Chapter 6 – On My Last Columns

The creatures, the two sibling spiders fought against, interested me quite a bit. They talked to each other in a complex manner, similar, but more advanced than the spiders. Adding to that I gleaned intelligence in their eyes, akin to the warlord spider, but superior.

I have never before seen a creature that was that weak but had so much intelligence. It intrigued me and I wanted to know more about them. But I wouldn’t be able to follow this thought until I had eradicated the pesky spider infestation.

They were now close to the tunnel, opening up to the ancient battlefield. Once the first spider, the warlord, entered the large cavern filled with ravines, it stopped. I could clearly see its surprise. Before, it wasn’t really noticeable that my zones’ size increased exponentially the further you got in.

The second zone obscured its size within its entwining tunnels and confusing corridor system. While the third zone certainly was bigger than the second, the majority of its size was split up into the three caverns.

I couldn’t wait for the spiders to reach my last zone, its size would totally baffle them. I then just remembered that the spiders weren’t here for sightseeing but actually wanted to kill me, so, yeah, better not let them reach the last zone.

Back at the fourth zone’s entrance the spiders came back from their stupor and entered the vast canyon system. They followed the winding paths further inside. Once in a while, a spider would lose its grip and plummet into the depths. The rapids would take its body away until it wasn’t visibly anymore.

Throughout their journey, the warlord's anxiety increased. It wondered where the defenders of the zone were, there could not be no defenders. While the defenders would have certainly added to the casualty number, many of the spiders fell prey to the harsh environment.

Rockslide traps or falling stalactites killed quite a lot of the attacking force. They were slowly being killed by their surroundings.
The spider warlord, having nearly reached the edge of the zone, was furiously looking around.

Its anxiety was clearly visible and it skittered from the slightest of sounds. Just as their leader was about to step out of the area, a crash resounded from far behind them. The warlord jumped up, clearly surprised.

Once the rumble subsided the glowing moss turned a bloody red, which made for quite the eerie ambiance. After a while, from the depths of the rivers, various creatures made their way up the cliffside.

They were variations of different inhabitants of the floor. Only instead of being made out of flesh and blood, they were more liquidy in nature. Ranging from being completely fluid to being a condensed creature made out of mist, everything was found.

They slowly made their way up the ravines. On their ascend, the mushrooms and moss-golems around them sped up and joined them. The natural effect of my guardian race was now in action. It would turn the crawling and slow-moving battlefield into a more hectic and rapid one. But now the rivaling sides, the mushrooms, and the moss were not fighting against each other, but working together.

The spiders, standing on the edge, threw down debris and spit globs of web into the depths. Hoping to knock some of them back into the now raging, and slowly rising stream. As my defenders reached the cliffs’ ledges they threw themselves over, and the battle began.

The warlord spider saw my force's overwhelming strength and its own disadvantageous position. In a spout of panic, scared of dying this early after its evolution, it called for its mother.

She didn’t wait long to answer.

With a deafening screech, the monstrous spider and her escort entered my domain. They quickly made their way to the battlefield. On the way, the brood mother trampled over everything, not even appreciating the beauty in her passing.

When she arrived and saw the position her children were in, she fell into rage. Knowing what was going to happen I told my defenders to avoid her gaze and flee her surroundings.
The fight continued, but with the mental and physical support of their mother, the spiders gained a foothold.

They slowly drove back the defending forces and continued on. Though the battle wasn’t without losses on the spiders’ side. They had nearly lost every normal spider and even the majority of the evolved ones.

Because the mother's escort and she were weakened she killed the remaining, weaker spiders and used them to heal herself. Now only the mother's escort, consisting of 2 web weavers and 3 armored spiders remained. But the real enemy, the mother, and the warlord were still alive and well.

They looked at each other from across the cavern, I could clearly see the warlord rebelling against the mother's ruling position. I hoped they would fight it out, severely diminishing the attacking force.

Sadly the warlord knew the dire state they were in and lowered his head. The mother took this as a gesture of servitude and didn’t let the situation escalate. In a second of relief, I could sense that the spider mother wanted to retreat, having lost too many.

She wanted to come back later when her forces were replenished but couldn’t. It would prove her weakness to the warlord spider and dirty the long-lasting honor she had built up over the years. And what could be so powerful as to threaten herself, the one and only queen of the forest?

Continuing on into my fifth and final completed zone, now was the last of the attacking force, a slightly exhausted but still elite squad. I would certainly have been dismayed if I didn’t know how powerful my last defender was.

Normally, the sun bear, wouldn’t last a second against the three tier-2 armored spiders and two peek tier-2 weabweavers. And added to them also were the tier-3 weak warlord spider and peek tier-3 mother spider.

But it wasn’t neglecting its cultivation after it first died to my defenders. It was strengthened by the buffs from becoming the guardian of the fifth zone. Even more so because he was an alpha guardian, and thusly was able to evolve again.

The spider squad reached the enormous cavern, that housed my large defender. Stunned by its sheer size and the beauty of the sun crystal illuminating the bustling forest, the squad stood still. Enthralled by the wonders I could create.

They were thrown out of their stunned state by a thundering roar echoing through the cavern. The trees’ leaves swayed, moved by the powerful taunt. The Tier 2 spiders cowered in fear behind their mother's back and even she was shocked by the guardian's power.

Making their way through the cavern, they entered the clearing, positioned in its center. This was where they first got a view of the alpha guardian. Now, evolved from a sun bear into the formidable, peek Tier 3 solar bear, it towered over all of them.

Added with the buffs of being an alpha guardian the bear was a monstrous defender. Even the mother spider was smaller than it. Though she didn’t let this intimidate her. More so, when she realized who the bear was. She remembered the fool who stopped her forces advance years ago and was enraged.

It had killed a lot of her little ones and even dared to continue living. Now it even stood larger than her and stopped her on her path to power. She would kill this creature once and for all and prove she was the most powerful and only queen.

The armored spiders were ordered to support the warlord in attacking the bear’s flanks. In the trees surrounding the clearing, the web weavers made their way through the undergrowth and occasionally fired a net of webs at the defender.

Facing the alpha guardian herself, she let out a shrill screech and charged straight at it. Not wanting to take the full brunt of the mother's charge, the long bear raised its two pairs of front paws to stop the spiders’ advance.

Both of the titans met in a colossal force wave, even pushing away the flying web nets.
The mother's sharp talons dug into the earth and granted her unattainable stability. But the bear was not to be played with, its lumbering weight made it immovable to any creature smaller than it.

Fixated in a stalemate, the two forces of nature, looked at each other while wrestling for control. The mother's companions used this chance to attack the bear's rear. Large webs flew at the bear's long tail, entangling it.

Using this opportunity to get experience with fighting against stronger foes the warlord ordered its underlings to attack. The soft underside of the bear was scratched and slashed. The armored spiders couldn’t really do anything, to severely harm the monster. But the warlord, using its sharper talons and higher mobility, was able to land a skin-cutting slash.

The bear reeled up in pain, trying to throw away the mother. But she was still embedded into the soil and wouldn't budge. At the end of the bear's outrage, a crack could be heard sounding through the clearing. One of the mother's legs was bent at a weird angle.

Now being at a disadvantage, she quickly dug out and moved back. While retreating she raised her abdomen and fired a large glob of web. It landed in the bear's face and it was blinded.

The mother stopped moving back and slashed at the bear's face. But his was a clever faint the bear had planned. Using his enemy's disadvantageous position it fired a beam, straight into her face, taking out a significant chunk.

Though the bear didn’t come out of the clash unharmed, again, having its third eye poked out, though this time by the mother’s talons. Both of the giants stumbled away from each other, their wounds bled and filled the ground with life-giving liquid.

I ordered the guardian to engage a plan I had crafted, exactly for a situation like this.
It shook itself out of its pain-filled state and looked around disoriented. Noticing the bear's confusion and weak state, the warlord used the opportunity. It rushed ahead of its brethren and slid through the bear's legs.

On the way through, using the spears it attained before, it intended to rake a long cut across the skin. The plan was to open its belly and let it bleed out while attacking its intestines.

The bear's weak state though only was a ruse, it waited for the right time and initiated the second phase of the plan. Looking up at the cavern's ceiling, it located the sun crystal and called forth its power.

A wave of light flew down from above, throwing the warlord to the side and blinding the attackers. The light-infused the bear and healed the wounds it sustained, now again being unblemished.

While the spiders' forces surely were damaged, the mother had her eyes closed, writhing in the pain from having a chunk of her head burned away. This allowed her to ignore the majority of the light's blinding effect.

During the bear's recovery, it stealthily made its way around and waited for an opportunity.
The effect subsided and the cavern darkened, she got ready to attack. Standing upright in the now gloomy clearing, the bear looked around proudly. It didn’t notice the spider flying towards its back, blinded by arrogance.

Only reeling up when sharp talons pierced its skin and fastened the mother to its backside.
Now panicking and regretting its carelessness the bear jumped around, making the cavern rumble and quake.

Blood gushed forth from the bear's backside and ran down its long body, tripping onto to the ground. The rodeo continued for a while, destroying the forest. The tier 2 supporters were either killed in the resulting chaos or had already died to the light wave coming down from heaven.

Lying in the mouth of a cave was the nearly dead body of the warlord. It held on to the last signs of life with all of its willpower, refusing to let itself go.

In its rampage, the bear thought of a possibility to stop its emergency. Slowly making its way towards the lake at the edge of the cavern, while the mother continued her assault.
The bear looked into the lake's depths and charged up a full-powered beam.

Raising its feet into the air it saw the spider's reflection in the water. It fired the beam into the water, where it got reflected back at it. The beam flew over the bear's shoulder and burned through the mother's abdomen. But it didn’t finish there, the beacon too pierced the bear's hip. Impaling the area between its legs.

Both of the titans fell down shaking the earth and dislodging large boulders from the ceiling. They crashed down around them even hitting them.

The giants lay at the riverbed crushed by the debris and impaled by the beam.
Both were looking worse for wear but the spider was still able to move. She slowly made her way towards the bear intending to end its life.

Though in this second the warlord attacked. It had used the chaos to return from its dire state and used its brethrens’ mana to regenerate its wounds. Finally having an opportunity to be free from the mother's clutches, it uses this chance. It fell upon the mother's abdomen and bit deep into the open wound.

The creature couldn’t even turn around to see who had killed her and slumped to the ground. Simultaneously with the spider’s death, my guardian breathed its last breath and died beside his arch enemy.

I trembled in my core room, scared for what was to come. All of my creatures had been killed, even the fire attuned ones from further inside my domain. I had used them in the fourth zone to support the massacre.

Now I stood defenseless before the warlord and my life lay within its talons!!!