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Ch 21 - When Monsters Collide
🕑 Added 2025-05-24 21:24:08 +0000 UTC“Spider mutants. Many of them,” I said, tensing instinctively. “And they seem to be already fighting...”
Everyone froze.
For a heartbeat, no one moved. All eyes shifted to Teryo, waiting for the order.
But it wasn’t him who moved first.
It was Huanir.
A low growl built in his throat as he kicked off the dirt. The ground behind him scattered. He bolted toward the sound without hesitation, without even glancing back.
I didn’t hesitate either. Dropped my bag, adjusted my grip on the sword, and ran. The weight of the shield dragged at my side, but I forced my legs faster. My lungs burned, but I kept pushing, following him through trees and rising screams.
The closer we got, the sharper the noise became—screams, shrieks, metal on chitin. Chaos, layered and violent.
Then the trees opened up.
A battlefield. Brutal, chaotic, loud. A Velmoryn tribe, easily twice the size of mine, maybe more, was under attack. At least fifteen spider mutants were scattered through their ranks, some already deep within, carving lines through their defense with piercing screeches.
But the Velmoryns weren’t panicking.
They’d formed defensive groups and held their ground. Some fought in paired rotations, others clustered tight, protecting their weak points. Unlike my tribe, this one had Warriors - physically built, properly armed, and able to take hits head-on. They weren’t many, but they made a difference.
One of them stood out immediately.
He was separated from his group, holding the line alone. He wore heavy armor, not ceremonial, not decorative - steel plate built for killing and surviving. In his hands, a longsword and a steel shield, both chipped but solid. Behind him, an older female Velmoryn was crouched low, clinging to his back as though he were the last wall between her and death.
A spider mutant loomed over them. It shrieked once, a raw, piercing sound, and raised one leg high above its body, aiming to drive it down like a hammer.
It struck with full force.
But the Warrior didn’t try to block it directly. He twisted at the last second, angling his shield so the impact slid off to the side.
Even so, the hit was brutal. A metallic clang rang out across the battlefield as he staggered, knees nearly buckling from the force. He held his ground, barely.
Should I help him?
I hesitated. Looked around, searching for Huanir in the chaos.
No sign of him.
I turned back to the Warrior and started toward him, closing the distance quickly.
I was just a few steps away when something dark flashed through the corner of my vision.
A black shape burst from the treeline. A beast, silent and swift, slammed into the Warrior’s head and latched on. He barely made a sound before it tore him backward off his feet. The armored Velmoryn thrashed, swinging wildly as he was dragged into the forest like a doll being carried by its predator.
The creature didn’t pause. It shook him once, hard, then disappeared with him between the trees.
I stood there, processing what I’d just seen.
Huanir?
I looked around again, scanning for anyone else who might’ve seen it. No one else, just the elder female stunned from what she had seen.
When I turned back, Huanir had already returned.
He moved without a trace of guilt, charging straight toward the spider mutant that had attacked the Warrior.
Was he this fast yesterday? Or were those other spiders just stronger than this one?
I stood there, wide-eyed, as Huanir sprang forward and leapt onto the spider’s back in one fluid motion. The creature jolted beneath him, bucking wildly and twisting, trying to throw him off.
But it was already too late.
Huanir drove his claws into the creature’s back, burying them past the first layer of chitin. The spider screeched, not in rage, but panic. It was a raw, guttural noise, full of despair. Something that realized it had misjudged its place in the food chain.
Huanir then leaned forward, opened his mouth far wider than I expected, and sank four sharp fangs into the top of the spider’s head.
A sickening crack echoed out as the skull gave way, followed by a sluggish gush of dense, green fluid.
The spider stopped moving almost immediately. Its limbs twitched once, then collapsed beneath it.
Limp. Dead.
I took a step forward. I might’ve even called out to Huanir, maybe congratulated him.
But he turned before I could speak, casual, calm, and tore out the throat of the female Velmoryn the Warrior had tried to protect.
She didn’t scream.
She dropped in place, her hands still gripping the grass, her eyes wide and confused.
I froze for a moment. Not from the sight or fear, but from how much I had misjudged Huanir. He was an uncontrollable beast, and in the future, I’d have to teach him what to kill and what not to.
Well… at least now there’s no one left to say he killed that Warrior.
I wanted to check on him, see if the spider mutant’s blood had poisoned him again, but before I could move, he ran straight past me. He leapt clean over my head and landed ahead of me, claws extended, tail steadying him as he took a low, aggressive stance.
A new threat had arrived.
Not just one spider.
Two.
And they were not going to wait.
“Huanir, I’ll need your help against them,” I said, keeping my voice firm as I adjusted my footing and lowered my center of gravity. The stance wasn’t elegant, but it would make it harder to knock me off balance. “And stop attacking Velmoryns.”
He didn’t acknowledge the command. His body stayed low, pressed almost flat to the ground, muscles tensed, claws twitching as they scraped the ground. The growl in his throat was soft but steady, indicating the anticipation.
I raised my shield, shifting it into position to cover most of my body while keeping the line of sight clear. The spider mutants split, flanking from both sides.
“That was a mistake,” I muttered under my breath. A thin smile tugged at the edge of my mouth. One opponent was more manageable than two.
I didn’t look back. Huanir would handle his side, I didn’t doubt that. My only job was to stay alive long enough for him to finish and come help.
I heard the sharp scrape of claws against the earth, then a heavy thump as he leapt forward. He had already charged.
But I held still. I wasn’t going to attack. Not yet.
Last time, I had Roy at my side. This time, I was alone, and I wasn’t foolish enough to test myself against a spider mutant without backup. If I misjudged once, there wouldn’t be a second chance.
The spider across from me grew restless. It let out a shriek - loud and high-pitched, meant to overwhelm the weak-willed.
It didn’t work.
I stood my ground without flinching, the scream washing over me like wind through dead leaves. My mental resistance was far superior.
The creature twitched, annoyed that its attack had failed.
Then it reared back and spat.
The stream of green liquid wasn’t a spray. It was a tight, fast arc of rot, the same type I’d seen before. I recognized it immediately.
Whatever it touched would decay instantly.
I moved to the side, but not fast enough. The spit was already too close. I braced the shield in front of me and caught the full blast, feeling the sharp impact.
I waited for the hiss, for the bubbling of wood as it eroded under the acid, but nothing happened.
The green slime slid across the shield’s surface and dropped to the ground with a dull thud, more like gel than fluid. Where it touched, the grass withered and the earth turned black.
The shield remained untouched.
Must be the material. Oak Guardian’s roots are likely too strong for that rot to affect.
The spider hesitated. Its eyes watched the shield as if trying to understand what had gone wrong.
Then it spat again, this time mid-charge.
The angle was tight. The timing worse.
I can block the spit, or dodge the charge. Not both.
The trap was obvious. The shield was too heavy for me, so I dropped it and dove aside.
The rot-mass passed harmlessly beside me, and the mutant’s charge slammed into the dirt where I’d been.
But the spider mutant didn’t pause.
It twisted, legs hammering the ground behind me. I rolled fast, the sharp edge of its limbs tearing into the soil a half-second behind my heels.
Dirt scraped against my arms, stinging across torn fabric and bruised skin, but I stayed ahead of the impacts.
The beast slowed down, unable to keep the momentum for long and I saw an opening, just a breath of space. I pushed off the ground and came up fast, lungs burning, limbs sore but steady.
I was still breathing.
Still balanced.
I was wrong, I can’t stay on the defensive. I need to take the initiative.
I changed tactics immediately.
Phantom Step.
The pull was instant. A sudden shift, like something had gripped the back of my neck and yanked me through the world’s shadow. I reappeared on the spider mutant’s back, crouched between two armored ridges.
The moment I registered where I was, I raised my sword and tightened my grip, aiming for the back of its head. I drove the blade down with full force, expecting to hear the satisfying crunch of metal cutting through bone.
Instead, my entire arm rattled with recoil. A sharp vibration shot through the hilt, nearly forcing me to drop it. The chitin hadn’t cracked.
Even on the back, I can’t pierce its shell.
The moment my attack failed, the spider reacted. It hadn’t realized I was on top of it until now, but once it did, it started leaping erratically, thrashing and bucking, trying to throw me off. I had no claws to anchor myself like Huanir did. I didn’t waste time. I jumped, landed hard, and rolled to break the impact. The air left my lungs and dirt bit into my palms, but that was the least of my problems.
So this is what Teryo must have felt like when his attacks could not do anything against that spider.
I needed something stronger. A weapon that could cut through its armor, or a skill that could compensate. But none of my skills were offensive. Nothing I had could overpower it directly.
I scanned the battlefield.
Now that I’d accepted I wasn’t going to win this one on my own, I needed the others. Fast.
It didn’t take long to spot them. Ninali and Teryo were supporting a smaller Velmoryn formation that had lost their damage dealers. They were holding, but only just. Aria was alone, locked in a duel with another spider. She would definitely win against a single target enemy. Vaelari was crouched low, healing an injured pair behind a giant tree, his attention split between wounded Velmoryns and nearby threats.
This means my only hope is Huanir.
I turned my focus back to the mutant. It had stopped flailing, and now its movements were steady and locked on. The frenzy had passed, and what was left was rage, directed straight toward me.
Let’s keep using Phantom Step for now. It doesn’t have a cooldown anyway.
It made sense. With no delay between uses, I could stay ahead of it. The spider couldn’t hit what it couldn’t reach.
Phantom Step.
The shift pulled me sideways, one blink forward, another few feet of space gained.
Phantom Step.
Another jump. Another dodge.
Ph…
The fifth use hit different.
A wave of nausea surged through me. My vision swam. I staggered, barely keeping my footing.
The system hadn’t warned me, hadn’t shown any mana cost. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t one.
I’d made a stupid mistake.
The spider was still charging, gaining ground fast, and now my only escape option could be used two or three more times.
How’s Huanir doing?
He was outside the area I was observing through the Window, so I had to look for him.
And when I found him, I froze.
He wasn’t winning.
Huanir was locked in combat with two spider mutants, his body moving smoothly, but there were tears in his hide, blood in his fur. He was holding, barely, but he wasn’t coming to help me.
He wasn’t coming at all.
He was worse off than I was.
I was on my own. The mutant in front of me had nearly closed the distance, and I didn’t have enough mana left to keep using Phantom Step.
I adjusted my grip on the sword. Steadied my breathing.
There was no way out now.
I looked up at the spider bearing down on me and tightened every muscle I had left.
Then I roared.
“Praise be to the God of Velmoryn!”
