Chapter 63 - Chapter 63: Homeland Insecurity?

Nathan was looking at the spiders at close range and inspecting them keenly. "I see smaller ones and others are larger one. Is the larger of the mother?" Nathan asked. He was talking about the mid-level and low level spiders. "I am not sure but I suspect they are siblings where the larger one is older than the smaller one." I answered. I then told him of my plan to go to the palace and report my findings. "By the way. Your mother moved to the palace." Nathan said. Moved to the palace? To do what? I was confused for a moment before Nathan explained the details further. "Your mother is now the king's second wife officially." Nathan said. I was gone for a little over two weeks. Maybe they thought I was going to stay away for a while and they didn't have time to tell me. To be honest, I really didn't mind it. This was a result of having an old soul where most of the normal things did not excite or trouble me. I took the message pretty well and began asking Nathan if he thought he could subdue such spiders. "I wouldn't know unless I tried." Nathan answered. I released one of the low level spiders and directed it towards Nathan. "Chrono! What are you doing?" Nathan shouted. "Training." I said while smiling wickedly. Nathan was a gifted wind mage who put much emphasis on using its derivative, lightning magic. "Okay let me see." Nathan said. The spider was not that large, its size was at approximately that of a goat. Nathan began using low level lightning attacks which were unable to penetrate the exoskeleton. This attack made the spider focus on attacking Nathan instead of the usual confused movement it was displaying earlier. The spider was a web shooting species and could conduct long range attacks while moving at very high speeds. It could hop from one area to another iin a blink of an eye. Nathan was finding it difficult to deal with the spider. The nimbleness of the spider resulted in him missing over 80% of his attacks. The 20% that landed sacrificed their power for speed and therefore could not decisively harm the spider. When comparing the mana reserves, Nathan was at 1150 while the spider was at 1080. They were very close in that regard but in terms of combat ability, the spider had a decisive advantage. "Chrono! How did you defeat these things?" Nathan asked. "My method is unlikely to work for you." I answered. Nathan understood what I meant and did not ask for more clarification. Nathan threw wind slices but the spiders instant hoping and hard exoskeleton easily countered the attack. Nathan would then use some wind mini cyclones to limit the visibility of the spider and then unleash a powerful lightning attack concurrently but that did not work either. The spider had crazy intuition and battle reflexes and if it felt something foreign, abnormal or threatening, it prioritized its own safety by either retreating or counter attacking. The battle went on for a few more minutes before Nathan ran out of mana. "Chrono. Let me see how you deal with them." Nathan asked. I took over from him and began having a light sparring session with it. I limited myself to wind magic to try and understand Nathans struggle. I formed wind spears and launched them at the spiders and the results were a direct hit. It was now lying down while its legs were facing up. "I think you could try wind spears next once you recover." I said. Nathans eyes were full of shock and disbelief. "You have grown really strong Chrono. As expected of the White Eagle." Nathan said. "Young master, the Dark Talon is here to see you." The head maid said. How did people keep finding out where I was? "Lead him here and come with refreshments for him." I said, the head maid promptly left and came back with the Dark Talon. "Greetings sir White Eagle." The dark Talon started. I replied and he began to question me about the spiders. I gave him the same detailed explanation I gave to Nathan. I then asked for him to try and subjugate one of the low level spiders. "You want me to try and face the smaller ones?" The Dark Talon asked. "Yes. I need to understand the level of threat that shall be upon us." I said. The dark Talon agreed with my proposal and I released another low level spider from its metal binding. The previously defeated spider was still alive hence I used dark magic to heal its wounds before I bound it again with metal.The Talon was gifted in dark magic and Earth magic. His mana reserves were the highest among the Talons at 2700. The spider he was facing was at 1230 mana reserves. I was expecting an easy win for him but that was not what happened. The other spiders were observing Nathans fight and I could tell that they were applying the lessons learnt. The Talon fired rock projectiles at the spider but the exoskeleton was too sturdy to harm it. The Talon formed a quicksand where the spider was standing but it immediately hoped out of the way. Earth magic was sturdy but was slow to cast and attack in a normal setting. With the spider's high mobility, the talon needed to think out of the box. The Dark Talon took a risk and began forming a cage like structure which began shrinking to limit the spider's movement. The cage continued to shrink until the spider was tightly bound where the talon used earth spears to stab the spider's body and get a decisive victory. The spider was dead but it had taken more effort and time than I had envisioned. We were in very deep trouble if an attack happened soon. "They were challenging but you won in the end. I still have a long way to go." Nathan said. I began talking about more training for the soldiers with a manual on how to deal with this type of spiders, the Dark Talon had defeated a venom spitting spider and was very lucky that his earth attribute offered sturdy defense against the corrosive venom. We took some refreshments and I began telling them about the mid-level spider in front of us. "I don't think you are at a position where you could deal with this type yet." I said. I began to explain about its attributes and strength levels which placed them at a point of despair. "What about a group of soldiers dealing with one of them?" the Dark Talon asked. "It is still impossible. The strength of that spider is imaginable." I said. They appeared doubtful and so I asked them to join me in defeating the mid-level spider. I went and freed the spider with Nathan and the Dark Talon standing behind me.Nathan had recovered his mana and began launching large scale spells which did nothing against the spider. The Dark Talon tried the same technique by using a larger cage but the spider focused on attacking one end of the cage and broke free. It was likely learning and adapting to the battlefield. I stood and defended against the web and venom attacks while the other two attacked. The mid-level spider was also nimble for its size and avoided most of the attacks. It seemed hopeless to the duo which was what I had just told them. The spider's mana reserves were at 67,000 which was on the weaker end of their species which normally ranged t 73,000 to 77,000. There was no way the Dark Talon 2700 and Nathan's 1150 mana reserves were sufficient to face such a spider. It would take a large number of soldiers to just deal damage to one of this spiders assuming the spider was immobile or shoulder fired rockets were used. If none of this conditions applied, the venom and webs thrown by the spiders would lead to high casualties and eventually a retreat by the soldiers. The duo tried everything in their power to try and land a decisive hit on the spider while I was defending against the spider's attacks but it was all useless. The exoskeleton was too hard and the speed of the spider too great. " Chrono. How did you catch this spider?" Nathan asked. He was now panting heavily. "I will take care of it. Move a safe distance away." I said to the duo. They moved a few meters back and I began to assault it. I used gravity magic to force it to the ground before using metal magic, a derivative from earth magic to bind the body and mouth of the spider. "You defeated it that easily?" The Dark Talon asked. "That is crazy Chrono. I knew you were strong but this was beyond anything I imagined." Nathan said. "This spiders need a different approach because your levels of strength is not that high." I said. The security present here at my homeland was not well suited to deal with the threat of the spiders.