The Calling of Wrath - Chapter 32 - The Inner Ring (Patreon)

                                                                             Cassandra
                                                            Year 819 | Month 1 | Day 21

It takes less than three minutes before I begin to hear strange skittering sounds coming from around me.

I tense up slightly while spreading my claws and letting go of Thrix 2 for a moment in preparation.

Several seconds pass as the skittering sounds grow more numerous until suddenly, a meter-long spider jumps out of one of the bushes around us.

Right as I’m about to identify the creature, a flash of yellow light comes from the hocka-thing next to me and the spider turns to stone before slamming into the ground. I glance towards Thrix 2, only to find the creature crouching behind my back while staring at the spider.

Oh? So is the little guy finally opening up to me?

Although it might also just be that I haven’t actually attacked it despite dragging it everywhere.

Several more of the little spiders jump out of the bushes, but I quickly slash my claws through the closest one, killing it in an instant as its blood splashes onto my hand and begins burning like acid.

“Shit!” I grunt while flicking my hand to get the acidic blood off, only for more of the spiders to reach me and begin biting my legs.

Each and every one of their bites leaves a burning sensation similar to their acidic blood, and I begin to feel extremely irritated with their actions.

I quickly use siphon on all of the pests, draining them of their Wrath and making them attack with less gusto before slashing through them back to back with my claws. All while ignoring the acidic blood constantly getting onto my hands.

At some point in the middle of the fighting, I manage to make eye contact with one of them and identify it.

I frown at the word spiderling without stopping in my killing spree.

If the babies are level 9, then just how strong are the parents?

It’s at that thought that I hear a loud screeching sound echoing from within the red mist around us.

Shit, is this one of the parents?

I glance at Thrix 2, only to find it struggling pretty badly against the few spiderlings that actually went at it before focusing on the red mist again.

Sorry fella, but you’ll have to survive on your own for the moment.

As if on cue, a two meter long spider – about twice the size of the other spiderlings – jumps out of the bushes. It has glowing purple eyes, with eight short, furry limbs and some strange liquid leaking out of where its spinnerets should be.

Liquid that begins to drip onto the ground once the creature lands outside of the bushes before immediately melting the leaves and grass around it.

Some sort of acid then.

I rip apart two more spiderlings before identifying the large one and narrowing my eyes.

It’s a level below me, but it’s still Tier 2.

I turn back to Thrix 2 again, only to surprisingly find it surrounded by a few marble statues with only a few painful looking wounds.

However, the next second its eyes begin to flash yellow while looking behind me in the direction of the Tier 2, but when I turn around to look, all I find is part of a single one of the creature’s limbs turning to marble. And even then, the petrification stops after only reaching the base of the claw at the end of the limb.

Guess it can still petrify monsters of a higher Tier after all. It just can’t fully petrify them. Or even petrify all that much of them for that matter.

Anyways, the nericalla lets out a loud screech in what I’m assuming is pain before immediately charging towards Thrix 2, who I think I’ll be elevating to Thrix instead for this contribution.

I quickly cut through the last of the spiderlings before blocking the Tier 2 off from the exhausted hockathrix. It doesn’t take well to that and tries swiping on of its clawed limb at me, only for me to duck under it and bring my claws back around to cut through the limb, tearing five jagged gashes through it and making its screech raise once more in pitch.

A warm feeling spreads through me from my claws, followed immediately by another use of siphon, except on the Tier 2 this time to top me off and finish closing off the last of my wounds; including the burns I just got from cutting through its limb.

Surprisingly, the creature actually begins to back off before attempting to run away.

My eyes widen in surprise, but I quickly take off my boots and jump after it, barely managing to land on its back while digging the claws on both my hands and feet into its body. The creature’s screech once again raises in pitch as it tries to shake me off, but after another flash of yellow light shines from Thrix’s direction, another one of its limbs becomes partially petrified and it loses a lot of its momentum.

I take advantage of this to let go of it with one of my claws and instead stab straight into the back of its head, piercing through several inches in and quickly digging around in the acidic blood, all while wounds constantly melt open on me, only to close up again from my life steal.

After just a few seconds of doing this, I get the note on the corner of my vision about gaining EXP and jump off of the creature’s body.

I quickly use the self-repair and cleaning functions of my outfit to get rid of the blood burning through me and my clothes before flinging my hands and feet to get off as much of the blood there as possible until it finishes burning.

Right as I’m about to relax a little and turn towards Thrix, I hear another screech – similar to the one this Tier 2 monster made, but much stronger and louder – echo through the red mist of the inner ring.

Shit.

I quickly grab Thrix and begin sprinting off as far from the screech as possible.

That one wasn’t the parent.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Table of Contents

For those of you who can't see the images:

________________________

Name: N/A

Species: Nericalla Spiderling

Level: 9

________________________

________________________

Name: N/A

Species: Nericalla

Level: 12

________________________