"Please bring these plates over to tables 4 and 5."

"Understood."

During an early morning rush in a tavern restaurant, two women worked hard to keep up with the dozens of customers who filled the facility.

"Yo, Layla! How's the morning going for ya?"

"Busy as always, Steven. And with you ordering as much as you always do, it makes it even busier."

With a smile, the woman poured a glass of water for the large man as she placed a platter filled with breakfast foods on his table.

"Haha! Ya don't pull any punches as usual. But I guess you been like that since the moment you got used to livin here, eh? I remember when you rejected the offer of that pompous heir right to his face! Hah..... I'd kill to see another noble look like that again."

"I simply found his offer to be absurd. And look at what happened to him. He executed the women who took the place of the nobles, and as punishment he was killed himself by the Indeterminant. If I had taken his side, would I not have also been among the ones being executed?"

"Ah..... yer right about that one. It's a good thing you didn't agree.", the man replied with a nod, grabbing his silverware and digging into his meal as the woman placed another plate on the table next to him.

"Thanks as always, Layla.", another man replied.

"This is my responsibility, Phillip. Nothing more."

"It must have been a real drop though. To go from nobility to a waitress. Would ya say it's easier or harder on you?"

"In some ways it is easier, and in others it is harder. However..... I suppose it is less stressful when I don't have to worry about maintaining an entire domain on a macroeconomic scale."

"I'd bet that much. Ah, speaking of which, what do you think about the Indeterminant? He was the man who you married, right? But then he left you in cold blood to attend to the other nations, only coming back here when things had devolved into chaos. Well... at least he came back..... but he hurt you, Layla. I'll never forgive such a man."

"Me neither. If he understood his duty to deal with the heroes, then why would he try to settle down with a family in the first place? And a widow at that. And then to just up and leave her when things became difficult? It's fishy, Layla. It's beyond fishy."

The two men looked to Layla with clear irritation, voicing their complaints about the man known as the Indeterminant, yet to this Layla merely smiled gently, lowering her eyes.

"Ah, that is nothing more than the past, gentlemen. Please do not bring him up. After all, he is the ruler of this.... Empire now. The Indeterminant has always been an entity far beyond the reach of normal people, so perhaps I should be satisfied that I was able to know him personally before he went to fulfill his duties as a hero."

Layla said this calmly, speaking with nostalgia and acceptance in her voice.

The men looked to one another with furrowed brows, clearly concerned for the woman, however they soon smiled back at her.

"Well, if that's what you think."

"I suppose so. But even so..... I still think he made a bad decision."

"And he admitted it himself, didn't he? Kyle Ruthobold was his mistake. He may think he's taking responsibility, but a lot of people are putting the blame on the woman who was raising him at the time- that's you! Can you believe that!?"

"Tch. After all I can't forgive him. You're doing everything you can here to take care of your son while the Indeterminant smirches your name even further just to look humble to everyone around him."

The men grumbled to themselves, causing the woman to smile bitterly as she remembered her own past.

"Well.... I have to get back to work. There are plenty of other customers to serve."

"Ah, sorry for keeping you, Layla!"

"Sorry for bringing up such a sensitive topic!"

The two men bowed their heads in apology to which the woman laughed lightly.

"Haha.... there is no need to apologize. After all, I did make some mistakes at that time myself. And I am atoning for those mistakes."

Walking off, the woman then begun to attend to some other customers, refilling drinks and taking plates from each table.

As the woman walked off however, a boy burst into the door.

He appeared to be a normal young boy of the working class, however he was panting and sweating as he abruptly entered the restaurant, looking around with fear in his eyes.

"Everyone..... everyone!! Please listen to me!!! Something..... something has happened!! The skies..... the skies!!!"

The boy tried to get his words out, struggling to explain.

"A-anyways..... just look!!! Just look outside!!!"

The boy pointed out the door, to which many of the people within the bar merely gave him a strange look.

"Hey, sit down for a moment, kid. You look like you need to take a rest."

"You want something to eat? I'll get you something if ya want."

"Just... just look outside!! It's..... they're....."

Holding his forehead in anguish, the boy rushed out of the building quickly.

The people were left in silence, wondering what was going on.

"I guess I'll go check....", one man stated.

"Yeah.... I suppose I will too.", another said as the two got up, heading towards the exit.

The two men walked over to the door, stepping out and looking up into the sky.

As they did so, their mouths went wide with shock.

"What....."

"How.....what is that?"

The two men were taken aback at the scene, causing many more of the people within the restaurant to get up in curiosity.

"Hey, what's going on out there?"

"Let's see for ourselves."

Person by person the customers flowed out of the restaurant, causing even Vanessa and Layla to join them.

"What on earth could be so interesting that everyone would get up from their meals to see it?", the ponytailed chef wondered as she removed her cooking mitts.

"I suppose we should go see....", the waitress replied, walking alongside her employer.

It was as they exited that they saw it.

"Wha.... what is that?"

"Those..... are those.... insects?"

As they exited the building, looking up into the sky, they saw a swarm.

A swarm of insects massive enough to block out a large portion of the sky itself.

There were all different types of insects, from locusts to moths to butterflies to mantises.

Each of them were humanoid in form, yet insectoid in nature.

And from their position in the sky, the flying insectoids made out a set of words in their formation.

[GAME OVER, HUMANS]

The buzzing sound of flapping wings filled the air, causing the people of the city to be overwhelmed by the hazy noises.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"They..... flew all the way here?"

"How..... did they get past the archer? The hero who was said to be able to take out any enemies from range..... the hero of the Sultinate."

Many men mumbled whispers to one another, however as they did this they watched as a single creature seemed to descend from the alignment.

Falling from the sky was a female spider.

Dressed in a black dress with white gloves and an adorable bow on her head, the spiderling almost appeared to be cute in nature- if it were not for the demented grin which plastered her face.

She had four eyes and two fangs peeking out of her mouth, and she fell from the sky at tremendous speed, landing atop a tall building with a crashing sound.

Dust flew about where she landed, and the attention of the people all throughout the streets were turned to her.

The spiderling had landed on top of the castle of what was once the Capital of the Ruthobold Kingdom.

Standing atop the highest tower, people from all around the city could witness her even from afar, and more and more people seemed to be exiting their homes to witness the phenomena.

"Mother!"

"Eric!"

The young former noble rushed over to his mother, appearing out of the crowd after having been disturbed in his work by the strange appearance.

"I came because I was worried about you.... what is going on?"

"I.... do not know. I haven't the slightest idea.", Layla responded.

Turning to the top of the tower, the eyes of all were soon focused on the spiderling female, whose armies were now in place as they hovered above her.

"Ahem.... ahem... ech... urgh... pftt!"

The spiderling seemed to be choking on something, and after spitting out a green blob of what looked to be poison, she stood forth.

The poison seemed to melt away the stones of the tower which she stood on, but even so she didn't care.

"Ugh. Anyways. Uh.....what was it again? Ah right. Game over, humans."

Holding out her hands with a demented grin, the spiderling thinned all four of her eyes.

"To all the humans of the world, today is the day of your death. If you are lucky, that is. I have not much to say, but I will say what I need to. So listen up closely."

The people watched as the crackling voice of the spiderling filled their ears, looking back and forth to one another with fear.

"This world is no longer yours. It's time for a new era to begin. An era of monsters."

The insectoids who formed the words then shifted to form a new sentence.

[TIME IS UP]

It was then that the spiderling begun laughing, spreading her arms as thin wires seemed to shoot out from them in all directions.

Hundreds.

Thousands.

They were slightly visible, and in an instant the people looked around above them to witness something which shook their very beings.

"The entire..... city....."

"It's been.... ensnared....."

Webs had been shot out, completely and utterly engulfing each and every last building, all of them tying into the spiderling who stood at the center of this web of death.

"I usually like to play with my food, but according to the orders of her eminence..... the good people are to die quickly. Therefore..... die."

And then, the spiderling pulled.

She pulled her webs, and as she did so the buildings all around the city collapsed.

"Wha...."

"No....."

"Help!!!!"

"Agh!!!!"

Eric jumped forward, grabbing hold of his mother in order to push her out of the way of the rubble which was collapsing in on the people within the city streets.

"Mother!!!"

"Eric!!!"

Dodging one slab of stone, the two tumbled to the ground as many around them died to the falling rubble.

"Are you alright, mother!?"

"I..... I am fine..... however.... Agh!!!"

It was then that another building collapsed, crushing the two completely.

Without even the time to say goodbye to one another, the lives were snuffed out from existence.

An entire city was destroyed in an instant.

The webs were stronger than the very columns which supported the stone buildings around the city, and with a single yank everything had been destroyed.

Cries of pain and suffering could be heard all over the city from those who were trapped underneath the rubble, but those soon died down.

Chuckling to herself, Berith shot a web upward, grappling onto a butterfly woman as she took flight herself.

"Was that acceptable, your eminence?"

[Yes, Berith. I see that your web accuracy has gotten very good recently. You were able to create chain reactions within the buildings that specifically targeted those labeled as class 1 directly, and indirectly targeting all class 2 specimens, ensuring that they were to suffer before they died. And all class 3 specimens have been left perfectly in tact. Collect them and return to base.]

"Understood... your eminence."

With this, the spiderling flew off, an army of insectoids above her.

"You all heard her eminence. Grab the living ones and we're out."

----

[Just earlier]

A man stood inside a tent, hammering a red hot piece of metal into shape.

This man was Ethan.

Business had been stagnant recently. With all the knights having been defeated and the legions united underneath the Indeterminant, the demand for weapons and armor was at an all time low.

Even in this era of heroes where those talented individuals were supposed to be taking the fight into the monster realm, the Indeterminant appeared to be taking his sweet time with everything.

'Rather than focusing on the monsters who were not an immediate threat, he wants to focus on the problems which the people are currently challenged with.... or so he said.'

As he continued to hammer the metal, Ethan let out a sigh.

Beside him were his three apprentices, and they were also hard at work.

'The noble weapon smiths were taken out due to Kyle's interference, which put me in a strange position, but it ended up working out quite well. As the leader of the guild, I was the top producer in the smithing industry for the Kingdom. I even heard some rumors about a black market producer who went out of business in the Empire recently, so I was getting requests from all over the place to make up for the sudden disparity in supply.'

Lowering the red hot blade into water after sufficiently molding it, Ethan wiped the sweat off his brow.

'Yet it looks like all that business has disappeared. With the nations being united, the possibility of war is almost impossible. Well, that's a good thing, but it doesn't seem like the Indeterminant has any intention of rebuilding our armies.'

Furrowing his brows, the man took off his gloves, walking over to the entrance to the smithy to take a breath of fresh air.

'War is a plague which must be culled. The hero and myself will take on the monsters on our own, so there is no need to worry. I will create a land where humans can live in peace everywhere.'

So the Indeterminant had said.

He was an extremely charismatic figure, his influence having quickly spread to every city and village in the world ever since he had taken the position of Emperor.

While many were suspicious at first just as they were with Kyle, they soon came to love their new ruler with fervency just as great.

Ethan had accepted this, however that didn't mean he liked it.

'I suppose it's true that a world without war is for the better, but that would mean I'd be out of a job. Perhaps I should take up a new trade?'

As Ethan thought this, he stepped outside.

It was then that he saw it.

"Wha..."

Hundreds, maybe even thousands of insects painted the sky.

[GAME OVER, HUMANS]

These were the words they formed, as if they had been perfectly trained to fly in such formation.

"Something wrong... Ethan?"

Walking out of the tent was Eric, looking over to the man and then up to the skies as his eyes widened.

Dropping the hammer in his hand, Eric looked up with a dropped jaw.

"....."

The two stood there in silence for a moment, however it was then that Eric whispered something.

"Mother....."

And then, he ran off into the streets.

"I have to find my mother."

Ethan merely watched as the boy ran off, and his two apprentices approached from behind him.

"What's wrong, Eric-"

As they saw what was happening, they too were filled with shock.

Gulping sounds could be heard, and the two stood there once again, unable to even react.

Looking up, Ethan stepped into the streets, breathless.

'What the hell is going on?'

----

'I..... survived.'

Ethan looked around him.

The buildings had collapsed.

Rubble was everywhere.

His forge was in ruins.

His two apprentices had been crushed in moments by the rubble.

Hundreds of people around him had died.

Yet as if there was some external force which had been protecting him, the rubble had fallen perfectly so as to not hit him.

'Why..... did I survive?'

Ethan began to tremble, terrified at the very prospect of living.

Blood covered the streets, though he could not see many of the bodies as they were covered in the mess.

'Why..... was I the only one..... to survive?'

"See now, her eminence has a certain... way of classifying people."

As Ethan had these thoughts, he heard a crackling voice from directly behind him.

Jumping back and tripping over a piece of rubble, Ethan found himself breathing heavily as he stared the being right into her four sadistic eyes.

It was the spiderling who had caused this destruction.

"Why..... did you do this?", Ethan panted.

"Murderers..... drug dealers..... slave traders..... gang members..... black market assassins... among these people, some of them are classified as the highest tier in terms of the suffering they've created. However, most are not. This is all in proportion to the suffering that they have caused those around them. But do you know what type of people that her eminence has labeled as the worst of the worst, who are always classified in the highest tier?"

The spiderling thinned her eyes, placing an insectoid limb to her lips as she smiled.

"Do you know which ones who have caused more suffering than anyone else?"

Ethan looked to the spiderling with terror.

He wanted to run.

His body told him to run.

Everything about this spiderling, who wore a black dress as if she was preparing for a high class dance, told him to get away.

Yet he could not.

He found it impossible to move.

Fear paralyzed him, and he found himself shaking with terror unlike anything he had ever felt before.

"Her eminence has accepted such horrible people into her midst. Murderers..... drug dealers.... slave traders... mafia members... demons... and even monsters beyond imagination. She truly does have a kind heart, and she has forgiven many for their transgressions. However there is one sin which she finds to be disturbing beyond all else."

The sound of ticking filled the ears of Ethan as the spiderling crept closer, bending down over him as she placed her human hand around his neck.

"Those who sin in secret and escape punishment. The ones who stand at the top of everyone, doing as they please without so much as being criticized. Those such as politicians..... highly ranked officials..... and men like you who are disloyal to their spouses."

Ethan felt as he was wrapped up in wires, constrained and unable to move.

"Come with me, human. You will be receiving special treatment."

Ethan was then dragged off, his own mouth having been sewn together with the wires which were wrapped around him in an instant.

The word terror could never even begin to describe the emotions Ethan felt in that moment.

This creature was a monster beyond all monsters, likely a being of the 9th tier.

And yet, she served another.

'Could it be..... her eminence... for something like this to refer to someone with such respect.....'

The thought made Ethan regret every action in his life, including the act of surviving.

No, especially the act of surviving.

'Could she be taking me to the Queen of Demons?'

----

[Time Log]

[10:00 AM- Outside the former Capital of the Ruthobold Kingdom, an aerial army of insectoids appeared. Lining up as if they were a perfectly trained unit, they spelled out a single phrase which was broadcasted to the people of the city- GAME OVER, HUMANS]

[10:03 AM- After flying through the city and landing on the tower of the castle, the one who led these insectoids- a humanoid spider- spread her webs all around the city, connecting the buildings to one another with ease.]

[10:04 AM- The city is reduced to rubble. Few survivors could be found.]

[10:10 AM- All survivors are collected and brought back to the realm of monsters]