Veil Spiders

Inside the carriage was a tight room with wooden seats. A curtain was blocking the window which Melvin had to move out of the way to see through. The design was shabby and usually not for the highly valued individuals.

But Melvin and his team didn't mind, it was already good enough. The ride was more important. As someone who always rode on a car, this was a novel experience for them.

Shira was listening in their conversation. She was confused. She looked over to Rederick. "Master's companion, err I mean Sir's companion, how old does one have to be, to be legally married?"

"Hmm? When you're 18 or above."

"How old is that?"

Rederick was puzzled as well that they had different time units. "It's something like... Uh..." He scratched his head. "Hehe, I don't know."

Melvin strokes his chin. "Hey, Shira how many days are there in a year?"

"690 days."

"Huh? Really?"

The three of them were surprised. That meant they were twice as young compared to the ones back on earth. A 15-year-old here would be a 30-year-old back on earth.

It was intriguing. "Anyway, Shira how old are you?"

"Huh? I'm 9."

Since it was confusing, Melvin clarified to her about some things. "So you are around 18 earth years, huh?" He thought that birthdays would be celebrated twice as less. That would also meant a longer term in his position.

Shira was thinking for a moment. "Master, you must have come from a different world from your conversation, am I correct? This earth, is your world I assume?"

Melvin chuckled. He hushed her up. "I'll tell you when the time comes." He left a reassuring smile.

He wasn't sure how the people of this world would accept other worlders like him. They just got isekaid after all. Most of all, it was common in ancient times that due to human ignorance, people were accused as witches and burnt left and right.

But since there was magic, probably people in this world were more lenient. Unlike back on earth, people were terrified of any form of mysticism, thus in a world where magic is normal, they might be more loose.

Though Melvin wanted to go back to Vesna as soon as possible. Since they recieved some signal earlier, Vesna must be somewhere close.

"Hmm, this might be bad. If our country is here where the hell are they? They couldn't be far, right?" Melvin thought to himself.

Rederick turned on his phone for a while. He had his earphones on. He seemed surprise. "Ah!"

"What is it?"

Rederick gazed at them with a serious look. "Listen carefully!" He switched to speaker option.

His phone let out a noise. "You are listening to FM radio station 107."

Melvin was taken aback. "We can pick up some signals from a radio station?"

Rederick nodded. He pressed some button.

Celine was elated. "Rederick, increase the volume."

The team were listening intently. They didn't expect that they could gather some radio signals from a station from Vesna.

Radio Host: This is your host, Anthony Reagan! And you're listening to 107. Today has been a sad day for the citizens of Vesna. About a thousand civilians have been reported missing including our beloved president. Vice-president Hannah and the cabinet has been organizing the country in his absence.

Melvin clenched his fist. "Nice, Hannah, I know I can count on you. But..."

It caused Melvin to worry that the other people were teleported outside the country like himself, body guard and his secretary. There were many uncertainties.

When Vesna got isekaid, that meant some people got transported on random locations outside the country. This was bad. But it seems the others were fine.

Radio Host: Our vice-president will join us soon to explain the situation. But they are busy as of the moment. Not to mention we lost our internet connection and we couldn't contact any neighboring countries.

Celine sighed. "Yup, that will be expected."

"I hope those that got end up somewhere else were fine." Rederick said with worry.

Radio Host: In the meantime, we'll introduce our guest Razin Wulian the CEO of Razin Tech industries.

Razin: Hello, good to be here.

Radio Host: What are your findings regarding our situation?

Razin: Based on what had happened, we can only say one thing. Our country has been Isekaid.

Radio Host: For those viewers who don't know, can you tell us what Isekai is?

Razin: It's simply a japanese term for another world. Basically you get the idea.

The radio host's voice started to get nervous. He gulped.

Radio Host: You've been awfully calm. This is a serious matter.

Razin: Well yeah, haha, I've been waiting for this my life. But I didn't expect the entire country would get dragged with me.

Melvin chuckled. "As expected of Razin my friend."

Radio Host: But what are the plans now for this country?

Razin: You can ask the politicians, that's not my job. But as things are now we are trying to revive the internet even if its small scale. We are setting up new servers currently. And for those who got transported outside the country and got lost we have a plan to bring you back. We will set up a....

The radio signal was distorting until the radio got cut off.

Celine yelled. "Ah! I can't believe it our only hope." She almost began to weep.

Melvin sighed. "What a bad luck. Hey Red, can you restart the app?"

"Yeah Mr President I'm trying but we just lost the signal."

Melvin was thinking on what method could it be. He knew Razin very well and he had to figure it out.

As they were conversing, Shira moved the curtain out of the way. She then peered into the dark gaps of the forest.

She gasped upon hearing a faint skittering noise on the distance. She aimed her staff, then casted her spell. When she was done, a fireball emerged and got shot out. It passed by the forest and illuminated its surroundings, showing several figures of giant spiders.

"Master! The veil spiders!" Shira warned them.

From the front of the driver seat, the old man was alarmed. "Eh? Those pests are here, huh?"

"Sir driver, fullspeed ahead!" Melvin spoke.

The old man burped. "You don't have to tell me that." He whipped the horse and their speed increased.

Rederick went closer to the carriage window and pulled his UZI up. "Mr. President, I'll deal with them if they get close."

"Yeah, I'm counting on you."

Peeking through the gaps of the curtain, Rederick got surprised when large spiders crawled to their location. They were the size of a drum based on their shadowy figures. They were catching up.

Rederick got riled up. He opened the curtained fully. "Curse you spiders! You gross creatures."

"Rederick, don't waste your ammo aimlessly."

Rederick calmed down for a moment. "Hehe, you're right. I'll just shoot them when they are close."

"Yeah, we don't have much left after all. And--"

Hearing a thud from the roof, they got surprise. There was a yell too from the driver seat, it was from Lexa. "Creepy!"

Rederick opened the door. The carriage was moving fast that falling wasn't an option. He hold still on the door way and gazed up, a spider was crawling on the roof. He shivered and aimed. "I hate insects! Especially large ones like these!"

He then shot it, causing its body to get torn apart. It rolled from the roof and fell to the ground.

"They are arachnids, not insects." Melvin corrected.

"That doesn't matter now." Rederick looked outside and noticed a swarm was chasing them. The closest to their carriage started to jump at their rear. He got weirded out and carefully aimed. With an accurate semi-automatic fire, he shot them down one by one.

"Master's companion, I'll help you." Shira stood on his side as well.

"Yeah, that will be a great help."

Shira took a deep breath. It took her five seconds to cast her spell. After conjuring 3 fire ball, she then shot it out through out the swarm just behind their carriage. "Fire ball trident!"

It hit only a few of them, though it caused her targets to burn.

As the time goes, their numbers were increasing. "This is bad, this is bad."

To their surprise, the spiders were placed into a halt, as though they were frozen.

"Huh? They've stopped?!" Rederick said.

Melvin and Celine peeked to check it out. "You're right."

The carriage stopped as well. The driver and Lexa stared at the swarms of spiders at their behind.

There was a faint shriek through out the air. It echoed across the dark sky.

The veil spiders began moving again and hid into the dim forest. For some reason, they retreated.

Shira gasped. She was panicking. "Master! We should put out the torches."

"Huh?" Seeing her eyes, Melvin had no reason to not believe her. It seemed urgent. "Alright, put out the flames."

After putting out the torches, the environment around them became dim and silent. The driver complained. "Hey, it's dark here, I can't see anything."

Lexa slapped his head. "Shhh, just be quiet."

Staring up, a huge silhouette moved through the sky, accompanying a wild shriek that shook the air. It was a chaotic roar filled with vengeance and melancholy.

"Master, it's a full-grown Volgius, looking for its missing child." Shira said as she gazed up.

Melvin saw it. He couldn't judge much from what it looks like since it was dark, but it was huge despite being a hundred feet up in the air. Its wings were wide as well, flapping fiercely.

"Hey Shira, are we safe?"

"As long as we stay quiet, it will just pass by."

The Volgius was now moving distant as every second passes.

The driver got surprised. "Isn't that a Volgius? What's it doing here? It will be a massacre if it encounters a village. "

Melvin just remembered that the Volgius would rampage on settlements due to its lost child. All of this was partially their fault. "Hey Shira, let's just say its child is dead, is there any way we can stop the Volgius?"

Shira nodded. She paused for a second with a disappointed look. "Yeah, ending its life."

"We have to resort to that, huh? But I hope bullets can take care of them."

The Volgius was now gone from the night skyscape. They were now safe. They began lighting up the torches and continued their journey.

Melvin was worried since the Volgius might encounter a settlement and wreck havoc. "I hope, someone out there can take care of them."

Later, when they took a break, the driver was irritated. Looking at the back of the carriage there were bullet holes on it. He was jerking his leg with his arms crossed. "And... Why are there holes in my carriage?!"

Rederick and Melvin chuckled nervously. "Calm down old man, we can pay you."