NOVEL NEXT Vol 3, Ch 6. Swarm
Beaverton wasn’t a huge city by Bonny’s standards, but it was close to a mile long north to south. From above, Bonny could see that it was built in a wide oval along the lake. They were flying from an area near the southern docks to the north gate.
The horn no longer sounded the alert, but the bells started ringing constantly.
As they drew close, they could see some sort of webbing decorating the walls and buildings around the gate, often with cocoons that Bonny assumed held people.
“Spiders? Why did it have to be spiders?”
Kanae squeezed Bonny tight from behind as the bunny girl shivered.
Zeal stopped and hovered above the gate. The webs weren’t gigantic structures between buildings, but guide and anchor lines. Several forms moved through the streets, moving like a pack of wolves with too many legs. There were no guards on the wall, just cocoons, some of which were still wriggling.
“Kanae and Miu, let’s drop onto the wall. Elss, can you hold the street? Addy, stay with Elss. Zeal keep an eye on the buildings, but don’t use fire or poison. I’ll try to rescue and heal the guards.”
As she finished, Bonny held tight to Miu and released her foothold from under Zeal’s wing joints. She leaned to the side until she was falling, then extended her wings to catch the air and turn the fall into a glide. They weren’t high above the wall and pumped her wings a moment later to soften her landing above the gate.
Kanae slammed into the wall next to them a few seconds later. She groaned and Bonny reached out to cast [Mending!].
Adelina patted Bonny on the head, then launched herself off, flitting down to the street, to meet Eloisss, who was unwrapping herself from Zeal’s neck. The lamia dropped to the road leading into the city.
Almost immediately spiders burst from the buildings and swarmed from the doors and windows around them. Most of the buildings were two or three stories tall and had a couple windows on each floor. There were at least two dozen spiders, but not spiders that Bonny had ever seen - or imagined.
These spiders were wolf spiders, except with actual wolf bodies. Most of them were two to three feet long and colored in grays and browns. They each eight thick furry legs, with two each splitting out from their shoulder and hip joints. Like a wolf had morphed halfway to a spider. They had two wolf eyes, surrounded by six other, smaller ones. Their wolf-like muzzles were bracketed by pedipalps. A few were double the size, almost six feet long.
“What the fuck!? Those things are fucking creepy!”
A palpable wave of hate emanated from the monsters, pressing down on the group. Bonny pushed back with her own: Courage, Hope, and Retribution working to stave off the suddenly oppressive atmosphere. She felt Eloisss’ aura of Courage flare out as well.
‘Violet! We need you!’ Bonny concentrated on sending the thought across the city.
[[okay]] The slime girl materialized with a pop.
“Try not to damage the buildings or people.” Bonny pointed at the cocoons hanging from the buildings.
They went to work.
Miu conjured arrows with her new skill, pinning some of the demonic spiders to the walls. The arcane arrows maintained their structure for a few minutes after being released.
Kanae used her illusions and confusion, but had trouble pushing through the demonic auras. A few started attacking each other in a creepy tangle of legs, fangs, and claws, so Bonny knew it was working.
Eloisss was a blur of motion in the street below them, her falcata whirling independent of each other, cutting through legs and bodies, spattering gore and goo in their wake.
Adelina floated above the lamia, beams of light lancing out, blinding and distracting. Gusts of wind kept the strands of webbing away and smashed spiders to the ground if they tried to leap or float down from the buildings around them.
Violet conjured a rain of arcane fire, purple fist sized fireballs fell into the street around Eloisss, burning through spiders, but avoiding the lamia and fairy.
Zeal stayed in dragon form, snatching spiders from the walls and slicing through them with her claws. She bit into one and immediately spit it back out.
Bonny looked out in horror, then turned to the nearest cocoon. There were several on the wall near them. She summoned her Sword and carefully cut through the silk. The guard inside was emaciated and pale, with a large bite wound on his chest.
Bonny yanked him out and cast [Mending!] followed by [Analysis!]. Her healing aura was already at work, but the general healing was needed immediately. She pushed more power into her aura, extending it slightly and hoping that it would keep more of the guards alive until she could get to them.
Analysis showed the chest wound was critical. Venom! The flesh around the bite and part of the guard’s lungs were liquefied. He was also unable to move beyond a few twitches and muscle spasms.
“[Panacea!]” The venom seemed to be a combination of cytotoxins and neurotoxins, paralyzing and dissolving the spider’s prey. Bonny wasn’t sure if her skill would work, but hoped it would. She doubled down, before the skill could take full affect. Maybe divine power was needed to offset the demonic venom. “[Divine Panacea!]”
A flare of anger suffused Bonny and time slowed. A sense of hate resonated behind her and she spun. One of the smaller spider-wolves fell toward her, having leapt at her from hiding.
Bonny had dropped her Sword after cutting the cocoon open and now summoned Courage’s Spear. She lined it up and planted the butt on the wall, letting the spider impale itself. It was heavier than it looked and the weight pulled the spear down. Bonny let it fall, hitting the ground with a thump. The spider thing lay on it’s side as it’s legs scrabbled at the spear shaft, trying to push the spear out, but barbs behind the spearhead prevented it from escaping.
She turned and ran back to the guard, dragging the impaled monster behind her. She reached out to touch the dying man, to cast her [Sacrificial Heal] but hesitated to touch the creepy legs of the wolfspider.
She tried to channel the skill through the spear. After all, it was part of her, not just a random weapon, but one bound to her soul. When she concentrated, she could feel the monster through it, but the skill wouldn’t activate.
It took a moment for the light bulb to go off. A demonic skill and divine weapon weren’t compatible. She reviewed the equipment granted by the gods and demons. Only her dildo and the fist were demonic. She was not going to touch the spider thing with her dick, detached or not. Matt had used a spear though, why didn’t she get one?
“Wrath. I want a spear!”
Courage and Wrath appeared in midair, the goddess still holding the braided leash restraining the kneeling demoness.
“Release me.”
“No. This fucked up disaster is your fault and you’ll stay a prisoner until it’s resolved.” Bonny smiled at Courage. “Hi, beautiful. Thank you for managing her. Where’s Lust?”
“Justice has her.” Courage smiled back.
“Good.” Bonny turned back to Wrath. “I’ll make you a deal. One lash for each guard that dies today, reduced by one for each guard I save by using your spear.”
Wrath stared at her with narrowed eyes.
Bonny stared back, unblinking.
“That is not the purpose of my gift.”
“Gift?” Bonny laughed mirthlessly. “You had better fucking help or I will show you what wrath is.”
The demoness deflated, collapsing into a prone position. “Fine.”
Bonny concentrated on her link with Wrath, feeling the equipment change. She still needed the fist. She summoned it and felt her right hand and wrist start itching. Her fur fell out, leaving red scales behind. The spear appeared a moment later with another thought. It was thicker than the spear that Courage used, with a long knife-like spearhead and a cross guard just behind it. Anger and hate radiated through her.
“That will do. Thank you.” She stabbed the spider thing with the new spear and let the divine one dissipate. She reached out to the guard and cast [Wound Transfer! Sacrificial Heal!], pulling life from the spider, through the spear, and transferring it to the injured guard.
The spider wolf crumbled to dust and Bonny’s fury dissipated. Time resumed, the guard stumbling and feeling at his chest.
Bonny ran to the next cocoon and cut into it. This guard was also sick, but a [Divine Panacea!] and [Mending!] was enough to get him moving again. He had been bitten on a leg, so none of his organs were damaged.
The two guards helped with the next, who was also quickly healed.
“Bonny! I need mana!” Miu called out. The arcane arrows didn’t take a lot of mana, but the caat girl's mana pool was new, and small.
Bonny ran to her and laid a palm on the cat girl’s back, casting “[Sacrificial Mana Restore!]” as she did. She pushed her own mana over, filling Miu’s quickly, then reached out to Violet to recast “[Sacrificial Mana Restore!]” and refill her own.
Violet had a huge mana pool that was further bolstered by the almost limitless mana in the Arcane Crown.
Once the last cocoon on the wall was was cut open and the guard restored to fighting condition, Bonny grabbed Miu and jumped, beating her wings for extra floating power, carrying them both to the roof of a nearby building. Violet teleported over a moment later, leaving Kanae with the guards.
More wolf spiders ambushed them, but Bonny’s fury aura increased her awareness and response time, giving her time to stab the two closest while Miu and Violet eliminated those further away. The two girls went back to helping control the swarm on the street while Bonny freed and healed more guards, pulling some of the cocoons up from where they hung on the sides of the building.
Many of the guards here were dead, having been bitten somewhere critical, the venom breaking down their organs before Bonny could rescue them. Many were also saved, both by skills and demonic power. Those saved joined the fight, some making their way to the wall and some joining Eloisss in the street.
Once the initial attack was repulsed, Bonny and her companions went through and checked each building, finding even more spiders and cocoons, these holding mostly civilians. Several of those were too far gone, but most were saved.
In the end, Bonny counted eight more people saved by channeling her skill through Wrath’s spear than those that died, meaning no lashes for the demoness. She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or upset, but she was glad it was over.
They made their way back to the wall, which was one of the cleaner areas around the gate. Bonny sank to the ground and sighed.
