Things were spiralling out of control. In front of them were the endless spiders, a rustling black wave that made their skin crawl. Behind them were dread hyenas; six today, hackles raised growling nonstop threateningly. George had really underestimated the degree of danger this time and was filled with regret. They should be fine; Bei was a cultivator and would more or less be impervious while he himself was immortal. But any injuries that they could avoid would have been better.

“Sorry about this Bei, looks like we bit off more than we can chew.”

They were now back to back, with George facing the hyenas.

“Don’t worry. We need a little action now and then. It’s been boring this past few decades.”

“You still have time to joke around? Can you take care of the spiders?”

“Yes”

“Fine, I’ll leave them to you. Reinforcements should arrive in about ten minutes.”

“Got it.”

With that, the two men separated. George rushing headlong into the pack of hyenas while Bei unleashed a flurry of sword slashes, sword light cutting through the spiders and sending some into the air. This time, the hyenas seemed to have better teamwork. They avoided George and aimed for Bei instead. Eyes widening, George turned around to go after the attacking beasts. His momentum however made it a little difficult to manoeuvre and he slid a little on the barren ground. This cost him some time and he wasted precious seconds to regain his balance.

“Bei!”

Thankfully Bei was skilled at handling many enemies and like a leaf blown in the wind, he avoided the two pouncing animals. Jumping into the air, Bei unleased several more sword lights that cut at both the spiders and hyenas. While the hyenas managed to avoid the slashes, several more spiders were blasted into the air. With a flick of his wrist, Bei sliced at the airborne spiders and they were sliced in half. Seeing that he was all right, George, having righted himself, aimed at the hyena nearest to him. The beast avoided his blade and snapped at him, jaws agape ready to crush his bones. Before he could take another stab at it, a second hyena joined the fray, pouncing from George’s blind spot. Narrowly avoiding the creature, George narrowed his eyes. This was harder than the first pack yesterday. He didn’t have time to think as on reflex, he turned to slash at the hyena behind him. His instinct true, the sword connected with the creature. There was a whine as George almost cleaved the animal in two. Blood splattered onto George, again, but he had no time to complain. While he had been distracted by two of the hyenas, the rest had gone to attack Bei.

Luckily Bei had the ability to fly so he could stay in the air and attack at a distance instead. However, the spiders were endless. They were now spitting sticky threads in an attempt to catch Bei and pull him down. Bei’s efforts to kill the spiders seemed daunting as every spider he killed would be replaced by two or three more.

Bei gritted his teeth. “George! I’m going to launch an attack but I’ll need time to collect my qi!” he had not dared to fly too high up for fear that the enemies would overwhelm George.

“Just do it!” George was in the midst of attacking the rest of the hyenas. The blood on him seemed to have whipped them into a frenzy and he was too focused on them to pay much attention on Bei and the spiders. He dodged the leaping hyena and slashed but was tackled by another. The sword which should have killed the creature in one blow only grazed it, leaving a shallow wound. These creatures had excellent coordination and George was starting to feel overwhelmed. A third hyena was already lunging at George and he automatically raised his left arm to defend his neck. The bite connected and George winced in pain. Twisting his body, he plunged his sword into the beast’s abdomen. There was another yelp and his arm was released. From the corner of his eye, he saw the hyenas retreat.

There was more rustling and a crawling sensation on his leg. George looked down in revulsion and realized that the spiders, without Bei to hold them back, had reached him and were starting to climb onto him. He tried to jump back but he seemed to be trapped, unable to move. Thin strands of silk webs seemed to be gluing him in place. He tried to swipe at them with his sword but to no avail. Instead, they used the sword and his arm as another bridge to climb up and were inching steadily towards his neck and face. Some of the arachnids had gotten under his clothes and the sensation on his direct skin was even more hair-raising. There were also stings of pain as they continuously bit him.

“Bei! Hurry up with that attack!”

Half of George was already buried by the wave of spiders. Nothing he had killed ever made him feel this disgusted as they crawled up his body relentlessly, the susurration of the moving legs buzzed louder and louder in his ears. The spiders were halfway up his chest now and one or two were on his neck. He clenched his teeth as they bit on the soft skin of his neck he had tried to knock the spiders off with his hands but now they were covered in the black creatures. If they went up his nose or into his ears… George could not imagine what they would do to him then. He firmly shut his mouth, stretching his neck to move his face away from the surge of arachnids. There were a few on his face now and over the nerve wracking pain of his scar, there was a tingling sensation of hairy legs on his skin. In no time at all, he was fully submerged in the swarm.

Bei, who had his eyes closed in concentration, finally opened them. The air around him was noticeably heavier and a wind was whipping the curls around his face. There was a glow that was growing increasingly bright around his sword and he released his qi attack, enveloping George and the spiders in a wave of energy. There was a sizzle as the spiders were burnt to cinders in the attack. George fell on all fours to the ground gasping. He won’t forget the sensation of those creatures crawling all over him and rushing to enter his passageways for a while… when this is over, he was going to take a nice long bath with a steel wool sponge.

“George! Get up! It’s not over!”

He looked up to see another wave of spiders coming, not to mention the rest of the hyenas circling him again. His body aching from the spider bites and Bei’s attack, George reached out for his sword and got back on his feet. It was a good thing all their suits were enchanted and sturdier than normal or George would probably be in an embarrassing position right now. Bei’s attack stung. He grasped the sword in front of him in, ready to defend himself. In the case of overwhelming numbers like this, it would be better to stay where he was and dodge than to rush headlong and exhaust himself.

Bei was sending out more sword lights, hindering the spiders from coming closer. That was a relief. That meant that George only had to take care of the hyenas. It was currently at an impasse as George didn’t want to make the first move and the hyenas were wary. Just as George wondered who would be making the first move, there was a rumble in the sky and multiple lightning bolts struck. The bolts hit true and all the remaining hyenas were electrocuted; there was a smell of charring meat and burnt fur. George had jumped out of the way in time; where he stood was a scorch mark where lightning met the earth.

“Are you crazy?! You could have killed me!” he roared at the pair of approaching guards. It was Dominic and his partner Orithyia.

“Can you even die?” Dominic, who had casted the spell retorted.

“You people are worst friends, ever.” George grumbled. “Whatever. Get into crowd control position. Dom, get your fire spell ready.” He assumed leadership point with ease and the rest followed.

“You’re welcome, you zombie.”

“Shut up and chant.”

“You owe me breakfast.”

“Hey lovebirds, we have a situation here!” Bei who was slowly getting tired yelled in frustration. To crack the usually cold and calm Bei was an achievement.

“Someone’s cranky.”

“I told you to just chant.”

“He’s just jealous.”

A sword light that sliced the ground in front of Dominic finally got him to stop talking and concentrate on chanting his spell. For a mage, he was actually quite well built and he loved nothing better than to spar with George and the other security staff. However, his forte really was his spell casting and his magic damage was lethal. In a blink of an eye the spell was ready and a lance of flame shot out from his right hand. The flame seemed to have a life of its own as it twisted and curled, chasing after the spiders that had reached them. The stream of spiders were endless. Narrowing his eyes, George issued another set of instructions.

“Dom, can you burn away the webs without damaging the array point?”

“I think so.” Dominic manipulated his hand and a small wisp of fire floated over to the array. In a flash the webs caught fire and burned away, revealing the empty dead branches. Glittering amongst the branches was a black spider, about the size of a human head. Tiny spiders were being released from its abdomen, which was covered in red markings in the pattern of a rose

“Thyia, do you think you can hit that thing?” George asked Orithyia, the lone amazon.

Orithyia gave him a scornful look and drew her bow. Amazons were known for their prowess with a bow so it was a stupid question. As if sensing the killing intent from the woman, the spider gave a screech and the wave of spiders veered and aimed for her. Bei and Dominic easily controlled them as George covered for Orithyia. She aimed and released her arrow, which pierced the spider’s abdomen. It gave another screech and fell off the tree. Dominic snapped his fingers and the spider was engulfed in flames, burning to ashes.

But the tide of spiders did not cease. They still rushed forward in an unending surge. Why weren’t the spiders stopping? Bei who was still up in the air spotted the cause.

“George, there’s another stream of spiders coming from behind the array point!”

Of course, there were two of them.

“Bei and Dom, keep the spiders at bay. Thyia, come with me.”

They broke formation, with Bei and Dominic slashing and burning the spiders while George and Orithyia ran to the side, avoiding the spiders. They followed the wave of spiders back to the origin point; a hole in the ground. The spiders had noticed the intruders and had changed directions to attack them instead. Thankfully Bei and Dominic had noticed this and had also run forward to intercept the tide.

“Dom, can you blow the hole open?” George asked as he and Orithyia led the spiders away.

Dominic did not answer as he had already begun chanting, his mana slowly being focused.

“Thyia, launch some fire arrows at the swarm. Bei can’t handle this on his own.” Orithyia immediately turned around and launched several magic arrows that ignited on contact with the spiders. It was chaos, as the surge of spiders was no longer in a single, organized swarm but had begun to fall out of formation as they avoided both Bei and Orithyia’s combined attacks. George ran several times towards the hole, luring the spiders away. He was getting tired but better him than the others. After all, he had no ability to take out multiple enemies unlike the rest of them.

Dominic’s spell was ready as dark clouds gathered within their vicinity. There was another rumble of thunder and with a crash; a single lightning bolt hit the ground. George had to admit; for all the showiness of the attack, it was actually rather refined as it hit the target with precision, enlarging the earlier small hole in the ground.

Inside, as expected was another spider similar to the first one they had killed; large and black with a red rose on its abdomen. With its cover blown, it screeched and tried to escape but there was no place for it to run to. With another magic arrow, Orithyia shot it in the abdomen and it burst into flames, its ashes dispersed in the wind.

Meanwhile at the club, Lady Jurogumo had suddenly convulsed and collapsed onto the ground, shocking the nearby hosts and patrons. She then gave a scream of pain before she turned into a pile of spiders that scattered across the lounge floor, dead.