The Clackers' strategy was simple and effective. After surrounding their prey, the Clackers swarmed them in a one wave rush. The spiders on the ground tried to overpower them, while those on the trees threw spider webs the size of a tablecloth against their opponents.
All the while the Clackers hanging from their threads spat poison non-stop, aiming for the humans' eyes.
Lith did his best, using water magic to turn his hands into razor-sharp blades and cleaving everything that came too close, but there were simply too many. He wasn't used to be ambushed nor to fight one against many.
All the spells he had at the ready, both true and fake, were aimed toward big, single opponents, hence ill-suited to deal with a swarm of small enemies.
The girls were faring much better than him. As soon as Phloria had seen the Clackers, her father's teachings had kicked in and she had quickly conjured a tower shield made of white-hot rocks.
It served as a means of both offense and defense since her own magic could not harm her. Spiderwebs would burst into flames as if they were made of paper, the poison would just dissolve without any effect, and every Clacker that touched the shield would lose its limbs if not its life.
From the moment she had recognized the nature of their enemy, Mirna had stuck her back against Phloria's, using her protection to take full advantage of her War Mage specialization.
Mirna filled the space around them with ice shards as long and thick as an arm, that rained down on the Clackers as if they had a mind of their own, without missing a single target.
She could freely cast a spell after another, switching place with Phloria whenever she was attacked. Each one of her spells exterminated dozens of enemies at once, buying them enough space to avoid being surrounded.
Back at the White Griffon, Professor Vastor, who was in charge of surveillance for that area, contacted Scarlett demanding explanations.
"What in the gods' names are Clackers doing? This is not part of our deal!"
"Of course not." Scarlett replied.
Vastor went into a daze, seeing through the communicator amulet that the Scorpicore was sipping tea from a porcelain cup the size of a bucket.
"Insects and arthropods have no respect for any hierarchy except their own. I have to agree that they are spawning too fast, though. A culling might be needed, but right now, I have other business to attend. If you need our help, you just have to ask."
Scarlett mocked him while picking a cookie the size of a plate.
"No, thanks!" Vastor closed the call, cursing the Emperor Beast and its arrogance for trying to copycat humans.
"Thorman, get ready to retrieve three students." He said to the bulky middle-aged Professor who was in charge of the Mage Knight specialization.
"One of mine, one of yours plus one." Thorman laughed at his colleague's lack of manners, setting the coordinates for the pick-up spot in his ring. He remembered his student, a talented girl that was allowing herself to get drowned in insecurity.
'Linjos was right, after all. With the old rules, even someone like Phloria would have been eliminated before the hour mark. The academy's system needed to be changed.' Thorman was now regretting having been among Linjos' fiercest opponents.
Meanwhile, Lith's situation was getting worse by the second. Despite his heightened senses and reflexes, there was only so much he could do. The only reason he was still standing, was because he could use up to six first magic spells at a time.
Even so, he could only delay the inevitable. The Clackers were now so close that even if he was at liberty of using true magic, he would not have enough time. No matter how many he killed, there were always more coming forward.
"Help! I need help!" Was the only thing he managed to scream from time to time.
Phloria, instead, was swept by euphoria. The spiderlings normally lacked fear, but the fight had long turned into a massacre. The flaming shield was impenetrable, and every time the sword behind it flashed, many would get mutilated or worse.
They had only two paths ahead, to retreat or die.
Mirna tried her best to keep up with her partner, but while casting she couldn't move very fast. Phloria was becoming increasingly reckless with her attacks, pursuing the enemies fleeing in front of her without a care for the consequences.
"What the heck are you doing? Come back here!" They were now several meters apart, enough for the spiders to surround Mirna again.
When Phloria realized her mistake, a Clacker hanging from a tree branch cut off its string and fell on top of Mirna, inflicting upon her its venomous bite.
Before she could reach the ground, the Clackers swarmed over her from every side. The smaller spiders bit her unconscious while the big ones carried her away with their threads.
Phloria was stuck between a rock and a hard place, no matter her choice, someone was bound to die! Lith and Mirna were in opposite directions, there was no way of saving both of them.
She remained frozen on the spot, incapable of making a decision until it was taken out of her hands. Thorman appeared through a Warp Steps, right beside the cocoon trapping Mirna.
His body was exuding a blue aura and whenever a spider closed in, it would be squashed by his war hammer. Thorman slammed it on the ground, holding his weapon with both hands. The resulting shockwave turned all the nearby spiders into dust, while the cocoon at his feet suffered no damage.
Thorman loaded the unconscious student on his shoulder, before sternly looking Phloria in the eyes.
"I'm sorry for being such a cr*ppy teacher." And then he disappeared into another Warp Steps.
Phloria felt ashamed of herself. Once again, she had disappointed her teacher. To make matters worse, this time she had managed to do it in front of all the academy staff, while also failing her teammate.
The arm holding the estoc fell alongside her body, the weapon almost slipping out of her fingers, already touching the ground.
"What a poor excuse of a Mage Knight I am." She said.
The Clackers noticed the opening and prepared to exploit it.
"Sorry if I exist, but HELP!" Lith yelled at the top of his lungs.
Between the previous ambush and Thorman's attack, he was facing a far lesser number of spiderlings, so he took the chance to regroup with his companion.
Lith activated the tier one magic holding ring, generating a flash so brilliant that for a second it was as if another sun had appeared in front of him. The spiderlings groaned and took a step back, while he jumped above them to escape the encirclement.
Sadly, the Clackers had poor eyesight to begin with. They sensed the outside world mainly through their bristles, that were capable of detecting the movement of prey through the vibrations they created by moving.
Phloria could see a replay of what had just happened. Another spider fell from above on Lith's back, biting him right below the neck. Feeling his consciousness fading away, with his last coherent thought Lith unleashed Checkmate Spears on himself.
Being encircled, the ice spears would trample everything along their way, while leaving him unscathed. As much as he hated it, Lith had to pin all his hopes on a perfect stranger, who he trusted as much as a used-car salesman.
After that, he fell limp on the ground as the venom quickly reached his brain, disconnecting it from the rest of his body.
Just has Lith had predicted, the spears turned all the Clackers surrounding him into toothpaste before passing through his body as if they were just an illusion.
The spell created a path between Phloria and Lith, but it was only a matter of seconds before more enemies sealed it off for good.
Cursing herself for her stupidity, Phloria threw away her self-pity, finally realizing what Thorman's words actually meant. Most Mage Knights' spells had a short-range, but they had the invaluable virtue of needing only one hand to be cast.
In less than a second, she conjured the Full Guard spell, creating a spherical blue aura with a radius of 1.65 meters (5.41 feet) all around her. The same spell Thorman had used, with a radius slightly bigger than her estoc's range.
Thanks to Full Guard, she had no blind spots. Whatever entered the sphere would be detected, so that Phloria was able to strike with surgical precision without even looking.
It didn't matter if it was spit, webs or spiders, everything would be met by her shield or her sword.
Her estoc was the goodbye gift of her father, forged with a secret family technique. The point stabbed like a spear, while the sword's single edge cut like a katana. She moved towards Lith's position, releasing small darkness bursts with each strike.
Creatures that small were bound to have their vital organs closely packed together. Their flesh rotted as soon as it was cut, making even suicidal attacks useless. She only needed a single cut to the body or head to kill a Clacker, no matter how shallow it was.
'So cool. It's awesome.' Lith feverish mind was still able the work, but barely. The venom was impairing both his nervous system and mind. 'I… we must look into that. It's so… something.'
'Lith, are you okay?' Solus was really worried about him. 'You sound a lot like in the memories where you were drunk and under the effects of mar*juana. Your thoughts are incoherent and erratic. Are you sure you are okay?'
'Is okay. If death hammer man saves me.'
'By my maker, you are getting worse! Move that a*s, sister!'
Phloria charged forwards, using her burning tower shield as a ram, reaching Lith's side. She then used her free hand (NA: remember that the shield is conjured, she does not need to hold it, it floats by itself.) to cast the second spell Thorman reminded her of.
By planting her estoc into the ground, she activated Blast Guard. It generated a small flaming sphere that affected everything in her surroundings except for the space within a meter (3.3 feet) from her body.
To avoid accidents, Phloria crouched down, holding her fallen comrade as close as she could. The spell had a short duration, but long enough for her to cast a tier three detoxifying spell.
"Come on, come on! I can't screw up three times in a single day! Snap out of it, you are the healer, not me!"
The spell was meant to neutralize the most common venoms and poisons, magical beasts' secretions were in a league of their own. She now realized how stupid she had been not purchasing any potions.
If she had them, maybe she could have saved both her teammates without having to rely on gambles and wishful thinking.
As if he had read her mind, Lith started to cast the same spell he had used to save the Marchioness' daughter. Phloria's Detoxify served its purpose, giving him enough clarity to weave true magic and disguise it as a fake magic personal spell.
A small orb of venom was expelled, preventing any further damage to his body. Then, he activated the tier two healing spell in his ring, recovering a good chunk of his mind.
"If I were you, I'd start running." Lith said, chuckling like an idiot. His pupils were still dilated.
Phloria sheathed the estoc before lifting Lith with a princess carry, activating the flight spell she had stored in one of her rings. After what had happened earlier, she had prepared it in case she needed to escape again.
The tower shield moved on her back, preventing further assaults from above.
She took a roundabout path to lose the Clackers before returning to the cave, activating Concealment to hide their presence.
Lith looked at her stern face from time to time, giggling like a little girl.
"Look, Solus, I got my knight in shining armor to save me!"
'Lith, you are still confused. You are thinking out loud, please shut up!' She thought.
"Who's Solus?" Phloria asked as soon as the situation was safe enough to allow her to be curious.
"A good friend of mine. We know each other for years. By the way, isn't this the moment when the hero usually tries to hit on the person they have saved? Please, don't try to kiss me. I don't think I could stop you right now, I like living too much."
Phloria's cheeks reddened, Solus couldn't tell if from embarrassment, rage, or both.
"Why would I want to force me on you? Who do you think you are?" Her anger sounded genuine, yet Lith kept laughing.
"Ah, kids. So cute and naïve, getting embarrassed by stupid jokes. You need to get out more, get a life!"
"Who are you calling a kid? You are younger than me." Phloria was getting annoyed, he was clearly out of his mind.
"Want to bet?" Lith cackled.
"Is Solus your girlfriend or just an ex?" If he was trying to embarrass her, it was a game that two could play.
"Nah. She's a girl and a friend, but that's it. We are both heartless and stone-cold, so we have a lot in common. Also, it would be really difficult to get in touch with her. Get it? Get in touch!" Then he started laughing like it was the best joke ever.
She ignored him for the rest of the flight. Lith was rambling nonsense, sometimes even speaking gibberish (AN: aka English).
Back at the cave, she could finally relax. With the help of her other two teammates, she kept healing Lith until he was clear-headed again. After cleansing his body from the last traces of venom, Lith shared a couple of freshly cooked blinkers.
"I don't know about you guys, but I had enough for today. I'm not stepping out of here until tomorrow."
The motion was unanimously approved.