White Ravens: Advent of War

Lurking Danger

They had been walking for hours on end in a straight, dark tunnel. Hardly any sound could be heard from within, and light was just as scarce. Fortunately, both Tatiana and Corselia were now capable of using light magic. They summoned balls of light and used them as torches to guide their path.

Occasionally, they would run into some lurking monsters, but all four of them were more than capable of exterminating measly beasts.

They must've walked five hours already and yet there was still no sign of the tunnel's end. Basil did not exaggerate when he mentioned that this pathway was almost half a day's worth of walking non-stop. According to Gust's estimation, it was almost sunset aboveground, though, in here, the time made no difference.

All of a sudden, they heard a series of hurried footsteps. Coupled with ragged breathing and the faint sound of guttural screaming, Sigil and the others figured that there were people being chased within the tunnel.

Inside a tunnel like this one, being hunted down was the worst thing anyone could suffer through. There were no other exit points aside from the one they entered, there was hardly any light, and all sorts of foul creatures were abound.

If someone truly was being chased by something, Sigil decided that they must help them. He told Gust, Tatiana, and Corselia to fall into formation, and ready themselves for the oncoming attack.

He and Gust stood at the front, Tatiana in the middle, and Corselia at the furthest position.

Sigil glanced at Tatiana, indicating her to summon more light and scope out the area ahead of them. As the ball of light slowly traveled forward, they could see silhouettes of men running towards them and screaming at the top of their lungs.

The men's eyes lit up when they noticed that there were people ahead of them. Just when Sigil was about to come to their aid, one of the four men was caught by a giant sharp insectoid leg, which dragged the hapless man's body as if it were paper.

His companions trembled in fear and began to cry like children as they continue running towards Sigil's group. "Help us, please!" they moaned.

"Stand back," Sigil told them as he commanded his group to assist those men. Judging by the color of their red and black armor, he gathered that these men were from the empire. "They must be from the caravan of Lady Merces' prison wagon."

He wanted to ask the soldiers what happened, but clearly, it did not need an explanation. The balls of light that Tatiana summoned earlier finally revealed their gargantuan opponent. It was an arachnid twice the size of a black bear. Its long limbs were sharper, and looked tougher than steel. The beast's eyes locked on them and it hissed, screeched, and chattered similar to a normal spider—only more frightening.

Sigil felt his skin crawl, and he instinctively backed away. Just when the rest of them were about to run back, he shouted, "Nobody move! Don't f*****g move!"

Corselia and Tatiana were about to break down, and even Gust was visibly shaken. They had already readied themselves for all sorts of terrifying beasts that lay within this pathway, but never did they imagine something this horrific. An armored arachnid was the last thing anyone would want to fight in a dark, suffocating area like this one.

All of a sudden, the soldiers they helped out could no longer hold his fear and tried to escape. But unfortunately, the armored arachnid shot a web at him, rendering him unable to move.

The other two soldiers ran away as well, and they suffered the same hapless fate.

"f*****g idiots!" Gust cursed. Then, he tried to cut the spider's web using wind magic, but it seemed that his spell was not enough to break through. Any mana output stronger than he was casting right now could end up tearing into the skins of those soldiers.

To make matters worse, it seemed that the webs were draining the life out of those soldiers. Tatiana astutely noticed it. "Sigil, we can't get hit by those webs. If we do, we're goners!"

Gust's feet shifted as he stammered, "What's the plan, Captain?"

Sigil summoned a spear made out of lightning magic and hurled it towards the arachnid. The gigantic beast used its claws to knock away the spear, but Sigil quickly conjured up two more and threw them in quick succession. His surprise attack successfully caught the arachnid off-guard, and it screeched in pain.

"Lightning javelin!" Sigil shouted as he clenched his fists, and not long after, the arachnid was electrocuted. The shock was strong enough to paralyze it for a few moments, giving them enough time to run back.

"Everyone, run! We can't face that thing head on. Quickly, drag those soldiers back and go!" Sigil commanded.

The group quickly dragged the bodies of the soldiers back, carefully trying not to touch the arachnid's web. They managed to create some distance between them and the armored arachnid, and even removed the web from the soldiers' bodies. However, only two of them survived, for the other one had already succumbed to mana depletion, and his body became a lifeless, corpse-like husk.

"Thank you! You saved our lives," said one of the soldiers.

"What the hell happened to you out there?" Tatiana remarked while putting up a giant earth wall to obstruct the arachnid's advance somehow.

The soldier averted his gaze from them and said, "We were transporting a prisoner."

"A prisoner?" Corselia asked. "Who was it?"

It seemed that the soldiers didn't want to answer her question, but obviously, there was only one person who was being transported today, and it was Lelei Merces.

"What happened to the prisoner and the rest of your caravan?" Sigil asked.

The second soldier took off her helmet and replied, "I'm not sure what happened to them because we ran away the moment we saw the armored arachnids. That one we saw was by far the smallest out of its pack. And the only we reason we got away was because the prisoner remained behind to buy us some time..."

"There's more of that beast?" Gust remarked in shock. "Well, f**k this! Captain, we should bail. If there's more of that thing, nobody could've survived. You said so yourself, survival is our top priority!"

Sigil shook his head, and muttered, "We can't. Lady Merces might still be alive."

The female soldier was shocked to hear Lelei's name being mentioned. "Who are you people? And how did you know we were transporting Lady Merces?"

"Bah! Lady Merces, huh?" the male soldier remarked. "Why do you insist on showing that witch respect, Lucy?"

"How dare you? She's the only reason you're still alive, asshole!" the female soldier answered. "Had she not stayed behind, we would've died out there as well!"

Sigil and the others were visibly shocked when they heard this revelation. "Did you say Lady Merces stayed behind?" Sigil asked. "We have to assist her. You two are coming with us!"

"You want us to come with you?" asked the male soldier. "No f*****g way! I just barely escaped with my life, and you want me to go back there?"

Lucy hit the male soldier and shouted, "You owe her your life! I don't care if I have to drag you back there. We're coming with them, Smith!"

Smith looked away and clicked his tongue. "No."

"What?" Lucy was taken aback.

"I said no!" Smith answered. "Do whatever the f**k you want, Lucy. I'm getting out of here." Afterwards, he started walking towards the exit Sigil's group came from, and paused to say, "As thanks for saving my life, I will not speak of this encounter to the brass. It doesn't matter anyway. You'll all be dead even if I do report you."

With that, Smith ran towards the exit without looking back.

"I'm sorry about my partner," Lucy said, sounding disappointed. "If we get out of this alive, please take care of Lady Merces. I only volunteered to join her prison wagon caravan to ensure that no harm would be done to her while she's being transported. Smith and I come from the same town as Lady Merces. His father joined the revolutionary army and was publicly executed for treason. That's probably why he resents Lady Merces."

Corselia put her hand on Lucy's shoulder and said, "Leave it to us. We'll make sure that she lives."

"Thank you," Lucy replied.

Tatiana dispelled her earth wall, and soon, the group moved forward in pursuit of Lelei. Despite knowing that Lelei could be dead by now, they at least wanted to bring back her body, and give her a proper burial.

As they ran through the dark tunnel, they could hear the faint sound of screeching arachnids, and th ragged breathing of a woman. The group assumed that it was Lelei, and their assumption was proven right.

At a large, almost circular open area, there was tall, athletic woman, fighting against two armored arachnids. She had managed to fell one of the beasts using a halberd, which she probably grabbed from of the empire's soldiers. Clearly, this woman was deserving of being the revolutionary army's leader. She was not just a mere figurehead like most would assume.

However, everyone noticed that she was on her last legs, and she was surrounded on two fronts. The large beasts were vigilantly watching her every movement, and Lelei did the same.

"On your left!" Tatiana shouted.

Lelei looked behind and noticed a halberd being hurled at her direction. She immediately dodged the halberd, and it struck the arachnid's head behind her.

Hope returned to her heart when she noticed a familiar face. Lucy had gone back for her and brought some help along. Lelei could tell that Sigil and the rest weren't from Regalia, but she knew that they were her only hope of getting out of this place alive.

Lelei ran towards the group,  ducking and sliding past the arachnid blocking her path. The other one behind her was still alive, even though it had a halberd impaled to its head.

At this time, Gust and Corselia moved in rapid succession, throwing out enchanted knives at the arachnids. Gust's knives were enchanted with wind magic, so they managed to pierce through the arachnid's armored skin. Corselia's, on the other hand, was enchanted with the fire element, so they served as a good distraction.

Tatiana quickly came to Lelei's aid and healed her wounds, while Sigil rushed in to fight the arachnids head on. He conjured up another lightning spear, took a deep breath, and let the mana flow through his body. Under his breath, he muttered, "Lightning raven."

His leg carried him forward, and within the blink of an eye, he had pierced through one of the arachnid's body. Black goo and fresh blood covered Sigil's body, and he soon realized that the blood was acidic. The acid-like blood from the arachnid's body drained his strength, and made him drop to his knees.

The remaining arachnid took this opportunity to attack Sigil, but Tatiana was quick to assist him. Gust supported Tatiana in her clash against the arachnid, while Sigil moved back to regain his strength. Corselia hanged back with Sigil to heal him.

At this time, Lelei asked Lucy, "Who are these people?"

Lucy shook her head and replied, "I'm not so sure either, ma'am. But they saved us from the arachnids earlier. I think we can trust them."

Corselia seemed to have heard their conversation, and chimed in. "Don't worry, Lady Merces! We're here to help you. Just sit tight and let us do the rest."

To her surprise, Lelei got up from her feet and grabbed a sword from one of the fallen soldiers' corpse. "Not my style. I'll help."

Sigil got up as well and enchanted Lelei's sword. "Then let's finish this in one attack, milady."

Then, he raised his hand and allowed his mana to flow out of his body. The condensation of his energy flowed through the others, seemingly empowering them. "On my command, we attack the arachnid with everything we've got!"

After taking a deep breath and waiting for the perfect moment, Sigil shouted, "Now!"

All at once, Sigil, Lelei, Gust, Corselia, and Tatiana attacked the arachnid from different directions. Their speed had been heightened due to Sigil's magic, rendering the arachnid unable to react to their coordinated attack.

The surge of lightning magic shocked the arachnid, and its body was fried beyond repair.

"Raijin's hammer," Sigil whispered after finishing the attack.