Arachnomancer

These creatures have terrifying potential. Hopefully, no higher rank ones will appear. It seems that I was right in thinking that a.s.similated creatures are not dead. I need to make sure that no matter what, none of us get a.s.similated. If someone is..... Then we have to target that wretched with all that we have.

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To get a better look at the battlefield I have Kess open up the eldritch nest at the top of the cliff. What lay before me is utter choas. Corpses are everywhere with wretched slithering and diving into them. Most of them don"t belong to spiderlings....? In fact I don"t see any. I don"t see any wretched with their aspects.....

I decide to look for one that is about to die. An eldritch spiderling was knocked to the ground after getting hit by a ball of green spit. An octopus with small wolf heads sticking out of its own grasps its way over. Watching it swallow the eldritch spiderling, I see nothing happen..... Wait don"t tell me.

*Spllllooooakkkkk

I see its flesh crawl as it starts ripping its skin off with its tentacles. A couple seconds later it explodes into a fleshy mess. Good G.o.d..... Well, eating eldritch flesh is not an good thing to do. Even for these creatures that are designed to a.s.similate things.

I see a deep-flame spiderling explode into fire in the distance, cackling so loud that it drowns out the sound of fighting for a short bit. It seems that they don"t even leave corpses behind. I guess I don"t need to worry to much about Xelu or Vulki getting a.s.similated. Still, the deaths on our side is minuscule. Those 2 were the only ones to die in the past hour. Vulki has been keeping the deaths to a minimum.

The spiderlings are cooperating extremely well together. When one has taken too much damage the others will cover them to retreat and recover. That is a very efficient way to go about it.

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The stream slowed down a little after night fell. It may have to do with wretched not having night vision unless they devour a creature with that ability. Most of the ones we fought are newborns straight out of their base. There are however a few more powerful ones that returned along the other lines. The octopus with wolf heads was one such creature.

I am curious. What does the arachne queen"s nest look like? Well, that is probably something I won"t see for a while. When we quadruple the amount of sp.a.w.ners for Vulki and Xelu then maybe we will see. By that point they should have already evolved again. I am almost level 11 so that may not be that far off.

Looking at the state of things, I plan on having Vulki watch over the battlefield during the morning while having Xelu watch over it at night. I will also have a few spiderlings to monitor the situation from the top of the cliff. Just in case. Xelu can handle matters to a degree but, when it comes to matters that need a lot of thinking, she falls behind.

I want to join the battle as well since skill experience is best raised in combat. Some of the wretched may be able to see through stealth so I do have to be wary... Well I should be fine with Set. I can make sure to stay near our own forces as well so in the worst case they can defend as I flee.

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I wake up along with Vulki right before the sun rises. She takes over the forces from Xelu, who actually did well last night with barely any casualties. I have her go inside to rest as well as build new sp.a.w.ners whenever she can.

I was right. As dawn broke, the flood of wretched resumed with a few stronger looking ones taking the lead. The strongest looking one is a large snake with several heads sticking out of it. It has spider legs so it scuttles around instead of slithering. Those must have been drow from their settlement. It"s probably best I try to take that thing out with Vulki and Set instead of letting it rampage.

"Vulki, that one needs to die quickly. I have a feeling that it won"t be so simple to kill though...." Gin

"I was thinking the same thing. So how do we go about this. I can swarm it spiderlings so that the amount it kills stays low or-" Vulki

"Let"s kill it together." Gin

"Are you-.... Alright let"s kill it." Vulki

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Vulki POV-

Master Gin has put me in charge of the army. Despite being here for a shorter time than Kess or Set, I am given more authority. Well, that is due to being more developed mentally. They will probably become much more mature after the next evolution.

Still, it"s odd. I had a chat with Kess. She has no notion of what love is. She said that master Gin is an absolute figure for her. One whose decisions are to be followed even if they conflict with her desires..... Despite how great her desire for food is, she showed no hesitation in this.

Is what I feel love? I find myself having the same feelings loyalty to master Gin as well so maybe..... Am I getting confused in my own mental irregularities? No, even if it is..... I will bask in it. Whether it is just pure loyalty or something more..... This captivating feeling that Gin gives me is all I need.

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As morning came, so did those wretched. They are quite gross fellows. A particularly nasty one has master Gin worried. I can see a few familar faces sticking out of it...? Is that Felix? Hmmmm..... This is troublesome. I never liked that sc.u.m. He and Fellia were quite close in a weird way. Despite a trust sprouting between them, he always did that things that broke that trust just for it to be re-established. Quite weird.

It seems that master Gin wants to fight it personally. I was worried about what may happen to him but, with Set here as well, it should be fine. He entered stealth and had me attack it head on. Set wants to stays attached to him..... Ahhhh, why couldn"t I have been a guardian. Staying close to master Gin and even sleeping with him like that!

Unknowingly, I enter a rage as I start burning this creature. The flames drain its back legs of life as it starts hissing and the drow heads start hurling profanities at me. I scuttled away as it tries to approach me. I had the little ones make a circle so that this fight is not too choatic with other wretched trying to join in. Master and Set are nowhere to be seen which is a good thing. It"s back legs fall off as they start to crack apart.

It drops its back snake body and swipes a huge cloud of dust up. With dust blocking my vision I started whipping up flames in a circle. The mix of yellow-brown and blue is quite a spectacle. I ignore that though and spot the snake"s silhouette in the cloud. I have a bad feeling.

*Swooosh

I barely dodge as a sticky slime is through over. No, it was vomited. I can see a whole bunch of parasites flopping around in the clump of bile. I can"t let master Gin get hit by one of those. Suddenly I hear it roar. Its front half is sticking into a pool of poisonous acid. The back half of it had a good portion of its tail cut off. Seems like they acted. It drags its head out with green fumes bellowing off its flesh. Not much damage was inflicted as the snake scales are still clinging to it. Honestly Its suprising that it only took that much damage from the pool. It must have some sort of resistance.

It has the drow heads search around. I won"t let you! I charge at it dodging the clumps of vomit and pound a ma.s.s of flame into its back. A few of the heads explode from the force and the rest start howling. They may have some a detecting ability so it"s best to keep the beast itself in check. Hmmmm?

I send a message to master to retreat. The spiderlings that have been holding the other wretched at bay are having trouble. I can"t let this creature live though. I order some of Xelu"s spiderlings to bombard this fellow which finishes him off. He tried to curl up to defend its side that I smashed but, one of the blood orbs managed to hit it in that area. After that it veined it"s way into the creature and destroys its insides.

I swear, Xelu and her spiderlings are terrifying in more than one way. It probably would have taken us a while yet to kill the beast. However a blood orb alone just finished it off. They are even weakened versions of her own but..... It can kill this creature.