6: Scourge

[Year 10 Month 9: Continued]

My furthest totem was approximately four miles from the village, and at the speed at which I saw spyiders rushing through the wooded area, the guards had only a few minutes until contact.

With the average level of the village guard slightly lower than level 20, I felt a little more positive, both for my own survival and for most of the villagers. There were only forty combat-capable people, so it was going to be rough against what seemed to be a swarm of spyiders, but it was doable.

A minute later, I heard the cries of the hunters, as some with perception boosting skills, were able to make out the arachnids in the distance.

Prepping their bows, I watched as almost all the hunters and a few of the guards used different skills. Some seemed to enhance the bow itself with various effects, while others enhanced their bodies, enabling either more damage or farther shots.

As I hadn’t been privy to the adventurer’s fight against the broodmother and only watched a few minor skirmishes, this was the first time I had seen real system-enhanced combat.

When the spyiders had entered the range of the bows, I watched as they quickly left my vision, unable to see if they actually hit any of their targets.

With the town guard doing their own thing, I quickly turned to the rest of the populace, most of whom were arming themselves for the eventual confrontation. I watched as anyone old enough to wield a weapon or tool was provided with one, and they were all willing ot take a stand for their community.

[2 Blessed have died]

The notification drew my attention back to the frontline where the spyiders had come into contact with the defenders.

Having arrived moments after the two people had died, I watched as the spyiders that killed them latched onto their corpses. With morbid fascination, I watched as the mana left their bodies, similarly to Inra, and instead of returning to the environment, it was absorbed by the Vexus.

Oh crap! The totems!

Having made a mistake, I quickly discarded the 4 totems left in the forest and resummoned them at the walls, the small black cubes appearing near injured defenders, their healing ability working overtime to repair any damage.

[1 Blessed has died]

Another defender was down, once again their mana being absorbed by the spyider. As I watched the little bugs skitter off, I couldn’t help but be filled with curiosity. Where are they taking it? Back to their broodmother to make more? Or is it something else?

[1 Blessed has died]

The death drew my attention back to the battle. While I couldn’t personally do much, I could still teleport the totems around where they would help the most.

For a while, it continued like this, defenders would try to crack or punch a hole through the spyiders tough exoskeletons, and while we lost a few, it seemed like a winnable fight. The horde of Vexus had slowed, and the number of defenders steadied after the first 4 had died.

Then, I noticed another spike in the ‘corrupted’ mana, something not quite as impactful as the broodmother, but still out of the village guards and hunter’s league. Something new had come.

Unlike its smaller brethren, the new Vexus creature was several times larger, with long antennas that looked more like razor wire than sensors. Its chitin plates were thinner, but I doubted they were weaker. It also had a pair of wings that looked way too small for its body, but would likely give it a boost when jumping.

This is bad.

With its arrival, the defenders faltered, their blades not strong enough nor sharp enough to pierce the new arrival. Honestly? Once the bows were thrown aside, most hunters were left almost cripled, as they used their long-range weapons more often and had fewer skills related to close combat.

One of the guards looked as if they were close to landing a powerful blow on the creature, but it whipped its antennae and cut through his body like a butcher’s knife. Able to see the tiny barbs covering their edges, I doubted anyone here had armor that could save them from it.

This must be a considerably higher level to so easily wipe the floor with the villagers.

The surviving members were still fighting with everything they had, and several tried to take on the new variant together, but they just couldn’t do much to damage it. With there being fewer defenders, my totems were also being hunted down by the spyiders, who seemed to instinctively try to find and drain them.

I suspect that with enough totems, the anti-detection field would be sufficient to offset this, but the totems at the walls were too busy attempting to heal and didn’t have enough mana generation for both functions.

Worried, I looked back to the cave, making sure that all of the totems were focused on hiding the cave’s contents rather than pumping mana into the environment and attracting a spyider. While the village had spared one soldier to stay with the children and the two pregnant women, the soldier wouldn’t be able to take more than one on in such a tight space.

Eventually, all of the totems were being leached by the spyiders, and I was forced to recall them as I didn’t want to empower the invaders unintentionally.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

With the walls being out of my range and no longer having any influence granted by nearby totems, I reluctantly summoned the totems right next to me and cranked up the stealth field to its max. Hopefully, it would make it impossible to see me.

If they find me and use me as a battery, it wouldn’t just be my life on the line, but whoever managed to hide or escape.

Unable to see, but able to hear the faint cries and screams just out of my vision, I waited and watched the notifications roll in.

[35 Blessed have died]

That would be the guards.

[43 Blessed have died]

And here come the civilians.

[58 Blessed have died]

[43 Blessed have died]

The number of deaths began to slow, and so did the distant screams.

[4 Blessed have died]

[3 Blessed have died]