Chapter 61: Bad Timing.

With the tunnels filling up with water, the den which was the lowest point in the cave system started to fill up with water rapidly as water poured in slowly from all four entrances. The wolf spiders started to panic as they awoke to their hive being water logged but they couldn’t escape as the water pressure built up by the tunnels traveling downwards to fast won’t allow them to escape.

From one of the tunnels flowing with water, Crule and Ming were washed out. They had used their aura to protect themselves as they were carried along with the stream, avoiding most stalagmites and stalactites still unbroken by the rushing water.

They looked at the pack of wolf spiders seriously.

[Crule]: Go.

Ming was in charge of the wolf spiderlings while Crule took on the Queen.

The Queen wolf spider was around four times larger than the normal wolf spider. Considering normal wolf spiders were the size of large dogs, this beast was easily the size of a car. It had the same body structure, two body parts, the head and abdomen, and eight legs branching out. A main difference is there is a certain pattern of different colored fur on its hind abdomen.

Ming dashed around on top of the water flowing filling the room. Under her feet were thin discs made of blood. It allowed her to move on top of the water as the surface area her weight was distributed over was less than the surface tension. She turned her storage of blood into four lances and were accurately impaling the wolf spiders in their vitals.

Using the blood from the corpses, she constantly refilled her blood supplied, but due to all the water, some of the blood got mixed with it and the room soon turned into a light shade of crimson. With the dim lights shining from the ceiling of the den from the shiny rocks and moss, the room was soon an eerie red color.

While Ming was busy tackling the challenge of keeping one hundred wolf spiders busy, Crule had to take out the Queen.

The Queen had some intelligence so it immediately assumed Crule and Ming were the cause of the incident. If her pack were to survive, they need to be disposed of.

Feeling the numerous numbers of her pack had already been decimated by Ming, the Wolf spider queen was enraged and shot toward her.

Crule blocked its path and with strengthened legs, he covered the sole of his boots with a thick layer of aura and kicked the Queen.

It left a large indent the same shape as his shoes on the queen’s hard carapace.

With the damage she was dealt, she winced in pain and looked at Crule with enraged eyes. Realizing she won’t be able to stop the massacre until the one in front of her was disposed of, she focused all her attention on Crule.

With its incredible speed being hindered by the knee high levels of water, the Queen was forced to change her legs. Like cats have retractable claws, the Wolf Spider queen’s eight legs had hair expand out of it. The hair trapped pockets of air, allowing the wolf spider to gently glide on top the water. Normally this technique was used when their pack migrated pass large bodies of water.

Crule took out his dagger and stared at the Queen, waiting for her to make a move first.

Due to its speed increasing, Crule had to be wary. Before he dealt with the B ranked beetle easily because it had only defended. The B ranked beast before him had high offense. Although he has gotten stronger, he still cannot be careless around it.

The queen dashed toward Crule with two of her legs extended in front of her like lances. The speed was ridiculously fast. Crule barely dodged by rolling to the side. He couldn’t supply the energy fast enough to his legs to allow his normal high speed movement, so he could only dodge by rolling. This however, mend he sank a little into the water since the only part of him that allowed him to float no top the water was the thin layer of aura under his shoes.

Realizing his normal speed was also greatly hindered by his wet clothes, he took off his jacket and placed it in his storage. Being only in his vest now, Crule got back up and stared at the wolf spider queen. It was trying to regain its balance after her first attack. It seemed it had no experience fighting on the water. It normally only travel across it, never performing combat.

Crule took this chance and dashed toward her with his dagger coated in his aura. He sliced at the wolf spider queen’s legs, trying to cripple its movement before it got use to water top combat.

The dagger sank into the hard spider legs but wasn’t able to completely sever it.

[Crule]: Shit, the water is hindering my aura.

Since the dagger was wet, the aura couldn’t properly form a sharp edge on the dagger.

Crule realized this and quickly made his famine blades on his other hand and jammed it into another spider leg. It was severed cleanly and the wolf spider queen shrieked. It tried to retaliate but since Crule was behind her, the wolf head couldn’t bite him. Crule quickly backed off as the queen turned around with its powerful jaws.

[Crule]: I don’t really want to face the teeth head on…

The main reason why Crule was using close combat against the queen although his ranged attack could destroy her completely, was that the integrity of the cave was already slightly compromised by the water. The he had used his ranged attacks, the cave might collapse completely. Crule and Ming might survive it, but the students who were sleeping above wont fare so well.

Expanding his famine blades, Crule made a long spear. Having some distance between the Queen was the best. They rushed toward each other, clashing over and over again. With one leg incapacitated, the queen was about the same speed as the already wet Crule. But with the superior range of his spear compare to the legs and teeth of the queen, Crule was slowly winning the fight. Long gashes covered the body of the wolf spider queen and it was bleeding profusely, but the look in its eyes were still strong and enraged.

Ming was almost finished wiping out the one hundred other wolf spiders. At the same time, the water had already filled the den half way up. Realizing if he waited any longer, the den might be completely flooded, Crule expanded his spear into more of a scythe. He needs to sever the wolf spider queen’s head in order to fully kill the beast with such a strong vitality.

Just as they were about the clash, the unthinkable happened.

Across the entire world, a powerful shockwave of energy pulsated through the world. This powerful shockwave, made Crule lost concentration for a moment.

[Crule]: Shit, the seal has been finally been broken, but the timing…

With the burst of energy filling the entire world, the Wolf spider queen in front of Crule suddenly had an incredible increase in speed.

The density of energy in the world was doubled, so a majority of beasts on the world suddenly gained a significant power boost.

The same way oxygen concentration affects the size of animals on earth, the density of energy affects the power of beasts on Noxia.

Humans, being not a native resident of Noxia, had a slower reaction to the increase in density. They will get far stronger than the beasts, but it required time.

This time, was something Crule did not currently have. Facing a powered up Wolf Spider queen that suddenly rose infinitely close to A rank, Crule lost the exchange in a grand manner. The wolf spider bit into his arm holding the spear, completely severing it.

[Crule]: Argggg, Shit…

Crule tried to avoid it, but the wolf spider still manage to bite off his hand. The stump was bleeding profusely and the bones would be seen.

[Ming]: Crule!

Finishing the last wolf spider, Ming rushed to Crule’s side.

[Crule]: Stop the bleeding, I’m alright.

Ming quickly stopped the blood that was gushing out of Crule’s wrist. She looked in despair at the missing hand.

[Crule]: It’s alright. I’m still alive. What I wonder is, the erosion formation should still have taken three days to open the seal. Why did it suddenly break now?

[Ming]: D-don’t think about that, we have to get you out of here and get you first aid.

[Crule]: We have to finish off this Wolf Spider Queen first.

Ming stared at the wolf spider queen in hatred.

[Ming]: Let me finish her off.

Having gathered a significant amount of blood from the corpses of a hundred wolf spiders, Ming was fully charged. She dumped all of the blood into the room at the same time. A large sphere of blood immediately mixed with the water in the room, turning it into a deep crimson.

[Ming]: Die.

Ming made a pillar with blood with her and Crule on it. The spider, was not so lucky. In the center of the bloody water filled room, a vortex started to swirl faster and faster. The spider was quickly swallowed up by the vortex, bringing her deep into the center.

[Ming]: Even if you have powered up, you won’t survive this.

Ming, enraged, slammed both her hands down on the pillar and all of the blood in the water condensed into a single spot. The wolf spider queen was immediately crushed by the pressure. Its carapace burst open and all of its bones shattered. Its brain couldn’t take the pressure and pretty much imploded.

[Ming]: That’s what you get.

[Crule]: We have to get out of here, now.

The water was near the top of the room before, but after Ming extracted all the blood from it, it fell back down to around half.

[Ming]: Let me help you.

Crule put his arms over Ming’s shoulder and she supported him out of the cave. Along the wave, she destroyed the blood walls that was redirecting the stream. Over time, the den would drain of water as the earth absorbs it.

[Crule]: For such a careless incident, I manage to lose a hand…If the old me were to see me now, he would die from embarrassment.

[Ming]: Hush, the old you had your full power. Right now you have only slightly more than half of that.

[Crule]: True.

With the bleeding stopped early, Crule didn’t lose much of his stamina, but the fight with the queen was still tiring.

[Crule]: I’m going to take a nap, wake me up when were out.

[Ming]: Got it.

Ming carried Crule and they walked out of the cave.

She stared at the place where Crule’s hand use to be.

[Ming]: I hate spiders…

She mumbled to herself.