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Chapter 39 - Web Formation
🕑 Added 2024-03-10 18:20:44 +0000 UTCSerenity waited patiently in the darkness, perched high on the wall. Her senses had detected the trespassers long ago, and she, along with Midnight, was ready to ambush. They had meticulously planned the attack, considering all possible contingencies.
Despite this, Serenity couldn’t shake off a hint of nervousness. An ambush was not something she had to do every day, especially against crafty iron rankers. Although she regularly fought against twisted creatures that were dull-minded despite their boundless ferocity, humans presented a distinct challenge. A difficult one.
The humans were now in one of their mushroom fields, harvesting their fare as if it were their birthright. Their greed was apparent, as they took whatever they wanted, scouring the place like corrupted creatures.
Serenity’s frustration mounted as she witnessed their greed and disrespect for the formations. Their reckless actions infuriated her, yet she remained poised, waiting for Elegy to make the first move.
“I’m starting,” Elegy’s voice echoed in their mental link. It seemed her sister was equally impatient with the trespassers. Serenity edged closer, maintaining her [Stealth] mode. Midnight, too, was concealed nearby. Their telepathic connection allowed Serenity and Midnight to tune into Elegy’s confrontation with the humans.
“Humans, you show no respect for other races,” Elegy announced, her voice stern, authoritative, and, above all, intimidating. “You are not welcome here.”
“Who said that?!” a response came. It was from the monkey-faced man, who spoke aloud instead of using the mental link Elegy had established.
Their initial aim to intimidate was successful; all three human and beastmen, who were previously occupied with collecting the iron-ranked mushrooms, were now scanning their surroundings in panic, drawing on their essence. Serenity sensed their growing unease, a sprouting fear of the unseen voice.
Elegy must have felt it, as she intensified her mental pulses, edging close to an outright assault. “We will give you one chance. Leave, relinquishing all you have taken from our land, and we will consider this conflict resolved.”
The men continued to search for them, ignoring Elegy’s warning. However, one of them responded with a reply that took everyone by surprise.
“Kill them! Kill them all!” The words came from the slave, and though his voice was transmitted through the mental link Elegy had established, everyone could hear him. “For what they have done, they deserve death.”
The slave’s outburst displeased the monkey-faced man. He lashed out with a kick to the slave’s back, causing him to splutter and fall to the ground.
“Should we?” Serenity asked Midnight through their mental link.
“No,” came the reply from her superior. “Wait for my signal.”
The other man coughed. “Forgive us for not showing proper respect,” he said aloud, as though trying to gauge Elegy’s power. “But whom are we speaking to? If you show yourself, we can resolve this amicably.”
“There’s no need,” Elegy responded, her mental transmissions becoming monotone and rigid. “You have five minutes to leave our land. This is non-negotiable.”
The man exchanged a glance with the monkey-faced one, who simply shrugged, deferring to him.
“As I said, forgive our disrespect,” the man continued politely, “but now it is you who are being unreasonable. You cannot simply demand that we leave without providing a proper explanation of what this place is and who we are dealing with.”
“An explanation?” Elegy’s mental tone took on a mocking edge. “No, you don’t seek understanding. You wish to assess whether you could defeat us. Is that not so?”
The man’s brows furrowed, and he gripped his weapon tighter, scanning the surroundings with alert eyes.
“You’re looking in the wrong place. I’m not lurking in the shadows,” Elegy taunted. “I’m inside your head.”
With that, Elegy unleashed her full empathic power, piercing through their mental defences effortlessly. The three trespassers crumpled to the ground, caught off guard by the sudden assault. The slave suffered the most, followed by the monkey-faced man, and finally, the one who had done most of the talking.
Elegy could have launched a direct attack from the outset, but such an approach wouldn’t have yielded such profound results. While the humans were preoccupied with locating her, she had meticulously analyzed their mental defences, identifying every flaw and vulnerability, enough to paralyze them swiftly.
“Now!” Midnight’s voice rang out, and total darkness enveloped the area. It was an absolute void of light, a depth of darkness impenetrable even by [Night Vision]. Midnight had made her move.
Serenity sprang into action as well.
***
***
Marvel seemed to have tapped into a focused state of mind as she deftly manoeuvred herself through the complex network of countless intertwined webs. Shai latched herself to the spider, contemplating whether she should now part ways. The wyrm wouldn’t be confined for long.
Shai had recovered a fraction of her power, sneakily opening her inventory to devour a couple of mushrooms. Marvel was occupied with her movement to notice. The contaminated blood restricted her aspect, [Essence Eater]. It was likely busy purging all the foulness. There was no chance she could fend off the attacks of the Iron-ranked abomination in her current state. She didn’t stand a chance alone.
It seems I’ll be biding my time and waiting for an opportunity to flee, she thought, noticing the disgustingly powerful aura on their rear rising again.
“It’s freed itself,” Shai informed the fledgling spider, who responded with an exasperated squeak.
Marvel swung by a thick strand of web, halting their movement, leaving them suspended upside down along the web with a clear view towards the opening of the chasm. Despite the hundreds of intertwined webs and the enveloping darkness making clear vision nearly impossible, they were nonetheless capable of sensing any approaching disturbance.
“I thought we planned to flee,” Shai inquired. “Why aren’t you running?”
The wyrm’s terrifying screech echoed as it tumbled down the webs. Although the cobwebs appeared old, a few layers of the intertwined complex were enough to momentarily deter the beast.
Unlike Marvel, who was familiar with the chasm, the wyrm plunged into it recklessly, driven by the singular desire to devour them, devoid of any rational thought. Regrettably, it couldn’t descend more than a dozen metres; its colossal body was ensnared within the webs. Yet, the wyrm was relentless; it fired acidic black bolts, dissolving the webs to free itself, only to become entangled once more, descending another dozen metres.
The acidic nature of the black bolts weakened the webs repeatedly, aiding the wyrm’s release. This cycle persisted for a while, as Marvel and Shai observed from a safer distance below.
Eventually, the abomination seemed to find their presence, expressing its frustration with a paralysing screech, its maw bristling with jagged teeth.
Shai’s unease intensified. She needed to refocus her mind to avoid being overwhelmed by the monster’s screeches. “So, what are we waiting for again?”
“This,” Marvel replied as she launched her web. It wasn’t the usual continuous strand she used for swinging, but appeared to be a sharp projectile that severed one of the strings of the perpetual web formation.
The severance of this string caused another web to loosen, and in the next moment, a sizable block of stone crashed into the creature.
Shai’s eyes widened in surprise as she exchanged a look with the spider, who conveyed a wave of satisfaction through their link.
Marvel cut another one of the strings, as another block of stone smashed into the creature, its screeches reverberating throughout the chasm. Definitely not happy with how they were treating a creature of its station.
A confining net of webs came on Marvel’s next act, capturing the creature.
“The only drawback of these traps is that they weren’t made to kill,” Marvel told her. “It was a training system created to train the next generation Guardian, not to slaughter them.”
“Makes sense,” Shai agreed. She turned her head to look downwards into the depths of the chasm, the darkness and the intertwined webs making it harder to glimpse past a hundred metres. “How deep is this chasm again?”
“A couple of miles. Why?” Marvel hadn’t stopped shooting her web bolts throughout the conversation, as blocks of stone rammed into the creature before it could break free.
“And it is full of traps like these all the way?”
“Yes,” Marvel said, “though they vary in distance and danger. The farthest distance between traps is about three metres.”
“Great,” Shai chimed. “Hey, Little Marvel, don’t you think it is a great loss to leave this abomination to do as it pleases?”
