And (N)one Shall Remain

The [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61] was powerful.

 

This particular one did not fly like the [Fledgling Arachnoid Queens] Esperanza had fought before, which was part of the reason the group eventually settled on choosing it as their prey in the first place, as a flying fourth tier monster would have probably been difficult for them to handle at all. In exchange for its inability to fly, however, the monster was a lot more durable and powerful than they had expected.

 

Despite its limbs looking rather thin and fragile, the queen’s arms – it had six thin three-segmented arms that ended in three-fingered claws – brutally sheared through trees like they were nothing more than grass, which meant that it would have done the same to the bodies of just about anyone around. Fortunately it was Esperanza herself who took up the risky task of occupying the creature while everyone else took care of its five companions.

 

After all, none of the others had expendable lives like her, since she would just [Respawn] in the worst case. Of course, she was doing her damndest to stay alive and keep the beast occupied with her so it wouldn’t attack the other, something she was fortunately good at. 

 

Esperanza kept her body in a mostly amorphous shape, as that way she could minimize the damage she took when the claws ended up grazing her from time to time. She didn’t try to attack or injure the queen as much as she focused on annoying the thing, thus keeping its attention firmly upon her, while its companions were being dispatched by the progenies.

 

The remaining eleven members of the group – including Dali and Gordy – took on the five arachnoids that had been with the queen. Those five monsters were in their fifties level-wise, but the stronger progenies were capable of handling that level of enemies mostly on their own by that point. Val-Kas’j and Tiesya did just that as they each took on an arachnoid on their own.

 

To handle the other three arachnoids, the rest of the progenies teamed up, Nalihimatu kept the most aggressive one at bay while Ilavakide and Dai’Vasy bombarded it from range. Dali kept a slower one distracted while Legisvula took the openings presented to get his hits in. Gordy directly faced off with the last one, keeping it away so Resitia could attack it with impunity, while Mel-Ivas and Iryl tried to support them the best they could. 

 

Unsurprisingly, the arachnoid Gordy and Resitia were fighting against was the first to die, as a stab from the girl caused the monster to pause briefly. It was a moment too long, though, as Gordy took that opportunity to clamp her jaws around the arachnoid’s head and brutally tore it right off its body in a spray of ichor.

 

Mel-Ivas immediately tended to their worst injuries, as the two rushed off to help the others. Resitia headed to where Nalihimatu’s group was fighting, while Gordy sped off towards the one Dali and Legisvula were keeping occupied. Their addition quickly turned the tides of those battles, as Gordy barreled into the side of the arachnoid, which allowed Dali and Legisvula to inflict heavier injuries on it.

 

Similarly, Resitia’s help sped up the pace at which Nalihimatu’s group wore down their opponent, and before long, both the arachnoids were dead, which allowed everyone else to help Val-Kas’j and Tiesya out. It took only a couple minutes more before the remaining arachnoids were dead and Mel-Ivas had healed the worst of everyone’s injuries, before they turned to face the queen that Esperanza had been keeping occupied all the while.

 

It was a completely different beast to all the other arachnoids they had faced in the dungeon so far.

 

As the progenies rushed to her aid, one of the queen’s arms swiped towards them, and Nalihimatu stepped forward with his shield to take the blow and cover the others. He was almost thrown airborne from the force of the hit, only managing to stabilize himself after taking many steps back. His shield-arm was numb, and there were deep claw marks on his shield, which was a sight that made all the rest halt their rush and take a bit of a distance.

 

They realized all too well that if a blow could push Nalihimatu back that far, then chances are such a blow would instantly kill most of them. Val-Kas’j and Tiesya might be able to block it to an extent, but none of the others had that confidence. As a result, only Nalihimatu, Val-Kas’j, and Tiesya rushed closer together with Dali and Gordy – whose “lives” were tied to Esperanza and as such could practically [Respawn] as well, though through a different way – while the others stayed outside the reach of the queen.

 

Everyone in the back pulled out ranged weapons that they had prepared for such a case. Ilavakide naturally just used her bow, while Resitia drew from a pack of javelins hidden nearby. Legisvula and Iryl also brought out bows, which they had some training with, though not to the extent of Ilavakide who had skills to further support her, while Dai’Vasy supported them with what magic she managed to conjure.

 

With the addition of others helping her to occupy the queen, Esperanza managed to take a quick breather to allow Mel-Ivas to heal her worst injuries before she jumped back into the fray. Val-Kas’j and Nalihimatu were occupying the beast’s attention as best they could at the moment, but they were forced to give ground continuously by its fierce attacks. 

 

Tiesya managed to stick closer to the [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61], as she relied on her agility to avoid what hits she could, and deflected those she couldn’t avoid completely. Even so, her blades only inflicted wounds that were little more than scratches on the queen, which led to the creature mostly ignoring her. 

 

Dali and Gordy tried to bite the legs of the creature to reduce its mobility, but they found a hard time getting close enough before the queen used its other legs to kick or stomp at them, or even swiped at them with an arm. It clearly felt more threat from the two compared to the progenies, and had been far warier against them as a result.

 

When Esperanza returned to the fray, however, she gained the queen’s attention mostly to herself once more. Esperanza had discovered early on that the queen’s body was very tough, her bladed limbs – the most potent offensive method she had – mostly leaving only shallow cuts on its carapace. To her surprise, however, the small dagger that Avalanusi gave her way back in Navef managed to cut deeper into the queen’s flesh.

 

Of course, because of its small size, the damage it could do was limited. Still, it was a better option for Esperanza to use compared to anything else she had, so she focused on attacking with the dagger instead of using her body. While she mostly kept her body amorphous, it was more for evasion, as it was easier for her to simply shift away parts of her body compared to moving like a human. Her right “arm” had also elongated to great lengths, like a long, slender tentacle that held the dagger at its end. 

 

The distraction she caused, helped by the progenies also pushing harder at that moment, finally allowed Dali and Gordy to clamp their jaws around the [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61]’s rearmost legs. Dali aimed for the lowest joint in the limb and immediately yanked away to avoid an incoming claw, his teeth leaving the joint shredded and barely usable. On the opposite side, Gordy allowed herself to be kicked away, without ever letting go of the limb she had bitten into. As a result, the force of the kick ended up tearing the rear leg of the queen off at the joint.

 

Hobbled by the sudden loss of two of her legs, the queen faltered for a moment, which allowed Esperanza to use some of her other “limbs” to hold one of its arms in place before she used her dagger to scythe through the arm’s joint, eventually shearing the arm off while taking a couple rakes from the other arms the queen had on that side of the body. 

 

The loss of three limbs made it harder for the queen to fight back effectively, and before long Dali and Gordy returned to harry its legs once more. While it was distracted by them, Nalihimatu and Tiesya pinned out of its arms on the other side to the ground, and Val-Kas’j landed a mighty blow to cleave it off, reducing the queen to four arms.

 

From there, the progenies worked together with Esperanza and her dogs to systematically dismember the [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61], one limb at a time. As the queen was reduced to two arms, they deemed it safe enough and the rest of the progenies joined the melee as well. It did not take them too long before the queen was reduced to a torso on top of two remaining legs that it could not even balance itself on.

 

Even then the creature still tried to lunge and bite at anyone in range of its mandibles.

 

After they removed the queen’s last two legs, thereby denying the creature of any mobility – though it could still somewhat move itself by wriggling and undulating its torso – the progenies stabbed at the beast from its sides, where it could not fight back, while Esperanza climbed the queen’s back and hacked at the back of its head using the dagger.

 

Without any remaining limbs, the queen had no way to shake off its tormentors, and slowly but surely, the injuries on its body grew deeper, more serious, as the ichor that served as its lifeblood leaked out and splattered all over the place. Gordy and Dali were literally covered from head to tail with ichor as they forcefully tried to burrow their way into the queen’s internal organs through its flesh.

 

It was still a difficult workout, even with the queen no longer able to resist. The toughness of its flesh meant that the progenies had to chip away at it one bit at a time, while Esperanza, who was the only one who had a weapon that proved effective against the queen, was limited by the short blade of the dagger. Even so, the wounds they created accumulated over time.

 

Eventually Esperanza managed to carve a deep enough hole in the back of the [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61]’s head that she reached a softer inner region where her flesh could match that of the queen’s in toughness. She did not hesitate and converted her other arm into a tenebrous, toothed limb that she shoved roughly into that region and started to rip and tear wildly.

 

All the while, she also noticed that her dagger was actually absorbing the queen’s ichor. Esperanza had habitually “fed” the dagger on the bodies of the beasts they ran across along their trip to Agur-Bas, as it was a very convenient way to drain the blood off a carcass, but near the end of that journey she found that the dagger had stopped absorbing blood from lower tier creatures.

 

Now that it absorbed the queen’s ichor – what passed for its blood – she realized that apparently the dagger had either grown spoiled, or simply had its fill of lower tier blood already. One way or another it meant that she would need to “feed” it with blood from fourth tier creatures in the future.

 

After much effort, the [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61] finally perished under their hands, and the group breathed a sigh of relief as they collapsed to the side, exhausted from the long and difficult fight followed by backbreaking hard work. Ani and her warriors also came out from behind the barrier Ani had made earlier and congratulated them on their feat.

 

The group brought back the queen’s badly damaged head with them, and placed it like an offering next to the headstone where they had buried their late friends as they gave some prayers. It was both a symbolic as well as a practical thing, as the presence of the severed head of such a predator would ensure that most creatures would veer away from the grave, leaving it undisturbed in the future.