There were no corpses to be found. The spiders exploded at such a high intensity that a small crater of two meters in diameter and 50 cm deep was formed. Of course I am unharmed but this commotion is likely to attract attention. I decided to wait around for a while longer and observe. True enough, in less than ten minutes a large group of spiders showed up. They were the same size as those that had exploded. Where did this bastards come from? I was always looking around to see the general direction of their hideout but it seemed that they came from all directions. One two… I count fifteen of them. The barrier was already in place and I had nothing to worry about. There was no need to waste time so I heavily injured their limbs once more. This was because I hoped that their explosion would attract an even larger crowd. This time I would not wait on the ground but observe the battlefield from the sky. I shot a few light beams at them. This did not hasten their suicide attacks. Perhaps they thought that they had a chance to win. I needed to break their resolve and so I unleashed a fire attack. This burnt half of them in an instant. A charred corpse was what remained. This attack finally got the spiders began their reckless charges. Their attacks ben to be more intensive and random. They were still acting wary of me so I decided to lay a trap for them. I did not act when a large amount of webs was thrown on my head limiting the visibility. This finally emboldened them to launch their last suicidal attacks without fear of getting intercepted. In less than ten seconds, various explosions were heard. The impact was more powerful but I managed to amplify it with my sound magic to almost ten times the original. I then flew high above the sky and began observing the area. Hundreds of spiders within a one kilometer diameter rushed to the impact location devouring everything within their sight. There was nothing else to learn from them and so I turned into my dragon form. My appearance was that of a mighty dragon with dark red scales. I had chosen this appearance to match that of Zari a few years back. The dragon form allowed me to utilize wide area spells more effectively hence deal with a large number of enemies at once. A fire attack was the preferred method to deal with them. The small village had been evacuated long ago and was now ridden with spiders. Nothing could be saved. I opened my mouth and utilized both the wind and fire attribute to turn my flame blue in color. I descended from the sky while attacking the group simultaneously. The flame was very powerful indeed in less than five seconds the spiders together with the village was no more. The only thing left was a pool of lava on the ground.
[You have gained the ability Kin Communication]
[An ability that allows thought communication to members of the same species.]
[Affirmative. One higher ranking spider that gave orders to the three species.]
[Affirmative.]
I asked while turning back to my human form. Jenga explained the process in detail and after a while I was successful in contacting Zari. 'Hey Zari, can you hear me? This is Chrono.' I said. 'What the hell? How are you doing this? Since when can you do this? I feel like you are keeping your abilities a secret' Zari said. 'This is a skill I just learnt. Anyway I have met spiders in some village here. They are the same size as Alpha, my pet.' I said. 'That is very coincidental because I also went south and I have dealt with several spiders he same size as yours.' Zari said. We continued talking and I was feeling more confident that this is likely where the spiders' had made camp. This was until I reached out to Zora through the same way who was in a different continent. 'You have also met spiders?' I asked. 'Yes, although mine seemed a little bigger than yours. Maybe ten times bigger.' Zora said. We had left the dragons' domain at the same time with Zora who was also in a hurry to deal with this problem. Zari travelled south of the island to a remote and tundra covered continent. He left with some of his subordinates to investigate the Titan, one of the three generals. Instead, he found spiders deep underground inside the caves. Their sizes and abilities were different from what we had faced here in the Central Continent. The spiders would shoot webs with a freezing effect once they made contact with the target. We came to a conclusion that the spiders had stayed dormant underground in all continents and only awakened after the return of the hydra. This new information really put pressure on me to act fast and head to the temple of the god of war. I hurried back to my employer who was tending to the sick. "The healer is back." The old man shouted. He was holding his wife and the daughter who looked much healthier. I cleared my throat and began to communicate with them. "You people need to move far away from here. Look for somewhere else to live. This area is done for. Countless spiders the size of goats have appeared and are ready to tear you limb from limb." I said looking at them with a dead expression to drive the point home. "So it was true. I had never seen such a large spider before but my son…well my late son reported that he saw such a large spider. Unfortunately it is likely he was umm … well eaten by them…" the chief said holding back tears. The wife and daughter sobbed bitterly after he said tis. The mood was damp for a few minutes before discussions began. "Let us go to the capital." "Yes I heard that they need people to serve and support the needs of the army." "I will go back to my ancestral home." All kinds of opinions were flying around. I informed the group that I was going to the capital and it was impossible for me to come and treat them in time if they were to fall ill. This managed to solidify their desire to leave this forsaken place and try finding their luck in another place. For the people leaving for the capital, we left together. They had managed to save a few horses and carts and hence it was no longer necessary for me to spend the coins on transport. My employer had other business to take care of and could not accompany us to the Capital. It was evening when we started the journey and we expected to reach the capital in the morning without takin any breaks. Thirty carts followed each other in a single file headed to the capital. There were two instances of thieves trying to rob our non-existing treasure during the night which I promptly dealt with. I used blood manipulation and twisted their hands and limbs so much that they often passed out due to agony. I left their unconscious bodies at the side of the road after retrieving all the treasure they had. Of course this was done in the over f darkness and nobody was none the wiser. We arrived at the gate to find soldiers there in a very foul mood. Something must have happened to them. "I heard they suffered a defeat in the hands of the Orthon empire." A gentleman next to me whispered. Ooh that! I had already forgotten about that. A long que to enter the gates was witnessed and we waited for about half an hour before we got the chance to talk with the city guards. When the time came, the old man who was holding his daughter and wife suddenly got out of the cart to talk with the guards. After a few moments, they came and looked inside the carts where we were tightly packed. "Go to the blacksmiths. There is work to be done and you lot look worthless." The guard bellowed. The old man bowed and entered the cart and we were off to go. We were led to a rundown section of the city and ordered out of the cart. I was not here to work for a blacksmith so I tried excusing myself. "Where do you think you are going?" Guard shouted. "I am not with them, I came to vis…" I tried to complete my sentence but I was met with a punch on the face. It was not strong enough to even move my lips. The guard noticed this and raised a club to hit me.