Zen heard Azrael’s cry of warning and called for his men to retreat. He should have considered the poison. Afterall, it was one of the most sought-after materials from the spiders, alongside their silk and carapace.

His men retreated and Zen was in the middle of redirecting his soldiers’ aim to the now advancing spider horde, when he saw Azrael charge forward in a burst of speed. A few arrows came dangerously close to striking the mad man.

Drawing breath to yell at the man for disobeying orders, Zen remembered that Azrael wasn’t actually one of his. He was a stranger that they had found naked in the forest this morning.

Zen groaned, as he commanded his men to avoid Azrael and focus solely on the smaller spiders. At the moment Zen was as annoyed as he was thankful for the man. Without him he might have lost more of his men before realising that the small spiders carried poison. He was still infuriated that Azrael decided to charge forward by himself, putting himself in their firing range.

Zen couldn’t decide whether Azrael was a newbie, or an experienced, but slightly reclusive and eccentric player. Nothing about him made sense.

First, he’d showed up naked in the forest, with no clue where he was. He’d even spawned at the edge of the known world. It all screamed NOOB!, but then there was the unexplainable aura around the man and the way he dominated the conversation. No clothes would have meant that he’d only just started today, but the aura was definitely a skill.

Zen himself was a Ranker and only felt that same way around other, more powerful, Rankers. However, Zen was sure he could beat the man in a PvP. Azrael had a complete lack of skill in with both the bow and the sword, which left him further confused. Was he a Ranker or not?

Most Rankers had picked up one or the other at some point, but Azrael was abysmal with the bow and completely lacked finesse with a sword.

Then, in the middle of the battle Azrael just jumped off the wall and joined the swordmen below, despite his lack of sword skill. After that, the man realised the poison, allowing his troops to retreat alive. That could be explained by quick thinking though.

However, now Azrael was attacking a wave boss three times his height with nothing more than two swords at his disposal.

Zen notched an arrow and aimed for the large spider. While he’d commanded his men not to aim for it, out of fear of hitting Azrael, he was confident that his arrow would fly true. He let loose.

***

Azrael dashed forward, narrowly avoiding a large arachnean leg as it came down. He suddenly accelerated to avoid it, before using his momentum to slide underneath the monster. His wind coated sword drew a thin line of blue blood from the creature’s underbody. It didn’t seem to notice.

Appearing behind the spider he popped up, firing a [Fire ball] at a batch of newly produced spider eggs. They burst into flame, frying all the spiders near them. A burst of wind later and he was on top of the spider, slashing at it with his blade.

He saw Zen fire another arrow, which pierced deep into the spider’s eye. A second one pierced just above the creature’s legs.

Despite all the damage that they were doing, Azrael wasn’t confident that they were going to win this. He could already feel his mana steadily being used up to sustain his spells. [Meditation] was alleviating a bit of the urgency, but not by much.

The creature suddenly reared in pain as Zen managed to strike another eye. Four of them were impaled and bleeding.

As it reared Azrael tumbled off. He stabbed the short sword into the creature’s abdomen to prevent himself from falling, but his weight kept on dragging him down. His sword trailed after him, slicing deeply through the spider’s flesh. Eventually though it got caught, leaving Azrael dangling from the hilt. He dropped to the ground, abandoning his sword and drawing his other one.

A large leg moved, smashing into him and throwing him through the air, before he could touch the ground. His sword went tumbling through the air with him, as he lost his grip on it.

Azrael landed on the forest floor with an almighty thud. He gasped for breath, as he forcefully landed. For a moment the whole world seemed to blur, before coming back into clarity.

He rolled to the side as another of the spider’s legs bore down towards him. He barely managed to avoid being impaled, although his shirt ripped as it was pinned. The leg rose again and moved on. The spider was on the move.

Azrael glanced towards the fort’s walls.

Archers, spearmen and shield bearers alike stood atop of the stone walls, preparing for a final stand. It was their duty to protect the fort and they would lay down their lives to achieve it. Azrael knew that they were doomed to fail.

If the spider reached the walls their ends would be sealed. Being of the same size as the fort’s wall, the wall itself presented no more of an obstacle to the monstrous arachnid than a large log across its path. It would cross and there would be nothing they could do about it.

Despite this Zen continued firing, although the rates of his shots was slowing. It seemed that even the elven commander was finally reaching his limit. Azrael dived under the large spider. He could only buy them more time.

Touching the ground Azrael summoned the largest [Earth Spear] he could, watching it impale the arachnid’s abdomen. He frowned at the unfamiliar sensation of the skill, remembering that [Earth Shaping] had been changed by the void. He could use the skill, but there was a sense of… difference, like he could do more.

Impaled by the [Earth Spear] the spider faltered, its momentum arrested. It strained and the spear cracked in two, allowing the spider to continue its advance.

Looking at his largely diminished mana pool, Azrael drew upon every last inch of mana, full well knowing the consequences that would follow.

The ever-growing headache he was enduring, while marshalling his last reserves, was but a minor price for what was to come.

A large [Earth Spike] shot up bearing half of Azrael’s remaining mana. The other half was invested into using [Overcharge] on [Reinforcement]. The [Earth Spike] began to glow slightly golden as he forced the extra mana into his skill and the spider shrieked as it was once again brought to a halt. In a panicked frenzy a stray leg pierced his side.

Several soldiers on the walls fell unconscious, but Azrael hung on, even as his blood began to flow and his vision began to dim. On the wall he heard Zen shout something and the gates began to open.

Azrael fell unconscious, even as his hands fuelled mana into the [Earth Spike].

***

Far away Alena felt something through the soul link, strained as it was, like the reaper’s scythe coming to gently rest on her neck. She knew her master was far, far away. The sense of pervading death meant he was in danger, dying. Dying but not dead. She would know if he was dead, after all her life was linked to his. If he died, she died too. The link was too strained by distance to feel more, but she knew that he lived, for now.

Still, she didn’t know what was happening and it scared her. Her lord and master had vanished, holding her life in his hands. She trusted him, but it was still terrifying, to know she could die at any moment and not be able to do anything.

She looked at the pieces on the chessboard by the window. She resolved to become strong enough to protect him when he returned. She did not like feeling helpless.