Rise of the Blood Weaver - Chapter 88 (Patreon)

Arlo slunk deeper into the crevice. If he had to take a guess as to how deep he was within the pillar, then he would most likely be in the centre. Arlo walked up to the snake that Vyr had slain. It was time to claim his reward. 5 whole Monster cores. If he managed to take them back–which he couldn’t–he would be rich beyond belief.

If Arlo remembered correctly, then 5 Monster cores could easily reach over 5 million dollars. It was an exorbitant price. But one had to remember that for someone to take cores back through the gateways, they had to be a Saint. And there were only so many Saints back on Earth.

However, Arlo was certain that the number was higher than people believed. After all, if people were so serious about keeping their identity hidden, which they were. Then there were probably dozens of Saints that no-one was even aware of.

“What are the chances of this thing falling down?” Arlo asked as he nervously gazed at the walls while elbow deep in snake brain. At this point, he wasn’t even aware that what he was doing was considered gory. He was just desensitised by it now.

Justin grabbed hold of the lizardman's arm. “How long’s a piece of string?”

“What?” Arlo asked, then blinked as Justin tore the beast's arm from its body. “What are you doing?”

“I’m hungry,” Justin replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “Do you see any other food in these parts? In fact, now's a good chance to get a good meal in your stomach. Who knows when the next time we’ll encounter another fleshy monster in the desert.”

“I’m good, thanks,” Arlo said, shaking his head. “I’ll eat the snake. I don’t think I’m there yet to consume a… well, humanoid.”

“Creatures aren’t capable of thought. So what difference does it make?”

“What about Zekorian?”

“Who?”

It was then that Arlo realised that he hadn’t even told the others about his name. I must have been too busy with survival to share that information, Arlo thought.

“It was from the God’s Quiz. That guy.”

“Ohh,” Justin said in realisation. “Yeah, well he wasn’t a creature. He was a Fallen. In human terms, he was an Ascended. One step away from becoming a Demi-god. Or in creature terms, Under-Lord.”

“Seriously,” Arlo said, ripping out one of the cores from within the snake's head. “Why didn’t the first Striders keep the same tiers for both humans and monsters? It’s all so confusing having both.”

Justin ripped off another arm. “Well, I’m sure it had something to do with not wanting to be lumped in with crazed, thoughtless monsters?”

“Yeah, that’s probably it,” Arlo said in agreement. He finished fishing out all the other cores the snake had before pocketing them. He sneaked one to Justin, who absorbed it on the spot. He flashed him a knowing smile.

Arlo thought of giving Merc one as well, but she was busy guarding the entrance along with Elian. He also wanted to give Elian one, but he was the only one that didn’t know about his unique core. He may already have an assumption, but Arlo wasn’t comfortable outright telling him.

He felt guilty. Guilty of keeping secrets. But if the event with Louis told him one thing, it was that even if he trusted the other person; the world was still out to get them. There was no way of knowing who would keep their sanity. Arlo only gifted one to Justin because he could truly call him a friend.

Merc was the same. Sure, she had the grim thoughts of sacrificing the few for the many, but Arlo still considered her a friend. His time with her in the academy only reaffirmed those thoughts. It was difficult to change his mind on her all of a sudden just because of that.

“Justin, Arlo, get over here,” Merc said.

A second later, holy light blazed from Merc’s sword, and the twang of Elian’s bow fired in rapid succession.

Both of them dashed over to the mouth of the crevice. Arlo didn’t have to gaze down to know what was happening. Clawing their way out of the sand, were strange, mole-like monsters. Each one of them was at least 9 feet tall. They had feeler-like whiskers, and they attacked with disgusting looking teeth.

There were at least 15 of them emerging from the surface. And the number was steadily growing.

Arlo commanded Vyr to stride ahead. He sprinted past Merc and cleaved his bloody-blades into their flesh. In a relentless storm of attacks, he killed his target in 50 or so seconds. For Vyr, that meant that the mole was a tough opponent. It was immediately made apparent as to why.

[You have slain a Tier 3 Monster, Desert Mole.]

| Your blood becomes stronger.

Shit, Arlo spat. His thickened appendage lashed out to Merc’s side, whipping a mole in the face. Its head smacked to the side, but it was nonetheless unharmed. Realising that he no longer had the strength from sacrificing his fragments, he created his tendrils back into thin lances. With [Void Sanctum] on his back, he thrust his lances out in quick succession. He didn’t stop.

His teammates were the same. He had never seen them attack so fast before. Shadow lances, thudding of high powered arrows, and the cleaving of Merc’s mighty two-handed sword.

Arlo heard something amongst the sand thud. He ignored it.

And there were the savage moles, and Vyr who danced atop the sand in a bloody storm even though it was essentially like quick sand.

Arlo heard something whirl towards him.

“Watch out!” Elian was the first to see the attack and give the warning.

Arlo flung himself to the side, his shoulder crashing against the wall. He winced in pain. But that was nothing compared to what could have been. A rock hurtled passed where he once stood, and continued in a blur until it shattered against the back wall of the cave. Crash. The sound echoed outwards.

Sweat beaded across his forehead. His eyes snapped out of the cave. A mole at least double the size of the others crashed out of the sand like a breaching whale once more.

It was so dark. The only light source was from the Eternal Lanter, but Arlo could barely make the image out. From above its massive head, four even larger boulders hovered. The mole looked straight at Arlo and his team. Arlo felt something indescribable well up inside of him. It was a Monster that was one step away from reaching the next evolution.