“Are we going along the road?” Sophia asked hopefully, “The trees are a bit – scary.”

“No. Through the forest. Remember no sex, at all.” Axia replied curtly as she handed out to Ursula a space bag.

Both teen’s shoulders slumped twice over.

“Adventurers essentials. Scent, magic and sound muffling spells.” The heavily muscled woman commanded as a soft glow briefly enveloped her body before dissipating.

Sophia and Ursula moments later followed her instructions. Sophia tried ask a question but halfway through she blushed and dipped her head, neither of the other’s aware of her fruitless attempt.

The weak spitting of rain slowly increased over the next few minutes until ice cold droplets were pelting against their clothes. The steady drumming of rain against the trees and ground letting of a dull roar of sound.

The party neared the tree line, Ursula and Sophia briefly halting as they looked high up into the sky in an attempt to see the crown of the gargantuan trees populating the dense forest. Their large limbs weaving a leafy net through the sky allowing little light to pass through.

Axia leading, they began to run through the trees. Both blacksmiths had a cloak of steam surrounding their bodies as they boiled away the rain touching their skin. The drops simply slid of Sophia, not finding any purchase on her spelled hydrophobic body.

It was four arduous hours later that the group finally stopped their sprint, the relentless rain now accompanied by sharp flecks of hail as the already dim light dwindled.

With a magically augmented leap Axia sailed up towards a large tree and started to shift the bark and then wood aside to make a small recess within the trunk.

The pair went to follow but the buff blacksmith stopped them with a raised palm and then gestured further up the tree.

With a pair of inaudible sighs, they used the other nearby trunks as leverage and were able to make it higher up and start eking out a small sleeping area for the both of them. They went a little further and moulded the outside of the tree back into place leaving only a small hole for oxygen. Finally, they cast the same set of spells from earlier on the outlet allowing them both to relax their own.

“This rain fucking sucks.” Sophia whined, the steady drumming of droplets forcing her to speak louder.

Ursula glumly nodded as she pulled out the space pouch and withdrew two ceramic spheres, giving one to her partner. They both shifted the top third of the sphere to its base revealing a large serving of gruel.

“Fuck. I’m so tempted to put in some serious effort into cooking.” Ursula remarked, using magic to heat up the bowls contents causing wispy tendrils of steam to spiral up.

Sophia sighed, “There’s little I wouldn’t do for a flavourful meal right now.”

“Well, that settles it. As soon as we start getting some legitimate money, I’m going to start cooking.” Ursula announced.

“… I may regret saying that.”

Ursula smiled a toothy grin, “You probably will.”

“Well, it’ll have to be a really fucking good meal.” Sophia backpedalled.

“Oh, it’ll be that and more.” Ursula whispered saucily into Sophia’s long ear.

The blonde shivered, “W-Wait, no sex stuff.”

“I’m not doing anything of the sort.” The young blacksmith proclaimed with faux innocence.

Sophia tried to glare but her flushed cheeks took all the heat away from it.

A quick but bland meal later, Ursula snaffled Sophia into her lap and lay back, letting the shorter, more curvaceous, girl fully lay on her toned body.

“We should probably go to sleep, Axia’s probably not going to go easy on us for our first true manamal fight.” Sophia yawned.

“Alright, we’d better practice the mind link before we do though.” Ursula reminded.

“Right.”

The pair slowed their breathing and focused inward to synchronise their very beings. When they opened their eyes the majority of their irises remained the same, although they now each contained a glowing ring of their partners colour encroaching from the iris’ edge.

Their breath quickened as a rush of mana flowed through them before it began rapidly draining away. Then came the sensations of the other, Sophia’s idle movements causing Ursula to squirm.

“Stop moving. Your breasts are still way too sensitive.” Ursula panted.

Sophia huffed, “I can’t help it so just get used to it.”

“It’s like the sensitivity of my dick but several times the area. How are you not soaking through your clothes all the time?” Ursula asked, although now she could feel the wet heat flooding her partner’s body.

“Ample cleaning and muffling spells.” Sophia replied dryly, “I’m worried that when I walk the squelching sounds can be heard.”

The mere thought made Ursula’s half-hard cock jolt, “R-Right wouldn’t want anyone to know about how wet you are…”

Sophia focused a shrewd gaze on her partner, “I can feel it. Stop. No sex.”

“But why?” The blacksmith whined, as she began to run her hand along Sophia’s wide hips clad in tight tan pants.

“Because manamals track the scent of sex.” Sophia slapped the arm away, “They evolved to attack when we were most… vulnerable.”

 “Fine.”

They lay there adjusting to the mental link until their mana depleted half-way about a minute later. Allowing their souls to desynchronise and the unique sensations of each other’s body to retreat.

Sophia sighed, “I’m already starting to miss it… Come on let’s get to sleep.”

Sophia conjured a thin mattress for the both of them and they lay down together, the large elf spooning her partner from behind.

It did not take long for the young enchanter to doze off, Ursula’s scent and warm body providing a safe harbour for her body and mind to relax. Ursula, meanwhile, was idly playing with her lover’s hair, her senses focused on the swirling storm outside and the barrier that shrouded their presence.

She tightened her arms around the body ensconced in her limbs and tenderly looked across her lover’s features. Inclining her head, she graced Sophia’s forehead with a featherlight kiss.

“I love you.”

The sincere words felt lost in the cacophony of noise blowing around them.

But even asleep, Sophia’s smile could have powered a thousand suns.

 

<-{|}->

 

The storm had mostly abated overnight, returning to a dreary drizzle. Although the impact of it could still be seen. Fallen branches were covered in a thick carpet of leaves that littered the forest floor.

After a cleaning spell and another bowl of gruel they recast their spells and joined Axia on the ground.

The master blacksmith gave them both a small nod before leaping off, sending her body careening through the trees. A flash of magic pulsed through their bodies and in seconds they were jumping after her.

They continued to pass through the woodland as the large trees gradually increasing in height, the wooden forms now towering over the tallest skyscraper. The dim sunlight filtering through the branches had only darkened; their elven eyes just barely able to make out their surroundings.

It was at this point Axia finally halted her advance. She cast her protection spells around them and then dropped her personal ones, gesturing for them to do the same.

“Your target is an Uloborid.” She pointed further into the forest. “Short distance that way. I will wait here.”

“Oh shi-” Sophia began, horror dawning on her face.

“-What’s… Wait you know what it is?” Ursula asked.

Sophia groaned, “Only the nopiest nope to have ever noped.”

“Come on be serious.”

“It’s a huge fucking spider.”

“Oh.”

“Yup. And that’s not the best of it.”

“Of course, there’s more.”

“It doesn’t have any venom glands at least,” Sophia stated, she saw Ursula brightening but she raised a hand to stall her enthusiasm, “But it learns Ursy. It fucking learns from its mistakes. Then if it catches you, it spends an hour slowly wrapping you in its webbing and eventually crushing you to death.”

They both silent for a few seconds.

“Well... Fuck. What did Brun say that one time? That the scariest enemies he faced were ones that could think for themselves.” The tall girl recalled.

“Now that you mention it, he did say that…” Sophia turned to their mentor, “Isn’t this a little too much?”

Axia crossed her muscled arms and did not reply.

“She wouldn’t send us against something so dangerous unless…” Sophia muttered her brows furrowing, she looked over to where the master blacksmith was standing menacingly, “Of course! It takes an hour to kill. That means you have more than enough time to rescue us if we fuck up.”

The woman huffed at the accusation and turned her head away.

Ursula grinned and reached her arms out for a hug from the stern woman, “You do care about us.”

She easily sidestepped the hug, “You both have a bug to kill.”

“Actually-”

“-Soph don’t.” Ursula could almost see steam coming out of her mentor’s nostrils, “Let’s go.”

“Alright. But before we go any further let’s cast our spells and, now that I think about it, we need to learn how to communicate silently. Or I need to make something to do that.” Sophia explained.

“But don’t we have… that.” Ursula hedged.

The blonde shrugged, “Our mana doesn’t last forever. And we haven’t even tested its range yet.”  

“True.” The tall elf conceded.

“Alright so we’ll start with the adventurer’s essentials of sound, smell and magic. Then we need to nullify any vibrations we make with our movements as detecting that is how they primarily hunt. Also, it’ll protect us if it attacks us, though you won’t be able to hit it with your sword. And although we can’t do true invisibility yet, we’ll need to do our best. Otherwise, I’ve got a few ideas but the fastest is just hit it ‘till it dies.” Sophia listed off.

Ursula grinned savagely as she joined Sophia in preparing her spells, small, muted glows of magic appearing as it was layered across her body and her classic two-handed longsword and shield was brought into existence. The final spell to turn them invisible, allowing light to pass through them leaving two sets of eyes, green and brown, free floating in the air.

With two inaudible deep inhales the duo set off from Ursula’s protective bubble. As they ghosted through the trees, they began to synchronise their souls once more and when the bond snapped into place, they both felt a rush of mana flow through them.

Edging ever closer they began to notice whisker thin webbing strategically placed in a grid like pattern across the forest floor. Several times the pair stopped due to their magic preventing them from breaking a whisper thin strand.

Their footing became difficult as more of their path was covered in spider silk. Rounding one last corner, they vaulted a large misshapen log to gaze upon the centre of its lair.

Sophia focused on their connection, ‘Whe-’

-Then she felt weightlessness? No.

‘Ursula!’ Sophia screamed in her head. Panic racing through the bond multiplying her own flowing through her small body.

‘Up!’ The reply was squealed into her head.

In a flash, Sophia drew her bow and dove to the side twirling to face towards the dim canopy of the trees above. An arrow appeared on the string as it reached full draw mid dive. As if in slow motion the view above was gradually revealed to her.

First was an endless expanse of web dyeing the dim sky a bleached white. Next was a mostly wrapped Ursula, embers bursting through gaps in the strands as she desperately tried to burn through them. And then she saw it, a giant bus sized lumpy arachnid whose colour was a Jackson Pollock painting of white and black. Its eight eyes were devoid of all light, black glassy voids reflecting her fear struck face back at her. In its limbs it held a webbed-up branch that was sitting millimetres away from her just moments before.

Sophia hesitated for a fraction of a second to still her trembling body before letting her arrow loose, it flew through the air and harmlessly skidded off the skin.

With a flick of its body, it sent the branch hurtling back at her. Sophia just barely diverted its course with wind magic allowing it to sail past her.

‘Use soap!’ Sophia mentally shouted.

The spider whipped its body back, the line of web becoming taut. Sophia’s eyes widened as she shifted her body to avoid the branch-

She felt something slam into her back sending her sprawling to the ground. She looked up to see the large misshapen log they had jumped over before had adhered to the web coated branch and hit her. A closer look showed her own indentation in the wood matching several others.

Her moments rumination cost her as the spider had already detached itself from its previous weapon and was launching another amorphous mass of web at her-

A wave of soapy water exploded out of Ursula coating half the nearby spider in suds.

The arachnid hissed angrily as its airway on its abdomen was partially blocked from the foamy mass. It turned and reached out for Ursula, its other legs already dragging newly formed web from its spinneret. Obviously, it had not wrapped its first prey up well enough.

Sophia’s next arrow exploded into a cloud of bubbles against its other side, engulfing its entire body.

It immediately fled, scurrying away along the numerous pathways tunnelling through the lower branches of the forest formed from its webbing.

Ursula finally managed to burst out of her silken prison, the soap weakening the steel like strands, allowing her to fall to the ground.

‘Chase.’ Ursula growled over their link as she bounded after it.

Sophia rolled her eyes and ran after her.

Half a minute later Sophia called Ursula back to her, their mana already half-way depleted. She dropped their link and then concentrated for a few seconds before her mana created a small pathway through their protections, allowing sound to freely travel between them.

“We have to stay together and put a tracker on each other so if one of us gets taken we know where they are.” Sophia rushed out.

The burning fury in Ursula’s eyes subsided somewhat.

“Right, we can’t have you getting taken.” She said coarsely.

“Or you either.” Sophia glared back, “You matter.”

She nodded back chagrined.

“Why soap?” The tall girl asked.

“Because spiders breathe passively, they have no way of clearing out their airways. So, something like soap will stay there and stop them from breathing. It’s a very inhumane way of killing them.” Sophia grimaced.

Ursula shivered, “There is nothing humane about that fucking thing. What kind of spider has webs resistant to fire?”

“You’re right,” Sophia sighed, and then let a tired grin spread across her face, “It’s one thing when it’s a thousandth of your size. But when it’s easily twenty times your weight, that’s a whole other story.”

“So, if you were a smart giant killer spider who can’t breathe what would you do?” Ursula pondered out loud.

“If I was smart enough, I would realise that most spells usually end when the caster dies so I’d try to kill us both. Even if I didn’t know that I’d try to take us down or die trying for vengeance. So, either way…” The short teen uttered thoughtfully.

“So, we wait it out?”

“We need to get proof it died. Normal spiders can last a few days without air, I don’t know how long a giant one would.”

“So that leaves drawing it out with a trap.”

“I’m still not sure how it detected us so I’m not even sure if any illusions would trick it.” Sophia said ruefully.

“So, we don’t really have anything, I fucking hate spiders.” The tall blacksmith muttered.

“Well, in a few games I played I had detect life spell. So, I guess I’ll give it a crack.” Sophia whispered as she focused inwards. A few seconds later a large pulse of mana rushed from her body. “Nope, nothing.”

“Shouldn’t you have detected me?” Ursula asked.

Sophia opened her mouth but then shut it with an audible clop, she reached up with one hand and idly scratched her red face, “I probably should have. I’ll give it another go.”  

Sophia once more closed her eyes.

The Uloborid struck.

A large net, woven from its webbing, and weighed down by large rocks fell from the sky pinning them both to the ground.

From an outsider’s perspective all they would see was the net held up by two invisible lumps.

Ursula roared defiantly and sent out a pulse of frost, flash freezing the webbing. With her next movement she shattered the restraints and looked at the blotchy black-white spider rapidly crawling down the tree. It stopped for a microsecond before moving even faster to an unnatural degree. It was only using six legs to crawl, the other two drawing out web to cocoon them.

Sophia tried to match Ursula in freezing the silken strands holding her yet, try as she might only a few strings were breaking at a time.

She turned to face the rapidly descending spider and sent out a wave of frost.

Ursula frowned; the trajectory of the spell was well below-

-It struck the base of the tree right as the spider was taking its last few steps. Its feet found no purchase on the slick ice, this, in addition to its momentum, caused it to slip and fall the last few meters.

Ursula readied her sword and swung it like a baseball bat as the creature tumbled into her range. The sword bit deep into the carapace, blue blood quickly welling up from the wound. Its legs spasmed as it desperately tried to right itself.

Ursula positioned herself and mercilessly swung her conjured sword once more, cleaving through a flailing leg before finding its home deep within the spider’s head.

It spasmed once, then twice and shrivelled in on itself.

Sophia finally managed to break out of her imprisonment only to find her enemy laying still on the cold wet earth. She dropped her protective spells and then gestured in Ursula’s general direction to do so as well.

Ursula gradually melted into existence, starting from her hands still holding the pommel of the sword lodged deep within the monster’s head.

“Check it.” Ursula commanded.

Sophia gulped and gingerly stepped towards the prone creature. She lay one small finger on a leg of the manamal and froze its entire body.

“If it wasn’t dead, it definitely is now.” The short teen called out.

Ursula let her sword disperse and fell back onto her butt, her breaths coming short and fast.

“Holy shit.” She muttered, nervously running her hands through her brown tresses as the animal’s lifeless eyes stared up at her, “I killed it.”

Sophia let her bow dissolve into motes of mana and rushed over, a wave of her hand had the corpse pushed away. She knelt slightly and wrapped her arms around her lover’s head, pushing it into her generous bust.

“There, there.” The blonde softly crooned, stroking her partners neck with her hands. “It’s what needed to be done.”

It took a couple of minutes for Ursula’s breathing to somewhat settle, as she rested her head against the blonde’s sternum.

“I hope it gets easier…” Ursula’s voice was hoarse.

A pained look flashed across Sophia’s face as she thought of their previous world but the feeling of hot tears leaking out onto her skin soon jolted her out of her reverie.

Sophia sighed mournfully and tightened her grip on her partner’s head. Her eyes landed on the frozen carcass and her gaze hardened.

“I do too.”