The Homeseeker: Elemental Adventurer LitRPG [Isekai] (Series Complete!)

"Dear Lord," Rep said, staring upward in shock and horror.

"Get me down! Get me down!" Finnegan panicked, kicking frantically as he slid upward toward the hungry monster.

The Giant Arachula was smooth like the others and had eight red eyes that looked in several directions, as though constantly searching for more meals. Its eight legs were lean but powerful, and ended in dull points like hammers. Its fangs were the size of human arms and the sounds it emitted were something like a cross between a snake and a Geiger counter.

Zalan blasted the Giant Arachula with his Elemental Light. It flinched, but didn't hiss and react like its smaller counterparts. He quickly shifted his energy to the web attached to Finnegan's back. It sizzled, but didn't come apart as easily as webs made by regular Arachulas.

"It's stronger than usual," Zalan relayed.

"I can destroy it if we must," Rep said, preparing a flame in his palm.

"No! You might bring the whole place down if a flame touches any of these bigger webs!" Zalan said.

"What is taking so long?" Finnegan screamed.

"It's tougher stuff!" Zalan said. "Just give me a second!"

"I do not have a second!" Finnegan squealed, staring upward at the spider fangs opening widely above him. His face went pale in fear. His feet stopped kicking.

Zalan furled his eyebrows in concentration, pointing both arms at the web and concentrating the Elemental Light to a thin, powerful beam. The web began to tear slightly. The Giant Arachula seemed to sense its prey beginning to escape its web, dragging Finnegan up even faster. It leaned forward to consume Finnegan's head in one bite. He shrieked.

The web snapped and Finnegan came tumbling to the ground. Rep tried to catch him, but only managed to slow the fall, his arms just shy of a good grasp. Finnegan fell to his rear with a grunt, looking up with wide, terrified eyes.

"Did it get me? I feel as though it got some part of me," Finnegan said quickly, running his hands over his head.

"No," Rep said. "You are unharmed, not a hair on your head is out of pla…"

Rep stopped as he saw a bald patch in the back of Finnegan's hair. Rep looked back up and saw the giant spider chewing on a tuft of hair. The gargantuan monster spat out the hair, dissatisfied with the lack of meat.

"My hair!" Finnegan's eyes went wide as his fingers made contact with his scalp.

Rep and Zalan ignored him, focusing on the massive creature on the ceiling.

"Any ideas?" Rep asked in a whisper.

"Run?" Zalan replied.

Without another word, Rep, Zalan, and Finnegan all ran as fast as they could back the way they came from. They didn't have to look back to know the Giant Arachula was after them, climbing upside down on the ceiling and easily keeping up with them. The walls echoed with its terror-inducing scuttles, hisses subtly escaping its maw.

"It is coming after us!" Finnegan reported loudly.

It made a sound like it was chewing gum from above and Zalan had the instinct to duck as he ran. A massive wad of webs stuck to the wall next to Zalan, a near miss. He stared back at the attack. The size of a bean bag, it clung with special rigidity to the wall. It could probably completely immobilize them with a single spit of web hitting them. And he didn't want to think about how fast the monster could consume him once hit.

Racing through the mines frantically, the trio gave up on trying to go only down the path to the right. Whatever seemed closest was the earthen corridor they hastily ran through. Zalan blinked as the atmosphere suddenly changed. They found their way into a more open area of the cavern. It formed into a dome at the top, like a bowl was carved into the mines. Gemstones and small rocks piled on the ends while overturned, old mine carts were scattered about the area. Zalan realized that they must have come into the remains of what used to be a lucrative area in the mines.

The Giant Arachula climbed through, firing more large webs. It had effectively blocked the entrance with its adhesive projectiles.

"Try burning it, Rep!" Zalan called out.

"I thought you just said it could bring the mines down!" Rep said.

"This area's a lot bigger! Plus, I don't think we can keep this up. I have more faith in you redirecting the blast than us outrunning this thing!" Zalan said.

Rep bit his lips as he ran. The blood pounding in his head made it hard for him to come to a rational conclusion and he grunted in frustration. Midstep, he spun around and reached out his arms, preparing to emit Elemental Flame.

A massive glob of web smacked into him at that moment. He fell back hard, slapping into the ground with his limbs sticking out at awkward angles. He tried to tear himself free in a rush, but only had his hands, feet, and head sticking out of the web. The best he could do was wiggle fingers, toes, and his neck in frenetic panic.

"Zalan!" Rep screamed.

Zalan stopped and spun back around, only then realizing Rep was glued to the ground. He charged back toward Rep without a moment's hesitation. The Giant Arachula dropped down from the ceiling, spinning midair and landing on its eight legs. It bounced in place, absorbing the shock, then began racing toward its immobile meal. Zalan could see Rep considering whether he should imbue himself in fire. With a wad of web that big, it would be the biggest explosion produced so far, able to consume half the room. Zalan read him clearly. Rep was considering taking himself out with the monster, protecting Finnegan and Zalan.

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"Don't imbue yourself! You'll destroy us all!" Zalan screamed urgently.

He didn't know if that was true, but wanted to prevent Rep from considering self-sacrifice as an option for any longer. The monster looked up at Zalan as he approached with a blade drawn. He imbued his entire body and blade in hot white light. The creature spat a considerable amount of web at him, but Zalan's sword was able to cut through it like a scythe through dry grass thanks to his imbue. He could focus the light onto the edge of the blade to enhance its ability against the webbing.

A break neck speed, he ran, only a few steps away from Rep, the monster also a few feet from its intended meal.

Seeing that it couldn't stop the oncoming human, the Giant Arachula returned its attention from Zalan to Rep pinned to the ground. The fire wielder pulled his neck back as far as he could, trying to push his way out of the giant ball of white paste holding him down. The Giant Arachula reared and went in for a bite. Zalan dove forward and slashed upward, deflecting the spider's bite, and cutting off a fang. It hissed in anger and swung at Zalan with one of its legs. Zalan focused more on trying to protect Rep, not realizing the blow was intended for him. It bashed into him, throwing him hard against the closest wall.

Zalan coughed and lost control of his vision as the pain overwhelmed him. He tried to keep his head up, but slumped down as he was forced to catch his breath. The spider's focus remained on Rep. It once again reared its head, fangs twitching as Rep braced himself, fire licking the edges of his fingers.

But this time the monster was struck in the eye by a rock. The creature and Zalan both looked up. Finnegan was standing far ahead of it, breathing in frenzied fear. The creature focused on him for a second too long, and Finnegan held his arms out ahead of him defensively.

"No, wait, wait!" Finnegan pleaded before being hit by a large ball of web, throwing him back a few feet and sticking him to the floor.

The few seconds of delay was just the recovery period Zalan needed. Back upright and stumbling toward Rep. The Giant Arachula watched him closely, not willing to lose another fang.

"I can distract it with flame," Rep said. "I can shoot from my foot, redirecting to avoid the fire making contact with the web. Just tell me when to distract its attention from you."

Zalan nodded, appreciating Rep's support even as he was pinned to the ground. The Giant Arachula reared a leg back and stabbed it toward Zalan. Prepared this time, Zalan reacted faster. Zalan bent back, barely avoiding the attack. He saw another of the creature's log-like limbs stabbing toward him. He swung his sword, hoping he could slice through the flesh this time.

The blade cut into the leg, but he didn't have the Strength to cleave straight through. The behemoth spider pulled its leg back in pain, taking several tiny steps back with its several uninjured legs.

"Did you get it?" Rep asked, his head at a poor angle to view the fight.

"I can cut it! But it's still alive if that's what you're asking!" Zalan said, keeping a light dedicated on the monster.

The Giant Arachula watched Zalan carefully, a rage in its tense stance. Its eight eyes swiveled over him in demented scrutiny, making Zalan freeze in discomfort. Breathing in sharply, a deep clicking projecting from within and Zalan could see its large abdomen wiggle as it formed webbing within. It spat a wad directly toward him. Zalan imbued his sword with as much light as he could, and slashed it down the middle. The mines filled with spots of light like a disco ball as his weapon passed through. He remained unharmed and totally free to move.

The Giant Arachula sized him up once more. Zalan began to focus his Elemental Light to imbue his legs and stepped on the webs pinning Rep to the ground. His legs sank through gradually, like he was standing on quicksand, as his power burned through the material. Rep was slowly free to extract one limb at a time. The Giant Arachula screeched extremely loud as Rep came to his feet, relying on Zalan to pull him up. Rep and Zalan covered their ears from the continuous shriek. Zalan was surprised by how upset it was, and the fact that it would express its discontent.

As soon as the monster stopped its auditory assault, they removed their hands from their ears and refocused their stances toward the giant arachnid.

"Do we try running again?" Zalan asked skeptically.

"Finnegan is still trapped," Rep said, pointing.

Zalan didn't feel like he had time to turn and check. The Giant Arachula watched them too closely. Watching each of the wild eyes, Zalan wondered what kind of damage he could do if he blinded only a few of them. Would a spider be half as powerful if it was half blind?

He began to take cautious steps backward toward Finnegan. Zalan took account of what kind of energy he would have to emit and how little time he would have to try and take eyes out of commission before the spider became wise to the plan. Rep watched closely as well. The Giant Arachula made no sudden moves.

"What is that?" Finnegan asked urgently, his arms jiggling in place.

"Don't worry it's just us. We're walking over, and the Giant Arachula isn't moving. I'll get you out of the webs and we'll figure out what to do from there," Zalan promised, his eyes never leaving the massive beast.

"No! Do you not feel that?" Finnegan said.

Zalan felt his senses were already overloaded with waiting for the giant creature to spring at them. But he concentrated harder and noticed his feet began to rumble ever so slightly. The skittering that had long left them began to fill the pathways out of the room they were in. Like water rushing in, they could both hear and feel the flood of incoming creatures.

"When it shrieked, it was not screaming in frustration," Rep deduced. "It was calling for all the other Arachula."

"Get me out! Get me out!" Finnegan's fingers and toes were flailing. He couldn't move enough to get a grip on the webs.

"Keep an eye on the big one," Zalan told Rep. "I'll get him out."

"And then what shall we do? We already have determined we can not flee it, now we must fight the smaller ones as well?"

"I don't know, let me just get him out!" Zalan said quickly.

Zalan finally turned his back to the Giant Arachula and rushed to Finnegan who was screaming in fear. He hacked and slashed at the webs with an imbued body and blade, tearing him free as fast as he could.

"They are coming in a swarm!" Finnegan said, his eyes on all the entrances to the domed room.

"Focus on getting up!" Zalan ordered.

Finnegan finally registered that he was able to move his arm freely. Reaching out, he helped Zalan tear off the other binds in the glow of Elemental Light. Zalan felt an explosion go off behind him and knelt down over Finnegan, shielding him.

"Rep?" Zalan asked.

"The smaller Arachulas are spitting webs. I am trying to keep you free to work by blowing them out of the air."

Another explosion rocked through the room. Zalan could feel the Arachulas as much as he could hear them. An army surrounded the room. The only thing holding them back was the bright light emitting from Zalan's body. Or maybe they were waiting for an order to charge from the giant one.

Zalan finally pulled Finnegan free, bringing him to his feet. They turned around and got a good look around the room. There were at least a hundred Arachulas in the room, most at the base of the Giant Arachula's feet. Others scuttled around the walls quickly. Zalan twisted his neck each way, making sure none of the ones on the walls were moving to flank them.

Emboldened by the numbers, the Giant Arachula took a heavy-footed step toward the three humans.