by Unknown
“We don’t have time to check on them, so keep moving!” Silverhoof barked, moving through the devastation without pause. Anger surged through Cora, then faded as she saw the frustration and grief on his face.
“Yes, Guildmaster,” Cora said, quickly dismounting, relief rushing through her as her feet hit the ground. She didn’t like riding horses, and she’d never quite gotten used to the experience. Brianna grabbed the horse’s reins and quickly tied it to a nearby post, though lightly enough the horse could run if needed.
Joy landed by the door, the apis fidgeting as she asked, “Should I go in? I can’t smell much with all the smoke.”
“Once all the others are ready, yes,” Silverhoof said, and Cora winced, hurrying over to the apis.
“How bad is it? For you, I mean,” Cora asked quietly, glancing back as the others hastily secured their horses and pulled out their weapons. They didn’t have much time.
“Oh, not that bad. A lot like the camps, honestly,” Joy said, wrinkling her nose unhappily. “It smells a lot like human meals to me.”
The idea of the smell of charred flesh smelling like Brianna’s food churned Cora’s stomach slightly, but she nodded, opening her mouth to reply, but a little too late as Brianna and Stella approached, along with the others.
“Are you—” Stella began.
Crack!
The sound was like lightning had struck nearby and Cora blanched, as the sky was completely clear. Or it had been, as clouds began to coalesce above them.
“No time. In!” Silverhoof ordered, shoving the doors open to reveal a ten-foot-wide passageway with light coming from the far side.
Brianna and Stella glanced at each other and nodded, and Brianna took the lead on one side, Stella right behind her, while the human warrior with his shield took the lead on the other, Silverhoof right behind him. Cora followed Joy as they started down the hall, and Cora couldn’t help wishing that James and his friends were with them rather than a group of adventurers she didn’t even know.
The hallway seemed both too long and far too short to Cora, and a handful of seconds later they emerged from the tunnel into the amphitheater, if one could call it that. It was closer to a wide, stone pit that had been carved into the middle of a hill, with a sharp upper edge and a view of the night sky. There were a couple of pillars in the middle of the chamber, but Cora’s gaze was drawn by what was on the opposite side of the room.
Carved into the wall was an archway like a door, but inscribed into it were arcane runes that she didn’t recognize, each symbol glowing a dull, throbbing red. In the middle of the door was a receptacle, a circle a little larger than Cora’s hand, and in it was a strange device, one which looked like a disk with an orb in the middle of it, with five holes in the disk. In front of that was what looked like petrified vines extending from the floor to hold a large crystal orb, one that was shining with a dull purple light.
“Crap, where is he?” the dwarven mage asked, taking a step to the right, and Cora tore her gaze away from the objects to search for the demon.
He was nowhere in sight, and Silverhoof cursed, then said, “Fan out! I don’t want him to take us by—”
Cora had just taken a step away when she caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of her eye. She opened her mouth, beginning to speak, but she was just too late.
Alethus dropped from above like a massive bat, his wings extended and his sword out, and his voice boomed loudly in the chamber. “Eviscerating Strike!”
The demon landed right behind Silverhoof, and the Guildmaster began to turn raising his halberd as Alethus’s sword flashed… then stopped as the blood began to spurt. Cora froze in terror as Silverhoof literally fell apart, blood spraying those who were too close, then finally reacted.
“Fire Blast!” Cora snapped out, launching a ball of fire at him, at the same time that two others acted.
“Frost Spike!” the dwarf spat, a note of panic in his voice.
“Crushing—” the warrior began, but that was when Alethus struck.
The demon ignored the two spells, as they practically bounced off his armor, and instead lashed out with each wing while his sword flashed. The blade cut straight through the warrior’s shield and beheaded him, cutting his ability short. The wings hit Cora and the dwarf painfully, launching her to the side, bouncing painfully off the wall, and he spoke.
“The dangerous one is gone; now to deal with the rats,” Alethus said disdainfully, then chuckled before speaking in a commanding tone. “Pheromone Field!”
Pink mist blasted outward from the demon, filling the room, and where it passed the others ground to a halt just as they were beginning to move. When it hit Cora, she’d just barely begun to sit up, and the results were… odd.
Cora’s thoughts slowed down from their panic, as a sense of peace and tranquility fell over her. Two people had died, certainly, but that didn’t affect her, no… she was just fine, and the contentment put a smile on her face as her gaze drifted to Alethus.
She admired the way he looked, content to just look at him, to watch languidly as he straightened, flicking the blood off his sword. The man had paler skin than Cora normally liked, but his dark hair was attractive, as was his confidence… but then he turned to Joy and paused, sending a thread of worry through Cora, though it died as quickly as it appeared.
“Wait… you’re an apis. And you’re with a priestess, a warrior, and a mage,” Alethus said, glancing at Stella, then Brianna and Cora as his eyes narrowed, and he smiled coolly as he looked at Joy a little more closely. “That means you’re the one who caused so much havoc in Bearton. You got Damaris and her entire detachment killed, and you’re the one who lured me into that mink den.”
The demon stepped toward Joy, then took another step, a smile growing on his face, Cora had to admit it was a rather attractive smile, too, staring at him dreamily, and he laughed, reaching up to raise Joy’s chin so she looked him in the eyes. “You know, that actually rather impressed me. You lured someone who could kill you almost effortlessly into a trap that almost killed him. That isn’t going to save you this time, though… unless you choose to serve me. I wonder, what will you choose?”
A hint of dread tried to well up inside Cora, but it died under the contentment smothering her thoughts. That same contentment was part of why she saw what happened next, instead of turning her head away.
Joy’s left hand drew the dagger from its sheath silently, and with as closely as Alethus was studying the apis’s eyes, he never saw it coming before Joy shoved it into his left eye.
“Gah—” Alethus began screaming, then gagged as Joy punched him in the throat.
“Tendon Slice,” Joy stated calmly, her rapier whipping through the air and into a seam of Alethus’s gauntlet, then the man’s sword fell from nerveless fingers. “No. That’s what I choose, because you’re a bad man. You’re worse than a wasp.”
Cora simply watched in contented shock along with everyone else as Joy advanced on a man over twenty levels higher than her without the slightest hint of fear on her face.
Chapter 39
Blood stained the ground, and Wilbert staggered slightly as he blocked an attack from the troll, the force of the impact driving his boots deeper into the dirt while his bones shuddered. He didn’t fall, though, and the troll blinked at him in confusion, just as someone behind him spoke.
“Sir, duck!” a man exclaimed, and Wilbert almost instinctively followed the command.
Metal shrieked as a steel-clad shaft ripped through the troll’s armor and the monster’s body. The ballista bolt barely slowed down as it tore into the enemy lines, and the troll fell as Wilbert straightened again, his blood running cold as he glanced back, seeing the ballista was only a dozen paces behind him, its crew frantically racing to reload.
They’d only been fighting for a handful of minutes, and they’d already been pushed back over fifty yards, Wilbert realized, the enemy now well past the berms they’d laid down, and the sheer number of bodies
on the ground was terrible. Wilbert’s hopes were beginning to die, with the way clouds were forming to the north, toward the shrine, coupled with how the battle had been going.
Screams from behind him caused Wilbert to flinch, and he barely caught sight of the ballista being blown apart as a wyvern-riding mage strafed it with a fire spell, sending the crew fleeing. Wilbert didn’t see any of the griffin-riders anymore, and he hadn’t seen a sign of Marquess Clarion since the battle started, save for her banner, which was still waving.
“With me! For Duke Dorma and Astonia!” Wilbert bellowed, shaking off his fear as best he could and charging back into the attackers. Beside him, a dozen other knights and soldiers, and even one adventurer, charged into the battle.
Yet as he moved, Wilbert wondered if he’d lost his nerve, with how his hands were ever so faintly trembling.
That was when the buzzing sensation grew louder, to where he could hear it, and he looked to the east, his eyes widening.
Minna didn’t have any words as she paused, staring to the east with her mouth slightly agape, shock almost overwhelming her.
She’d read the reports of what had happened in Bearton. Damaris had been extremely open about her failures, as well as everything they’d experienced when facing the apis, yet her reports had only spoken of a few hundred apis throwing themselves into battle. While the apis were fearless in the face of death and incredibly deadly, Minna was confident that her army could take on an equal number of apis without difficulty, even without the ability to fly.
The countless figures she saw above the Shimmerwood weren’t equal in number to her army, though. She couldn’t tell how many of them, not as they were illuminated by the sun’s dying light, but there had to be over ten thousand of them, maybe twenty thousand, rank upon rank of them flying in vertical walls that ascended toward the clouds above, their wings flashing as they caught the light. The sheer number of apis was chilling, and she cleared her throat and called out, “Defensive formation! Apis incoming, watch the air!”
The army shuddered as its advance halted, and Minna saw the wyverns stop chasing the one remaining griffin. They wouldn’t be able to stop the apis, Minna knew, but they’d probably be able to slow them down, as her soldiers started to reorient themselves.
The queen’s wings were beating much more heavily than any of the other apis, and she looked down on the battlefield curiously. It was different than she imagined, but the smell was a terrible one. That, combined with the clouds above, made her wonder if they weren’t too late. If they were, she’d have to call out the rest of the hive, but for now they had a target.
“Which are the enemies?” the queen asked, and one of the scouts nearby spoke up.
“The ones with the flying lizards, and with all the big monster-things. Not the four-legged mounts, the other ones,” the apis said, her voice bright. “Joy was with them earlier, but one of the others killed people and broke through, so she went chasing them with other people!”
The queen nodded, amused that the apis had determined which side was which by the presence of the foreign apis, but it made more sense than any of the other options. She wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between the factions otherwise.
It also helped that the hive had made their decision nearly unanimously. While some of them were skeptical about the idea of helping non-apis, the idea of a massive spider preying on others in their region when they could stop it horrified the majority of the workers. That was why a full half the hive had come… and why the queen had come herself.
Drawing her rapier, the queen focused on the flying lizards with their riders, as well as the army below, and she pointed at them, the blade gleaming in the final rays of sunlight as it sank beyond the horizon.
“Royal Command, destroy the enemy,” the queen said flatly, and a dusting of glittering gold pheromones and magic exploded out from her to cover the apis who’d accompanied her, covering them in light.
“For the hive!” the apis chorused almost as one, and charged forward at the enemy while the queen hovered, watching pitilessly.
Those who would release a titanic spider on the world deserved no pity.
“Gods…” Minna breathed, the blood draining from her face as the apis swarmed over Phillip and his wyverns.
No army she’d seen would or could charge dragons without hesitation. They were too dangerous and powerful… yet the apis didn’t even hesitate. The wyverns and their riders fought desperately, taking down as many as a dozen apis in one case before being overwhelmed, but they only took down a handful before being perforated with dozens of arrows and rapiers, while thousands of glowing golden apis flew right past them, descending on her army without a hint of hesitation.
Above them all was a single large apis that glowed more brightly than all the others, a handful of others guarding her. Not that anyone would be able to reach her through the wall of wings, swords, spears, arrows, and magic. Minna ground her teeth together angrily as she unlimbered her axe, tearing her gaze away from the apis leader.
“G-General? Orders?” one of Minna’s assistant’s asked, his voice trembling as he looked into the sky.
“We can’t escape that, so fight with all you have. Maybe you’ll even live,” Minna said, spitting on the ground as she added, “Lord Alethus will avenge us, so do everything you can to honor him.”
“Yes, sir!” the rest of her command team said, preparing their weapons as they waited for the descending wave of death to fall upon them.
Part of Minna wondered if this was how some of the ancient generals of the Kingdoms of Darkness had felt when their opponents had summoned hundreds of angels to battle them, but she dismissed the thought after a moment. It was pointless, and if she was going to die, she was going to take as many enemies with her as she could.
“For the glory of Skyfish Valley! Hellfire Slash!” Minna cried out, swinging her axe viciously, mana surging into it and unleashing a massive blast of fire into the air, one that scorched fifty or more apis from the sky. Minna smiled, but her pleasure faltered as those behind the ones she’d killed just focused on her.
That hadn’t been the reaction she’d expected.
“Gods above,” Marquess Clarion murmured, unintentionally mirroring Minna’s reaction as she watched the apis. Pain was radiating through her, and her left arm was useless after the troll had crushed it into a pulp, but she was in far better condition than many of her soldiers. Beyond that, the scene before her was enough to make the pain feel like almost nothing.
The apis hadn’t even paused in their assault once they began, no matter how many losses they took. Their magi rained spells on the enemy, barely avoiding their own people, and some of the apis deliberately threw themselves in the way of attacks to allow their sisters to strike fatal blows. The idea of such an army existing only a day’s travel from Clarion chilled her blood, especially since the walls would be useless against them.
“Should we assist the apis, milady?” a man asked quietly, relief in his voice, and the Marquess had to wonder if her reaction was the unusual one, but she banished the thought, focusing on her reply.
“No, I believe the apis have the fight well in hand, and I don’t want them to attack us by mistake,” she told him, turning to the north as she added, “See about tending to the wounded… now we just have to hope that Silverhoof succeeded.”
“Yes, milady!” the man confirmed, saluting promptly as he turned to carry out her orders.
Meanwhile, Marquess Clarion simply wondered which was a greater threat. The apocalypse spider, or the apis?
Chapter 40
Alethus swung at Joy, but between clutching at his throat and the dagger in his eye, Joy was able to duck under it, if just barely. Truth be told, she rather enjoyed the relaxing pheromones he’d emitted, but most of them had no effect on her, since she wasn’t a queen. Mostly, they helped her keep calm even when her friends were worryingly immobile. Instead, Joy spun around as he passed her, and her blade flicked out
again, this time at the back of his knees.
“Tendon Slice! Tendon Slice! Oops, that one didn’t work, so…” Joy said as Alethus’s right leg collapsed, but the thin armor on the left held, and she lined up the attack and focused still more. “Penetrating Strike!”
The blast flashed with sizzling white mist as it punched into his leg, and the demon let out an anguished scream, before gasping, face down on the floor, and with an arm starting to lever himself around. “H-how—”
“Oops, can’t let you talk; no spells for you!” Joy said, pouncing over his waist, slamming him painfully into the floor as she did so, and punched him in the throat again, reducing his words to a gurgle. “Throat punch! No, it isn’t an ability, but it sounds like one!”
The apis thrust her sword through the man’s other elbow, with a similar burst of mist and sizzling sound, and his visible eye rolled back in its socket, the man writhing beneath her. Joy looked at him, and decided that she should explain, at least briefly. No matter how angry she was with him, he deserved that much.
“I am, or was, an apis worker. We don’t have the bits for sex, so sex pheromones don’t work on us. I stopped because everyone else stopped, and it seemed to make you lower your guard. You’re like a really, really nasty wasp, so I decided that deceiving you was fair,” Joy said, smiling as she glanced at Brianna, Cora, and Stella a little guiltily. “Sorry for worrying all of you! Anyway, I was going to kill you, but then I realized you’d probably just resurrect. So I’m going to knock you out, and they can imprison you. Good night!”
With that, Joy grabbed the man’s head as he gurgled, obviously trying to protest, and she cringed as she slammed him into the ground several more times until he went limp.
“I hope that didn’t kill him… but he’s high level; I’m sure he has a really hard head,” Joy reasoned, watching Alethus for several seconds to be sure he wasn’t faking like she’d been. He didn’t seem to be, so she shrugged and got up, noting that he was bleeding from the wounds she’d inflicted, but he probably wouldn’t bleed out… and as she looked at the sky, Joy felt the faintest hint of regret over what was coming, and what she knew had to happen. There wasn’t a question of what she was going to do, though. So she turned to her friends.
