Isaac looked at me dumbfounded.

“There needs to be a high degree of syntony between the ones…” he tried to explain, but I immediately cut him off.

“For f**k’s sake, just do it!” I roared.

I was not in the mood to hear a lecture about his spell and his inner workings. I already knew he could do it, it would simply take a huge toll on him. But at the moment I didn’t care.

Although I would have liked to take care of the more important thing which had come up, still I had promised to help them against the beast. If I had delayed even a little bit more there was a good chance they would all have ended up as spider food.

Even if I didn’t care much about the life of most of them, the given word was sacred. Therefore, there was no reason to waste time.

Isaac finally complied and his fiery rose-tinted aura rose from his body and travelled through the air. One by one his aura wrapped itself around all the members of the group except for Lily.

Last but not least, it reached me. Immediately, I felt a connection form between me and the others. It was quite faint, but by sharpening my senses I could perceive the trace of a network being established between me and the others, one through which energy and feelings could be exchanged. It made it possible to perceive each other's internal rhythm and I could use it to get in sync with the others.

Unfortunately, the more I tried to delve into the network, the stronger the seizures traversing Isaac’s body became. This prevented me from taking full advantage of his spell’s capabilities, but there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t risk him collapsing right now.

“Sit this one out. I will do the same. We have something else to do,” I gave him directions.

“What?!” the chorus of concerned voices rose.

“Shut your mouth! Fight and do not bother me!”

They clearly wanted to reply, but just as one of them tried to open their mouth, the giant spider had resumed its assault. Although its eyes were all centred on me as it approached, it was still trying to step on the others, so they could not spend time concentrating on me.

“Just focus on maintaining the connection,” I said to the struggling Isaac, raising his body from the ground and laying it on my shoulder.

I immediately started to run away through the glade. Although there was the option to run through the forest, there was the possibility something worse could happen if I tried, so I kept myself to running in circles.

It could have made for a quite comical sight, had it not been for the high number of butchered corpses who hindered my march. The legs of the spider beat rhythmically against the ground, while it hissed furiously at me.

It was understandable, as my last hit had severely deformed half of its head. Yet, it was still holding on and every appearance of wariness or fear had disappeared from its eyes. The beast was completely ignoring the others attacking him, simply concentrating on me. It didn’t care anymore about its wellbeing, it simply wished to carry me to hell with it.

Unfortunately for the spider, that was not going to happen. I had other plans in mind. Although the connection between me and the others was feeble, it was still present. The channel was narrow, but by applying the correct pressure I would be able to accomplish what I was aiming for.

I demanded my blood vessels to contract, increasing blood pressure and aura density. The more I applied pressure, the more my heartbeats slowed down. From a heart rate of about one hundred and fifty beats per minute it went down to less than thirty.

With each beat my whole body shook, as the heart applied explosive strength to pump the extremely condensed blood. Once I evaluated my aura had been compressed enough, I rerouted it towards the immaterial network which connected everyone.

The moment my aura entered his system Isaac started to seize violently and blackened blood started to flow out from his every pore. He was blocking my aura from flowing through the network.

“What are you doing?” I inquired, quite annoyed.

“T-this is t-too much. I-it will e-eat them f-from the i-insides. H-how c-can you e-endure it?!” he responded.

The pain he was bearing was evident. I could feel he was one step away from collapsing. Apparently, my aura was too thick and heavy for other archs. It was like pumping liquid lead into a balloon: at some point, it would explode.

“And yet, you are still well although a little bit aching. Do not impede me any further“

As a matter of fact he was still holding on and without losing consciousness. As much as my aura was damaging, it was also beneficial. His body was being put back together faster than it could fall apart. This obviously took also a toll on me, as I was the one delivering the energy needed for the repairs. I was losing weight faster than I would have with an outstandingly fast diet.

He finally complied and the dams were opened. For the first time my aura directly flowed from my body towards the outside. Isaac’s aura, which enveloped all those involved in his spellcasting, started to change colour, becoming an increasingly darker shade of red, as my aura filled up the network and mixed with it. The spider seemed to feel the change, as it stopped moving and turned towards the other attackers.

All the people receiving my aura fell to the ground, crying in pain. A couple of them puked, while the rest cried out blood. They brought their hands to their faces, digging with their fingers in their cheeks, with the wounds rapidly closing after each gesture. The blood dripping down was becoming increasingly darker.

“I… need… to… stop… it,” the increasingly strained Caleb managed to utter.

He tried to close the doors to my aura, but the flow had already been established. By continuously pouring my aura into the network I was forcing the spell to remain active, even against the will of its caster.

This was causing backlashes in the form of almost inconceivable amounts of pain. But all in all, it wasn’t that bad, especially if compared with my time as a dead man.

People got up one by one, shivering uncontrollably. In their eyes there was nothing except for violence and bloodlust. Their irises had taken the hue of a night without stars. Seeing them like this, Lily took her distance, incredibly worried by whatever was going on.

“Kill it!” “Yes, kill it!” “Let’s cut off its head!” “I want one of the legs!” “I’ll take the others!” “The eyes are mine!” A lunatic chorus rose.

The next moment, they dashed towards the prey.