found the parties Flora and Legion at a large table with a huge amount of food. They invited the group over and they celebrated killing the Matriarch and returning alive. Had it just been Flora that went, they may not have returned unscathed.
They all ate and relaxed after the hard day. Stephanie talked with Gaia, Fergus, and Griff mostly. They agreed to team up for another request if they could after Gaia was back in fighting shape. They enjoyed the night before Gaia hobbled her way to her room for some sleep. She laid down in the bed and fell asleep soon after from exhaustion.
She awoke a few times throughout the night from pain but managed to get some sleep. When she awoke the next morning, she made her way to get breakfast and sat down at a table. She placed Malachite and Shadow’s food on the floor for them and they happily devoured their food. The guys joined her soon after and they ate a nice breakfast before heading out to check the shops.
To make it easier Liv had taken control of Gaia’s armor and made the dress with the addition of the bodysuit covering her legs. This allowed her to walk for Gaia speeding up their search. It still hurt tremendously and felt like it was deeper than just missing muscle. It felt like pain through her very being. She didn’t have much of a choice though, and just dealt with the pain while they looked. They couldn’t find anything that would help so they started looking around the smithing or enchanting shops for something to lessen the pain and maybe increase her speed.
They sadly didn’t find anything and were told that they only had two options. Lose the leg and do a prosthetic or deal with it how it was. They thought they’d checked all the workshops until they came across a smiths shop with a familiar name.
“Steph’s Smithing and Enchanting? What are the odds this is the one we know?” Fergus asked.
They walked in and were greeted by the familiar cheery voice of Stephanie from the Legion party.
“Hey guys. Good to see y’all. What brings you here?” She asked.
“Looking to have something made for Gaia so she can walk normally again since healing won’t do.” Griff stated.
“What exactly are you looking for Gaia?” Stephanie asked her.
“I’m honestly not sure. I can walk if Liv controls the armor, like now, but it causes a lot of pain. I’m hoping for something that may dull the pain or make it less noticeable and increase my speed if possible since that’s become a bigger issue now.” She stated.
Stephanie thought for a bit before she had them wait and ran to check something. After a couple minutes she came back and was mumbling while reading a book. She put the book down and Griff went to check what it was. After he checked it, he explained it was a book of enchantments. The section she was reading was about enchantments that could improve stats or give a net increase. She then flipped through the book and stopped at a page.
She looked up and spoke towards Gaia. “Well, I can make something that increases your speed by increasing the reflex stat. For the pain there’s only one thing to do which is to quite literally burn the nerve so it no longer works.” She stated.
“That sounds like it would cause other problems though.” Gaia stated.
“Yeah. If we burn the nerve your leg would probably go numb. The other options are to create a magical prosthetic and replace the missing section. That’s higher than what I can do. Honestly, I’m surprised your leg is still attached. The best I could do that way is replace the entire leg.” She replied.
“So, my options are to either burn the nerve, or replace my entire leg? Pretty much the only option’s we’ve gotten anywhere.” She said with disappointment.
“From what I can do yes. If you want to replace the section, you will probably need to go to a bigger city. Honestly, I’d personally replace it. Since most of the muscle is gone the only thing keeping it working is magic. At least from what my mom told me she felt when trying to heal you.” She explained.
“Wait, what? That’s the only reason it didn’t need to be amputated?” She asked incredulously.
“From what I understand yeah. There was also just something weird when trying to heal you.” She stated.
Gaia thought a bit and realized it might be from her title Cracked Spirit. It meant parts of her spirit and body were one and the same. Now that she remembered that the intensity of the pain made sense. It had not only ripped out a chunk of her body but her spirit if that was the case. It also made her question what would happen if it was completely removed.
“I don’t know what to do then.” She said as she turned towards Griff and Fergus. She showed them the title and their faces paled slightly in realization.
“Would it even be feasible to replace it with that in account?” She asked them.
“What’s the matter?” Steph asked them.
“Well, it’s about a title she has.” Fergus stated.
“Got it, but if you want to know something I’ll need to know everything about the situation.” She explained.
The group stepped aside and discussed it. They hadn’t known her long but if she was willing to try and help them they’d take it. After making the decision which essentially boiled down to Gaia's choice they decided to explain the situation to her. After the explanation Stephanie understood why they were hesitant. She thought about the problem and told them she’d research some stuff about it and they should come back in a day or two. By then she should have an idea on what they could do.
The group thanked her and made their way back to the inn. The search through the shops had taken most of the day and they didn’t really find anything. They had hoped Stephanie might have an idea after looking into it though. As they walked, they stopped in at Will and Summers store for a bit. They entered and were greeted by the couple. They chatted for a bit before Griff and Fergus went outside while Gaia talked to them about something she’d been thinking about getting made.
“Could you possibly make me a blindfold? Not just a regular one but one that can increase my ability to sense mana?” She asked the couple.
“First off, we can make you a blindfold if you want but what do you mean sense mana?” Summer asked.
Gaia quickly put up her Mana Influence and the couple gasped. She felt like she’d be able to do something else with it if she could just sense the mana within a bit better. The current feeling she got from monsters and people in the field were like small flames. She could roughly tell the strength from the intensity of it. She wanted something that could help her get a better feeling of the whole being instead of just the power. She explained everything to the couple, and they thought for a bit.
“We might be able to make something. I don’t know how well it will work as this is the first time I’ve ever seen something like this. You’re wanting something that can give you a better sense of mana so you might be able to tell where something is from the movement of the mana within this thing?” She asked.
“Essentially yes. I can’t tell when a monster is trying to hit me just where the core of the monster is.” She stated.
“We’ll see what we can do but it’ll be a bit pricey. We’ll talk about that when we finish it though.” They told her.
She left after that and the party returned to the inn. It was just after midday since they went slowly, and they got lunch at a stall on the way back. They relaxed in their rooms, and she checked her level while her bonds napped around her. Her level was now thirty-five which wasn’t much for the situation they’d been in, but she knew the higher her level got the harder it was to level up. She didn’t get any souls from the bronze rank since she didn’t fight it. For the number of monsters her party killed and the fact most were normal rank the increase was good.
She was relaxing and Malachite had shrunk down to nap by her. Liv was weaving some more golems from her webs and experimenting with other ideas. Shadow was laid out across Gaia napping with her head laying on her chest getting pats. She heard a knock and told whoever it was to come in.
“Sorry. Were you taking a nap?” Fergus asked.
“No. My bonds are though.” She stated as she gestured to the small turtle by her head and the large wolf splayed out over her.
He laughed a bit seeing the scene. It was almost comical. Shadow was almost her size at this point, and he could barely see her face over the wolf a large body curled up on her. It took him a few moments to stop laughing.
“Sorry. It’s kinda funny to see from here. I just wanted to see how you were doing. I was extremely worried when I saw what happened during the battle.” He said as he sat down by her.
“To be honest, I don’t really remember anything after it aside from pain. One moment Titania told everyone to run, the next I’m pinned to the ground with pain. After that it was John’s roar and then the monsters trampling me or trying to bite me. Then I heard you and Griff. Then it was kind of hazy with just focusing on trying to heal.” She said shakily. It was hard to think about it. It was a traumatizing experience and just compounded when she thought about her rank up fight.
It took her a few moments to realize she was crying. Fergus let her cry for a bit before he just hugged her. She cried until she couldn’t anymore. She hadn’t truly stopped to think about everything that happened and the implications. The last time she had, was soon after her graduation from the Training camp which was now a little over three months ago. Since then, she’d been going pretty much the entire time trying not to dwell on the bad things that had happened.
Now that she was pretty much stuck in her room at the inn with nothing to do, she couldn’t distract herself from thinking about them. She’d been blinded, gotten hit with strong radiation, almost kidnapped, and now been told she pretty much had to have her leg amputated. She just couldn’t deal with it anymore. She needed to let it all out.
Fergus just sat there and hugged her while she cried and let out all of her frustration. After about half an hour she’d cried everything out. They sat there like that for a bit before Gaia realized that her tears had pretty much destroyed the front of his shirt, and he was still hugging her. Her face went as red as it could, being stone as she realized she was up against his bare chest. It was more muscular than she expected, and her blush deepened when she thought that. Fergus looked down when he noticed she’d calmed down. Then it hit him, and he quickly let go and backed up. His face going beet red itself, though Gaia didn’t know.
“Thanks. I never really dealt with my emotions after everything that has happened.” She said embarrassed.
“N-no problem. Happy I could help.” He replied embarrassed himself.
“Now, if you two are done. Do you want to get some food?” Griff asked from the doorway with a smirk.
The pair once again blushed extremely obviously.
“Oh, and Fergus.” Griff stated.
“Yeah?” He replied.
“You might want to put on a new shirt.” Griff stated.
Fergus finally looked down to realize the front of his shirt was destroyed and was now essentially bare chested. He quickly ran out of the room and went to his own to change. The party made their way to the tavern section with the two being a bit too obvious in their actions. Fergus was doing everything in his power to not stare at her but was failing, miserably. Gaia was kind of doing the same thing but more using her mana instead of sight. Griff just snickered and picked on the two who obviously had finally realized they liked each other.
He’d known that for a while and was just waiting until the two realized it themselves. They had both been completely oblivious to their feelings until now. He bet Titania and the entirety of Flora knew already and just enjoyed watching the heartwarming atmosphere around them. The party enjoyed a dinner and talked about what to do. Gaia told them they should take the requests while she was recovering. They were trying to refuse but she was adamant about it, and they reluctantly agreed. That night they all went to bed and Gaia slept better than she had in while. The only thing that woke her up that night was the pain from her leg.