Chapter 53 - Chapter 53: Bench Marking

"Sir Chrono. Would you mind unbinding the spider's body? I want to test another blow on it." The commander of the second army asked. "The body is tightly bound so that it doesn't explode. The spiders have one final attack where they take in air to expand their bodies and explode at the target." I answered. I had failed to deliver such critical information to them. "They have a suicide attack?" The commander of the second army asked. It had not crossed my mind that the normal soldiers were not involved in our raids on the spiders hence what I thought was obvious was actually a life altering information. "Yes. A final attack to take the enemy with them. That is why it is probably struggling to free itself." I said as I pointed to the spider. The spider was trying to roll around and shake off the tight metallic cage that I had conjured with earth magic. I began to talk about to the Commander about other traits of the spiders for the first time. Her mouth and facial expressions could not hide the shock upon discovering the new information. "They shoot webs at your face and poison from their mouths?" she asked. I had spent a little more than two weeks on this continent taking care of spiders and at no point in my mind, did I register that passing information about spiders to locals was helpful. That was a major blind spot that I had overlooked. Although the number of spiders had decreased, there was need to have the militaries gain some experience. "Would you like to come with us during our next raid?" I asked. "Absolutely, I need to design clothing and other weapons to deal with them. If possible, I would like to have the general and other commanders to come with us." She said. I had no objections so I asked her to be ready by tomorrow morning. A sample of the spiders captured was now placed inside the military garrisons. Every high level official in Orthon knew about the existence of the spiders. What they lacked is the experience to battle them. I went back to the temple and met Zari laughing and in a very jolly mood. "Why are you so happy?" I asked her. Her face lit up when she saw me. "These guys are saying that they have found something to counter you. Tomorrow will be the day you lose. We shall emerge victorious!" Zari shouted and her subordinates cheered. This was very worrisome. What could they have planned? "Tomorrow we are taking the military leaders with us. I need them to have experience dealing with the spiders before we leave them." I said. "What about our training time?" Zari asked in a concerned manner. I smiled at her then answered, "Of course nobody will mess with my time pummeling all of you." Zari responded with a more evil grin. "Ha. This time you will lose." She answered. I was very interested in what they had planned. Maybe this time we can fight as equals and I would not have to limit my strength. FC was too strong and the rest of my kin were weak. If they could improve to my level by refining their skill that would make me extremely satisfied. We had all evolved and improved tremendously since we started our daily sparring sessions. Accuracy, speed and battle instincts improved across the board. In a few months' time, the level of improvement expected is likely to make Zari's subordinates among the most competent and effective fighting force along with her two brothers' forces. The next morning Zari, her subordinates and I went to the Garrison. More people than I had expected were there. Eight commanders each with two attendants, the General, Roy the crown prince and the Duke were present. About twenty members in total. "Sir Chrono, the carriages are ready. We are all prepared to leave immediately." Roy said. Carriages? What carriages? We always flew all around the continent looking for Spiders. Carriages are extremely slow and not flexible enough on mountainous regions. "Roy. Nice to see you too…" I was interrupted. "You are speaking to the Crown prince." The duke said. Why does he have to be such a stick in the mud? "Who cares? We are not going to go by carriages. Instead, we are going to fly you there." I said nonchalantly. My attitude did not goober well with the duke who insisted on some lecture about something or the other. If it were not for the general's tact, he would still be speaking till the end of the day. "What do you mean when you say fly us there?" the general asked. Everyone's curiosity was piqued. "Okay everybody. Don't be afraid. Each of us will fly three or four people to the southern part of the continent." I said. The dragons began floating above the ground and levitated their passengers and cast a barrier around them. We then slowly taking into consideration their safety and flew for a few minutes and reached our destination. We landed slowly on top of a hill. It suddenly got noisy as soon the passengers landed and the barriers removed. "Thank the gods. I tough I was going to die." "How do normal humans fly like that?" "Imagine the time we could save by flying like this." On and on the stories went. "Settle down. I brought you here to learn more about the spiders. That cave is a common habitat for spiders. Once we take care of them today, new spiders will be there tomorrow from all around this region. This is a good opportunity to familiarize yourself with them." I said. The crowd was silent and very attentive. "Now, wait here as we catch some spiders and bring them here." I said. "Pardon sir Chrono. I would like to come with you." Roy said. "Very good. I like you kid. You have guts. Follow me." Zari said. Roy hurriedly went to Zari's side. "The General and the Duke, kindly follow me. The rest please wait here." I said. Zari led the way inside the cave and motioned for the guests to remain silent. We followed her through the caves and a few seconds later, we met a venom spitting spider. "Move behind me." Zari told Roy. "That is a venom spitting low level spider. The venom can burn your skin off if you are not careful." Zari murmured while forming a barrier. "I will give you a demonstration." Zari said. She threw a small stone towards the direction of the spider which responded by spitting venom. The floor area where the stone landed was dissolved and a hole was formed. The prince and the duke held their mouths in shock. The general was unmoved probably because of his vast military experience. "That is very dangerous." The duke said. "Forget the burning your skin off, that will not leave your bones." The prince murmured. Right, the human skin was unlike that of dragons hence my example was not appropriate. In my human form, that acid would feel like a light burn with no other effects that is probably why I gave such an absurd warning. The spiders began looking around and found us. Zari quickly froze the spider in a block of ice restricting its movement. "Now, follow me. We are going to look for other type of spiders." Zari said. "Wait, what was that?" Roy asked. Zari looked around puzzled not understanding what he meant. "That block of ice. Where did it come from?" Roy clarified. "I just made it." Zari answered in a confused face. "Let us proceed." I said. Both of them recovered quickly and began walking. We met another spider, this time a mid-level spider. The duke screamed on top of his voice which greatly disoriented the mission. "What are you doing you fool?" Zari asked. "What abomination is that?" the duke cried out. Have they not seen a mid-level spider? But I am sure that I captured one and put it inside the garrison. "We have never seen them when not bound." The general said. Well that explain this unexpected reaction. The mid-level spider they saw was tightly bound around the body with its legs folded. This unbound version appeared at least twice as large as the bound one. "So this is why he is screaming like a little child." Zari countered while laughing. "Why are you not worried about it?" Roy asked. "This spider has the two long range activities. Throwing poison and webs and not to mention that its jaws are not weak. However, it is still too weak." Zari said. She rushed towards the spider still in dragon form and punched it on the side. The spider slid against the floor and came to a stop. Its exoskeleton on the side was now shattered. "Chrono. Why don't you go and help Zari?" Roy asked in a concerned tone. "Don't worry about her, that spider is too weak to injure her." I said.