DISCOVERY PART 5F

Day 448; 1614 (Afternoon)
Focus: False Arachne Army

The ground trembled as the clattering of feet pounded the frozen ground like pestles pummelling countless grains into flour. 

Fine dust and shimmering particles of ice and frozen debris violently swirled in the air, tracking close behind the coordinated movements of a large moving army. 

Pale trees marred by previous battles -- painted with dried blood and withered entrails -- swayed from side to side as the army's presence drew closer to a noticeable breach in a hastily constructed wall.

The soldiers making up the army were composed and confident. 

Each of them had dedicated their lives for their Queen; life and death were dictated by her mood. Understanding the motive behind her commands were unnecessary. Soldiers were only tools to be used for enacting the Queen’s will. There was no alternative to this fact.

As they approached their destination, their marching slowed. Many grew excited, while others prepared themselves to show their mettle and worth. The remainder stared indifferently at the damaged wall they had constructed several days prior, seemingly resigned to the fact that many of them will die in this place.

They were on the cusp of battle. Each one of them, willing participants that had pledged their lives to fulfill their duties willingly and faithfully. The expectations of them were tremendous.

Upon reaching their destination, their marching stopped and silence returned to the pale forest.

It was at this moment that the army simultaneously chanted the Queen's sole directive, as if driven by the need to please. 

The words they spoke contained their mission; their goal. 

It was the last command their Queen had given them before going into seclusion.

"Kill the armored man!"

◊◊◊◊◊◊

Day 448; 1614 (Afternoon)
Focus: 513

513 knit his brows as he heard a series of loud screeching noises enter the tunnel.

513: "Aren't they a little too excited?"

He muttered in protest.

It hadn't been long since he had decided to backtrack towards his camp. There, he planned to hold a strategic battle, even while facing disparaging odds.

[How long should I wait for them?] He wondered.

At first he had planned to clear the tunnel and make his way towards the mangonel and arm it for bombardment. But he rejected that idea. He figured it would be more efficient to deal damage while still inside the tunnel. It was a thought based on his instinctual need to save his defenses for more troublesome matters.

[Well...since they are spiders, they can easily abandon the tunnel route. With that said, they still need a good reason to enter the tunnel knowing it may be laden with traps…what can I do to goad them...ah! This should do nicely!]

With a strategy set, 513 slowed his departure to a crawl. He intended to lure the spiders into the tunnel he had made by becoming a tantalizing piece of irresistible bait. He had already adorned his body with a few rotting appendages that had once stuck out from the tunnel walls. It was his goal to appear more appetizing to enemy eyes. Now, he just needed the massive army to jump at the opportunity he had presented to them.

513: "Come on, come on, come on! Yes! Here they come."

Having successfully hooked a rather large detachment of spiders from the army -- which faithfully flooded into the mouth of the tunnel exit in an orderly fashion -- 513 continued his act of playing a poor, defenseless piece of garbage. It wasn't until the detachment of spiders entered a range of roughly twenty paces from his position did he act.

One. Two. Three. Up to ten rocks were simultaneously launched from 513's hands. Each emitted a deafening boom as they rolled off of his fingertips and sliced through the air like bullets.

The spiders -- though efficient in entering the tunnel with a maximized amount of troops -- had nowhere to go but move forward. Even if their vanguard wanted to retreat, the massive army marching behind them would just push them towards their deaths.

And that is exactly what happened.

As the rock bullets reached their top speed, they slammed into the front lines of the marching army, causing the spiders they came in contact with to instantly explode like popped balloons. The resulting shrapnel from the exploding bodies tore through the next line and the line after that. 

Remnant bullets that arrived too late to cause havoc on the front lines, found their targets further into the group of spiders. From their location within the tightly packed army, the spiders that were hit by remnant bullets, popped liked grenades. The ensuing explosions devastated the spiders' formation and caused the tunnel to wobble.

As a result of the attack, the inside of the tunnel grew cloudy and thick with vaporized fluids. The smell of death became a tangible and visible phenomenon.

The amount of casualties started to pile up, but 513 knew it was too early to celebrate. 

[Two digit casualties are nothing to an army of thousands.]

He couldn't get an accurate read of their numbers when he had pulsed True Sense earlier, but he knew this counter-offensive was meant to end his meddling for good. 

He wanted to utilize the ability again to update his information of the army’s numbers located outside, but unfortunately, from where he was situated, True Sense's range could only reach up to the tunnel exit.

513 grumbled expletives in his mind, disappointed by his limits. It was at this point that another thought surfaced to the forefront. [Does she know about my ability?]

Although it was highly unlikely that that would be the case, the idea still crossed his mind. 

In truth, even if the spider queen had figured out that 513 had some form of detection ability, information about it would be almost nonexistent due to the nature of how 513 normally “handled” his adversaries.

Regardless, given how organized the army was, that fact didn't change how 513 felt about Areikys' massive leap in strategic intelligence.

[Areikys, you sly cunt.] 

As the marching army inside the tunnel maneuvered around the remains of their fallen comrades, 513 started moving again. 

He matched his pacing with his pursuers, maintaining an ideal distance for his rock bullets to reach top speed before impact. His plans were to whittle down their numbers, rather than hinder their movements to a standstill.

In this case, hindering the spiders' movements to the extreme would prove fatal for 513. By now, the rest of the spiders not entering the tunnel would be climbing the wall in an effort to cut off 513's escape route.

Because of this reasoning, 513 remained in lock step with his enemy.

After advancing a few steps forward, 513 launched another handful of rocks towards the spiders, and the same horrific scene of exploding bodies repeated itself. Still, the spiders continued to replenish the front lines, appearing unphased by his attacks. 

Surprised by the spider’s resolve, he mumbled to himself.

513: "What is this, a baneling rush?"

Hearing his own spoken voice, he fell into thought. [I should emulate their determination.]

513 continued to lure the spiders deeper into the tunnel while occasionally shooting rock bullets towards them to keep their pacing controlled. By the time he had successfully reached the wide mouth of the tunnel entrance, the number of fatalities he had inflicted on the spider army rose beyond the count of one hundred.

513: "Hmm."

He grumbled, then immediately pulsed True Sense in a dome shape as soon as he exited the tunnel.

He had half expected the False Arachnes climbing the wall to have already arrived, but they were nowhere in sight.

Instead of dwelling on the thought, he launched another volley of rock bullets towards his pursuers inside of the tunnel. He then hastily procured a leather rope hanging from his utility belt and laid it on the ground to form a crescent shape. When he finished, the rope stretched from one edge of the tunnel opening to the other. 

With a smirk, 513 retrieved two metallic rocks from one of the pouches attached on his utility belt and waited for the spiders to come within ten paces before striking them together.

As the rocks scraped past each other, a shower of sparks fell towards the leather rope -- which had been precoated with blood pitch -- causing it to catch flame. The resulting fire easily rose up to the height of 513's shoulders.

However, the spiders didn't seem to care about the flames whatsoever -- even though it was their weakness -- and maintained their pursuit of 513.

513: "I was mistaken, they aren't determined, they are suicidal…"

513 muttered in disappointment while tossing the animal parts covering his body at the oncoming spiders. Some parts even landed on a few spiders’ heads, inflicting temporary blindness.

He then leapt backwards while exchanging looks between the tunnel entrance and the top of the wall.

After landing on top of a dirt barricade roughly as tall and as thick as his own body, 513 stuck the butt-end of his spear-sword into the barricade and reached into the supply pack he carried on his back. There, he retrieved twenty four marble shaped balls that appeared slightly deformed from rough handling.

[I hope this works.] He mused while looking at the black marbles in his hands. [But the timing is off...just where the hell are those climbers?]

He was certain that the remaining spiders would have climbed the wall by now. 

513: "Tch."

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, 513 had no choice but to proceed with his strategy. If he didn't, the spiders spilling out from the tunnel would disperse into the open woodlands. 

He had several contingencies implemented in case an event like that were to ever happen, but it was better to keep the spiders contained to one location.

513: “Here we go!”

Screamed 513 in a nonsensically high-pitched and brutally terrible Italian accent.

Three of the twenty four black marbles shot through the air towards the wall of flames blocking the entrance of the tunnel. As soon as they cut past the raging fire, they ignited and burned with intensity. The marbles blurred in the air as the magnificent blue flames they emitted made them appear like streaks of lightning.

513 expected the marbles to shatter on impact, like the rocks he had thrown previously, but the results were much different. 

Each of the flaming marbles bored through several spider bodies before beautifully exploding inside their fourth or fifth victim. The spiders that received entrance and exit wounds from the marbles were set ablaze in green flames, while those near the explosions were showered with molten and flaming bits of shrapnel.

[How morbidly beautiful…] Thought 513 as he replayed the scene of exploding spiders in his head. [They looked like blossoming flowers…]

He quickly wondered if his fascination had turned into a perversion, but immediately dismissed the notion.

513: "I-I am normal! Yea? Heh...eh...heh...heh?"

While uncomfortably laughing to hide his confusion, 513 noticed movement from atop the wall of webs.

Shaking his head, he opened his mouth again and spoke.

513: "I see. So they’ve come."

---Chapter End