Tunnel Rat Chapter 167 (Patreon)

Raw, just finished, need a donut and coffee before I collapse. This will get some more work, as I'm sure there are errors or badly phrased areas of it. But here's the big fight. Feedback appreciated

H'Splat hissed and screamed at her host of arachnids. "Kill it! Kill it quickly! Sting and Claw, Bite and Slash! Fill it with poison or it will kill us all!" H'Spat had seen Cheese Fiends fight during the Mammal Rebellion and the Rightous War of Glory. The beasts were nearly unstoppable unless poisoned quickly and worn down by swarming them. They slaughtered many of the lower ranks in their frenzy, but that was far better than letting the Fiend Tenders herd them into battle and use them tactically.

One time a fiend had made it to one of the Queens. It had died to the potent poison that a queen produced, but only after it had ripped her limb from limb along with her guards, daughters, and entourage. The standing orders in all spider armies were to swarm a fiend and tie it down, regardless of the loss of soldiers. The lower ranks could be replenished in only a season or two. It took decades for a Queen to grow to maturity, and fully half of them died to politics along the way.

This one was defying the might of her army. It moved in unpredictable patterns, spinning and hopping like a manic grasshopper on bounceweed. Behind it, support mages were casting healing spells and causing confusion in her army. If it wasn't for one small fact, H'Spat might have fled: The fiend was staying in one spot. It danced and dodged in a circle, protecting the little rats and fluttering things in the center. And above them was a tear in reality.

The fiend and his strikeforce had come from it, and now they were defending it! It was the only thing that made sense. A much larger army was on the way! Or maybe...maybe the doorway led to something precious? Were they only guarding it until it could close? In either case, H'Spat knew she had to act quickly. "Send four of the largest brutes to guard the tunnel and send an assault group of spiderlings to keep the rats busy. Then all of the warriors are to attack the fiend. Work to get past him and kill the little fluttery things and mage-rats!"

Messengers saluted and scuttled away. The spider army abandoned its attack on the Hollow to focus on the Cheese Fiend killing in the rear of the army.

"I'm getting scared! Why are there so many spiders!" Sassy didn't like little spiders, and the big ones were horrifying.

"Just keep casting spells. Don't let them get to us!" Another burst of static electricity rolled out in all directions, stunning the spiders for a moment. Larry leaped as it was coming, avoiding the blast and smooshing two spiders with his feet as he landed. Before the recovered he spun, kicking three spiders and cracking their carapaces. Then he leaped to the other side of the circle to inflict damage on the spiders surging from that direaction.

The bodies of dead arachnids were thick on the ground, but more kept coming.

Above Clan Puffy fur floated four of the fairies where were using their magic to create barriers to slow the spiders down. Prickly bushes sprouted in a ring, ice coated the ground, and sticky taffee rained from the sky. Below, Redfawn was trying to keep Justin alive. "I'm going to need help soon. My mana is getting low, and I can't neutralize the poison! He got bit so many times."

"Coming!" Gingersnapple dropped next to redfawn and poured a potion over him, buying Redfawn a moment to catch her breath.

The sheer mass of spiders were starting to overcome Larry. Spider ichor was making the ground slippery, and the bodies had caused him to trip more than once. His weasel slippers were panting hard but keeping him up. Pansy yelled out. "Jump!" Larry jumped high. All five puffyfurs had linked hands and cast a spell with most of their remaining mana. Thunder and lightning crashed as electrical arcs toasted spiders in a 40 foot radius. Larry came down and hopped twice to wear Black Widow Assassin was looking at where her front legs were missing. Larry punted her into the ceiling where she was impaled on a jutting stalactite.

The spider army paused for a second, and nearly retreated. H'Spat screamed them. "He tires! The mages are out of mana! Now is the hour of victory!" The spiders moved to attack again.

From the tunnel, electrical arcs exploded, toasting and killing all of the assulting spiderlings. Into the tunnel moved shadowy figures. "Fire in the hole!"
A trail of smoke and flame followed the trail of a dark steel armor-piercing, anti-monstrosity rocket. It struck one of the Brutes and exploded, scattering legs and pieces of chitin. A second Brute standing in range was the next target, and like the first, exploded spectacularly into spider parts. Boom-Boom and Narwhale moved up to the front of the tunnel and began reloading as Milo ran past them.

An exploding skull sent dust and debris into the air, confusing the last two brutes. In the brief time they had shielded their eyes, the armored rat-caster had disappeared from view. The one on the left quit worrying about finding Milo as the end of his high leap put him right in front of it, Shadowblight using all the momentum of the leap and a two-handed swing to penetrate the spider's skull. Charged with mana, the spider's head exploded in grey goo. Shadowblight purred as it ate the spiders soul.

The second turned to attack and Milo rolled away, slashing with his tail. He gestured with his left hand and cast Harpoon of the Winds, puncturing it's thorax. Narwhales next shot was slightly off target, whizzing by the nobles rear and taking off one of its legs before the shell detonated in the middle of the throng of spiders surrounding Larry. Dead spiders were flung everywhere.
Milo took advantage of the nobles pain to kill it with three hits to the head with Shadowblight. The first shattered it's annoying steel helmet, the second cracked its carapace and the third blow obliterated its brain. Again, the spiteful weapon made a pleased noise.

Milo turned to Boom-Boom. "Use incindary shells to cause some panic." The dwarf gleefully pulled some of the bright red, napalm missles and loaded one up. Narwhale sent it speeding down the cavern to bring the gift of fire the eight-leggers.

Professor Arlothe emerged from the tunnel, leading a large group of students along with Professor Cremona. "Advance! Show the poison-huffers how a mage electrocutes a bug!"

Cremona was having none of that. "Charge them, use Velom's Venomous Vinegar Cloud, it has the best effect on spiders. Don't let the spark-heads score all the points."

Milo saw a large noble spider clinging to the wall of the caverns and shouting orders, encouragement and threats at the spiders attacking Larry. That one needed to go away.

H'Spat sensed death coming for her and dodged, pulling back her head barely in time to avoid a razor tipped bone missle as it impacted on one of her guards, killing it. She had only kept two guards next to her, sending the rest to battle. She regretted that now as the second guard leaped to intercept the second missle with it's own body. A Rat-Assassin was racing at her and preparing more spells. None of her soldiers were nearby. Her options were to run and take cover or face the creature in battle.

Then she saw the Spikey-stick in its paw. She laughed. This wasn't an assassin, it was a mage! A spikey-stick was a poor weapon used by only the cannon fodder of the rat-kin armies. The mage had used his best spell multiple times and was low on mana. This battle would be hers and her armor would revel in her victory! H'Spat ran at the mage before it could scamper away. To think it had almost outwitted her by its suicidal charge.

Milo saw his first two spells take out the Spider General's guards. That made things simpler, but he had hoped to end the fight with two well-placed spells. Casting Harpoon of the Winds like that drained down his mana. The noble was scuttling towards him. He knew it would leap at him, hoping to pin him and bring its sting into play. He moved directly toward it, then sprung to the side, rolled, and regained his feet. The noble had leaped at where he had been and hissed at him as it missed. He ran past it's back as it tried to turn, raking his left claw along a hind leg.

The spider was turning in a circle to follow him. Milo brought down one foot hard as Gilad had taught him, and spun, using his foot as the pivot point. His tail gained momentum in the long swing and the blow took advantage of the spider moving towards him. His tail slashed across its face, tearing out two of its eyes. Stunned by the pain, it failed to see the rune charged skull that rolled underneathe it.

Milo leaped in the air, putting the spider's body between himself and his spell. Shrapnel punctured the spider's underside, doing minor damage, but disorienting it. It desperately cast a spell, creating a cloud of poisonous smoke that would let it scuttle away and find help. But Milo was already on top of it. The last thing H'spat saw was Shadowblight heading for her eyes, the weapon glowing in the the cloud of poison and emitting a sound similar to the hissing a spider made when taunting a downed opponent.

The noble lost three more eyes as the spikes punctured them, and the rest when the weapon detonated inside her skull. She wasn't dead yet, but Milo kept swinging until there was nothing left of her head.

ShadowBlight accepts your offer of Noble Spider Souls. You aren't forgiven for breaking it, but this is a good start.
Three times each day, Shadowblight will poison your enemies with a Strong Poison, doing 100 points of damage for ten rounds.

Milo saw the notification. The tips of his weapon had a green tinge to it, and an additional spike had been added that resembled a noble spider's sting. It seemed...content? He put the thought aside and ran to the shrinking battle.

The spiders were in full retreat mode. Their general was dead, a Cheese Fiend was killing anything that got near him, and the rat army was advancing, throwing spell after spell. Only a fraction of them got away, and only because the mages staves ran out of mana.

Milo ran to Larry. His friends was in a frenzy, stomping dead spiders, and looking for live ones. He bled from many wounds, even his regeneration unable to keep up. Huge welts showed where he had been bitten, and in three places he had been stung by nobles, their venom still at work trying to kill him. The puffyfurs and fairies were clustered at Justin's body, exhausted and wounded. And scared. Their friend Larry had shown them a side of him they didn't know existed, and they didn't know how far that side had taken over. Milo tried to get his attention.

"Larry! Stop! It's Over"

Larry spun, his eyes seeing a spider and not his friend. He brought down his arms in a double handed claw strike. Rather than block, Milo hopped to the side. Larry hopped after him and slashed with his tail. Milo hopped back, then forward. Spun twice and put his hands on his ears. Larry tried to kick him, and put his hands on his ears. Milo hopped back. Larry hopped back. Redfawn flew up, and bells on her wings tinkled in tune with the hopping.

In the midst of thousands of dead spiders and ratkin, Milo and Larry danced the Happy Hampster Hop until Larry collapsed crying on the ground. "Larry is not a hero! He couldn't save Justin!. Larry's brother is dead!" Milo realized who was under all the webbing. The fairies were still casting healing spells, but looked grim. He ran to Justin and took his pulse. It was weak, but there.

Milo had two of the large healing potions from the caverns left. He pulled them from his ring and poured both of them down Justin's thoat. His pulse became stronger, but Milo knew this was a losing strategy. "Larry! Justin is alive, but I need a Hero to take him to the Old Healer."

Larry looked up, and ran to Justin, picking him up. "Hurry, Tallsqueak! We need to save Justin!" He raced off toward the Hollow. Milo followed him, barely able to keep up with his badly wounded friend.