Warning: Arachne's freakiness will be unveiled.
_______
Away from the turmoil between the last survivors of the alliance and the forces of Sophia, Arachne is in her lab.
In her dissection table laid the corpse of a seven-foot woman, one would say that she is hot just by looking at her curvaceous body, too bad the corpse of the queen of the bats is already cold, plus the fact that the head of the bat queen's body is in a table will not help their case.
The head that still has its eyes open is being stared at by Arachne who even went to her human form to meet the head eye to eye as she slouched, for some reason Arachne cannot just look away from the head, especially when she is seeing the sadness filled eyes of the queen of the bats, maybe because it was devoid of any life, or maybe not, but Arachne felt a very rare emotion of guilt sprout inside her heart.
"She must have thought that someone finally loved her genuinely and not just because of the honor of being her spouse..."
As Arachne muttered those words, her eyes trailed off the abundant lips of the bat queen's head, unconsciously, she let her face inch closer and closer to the head, and just as when her lips and the head's were just an inch away from each other, a spider appeared in the hair of the severed head as it said (normal people will hear it as nothing but brisk sounds, but Arachne can coherently understand what does it say.).
"Master, I apologize for interrupting your... self-discovery but we have finally established a connection between our siblings near the places in which the battle between Lady Sophia and Bakunawa... But all of them was cut off immediately."
Arachne who jumped out of her chair and went back to her woman-half-spider form listened to the report, of course, she thought _I have to resurrect her... yes, me, not master, I wouldn't want her to have a grey color..._ Arachne sighed as the realization of 'joining' her master to the other side came into her.
She then looked sharply at the spider who just reported, saying that the fun time was over.
"I assume you won't report a failure?"
The spider bobbed its head up and down as Arachne opened her mouth and with a jump, the spider leaped into the tongue of her mother and her birth giver crunched her with her teeth without even hesitating and the moment she did so, the "recorded feed" instantly played inside her head.
Huge explosions can still be heard left and right, up and down without a halt, but the once perceivable speed (to some extent) of the two fighters was replaced with two streaks of flashy and sharp lights, one is white and the other is silver, every time the two lights clashed, trees was strewn over and craters were made, they will immediately change position the moment they clashed on a spot, making the initial damage of the fight to spread throughout its surroundings.
The battle between the two that is originally on the border of the second and third layers became a battle that changed location in seconds, from the middle of the third layer to the entrance of the fourth layer, hell they even went to the border of the fourth and fifth layer in which giant rocks surrounded the said layer.
Every single spider that collaborated to make the feed Arachne is watching right now sacrificed their lives just to see a glimpse of the trails left by Sophia and Bakunawa, finally, the feed ended when the two streaks of lights got entangled in the middle of the second layer, south, about 50 to 60 kilometers of the volcano and is going in southwest direction towards the soon to be battlefield of the remnants of the alliance and the pursuers set by Eleanor.
Just as Arachne was about to prepare for her evacuation, Sophia contacted her.
"Hello, yes, Hello. Because I am too busy to contact every single last one of my subordinates, I will just tell you this. Use all of your spiders to inform Agilus and all of the inhabitants of the first layer as well as the second layer to not leave their caves/volcanoes and also tell Wokung and Saru to destroy their enemies as fast as possible because I can't defeat Bakunawa while stopping her from moving away from the battlefield. That's all, thank you."
Before Sophia ended the call though, she added: "Kissing a severed head is a no-go, you'll be one of the main brains of my Queendom soon, so you better stop that habit."
Arachne was about to reply, but the communication was already severed before she even shouted, she just sighed and then summoned one of her giant spiders.
"At your service, mother."
The spider said so as it opened its giant maw and dislocated it, ready to swallow everything its birthgiver demanded.
_This place is not safe anymore, plus I want not to be late when the master proclaims this forest as her property._
As she was thinking of those things, she stuffed the body and head of the queen of bats as well as her surgical types of equipment, lastly, she also grabbed eggs that she genetically modified but had to postpone their hatching because of the war.
Arachne did not know where it came from nor did she consider this fact from the beginning but as she jumped on the maw of her child and went to the other maw of her spider, a thought popped out of her mind.
_I wonder how her god will respond when she usurps his territory._
Arachne does not doubt her queen even for a second, but she cannot deny the fact that she's eager to see how Sophia's plan of Sophia will succeed after she has vanquished her enemy.
_________
At the proximity of the destroyed alliance army's camp, the mantis who saw the enormous teeth of the wolf stared at it for a while, in disbelief at how big a wolf's canines can be, but his stupor immediately changed with dread as a question lingered in his mind.
_BUT ISN'T THE WOLVES DISAPPEARED IN THIS AREA EARLIER!?_
If his face is not covered with obsidian armor, one will be able to see that he has turned pale as he finally realizes the blunder of the destroyed army.
_We should not have ignored that howl!_
He wanted to scream to warn all of his comrades of the danger lurking in the darkness, but the monkey name Wokung that is riding the alpha male wolf of Sophia's Light Cavalry smiled as the wolf immediately opened his mouth wide and crunched the whole body of the mantis, the mantis did not have any time to whimper or cry, the gigantic canine of the wolf impaled all of his chests, crippling him in an instant and the second bite has been the finishing blow.
"Not satisfying at all."
The wolf shook its head as he used his tongue to remove the residue obsidian armor of his pathetic excuse of a meal, however, before Wokung could even reply, a white spider on top of a tree spoke up, its voice was of course, belonged to Arachne.
"Satisfying or not, you should get the hell out of that place already if you don't want to be collateral damage from the fight of the hero prospects... She can just make you retreat now and kill the alliance army by making them collateral damage instead of risking all of you. But because she knew very well what adrenaline rush can make people do, all of you are tasked to wipe them out in a manner that will make sure that no past enemies of the queen will be able to attempt revenge in the future."
The spider paused for a moment and then said: "That's all, good luck and oh, your daughter is on the line."
As soon as Arachne said that, the spider changed voice into Saru as she said.
"All units in position."
The position they are talking about is a spread circular formation that will march in a way that will create a giant net to capture and sweep all of the destroyed alliance armies, and of course, because the alliance army still has two individuals who can certainly fight Wokung and Saru and will surely let their people escape first to preserve their bloodline, Lyra and her archers who have a rather lackluster performance during the war will be on standby in the path of the remaining forces.
While Wokung was thinking of that, he said to the spider and the other monkeys at his back.
"Did you hear all of that!? We have to make haste so we don't get killed accidentally by our queen!"
Wokung sucked in a deep breath as he shouted.
"ATTACK!"
The large bellow of the former leader of the strongest community-type monster was heard by all monsters present in the scene, wolves, mantises, and ogres alike. The monkeys heard it as a command and they immediately dashed out holding the saddles of their mounts on their right hand and their spear on the other as they charged ferociously into their target that immediately started to run back to their camp to report the ambush that came out of nowhere and to receive order on how to break away to the encirclement.
They turned their backs helplessly as they wished that at least one of them would survive the initial assault so that someone would be able to report it to the army camp and let them prepare at least for a little. That was all the thoughts of the ogres and mantises that were impaled by the spears of the monkeys and munched by the wolves, they wished that even if they could not survive, the person next to them would be able to or if the person next to them cannot, then the person next to the person next to them will able to escape.
The question is, is there anyone in their group that can outrun the speed of the greatest canine monsters of the forest? No, no one, at least not when they are still moderately injured can ever hope to do so.
However, that is only the case if the ogres and mantises raced against the wolves at the same starting point as them.
_______
"Retreat! Retreat!"
The ogres and mantises suddenly heard a shout from far away, coming from a mantis who was huffing from exhaustion, he was a mantis who witnessed the first murder of the wolves to their ranks and immediately ran away towards the camp to report the matter, at this shout, the mantis leader who is still bothered by his instincts shouting retreat at him shuddered.
_Don't tell me!?_
He immediately went to the mantis with the Oni at his back as he listened to the report of his kin and all of the force from his arms left his body as he almost slumped to the ground as the whole matter laid down on his ears, if only he had said it earlier, then his people would not have been in this perilous situation.
"SIRS, WE HAVE TO RETREAT!"
The mantis and the Oni slapped the mantis subordinate on both cheeks, causing him to hold both of his cheeks with his scythe hands.
"WHERE WILL WE!? WE WILL BE LIKE CATS THAT GOT ACCIDENTALLY TRAMPLED ON BY HORSES IF WE RETREATED, CAN'T YOU HEAR THAT BOMBING SOUNDS!? THE FIGHT BETWEEN THOSE TWO MONSTERS ARE COMING OUR WAY!"
All of the mantises and ogres paled in an instant, after a long while of silence, one of the ogres finally asked.
"Then what shall we do?"
The two leaders looked at the person who asked the question, they did not answer it directly but just arranged the soldiers.
First, the two leaders will occupy the sides as they will fight Wokung and Saru respectively and the soldiers will be at the front are the mantises while at the back are the ogres, this is so that the back will be well defended while the front will advance swiftly, just as they arranged themselves and stepped a hundred feet, the hooves of the wolves became audible and the two leaders of the pursuers went down to their horses.
Just a pause is needed and lockdown stares from both sides are needed to ignite a full-blown battle between the two forces, if the battle between Sophia and Bakunawa is destructive, the battle between the four monster leaders is not far off from being monstrous itself, flames are shooting out but was cut off by scythes whilst water blades was vaporized by flames. The two sides were ignited by the majestic display of power by their leader as they fiercely killed their opposition.
The alliance army in particular advanced little by little as they saw the sacrifices of their leaders who were already on the brink of death, as they saw their army finally break out of the formation, extremely exhausted, they smiled, both the mantis leader and the Oni have the same thing in mind.
_They cannot pursue anymore because they have to hasten their retreat..._
That was their last thought as their head was chopped off by the blade and chest pierced by a hand knife respectively. However, as their consciousness faded they saw silhouettes of people holding bows and arrows in a straight line in both directions of the escape path of their army.
_Oh... It's hopeless after all..._
Wokung and Saru don't care about the thought of their nemesis though as they hear the nearing sounds of the battle of the two hero prospects.
"RETREAT!"
The two squads immediately went in the direction of the first layer ignoring the despairing cries of the alliance army being rained down by arrows of Lyra's archers, under normal circumstances, they can push through the formation without a hitch but their minds and bodies are both exhausted gave in to their faith already, thus in just an hour, all of the remnants of the alliance army has been wiped out of the map.
And same the two monkeys, as the bomb-like sounds of the hero prospect fight became more and more audible, Lyra commanded the retreat of her soldiers without even pausing for a second to rest.
At the retreat of the archer unit of Sophia, her battle against her fellow hero prospect has finally entered its final phase.
Warning: Arachne's freakiness will be unveiled.
_______
Away from the turmoil between the last survivors of the alliance and the forces of Sophia, Arachne is in her lab.
In her dissection table laid the corpse of a seven-foot woman, one would say that she is hot just by looking at her curvaceous body, too bad the corpse of the queen of the bats is already cold, plus the fact that the head of the bat queen's body is in a table will not help their case.
The head that still has its eyes open is being stared at by Arachne who even went to her human form to meet the head eye to eye as she slouched, for some reason Arachne cannot just look away from the head, especially when she is seeing the sadness filled eyes of the queen of the bats, maybe because it was devoid of any life, or maybe not, but Arachne felt a very rare emotion of guilt sprout inside her heart.
"She must have thought that someone finally loved her genuinely and not just because of the honor of being her spouse..."
As Arachne muttered those words, her eyes trailed off the abundant lips of the bat queen's head, unconsciously, she let her face inch closer and closer to the head, and just as when her lips and the head's were just an inch away from each other, a spider appeared in the hair of the severed head as it said (normal people will hear it as nothing but brisk sounds, but Arachne can coherently understand what does it say.).
"Master, I apologize for interrupting your... self-discovery but we have finally established a connection between our siblings near the places in which the battle between Lady Sophia and Bakunawa... But all of them was cut off immediately."
Arachne who jumped out of her chair and went back to her woman-half-spider form listened to the report, of course, she thought _I have to resurrect her... yes, me, not master, I wouldn't want her to have a grey color..._ Arachne sighed as the realization of 'joining' her master to the other side came into her.
She then looked sharply at the spider who just reported, saying that the fun time was over.
"I assume you won't report a failure?"
The spider bobbed its head up and down as Arachne opened her mouth and with a jump, the spider leaped into the tongue of her mother and her birth giver crunched her with her teeth without even hesitating and the moment she did so, the "recorded feed" instantly played inside her head.
Huge explosions can still be heard left and right, up and down without a halt, but the once perceivable speed (to some extent) of the two fighters was replaced with two streaks of flashy and sharp lights, one is white and the other is silver, every time the two lights clashed, trees was strewn over and craters were made, they will immediately change position the moment they clashed on a spot, making the initial damage of the fight to spread throughout its surroundings.
The battle between the two that is originally on the border of the second and third layers became a battle that changed location in seconds, from the middle of the third layer to the entrance of the fourth layer, hell they even went to the border of the fourth and fifth layer in which giant rocks surrounded the said layer.
Every single spider that collaborated to make the feed Arachne is watching right now sacrificed their lives just to see a glimpse of the trails left by Sophia and Bakunawa, finally, the feed ended when the two streaks of lights got entangled in the middle of the second layer, south, about 50 to 60 kilometers of the volcano and is going in southwest direction towards the soon to be battlefield of the remnants of the alliance and the pursuers set by Eleanor.
Just as Arachne was about to prepare for her evacuation, Sophia contacted her.
"Hello, yes, Hello. Because I am too busy to contact every single last one of my subordinates, I will just tell you this. Use all of your spiders to inform Agilus and all of the inhabitants of the first layer as well as the second layer to not leave their caves/volcanoes and also tell Wokung and Saru to destroy their enemies as fast as possible because I can't defeat Bakunawa while stopping her from moving away from the battlefield. That's all, thank you."
Before Sophia ended the call though, she added: "Kissing a severed head is a no-go, you'll be one of the main brains of my Queendom soon, so you better stop that habit."
Arachne was about to reply, but the communication was already severed before she even shouted, she just sighed and then summoned one of her giant spiders.
"At your service, mother."
The spider said so as it opened its giant maw and dislocated it, ready to swallow everything its birthgiver demanded.
_This place is not safe anymore, plus I want not to be late when the master proclaims this forest as her property._
As she was thinking of those things, she stuffed the body and head of the queen of bats as well as her surgical types of equipment, lastly, she also grabbed eggs that she genetically modified but had to postpone their hatching because of the war.
Arachne did not know where it came from nor did she consider this fact from the beginning but as she jumped on the maw of her child and went to the other maw of her spider, a thought popped out of her mind.
_I wonder how her god will respond when she usurps his territory._
Arachne does not doubt her queen even for a second, but she cannot deny the fact that she's eager to see how Sophia's plan of Sophia will succeed after she has vanquished her enemy.
_________
At the proximity of the destroyed alliance army's camp, the mantis who saw the enormous teeth of the wolf stared at it for a while, in disbelief at how big a wolf's canines can be, but his stupor immediately changed with dread as a question lingered in his mind.
_BUT ISN'T THE WOLVES DISAPPEARED IN THIS AREA EARLIER!?_
If his face is not covered with obsidian armor, one will be able to see that he has turned pale as he finally realizes the blunder of the destroyed army.
_We should not have ignored that howl!_
He wanted to scream to warn all of his comrades of the danger lurking in the darkness, but the monkey name Wokung that is riding the alpha male wolf of Sophia's Light Cavalry smiled as the wolf immediately opened his mouth wide and crunched the whole body of the mantis, the mantis did not have any time to whimper or cry, the gigantic canine of the wolf impaled all of his chests, crippling him in an instant and the second bite has been the finishing blow.
"Not satisfying at all."
The wolf shook its head as he used his tongue to remove the residue obsidian armor of his pathetic excuse of a meal, however, before Wokung could even reply, a white spider on top of a tree spoke up, its voice was of course, belonged to Arachne.
"Satisfying or not, you should get the hell out of that place already if you don't want to be collateral damage from the fight of the hero prospects... She can just make you retreat now and kill the alliance army by making them collateral damage instead of risking all of you. But because she knew very well what adrenaline rush can make people do, all of you are tasked to wipe them out in a manner that will make sure that no past enemies of the queen will be able to attempt revenge in the future."
The spider paused for a moment and then said: "That's all, good luck and oh, your daughter is on the line."
As soon as Arachne said that, the spider changed voice into Saru as she said.
"All units in position."
The position they are talking about is a spread circular formation that will march in a way that will create a giant net to capture and sweep all of the destroyed alliance armies, and of course, because the alliance army still has two individuals who can certainly fight Wokung and Saru and will surely let their people escape first to preserve their bloodline, Lyra and her archers who have a rather lackluster performance during the war will be on standby in the path of the remaining forces.
While Wokung was thinking of that, he said to the spider and the other monkeys at his back.
"Did you hear all of that!? We have to make haste so we don't get killed accidentally by our queen!"
Wokung sucked in a deep breath as he shouted.
"ATTACK!"
The large bellow of the former leader of the strongest community-type monster was heard by all monsters present in the scene, wolves, mantises, and ogres alike. The monkeys heard it as a command and they immediately dashed out holding the saddles of their mounts on their right hand and their spear on the other as they charged ferociously into their target that immediately started to run back to their camp to report the ambush that came out of nowhere and to receive order on how to break away to the encirclement.
They turned their backs helplessly as they wished that at least one of them would survive the initial assault so that someone would be able to report it to the army camp and let them prepare at least for a little. That was all the thoughts of the ogres and mantises that were impaled by the spears of the monkeys and munched by the wolves, they wished that even if they could not survive, the person next to them would be able to or if the person next to them cannot, then the person next to the person next to them will able to escape.
The question is, is there anyone in their group that can outrun the speed of the greatest canine monsters of the forest? No, no one, at least not when they are still moderately injured can ever hope to do so.
However, that is only the case if the ogres and mantises raced against the wolves at the same starting point as them.
_______
"Retreat! Retreat!"
The ogres and mantises suddenly heard a shout from far away, coming from a mantis who was huffing from exhaustion, he was a mantis who witnessed the first murder of the wolves to their ranks and immediately ran away towards the camp to report the matter, at this shout, the mantis leader who is still bothered by his instincts shouting retreat at him shuddered.
_Don't tell me!?_
He immediately went to the mantis with the Oni at his back as he listened to the report of his kin and all of the force from his arms left his body as he almost slumped to the ground as the whole matter laid down on his ears, if only he had said it earlier, then his people would not have been in this perilous situation.
"SIRS, WE HAVE TO RETREAT!"
The mantis and the Oni slapped the mantis subordinate on both cheeks, causing him to hold both of his cheeks with his scythe hands.
"WHERE WILL WE!? WE WILL BE LIKE CATS THAT GOT ACCIDENTALLY TRAMPLED ON BY HORSES IF WE RETREATED, CAN'T YOU HEAR THAT BOMBING SOUNDS!? THE FIGHT BETWEEN THOSE TWO MONSTERS ARE COMING OUR WAY!"
All of the mantises and ogres paled in an instant, after a long while of silence, one of the ogres finally asked.
"Then what shall we do?"
The two leaders looked at the person who asked the question, they did not answer it directly but just arranged the soldiers.
First, the two leaders will occupy the sides as they will fight Wokung and Saru respectively and the soldiers will be at the front are the mantises while at the back are the ogres, this is so that the back will be well defended while the front will advance swiftly, just as they arranged themselves and stepped a hundred feet, the hooves of the wolves became audible and the two leaders of the pursuers went down to their horses.
Just a pause is needed and lockdown stares from both sides are needed to ignite a full-blown battle between the two forces, if the battle between Sophia and Bakunawa is destructive, the battle between the four monster leaders is not far off from being monstrous itself, flames are shooting out but was cut off by scythes whilst water blades was vaporized by flames. The two sides were ignited by the majestic display of power by their leader as they fiercely killed their opposition.
The alliance army in particular advanced little by little as they saw the sacrifices of their leaders who were already on the brink of death, as they saw their army finally break out of the formation, extremely exhausted, they smiled, both the mantis leader and the Oni have the same thing in mind.
_They cannot pursue anymore because they have to hasten their retreat..._
That was their last thought as their head was chopped off by the blade and chest pierced by a hand knife respectively. However, as their consciousness faded they saw silhouettes of people holding bows and arrows in a straight line in both directions of the escape path of their army.
_Oh... It's hopeless after all..._
Wokung and Saru don't care about the thought of their nemesis though as they hear the nearing sounds of the battle of the two hero prospects.
"RETREAT!"
The two squads immediately went in the direction of the first layer ignoring the despairing cries of the alliance army being rained down by arrows of Lyra's archers, under normal circumstances, they can push through the formation without a hitch but their minds and bodies are both exhausted gave in to their faith already, thus in just an hour, all of the remnants of the alliance army has been wiped out of the map.
And same the two monkeys, as the bomb-like sounds of the hero prospect fight became more and more audible, Lyra commanded the retreat of her soldiers without even pausing for a second to rest.
At the retreat of the archer unit of Sophia, her battle against her fellow hero prospect has finally entered its final phase.
