Enemy A(n)t the Gates

47. The Truly Disgusting Face of the Foe

The floor of this particular Expanse is quite similar to the last one I was in. Long fronds of those spined weed-like plants that drift and bend with the flow of Shadow Mana in the air. The stone coral is also present, but the huge strands of web anchoring to the rock dominate the space. I can detect flickers of Mana in just about every direction, monsters huddling away from this new invasion.

An interesting point is that I can sense Mana flowing through the massive webs. The spiders who made these must be similar to the one that poisoned Tiny.

[“Be careful of the webs,”] I warn everyone around me. [“There’s Shadow Mana infused inside.”]

There are a few mages in Vibrant’s group, and they busy themselves running over to the nearest web and investigating it, their antennae quivering with eagerness.

[You watch yourself,] I say to Tiny. [I don’t know if you’re immune to the influence of that Mana or not, but I don’t see any reason to take a chance, do you?]

The big ape looks mad, but he shakes his head with a grimace. The pain of having your insides constantly eaten away seems to have left a lasting impression on him. Since his evolution, I’m pretty sure he would be at the very least resistant to the effects of that Mana, but we have absolutely no reason to push our luck.

[Any chance I can send you out on a scouting mission?] I ask Crinis.

[No.]

Haaah.

[Fine. I guess we’ll just hold here for a moment as we get our bearings. Invidia! Let’s do some practice!]

The magical Skills grind is never-ending, and today is no exception. Invidia practises his shields, forming barriers out of hardened Mana in the air as I blast them with whatever element I happen to be practising. That, or we engage in Mind Magic duels, which I almost always lose. I think once I manage to evolve again, I’ll be able to have the raw power to keep up with him. If I combine higher stats with sufficient Mind Magic to create those Mental Constructs he uses, I might even be able to come out ahead!

For now, I work on my Fire Magic. It’s effective against these stupid spiders and their webs, so I want to ensure I’m well-practised with my constructs. The Fire Bolt, Fire Spear, even the Fire Domain might come in handy.

The Fire Domain is a little tricky to use, though. My allies and pets aren’t affected by the flames of the domain itself, but since it produces such ridiculous amounts of heat, it tends to set everything around it on fire, and those flames can absolutely burn my allies, as Tiny found out. Considering how flammable these spiders have proven to be, the use of the domain might be questionable.

Vibrant, being who she is, doesn’t share my patience and decides to lead a group to scout the surrounding area, screaming at me about how she’ll ‘just take a quick look.’ Naturally, she returns ten minutes later with the severed pieces of a monster gripped in her mandibles.

“Eldest! Look at what I found!”

“Did you ‘find’ it, or did you chase it down and bite it until it questioned its life choices?”

“One of those, yes!”

The creature itself appears to be some sort of scorpion. Hardened carapace—of an inferior sort—in segments that support a powerful-looking tail. When I take a closer look at the barbed point of that tail, I notice an interesting detail.

“Did this thing shoot barbs from its tail?” I ask Vibrant.

“Oh, yeah! They were fast, too! I mean, not fast, fast, like me, but quick!”

I thought so. The musculature at the tip is oddly shaped and way too bulky for just stabbing. It’s all attached to some sinew which acts as a launching mechanism. The barbs themselves are probably formed deeper in the tail, so there’s a ready stock of ammunition. Seeing the claws and tail is bringing up some bad memories for me. If those damn centipedes pop up in here, then this Expanse is going to experience the full measure of my wrath.

Still, this is evidence that there’s more than just one type of arachnid making a home here in this Expanse. The eight-legged menace has truly gained a strong foothold in this cursed place! I can tell from the surrounding ants they too are burning with outrage and disgust at the appearance of these wrong things. It’s time to go to war!

“Enough waiting, we’ll leave the webs for later. For now, we can sweep around this area and clean up anything that we can get our mandibles on. If it has the wrong number of legs, it is to be destroyed without mercy!”

[Come on guys, let’s get hunting.]

Without further ado, teams of ants, a very excited Vibrant, and my group swarm into the darkness. Acting as coordinated units, the native monsters are unable to put up much resistance before our onslaught. I have fun operating twin flamethrowers and roasting whatever gets in front of me while Crinis performs her dark work and Tiny punches everything to pieces. For his part, Invidia acts as the perfect support mage, shielding and healing whilst unleashing his potent disruptive capabilities of illusion and bewilderment.

The monsters we find are more of the scorpion variety, though we do come across some spiders. Nimble creatures of shadow and death, they constantly try to launch sneak attacks, creeping from the dark with their glistening mandibles ready to puncture our defences. With Crinis and Invidia on the lookout, they never had much chance, but when we regroup, it’s clear that a few of Vibrant’s squad weren’t so lucky.

[Invidia, see what you can do to heal them.]

[Yessss. I sssshall takesss their suffering!]

[Good stuff.]

There are already healer ants picking over the wounded, but Invidia has a lot more oomph when it comes to magic.

“Stupid sneaky spiders!” Vibrant complains. “Jumping out of the shadows like that!”

She’s fussing over the injured as she declares her disgust for the deplorable stealth tactics of the enemy.

“This is their hunting method. No point complaining about it, we just need to come up with countermeasures. What have we learned?”

“Well, there’s a lot, and I mean a lot of monsters out there. They look like they’re trying to give us a run for our money in the numbers department, eldest! They’re dumb and like creeping up from behind, which works super good here in the dark, and they can jump down from those webs! The scorpion-things are also around, but they’re not much trouble. Their barbs are poisoned, though.”

“Oh, how do you know?” I ask.

“I’m poisoned right now.”

“Medic!”