Edward approached the foreign structure warily, the purple light wasn’t filling him with confidence, nor the fact that such a place was seemingly unprotected. As he came closer, he realized that the mana density was rising, literally spilling out from the opening in the giant cocoon. This made him think of the different nests he had encountered and destroyed before, except there wasn’t a single spider in the area.

This place must have even more mana than the nests. So much is spilling out and I even didn’t step a foot inside. This site is clearly important, why are they keeping it unguarded?

Edward saw that the ground wasn’t smooth, even with the webs covering everything, one could see mounds and hollows. He went closer to one mound to investigate it, fearing some kind of trap. He covered his dagger with aura and cut through the thick webs, removing them by handfuls. Under it all, was a big piece of rock that seemed strangely familiar.

Edward squinted his eyes. Something is graved on it. I can see remnants of patterns. Actually, it looks like Damkinan in style, except that they are not glowing in green light.

This makes sense considering that this is a piece of broken rock, whatever runes they put in place must have been nonfunctional for a long time.

Edward stayed on the outskirts, thinking. Damkinans were here. Is that another of their outposts? Are the spiders their doing, an experiment turning rogue?

He remembered reading a part about contaminated areas inside this forest from a report he found in the Shele Nalore Damkinan’s outpost, while he was still busy fighting Teleportcrows.

Or are those the enemies they were fighting? Edward looked around him, the webs were covering everything, and if the purple light wasn’t here, it would be dark as hell. Is this the wave of darkness they depicted on their murals? But this makes no sense, they fought with their enemies eons ago. Why would they reappear now? Is this link to the mana surge somehow?

The Damkinan’s presence only raised more questions.

If they truly fought against those spiders, I can understand why they had difficulties. Those monsters indeed seem to be a bad match for magicians. Their webs are literally sucking mana out of the air, and while they are not fire-resistant, they prevent fire from spreading. No mage would be able to fight such monsters in an area so deprived of mana.

Edward remembered the factory in Oshle Tirion that was growing more Bloodmaws. It would make sense for them to build an army to fight an enemy they can’t face directly. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced those spiders were already fighting the Damkinans back then. Bloodmaws are somewhat weak, but they would be enough to stall the spider’s advance while mages attempt to burn the spiderwebs from the backlines.

It only made Edward more uneasy. Damkinans had been an advanced civilization, and he had barely scratched the depth of their knowledge. He didn’t know if he was strong enough to fight an enemy that they had struggled against and even maybe lost. Although the fact that the world wasn’t a giant spiderweb meant that the Damkinans had somehow managed to take care of them even if their civilization collapsed afterward.

The scale of the events he was implicated in made Edward realize his position. From what he had read in Gobéliard, the pinnacles of humankind were at the patriarch stage. He was only one stage below, at the predator level, and already he didn’t know anyone from this level that could surpass him. He wasn’t a vulnerable civilian anymore, but the most powerful asset humankind had in this region of the world. If he wasn’t able to deal with this issue, the whole region would collapse and become the spiders’ den.

Edward took out a slow breath feeling the pressure of responsibility on his shoulders. He reaffirmed his grip on his daggers. Whatever happened, he couldn’t allow himself to die. He had to be the rampart protecting not only his friends but also thousands of innocent people. If he fell, they would not understand what was coming for them. Edward had only warned Leyla about the spider infestation and even she wasn’t aware of the latest developments. Gobéliard couldn’t defend itself against such a force.

Being even more careful, Edward circled the structure, watching for any sign of traps. He was even tempted to simply put several runes bombs right on the outside of the structure to blow it up, but it would be wasteful, and he didn’t know what it was yet, or even if the explosion would be powerful enough from the outside to destroy the important parts. In the end, he had to resign himself to step inside the giant cocoon.

He entered the oversized opening in the cocoon, still walking above the air on aura steps and ready to teleport outside at any moment. The inside was filled with purple light, and the mana density sharply increased, Edward felt his movements slowing down. The mana concentration increased his perception so much that everything seemed to move in slow motion.

The cathedral-sized cocoon was empty saved for a portal in the middle of it which was the source of the purple light. A portal? Edward looked around at the empty space with not a single spider in sight despite all their webs. The portal didn’t flicker and looked like a tear in reality. A PERMANENT portal? Edward rectified seeing nobody nearby that could be the source of it. Is this from where the spiders are coming from? That would explain why they conquered everything suddenly turning the forest into an alien landscape. They are a foreign specie, invading from another location, they don’t have predators here. And such an important place is unguarded?

Edward felt that it was deeply wrong. Just at that moment, a form emerged from the portal, entering this world as if it was strolling inside its own garden, unaffected by the mana density and moving seemingly at normal speed. Which meant it was moving remarkably fast.

Edward was barely believing his eyes, a woman’s torso was merged with the body of a spider. The woman appeared alien with white long hair that had a disturbing similarity with spiderwebs, slitted red eyes, and grey sleek skin. Even her fingers were replaced by claws. She wasn’t wearing anything, but the sight was more scary than sexy with her lower body similar to the black widow, slender sharp spider legs, seemingly sharp enough to pierce through rocks. Its abdomen didn’t have hair but rather a slick reflecting black skin.

She grinned viciously. “I was waiting for you,” she told Edward in a predatory voice. “The one who hurt my previous babies so much that they beg me to take care of it.”

Edward was flabbergasted, an actual monster was speaking to him. This exceeded by far the rough intelligence that the spiders had displayed until now. He felt shivers run through his spine. If its appearance and the way it appeared weren’t enough it showed how dangerous a monster it was.

“My, my, are you ignoring me?” the Arachne asked him, a dangerous glint flashing in its eyes.

Edward activated his acceleration but not his perception, seemingly moving again at normal speed. He couldn’t afford to be careful. “What are you? And where are you coming from?” he asked coldly.

The Arachne harrumphed. “How rude. I came because I was curious about who was causing such a ruckus, but I must admit I’m disappointed. If you are such a boring serf, I don’t need to waste more time with you. Take care of him.” She added in a cruel voice.

Five portals appeared within the cocoon, a bear-sized tarantula emerging from each one. Edward didn’t stay a moment longer and teleported outside. Five tarantula class monsters added to an entity with unknown abilities but probably even more powerful, was too much for him. He had to flee if he didn’t want to die.

Edward didn’t take the time to choose a direction and simply run right off the bat, even using his acceleration power as well as his enhanced perception spell now that he was out of the dense mana. He kept even more distance with the webs both on the ceiling and the ground. Teleporting spiders chasing him wasn’t a possibility anymore but rather a hard fact. However, running in the air with no cover had the downside of making him easily trackable, even if this prevented him from getting ambushed by the tarantulas. He didn’t know the range of the tarantulas’ portal but the first thing he wanted was to put as much distance as possible between him and the Arachne.

His hope of escaping the pursuit after him was doused by a portal opening ahead of him, the spiders’ portals had more range than his teleportation. The tarantula tried to jump at him, but Edward was too fast and easily avoided the attempt. However, that didn’t stop the spiders to make more portals open ahead of him. Not only on the ground but also from the ceiling. A tarantula was dropping on him and Edward had to veer to the left to avoid it. That’s when a portal opened from a nearby tree. Seeing something large emerge from a tree seemingly thinner than the being in question could have been comical in another situation, but the long probing legs of the tarantula were everything but funny.

Edward had to rely on his enhanced perception to avoid the pouncing spider. They are coordinating their attacks. Baiting me in a direction to better catch me. Edward continued to run, putting as much distance as he could between himself and any webs. However, he knew that this situation couldn’t last, he wouldn’t be able to endure the relentless assaults of the spiders forever.

The tarantulas were far slower than him, their pouncing attacks were fast but not their travel speed. They were able to keep up with Edward only thanks to their portal ability.

At least the scary one isn’t pursuing me. It’s probably too lazy to care. Edward greeted his teeth. And I’m not even sure it’s arrogance. For all I know, it very well may have the power to deal with me easily.

Whatever. Beggars can’t be choosers. Let’s make this monster pay for underestimating me.

Knowing that trying to escape was meaningless, Edward slowed down once he deemed he had put enough distance between himself and that crazy Arachne. He went onto the offensive, enhancing his daggers with aura and teleporting on the next tarantula that attacked him. This time the spiders were more cautious and had already formed an aura armor. Edward’s dagger bounced on it but not without making the armor flicker.

The spider escaped through a portal while another attacked Edward. He slid just enough to be out of the way while still slashing at the monster. Once again, its aura armor was damaged but not enough for the attack to connect to its body.

Edward was used to fighting while being outnumbered but he wasn’t used to battling so many durable enemies at the same time. He wasn’t worried about avoiding their attacks but rather if he would have enough aura to pierce through all of their armor.