Arc | Chapter. 47: Ancient Emera Spider (Patreon)

Chapter. 47: Ancient Emera Spider

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Ceylon could barely process what happened after the mysterious woman showed up. It all happened so fast, Regis’karr moved to her side and next thing she knew⁠— the entirety of the room exploded to multitudes of jagged limbs. And next thing she knew, she was outside surrounded by flames; hisses of agony resounding in her ears.

Ceylon blinked as Regis stood by her side, dozens of spiders burning around her, and the building next to her torn. She could see the shadow of the gigantic spider looming over the inn, a monster of jagged spikes and deformed appearance, its chitin black just like the darkest of nights, and yet⁠— Ceylon didn’t recognize it.

In all her memory, not a single monster fit the description of this grandiose spider, even though it was so distinct, nothing came close. Perhaps the Grand Emera spider did, but this spider before her was much bigger, more threatening, and specially stronger⁠—

The spider pounced into the building as ice exploded around, in random directions. Ceylon tensed as she realized the spider was going after Arc. And the reason was the person riding it; a woman that Ceylon quickly realized was the Hero of Spiders that Arc spoke about⁠— or Heroine. It didn’t really matter, all Ceylon knew was that Arc was in danger.

It wasn’t like other times, where Ceylon was concerned, this time it was different. Arc was fighting a hero and their monster, which only meant, it was a two against one. Two SS Tiers against one.

She shuddered for a moment as she turned to Regis’karr, who was frowning as dozens more of spiders were incinerated in an instant. Ceylon recognized them as Fledgling Imera Spiders, however she also saw Lesser variants as well, and they were all swarming around Ranedale, attacking any person in the vicinity.

Ceylon winced as an adventurer was overwhelmed, and Regis’karr just watched, shaking his head something that made her immediately turn to the dragon.

“Save him!”

“Huh, what for⁠—” And her eyes narrowed. Regis’karr frowned and flicked his fingers, and all the spiders around the adventurer burned to ash in an instant. “There, but I cannot save everyone here. My main duty is to protect you.”

Ceylon paused for a moment seeing Regis’karr’s serious expression. Her request hadn’t been unreasonable, not even close but she understood now, somewhat. She somewhat understood that Regis’karr was planning on serving Arc at least for a while, and that somehow he truly was serious about things.

But still, something had to be done, something in order to help Arc⁠—

At that moment, numerous buildings were demolished as even the ground beneath their feet froze. Ceylon could hear the deep spider hisses echoing along Ranedale, and she knew that without Regis, things would truly be dire. She took a breath, and spoke.

“You have to help Arc, she is facing a hero and a monster of the same tier as her, if you protect me till the bitter end, and something happens to Arc, then what will happen?”

Regis’karr frowned. “Arc⁠—heroes⁠— aren’t frail enough to die from just something like this. And I already told you, I’m here to protect you, and you only.”

“Yes, but you still have to help her. Even if Arc doesn’t die, what happens if she is repelled away and the Heroine of Spiders comes for us next, will you be able to protect me?” Ceylon asked, meeting his gaze. “Are you certain you will be able to fend two SS Tier beings while protecting me?”

Her words made Regis’karr hesitate. And Ceylon continued.

“You can just leave me at the forest with some protection Artifacts and I’m more likely to be fine, than if you let Arc be defeated.”

“I cannot leave you alone⁠—”

“If you don’t, then I will probably die,” Ceylon said unrelenting. “And Once Arc comes back, what will you tell her?”

“I⁠…” He hesitated and Ceylon continued.

“You need to help⁠—”

“Fine.” Regis’karr breathed, interrupting her before meeting her gaze once more. “I will help Arc, but first we must find you a safe place.”

Ceylon nodded, and they quickly set off as the city of Ranedale continued to erupt into chaos.

* * * * *

Dergan barked orders to the adventurers as the Hero of Frost began his bloodied fight with the Hero-ine of Spiders. He didn’t understand what happened, or how it happened, but it didn’t matter as everyone focused on fighting the spider infestation and saving the civilians. Even the Hero of Frost was actively saving people while fighting the Heroine of Spiders, somehow and in some way.

He watched for a few seconds as the armored hero valiantly repelled the attacks, with the use of two dual swords, parrying every hit from the spider, and even as the Heroine of Spiders tried to use skills to assist her grand monster, all it would do was push the Hero of Frost back but not defeat him.

At that moment, Dergan felt lucky to have someone like him around, as for Arc, she was nowhere to be seen. But he hoped she too was saving the lives of civilians. With that, Dergan turned around and continued on his duty.

* * * * *

[Ancient Emera Spider. Tier: SS]

Things were… irritating.

I was now essentially roleplaying as the Hero of Frost, with an ice armor. Perhaps, it had been a bad decision, and I should’ve fought the Heroine of Spiders as myself, but I didn’t want to risk getting found out by even more hero organizations, so here I was, in a fight in which I had to hold back, because⁠—

And I flicked, killing dozens of spiders with ice spikes, saving a small family. I couldn’t go all out, unless I decided to disregard hundreds if not thousands of innocent lives. So, I was stuck in a standstill with the Heroine of Spiders and her SS Tier Ancient Emera Spider. I wielded two swords of ice, parrying the large swipes from the spider monster, but I knew it was a status quo that couldn’t be maintained.

The Heroine of Spiders frowned. “What’s wrong? You sounded a lot more confident when looking for me just yesterday?”

I didn’t reply, for I knew I couldn’t even pretend to make a boyish voice in the middle of battle. The Heroine of Spiders scoffed and flicked her arm up. At that moment dozens of spider legs erupted from the ground aiming for my life, but it wasn’t hard to dodge, not at all. I stepped to the side, and following my instincts I swiped⁠—

Dozens of beautiful sword arcs destroyed and slashed through the attack in just a single moment, in comparison to training, this was nothing. The sight made the Heroine of Spiders let out a scoff.

“Sparky, out!”

At that moment, the Ancient Emera Spider let out a roar, the chitin around its body began to shine in a dark red luster, and with an awful hiss, it attacked. I blocked but felt my arms tremble in slight pain.

This is… I blinked in surprise, dodging an attack that nearly blurred in my vision. The spider is…

I backed off, using numerous skills at once to throw the spider back, but I couldn’t help but smile as I realized.

The spider was stronger than me as far as physical attributes went.

I wanted to fight it, I wanted to go all out against it, but I couldn’t here in Ranedale, not without disregarding my morals and to some extent my humanity. Which only meant…

I raised my swords to block, and the spider swiped⁠— they cracked and I was sent flying through the city, breaking numerous buildings as I crashed all the way into the town walls. My ice armor cracked as I felt actual pain, but now I only had to⁠—

And I paused, as the Heroine of Spiders laughed, the Ancient Emera Spider immediately shattered a building with two of its frontal legs.

“Now, I shall raze this city to the ground!”

Even more spiders swarmed into the city, hundreds if not thousands came right at me, and I snorted ⁠— [Ice Burst] ⁠— frost exploded around me, annihilating most spiders, but things were still complicated.

My mana was steadily being consumed, and I knew it wouldn’t last long enough to stop every single spider along with the Heroine of Spiders and her Ancient Emera Spider. Not unless, I did something different.

For a brief moment, I remembered my conversation with Regis in regards to learning new skills, and I had told the truth. I indeed had ideas, and there was no better situation to do it than this. Only when I fought, did I truly feel it, the need to do better; the desire to go above and beyond to surpass my own limits, and right now, I felt it.

I remembered all of my experiences from training, every instance I would mess with my skills, how I had created [Wrath of the Ice Queen] among other skills. And it was during those moments where I felt most alive. When I surpassed what I thought was possible with my powers, just like how I had taken Jake’s power and made it my own⁠— this was no different.

I extended both arms forward and clapped my palms pointing at the Ancient Emera Spider. Like [Frost Domain] but only taking the important parts… That feeling… I closed my eyes for a moment, remembering how it felt to cast [Frost Domain], remembering how my [Ice Creation] skill in order to craft it.

It was free, almost… sentient. I had to let my ice act by itself, mold itself, and follow my instincts, something completely different to everything else I knew, but that was…

I smiled feeling it from my heart as I called⁠—

“[Avatars of Frost]!”

Easy, was it not?

At that moment, hundreds of ice golems sprouted from the ground across all of Ranedale, the mana consumption negligible for its effect as the Overlord itself emerged in front of the Ancient Emera Spider, the Heroine of Spiders gasped, but before either of them could react the Overlord slammed⁠—

The Ancient Emera Spider was crushed in just a single moment, before pushing back. I smiled, contracting my hands into fists, and the Overlord⁠— shifted. It became a gigantic deer that charged the spider monster into numerous buildings, drawing a pained cry. The golems around began to kill all of the spiders.

As I sat there, manipulating the battle with nothing but my hands with a wide smile. The main avatar of ice became a gigantic silverback gorilla that threw the Ancient Emera Spider in my general direction⁠— destroying through rubble before hitting the adventurer’s guild and finally stopping in the middle of town.

The spider quickly rose as the Heroine of Spiders screamed.

“How dare you, you leave me no choice⁠—!”

And at that moment, a red shadow swept. The Heroine of Spiders was hit⁠— thrown out of town breaking through numerous trees in the forest. I blinked, seeing Regis, the Dragon of Flames flying directly above the Emera Spider. But before I could question him, he called to my mind.

“Ceylon has been placed in a safe place, I will deal with the Heroine of Spiders, you can deal with the Ancient Emera Spider.”

With those words he left. I had no choice but to believe what he said as I turned my attention back to the battle and⁠—

The main avatar of ice was thrown to the town entrance right next to me, then I turned back only to see the Ancient Emera Spider enter a frenzy in the middle of Ranedale. Destroying buildings left and right, with a red breath of mana.

The Heroine of Spiders was gone, which meant it was no longer being controlled. I watched as it easily toppled other buildings, ignoring even the people as it rampaged. And from my very brief observations I further confirmed my suspicions.

The Ancient Emera Spider was a worthy opponent for me.

I wanted to fight it so bad, but unfortunately, I couldn’t; not without destroying Ranedale completely. So far, about forty percent of town remained, but if I fought seriously everything would be gone.

Which is why I had to get it out of this town.

I clapped my hands once more, the main avatar of ice shifted to a gigantic Alkline Wolf that I quickly rode. With a single command, it ran across town and bit the SS Tier monster, drawing a cry for attention⁠— my hands moved and the Alkline Wolf became the Overlord once more, this time I stood over its shoulder as I gave the final command⁠—

The Overlord roared and slammed the Ancient Emera Spider down with all of its weight, before kicking it. It flew across the town near the entrance as I made an Ice Spear within my hand. And then, I took aim.

In order to fight it, I had to give my everything…

“[Ice Aura], [Haunting Sharpness]⁠, [Blessing of the Ice God], [Gift of Frost]...”

The skills blurred under my breath as I continued casting every single skill in quick succession. The Ancient Emera Spider finally got up and roared at us, but just before it could unleash a mana breath, I finished⁠—

“[Throw of Death]!”

And the spear left my hands.

It was like a burst of light, the surroundings it traveled through became frozen over in an instant and then, it hit⁠— the Ancient Emera Spider was hit, blood exploded as three legs flew through the air before the town walls burst⁠— frozen brick flew through the air as the monster was thrown out of town and into the Black Forest, breaking through dozens of trees as everything in its path became frozen over⁠.

And then, it stopped as frozen dirt flew over the horizon, but I knew it wasn’t done⁠.

With a smile, I called.

[God Step].

The world blurred around me, leaving the town behind and the golems to deal with the remaining spiders as I immediately found myself standing over a bloodied SS Tier being. With a smile, I cast an ice sword over it and then brought it down.

I heard death throes, before there was only silence.

And to think, it had taken just about half of my mana.

Then a system notification came, one that gave me pause.

[ The Ancestor of Emera Spiders sheds its primal exoskeleton to roam the lands once more as an Immemorial Beast. ]

The corpse, cracked, and then it burst⁠— chitin flew across the forest as a bright red spider emerged before me. All my senses screamed of danger as I used [Appraisal] once more, only to see something different⁠—

[Immemorial Emera Spider. Tier: SS]