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Ch 31 - Then the Ground Moved
🕑 Added 2025-06-02 18:44:33 +0000 UTC“He will protect us!” Mel shouted, standing her ground as the swarm of spider mutants charged. Her voice was small but unwavering, defiance burning in her eyes as she stared down the grotesque creatures that saw her as nothing more than an easy meal.
Even if it was blind faith, even if she'd been swept up in the tribe’s blind belief in the Gods, her bravery was still real. Commendable, even. But more than that, I couldn’t let the child Tekla had just promised a blessing to die. Not like this, not with the entire tribe watching.
Mel’s mother, who’d scolded her only moments ago, was already sprinting toward her. But she was neither warrior nor mage. Panic overtook her steps, her legs gave out, and she crashed to the ground. She scrambled to rise, to reach her daughter, but by the time she lifted her head, it was too late.
The smallest of the spider mutants was already there.
It skittered ahead of the others, faster and lighter than the rest. Its dripping fangs were already descending on the girl. Mel’s resolve shattered. Her face crumpled, tears spilling down her cheeks. Her mouth opened to speak, maybe to scream, but she didn’t get the chance.
A roar of crimson steel rang out as a blade intercepted the pedipalp, knocking it aside with enough force to send the spider staggering.
The Velmoryn who landed between them wore leather armor, his other hand gripping a second crimson blade. Without pause, he stepped on the hilt of the sword he’d just thrown, launching it upward. He caught it mid-air with his left hand, and then moved.
Fast.
So fast that his barrage of strikes blurred into one fluid motion, his crimson blades weaving a wall of afterimages between the monster and the child. The spider reeled, backing away in confusion, its limbs scrambling to block. But it couldn’t match his speed or the sharpness of the weapon I had created.
Cut after cut opened on its body. Nothing fatal, but blood began dripping from every wound. Still, it endured, refusing to fall.
Then, in desperation, it leapt backward and spat a stream of green saliva. The liquid hissed through the air, but the Velmoryn backflipped with ease, landing beside Mel once more, untouched.
The creature turned to flee - its goal wasn’t to win, just to get a breather to retreat. It rushed toward the other spider mutants, seeking safety.
But it misjudged them.
The moment the other spiders saw its bloodied body, they turned on it without hesitation. They tore it apart, limb by limb, ripping into their own without a second thought. They ignored the thrashing and the deafening screams of the fallen spider, now being eaten alive.
What foul creatures…
I felt a revulsion twist in my gut. Indifference was one thing, but betrayal was what I hated most of all.
“Lucas… y-you came…” Mel whispered, her voice shaking, as the Velmoryn warrior scooped her into his arms and carried her away from the danger.
Behind them, Mirion had already started forming a defensive line. The chaos caused by the wounded spider had bought them the seconds they needed. Just enough time for the Velmoryns to prepare.
Now we’ve a fighting chance.
I marveled as I watched the chaos within the tribe finally begin to settle. The elders and children had already started moving toward the Crimson Guardian, gathering beneath its wide branches in search of safety. I had known it was in dormant state, but I had still hoped that it would move if the tribe was attacked. However, even now, it remained completely still, unmoved by the threat just beyond the trees.
Fortunately, the Velmoryns didn’t know it was meant to be alive or they might have doubted my authority. To them, it was just a symbol - no more, no less.
“Lucas,” Mirion called, adjusting the straps across his chest until his armor fit more tightly. He reached for the axe resting against his leg. “Help any group that starts to falter. Keep moving.”
Then, he looked over his shoulder. “Roy, stay with him. No matter what happens, stay together.”
Mirion was the highest-ranking warrior left in the tribe, and not just in name. The skill he had awakened made him brutal on the battlefield, unstoppable once unleashed. But once it was active, there would be no holding back. He’d lose any sense of restraint and focus on one thing only: killing everything that stood in his way.
“Lily,” he said, turning to the older mage beside him, the one I’d blessed, more for his sake than hers. Her face was lined, but her stance was steady, full of vigor. “You’ll command the formation. I’ll move out as soon as they reach us.”
He checked his gear one last time, tugging at the bindings, adjusting each buckle as if preparing for the moment when thought would be replaced by instinct. He wasn’t nervous. He was making sure nothing would hold him back once the skill took over.
“I’ll stay above the tree line,” Roy told Lucas, who was now running his fingers along the edge of his blade, confirming their sharpness with a faint, content smile. “I won’t slow you down.”
Lucas didn’t answer. He nodded once, then turned away. His blades spun lightly in his hands, and without a word, he leapt into the trees.
The spiders had finished feeding. Now they were charging straight for the tribe.
Lucas landed among the branches and scanned the battlefield. He wasn’t built to take the larger spiders head-on. His defenses wouldn’t pass that kind of challenge. But he didn’t need to. Speed and precision were what he had, and that was enough.
Roy found a perch on a long branch, wrapping his legs around it for balance. The bowstring was already drawn to its limit. His chest rose as he held his breath, mana flowing through the limbs of the weapon. A faint crimson glow began to shimmer across the bow as the enchantment activated.
The arrow shot forward with a sharp whistle, trailing a red streak through the air like a cut across the sky.
And Lucas moved with it.
“Going in,” he said, just loud enough for Roy to hear before vanishing from sight.
His blades were coated in crimson light, the aura of his awakened skill.
Lucas dropped from the canopy with blades drawn, his descent timed to intercept the spider mutant already charging toward Mirion. The creature had locked onto its prey, blinded by the chaos of Mirion’s assault and the opening it had created. His back was exposed, wide, vulnerable, and unguarded, just enough to lure the spider in.
However, it never reached him.
Crimson light cut across the monster’s neck in a sudden flash. Lucas landed at its side, his twin blades crossing as they struck. The cuts were shallow, but the shockwave unleashed by his Bloodwave cut through the creature’s body, the impact digging into its flesh and widening the wound beneath its carapace.
The spider shrieked, legs twitching erratically as it staggered and turned its attention to Lucas.
It never got the chance to close the distance.
A second crimson flash burst against the wound Lucas had opened. Roy’s arrow struck with perfect precision, embedding itself just before it exploded, tearing through what remained of the spider’s neck.
Roy lowered his bow, a faint smile forming as he confirmed the kill.
Before the creature’s body had fully collapsed, Lucas was already gone. He leapt back into the trees, vanishing from the battlefield just as Mirion’s body surged with violent energy, his skill fully awakened.
Mirion’s entire body was cloaked in crimson light. The veins on his forehead had bulged to the surface, and his eyes had darkened into a near-scarlet hue, with fine red capillaries threading through the whites. He wasn’t glancing around or reacting, his gaze locked onto one spider at a time, and once he picked a target, he pursued it with the focus of a predator gone mad.
Now he was chasing the largest one he’d seen.
The creature wasn’t running. It hadn’t even noticed him yet. And by the time it did, the ground behind Mirion was already shattered from the force of his charge.
He tore through the smaller spiders without slowing, slipping past their rune-covered limbs, ignoring every threat that wasn’t in his path. When he finally closed the distance, he kicked off the earth with enough force to crack the stone beneath his feet. His body launched forward, limbs tucked in, eyes locked on the kill.
The axe caught the light just before he crashed into the spider.
The impact sent a spray of loose stone and dirt in every direction. One of the spider’s legs flew off, severed cleanly before it could raise a proper defense. It let out a shriek, staggered, then tried to shift its weight to recover, but it was already too late.
Mirion’s axe came from the side this time, arcing low in a brutal swing aimed at both front limbs.
The blow landed with a sharp, tearing crack. The spider’s exoskeleton buckled on contact, and two more legs split at the joint. Dark green blood spilled across the ground, thick and stinky, but Mirion didn’t stop.
He shifted his stance, planting his right foot and driving forward, striking again - this time lower, beneath the twisting body. The spider collapsed instantly, its balance gone. It never had the chance to right itself.
The axe came down one final time, splitting through its head and silencing the beast in a single strike.
He’s become so strong...
Mirion had already broken into another charge, locking onto a new enemy before the blood of the last one had even finished soaking into the ground. He was trying to kill as many as he could before the skill wore off.
Tekla was busy as well, moving from one wounded Velmoryn to another, using my divine power without even the courtesy of asking anymore. She had grown bold, confident, even, to the point of assuming I wouldn’t let so much as a shallow wound heal naturally. She was leeching off my Divinity Points without hesitation, treating it like a flowing spring instead of a finite resource.
And I couldn’t exactly stop her. What kind of god complains about running low on power? At least not out loud… Especially not over something as petty as minor battlefield wounds. Healing them didn’t cost much anyway - barely 0.1 points unless the injury was truly life-threatening.
“Priestess, he needs aid,” one of the Velmoryns said, bringing a warrior with a deep gash carved across his side.
Tekla didn’t hesitate. She placed both hands against the wound, pressing her palms to his abdomen as she began channeling my power without even a glance toward the heavens. And each time she did it, I felt the drain. I had to consciously relinquish that energy, which only made the whole thing feel more aggravating.
“Thank you, priestess,” the man said, standing straighter as the skin beneath her hands sealed like it had never been torn.
“Do not thank me,” Tekla replied calmly as she placed one hand over her chest. “Offer your thanks to our God.”
At least she remembers where it comes from
The tide had started to turn in our favor. My Velmoryns were finally gaining ground, killing off the spiders one by one, their coordination improving, their morale rising. For the first time since the battle began, I let myself relax. I thought the worst was already behind…
Then the ground shook.
It wasn’t a tremor. It was a deep, rolling impact that made the trees sway and sent a ripple across the battlefield. The remaining spider mutants froze where they stood, and for a brief moment, even the Velmoryns stopped attacking. The spiders prostrated themselves low against the ground - not in fear, but in reverence. It was like they were awaiting something far worse than death.
And then it arrived.
The earth near the treeline gave way, collapsing inward, and from the opening, a massive spider dragged itself into the light. Its size dwarfed anything I’d seen before. It was at least twice as large as the largest from the initial swarm, its body a deep, sickly green that shimmered with oily sheen under the sunlight.
But it wasn’t alone.
Behind it, the trees broke apart as more monsters stepped into view. Dozens, no, a full hundred, each one the size of the behemoths Velmoryns had already struggled to bring down. They didn’t charge. Not yet. They stood behind the green giant, waiting.
The massive spider paused, its eyes sweeping across the battlefield, scanning, studying. And in that single breath of stillness, everything quieted. Even the wounded stopped groaning.
Then it shrieked.
The sound tore through the air like a blade - high-pitched, unnatural, and overwhelming. It wasn’t a cry. It was a command.
And soon, every one of those monsters surged forward.
