Chapter 17: Bad Human

While Sophie was holding the Arachne, Solol climbed the tower with the help of his 'spider backpack', hanging from webs. "WOOH! I'M SPIDER—", his enthusiasm fades upon seeing other spiders' webs appearing.

Looking down, he has a view of a group of at least 20 spiders. "Shit!", they all release [Poison Bullets] in the player's direction, but thanks to the spider's quick reflexes, he manages to perform insane acrobatics and dodges the poisonous rain.

"HELL YEAH! EZ! YOU DOGWATER!", his spider is hit, and he falls onto a bridge. He was still at least 30 meters from the ceiling. More spiders appear in front of him, he pulls his gun from his waist, but in panic, he drops it on the ground.

The spider jumps at him, but fortunately, he manages to grab his pistol, firing twice—the second shot was accidental.

[Bullets: 2/6]

Another 5 spiders appear, and he shoots at them, missing one shot and hitting another. Until he hears the sound of click, he quickly opens the drum and sees his gun empty. "I should've kept the scythe…!"

[Bullets: 0/6]

The 4 spiders launch [Poison Bullets], and he only didn't turn into a melted slime because his two undead spiders pulled him out. "Wait, I got an idea!", he extends his arms and mentally orders his servants.

And then the creatures cling to his arms, where they release a web dramatically improving his movement. "Now I can say it! I'm #####-###!" a censorship sound replaces the speech in hashtags. "Huh? Is there something in my mouth?"

"OH SCREW YOU! First, you trap us here, and now you want to destroy my childhood dreams?! You don't command me! ##### #####, ######, ####—"

The spider growls at him, signaling that they have reached the ceiling. "Finally!", he throws a web at one of the accumulated Auracrisolis rocks, and tries to pull it with a lot of effort, "Just… One… Is… Enough…!", but he doesn't even move the stone. "… Ok, we have a problem…"

With impeccable timing, the spider swarm appears, causing the Necromancer to move with webs to escape and at the same time, think of a plan.

<…>

Meanwhile, down below. Seeing that pink-haired elf, his pupils dilate, concentrating 100% of his focus on Sophie—his gaze screamed that she would not escape him this time.

He joins the palm of his hands—Sophie was able to feel a group of magic clouds forming on his back—"Web Magic: White Lancelot", 5 magic circles are created behind him, and inside each one comes a set of wide webs like tentacles and with a tip sharp as a spear.

The 5 skills are immediately guided towards Sophie, Alice runs to the Arachne, "Like I would—"

With a calm movement of her hand, the player is pushed out of the way by dozens of threads so thin that they are almost invisible—but not strong enough to hurt her.

Each web goes a different and far from the others, making Sophie hesitate to create another explosion with her arrow. Then she tries to retreat—waiting for the right moment to burn them—dodging the advances of the skills with doubtful ease.

While she is distracted, the Arachne extends his hand, a lilac-colored magic circle appears in front of the palm, "Poison Magic: Black Death Arrow". From the magic circle a purple drop emerges, which is soon corrupted by a black color. He uses his free hand to pull the black drop, which stretches in the shape of an arrow.

Alice waves the sword randomly to get rid of the invisible webs, and sees the creature aiming at Sophie. Instinctively, she runs in her direction, but a group of spiders surrounds her and traps her with dozens of webs.

<…>

Unaware of the danger the two are going through, Solol continues to flee. He swings from side to side, trying to find an escape route, but the spiders are relentless. "I won't be able to keep this up." he thinks, while watching his situation deteriorate rapidly.

[Poison Bullet]

The poisonous shot hits one of the webs he was swinging on, causing it to melt. The player falls in free fall, "AAAAHHHH— Wait, I've got an idea!", confident in his new plan, he swings until he reaches the webs holding the shiny rocks.

And with an epic pose, he points at the two undead spiders, "NECRO PISTOL!", and the two fire multiple [Poison Bullets] at the web. Causing it to slowly melt. Pieces of Auracrysolis start to fall, hitting some spiders that were chasing him. "HAH! Never mess with Solol, the strongest and smartest player in Arcadia!"

His plan works too well, and a large part of the web is melted by the poison—releasing a large amount of rocks into a giant fall.

"Oh no…"

The rocks fall violently onto the bridges and walls, shaking the entire chamber and echoing a deafening sound.

<…>

Everyone at the base hears the sound and the shaking, the little spiders run away in fear. The Arachne murmurs scared and sad, "… No…", and both he and the players see several lights falling from the top of the chamber.

A small Auracrysolis falls…

…

Two medium-sized Auracrysolis fall…

…

Alice assumes that this is Solol's doing, and tears the web that bound her with brute force.

"MISSBLADE!" Sophie shouts, firing a spark arrow towards her companion.

The player understands her plan, and jumps in front of the arrow. And before she was hit by the projectile, she puts the sword in front.

[Perfect Block]

[Stamina: 50/100]

The arrow is reflected, however, with a move of her sword, she guides it towards the Arachne—about to release his skill—colliding with his shoulder and triggering a flaming explosion. He screams in burning pain, interrupting all his skills.

"AHHHHHHH! STOP! MAKE THIS STOP!"

More rocks fall violently on the ground, Sophie runs into a tunnel, while Alice remains motionless, until she sees a large shadow forming above her. A smile is stamped on her face, and she uses the [Perfect Block] on the rock that was about to fall on her.

The rock flies all the way to the Arachne—still on fire—crushing him against the wall. After ensuring that he was immobile, Alice tries to run to one of the tunnels around. Until she feels something pulling her from behind…

It was a web from the Arachne—stretching his arm still on fire—and with a furious look he shouts: "THIS PLACE WILL BE YOUR TOMB! NO MATTER WHAT!", a furious pull drags Alice to the center of the chamber.

She tries to resist, but the Arachne's force is overwhelming. The web on her armor kept dragging her... Wait, armor?

Suddenly, the Arachne no longer feels his web pulling anything, he tries to push the rock and watches through a crack the player running into the tunnel without her armor—only wearing the initial tunic.

"DAMN YOU, HUMAN…!"

<…>

Alice sees the light of the entrance being covered by the collapse, and the dust dominating the air. "Sophie!", she coughs in the darkness.

But no one answers…

CLOMP!, a heavy step is heard. Its sound is so loud that it is impossible to distinguish the origin. Alice spins in the darkness, "Sophie…?"

CLOMP! CLOMP! CLOMP!

With the increase in the frequency of sounds, she pulls the small Auracrysolis that Sophie had given her and uses it as lighting—seeing that she was in a small tunnel with two paths, one that would lead down and one that would lead up.

She turns down, and only sees the shadow of something going up, CLOMP! CLOMP! CLOMP!

She speeds away to the top, but the sounds were getting louder and louder, along with the sound of breathing. "God, please, can I rest for at least 5 minutes?!", she sees a light that leads to one of the tower's bridges.

Without hesitation she enters there, seeing the damage caused by the magical avalanche—the ground was now dominated by Auracrisolys, which lose their lighting slowly, most of the bridges were destroyed and there were no more signs of spiders.

Turning back she wields the sword with trembling hands.

Until a threatening voice passes over her shoulders "… Your soul is mine…!"

The player spins with a sword cut, finding Solol—who falls back to avoid getting hit—complaining, "Geez, It was just a joke! Dang it…", he gets up with his hands on his waist and a proud face, "By the way, did you just see what happened? We didn't even need to use my plan. Just like I planned… Anyway, that guy must have like 1 HP left, so let's finish—"

"Shut up and get ready!", she prepares herself for a fight while watching that tunnel attentively.

…

Nothing happens.

"Are you ok?"

"It can't be… But I could've swear that—" as she turns around she sees behind Solol, a beastly creature, with a shape similar to that of a human, 3 meters tall, brown fur dominating his body—except for the face—feet so large that they could easily crush the two's heads, his only clothing was a torn green pants. His face had two huge tusks coming out of the bottom of his mouth.

His breathing was identical to a lion's, but unlike the animal, it seemed that creature did not kill because he needed to feed, but for pure pleasure.

"Evil… Armor…", murmurs the creature, his deep voice paralyzes Alice with fear, as if all her instincts were warning her that that monster could destroy her at any moment.

Solol gives a high-pitched scream and turns to him. After seeing his size he takes slow steps until he is behind Alice.

"Bad… Humans…"

The monster takes a step towards Alice, looking down at her, as if he was about to crush an inconvenient ant. But a scream that echoes through the cave stops him: "WAIT!!!"

From behind the creature, Sophie comes running desperately. She stands between the creature and the players, extending her arms and with heavy breathing says: "She is my friend!"

"S-Sophie?!"

"The elf?!", upon seeing Sophie more closely, as if her beauty slapped him in the face, he murmurs, "Damn, she's cute…"

"But…" he seems genuinely confused and points at Solol's armor "Evil armor…"

"I know this can be really weird, but trust me…"

Alice whispers nervously: "I'm really glad that you're okay… BUT WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"

The Elf responds with a subtle request for silence. And then she shifts her attention to the 'Big Foot', "W-well, we found my friend. Now you can lead our way to the exit as you promised me.", but he doesn't seem happy at all, and takes a heavy breath through his nose. "Please…?"

"NO! HUMANS BAD!" he pushes Sophie aside, and tries to step on Alice. She agilely jumps back, but the moment the monster touches the ground with his foot, an imposing shock wave completely destabilizes the bridge's ground.

Sophie tries to run to him—aiming to calm him down—but is easily thrown away by the shock wave: "BIG FOOT, STOP—"

Solol agilely catches her with a web, and starts to swing higher. "I got you!"

"Thanks… However you are… WAIT, WHERE IS ALICE?"

The swordsman regains consciousness on the ground of shiny stones, with a cut on her eyebrow. "Argh…", she sees her worried companions, "Hang on! I'm coming!"

THUD!

Big Foot falls before Alice, growling furiously, his light steps cracked the ground. He jumps spinning horizontally, extending his leg. Seeing this as a golden opportunity, Alice tries to block the attack.

But with an incomprehensibly fast movement, she is kicked to the wall. The impact was greater than anything she had gone through so far.

[HP: 10/90]

"ALICE!", unable to see her friend suffering and do nothing, Sophie tries to cut the web.

"Are you crazy?!"

"Shut up, I have to save her!"

"I know, but why aren't you using your bow?!", says Solol confused.

Sophie stops, "Oh…"

Alice crawls, she was in so much pain that she had difficulty getting up. While that monster walks towards her with high steps—making her remember those giant footprints she saw in the foggy chamber. It was him.

"Human bad."

FIU!

An arrow hits Big Foot's back—who doesn't feel anything at all.

With pain and guilt, Sophie whispers "Sorry, Big Foot…"

[Flecha Estática: Thunderbolt!]

And then, a powerful electric discharge is released, temporarily paralyzing him. Meanwhile, one of the undead spiders subtly climbs Alice's back and pulls her up.

"T-thanks…" she sees the spider, and struggles with disgust and fear, "AH! GET OUT! HELP— ARGH! IT HURTS!"

"STOP! I don't have enough mana to keep them for long!", Solol warns—carrying Sophie with one hand, clearly struggling a lot for not having any points in strength.

Big Foot pulls the arrow out of his back, looks up sniffing angrily, "Bad elf…", and with all his fury, he punches up, creating a shock wave that dominates the entire tower, throwing the three up.

The impact destroys what was left of the nest structure and causes the cave to collapse.

…

In the Lazuli forest, a gigantic cloud of smoke followed by a deafening explosion sound open a hole in it.

[Experience: 117/600]

Feeling recovered, Alice celebrates, "4 LEVELS?! DAMN!"

"Good for you, but I hope you've used the checkpoint!" Solol shouts, pointing down—the trio was 50 meters from the ground.

Ignoring the danger, Sophi places her hands on her waist in disappointment, "Wait, why didn't I get the new skill?!"

As if a lightbulb had lit up in their heads, the two fall towards the hole—with Alice holding Sophie. "W-what are you doing?!"

As they approach the hole, they both extend a hand, where a magic circle comes out of their palm, and soon after a web is created, sticking to the edge of the hole and easing their fall.

[Mana: 40/50]

[Web Magic: Web Swing]

[Description: The user can create webs of up to 10 meters, which allow them to swing or trap enemies. Dev Note: Thx Solol for the idea.]

Hanging on the edge, they breathe letting the adrenaline pass. Their tense features give way to laughter of relief.

"Phew… I'm never entering a cave again…" says Alice.

"Me too." the two respond.

"Glob…"

"By the way, Sophie."

"Yeah?"

"What. The fuck. Was that?"

"Oh… Long story…"

<…>

Some time later, the spider's nest was in ruins, dominated by Auracrysolis and normal rocks. Some small spiders enter the place, seeing that their old home no longer existed.

Clack!

A charred hand breaks the crystals, then a head breathing deeply—it was the Arachne, whose body was 99% carbonized, his previously pale skin was now completely black and rough like coal, part of his face had melted and he was only able to see with one eye.

Recognizing their father, the spiders go to his rescue, but upon realizing his presence, he is not happy at all. One of them has its head grabbed by Arachne, who furiously looks into its several eyes.

"YOU… UNGRATEFUL…", he groans in pain, "Papa is sad, hurt… And hungry…", he squeezes the head making the spider grunt in desperation, "Will you help papa avenge your brothers?"

His hands tremble in hesitation, contemplating giving up, but upon seeing his home in ruins, his rage screams louder… CRACK!