Paradox Saga: Rising Sun

A Huge Mommy Spider Gives Me Trypophobia

Ever had that nightmare when you suddenly realize you’re running away from a very big spider? As I looked at the gigantic black widow in front of me, I wished all of this was a dream and all of it would disappear once I woke up. It bared its fangs and roared. Its breath smelled of spoiled meat and ammonia which made me get back on my senses. A message flashed in our eyes. “The Anaphora’s boss has now emerged. Neutralize the boss to clear the Anaphora and destroy the portal. Good luck!”

“I’ll help you!” I yelled out to the girls. “I’ll manage!”

The spider roared again and picked up a Crawler who still hasn’t dissolved. It should’ve sucked the Crawler with its fangs as what spiders do, but it didn’t. Instead, it put the Crawler on its circular mouth and reduced it to pieces like a meat mincer. Its mouth reminded me of a lamprey’s suckers.

“Now, would you fight the boss with us in this distance?” Nami asked.

“On second thought…”

I walked (or ran) away from the monster, the five fireballs following me. The girls started to flock the spider just as we planned a while ago.

“Remember to use below Rank-D spells and only those that can injure the Brood Widow, not kill it,” Nami reminded and shot a dozen arrows into one of its legs. Some pierced through as green blood oozed but most bounced off.

Now that I’m a distance away from the giant black widow, I got to see it more clearly. Its soft body seemed to shine with the Crystals’ faint light and I realized it wasn’t that soft. The reason why Nami’s arrows didn’t pierce through its legs is because the black widow’s body was a walking armor. Its legs seemed to be covered by a shell.

Even at this distance, my eyes still didn’t believe what I’m seeing. Its front half was the most visible part of its body and was just like your older brother’s pet spider except that it was the size of two school buses, a circular hundred-toothed (or bristled) mouth that can reduce you to pieces in seconds, and a set of eyes that you can use as a temporary mirror.

“Analysis!” I yelled.

The giant monster’s data appeared. It was different from the previous monsters we fought.

Brood Widow

HP: 1000/1000                                     Skills:

MP: 0                                                    [Active]:

Rank: E                                                    ?

 Armor: Medium                                    ?

Movement Speed: Average              [Passive]:

Attack Speed: Below Average            ?

I wanted to ask the girls about the Brood Widow but they were too busy fighting it. Midorima kept shooting sharp spikes of ice in the spider’s legs while Thyme’s vine-turned sword elongated and seemed to become sharper as she lashed the spider’s underside - green blood oozing from it like a water faucet. Saiko was now crouching above the spider’s head and punched it over and over, making sparks on the air. Fritz was distracting the monster and shot balls of ice on the spider’s mouth, making the black widow look like a Santa spider, as Nami kept shooting rapid arrows on the monster’s eyes. Compared to the monster’s huge mass, the girls looked like ants trying to annoy a spider. I bet the spider wouldn’t even notice if it stepped down on one of them.

“Pyroshot!” I shouted as the fireballs sped their way to the spider’s eyes.

My fireball seemed effective. The arrows that Nami shot were stuck on the spider’s eyes and as my fireball hit them, they lit the arrows on fire making the spider roar in pain. I looked at the spider’s health; HP: 865/1000 and dropping.

“Status!”

Additional words now flashed under the spider’s HP. The words Slowed, Burned, and Blinded were now written under the HP bars along with various symbols like a shoe with an arrow facing downward beside the Slowed word.

As the spider roared in pain and backed on a crystal wall, a message flashed in front of me: “The monster is now currently taking continuous damage, slowed and blinded. The accuracy and [movement and attack] speed of the monster will be reduced”.

“Good move, Shiro!” Nami yelled and continued shooting the spider’s eyes. The arrows stuck on them like toothpicks.

I continued shooting more fireballs. “Pyroshot”

With the combination of Saiko smashing the spider’s head and my fireballs setting the arrows stuck on its eyes on fire, its health continued to decrease. It roared some more as it swerved its head trying to shake the fire and Saiko off its head. It then dropped its head down like a bow. Thyme managed to kick backward just in time to avoid the monster’s head from smashing her to a pulp. I taught it was dizzy from Saiko’s pounding until it shrieked loudly. A message popped up in front of me.

“Enemy casting Brood’s Reinforcement,” I read. I yelled at them as they backed away in a distance. “What’s Brood’s Reinforcement?”

“She’ll summon her spawns out to help her,” Midorima answered, her staff pointed in the giant spider.

Then, it happened. The Brood raised its rear up and I saw the most disgusting thing ever. The reason that it tried to hide its lower half is because it was filled with holes. I taught they were just small black dots that she uses as camouflage but of course, she’s already black. Her back gave me trypophobia. Numerous black holes filled her back like cavities in a tooth.

I shuddered in disgust. “What in the world are those holes?”

“Those are the nests of the Brood Widow’s children,” Thyme responded.

“Nests? You mean…”

I didn’t think it would be possible but small spiders creeped out its back. It was really sickening to watch but I still did. More of them came out and stood beside their mother as if waiting for her to command them what to do.

“I think I won’t be able to eat anything after this,” I said and tried not to vomit. “That is too disgusting for my eyes.”

I taught the scene of nausea would stop. It didn’t. The giant black widow bent its head on the small spawns. My mind even tried not to “Awww!” as the spider caressed its head to her spawns back. She looked like a mother trying to hug her children. I would’ve backed out and request the girls to retreat until something unexpected happen. The giant black widow started to gulp the little monsters one by one.

“You didn’t expect that coming, did you?” Fritz asked.

“Yes,” I answered. I was about to ask what was happening when I saw its HP starting to raise. A message appeared saying, “Executing Cannibalism”. “Is it eating its own children to regenerate some health?!”

Nami nodded. “Yes, and she’d gain some more unless we don’t do anything.”

The girls started to charge the eating spider. The spawns, however, didn’t betray their mother even if they were next in line to their mother’s mouth. The small spawns were smaller than the Underground Crawlers but deadlier and faster than them. All of them advanced to us and though they didn’t spit venom or throw webs out their butts, they outnumbered us by a hundred to one.

The Brood Widow kept regaining her health and summoned spawns out the holes of her thorax at the same time. Of course, she had to be cheating. I don’t know how long she can summon her spawns out her back but I have to stop it. It’s the least that I could do to help the others.

I created five fireballs and shot them at the spider’s back. The inside must be hollow since it immediately spouted fire and toasted spiders the moment my fireball went inside. The boss’ HP decreased immediately and continued to decrease.

“Huh! No more spawns, big stupid spider!” I shouted.

The spider seemed to understand me. Its eight massive eyes looked at me once – which was psychedelic – and roared loudly. The spawns stopped fighting the girls and rushed in my direction.

“That was a joke, you crybaby!” I cried out as the little spiders went on all fours (or eight) and advanced on me.

I quickly made fireballs in the air and shot several of them at once. They may be many but they had small HP’s [100/100]. The giant black widow was also trying to get me but the girls blocked it. Only Thyme managed to help me. She used her weapon to swing in my direction like a mini-Spiderman and summoned a wall of thorny bushes whenever she stopped – strangling the small spiders. However, I felt my mana slowly receding and Thyme was still far away from me. I summoned the last of my fireballs and hit ten, maybe twenty, of the spawns and continued running away.

I didn’t stop running. My lungs started to hurt from exhaustion until I wasn’t able to run anymore. I stopped and saw that most of the small spawns were not following me now, maybe helping their Mum by becoming her snack.  However, I clutched the stitch in my chest as the remaining spawns slowly crept in my direction. One was so hungry, probably because it just came out for the first time from her Mommy’s hole-filled abdomen, and jumped at me with its fangs bared. I swung my staff as the little spawn’s body was sliced in half. The others didn’t seem scared by my example and lunged at me.

For some reason, my strength came back. I don’t even know how I did it but I fought like a medieval swordsman. I was hacking and slicing the spawns’ bodies as I went in the girls’ direction.  Blood seemed to rise to my chest as I slashed my way to the advancing spawns. Minutes later, my staff was filled with the spawn’s guts as their remains rested on the crystal-laid path.

“ROOAARRR!”

The Anaphora’s boss kept roaring as I ran back in the girls’ direction. I arrived just in time to see the girls having a hard time killing the spawns and subduing the giant black widow at the same time. The giant black widow was now missing a leg and I realized Saiko was holding it. She smashed down some of the spawns, using the Brood’s leg like a giant bat, as the others continued doing their best (or least) to damage the Brood.

“Hey guys, I’m back!” I yelled.

I shouldn’t have done it. Perhaps it was out of surprise or they were happy that I was back but they looked at me all at once. In turn, they lowered their guard. The Brood Widow gained balance and shook its body violently. It swerved its leg sideways, throwing the girls to a wall.

“NO!”

My mind suddenly felt like it was going to burst out. I was so angry I didn’t notice that my flames were circling my body. My mouth moved on its own like someone else was controlling it.

“Subete no mono ni atataka-sa to netsu o ataeru hi yo, watashi no meirei ni mimi o katamuke, korera no monsutā o moegara ni moyashite kudasai (O Fire that gives warmth and heat to all things, heed my command and burn these monsters to cinders),” I chanted as the flames started to flare some more. The flames started to form into a straight swirl. I willed it to burn the giant black widow and its spawns. The Brood Widow must’ve sensed danger. It started to crawl back to where it came from. The spawns did the same. However, it was too late for them to hide. The swirling flames followed them like a heat-seeking missile. The swirl of flames lit the whole cave as the monsters turned to ashes. I grunted. “What…” My head started to feel dizzy and I struggled to stand up. “Shiro!” someone shouted. I looked in the direction of the voice. It was Nami. They didn’t look to be injured, though. They sped in my direction as my vision started to blur. The whole world began to spin as my head began to hurt so much. The girls were a few steps from me when I fell down. Before I knew it, my mind blanked out.