Andrea sat on a log outside the city gates waiting for the sun to rise. Fernando was late as old men are, however, neither Damon nor Emilia had yet to arrive, so she sat there, alone looking at the dew-covered blades of grass.

“Already here?”

She heard Damon’s voice. “Of course.” She pointed to the sky, “What do you see?”

Damon rubbed his chin, “beautiful clouds.”

“Well, good enough. In short you can see. Here we call it sunrise and we were supposed to be gathered here at that time.”

Damon shook his head, “but I see in the dark, no”? He pointed to his deep yellow eyes. She stared into them for a few seconds.

“Fine. Did you see Fernando on the way here?”

“Who’s that?” asked Damon.

“True, you don’t know him, he’s one of my fathers’ guards. He has grey hair and a small beard.”

Damon nodded. “Oh, him, yes, I remember seeing him, next to the duke. If it’s not the one always on my case, then I don’t have any problems.”

Andrea laughed, “Well don’t worry. Fernando only cares for his job and his pride. If he can do it while being in charge, he won’t care about the rest. Just ignore him and you’ll be fine.”

Damon chuckled, “That’s good to know. People often assume things because of my magic so I’ve been in one or two unfortunate situations.”

Andrea, solemn, said, “Sounds hard, but I want to change that. Would you join me, you see I’m betrothed to the third prince and we want to change some things. If we could get your support, it would help us a lot.”

Damon sat next to her. “Well, personally I wouldn’t mind, however, just like you I can’t decide things on my own.” He looked into her eyes with a serious expression. “I will do my best to convince the higher-ups to do something; anyways it shouldn’t be too much of hassle if it’s in the same family.”

Andrea looked back to the city walls, “I know what I’m asking is a lot so thank you. Sincerely.”

“Oh. I think we should switch topics; this is too much for the morning. I see an old man approaching.”

“How is your eyesight so good?” complained Andrea.

Damon pointed to his eyes once again, this time a bit closer to Andrea, “You can inspect them in detail later.” Damon walked to the old mage to start guiding the group.

#

With lizard mounts it only took them three days to reach the remains of the orc village. There were webbing inside the houses. The voracinos seemed to have passed by here once again in hopes of finding more food. One could only imagine the number of babies they might have brought into this world. If they didn’t deal with them quick, they would have eight or nine level six beasts roaming around the area.

“It’s here,” yelled Damon.

Andrea, the old mage, and the other warriors ran over to him. Next to Damon, there was a large hole which went down into the earth in a forty-five-degree angle. The sides of the entrance were plastered in thick spider webs. Even though the hole could let two or three people enter, doing so would not only inform the inhabitants, but would also make them unable to move and easy fall prey to the beasts within.

Fernando called back everyone to the base of operation in the orc village. They would need to create a plan of attack.

“We should build fortifications at the entrance of the hole. Since they are a mix of spiders and scorpion, the fortifications should resemble bunkers with holes carved out for our spears. I will first send fire into their hole. This should at least deal with the infants. If we fail, there will only be not only be two adults voracino, but also a small horde level four critters. Next, I will retreat atop the bunker and burn them to death.”

“This won’t do,” said Andrea. If they shoot the webbing inside the peep hole, then it will become a fight between you and two voracino’s. In that case everyone will die.”

Fernando nodded, he thought of the voracino, too much like a human. After all, he had defended the duke against humans, not beasts.

“How about we set up spikes on the north, east, and west side of the nest to funnel the beasts into a trap?” said Damon.

“The voracino will probably attack us before we can set up five spikes, and if we prebuild them, they might attack us while we’re setting them up. I think we’ll only be able to have a few wooden walls as protection. The problem isn’t our fire power, but to stall it long enough for us to kill it.”

Andrea noticed that Damon backed away after his suggestion. He hadn’t been sent to fight but to guide. If Fernando refused his suggestion, he had no reasons to press his opinion.

On her side she didn’t know much about subjugations, as such she didn’t know what the best way would be to deal with this beast. Normally this had to be dealt by adventurers; however, it was highly doubtful the guild could send anyone within the month due to the lack of people qualified enough to deal with such menacing beasts. After all, most if not all the already rare level six mages or warriors had already become affiliated with a noble or merchant. And in our current pre-civil war environment, it was nearly impossible for any of these adventurers to be sent on missions that could result in their deaths.

#

The few dozen men started to build wooden palisades and elevated platforms. The preparation phase took half a week. In that time the men had already started to feel weakened, perhaps by the cold rain at night, the repetitive hacking motions, or the unavoidable dread which came in confronting the apex predator of the region. While woodchips flew in the air from dawn to dusk Andrea, a dark mage, did scouting and guard work alongside Damon.

A day after the structures were built. They loaded them on a wooden sled and went up to the hill on which the voracino burrow hid.

Thankfully, the beasts had yet to leave their nest in the time the group had prepared themselves. The voracinos seemed to have caught enough food to last three or four days, and this was evident as the group had survived only on provisions for these past few days since all other beasts such as rabbits, birds, and even rats had long since disappeared. Soon, this would happen to the men, women, and children residing in the nearby villages.

The soldiers had to work fast. They dug small pits where they were stuck in the palisades and foundation for the small wooden tower they had hastily put together. The platform overlooked the entrance of the nest and served as the centre of the palisades which were set up in a semi circle around the nest. Eight soldiers placed themselves behind these palisades and stuck their spears through the holes they had cut at chest level. The rest of the men and women placed themselves on the opposite side of the palisades, effectively encircling the nest. Behind them were the archers and the four mages other than Fernando. In short, the strategy would be to use fire power to kill the beasts, relying on a contingent of warriors to defend the mages.

Five minutes after setting up the trap, voracino silk which led into the burrow vibrated. The beasts were coming.

Everything was ready. Out of Fernando’s hands, a continuous stream of fire poured into the nest. The webbing started to melt, and screeches could be heard from deep within the nest. These flames should have dealt with the baby voracinos; however, this couldn’t be confirmed as, two adults voracino’s ran out the burrow with impressive speed and agility. They didn’t stop once outside to assess their surroundings but jumped straight up to the source of the fire. However, they were too far and crashed into wooden palisades from where spears started to pierce their lower abdomens. Their eight legs tried to scramble up the wall to reach Fernando.

One voracino reached halfway up a palisade, only to be stabbed in an already damaged part of its underbelly and fell to the ground.

It screeched and turned its abdomen to let its spinnerets face the palisades. It launched its webbing at the wall. Most of the men had pulled out their spears and ducked down. Yet three spears were caught and now stuck to the palisades. The men moved over to another palisade since that one had its holes covered.

The flames continued to pour down on the voravino, and its hair had already burned up. It’s red carapace now exposed and burned it screeched once again and started to use its stinger to break the palisades in a desperate attempt to reach the source of the flames. This forced the soldiers to come out of hiding where their stinger could hit them. The eight warriors with spears encircled the voracino.

Seeing the futility of its task the one voracino turned to the warriors who had taken the rear.

To deal with this beast, one required a continuous blast of fire magic to cook the Voracino to death. The six level four fire mages started to shoot fireballs on the beast, however, all that did was darken the voracino’s already dark red carapace, which had already been scorched by the much hotter flame of Fernando. On top of that, the mages had started to feel drained even though they should still have plenty of mana left. The soldiers who had warrior skills and impressive physical stats also started to buckle under the constant thrusts of the Voracino’s legs, tipped with three small claws, almost iron like in durability.

Soon enough, the Voracino pierced the soldier’s chests with its thirty centimetres long stinger which had become soaked in crimson.

Andrea wanted to rush to battle; however, Damon held her back, “Not yet. You won’t do much difference, and you’re too valuable to risk. And not only to the duke.”

Andrea stopped.

“I’ll go help instead,” said Damon. He unsheathed his weapon and joined the fray. When the Voracino noticed him, Damon created an earth dome, and the stinger bounced off the earth. However, if he made the dome crumble, the voracino would either used its stinger once again or turn its spindles in his direction. The other earth mages were in the same situation, however, the fire mage who couldn’t defend themselves against physical attacks were dispatched after a few minutes. There were five archers who continued to pelt the Voracino with arrows and one of their arrows lodged itself inside the voracino’s leg joint. The voracino aimed its spinneret towards the archer and got not only the one, but two archers, they weren’t dead, however, they were most definitely taken out of the fight. The three others used wind magic to disperse.

On the ground seven soldiers and Damon remained. Thankfully, the beast wasn’t in any better shape. The archers had gotten the hang of hitting the joints and the charred part of its carapace had weakened enough for sword blows to start cracking it.

The Voracino struggled with all its might, but when it struck out with its leg instead of its stinger, Damon cut it the appendage in one fell swoop thanks the enchantments on his sword.

With this display the soldiers spread out around the voracino and started to hack at its legs. After a few minutes and two more deaths, the beast had been rendered immobile. One soldier cut off its stinger which let Damon walk up to the beast’s head and plunge his sword into its now brittle keratin carapace.

Andrea felt relieved that they could deal with it, although the loss of more than a dozen men hurt her. She turned to Fernando, expecting him to have dealt with the other beast; however, the old man was lying on the ground with a giant gash in his right tibia. The voracino’s eyes were melted; however, it continued to lash out in all directions. She wondered how the trip had drained them so thoroughly. It made no sense for Fernando to lose against the voracino with all the preparation they had made.

Andrea ran to his rescue and threw her short sword to catch the beasts’ attention. Since it had gone blind, it couldn’t retaliate since Andrea had steeped out the lane from where the sword came from. That’s when Fernando’s eyes closed and he lost consciousness, probably due to the loss of blood. They had to deal with the beast before Fernando died. He couldn’t die, nor should he, when, in normal circumstances he should be able to defeat a single voracino on his own.

Andrea brandished her long sword and tried to cut off the stinger as it punched the air near her; however, she couldn’t predict the voracino’s erratic movements and missed every swung. On the other hand, the beast had started to get closer to her since it could still locate her thanks to the sound of the blade slicing through air.

In the end neither could land a blow. That’s when arrows started to land on the beast. The remaining archers had made their way to her. The arrows continued to pelt down on the beast, however, after landing two blows on two of its right legs, hindering its ability to move. Now the remaining warriors, perhaps wanting to end this at all costs, too exhausted to think properly, or certain of this victory started to rush blindly towards the voracino. Andrea joined the fray. She started to swing her sword without intention, maybe she’d cut off a leg by chance, and she did.

However, the sword didn’t manage to cut the leg in two. The small claws at the end of the voracino’s legs kept going straight, only slightly deviating and it stabbed into her right shoulder by sliding in between the metal plates which covered her shoulder.

Unlike Andrea some were less lucky and soon learned that their heads could easily be skewered. One earth mage, nearly out of mana created a simple earth wall to defend himself, however, the voracino’s stinger broke through, stabbed the man’s stomach, and ripped out his guts as the beast retracted its stinger and prepared itself to strike out once more, ready to die fighting. Since none of his young had come to assist him, they were most likely dead. He had nothing to live for.

Andrea looked at the carnage in front of her without being able to aid. She felt her strength being drained, voracino’s only had venom stored in their stinger, not at the tips of their legs; however, there was something not right. The number of soldiers they brought should have been enough to defeat the beasts, but here she was, on her knees in front of the voracino. For some reason she started to look around to find Damon, but she couldn’t find him. Did he die against the other beast?

Then a black and grey streak of light crashed into the Voracino. She looked up and saw… “Damon is that you.” His right flank had clumps of blood and guts. When he stood up, he limped over to her, “You’re a demon?” asked Andrea. She saw his grey owl wings which sprouted out of his back, and his two large horns on the front of his head. In all honesty it was beautiful. If it weren’t for his horns and his owl feet, she would have mistaken him for an angel.

Still limping he said, “Do you hate me for being a demon?” He sat down next to her, ripped the bottom part of his pants to wrap around Andrea’s wound.

She shook her head, “It’s beautiful, you’re beautiful and what they say about demons isn’t true.”

Although he didn’t cry his eyes were moist. “Thank you.” Damon hugged her. His wings wrapped around her figure and made her feel an incredible warmth. Her strength seemed to come back to her, and he whispered in her ear, “I love you.”

Andrea didn’t speak for a few seconds but came to terms with her own emotions and answered. “I love you too.”

She then felt an incredible warmth spread through her head, which soon started to spin. The world went blank.