Spider Genomix

Roko thought he was dead. When it was clear that he wasn't, he thought his body was disintegrating from the venom. He laid peacefully underwater as he slowly awaited his slow, numbing end. Then the monster that fell into the trap hole with him began attacking him, forcing Roko to move his body to defend himself. He grabbed the monster by the jaws, keeping the teeth from snapping at him as the tentacles reached over to grab at his face. Turning around, Roko spotted the outstretched leg of a spider and impaled the monster on its tip. Now clearly evident that he was fine and not suffering any maladies, Roko felt silly for being so cautious around such a feeble poison. Though it was aged quite a bit and its effects were largely lost. That said, his analyze did warn against exposing himself to the poison. For what reason, he didn't know but he knew better than to doubt his own spell. But now that he was here, there wasn't much he could about it though there was now something else he could do.

Roko grabbed onto another leg of a grave spider, stretched out towards the surface like the spider was trying to escape itself. With a strong pull, Roko ripped the entire leg off from the corpse and swam up to the surface of the water. Breaking out of the venom, Roko coughed and was immediately assaulted with the unique smell of the venom mixed with the rotting corpses at the bottom. Paddling over to the edge of the hole, Roko hung the leg over his shoulder and grabbed onto what handholds he could find and began pulling himself up. As he climbed, his mind became aware of the Corissa's voice calling out to him from above.

"Roko! Over here!"

Roko reached out and grabbed onto Corissa's hand, pulling himself onto land with great effort. He knelt there, catching his breath for a quick moment before surveying the situation. An ice shell had been formed around them with Varis standing by in front of them. So Varis retreated. Roko thought. That wasn't ideal.

"Sorry!" Corissa said panically as she rummaged through the back pack for something that might help, "Sorry, I didn't mean to slip up like that!"

"It doesn't matter now." Roko coughed as he forced his body up, "We still need to escape and now there's one more thing I have to do."

"One more thing?" Aida frowned.

Roko walked up next to Varis and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'll leave them to you."

Varis looked back at him in confusion but Roko was already pushing forward, climbing over the icy barricade and dropping onto the monster riddled battlefield below.

When Roko landed, the monsters actually gave him a bit of room and held off from attacking him. Maybe it was the scent of poison all around him or that he was already essentially a dead man that they didn't feel the need to attack a sickly prey like him. Whatever the reason, Roko wasn't going to go down without struggling until the very end.

Roko pulled the claw he ripped off off his body and held it in both his hands.

"You're not the only one who can weaponize corpses." Roko gasped and he swung the claw around and cut down a large swath of monsters. The monsters began to attack immediately but Roko kept swinging the arm, cutting down dozens upon dozens of monsters at a time. Roko wasn't exactly trained in wielding a leg but functionally, it was like a three section staff with a scythe head as one segment. Not that Roko had training in that either but even wildly swinging it around was enough to keep the danger at bay as he mowed his way forward. In the distance, Roko could hear Corissa pleading for him to come back. Roko didn't know if she figured out what he was planning to do but the voice wasn't getting any closer so Varis was probably doing a good job keeping her safe. There might not even be a need to do this. But it was something that only Roko could do and to him, that meant it was something he had to do.

With one last swing, Roko broke through the horde and arrived in front of the pillar of flesh once more. Without a hint of hesitation, Roko lifted a foot and stepped right into the venomous pond. Walking through the once deadly waters, he stepped up to the pillar which had sealed up after he cut it open the first time. Roko looked back at the monsters who lingered at the edge of the pool. Though they remained at the border, they didn't seem agitated. Perhaps they were curious about what he was going to do as they simply sat there, watching quietly. Perhaps they knew what Roko was planning to do and was intrigued to see if he would actually do it. At any rate, it didn't seem like they were going to get in his way. So Roko turned back to the pillar, dropping the leg and drawing his sword once more.

"Are you watching me for entertainment or to learn?" Roko muttered as he sliced away at the tendrils once more, "I've gotten this far with no ill effects but at this point, the effects of this poison will either be inert or incredibly slow acting. How damaged will I be at the end? Or am I already dead? Either way..."

With one last cut, Roko opened a hole in the pillar and venom poured out once more as he sheathed his sword.

"If you've drank some poison, then you mind as well lick the bowl clean."

Taking a deep breath, Roko plunged his head into the draining poison and forced his entire body into the pillar. It took some awkward effort but once Roko managed to get himself to stand inside the pillar, the pillar sealed back up and a strong tide threw him up into the spherical chamber at the top. He floated there for a moment as he looked around and spotted the book floating right in the center of the chamber. Paddling over to it, Roko took hold of it and turned to look for some way out. There was no way back the way he came, the hole had sealed once again and there was a strong circulation that stopped him from getting too close. He searched for any possible way out. Some where he can escape from before his breath ran out. His eye were drawn to the gem that was embedded in front of the pillar's dome. From the inside, he could see the outside at least partially. Roko punched the gem-like plane a few times, testing its durability. There wasn't much his tests could conclude but at this point, he was reaching his limit with his limited air. Roko drew his sword and with the rest of his strength, he stabbed it through the gem.

The blade broke through the gem and with a slash, the entire plane broke and water, or rather, venom began pouring out again. Roko was drawn out by this new current and was thrown back out into the cave, falling right into the pool. He pushed his dreary body up out of the poison. There was no doubt this much exposure to this toxin was finally starting to affect his body. His body twitched and jolted, stopping periodically as if it was slowly becoming paralyzed. His body felt heavy, not just with fatigue but with some sort of foreign element, like the venom had invaded his body and was weighing him down. His breaths came out ragged and he felt his eyes unfocusing.

"Roko!"

Roko felt two pairs of arms grab onto him and pull him out of the pool. There was no way, the monsters weren't attacking now, he could hear the sounds of battle but it felt so far away from him. He could hear Corissa saying something but his mind couldn't keep up with what she was saying. Instead, he pushed his body up and shoved the book into her arms.

"Go." Roko gasped, "Leave me and go!"

"I can't just leave you!" Corissa cried as she hugged the book, "We're escaping together! Come on, I'll-"

"I'm just going to be dead weight now. Just leave me and go!"

"No!" Corissa cried, tears coming to her eyes, "I'm not leaving without you!"

"Aida, take her with you."

"M-Me?!" Aida yelped.

"I'm too much of a liability, you know that. Get Varis to drag you two out of here! He can do it by himself. It's up to you. I'm not worth saving."

"That's not true!" Corissa said as she placed the book down on the ground, "Come on, I'll help support you-"

Aida watched as Corissa continued to try and pick Roko up who kept resisting her attempts. Behind them, Varis was firing off every spell he could, blasting wave after wave of monsters with his magic. Roko was right, there was no way to escape with all of them together. Especially when Corissa was desperately adamant about escaping together. The monsters kept coming, from every nook and cranny without end and the black knight couldn't possibly hold out all on his own. It was all up to Aida now. She was the only one who could decide how they will escape...or go down fighting. Her mind felt numb, unwilling to process anything, unwilling to face the reality of their situation. Aida turned her shuddering eyes around, trying to find some way out...and her eyes rested on the book. And an idea came to her mind.

"Varis!" Aida shouted, "Come with me!"

"What?!" Corissa cried as Aida grabbed the book and ran off, "Where are you going?!"

Varis responded immediately, closely following the small child while still drawing attention away from Corissa and Roko with spells. Aida ran up to one of the trap holes and threw open the lid. Inside was a mound of corpses, drowning in aged venom like every other hole they saw. Aida held the book up to Varis,

"Light this on fire."

Varis looked at her and nodded, firing a small bolt of fire that immediately ignited the book. A scream seemed to come out of the book as it began to burn, its cover and pages twisting into grotesque shapes as more tentacle monsters seemed to try and form out of the book itself. This was exactly what happened when her father had set it on fire before but this time, Aida dropped it into the hole. The book fell into the venom but the fire didn't go out, boiling the water as it kept eating away at the pages. The book continued to stretch itself out becoming more and more fleshlike as it tried to save itself by spawning more monsters, trying to stop itself from burning up. Behind them, the monsters recoiled in pain and fear, trashing about in pain as if they were getting burned as well. Aida looked down at the book that was trying to pull itself out of the pit. Aida looked down at book with hate and disgust before saying,

"Burn it."

Varis flicked a spark of flame down the hole and upon hitting the book, the entire pit blew up in flames, evaporating the venom completely as a pillar of fire burst out from the pit, knocking Aida down on her butt in surprise. The screaming continued, more monstrous than ever before. The tips of some tentacles poked themselves out from the sides of the pit as a massive, eldritch face seemed to try and pull itself out of the pit. But in an instant, the flames suddenly became blue and the tentacles lost their grip, the face plummeted back down the pit before its screaming ceased altogether. Aida sat there, catching her breath before turning around to see that all the monsters that were swarming all over the cavern were gone. Not a single corpse remained, they were just gone, as if they just disappeared. Aida stood there, not quite willing to believe that all the terror and pandemonium was just...suddenly over. She turned to Roko and Corissa who was just as surprised and stunned at her, at a lost for words. Then Roko collapsed onto the ground.

"Roko?!"

The sun was setting when Corissa and Aida and company returned to the edge of the Paramnesia Wildwoods. Each of their friends had already arrived and turned to look at them as they arrived.

"Roko?!" Momo and Helena rushed over to the young man who was slung over Corissa shoulder, supporting what seemed like a dead man, "Are you okay?"

"He's just tuckered out." Corissa smiled tiredly.

"I'm not a kid." Roko sighed as he pushed himself off of Corissa, "I can stand now."

"What happened?!" Helena cried, "All the monsters suddenly disappeared! Not a single one is left in the forest! Where did you go?! What did you do?!"

"I'd like to know as well."

Roko could see someone walking up to them but his vision was still blurry, his eyes struggling to keep open but he could still see enough and he recognized the voice.

"Nice to see you show up when everything's all over, Zadkiel." Roko sighed.

"Hmmm...am I late or are you just too fast?" Zadkiel smiled, "You've properly outdone yourself today, Roko. You've impressed me time and time again."

"Not this time." Roko sighed, "The one who saved the day today is Aida."

"M-Me?!" Aida jolted, surprised at her acknowledgment and now attention.

"The monsters disappeared because the book they were summoned from was burned." Roko explained, "That was all Aida's decision."

"So your name is Aida." Zadkiel knelt down to look the young girl in the eyes, "You've been through a lot today haven't you?"

"N-Nothing I can't handle." Aida puffed up her chest, trying to look more intimidating than proud, "It's no big deal."

"I don't think you can call this no big deal." Kaguya chuckled.

"Hmmhmhm." Zadkiel smiled gently, "I'm glad to see someone of the Varin tribe was the one to end this eldritch menace. Your father would be proud that you were able to solve the problem they created. I'm sorry we couldn't help you more."

Aida looked away, now more pensive than embarassed.

"Now then." Zadkiel stood up again and looked Roko in the eyes, "I'm afraid I'm going to need more of an explanation than that."

"What do you want to know first?" Roko sighed.

"First, I heard of a book." Zadkiel said, "You're saying you found a grimoire?"

"As I stated, I found something like a grimoire but it didn't seem to have the same aura as a grimoire so I concluded that it was a copy."

"That's a serious problem if it's true." Zadkiel frowned, "Do you have any definitive proof?"

"If I was able to scan it, I probably could tell." Roko sighed, "Unfortunately, the monsters started attacking us before I could think to do that. But the fact that they were trying to protect it is pretty telling."

"I'm told this book was being kept in the flesh pillars. What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure how much you know but the pillars are where the monsters are created using the corpses of living beings. I suspect they were using whatever process for converting dead material to repair the book that was damaged by the Valrin tribe."

"And what do you think exactly happened with the Varin tribe exactly?"

Roko frowned, this is information that Roko had a hazy understanding of but Zadkiel had perfect knowledge of. This was no longer a briefing but a test. Roko considered how to answer quietly.

"From what I was told..." Roko sighed, "The book was found by her father and was unable to tempt them into using its power. Instead, it just disturbed the people that the decision was made to burn it. If it responded in the same way when we burned it, it began spawning monsters out of its pages and overran the village. From there, it used the collection of corpses to form an army to take over the forest."

"Mmhm." Zadkiel nodded along contently, "Not bad."

"For what it's worth, the corpse of the chieftain, Aida's dad, was left in the pillar at the village. I suspect that might be because he was the one the book tried to communicate with, making him the prime target for solidifying its power. It didn't use his body to create monsters, in this case, I suspect that whatever power was at play here it was using his body to legitimize this copy."

"Intriguing." Zadkiel grinned, "Then? What happened to you and your group?"

"Starting from where we set off this afternoon, we confirmed my theory of a correlation between nests and pillars though it didn't result in much else. Following that logic, we went on to examine more nests, but this time of predators."

"Predators?!" Helena cried, "Aw man, that...that makes sense!"

"In doing so we invaded the territory of the grave spiders."

"Grave spiders?!" Kaguya cried, "Those spiders are gigantic. They're the predators of many legendary creatures."

"I confirmed the existence of the book there but I was unable to get to it due to a large amount of venom that flowed all throughout the cavern. It was surrounding and flowing through the pillar as well. Attempting to retrieve the book, caused an endless army of monsters to attack us. We had a full hand keeping ourselves safe, much less attempt to retrieve the book. Attempts to escape got cut off by the monsters using a trap designed by the grave spiders. In the end, we managed to get the book back and burned it in order to escape."

"You're skipping over a lot of things there!" Corissa cried, "Are you not going to mention that you fell into the poison?!"

"You fell into the poison?!" Helena cried, "In the grave spider's poison?!"

"It was exposed to outside elements for so long that it lost much of its potency anyway." Roko muttered.

"And then, just because he fell in the poison already..." Corissa complained as she pulled on Roko's cheek, "This guy decided it would be fine to force himself into the poison filled pillar just to retrieve the book even though we decided to retreat! Can you believe this guy?!"

"That sounds like Roko." Helena smirked.

"Yeah, that checks out." Momo nodded.

"Figures." Kaguya sighed.

"I was literally dead weight." Roko muttered as he pulled Corissa's hand off his cheek, "You weren't getting out of there with me in tow."

"I don't want to hear it!" Corissa frowned, "You didn't need to go into that poison a second time! You think self sacrifice will some everything somehow?!"

"Hmm...the venom of grave spiders are deadly even to dragons." Zadkiel raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Well I don't think I'm going to die immediately." Roko replied, "But I do feel like I'm going to collapse at any moment."

"Then allow me to ask you one more question before we send you to the hospital." Zadkiel nodded, "Why do you think all the monsters disappeared?"

"It's clearly because we burned the book." Roko sighed, "But in greater detail, I suspect that because the book was fake, it was the anchoring point for whatever power was exerting itself here. That's why they were trying so hard to fix it and that's why when we burned it, the power keeping the monsters here disappeared, taking every single one of them with it."

"Interesting." Zadkiel hummed, "Very insightful."

"Now I need you answer a few questions for me." Roko frowned, "First, were you actually planning to destroy the entire forest?"

"..."

"I want to hear it from you."

"...Yes." Zadkiel admitted, "We were."

A scared silence took over the group as they imagined the result. How they could possibly destroy an entire forest and what the result would even look like. Roko just sighed and replied,

"So that is how much of a danger these monsters are to the world."

Zadkiel grinned, relieved, "Well, you could say that. As incidental as the situation may be, I'm very thankful that you not only resolved everything and adverting the worst case scenario but finding and rescuing the one innocent we would have overlooked. I'm proud of you."

"About that." Roko frowned, "What are you planning to do with Aida now?"

All eyes shifted briefly to the surprised and nervous Aida before turning expectantly to Zadkiel, waiting for a hopeful answer. Zadkiel just continued to smile as she answered,

"Whatever she wants to do. I'm not going to make her do anything she doesn't like. That said, I have an idea of someone who would be willing to take her in. If nothing else, she's welcome to attend school here."

"Here?!" Melia cried, "In Memoria Auspice?!"

"Indeed." Zadkiel turned to the young girl, "What do you think?"

"Isn't Memoria Auspice a school for princesses though?" Momo asked.

"Aida's the daughter of her tribe's chieftain." Zadkiel chuckled, "That's basically a princess."

"That sounds right." Helena smiled as she bent down next to Aida, "How does that sound? Do you want to stick around us a while longer?"

Aida looked around, not quite sure what everyone was talking about it but she understood enough to know that she was being offered a new home. She looked at everyone timidly, at the warm and welcoming faces that awaited her decision and at Roko who stood there stoically, not uncaring but unreadable, leaving the choice fully to her. Aida looked down, took at big gulp and quietly said,

"Okay..."

The girls all burst into a cheer, squealing loudly and excitedly.

"It's the birth of princess Aida!" Helena shouted.

"Princess Aida! Princess Aida! Princess Aida!" The girls started chanting.

"What a bunch of idiots." Aida mumbled, red from embarrassment.

"I'll have a room prepared at once." Zadkiel smiled gently.

"Look Melia! You're already a senpai!" Helena cried.

"Oh! Well when you put it that way, that does sound exciting." Melia giggled.

"You're going to love Memoria Auspice, Aida!" Momo said, "I'll make sure of it!"

"That's a tad ominous." Kaguya blinked, "But I am worried about such a young girl walking around the school all alone."

"You could get a knight!" Corissa grinned, "Every girl there has a knight!"

"Almost every." Momo chuckled, "But yeah, it might be best to get her a protector."

"I can protect myself." Aida frowned.

"It's more than just protection." Helena explained as she knelt down to speak with the girl, "It's a friend you can always count on no matter what. Someone to help support you when nobody else will. So that you're never alone."

Aida looked down as she considered Helena's words.

"I know quite a few knights that might be willing to take up your case." Kaguya said, "They're all very nice and love kids. I'm sure we can find someone that'll be perfect for you."

"We'll vet the hell out of them!" Helena nodded, "Don't you worry."

"I can have anyone as my knight?" Aida asked.

"Yep!"

Aida toddled over to Roko and hugged his leg, "This one."

"Eh?" The girls looked shocked.

"Eh?" The knights looked shocked.

"EH?!" Roko looked shocked.

"Whoa, now hang on there, Aida." Helena said as she walked over to speak with the girl, "Roko's not a knight. He can't be your knight."

"You said anyone."

"Yeah but Roko doesn't really belong to anyone… We can find you a better knight! Well...a nicer knight!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Roko frowned.

"I want this one!" Aida shouted stubbornly.

"Now come on, don't be difficult..." Helena said unsure of how to deal with this, "Roko's cool and all but he's not really knight material."

"You're just jealous that my knight is better than your knight!" Aida shouted.

"Pfft." Roland crossed his arms, "Kids are stupid."

"How dare you..." Helena growled.

"H-Helena?" Momo asked.

"You think I don't want Roko as my knight too?!" Helena cried, "I want a cool knight too!"

Helena knelt down and grabbed Roko's other leg.

"H-Helena?!" Roko yelped as he tried to get the two girls off of him, "What are you a child?!"

"Hey, I don't have a knight." Momo smiled as she walked over and grabbed onto one of Roko's sleeve, "Maybe Roko can be my knight."

"Not you too, Momo!"

"I-I'm the one who found him so I'm the one who should be responsible for him so Roko's pretty much already my knight right?" Kaguya said as she grabbed onto Roko's other arm.

"What the hell is going on?!" Roko cried as he began to get pulled in all sorts of directions, "Corissa help?!"

"Now now." Corissa chuckled gently, "Let's not be irrational here. Roko's the one who gets the final say on whenever or not he-"

"Shut up Corissa!" Helena cried, "You've already got the strongest knight around! You don't need another knight!"

"Don't...need..." Corissa's eye twitched.

"Corissa?" Roko asked nervously.

"You don't get it either!" Corissa shouted as she ran around them and hugged Roko's head from behind, "I want a knight that I can talk to too!"

Roko began to gag as he started to get pulled in every direction imaginable, "G-Guys...halp..."

"Lucky bastard." Roland scoffed as all the knights just stood by, not lifting a finger to help.