Chapter Text
I raised my sword to deal the final blow.
The demon below me struggled to rise before crumpling back to the ground. He gasps out a plea for someone in broken demon-tongue, his face scrunched in pain.
"Bal- Balto..."
It brings me to a halt- my sword mid-swing.
The words are foreign but achingly familiar in tone. It reminded me of the way little Sue would cry for her brother when she was hurt, her chubby fingers clinging to Schlain's hand as he wraps a bandage around her scraped knees.
I retract my sword, stepping away. Bloe was in no state to be up anytime soon.
Projecting my voice, I call out to the crowd of demons before me. "Demon army! Your general has fallen. I advise you to surrender and retreat!"
Waves of whispers and muttering sweep through the frontlines as the soldiers take in the sight of their fallen general. Though they do not seem to understand human language, they know that the tide has shifted in favour of our side.
Like a rift in the tide, I see the crowd slowly part around a lone figure moving its way through it. A girl steps out from the demon ranks,
Everything about her was so pale she could only really be described as 'white'.
Her long robe flutters in the breeze, feather light. As though she were simply floating through the field. On closer observation, I notice she appears to be walking with her eyes closed.
As her pale figure approaches, an uneasy shiver runs down my spine and my Danger Perception blares in my head like an alarm.
Out of nowhere, I recall something my master had once told me. "To those with true strength, the power of humans is nothing."
I've experienced that for myself before.
Long ago, during that fateful encounter with the terrifying monster known as the Nightmare of the Labyrinth. Strangely, I feel the same fear now.
In the blink of an eye, the demon appears before me. Her face like the cloudless sky before a storm. She puts her hand on Bloe’s slumped shoulder and in the next second, they both disappear.
I look around futilely in search of the pair of demons, only to find the white demon reappearing next to the other general. And after a brief exchange, she vanishes with him.
My party was left as disoriented as I am.
I stare at the space Bloe had previously occupied.
Spatial magic? Did she teleport them to their camp? My perception barely had time to make sense of it. Even my master, the strongest spatial magic user I had ever seen, could not construct the runes for long-distance teleport so quickly.
Near instantaneously, multiple times no less.
"Julius, are you okay?" Hyrince's telepathic voice breaks me out of my stupor. “What just happened-” he continues, only to be interrupted by a crash followed by a veritable earthquake.
Out of the corner of my vision, I see an explosion of various debris cover the whole battlefield. I manage to put up a barrier spell in time, barely wide enough to envelope the surrounding soldiers.
As the dust settles, I see what appears to be eight giant legs skittering away from the rubble that was once Fort Kusorion.
A queen taratect- a walking calamity had just appeared out of thin air…
I turned back to where the ivory-clad demon had stood, only to find that she had disappeared as well.
A queen taratect appearing just as the generals and the white demon had disappeared…I didn’t believe for a second that it was a coincidence, nevermind the fact that the behemoth spider was destroying both armies indiscriminately.
I could not waste time lingering in my thoughts, though. I rushed towards where I had last spotted Hyrince and the rest of my party.
“Is everyone alright?,” I convey the question telepathically as I spot them huddled behind Hyrince’s shield.
“Yeah, Little Miss Yaana was quick with her barrier,” Jeskan’s voice replied in my head.
“Hey! I covered you guys with my shield too,” came Hyrince’s indignant reply.
Jeskan only chuckled lightly in response.
“Everyone, we have to focus.” Yaana’s melodic voice interjected, “There’s a legendary class monster rampaging here.”
I feel something in my heart lightening despite the huge threat we have yet to face.
A fire burns inside me as I lead my party towards the wreckage that the queen taratect had created. I won’t let any more innocents die at the hands of this monster.
As we approach the ruins of Fort Kusorion, I can only see its giant legs blur as it skitters impossibly fast through the field.
I can feel my heart pounding faster, the blood rushing through my veins, and sweat beading on my forehead. It's been so long since I've felt adrenaline coursing through my body like this. I tighten my grip on my sword, feeling the leather of my gloves creak.
This would not be easy, but I had faith in my friends who’d been by my side through everything.
“Everyone! Formation B- Yaana on debuff and healing. Hawkin and Jeskan, go on the offensive, aim for the joints on the other leg. And Hyrince, with me!” I shout out instructions as we approach the closest appendage of the arachnoid monster.
“Yes, Sir Hero,” Hyrince says cheekily as he appears by my side, shielding us from stray projectiles.
Jeskan nods, as he and Hawkin take off towards the leg opposite to the one next to us.
Yaana focuses on healing wounded soldiers around the ruins of the Fort but I hear her voice in my head, “Everyone, please stay safe!”
A small smile tugs up my lips at her demand, politely worded though it was.
“Let’s go, Hyrince!”, I say as I charge at the queen taratect with Hyrince covering me.
I slash my sword at one of its joints, but my sword simply bounces off, the monster’s stats too high for my hit to even leave a scratch.
Though my attack was ineffective, it catches the attention of the queen taratect. It swipes at me with its leg the way one might swat a buzzing fly, out of mere annoyance.
I duck under its swipe and fire off my Holy Light Spears.
Sharp missiles of light strike each of its joints, only to dissipate harmlessly against its exoskeleton.
Hyrince attacks it with his short-sword as well, although his attacks are as futile as mine.
In my periphery, I see Jeskan, with Hawkin under his arm, dodge a strike from the queen's legs that sent reverberations through the ground, their attacks having had no effect except to further irritate the monster.
“Julius!” I hear Hyrince call out my name just as I see a blur of white rapidly jab at me. I barely roll out of the way with the wind whooshing against my ears as Hyrince comes to shield me from any further attacks.
As enormous as the monster was, the queen taratect was blindingly fast and deadly silent. I hadn’t seen its attack coming.
I frown and charge my sword with Holy Light, striking at its joints again. This leaves a small scratch, a thin scorch-mark on its white body.
The monster lets out a noise of rage as its legs blur into movement again, lashing out faster than ever.
Hyrince pushes me out of the way of the attack and takes it head-on with his shield, the metal crumpling like wet paper under the force of the attack. I hear him let out a cry of pain as his left arm twists into an unnatural angle.
“Hyrince!” I shout for him, running to pull him away from the battle.
He’s barely standing as I reach him, immediately slumping into my side as I support him enough to walk. His armor is in tatters and his face has gone pale with pain and blood loss.
“Yaana, over here, quick!” I call out telepathically.
I go to where Jeskan and Hawkin are taking cover. "We need to regroup," I tell them, my voice grim.