Banished Pt. 16

"You little fucking brat!" I chided, and Bianca moved over to us, and placed her arms around us both, sharing a collective sigh of relief, while Blair kept on alert for more threats.

"Lucia's fine," the girl said, but I could feel her little heart racing in her chest, and even after I stopped hugging her tight, her little arms remained tightly locked around my neck.

"Nate; look," Bianca said, and as I glanced in the direction she'd indicated, I spotted as two spiders scurried out of one of the nearby grove trees, then hurried after their kin into the woods.

I turned to Astrid.

"Stay in the tree, but try to organize them to leave," I said to her, and she frowned as I pulled up my basic map module, and set our current location as the new waypoint so we could find our way back.

"What is your aim?"

"To find the one who spawns them," I said, and she nodded, a bit worriedly, as I headed off with Bianca and Blair close on my heels.

I kept Lucia in my arms as I ran, but it caused little problem as the spiders were much slower than any of the other monsters we'd ever encountered.

As we gave chase, however, I felt the eerie sensation of monsters crawling all around us.

Fucking hell.

How many monsters did this thing spawn?

"Naythan," Lucia called, tugging on me a little, and as I followed her gaze, I saw the treetops shifting under the weight of spiders overhead.

"I see it," I said, as I pulled up to a stop.

I pulled up my compass module, then noted the direction that the spiders were headed in.

"Why are there so many?" Blair asked, and I sighed.

"They must be hunting a lot," I replied worriedly.

At this rate, it was reasonable to assume that they'd taken out a cluster or two... but wouldn't we have heard about that?

Though, perhaps it was somewhere further off; somewhere that word had yet to travel out from.

"Are we going after them?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"I have a fair idea of what direction they're headed in from here, but we need more fighters equipped to take them down. Daggers are pretty bad against them."

Blair nodded in agreement, and we turned and headed back to the grove.

"Lucia; find Astrid," I said, and the girl nodded, before heading off. "Let's start harvesting cores," I said to the others, as I moved toward the herald, and quickly extracted its core.

The cores were easy enough to find, with the spider's midsection being the usual location, but Bianca complained a lot about having to fish them out of 'spider juice' as she called it, much to Blair's amusement.

"How have you survived this long?" she asked, and Bianca scowled at her.

"I'll survive longer than you will," she shot back, and Blair smirked at her.

"Wanna bet?"

"Cut it out," I called out, and Bianca made a whining sound, as we resumed the work.

"How many did we kill?" I asked, as we gathered the cores together.

"Uh, thirty-eight?" Blair said, as she did a quick count.

"Fucking hell," I breathed.

"Does that mean they ate at least that many of these green-folk?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"I'm not sure. They were also hunting the monsters left over from the previous domain."

Blair shot me a thoughtful look.

"Are all cores the same?" she asked.

"In terms of what?"

"Capacity?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"Nope. And ours have a much higher capacity than natives do, even as they are when we first arrive here."

Blair gazed at Bianca, and the girl shifted uncomfortably.

"Can you tell when one has a higher capacity than another?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"I think your ability to sense needs to be higher to be able to do that, though some of the others were able to right off the bat."

She frowned.

"I think I might suck at it, then," she said. "Either that, or this one here is no better than the brat."

"Hey, watch it lady," Bianca shot, and I chuckled.

"Bianca's capacity might be higher than most of ours, actually," I said, and Blair studied her again as Bianca beamed proudly.

"How come? Is she really that good?" she asked.

"We've been putting her on core training for at least a week now, I think."

Blair gave the info some thought.

"So, if the monster thing ate her, then turned her core into a monster, would the monster be stronger, or would it be able to maybe make a few monsters from her?" Blair asked, and I rubbed my chin.

"No-one's eating me," Bianca said defensively, and Blair smirked at her.

"Not with that attitude," she teased, and I quickly patted Bianca on the head, though a bit absently, as I continued to think.

Ethan had never mentioned anything about it... though both him and Danica did say that the monstrosities fed on the contents of the cores.

But did memories, skills, and all of the other things contained in a core add to its capacity?

Bianca's skills seemed to be on par with everyone else who had either fought or trained, but if her core capacity itself was greater than ours, which it should be, then did that mean that the monstrosity would merely have more to feed on before draining the core into a husk, which would then create another basic monster? Or did it mean that her core would create something slightly stronger, like a herald, maybe?

It was certainly something to think about.

"High Nathan," Astrid called, and as I turned, I spotted her approaching me with a dignified looking Kobalt elder.

"Guten tag," I greeted the man, and he raised an eyebrow at me.

"You speak the old tongue?" he asked.

"A little," I replied in German. "But perhaps I will learn the common tongue as well."

The man shook his head disbelievingly.

"The special one did not choose her mate without consideration, it seems," Astrid said, and the man nodded appreciatively.

"But will Palancar truly receive us? To strike upon a cluster-state is beyond all comprehension."

"The orchestrator of that strike has deserted them," I began, "and surely, they can do no more harm than these creatures would."

The man nodded again, as he bit his lip uncertainly.

"If I could offer you protection, I would, but our strength is not yet ascended to the powers of the immortal one," I added, and the man studied me.

"Yet, your strength is still beyond that of my comprehension. Will you assure me that my people will have refuge, if Palancar deems our retreat a transgression?"

"Your people will have refuge if they desire it, no matter Palancar's reception," I assured the man, and he shot Astrid a quick glance, then nodded.

"Very well; I will organize the withdrawal at once."

"How long will it take?" I asked, and the man frowned.

"To sweep every tree? Perhaps a segment," he said, but Astrid quickly shook her head.

"You will accomplish this in two ticks; no more. We cannot spend more than a segment on each cluster, or much Kobalt life will be extinguished this night," Astrid said, and the man bowed, before hurrying off.

"Can you organize a runner for us?" I asked, and Astrid eyed me.

"What for?"

"To send a message back to Grenze," I said. "Our defensive line is in the wrong place. We need to move them here."

She tilted her head at me.

"Explain," she said.

"What direction is Stadtrand from here?" I asked.

She pointed north-northeast, and I nodded.

"The forest was teeming with spiders, less than, uh five thousand strides from here, and were headed north-northwest," I explained, indicating to her the direction. "I think our monstrosity might be set up nearby, and between these two clusters."

She studied me; her brow crinkled with worry.

"Then it means to feed off of both of them this night," she noted, and I nodded. "I fear it may have already consumed at least a cluster," she continued, and as I nodded, she sighed.

"It's possible; that's why we need to stop it now, before it really gets out of control."

She nodded.

"Very well; I will take this message, then," she said.

"Are you sure? What if you're still needed here?"

She shook her head.

"The elders are agreed. They will not retract this intention," she assured me. "And it is best that I relay this message, that your gods accept this ruling as yours and absolute."

I licked my lips, then nodded.

"Alright. Have them evacuate the Kobalt to Palancar, then bring over the weapons, healing supplies, and armor. The hunters as well."

She frowned.

"There is one problem; your princess will not be permitted sanctuary," she reminded me, and I cursed under my breath.

"Can she be moved?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Yes, but it will slow the journey."

I let out a sigh.

"Let my advisors work it out," I replied, "just make certain that they understand the urgency of moving the line here."

She nodded.

"Naythan!" Lucia called, and I turned to spot some spiders moving across the tree line and to the upper branches of a grove tree.

"Fuck me; you should get going. Tell the group that it's only a matter of time before a monstrosity comes here," I added, and Astrid bowed.

"My passage will be swift," she said, as she turned and tore away down the path that led to the road.

"Let's get up there," I said, as we headed for the tree that the spiders were swarming.

I set Lucia down this time, and the girl quickly moved to my side.

A few panicked glances greeted us as we darted through the hallways and up the staircase, but the way was thankfully clear past the fourth floor.

Around floor seven, however, we encountered the first of the spiders, and Blair quickly dispatched them, but as several more came at us, we took up a defensive position there, and while Blair continued to hack through the coming horde, I covered her, by cutting through the creatures that had crawled onto the walls, and tried to come at us from above.

We killed about ten spiders, before the creatures began to withdraw, and we gave pursuit.

"Fuck," I said, as I spotted a creature disappearing down the corridor on the eighth floor.

"Do we chase it?" Bianca asked, and I gave Lucia a quick nod.

"Kill it, then meet us on the tenth floor," I said, and the girl nodded, then quickly darted off.

As we got to the tenth floor, I spotted more spiders outside, crawling along the branches of the tree.

"How do we get to them?" Blair asked, and Bianca shot her a grin.

"Like this," she said, leaping onto the window frame and out onto a nearby branch.

Blair shot me a mildly uncomfortable look, then shook it off, and followed Bianca outside.

"Not so bad," she said, but as she wobbled a little, I moved to her rear, and offered her a steady hand.

"Enough with the antics," I chided her. "Bianca's balance is really good, but you'll need to be careful."

She shot me a wry look, then shrugged.

"These branches are thick enough anyway," she said, and as we fanned out a bit, we started hunting down the stray spiders scattered around us.

For the most part, they were coming at us one at a time along the narrow branches, with only the stray leaping spider to cause any worry, and Lucia quickly moved to join us, but as she tugged on me, she quickly pointed out that spiders were beginning to swarm above us in worrying numbers.

"Blair! Back up a little!" I called, and the girl followed my gesture to where three spiders were already overhead, before leaping to a branch beside ours.

Bianca quickly joined us, then frowned.

"They're ignoring us completely," she complained, and I nodded, as the spiders were quickly filing into the nearby trees, and moving around us by navigating the branches that were out of our reach.

"Can't we get higher up?" Blair asked, and I shook my head.

"The branches are thinner up there, and they'd just move somewhere else.

We ducked back into the grove tree, then began to make our way down to the bottom floor.

Thankfully, the Kobalt seemed to have quickly returned to the safety of their rooms, but as we moved out of the entry hall of our grove tree, I noted with worry that the spiders were still avoiding us as much as possible, and were instead infesting the trees around us.

"Is someone controlling them this time?" Blair asked, and I bit my lip nervously.

"It looks so, huh?" I said, and she nodded.

"They just swarmed us last time, but I don't even think they're going after the green guys; they're kind of just getting into position."

It was a worrying observation, and as I surveyed the scene, I wondered silently how we should proceed.

We could make a run for it, then come back with reinforcements, but that might leave the Kobalt to their doom...

A scream rang out from somewhere to my right, and I spotted spiders crawling out of a room.

"Guess they are going after them," Blair noted, grinning a bit, and I shook my head at her.

We'll need to work on those reactions, I thought, but even so, I knew there wasn't much we could do as things stood.

As another scream rang out in the distance, Lucia crouched down, and placed her hands over hear ears.

She was shaking, and I quickly moved to pick her up.

"Maybe we can draw them off," I said. "Let's try to shoot for their base."

Blair took a look outside, then shrugged.

"Unless this thing has way more fucking monsters than we can imagine, we might as well."

We did a quick check, then darted in the direction of the bushes west of the grove.

There were a few straying spiders on the ground, and I turned our course toward them, slicing through them as we swept across the town, and as we burst through the foliage, I noted that there was a steady stream of spiders pouring into the cluster from the trees overhead.

I quickly consulted my compass before fixing our course on the direction that the spiders were marching in from, but as we darted through the trees, spiders on the ground were non-existent, and their numbers seemed to dwindle quickly the further we got from the grove.

We ran for about fifteen minutes, when I sensed something significant, and I pulled up to a stop.

"What is it?" Blair asked, and I turned my gaze a little to the right.

"There," I said, and she nodded as I set Lucia down, and we proceeded a little more cautiously toward the place I'd indicated.

We ran for what felt like no more than thirty seconds when Bianca yelped, and I glanced over to see her wrestling with some webbing.

"Stop," I said, as I withdrew my own dagger, and began to slice through the threads, but my eyes narrowed in just as one of the threads seemed to suddenly pull taut, and I spun just as I felt a shadow loom over me.

I sliced through the web, and leapt backwards, Lucia and Blair taking evasive action as well, just as a spray of something landed in a wide area around where we'd only just stood, and the foliage around it began to sizzle.

"What is that? Acid?" Blair asked. "What kind of spider uses acid attacks?"

"Not a spider, obviously," a voice called, and I glanced up just as something swung overhead, and again, I took evasive action, Bianca moving with me as well, just as another spray of liquid landed on the spot.

"Fucking hell. Even the earth is melting," Blair noted, and I nodded.

"Keep on your toes."

"There," Lucia said, moving toward me, and I nodded, patting my shoulder and helping her up.

"Guide me," I said, and she nodded, tugging at my shoulder and helping me to follow whatever it was that was moving in the trees above.

There was much less rustling than what the spiders caused, but liquids seemed to be leaking as it moved, until suddenly, I spotted a blob like appendage grab onto a branch, and a stream of blob-like liquid followed along, until a humanoid figure took shape on the branch there, and he smirked at me, as he turned and spewed a spray of acid in Bianca's direction.

"Watch it!" I yelled, and I breathed a sigh of relief as Bianca rolled away just in time.

She seemed to be sensing the attacks pretty well, even though she didn't have her eyes on the creature, but as I turned and caught sight of Blair, I began to wonder if she would have developed that kind of intuition this early into her time here.

Lucia was directing me to the creature, but instead, I hurried to Blair's side.

"Stick to me; I don't know if you can read attacks out of the dark just yet," I said, and she nodded.

"I can barely even fucking see," she said. "What's the deal, though? Blob monstrosity, but spider monsters? Where's the fucking consistency there?"

"I don't think these monsters are his," I said, as I led her along, navigating the webs that were strewn haphazardly about, but heading in the direction of where they thickened.

Bianca joined me, and as she moved to the fore, slicing through the webs and leading us while I kept an eye out for attacks, the blob thing suddenly landed ahead of us, and as he opened his mouth and directed a spray of acid at us, we quickly leapt to the sides, evading the liquid.

"Fuck, ah!" Bianca cried out, as she quickly got herself entangled in a thick bit of web, and Lucia quickly moved to cut her out; but I ignored the diversion, instead quickly bursting forward in the direction of the monster, lunging at him as soon as I got within range.

This one was Ronnie, wasn't it? I thought, as I got a better look at his face up close.

My halberd shot through him, but he merely smirked at me, and I felt the thing jerk in my hand as his body seemed to suddenly solidify around the weapon.

I released it as he spewed another spray of acid, raising my hands protectively over my face as I did; but he caught me full on, and my skin began to burn as the thing sizzled into me.

"Fuck," I cursed, but Blair moved in quickly to support me, slicing across the creature's hardened chest with her axe, and the creature returned to its liquidy form, releasing my halberd as it did.

"Tch*-"

Monster-Ronnie clicked his tongue in annoyance, before extending two blob-like arms into the canopy above, and slinking away into the cover of the darkness and leaves.

"Feeling the burn there, Natey-boy?" the creature called, and Blair shot me a curious look.

"You two fuckin know each other?" she asked, and I nodded.

"Long story; he was part of the group we arrived with, but let's just say things didn't end on amicable terms," I replied, and she snickered at me.

"You don't say," she replied, as she retrieved my halberd and handed it to me.

I withdrew one of the healing vials, but as I uncorked the thing, I dabbed just a little touch onto the area on my neck where the acid had sprayed, and as I spread the thing around, I felt a cooling sensation, and some relief from the irritation.

"Is my skin melting off of me or anything?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Just looks red, and a little raw."

I sighed, running my hand along the helmet sliver that I was wearing around my neck, and the helmet quickly unfolded, molding itself to my head.

"Might wanna activate yours," I said, and Bianca shot me a quick nod from across the little clearing as she did so as well.

We could hear the creature moving around above us, but it didn't talk or attack.

"He's trying to keep us occupied," I said, as I glanced around.

What direction were we headed in?

I felt a bit turned around with the commotion, but as I spotted a thicker cluster of webs, I glanced over at Bianca and gestured, and she nodded as we moved out from behind the tree trunks and darted forward.

"Gotcha!" the creature yelled, as he loosed another spray of acid, and began to morph his way across the canopy overhead, but as I evaded the spray, I sliced through some webbing, then spotted it; a dense collection of threads with a huge, pod like thing at its core.

It was about fifteen feet off the ground, but as I headed toward it, spiders began to swarm us.

"Lucia; can you get there?" I called out, and the girl nodded, as I gestured to the pod.