The eleven Lesser Wire Weavers circled the three surviving adventurers. Their mandibles clicked in synchronized rhythm, a sound that made Kaelen's skin crawl. The purple-haired woman kept her bow drawn, tracking the nearest beast with steady hands despite the exhaustion written across her face. The other two survivors stood close with raised weapons.
Kaelen acted fast, coating his arms with aether, the familiar blue glow spreading across his skin like living light.
[–8 A.E.]
The closest Weaver noticed him first. Its multiple eyes fixed on him. Then, as if connected by invisible threads, all eleven turned to look at him simultaneously.
Kaelen met their gaze with steady eyes. "Come at me, bastards."
But he didn't wait. He moved.
The world blurred as he took off. The Weavers scattered in surprise, their coordinated circle breaking as this new threat appeared in their midst without warning.
Kaelen materialized beside the feeding Weaver, his right fist already pulled back. The beast sensed him too late, its head turning just as Kaelen's fist connected with its skull.
The impact was devastating. The Pulse Transfer effect sent shockwaves rippling through the Weaver's entire body, the force bypassing external armor to liquify internal organs.
[+200 XP]
Two Weavers attacked from behind simultaneously. He sensed them through Spatial Awareness.
Kaelen activated Spatial Warp, distorting the space between himself and the attacking beasts.
[–24 A.E.]
What should have been a two-meter distance suddenly became six. The Weavers' strikes hit empty air where he should have been, their momentum carrying them forward into awkward positions as reality failed to match their expectations.
Kaelen didn't waste the opening. He channeled aether into his legs like he'd seen Lira do during her assessment, the energy coating his calves and feet in blue light. His speed increased dramatically, the already impressive agility stat boosted further by the enhancement.
He moved so fast that the Weavers' multiple eyes couldn't track him properly. To them, he was teleporting, appearing and disappearing between one heartbeat and the next.
Three Weavers clustered near the survivors shifted their attention to him, recognizing the greater threat. Kaelen reached them in two seconds, his enhanced speed eating up the distance. When he was close enough, he jumped, his aether-coated legs launching him into the air with explosive force.
He came down on the middle Weaver like a meteor, both fists raised and glowing with condensed energy. The impact created a visible shockwave that rippled outward through the moss, tearing up earth and sending smaller debris flying.
BOOM
The Weaver's entire body crumpled under the force. Its legs splayed outward at unnatural angles as the shockwave from Pulse Transfer tore through its internal structure. It died before it could even scream.
[+200 XP]
The two flanking Weavers reacted instantly. The one on Kaelen's left lunged with pincers wide, aiming to clamp down on his torso. The one on his right went low, its pointed leg driving forward like a spear aimed at his midsection.
Kaelen activated Temporal Lock on the lunging Weaver.
[–33 A.E.]
The beast froze mid-attack, its body locked in temporal stasis. Time continued normally for everything else, but for that single creature, three seconds had become an eternity of stillness.
Kaelen caught the spearing leg with his left hand, his enhanced strength allowing him to stop the attack with less effort. The Weaver's momentum worked against it as Kaelen twisted, using the beast's own force to lift it off the ground. He spun once, building rotation, then released.
The Weaver flew through the air, its body tumbling end over end before crashing into two other beasts that had been circling for an opening. All three went down in a tangle of limbs and shrieking mandibles.
Kaelen had been wondering. Could he kill a target while it was time-locked? The skill description said it completely froze a target's time, making them unable to move or be moved. But did that protection extend to lethal damage?
The temporally locked Weaver remained frozen, its jaws still open in mid-bite. Kaelen turned to it calmly, drew back his right fist, and struck.
CRACK
The gauntlet connected with the beast's skull. Its head caved in like paper, brain matter spraying and was suspended in the air.
The temporal lock didn't prevent damage. It just prevented the target from reacting to it. Even the brain matter was still suspended in air locked in time
The Weaver died instantly. When the temporal lock expired a fraction of a second later, the corpse simply collapse and everyone came down with it.
[+200 XP]
Three down. Eight to go.
An arrow suddenly streaked past Kaelen's peripheral vision, the aether-coated tip glowing bright blue. It struck one of the approaching Weavers directly in the face, the impact stunning the creature and making it stumble backward with a pained screech.
Kaelen glanced back. The purple-haired woman had her bow raised, already nocking another arrow. Her dark eyes met his briefly, and something passed between them. Understanding.
"Arrow girl!" Kaelen called out, his voice carrying over the chaos. "Keep them off my back! I'll handle the rest!"
She didn't waste breath responding, just drew and fired again. This time her arrow caught a Weaver trying to flank Kaelen from the right, the projectile punching through one of its leg joints and crippling its movement.
The other two survivors were already moving. The male swordsman, his body glowing with an orange aura that reminded Kaelen of Jax's Titan's Grip, charged toward the nearest Weaver with a roar. The female with fur growing up her forearms and visible whiskers on her face followed, her dual blades flashing in the bioluminescent light.
Kaelen turned his attention back to the immediate threats. The stunned Weaver that had taken an arrow to the face was recovering, shaking its head to clear the disorientation. He needed to end it before it could rejoin the fight.
He dropped low and slid under the beast's body, the moss made the movement smooth. As he passed beneath its abdomen, he formed an Aether Burst in both hands.
[–29 A.E.]
He released the explosion point-blank.
BOOM
The compressed energy detonated with devastating force in the confined space beneath the Weaver's body. The beast's underside tore open, black blood and internal organs spraying everywhere. The corpse collapsed on top of Kaelen, covering him in sticky, meaty substance.
[+200 XP]
Kaelen rolled out from under the dead weight, his cloth soaked with beast fluids. The smell was overwhelming and irritating. But he had more problems than disgust.
Four Weavers were charging at him simultaneously. They came from different angles, cutting off escape routes.
He activated Aether Harden's active mode.
[–25 A.E.]
The invisible aetheric armor spread across his body, reinforcing his physical resistance to its maximum. Combined with the passive enhancement he already had, he was now sitting at sixty percent physical damage reduction for the next five seconds.
The first Weaver reached him, its mandibles wide. Kaelen caught them with both hands. The beast's bite force was immense, enough to crush steel, but Kaelen's strength held.
He pulled, spreading the mandibles apart. The Weaver shrieked as Kaelen wrenched the appendages beyond their natural range. Something cracked audibly, and the beast's cry became a gurgling scream.
While he was occupied with the first beast, two more struck him from behind. Their pointed legs drove into his back with enough force to crack ribs under normal circumstances.
[–43 HP]
[–26 HP]
The Aether Harden absorbed most of the damage, but not all of it. Pain lanced through Kaelen's torso. He felt the impacts through the protective layer.
The five-second duration had ended.
Kaelen couldn't afford to take another hit like that. He snapped the mandibles of the beast he was holding, the chitin broke with wet cracks. The Weaver's screaming stopped as it collapsed from overwhelming shock.
He activated Spatial Warp immediately, creating distance.
[–24 A.E.]
Reality bent around him. What had been a crushing circle of beasts suddenly became open space as four meters appeared between him and his attackers. The Weavers stumbled, their momentum carrying them into the empty space where their target should have been.
Kaelen didn't waste the chance. He formed four Spatial Lances simultaneously, the maximum his current cultivation level and mental focus could handle. Trying for more would strain him beyond safe limits.
[–38 A.E.]
[–38 A.E.]
[–38 A.E.]
[–38 A.E.]
Each lance shimmered with spatial distortion. His hands trembled slightly from the mental strain of maintaining all four at once.
He released two at the Weaver with broken mandibles. The first lance shot forward, the beast's survival instinct kicked in despite its injuries. It dodged desperately, the spatial lance missed by inches.
The second lance caught the Weaver in both front legs, severing them cleanly. The beast collapsed forward, its momentum carrying it face-first into the moss, now completely immobilized.
Kaelen launched the third lance at another Weaver. This one didn't dodge fast enough. The lance punched through its body, creating a hole the size of Kaelen's fist that went straight through from front to back. The beast died before it hit the ground.
[+200 XP]
The fourth lance targeted the final charging Weaver. But this one had learned from watching its companions die. It turned hard left at the last possible moment, the lance passing through empty air where it had been.
Kaelen was already moving before the lance fully dissipated. He closed the distance to the dodging Weaver with enhanced speed, his aether-coated legs carrying him forward in a blur. The beast tried to turn, to bring its pincers to bear, but Kaelen was faster.
He struck the Weaver's legs with both fists in rapid succession, left-right-left, each impact reinforced by Pulse Transfer. The beast's limbs shattered under the assault. Its chitin cracked and joints dislocated. It staggered, trying desperately to maintain balance on its remaining functional legs.
Kaelen jumped, using his strength to launch himself upward. He came down with both fists aimed at the Weaver's head. The impact when he connected was devastating, the shockwave rippling through the beast's entire body as its skull caved in.
[+200 XP]
While Kaelen was handling the majority of the Weavers, the three survivors were fighting their own battle against the remaining beasts.
The female with fur and whiskers, Kess, faced off against a single Weaver that had separated from the main group. Her feet suddenly grew larger, taking on a distinctly paw-like appearance as more fur streamed across her face. Her Mutation ability was activating, transforming her body into something between human and feline.
The Weaver charged, its eight legs eating up the distance with frightening speed. Kess waited until the last possible moment before moving, shifting just enough to the side that the beast's mandibles snapped on empty air. As it passed, she countered with a vicious slash to its right front leg.
Her blade cut through the joint cleanly, severing the limb entirely. Black blood sprayed across the moss as the Weaver shrieked in pain and rage.
But pain didn't slow it. The beast was so enraged that it pushed through the agony, its remaining seven legs carrying it in a tight turn as it lunged for Kess's torso. The mandibles aimed to clip her in half.
Kess jumped, her enhanced agility carrying her clear of the attack. She landed on the Weaver's head, both blades raised. Then she struck again and again and again, driving the weapons down with all the pent-up frustration and anger of watching her teammate die.
The beast's movements became spasmodic, then stopped entirely. Kess kept stabbing for several seconds more before finally stopping, her breathing harsh and ragged.
Joran, the male swordsman with the orange aura, wasn't faring as well. A Weaver had caught him with a solid hit, sending him crashing into a tree trunk hard enough to crack the bark. His Enhancer ability had absorbed most of the impact, but he still felt like he'd been hit by a freight vehicle.
He forced himself to rise, gripping his sword with both hands. The weapon was worn, its edge dulled from extensive use. But it was all he had.
He charged at the Weaver as it charged at him, both committed to the collision. When they were close enough, the beast raised one of its pointed legs, aiming to pierce straight through his chest.
Joran swung his sword with all his strength, the blade meeting the descending limb. The impact sent vibrations up his arms, and the sword didn't cut through. It caught against the chitin and held, the worn edge unable to penetrate the natural armor.
The Weaver struck his shoulder with another leg, the force driving him to his knees. The ground cracked under the impact, creating a small crater around his kneeling form.
The beast tried to pierce him with its mandibles, aiming for his exposed neck. But Joran's Enhancer ability protected him, the reinforced durability preventing the attack from penetrating. He grabbed the beast's leg with both hands, muscles bulged with enhanced strength as he lifted the entire creature off the ground.
Then he slammed it down with all his might.
The Weaver hit the moss hard, the impact stunning it. Joran collapsed to his knees afterward, completely exhausted from the exertion.
Kess was already there, her dual blades finding the stunned beast's abdomen and driving deep. The Weaver twitched once, then went still.
Leah, the purple-haired woman with the bow, was having her own problems. The Weaver facing her was smart, using the trees as cover while firing webs at her. She dodged left and right, her movements still energetic despite her exhaustion.
She jumped from tree to tree, her agility allowing her to navigate the vertical terrain while avoiding the sticky projectiles. She fired arrows whenever she had a clear shot, but none of them connected. The Weaver was too quick, and cautious.
Leah made a decision. She secured her bow to a loop at her waist and drew a dagger instead. If ranged wasn't working, she'd go close.
She charged in, evading another web by ducking under it. Before the beast knew what was happening, she was at its side with the dagger raised. The blade came down toward the Weaver's abdomen.
The beast was quick to react, shifting just enough that the attack only scratched it rather than cutting deep. But Leah wasn't going to let it escape.
She pursued the dodging creature as it scrambled backward, trying to create distance. When it finally regained its balance, Leah did something strange.
She threw her dagger upward in a high arc, the weapon spinning through the air toward where the Weaver would be in. Then she smoothly switched back to her bow, drawing three arrows simultaneously.
Her eyes began to glow with silver light as her ability activated. She released all three arrows at once.
The projectiles flew so fast that the Weaver barely had time to register them. The first arrow struck one of its legs, but the it ricocheted off without penetrating.
The second and third arrows turned mid-flight, curving through the air in impossible arcs. They both struck the same spot the first arrow had hit, the combined force finally breaking through the chitin armor. The leg shattered.
The beast shrieked in pain. But before it could do anything else, Leah was already airborne above it, catching her falling dagger with perfect timing. She drove down with all her momentum behind the blade.
The strike connected, punching through the chitin at the beast's head. The Weaver thrashed violently, nearly throwing her off. But Leah held on, kept striking, over and over until the movements finally stopped. She was covered in black blood when she climbed off the corpse.
She noticed a Weaver positioning itself to strike Kaelen while he was occupied with the one he was jumping on. Leah pulled an arrow and fired in one smooth motion.
The arrow struck the Weaver's abdomen, the impact stunning the beast and making it stumble. It looked around frantically, trying to figure out where the attack had come from.
Kess was already moving. She appeared above the stunned Weaver, having used the momentary confusion to position herself. Her dual blades drove into its head from above, ending it before it could recover.
One Weaver remained. The one Kaelen had immobilized earlier with his Spatial Lances, the creature with no front legs and no mandibles. It had lost massive amounts of blood and was just staring at the approaching Kess with something that might have been fear in its multiple eyes.
Kess raised her blade, prepared to end it. Before she could strike, a Spatial Lance passed by her side, missing her by centimeters. The spatial lance punched through the Weaver's body, creating a massive hole that ended the beast instantly.
[+200 XP]
She looked back. Kaelen stood fifteen meters away, his arm still extended from releasing the lance. His gauntlets were dripping with black blood, and his hands were shaking visibly from the curse damage accumulating in his muscles.
Their eyes met but she wasn't angry.
Silence fell across the clearing as all eleven Lesser Wire Weavers lay dead among the moss and webbing.
Kaelen's breathing was harsh, his chest heaving with exertion. Black blood covered his cloth completely, making him look like he'd bathed in it. The curse damage from his gauntlets was visible now, his veins standing out prominently on both hands, pulsing with each heartbeat. The trembling had become worse.
He pulled the gauntlets off immediately, his fingers fumbling slightly from the muscle strain. The moment they were free, he stored them in his Oblivion Pouch along with the Guardian Band.
[–10 A.E.]
[–10 A.E.]
[–10 A.E.]
Flow Regrowth has been at work since the beginning of the fight, but it's only being effective on the arm now. Golden threads of temporal energy wove through his damaged hands, repairing the microfractures and torn muscle fibers.
Leah approached cautiously, her purple hair matted with sweat and blood. Her dark eyes studied Kaelen with an expression that mixed gratitude and disbelief.
"That was..." She paused, looking at the F-rank badge hanging from his neck. "You're F-rank?"
Kaelen nodded, too tired to explain properly.
"Thank you for helping us," Leah said quietly. She glanced at the bodies of her fallen teammates, pain flickering across her face before she pushed it down. "We wouldn't have made it without you."
She introduced herself properly. "I'm Leah, an E-rank adventurer. I'm a mage specializing in archery."
The male swordsman joined them, his orange aura fading as he dismissed his ability. "Joran. E-rank. An Enhancer." His grip was firm despite his exhaustion.
The woman with feline features wiped blood from her blades. "Kess. An E-rank. Mutation class, dual blades-wielder." Her whiskers twitched slightly as she spoke.
Kaelen just nodded acknowledgment to each of them, conserving energy.
Leah's expression became haunted. "Both our groups took a suppression mission. We happened to stumble into this area..." She gestured at the dense webbing around them. "A nest. We didn't realize until it was too late."
Her voice cracked slightly. "My team leader, the spear-wielder, died in the first seven minutes of the assault. We fought over twenty-one of these things before you arrived. We were..." She trailed off, the implication clear. They were about to die.
Joran spoke up, his voice rough. "We lost someone too. The one that beast was..." He couldn't finish, just gestured toward the corpse that had been partially eaten.
Kaelen felt the weight of their losses settle in the air between them. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.
The words felt inadequate, but they were all he had.
"We should recover their tags at least," Leah said after a moment of heavy silence.
"Yeah," Kess agreed softly.
They moved among the bodies solemnly. Four sets of identification tags total: Leah's three teammates and Joran and Kess's companion. Kaelen helped without being asked, understanding that some things didn't require words.
This was the reality of adventurer work. Not everyone came back. The tags would be returned to the guild, next of kin would be notified, and life would continue for those who survived.
After the tags were collected, the group turned their attention to harvesting the Wire Weavers. Leah, Joran, and Kess processed the twenty-one beasts they'd killed before Kaelen arrived, their dimensional storage filled with crystals and materials.
"You should take all eleven," Leah offered, gesturing to the remaining corpses. "You did most of the work."
Kaelen shook his head. "I killed seven. You three killed four. Fair split."
"But you helped us," Joran protested. "If you hadn't shown up—"
"Doesn't matter," Kaelen interrupted firmly. "You earned your kills. I earned mine. That's how it works."
He moved among the corpses he'd killed, extracting crystals and collecting usable materials. Seven F-rank crystals joined the others in his Oblivion Pouch. Some chitin plates that looked particularly intact. A few webbing glands that could be processed.
The others did the same with their four kills, working in tired silence.
[Base Level: 13] (2110/4400 XP)
[System Level: 12] (2910/3600 XP)
When the harvesting was complete, they stood together in the clearing. The bodies of the fallen adventurers lay covered with spare fabric, a temporary dignity before recovery teams could arrive.
"What now?" Kess asked quietly.
"We report the nest location to the guild," Leah said. "They'll send a proper extermination team to make sure nothing's left."
She looked at Kaelen. "You heading back to the barrier?"
He nodded. His bike was still parked where he'd left it, hopefully undisturbed.
"We'll walk out together," Joran said. It wasn't a question. Safety in numbers, even after the fight was over.
They moved through the forest as a group, exhausted but alert. The bioluminescent trees seemed less beautiful now, their light revealing shadows that might hide more threats.
Nobody spoke much. There wasn't much to say.
When they finally reached the freight route, Kaelen split off to retrieve his bike. The others continued toward the barrier on foot, their pace slow but steady.
Leah raised a hand in farewell. Kaelen returned the gesture.
Then he was alone again, the forest was quiet around him except for the distant sounds of other adventurers still working the area.
He found his bike exactly where he'd left it, undisturbed. The security lock disengaged with a soft chime as he approached.
Kaelen climbed on, started the engine, and began the long ride back to the barrier. His body ached everywhere, the adrenaline finally wearing off completely and leaving behind exhaustion so profound it felt like drowning.
The freight route stretched ahead, winding through crystal forests that glowed softly in the twilight. Kaelen opened the throttle and rode toward civilization, leaving the carnage behind.