Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

CH725 Crypt Spiders

***

Years of neglect had taken their toll on the castle. However, the greatest cause of its dilapidated state was no doubt the beasts that had made it their home in the century since the fall of House Skywalker.

’In a sense, the fact that it’s still standing after all that is a testament to its structural quality.’ Alex mused inwardly.

The group passed through the gates and crossed what had once been a lavish garden. Now, it was little more than an overgrown ruin barely resembling its former glory. Soon, they arrived before the main castle building itself.

’A castle larger than a football stadium with four obvious floors above ground...’ Alex thought as he gazed at the massive structure. ’Finding the House Seal will be so easy.’ He mocked inwardly.

Mogal stepped forward and ripped the castle doors from their hinges.

Back in its prime, such a feat would have been extraordinary. However, considering the castle’s current condition, the act was far easier than it appeared.

Even so, seeing the Dravo clan barbarian casually heft aside the thick wooden doors—which had withstood over a century of neglect in relatively good condition—still left a strong impression on the others.

However, the group couldn’t relaxed.

Flash Slash!

The moment Mogal threw the doors aside, an arachnid creature the size of a German Shepherd lunged from the darkness within.

Havel reacted instantly, covering Mogal’s flank.

Clang!!

’It didn’t cut through?’ Havel’s eyes flashed with surprise.

To Havel’s surprise, his blade failed to cleave through the creature as expected. Instead, the strike merely blasted the spider backward.

His arm trembled from the recoil, and a dull ache travelled through his wrist. Even so, he refused to release his grip on the sword.

Instead, he pressed the attack.

Flash Step! Thrust!

Havel’s figure blurred and appeared before the stunned creature. Putting his full weight behind the strike, he drove his blade into the spider’s open maw, forcing it through what he assumed to be its brain or nerve centre.

The creature convulsed violently for a moment before collapsing lifelessly onto the ground.

The rest of the expedition group gathered around Havel and the slain beast.

Alex crouched beside the corpse and examined it carefully.

"Great. As if finding the House Seal in this massive castle wasn’t troublesome enough, now we also have to deal with Crypt Spiders." Alex sighed in annoyance.

"What’s a Crypt Spider?" Sinia asked.

Alex looked slightly surprised by her question, but then he quickly realised that he only knew about the spiders because he had memorised a vast amount of information from the Heavenly Venerable.

’It’s possible they aren’t widely known creatures.’ Alex mused inwardly.

"Crypt Spiders are subterranean arachnids. They prefer underground areas rich with corpses and decay. If there’s a crypt nearby—or a place where a large number of bodies were buried—it would explain why they settled here and built a nest." Alex explained.

"For the most part, Crypt Spiders possess extremely hard exoskeletons that are impervious to most ordinary physical attacks. On top of that, they naturally exude an aura of decay that rapidly degrades surrounding matter. So not only can they tank physical strikes, every hit against their exoskeleton damages the durability of the weapon used against them.

"In addition, their aura of decay interferes with ambient mana absorption. It functions somewhat like an anti-mage field, though it specifically targets mana replenishment rather than mana usage itself.

"And now that these ones have also undergone Berserk Transformation..." Alex frowned slightly. "I can’t be certain what additional mutations they may have developed."

He paused briefly, mentally reviewing the information to ensure he hadn’t missed anything important.

"Oh, and did I mention that despite their size, they reproduce extremely quickly? There’s never enough food for an entire colony, which makes them incredibly voracious—especially when prey willingly walks into their nest like we’re about to do." He added casually.

The rest of the group stared at him speechlessly.

"Stop talking like this isn’t your problem too, Master." Udara said flatly. "What should we do? How are we supposed to kill them?"

"Well, the standard method is what Havel just did." Alex replied. "Stab through the mouth and destroy their nerve centre. You can also fire bolts directly into their mouths with the crossbows."

Alex rose from beside the Crypt Spider corpse and cast several spells in succession.

[Halo Guard]! [Solar Armament]!

Protective rings of light formed around each member of the party, while brilliant solar mana coated their weapons in a golden radiance.

For Mogal, the enhancement wrapped around his arms and legs instead. Udara’s fingerless glove artefacts were similarly enveloped in solar light. Only Silver’s crossbow remained unaffected.

"Master?" Udara tilted her head in confusion.

"From this point onward, don’t waste mana unnecessarily." Alex instructed seriously. "Conserve as much as possible. The spiders’ aura will prevent natural mana recovery, so every bit spent matters.

"Move and fight using pure physical strength whenever possible. Only use mana when absolutely necessary. The solar enchantments I cast should disperse most of the spiders’ decay aura and any poisonous particles they release into the air. It’ll also strengthen your attacks."

"Keep in mind that the shields will gradually wear down over time, while the Solar Armament weakens with every strike against a Crypt Spider’s exoskeleton. Your weapons can now damage them, but it’s still best to target their weak points directly and conserve the enchantment’s power as much as possible." Alex instructed.

The group nodded in understanding.

"The sooner we find the House Seal, the better." Alex said.

Saul Redwald silently agreed with that sentiment.

The party quickly split into pairs, with each pair assigned a specific floor of the castle to clear and search.

Since the seven Rune Knights had yet to regroup with them, their original force of fifteen had been reduced to eight—conveniently enough to divide evenly into four teams.

"The Skywalker Patriarch’s office is most likely located on the top floor." Saul suggested. "Unless the Patriarch carried the Seal into battle, that would be the most probable place for it to be stored."

Alex nodded in agreement.

The groups moved out immediately.

Mogal and Havel were assigned to clear the first—or ground—floor.

Crypt Spiders were subterranean creatures by nature. Unless the castle possessed underground chambers, the ground floor would naturally house the densest concentration of spiders within the building.

Although the pair wasn’t necessarily the strongest overall, under the current restrictive conditions imposed by the Crypt Spiders’ aura, Mogal and Havel possessed the greatest close-combat killing potential amongst the group. Furthermore, it was unlikely the House Seal would be located on the ground floor anyway.

Following Saul’s recommendation, Sinia and Dalton were assigned to the second floor. Their position allowed them to quickly reinforce Mogal and Havel if necessary.

Silver and Udara were tasked with searching the third floor in case the Seal had been hidden within important facilities such as the castle library or armoury.

That left Alex and Saul to search the fourth—top—floor for the Patriarch’s office and the main bedchamber, the two most likely locations for the House Seal... assuming it hadn’t been lost to history alongside the Skywalker Patriarch himself.

Crash~! Bang!!

Taking the lead up the staircase, Alex and Saul had barely begun ascending when disaster struck.

Alex had just stepped onto the fifth stair when an entire section of the stone staircase suddenly collapsed beneath him.

[Abyssal Conqueror’s Steps: Third Step – Wraith’s Crossing!]

Fortunately, Alex reacted instantly. Activating his movement technique, he propelled himself away from the collapsing section before the structure could drag him down with it.

Although Alex escaped unscathed, the collapsing staircase and resulting rumble immediately drew the attention of the Crypt Spiders lurking throughout the ground floor—and even beneath it.

"We’ll handle it! Go, Boss!" Mogal roared.

The barbarian charged forward without hesitation.

One of the incoming Crypt Spiders lunged at him, only for Mogal to drive his fist directly through its maw, killing it instantly. Then, grabbing the oversized spider’s corpse inside like a grotesque glove, he swung it sideways and smashed another incoming spider away.

Flash Step! Thrust!

Not to be outdone, Havel dashed forward as well, driving his blade through another spider’s mouth and killing it in a single strike.

His figure flashed repeatedly as he darted across the floor, dropping Crypt Spider after Crypt Spider with ruthless efficiency.

"We’ll support them, then head on upstairs." Dalton said. "Go."

Silver and Udara immediately followed after Alex and Saul as the two headed further up the castle.

Meanwhile, Dalton and Sinia remained behind to support Mogal and Havel from the rear using crossbow fire.

At the same time, Sinia quietly prepared a Mystic Art.

Suddenly, a thick tree root burst from the ground and impaled a Crypt Spider directly through the mouth.

The spider’s corpse rapidly shrivelled as the wooden root absorbed every drop of fluid within its body.

The root then withdrew back underground, dropping the dried carcass before striking again.

This time, the root split into two sharpened ends, each piercing a separate spider.

Again, the roots drained the creatures dry before retreating underground once more.

Then they erupted out again—this time splitting into four separate spear-like branches that simultaneously impaled four Crypt Spiders.

Havel spared Sinia’s Mystic Art a surprised glance amidst the battle.

After the third cycle, he almost expected the number of branches to double again. Unfortunately, it appeared that four simultaneous branches were Sinia’s current limit.

Still, while the number of branches no longer increased, both their speed and range continued improving under Sinia’s control.

Thanks to that, the four of them quickly managed to suppress the incoming tide of Crypt Spiders.

"It’s mostly their numbers and hard shells that make them troublesome." Dalton commented calmly while reloading his crossbow. "Once you know what you’re doing, they aren’t actually that difficult to kill."

Mogal and Havel merely nodded before immediately heading in different directions to hunt down any remaining Crypt Spiders on the floor, leaving Dalton standing there with an awkward expression.

"...Shall we?" Dalton asked Sinia dryly.

Sinia nodded calmly before placing her palm against the ground.

A thick wooden vine with four sharpened heads emerged from beneath the stone floor and coiled itself around her arm like a living weapon.

With the construct already formed, she no longer needed to recast the entire Mystic Art each time and only had to direct the roots to attack.

Without another word, she turned and headed up the staircase.

Dalton quickly followed after her.

***