The scream caused everyone in the cave to tremble, a flood of overwhelming mana washing over them.
[Status penalty inflicted - Fear: All stats are reduced by 15% concentration and accuracy are also affected].
The creature moved slowly forward with each step making those facing it shudder. Zem despite the situation thought as quickly and calmly as he could. For there was no doubt that the creature before them was superior to them. Mutations are stronger than normal monsters that have evolved slowly or abruptly. This can have various and varied causes.
Normally, they would have faced at most a general spider, but what was in front of them was far from that. In this particular case, there was no doubt that it was the mutation of a general spider. Having transformed into a variant above, in this case a spider prince. Because given the level of this dungeon, this creature should never have been there.
"Even with the three of us it would be extremely difficult to defeat this monster." (Zem)
Zem looked at the fifteen or so adventurers in front of them, most of whom his intuition told him would be between level 80 and 90 at most. He quickly concluded that they would not necessarily be of much help to them.
"In that case, it would be better to flee immediately to where we arrived and come back with stronger people." (Zem)
He turned his head towards his brothers opening his mouth briefly.
"Psh!"
Before a single sound came out of his mouth, he saw several gigantic boulders flying through the air.
"No!" (Zem)
The rocks shattered at the entrance of each tunnel creating several explosions. When the smoke cleared all the entrances were blocked off depriving them of any escape.
Zem turned his head toward the creature, a slight smile evident. Not only was the monster strong, but it was also smarter than normal.
"Looks like we're out of options." Said Elias, his sword blazing with bright flame.
"Wai." Veid confirmed the wind rising around him.
"Hey, if all of you don't want to die prematurely, I advise you to join us immediately!" Zem shouted from the spears of water forming around him.
The adventurers immediately understood what he meant, if they all wanted to survive, they had to regroup. They ran towards them, while the creature rushed towards them. Zem rained down his spears on the monster to cover their escape.
There was not such a big distance between them and the adventurers so they also ran in their direction. In order to shorten the distance between them as quickly as possible. The prince, then rushed at high speed into Zem's attack. He dodged each of the spears made of water that came at him.
"Tch !" Jura Zem.
The creature immediately approached one of the stragglers, throwing out one of its many legs. It was about to slice the man, but just before a wall of flame prevented it from striking.
It was Elias who had saved his life, a few seconds later flaming swords also flew towards the Prince. The monster was now beset by water lances, but also flaming swords. He stepped back briefly before again passing through the relentless barrage of attacks. His incredible speed of movement allowed him to get through the numerous attacks.
He again came dangerously close to one of the men fleeing for their lives. His claws, reaching out again to attack, once again a wall of flame formed. But strangely, the adventurer who was being targeted had suddenly stopped moving.
"What are you doing run!" Elias shouted.
In a great stupor, the adventurer's head came off his neck. It fell to the ground as his body collapsed in a pool of blood.
"How?" (Elias)
The answer quickly appeared, he noticed a hard to see transparent thread turned inside one of the spider's legs. It had actually sent with another leg a high speed thread cutting the man's head as it went around the wall of fire. The others who had seen one of their comrades die redoubled their efforts in their runs.
The Prince's 8 arms all finally began to move, all pulling wires as hard as steel. Veid intervened as well, erecting numerous walls of wind. However instead of going around this time the wires hit the walls passing through. The creature had just tested whether the walls could stop its attacks and they were unable to.
Roaring, the creature sent its web without the slightest restraint, it was so fast and strong that they went right through. The threads were impervious to Elias' walls of flame, even Zem's strongest walls of water were nearly ineffective. Only slowing the wires by a few thousandths of a second.
One of them ended up with his legs cut off, he screamed in pain while trying to crawl to survive. Unluckily his life ended when a wire suddenly cut him in half. His body slowly dislocated in two, in a vivid blood flow.
Unable to properly block the attacks when the adventurers had finally reached Zem's group. Four men were pierced and cut by the wires, bringing the total to five.
The adventurers having reached them the one appearing to be the leader asked Zem:
"Now what?" (Adventurer)
"Even with you, there is almost no chance that we can kill it." (Zem)
"So what?" (Adventurer)
"Take five men with you, you're going to reopen one of the accesses that was closed. In the meantime, we'll hold it as long as possible." (Zem)
"All the supports like mages, healers or capable of ranged attacks will stay behind. In order to support us. For the rest like swordsmen or others, you will stay to protect the support line." Immediately ordered Elias.
Then once all the orders were given Zem, Elias and Veid stepped forward, all three side by side facing the monster.
Being aware of the fact that if they held back now only death would await them. The mana around them began to gather and then rumble violently. This was the technique they had perfected since their childhood and while living as adventurers. The dream of a child wanting to wear the armor of a knight to ferociously fight monsters.
Fire, water and wind spread around the three brothers before bursting violently. Three colored columns of green, red and blue formed and rose to the ceiling. When the light finally dispersed the three were covered in armor assigned to their respective elements.
Zem was covered in a beautiful navy blue, Elias in a fiery red and Veid in a beautiful emerald green. Their armor, powered by their elements, rippled fiercely and softly as if they were alive.
Zem shouted activating his skills again:
[Determined General: A general's determination increases the caster's and his allies' stats by 10%].
[Provocation: You provoke enemies who then target you more easily].
[Rallying Cry: All debuffs or abnormal status are negated or partially reduced. A 3% buff on caster and ally stats is applied].
When their muscles moved, the ground cracked under them and they charged at the creature. To answer them at the same time from the eight arms of the spider came out a web. One per arm each was extremely strong but above all sharp, moving with speed and precision.
Elias tried once more to burn the threads, but they easily resisted, his flames not being strong enough.
"Tch!" He swore.
While trying to get closer to the spider, they were forced to be defensive. The many wires splitting the air caused deafening hisses, aggressively assaulting them.
One wire managed to briefly touch Veid's armor and an entire piece of the armor shattered. Had the armor not been there, he would have been severely slashed or lost his arm. After a few brief seconds the lost piece regenerated.
After getting close enough Zem who was in the lead sending slashes of water. A shield of wires formed, containing his attack. Water and fire slashes then came in as well. And more wire shields were immediately formed. The creature was defending itself while overwhelming them with attacks, each of which could be potentially deadly if they were hit.
Zem glanced briefly at his two brothers, a look they returned.
Multiple slashes of fire and wind shot towards the prince. Zem, rushed even closer to the creature until he was near it. He swung his sword at its chest, but one of its arms easily blocked the sword. Its carapace was extremely strong and robust.
Immediately Zem applied more mana to his sword, which surrounded itself with more water in an attempt to slash her. He was forced to finally back away, when several of the prince's arms moved to strike him.
He narrowly dodged the attack that shaved his skull. Taking a piece of his armor and hair with him. Focusing on Zem, he momentarily forgot about Elias and Veid. Several attacks of wind and fire then struck him full force. The creature screamed in rage despite receiving little damage.
From behind his back where his abdomen was, came out several threads that turned into swords. More than twenty swords of wires were now floating in the air.
"Damn it, he was only playing since earlier!"(Zem)
In addition to the 8 wire swords flying towards them, they now also had to deal with swords. When they hit the ground would break or be cut up neatly.
"This is a nightmare!" (Elias)
Dodging the wires was already no small task, so combine that with the swords. Their task, dramatically complicated. So much so that their armor took a lot of hits. This time, there was physical damage, their bodies being gradually covered with large bruises and gashes.
Another emergency was added to their worries, their mana was running out fast, as maintaining their armor was mana intensive. But they couldn't afford to dissipate it, because without it one of them would have already been seriously injured or dead. Plus, they couldn't afford to go out and drink a bottle of mana recovery. In a fight that was almost a one-sided affair, a mistake could cost them their lives. Time was against them anyway, when they ran out of mana their armor would disappear by itself, dooming them at the same time.
The area had already turned into a war zone and the wounds had accumulated on the bodies of the three brothers. The fight was becoming too difficult, finally at this point the support finally played its role.
Multiple attacks from different elements rushed at the creature, of course he protected himself, but this gave an opening to the three brothers. Three rays, of blue, red and green intertwined to hit the prince full force. Not only that, but the healers had healed their wounds and regenerated some of their mana.
In the combined attack that they had executed, they had aimed at the only point that was exposed at that moment. That particular point that they had targeted was the head of the creature. When the smoke from the attack cleared, there was a mass of wires on the ground. Two of the prince's eyes had been pierced, purple blood flowing from its orifices.
With the utmost urgency, he had managed to form a cluster of wires to protect himself. However, this was not enough to fully protect himself from the attack.
They should have all at least exalted a little, but a deathly silence hung over the cave. The reason was simple a terrifying flow of mana crushed them. Even more violent than when the creature had first shown itself.
Behind the spider, 20 more swords of threads formed and the threads in the spider's hands went from 1 to 3.
At that very moment only one word could describe the situation:
"Horrifying." (Veid)
The wires and swords suddenly resumed their dance. A deadly dance, the first target was all those behind who provided support. Zem, Elias and Veid tried to go and protect them. Unluckily, this was impossible for them, as the threads and some of the swords targeted them as well.
The adventurers in the rear were shaking with fear as they saw the wires and swords closing in on them relentlessly.
They clutched their swords with all their might injecting mana into them. In the hope that their swords could slice or block the wires. However, it was in vain, the result was bloody, the swords were cut through as if they did not exist. Then it was their bodies that were pierced before exploding into several pieces of bloody flesh.
Then the mages who were protecting themselves with different spells suffered the same punishment. Their entrails and several pieces of their bodies flying in different places. In less than 30 seconds, more than a dozen adventurers had perished, their severed bodies creating a pool of blood.
The three brothers had to deal with a stream of attacks. Each of them could kill them. Their bodies quickly started to get exhausted and accumulate wounds much faster. So much so that after only a minute their beautiful armors were no longer regenerating properly. A sign that they were running out of mana and the fight would end with their deaths. Suddenly a shout rang out, it was the second group. Zem briefly turned his gaze towards them one of the tunnels had been uncorked.
"Elias, Veid, explosion!" Zem shouted.
Elias and Veid while dodging the attacks they were dodging by a hair's breadth, gathered a large amount of mana. It was the same attack they had used on the group of spiders and Scheibers. Two gigantic tornadoes formed out of fire and wind, they merged into one super tornado.
It surged toward the prince, the tornado was so large that it obstructed the creature's vision. He was forced to retract his attacks and move to dodge, but the tornado followed his every move.
He then decided to face the tornado and protect himself with his sons. A second tornado formed behind him, one as large as the first, this one made of water. The creature was caught in a pincer movement with no way to dodge. Zem and his brothers ran for the exit as fast as they could. The tornadoes collided, causing a thermal shock. An explosion of steam violently shook the cave.
Zem Veid and Elias had used almost all of their mana for this final attack. Exhausted and wounded, they rushed to the exit where the remaining adventurers were waiting. Zem, passed the exit followed by Elias and finally Veid who was the most exhausted. Suddenly, a sword was thrust into his belly before he could pass the exit.
"Save us some time you inferior being!" Declared the leader of the adventurers.
Zem and Elias didn't notice until 1 second later what had happened, unfortunately it was too late.
"What are you..." (Zem)
Before he finished his sentence the ceiling, collapsed and Veid was pushed out. The entrance was once again voluntarily condemned by the leader of the adventurers.
"Let's go he will save us time!" (Chief Adventurer)
A blade, ended up without them realizing it under his throat.
"Kuh... What are you doing?" He asked perplexed.
"You really dare to ask me that after what you just did." Said Zem with his face completely filled with rage.
"What I just threw your slave away to buy us some time." Adventurer leader)
"That's right finally what are you doing!" Indignantly another adventurer said.
They then pulled out all their weapons, for Zem was threatening their leader.
"It was our brother and brother in arms who bought us time!" (Zem)
"Your brother that thing, you've lost your mind." Shouted another adventurer.
"That's right, you could very well buy another one to fight with you!" Added another.
"You see his life has no value, they are only tools of they are inferior beings meant to serve us!" Said the leader of the adventurers confidently.
Each member of his group being now ready to attack Zem and Elias. Wounded and tired they thought they could face them. After a brief silence under tension Zem replied:
"If his life is worthless, so is yours." Said Zem coldly.
The sword sank into his throat cutting his windpipe, he fell to the ground holding his neck to stop the bleeding.
"You're sick!" Shouted an adventurer as he lunged at Zem.
A flaming sword went through his head killing him immediately, Zem and Elias' faces were closed. The adventurers then realized the terrible mistake they had just made. No matter how much they screamed, they were all killed in a few seconds.
After that, they rushed to the rocks and started to clear them. A voice then called out to them, it was Veid's voice talking to them from the other side.
"Leave me and go away." (Veid)
"Whatever you're talking about, we're not leaving you here!" (Elias)
"Don't move, we're coming!" (Zem)
On the other side, the smoke created by the steam explosion began to dissipate. Until a shape appeared that of the spider prince.
"Leave me here, I'll save you some time." (Veid)
"Stop talking crap we still have healing and mana potions left, let's kill this son of bitch!" (Zem)
Veid smiled despite also seeing the creature come out of the steam almost unscathed.
"You know very well that's impossible." He declared with a smile.
Zem and Elias were in tears, they knew it too, but they couldn't bring themselves to lose their brother. If they were to die, they would die together and Veid was well aware of that.
"I know you two are ready to die with me. We are not related by blood, but you are my brothers, my family. I will not ask you to die for me." (Veid)
Zem's tears and crying from Elias intensified, they quickly redoubled their efforts to clear the wall. As the creature began to walk towards Veid.
Clear tears began to stream down its face. It wasn't the creature, nor the fear of death that made him cry. It was the cries of distress from his brothers and the fact that their adventure was coming to an end.
Yet he also felt at peace, as memories of his childhood with them came flooding back. The peaceful days in the fields, the fights and sword training. The adventures with dungeons and monsters, but most of all the love of his parents and brothers. Each one of them warming his heart and erasing little by little the fear.
"Zem, Elias, I want you to join the knights of the kingdom of Sigma." (Veid)
"What there is no way! You know the atrocities they do!" (Zem)
"Listen to me, I've been thinking about this from the moment we got the letter. Over there, you could help a lot more people. Save people similar to me, like you did for me."
"But!" (Elias)
"To save and help who can be saved is the only thing I ask of you." (Veid)
Zem and Elias bit their lips continuing to try to clear the path.
"Thank you! Thank you for being my brothers, thank mom and dad too. It was a short but beautiful adventure." He said with a smile.
He stood up as best he could, pulling the sword from his bloody belly. Badly he gathered all his strength and his mana that he had left.
"Go now!" he shouted.
Devastated by sadness Zem and Elias hesitated.
"Leave!" He shouted even louder.
Zem and Elias reluctantly started to run, they didn't want to, but if they died their brother would sacrifice himself for nothing.
Veid wiped his tears with a smile on his face, he faced the creature with dignity.
[Skill: Brother to the End has been created / Brother to the End: All your stats are temporarily increased by 150% for 1 minute. At the end of this minute, your body and magic circuit will be too damaged due to the sudden surplus of mana. Your heart will stop and your body will explode].
[Painless skill is granted to you / Painless: You feel no pain].
"Could there be a star watching over me." He smiled.
The creature was now only 10 meters away from him, he began to run feeling Zem and Elias take flight.
"Skill Activation: Brother to the end." (Veid)
Veid's body, lit up with a strong green color as if he was about to explode. His skin cracking into small pieces in multiple places, his body overflowing with a violent mana.
"Let's go for a last adventure!" (Veid)