The hurried drumming of feet and metal weaponry filled the village like deafening thunder. Seth descended the slope towards the makeshift village gates, where the warriors were already organized in a semicircle - a rudimentary but firm line of defense.
The breeze had changed. The smell of the forest now carried a sweet, putrid stench, a mixture of dead flesh, rust and rotten eggs. Gor'Magh stopped abruptly beside Seth.
"She's close." He muttered, looking at the horizon.
Seth took a deep breath. "Yeah, I can see it."
The system panel automatically adjusted in front of him - a translucent window flashed in warning:
[HOSTILE ENTITY DETECTED]
[Name: ??? (Rank-S)]
A huge shadow loomed on the ground. The children had already been evacuated. The drums fell silent. The forest seemed to catch its breath.
And then... it came.
Emerging from between the twisted trees of the dense forest, the Demon Spider appeared like a nightmare carved from the darkness itself. Its gigantic body, the size of a two-storey hut, advanced with a nauseating snap of jointed legs, each ending in curved claws that pierced the earth with ease.
Its eyes glowed sickly red and green, scattered across its monstrous face like cursed jewels. Its mouth was divided into three gaping jaws, each dripping a black slime that corrupted the ground where it fell. Wherever it went, the vegetation withered, the leaves dried up and the earth darkened.
Orcs instinctively retreated, even if they were armed. One of the youngest, with trembling spears in his hands, fell to his knees, choking on his fear.
Seth, on the other hand, took a step forward. Just one. But it was enough to make Gor'Magh grab his shoulder.
"That thing killed a hundred of our people in another age. Not you."
"I know what it is," Seth interrupted, his eyes fixed on the creature. "And it came here. That's reason enough."
[Activated Skill: Titan's Fury (Rank-C)]
His muscles tensed, his body expanding slightly under his overcoat. The two Kharizan Axes emerged from his inventory with a muffled glow, and the air around him grew heavier, as if gravity had bowed out of respect.
[Skill Activated: Lightning Manipulation (Rank-A)]
Sparks erupted from his arms, electric streamers dancing across the blade of his axes. The earth around his feet cracked with small pops. Muffled thunder rumbled from above the clouds, even though no storm was visible.
The Spider emitted a guttural sound - a deep, irregular click-click, as if it were laughing without lungs. She saw it. And understood the danger.
"It'll be quick." Seth spoke, a little more arrogantly than usual.
And still he advanced.
She jumped.
An impossible leap for something that size. The trees shook, birds fled in a stampede. And then...
Seth slid to the side at the last moment, the creature's paws digging into the place where he had been. The earth exploded with the impact. Two orcs were thrown away by the shockwave alone.
"Now it's my turn."
With a fluid spin, Seth launched himself high into the air, propelled by lightning that poured from his feet. He appeared in the air, above the creature's head, and then:
[Activated Skill: Storm Spear (Rank-A)]
His axes came together in a bolt of pure energy. It spun, forming an electric spiral in the sky. And it fell.
The blade pierced one of the spider's dorsal shells, cracking it like glass under pressure. A hideous roar echoed throughout the forest. The creature squirmed violently, trying to throw him off, but Seth was already running down its back, cutting more and more slits in its carapace.
Gor'Magh, in the background, shouted: "NOW! ATTACK WITH EVERYTHING!"
The orcs, inspired by the sight, advanced with flaming spears and war cries.
Seth prepared the final blow using the Flame of the Void.
Darkness poured from the blade like liquid smoke. Where it touched, the creature's flesh disappeared - it didn't burn, but was erased from existence. The spider panicked. It tried to flee. It tried to bury itself. It tried to scream. But there was no way out.
Seth drove his axe into the point where the jaws joined and pulled sideways.
Silence.
And then the collapse.
The body collapsed, shaking the ground. The forest seemed to sigh for a moment.
[You went up a level]
"..." Seth took a deep breath, his chest heaving slowly.
The black embers of his energy still crackled in his fingertips.
And behind him, the orcs approached - not with swords, but with their heads down.
Gor'Magh stopped a few paces away, his eyes wide and his voice choked.
"That... wasn't very easy?" he said hesitantly. "I mean, that was the legendary Demon Spider, wasn't it? The Grim Reaper of the Black Mountains? The Desolator of the Seven Tribes?"
Seth was silent for a moment, then slowly stood up, wiping the blade of his axe with an automatic flick of his wrist, like someone getting rid of a bad thought.
"Or she got weak..." he muttered, his eyes fixed on the forest line. "...or the real one hasn't come yet."
It was then that the trembling began.
A deep, ancient sound traveled through the ground like a subterranean whisper. At first, it was soft. Almost imperceptible. But within seconds, it became a growing rumble, as if the earth itself began to squirm in protest.
The trees ahead exploded into the air like sticks thrown by a choleric god. Trunks flew, roots were pulled out like weeds. A whirlwind of leaves, dust and old bones rose like a cyclone.
And then she appeared.
The Mother of the Colony.
The real one.
The shell was made of black plates, each the size of a house. The legs - eight colossal columns of bone and muscle - sank the forest under their weight, turning it into a crushed plain. Its eyes, dozens and dozens of flaming globes, looked in all directions at once, each one pulsing with hunger, pain and fury.
The head alone was already bigger than the village. And it rose even higher, letting out a shrill roar, a sound that made the nearby trees implode from the inside out, as if their very branches couldn't stand the sound.
The clouds darkened. The sky seemed to shrink.
Seth and Gor'Magh stood side by side, their eyes fixed on that impossible presence.
Neither of them spoke for a few seconds.
They just watched.
And then, in unison, as if the only response to such insanity was the purest human instinct...
"Holy shit."
Seth's system tinkled once. Just once.
[HOSTILE ENTITY DETECTED]
[Name: Ak'hazhul, the Silent Mother (Rank-???)]
But Seth didn't even move.
He turned his shoulders slowly, the sparks rising again from the axes still dripping shadows.
"All right, then." He said, voice low, firm.
"Ah... and I thought I was just going to sit back and watch the world end today," muttered a familiar voice, laden with exhaustion and disdain.
Seth and Gor'Magh turned to see Kerissa, the Orc Chief, walking as calmly as someone crossing a marketplace - her braided hair swaying with each heavy step, her eyes squinted with pure boredom.
"Someone give me a bow before that thing thinks it can rule here."
One of the warriors ran up and quickly handed her a longbow and a hand-carved arrow. She took the items without saying thank you, like someone accepting a mug of beer.
"Let's see..." Kerissa pulled the string up to her ear with a tense creak. Her muscles tensed with wartime precision, and the arrowhead glinted as it caught the blue light of the lightning still in the air.
She took aim. "...how thick your shell is, you cursed cub." And released.
The arrow simply became a green energy cannon. Very strong to the point of throwing everyone backwards with the pressure of the wind it created.
"If you die, you're a failure," she muttered, smiling.