A couple Astral Bolts hit the one with the green stripes, and then Yoh threw a Hellfire Arrow into the mix before another, then one final flaming, sulfurous arrow sped toward the largest of the spiders. His body crackled with flaming energy. Then there was a white glow, and his swords were suddenly drawn. He waded into the spiders flooding toward us.
The webbing was on fire by now where he had fired, and it spread easily due to the wind. James began to fight by Yoh’s side, and I watched in awe as Muu took his new sword into a full out brawl.
The blade was thick at the base and came to about three feet in length before coming to a pronounced mushroom head. Where he cut and slashed, the spiders began to dissolve and turn to ash at his feet. Some managed to resist, but they wound up weakened severely and unable to keep out of the other’s reach.
I’d have to ask about it later, but for now, we needed to focus.
I heard a dull rumble, and a slight tremor ran up my legs, “Fuck! Here come more!”
A large lioness bounded her way from off to our left and sailed over top of my friends to join the fray. Her claws and hisses caused a valuable opening for my friends to take advantage of and regroup.
More animals came.
A large gorilla-looking creature with funny looking ears and tusks in its mouth swung a broken branch that launched some of the smaller spiders in front of it. A few of those funny looking birds with the extremely sharp beaks and crazy-long wings dove from inches away from the webs. Then more joined the frenzy. Some of them became tangled, and a few of the spiders got there before we were able to do anything and tore into the poor birds.
More spiders the size of small dogs poured from openings in the webbing on the ground and rushed me. My right calf was on fire, and I looked back to see that one of them had managed to sneak up on me. An arrow sprouted from its disgusting head, and I decapitated it with Storm Caller. I nodded thanks to Bokaj and ate the ground between the charging spiders and me in long strides.
These smaller spiders fell quickly, as their HP was negligible at best. Still, they had no issues climbing over their dead comrades to get to me. Soon, I went down under a wave of spiders, and their webbing began to wind over me and secure me to the ground.
“A little HELP!” I shouted.
Muu was there almost instantly with his new sword, carving into the spider pile above me with ease. He tapped the weapon to the webs, and they began to dissolve in a wave of putrid-smelling grossness rolling down the sides of my body in rivulets.
“That’s gross as shit, thank you.” I sat up and punched my clawed hand through the abdomen of an either brave or stupid spider one inch from my neck on my chest.
“We need to consolidate our forces!” Jaken roared. His sword and shield danced around him as he carved through the waves of spiderlings coming at him with his large great sword.
One of the larger spiders, one the size of a minivan, dropped down on a gossamer thread from its bulbous back and tried to pull the tank from his feet with a web shot. Muu was on top of the spider’s rotund body by the time it could tug again and was chopping at the webs that held the beast aloft.
He kept chopping, and although the threads had begun to show signs of wear, nothing was going to work.
Another pain in my right calf brought me back to my own predicament. A pulse that brought a wave of nausea rose through my body, and although I kept my breakfast, it burned something fierce. I lopped another head off and fell to my knee as another wave of spiders moved on me.
Yohsuke stepped in front of me and began to waylay the ever-loving hell out of them as they moved forward. James was there as well, and that gave me enough support to cast Purify on myself at 100 MP. The burning traveling up my leg cooled instantly, and I felt better. I lashed out with my great axe, unwilling to risk taking animal form and being swarmed—unable to cast spells that could be of better use. Motion caught my attention above us, and I was once more watching the scene between my friends and the large spider.
Muu stabbed down with both of his weapons savagely after trying and failing to sever the web. It must have worked well because the spider screamed in pain and rage as it fell to the ground on top of Jaken’s great sword. The blood and viscera that fell on to him was pungent and more than a little disgusting.
Jaken shook the worst of the gore from his weapon and threw the great sword back into his inventory before calling his long sword and shield back to him.
“Crowd around, there’s too many of them!” Jaken barked.
We fought our way to each other, and even though it was only twenty feet—the fight for each foot was brutal.
I watched in impotent rage as the lioness was swarmed by spiders a little larger than toddlers, stabbed multiple times and dragged into a large hole in the ground. The gorilla-like beast was fairing little better, his swings with his improvised weapon of a spider’s limp corpse were slowing rapidly.
The birds had decided to flee or had been taken down because they were nowhere to be found any longer. Laongal was in the center of the circle that we had made, but even he was moving a little more sluggishly. He would dart out and swipe at a spider if one of us took too long getting back into the formation.
The battle had been going on for what felt like an eon, but I knew it had only been moments at most. Fighting was like that at times. It could be mere seconds and your perception of time seems to stretch forever. We couldn’t afford that distraction right now. My breathing was more ragged than I would like to admit, and there didn’t seem to be an end to the fucking things. Jaken and I were starting to wear down, but the others who had a higher dexterity score than us were having a slightly easier time.
I decided it was time to be a little more vocal about my disdain for spiders at that moment. I began casting Fireball and used my tinkering to make the spell a little more gruesome. It cost 400 MP overall, but hopefully, it helped.
“Fuck these assholes,” I growled. “Fuck these spiders. Fuck anything unnatural in this jungle. We warned you. We warned you to leave! Now. Fuck. Off.”
I took both hands and cast the spell at all of the spiders and webbing.
“Maebe! Shield us!” I shouted. The Fae queen was there instantly with a shield of ice.
“Where was that stupid word!” she chided me, but I would handle her anger later.
The enhanced Fireball shot toward the spiders, and they burned as the spell careened over them. Rather than bursting and being over, this one moved into range at forty feet, then kept moving forward the rest of the range the spell had left.
The spell burnt through the spider walls that had burst into existence before the head spiders then kept going. Just as I thought it would reach them and we could crispy fry the bastards, the spell fizzled out.
“You overestimate yourself, little Druid.” One of the large spiders spat and hissed at those around them. “Enough playing with your food! Kill them!”
The grab-assing was over, and the spiders came at us all at once. Maebe threw a dome of ice around us, just outside the circle. Some of the spiders traded places, little red spiders coming to the fore, and they began to spit venom on to the shield. It slid off at first, but then it began eroding. They didn’t look like they would be stopping. As they began to eat through, other spiders began to try and climb on to the other side. These ones had large, metal-looking legs that chipped into the ice.
“How the fuck are they coming through already?” Yohsuke’s voice shook a little as we watched in horror.
“I do not know, but the venom they use is draining my mana as it touches my shield,” Maebe grunted. “This is going to be most unpleasant.”
Mother Nature, please—send help, I pleaded silently. This was so not the way I wanted to go down. Sure—I had my friends around me, and that was awesome—but not by fucking spiders!
A rumble in the distance drew my attention from my would-be diners. I saw Jaken’s lips moving fervently, his eyes closed, but what really got me was the fact that I was s
eeing trees move. Then bend. Then snap like a fence post hit by a car.
And all of those snapping trees were heading directly our way.
“Fuck, we got incoming!” Muu’s voice sounded as panicked as I felt. My heart pounded wildly, and just before the tree destroyer broke into the portion of the jungle we were in—it stopped.
A bass, rumbling voice growled in disgust, “Take a forty-year nap and the rabble moves in. It seems that I must reacquaint myself with the scum. Leave, and I will not pursue you into that tiny hole of yours.”
“Feh, illusions and petty magic will not fool us,” The spider with a gold racing stripe stepped forward, but the others—the green and especially the red—scuttled backward quickly.
“Flee!” the red shrieked. “Flee, my children!!” The hissing voice sounded slightly feminine. “Scatter!”
“No, your fate is sealed now.” An enormous head the size of an SUV tore through the final ten trees, and we could finally see what was speaking—a green Dragon.
The head swept from right to left and knocked all the spiders on its side away from us, the splatter of greens, browns, and red colors of blood and spider ichor clinging to its chin. It looked at us briefly before putting its head over the dome of ice and inhaling deeply.
The spiders began to flee now, all sense of unity they had in facing us gone. A stream of gray mist sprayed from the Dragon’s mouth in a line so thick it could have passed as fog in a horror movie.
Where the mist struck, the spiders died almost instantly. The red striped one had curled up after it glanced her side and those who didn’t make it to the underground tunnels stood no chance. They curled up, and the force of the blast swept quite a few of them into the webbing and beyond. The greenery here was already dead, but if it hadn’t been—it would have died.
There were hundreds more spiders dead when the Dragon was finished expelling its breath weapon.
The only movement was the tattered strings of webbing swaying in a breeze that had been cut by some of the mist.
The Dragon smacked its lips almost lazily before poking its nose into one of the larger holes and inhaling deeply again. It sneezed. That would have been hilarious in its own right if not for the fact that the result was a large mound of upturned earth and spider remains.
“That should keep the miscreants from returning.” The Dragon turned back to us, and I was able to get a better look at it.
It had green scales with horns of deep brown that struck out from the side of its head and looked like small trees or antlers that had some moss on them as well. The eyes were a deep brown. The Dragon was smaller than what I had expected from having met an ancient white Dragon. This one was possibly three-fourths the size of Winterheart.
“You may drop that failing shield, Fae creature.” The Dragon still searched the area for prey before turning its head toward us. “I mean you no harm—I come as a friend. A reward.”
“Uhm, what?” James’s jaw almost hit the floor.
“I did not stutter, black Elf.” The Dragon’s head rested on the ground as it looked at James as close to in his eyes as possible. “I am Ampharia, an elder green Dragon, protector of this jungle and friend to the Lady of the Glade.”
“And you are our… reward?” I tried to keep the uncertainty from my voice. Maebe had dropped the shield but kept her hands poised just in case.
“She was most insistent that I come and give any assistance that I could, and seeing as though you chose to act in my stead, I have chosen to heed her call.” Ampharia snuffed at us a little. “You, little Druid, are to secret yourself away—right now—and call to her. She wishes to speak with you.”
I nodded to the Dragon, then nodded to my friends. “I’ll return to the mushroom village. Meet you there.”
A couple of them looked like they wanted to follow, but Ampharia cut them off.
“Hello, little green, what do you call yourself?” Ampharia’s voice sounded deeply curious. “Who is your sire? Your mare?”
“Uh, hello.” Muu tried to sound bold, but I could tell he was a little thrown off by the questions. “My name is Muu Ankiman, but you can call me Muu if you like?”
I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation because I had flown off.
It took a while to regain my bearings, but the large gap in the trees led me to the village we had taken as our base here.
I shifted swiftly as I landed. I walked into the center of the village and sat crossed legged. Since I was alone, I spoke out loud once again in the druidic tongue.
“You asked Ampharia to have me come and speak with you, Mother Nature?”
“I did.” I turned to see that she walked here, among the mortals. Her toga was gone and replaced by a dress of leaves that flowed beautifully down her body. She looked younger, somehow. Some of the wrinkles and gray in her hair had lessened. Her violet and gold eyes sparkled as she regarded me.
“How can I further help you then, my lady?” I bowed my head respectfully.
“Continue with that, and I will turn you into a chicken,” she warned lightly. Somehow—I believed her.
I raised my head and stood. She was still really tall, compared to myself, but it was a nice feeling. For once.
I couldn’t help feeling helpless. Two times in as many days we’d had to rely on someone much stronger than us to help us do what we had set out to do. I felt useless. Like a kid again. Was I really worthy of being here?
“You’re moping,” she observed. “Why?”
I gave her the nice version of the thoughts going through my brain.
“Those spiders have had centuries to shore their numbers, and when the jungle was ripe for the taking? They acted. Though they are natural to their habitat, they have no place here. It is as much Ampharia’s fault for being lax in her duties as a guardian of this place that this happened as you were stupid for going there so unprepared.”
My shoulders fell. I got it.
“The Gods chose you for a reason. All of you. Hold your head up and accept that changes need to be made.”
I sighed and tried to stop acting as if someone had kicked my puppy. I could mope or do something about it. It starts now.
“I wanted to let you know that Ampharia is the reward given to your party.” She stopped and lifted a seed from the ground that hadn’t been there before. “And this seed is your reward.”
I stared at it in confusion, and the matronly earth goddess smiled before touching my ear lightly.
“Or rather, your reward is like this seed.” She tapped it once, and I felt the little thing wobble, then it began to sprout. “Here, let us plant her here,” she knelt down where we were and scraped out a hole for me to lay it in, “and watch. Now, your gift is the gift of new life. Much like the seed we just planted, you will grow, and hopefully, continue to do so. Especially with my blessing.
She held her hand over the spot we had planted the seed and water fell on to the soil. The soil parted slightly, and a sprout burst through the ground.
“As you grow, you will give new life to those around you, not just here but in your world too.” The sprouting plant began to grow and thicken, slowly. “Though you may be a pillar in your own right, there must be a foundation as well as support. The center is not you, but your party and your ideals.”
She waved her hands over the now ten-inch-tall plant that was still growing. Seven smaller plants sprouted in a circle around the original one and began to weave themselves around it in a circular pattern that lifted, supported, and protected the original plant, but something else I noticed was that they were all growing at a more rapid pace. Now it was a foot and a half, three feet, four, six.
We stepped back after Mother Nature tugged my sleeve gently.
“With the love, support, and strength of your friends—you all will grow faster.” I turned to face her. She was smiling now, her dimples deeply creasing her cheeks, and it was a beautiful thing. “I bestow upon you the subclass of Primal Warrior. You are the first of your kind
, as this tree will be the first of its kind. You will grow in unexpected ways, as will your friends. Also, the tail I withheld from you that should have been earned for reaching level 22. And another for having pleased me with trying your hardest to make up for your shortcomings.”
She turned to face the tree, and it stood an easy one hundred eighty feet tall; its trunk was thick with crisscrossed wood that connected and was woven through the base trunk itself. It reminded me of a loosely woven wicker basket, but I had a feeling that it would take a good deal to harm this tree.
Mother Nature reached up to the lowest branch, and the tree seemed to relinquish it from the base like a plucked hair. She held the branch out to me. It was thicker than the meatiest portion of my forearm and a little over eight feet long.
“A final gift to the Ranger. There are people who call the eastern region of this jungle home.” She allowed me to take it. “I believe that there will be a skilled bowyer among them. If you can convince her to work with an unknown material, this may be a worthy weapon for him.”
“I think convincing a craftsman to work with new material would be within his realm.” I grinned. I looked over the branch, which looked roughly the same as the tree itself, but it was more tightly bound and seemed springier.
I looked up to find her gone, but the evidence of her presence remained. My rump itched like crazy, and I looked to see that, true to her word, I now had five tails. I could choose what to do with my tails later. Right now, I wanted to see what the Primal Warrior was capable of.
SUBCLASS OBTAINED!
Primal Warrior – Druids, the chosen champions of nature and her wishes, have been known to take many paths. This is a trail that only you can carve. This subclass specializes in using aspects of animals to fight in newer ways.
Primal Instinct – The voice of animals is known to you, but now, so are their instincts. The shapes and forms the Druid takes can offer insight and guidance to the Druid now. The duration of Nature’s Voice has been increased to twenty-four hours per casting.
Into the Dragon's Den (Axe Druid Book 2) Page 47