Chapter 612: Act 355 – Requiem V
The knights responded to the princess’s command, drawing their longswords and forming a line in preparation for battle. The witches stood with Brendel, clearly delineated from their surroundings. A large crystalized saber-toothed spider swiftly approached, but to everyone’s surprise, these fearsome monsters bypassed them as if they hadn’t even seen them, splitting to either side and scurrying directly into the depths of darkness ahead.
What’s going on? Everyone was stunned as they turned to see the crystalized monsters charging forward without stopping, disappearing into the dark beyond, leaving only the faint sound of rustling behind.
This scene left not only the knights confused but even Brendel and the witches beside him. There was something abnormal here—monsters were typically ferocious and bloodthirsty, and such bizarre behavior often hinted at underlying reasons.
“They… seem to be running away?” Princess Grifian asked hesitantly in a low voice from behind Brendel.
Yes, they were fleeing! Like a flash of lightning, Brendel realized. His expression changed; these large crystalized saber-toothed spiders were comparable to human swordsmen who had entered the Golden Realm. What could be lurking below that would provoke such a panicked retreat?
The answer was becoming increasingly clear.
“Put your swords away and run! Something is chasing them!” The horrifying thoughts of the mother spider made his scalp tingle. He suddenly felt as if he were at odds with this place; every visit seemed to bring a whirlwind of disasters.
The knights froze for a moment but then quickly reacted. Their expressions changed as they sheathed their swords and turned to retreat. Brendel feared they might blindly run into Anaralons’ spider webs, so he hastily pointed out the safest path.
The underground was filled with layers of spider silk, making it look as if proceeding along the riverbank was the only safe choice. But only Brendel knew that was actually a trap; the truly safe route lay along the cliffside, through a narrow pass he had identified.
In fact, there was also a treasure hidden there, but Brendel wasn’t in the mindset for contemplating such things. He led everyone through the jagged formations of stalactites, skillfully avoiding the giant webs that almost connected the entire underground passage. Not long after, they all heard a rustling sound behind them—like a massive hand stroking those strands of silk.
Princess Grifian instinctively turned to look, only to be greeted by four pairs of crimson eyes glowing in the darkness, each the size of a fist. She gasped and nearly stumbled in fear.
Brendel, quick on his feet, caught her. “Don’t look back; it’s looking for us.”
“Is that the mother spider?” After calming her fears, the princess managed to whisper.
“Yes, that’s her,” Brendel confirmed with a steady nod.
He didn’t even need to look back to know the mother spider was right behind them, tailing them. The Dark Sense attribute in the Amber Sword was once again revealing its effectiveness, allowing Brendel to distinctly feel the chill of her presence behind him. However, that feeling was far from comforting.
“She can’t see us?”
“She’s determining our location.” He wanted to tell the princess that the mother spider’s eyes were just decoration or meant to instill fear. Despite their numbers, her true sight lay in the silk beneath their feet. She sensed the position of her prey through vibrations; her silk was spread throughout the underground passage, and any minor disturbance would catch her attention.
The group was escaping while the spider chased, swiftly moving through a vast chamber filled with webs. Brendel specifically chose narrower pathways, significantly hampering the mother spider’s speed. Nonetheless, that massive creature remained ominously close behind them.
The knights were holding up well; their rigorous training allowed them to easily handle the situation, even in heavy armor. However, the witches, unaccustomed to such physical exertion, were struggling to keep up. A few of the older witches fell behind, panting, and Brendel had to slow down to ensure no one got left behind.
As a result, the mother spider crept even closer. Brendel could almost feel her leg joints thumping with each of her steps. Anxiety gripped him as he realized they were nearing the narrow pass he remembered; they only needed to hold on a bit longer.
Sadly, things did not go as planned.
Suddenly, the mother spider, Anaralons, seemed to realize the shift as she emitted a shrill scream and surged forward. She raised her massive pincers and swung at Brendel and the others.
“It’s just ahead!” Brendel shouted in his mind, scooping up the princess and rolling forward. The princess let out a muffled grunt as Anaralons’ gigantic pincers swept just over them, decapitating two unsuspecting knights and a witch.
The mangled bodies fell to the ground like severed logs, gushing blood like a fountain, spraying it across the area.
Brendel vaguely heard the small witch named JarSugar scream in terror. Dazed, he grabbed the Earth Sword and managed to get back on his feet, only to see another cliff looming ahead. But to the side of the cliff, there was a fissure wide enough for a person to squeeze through, just as he remembered.
This was the place he had been searching for.
“Everyone, don’t stop! Get inside there!” Brendel shouted urgently to the others. The knights and witches followed his command and rushed toward the gap. He turned back, just in time to see the mother spider, Anaralons, once more raising her pincers, four pairs of blood-red eyes glaring down at him.
“Who’s afraid of you, monster!”
At this moment, Brendel found himself with no way to retreat. He straightened up, raised the Earth Sword, and stepped forward to meet the incoming attack. The dark blade swung through the air, striking down at Anaralons’ sweeping pincers. With a resounding clash, he felt as though he had hit a steel column or a rock; sparks exploded in the darkness.
His entire body went numb, and he felt an immense force propel him away, crashing against the rocky wall. With his head snapping back, he let out a grunt, and the Earth Sword slipped from his grasp, spinning wildly as it grazed several stalactite pillars, making a clattering sound before landing in a mass of webbing.
That hurt!
In that moment, Brendel realized just how far he was from the side of true power. His battle with Williams had made him a bit too cocky; he only recognized the aftereffects at this point. The power of a traveling mage was not his own strength.
He felt a constriction in his throat and a salty taste filled his mouth. But there was no time to ponder losses; he shook his head vehemently to dispel the dizziness. When he finally opened his bloodied eyelids, he saw the mother spider, Anaralons, drawing ever closer with her eight legs.
At that moment, Brendel’s heart sank.
The knights and witches were now close to the fissure, only to discover that Brendel had been thrown aside. They wanted to turn back and help him, but it was too late.
Just then, Princess Grifian suddenly snapped into action, dashing toward the slain knight and retrieving his longsword. With all her might, she hurled it toward the mother spider. The brightly shining blade struck Anaralons’ head, knocking it to the side.
The half-elf princess then drew her own sword, her face pale as she challenged the giant spider. “Monster, I’m here—!”
“Don’t, your Highness!”
Brendel coughed and shouted anxiously. But the princess was already advancing, sword in hand toward Anaralons. Despite having manifested its elemental nature and entered the realm of truth, it was still not a wise creature; that manifestation was merely instinct.
Grifian’s approach signaled a threat to it, and it turned to face her, raising its pincers high, preparing to swat this insignificant creature that dared to challenge it.
Brendel’s blood ran cold; he immediately downed a vial of holy water before rolling towards the webs, tearing the Earth Sword from its entrapment.
But by then, the mother spider had already lunged at Princess Grifian. The half-elf maiden cautiously took a step back, trembling as she clutched her longsword tightly. Yet she gritted her teeth and adopted the stance of Erluin’s military sword technique.
If Brendel were to evaluate her stance, it was almost perfect, embodying the standard. However, it was utterly meaningless. The princess’s swordplay indicated she had trained hard, and even such a meticulous starting position would surely impress in the knights’ jousting field. But it was unfortunate that this was not a tournament ground.
This was a battlefield of slaughter.
Facing a monster, there were no knightly rules at play. Monsters didn’t play by the rules, nor did swordsmen.
Princess Grifian did her utmost; she gritted her teeth and braced against Anaralons’ pincers, yet the immense force still pushed her down to the ground with a whimper. Then a second pincers came crashing straight down onto the princess’ head—
“Watch out!” Brendel’s heart raced, terrified at the thought of witnessing the princess’ death before his eyes. But just at that moment, a white light emanated from the princess, causing the massive pincers to veer off, piercing into the girl’s left shoulder instead.
Though the half-elf maiden gritted her teeth, she couldn’t suppress a muffled scream; she had never experienced pain this severe in her life, and tears streamed from her eyes.
She has defensive equipment!
Brendel’s heart rose and fell; he was glad he didn’t have heart problems; otherwise, he might have been scared to death. But he couldn’t help but wipe his brow in relief, realizing he should have anticipated that Princess Grifian, as a member of the royal family, would possess one or two magical items for her protection.
In an instant, the difference between life and death had grown stark. Brendel finally arrived, and with a furious shout, he raised the Earth Sword, aiming for the connection point between Anaralons’ massive body and its tiny head. But the anticipated scenario of his strike was merely imagination; instead, a resounding spark erupted as the Earth Sword’s indestructible blade scraped across Anaralons’ hard shell, leaving Brendel feeling a pang of despair—was it really that tough?
His attack still drew Anaralons’ attention. She pulled the pincers from Princess Grifian’s shoulder, turned her gaze toward Brendel, and her right claw swung down hard against his chest. The velocity was staggering; before Brendel could even react, he was knocked flat onto the ground, his senses spinning.
He shook his head, attempting to rise, only to feel Anaralons now pressing down against him with her forelegs, pinning his shoulders tightly. This enormous spider lowered its body, exposing its sharp fangs under eight blood-red eyes.
Damn, is this monster hungry?
Brendel’s eyes widened, his heart racing. After all, anyone would feel unsettled at the prospect of being treated as the next meal by such a monstrous being. His mind raced, seeking a way to escape just as the princess bravely charged in, gripping her sword, and collided with Anaralons’ head.
The mother spider, who had been lunging for Brendel’s throat, was suddenly met with the force of the princess. As the impact sent her teeth crashing against the stone, Princess Grifian felt her wound tear open anew. Anaralons bit down into the solid granite ground, creating a sizeable hole and releasing a pool of highly corrosive venom. The princess let out a pained groan, while the mother spider emitted an irritated scream.
She quickly turned her head, launching a green poisonous dart at Princess Grifian. The princess, who was pressing her sword against Anaralons’ pincers, had nowhere to evade; her protective magic had lost its efficacy, and she could only brace herself, closing her eyes and turning her head away in acceptance of her fate.
However, the poisonous dart did not strike her as she feared. After a moment of holding her breath, Princess Grifian peeked out, surprised to see a light blue shield manifest beside her, as the poison dart had dissipated into nothingness.
This was the Water Shield spell, a magic that even elementalist apprentices could cast and was the mortal enemy of Anaralons’ poison darts. This was the invaluable experience of players, and Brendel’s greatest treasure.
After spraying poison twice, the mother spider fell into a lethargy. Seizing the opportunity to breathe, Brendel shouted frantically, “Babasha, think of a way to help!”
He actually wanted to break free himself, but unfortunately, he was not on the same level as the mother spider. Even in its weakened state, it was beyond his capacity to deal with.
Previously, he had taken down Williams by happenstance, using the Demon-Slaying Spike to pierce through the opponent’s line of rule, causing the backlash that ultimately killed him. That had only happened because that fool had foolishly dragged Brendel into the extreme plains, resulting in the latter outcome. The mother spider was completely different; even if he managed to produce the God-Slaying Spike now, it required the opponent to manifest their rules for him to pin it first. It should be noted that monsters were generally very sensitive and would not easily reveal their power.
Yet, Babasha did indeed find a way; the wrinkled old witch hurried to her foster daughter, saying, “Quickly, JarSugar, use your spell!”
The girl with the honey jar crawled out from the fissure, and Brendel suddenly noticed strange creatures appearing behind her, some resembling cows or horses, others like monsters or legendary beings, while some had no concrete form at all. Each creature bore its own name—Brendel quickly recognized these as “True Names,” the names that held true power inscribed in the tomes.
These names were mostly bizarre, written in various languages. Some were even mere strings of letters or meaningless things. In this world, only one type of existence utilized such names.
That was the Contract Spirits.
The Spirit of Contracts.
So the little girl was an Enchantress, a practitioner of spirit communication among witches. Brendel vaguely remembered that she should be from the lineage of the Death Witches guarding the entrance to the Land of the Dead in the Land of Silence.
So it was her.
His eyes widened as he saw JarSugar speak, “Those who have signed a pure contract with the JarSugar, grant me your power.”
Then, a pure black creature flew from behind her and descended upon Anaralons, and Brendel felt the massive forelegs pinning him suddenly slacken. He turned his head, discovering this fearsome creature had promptly fallen asleep.
“The God of Slumber, Sorrow!” Brendel finally realized what JarSugar had summoned. While Sorrow was a contracted spirit, it could also be classified as a lesser god.
There were few witches capable of summoning such powerful contract spirits, especially since JarSugar was only of silver tier strength. He immediately questioned the girl’s identity—could she possibly be a direct descendant of the Death Witches?
“Quicker, my lord.” Babasha rushed forward to support JarSugar, who had fainted from exhaustion after casting the spell. “JarSugar’s magic has its flaws; I don’t know how long it will last.”
Brendel was startled, quickly crawling out from below the sleeping mother spider to support the similarly worn-out princess. He then rushed toward the knights, but unfortunately, he barely took a few steps before hearing a furious scream from behind.
Then a rushing wind came at him.
Damn, is the spell’s duration so short?! Brendel’s heart sank; when Babasha had mentioned JarSugar’s spell had flaws, he hadn’t truly grasped the implications. Now he understood perfectly what she meant.
But this flaw was infuriating!
…
(TO BE CONTINUED. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommended votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
