The arachnid reared back for the kill, fangs flashing in the dull light, and Argent felt himself instinctively reach for his pistol. His heart sank as his hand grasped at empty leather, only then remembering what he had decided about not using them. Wanting to conserve ammo as much as possible, his intention had been to rely purely on swordplay and arts in order to gain experience without burning any resources before the upcoming field exercise– but with his body halfway down a huntsman’s hole– that dynamic had changed. It had changed a lot.

Before he could curse himself for leaving the armaments stored safely in his room a resounding thud shook the earth and the spider screeched horrendously. The sensation of someone gripping the collar of his jacket and hefting him out of the hole overtook Argent’s spatial awareness and he rapidly attempted to stand up. A mistake. His bitten leg collapsed under the attempt and brought him painfully back down to the earth, tears fresh in his eyes as he let out a curse.

“Let me handle that.”

Matthias’ voice sounded beside him. There was a low hum and a flicker of golden lights as the {Priest} manifested [Lay on Hands]. The gentle energy settled into Argent’s flesh and began to patch the damage, though there was nothing to be done about the tattered fabric of his pants.

“That thing really got you good, all the way down to the bone.”

The {Priest} commented grimly as he worked, and Argent nodded.

“Huntsman spiders have bigger fangs than other species, because they hunt without poison. Instead they use speed, webbing, and ambush tactics to catch their prey.”

“Good to know. I guess we won’t be needing [Cure], then.. That should cut down the strain on my arts.”

Argent nodded again, considering the statement. Definitely better for injuries to be manageable with a single art rather than two or more. The chitinous discord from within the tunnel grated against Argent’s thoughts and the {Alchemist} looked back at his assailant for the first time, realizing then what the source of the previous impact had been. Remelia stood just beyond the tunnel’s opening, the entire heft of her greatsword slammed hilt-deep into the earth. Beneath her the impaled huntsman spider flailed its legs and made egregious noises from within the partially collapsed trapdoor, until a sudden flash pulsed through the runes in Remelia’s weapon and engulfed the monster in a burst of raw arcana. Little remained of the body but dust and a small shard of argonite as she drew her blade back from the soil.

“...One.”

She said simply, her voice as flat as ever as she turned to stare back out into the depths of the bog. Argent wasn’t sure if he felt grateful or intimidated.

“Three more.. From the northwest.”

Shizuka pointed as she spoke, turning her head towards the direction her ears were facing. Almost immediately afterwards the heavy rustling of many legs could be heard, and Seren rushed in their direction as Gauge drew back on his bow and fired blindly into the space. There was a hissing noise indicative of a hit as he reloaded, but before he could loose another shot the arachnids barreled into view. Seren stepped forward and manifested a series of [Sacred Shield]s to block the opening towards their group.

The first spiders barreled into the translucent waves of energy, piling up with a dreadful screech. It was only sixty-six percent effective, however, as due to the forest’s restrictions only two spiders had been traveling side by side; the third following closely behind in order to fit through the landscape of trees. As the initial pair slammed against the [Sacred Shield] and came to a halt, the third hesitated for only a fraction of a second before using his kin as stepping stones to climb up and over the energy barring their advance.

By that time Gauge had another arrow waiting, the shot whistling through the air and embedding deep into one of the creature’s eight shining eyes. The spider hissed and fell off the barriers to the ground, rolling quickly back upright. Its legs curled slightly as it flexed and then leapt towards the {Rogue}, clearing incredible distance with the lunge. It rocketed past Seren as the dragonkin focused instead on the two spiders stuck behind her arts, calling for Remelia to come to her position.

Remelia obliged, running past in the background as Gauge narrowly escaped the fangs closing around his waist by activating [Shadow Veil], sinking into the darkness around himself and vanishing from both sight and physicality. Confused, the spider chittered angrily and rounded on the nearest warm body– Argent.

Pushing Matthias defensively behind him, Argent stood off with the arachnid and raised his palm, speaking the command words for a volley of [Firebolt]s. The flaming projectiles surged forward, causing the spider to flinch away from the sudden light and heat as they crashed against its face and legs. This opening was swiftly capitalized upon by Gauge, as the {Rogue} rematerialized from the surrounding darkness and drove the long edge of his dirk upwards through the huntsman spider’s head, twisting the blade violently before jerking it free.

Within this same timeframe Seren and Remelia obliterated the other two arachnids, the {Wild Talent} releasing her arts as soon as the {Rune-Knight} came into range, opening the way for a sweeping arc of her sword to tear through the monsters with the activation of both [Aura Blade] and [Cleave].

“..Four.”

Remelia breathed from her combat stance, not even breaking a sweat. Seren was grinning ear to ear despite the backsplatter of spider gore which had covered her front.

“That was awesome.”

She barely suppressed her desire to yell, the words coming out as a sort of loud whisper.

“I told you this would be easy!”

“Don’t. Fucking. Jinx it.”

Gauge retorted, giving the dragonkin an icy look. She stuck out her tongue in response.

“We have incoming.”

Shizuka spoke up, though there was an unusual hesitance in her report. Her ears were going crazy above her head, and there was a slight frown tugging at her otherwise calm expression. She dropped soundlessly from the tree and moved quickly to Argent and Matthias, eyes scanning from sector to sector.

“I can’t.. The noise, it’s bouncing off the trees.. I don’t know where–”

A burst of webbing shot from the darkness like a pressurized hose, expanding upon impact as it swept Remelia off her feet and slammed her into a nearby tree. Her sword tumbled from her grasp and dissipated as the ring on her left hand shone, her arms stuck above her head. There was an expression of genuine surprise on her face, but otherwise Remelia made no sound or struggle, simply standing where she had been pinned against a massive oak trunk. The substance clung to her mane of floof, tangling up in her bangs and half covering her eyes. Wherever the webbing had spattered over her clothing and skin it hardened into a gum-like consistency, preventing any movement of her extremities.

Seren turned immediately towards the {Rune-Knight}, cursing as she jerked one of her butterfly dao free from their sheath to assist with the webbing. Before she could come close, a second burst shot from the darkness, stopping her short as she narrowly avoided capture by dropping into an aggressive forward crouch. In that same moment a second spider lurched from between the trees, chelicerae poised to shear Remelia in half. The small girl did not so much as flinch, staring blankly into the eyes of her assailant as the dripping fangs closed on her. Argent watched in dumbfounded awe, chalking up another point towards his supposition that the diminutive {Rune-Knight} possessed some kind of inherent fear resistance.

Or, perhaps, she merely had faith in her classmates– as in the very moment before the spider’s bite found her– Shizuka [Blink]ed into existence and drove the creature’s head into the wilted earth with an impressive aerial axe-kick. Spinning the sickles of her kusarigama by their chains the {Kunoichi} sheared the front legs off the huntsman and entangled it, before leaping over a high branch of the tree in a peerless backflip. Employing her own body as a counterweight, she hoisted the spider straight into the air like a pendulum as it screeched and struggled, its remaining legs fighting for purchase on the trunk. Immediately a peppering of arrows targeted the creature's exposed abdomen from beneath, Gauge firing aggressively once the target presented itself.

The web-shooting huntsman emerged from the treeline, engaging with Seren in a dance of death as she wove between thrusts of its legs and fangs with her dao. With the others occupied as such, Argent took it upon himself to free Remelia, even if it meant leaving Matthias alone. He turned to look briefly at the {Priest} as though for confirmation that he could go, but found him unresponsive as he tranced within the aether plane to manifest his arts. Light shone around his body and trailed off in small bursts, focusing itself around their parties’ weapons, and Argent recognised the boon as [Lesser Divine Edge].

It was precisely what he needed to cut Remelia loose from her prison of gunk. Considering it a sign of confirmation for his actions, he turned and broke into a sprint. Reaching the imprisoned {Rune-Knight} on quick steps, he carefully judged the position of her arms before angling his blade along her side to shear the webbing. The cut created just enough wiggle room that she could begin working herself free, but a few additional strikes would expedite the process tremendously. Argent readied his weapon to provide said support, when he heard Gauge shouting behind them.

“Shit, Matthias! Matthias, on your left!”

He called desperately to the boy, but the {Priest} was lost deep inside his casting trance. By the time he snapped to the waking world it was far too late. Four additional spiders swarmed from the opposite side of the battlespace and there was nothing between them and him. The mottled brown of his hazel eyes widened in terror as he was barreled over by the leading arachnid, its legs jabbing at him like spears as he lost his footing on the muddy ground.

The chainmail in his garments prevented him from being initially impaled, but the follow-up bodyslam and bite caused the {Priest} to scream in pain as he was forced hard against the earth with a pair of fangs deep in his side. Argent watched in panic, freezing on the spot as his mind caught itself midway between actions; His sword arm still poised to cut at Remelia’s bonds even as his feet turned to move towards Matthias.

“Go.”

The {Rune-Knight}’s gentle voice filled his head as Remelia began wiggling inside the threads of hardened spider-goo.

“Protect the healer.”

“Right.”

Argent set out to do precisely that, ducking low as Shizuka swung the weighted end of a kusarigama around to bludgeon the head of the hanging huntsman spider into a shower of organic matter. Seren was still fighting viciously with her own arachnid opponent in single combat, taking chunks of its legs with each parry as she whittled it down and attacked from all angles, her body glowing with the aftereffects of [Aerodynamics] and [Lesser Haste].

Gauge turned his full attention to the swarm attacking Matthias, sending a glowing white arrow into the head of the monster which held the {Priest} in its jaws. Thanks to [Lesser Divine Edge] the attack caused the spider to release him, jolting back in anger and pain from the enchanted projectile, but two more of its kin moved rapidly in pursuit of their feast. Matthias hit the ground hard, desperately holding the wounds on his side as he tried to push away from the spiders, but they were fast and hungry.

The impending onslaught was halted by an abrupt flash of chains as Shizuka utilized [Blink] to position herself directly between the arachnids and Matthias. Tangling their forelegs in the lengths of her weapons and holding them at bay. With a little room to breath, Matthias looked down and began channeling [Ward Death] upon himself. The art would not provide any direct healing, but it would prevent him from losing consciousness or succumbing to his wounds unless he was struck by another direct attack. The problem was the advancing fourth spider; as Gauge drove back the original with yet more arrows and Shizuka wrangled the following two, the final arachnid circled past the beastkin. The scent of blood and fear drew it to Matthias ravenously.

It leapt for him, and Matthias looked up to stare death in the face. He raised his arms up to shield himself with a gasp, eyes squeezing shut as though it would stop it from happening. But instead of pain, there was a dull thump, followed by a screech, and slowly Matthias opened his eyes. A barrier of thin silver power about the size of a dinner plate hovered between the monster and him, halting the creature face first.

Argent rushed in from behind his [Lesser Barrier], dispelling it as he passed. He swung the edge of his sidesword in an upward cut, targeting the joint of one of the huntsman’s front legs. The divine enhancement upon his blade struck true, shearing the exoskeleton like a tatami mat. The spider hissed and swung its opposing foreleg at Argent, but the {Alchemist} raised his arm in defense and signed for another [Lesser Barrier], attaching the art to his forearm the way he had drilled. Parrying the incoming blow away from himself and slashing out at the leg in riposte, he cut off the bottom quarter of the appendage and the spider recoiled visibly.

“Stellar, Argent! Fucking stellar!”

Gauge shouted over the din of battle, legitimately impressed by the {Alchemist}’s sudden display of swordsmanship. The {Rogue} was no expert, but to his eyes it was obvious that Argent’s practice was paying off. Cuts were executed in fluid combination, his movements defended at the same time as they attacked– it was genuinely passable swordplay. The strictness of form enforced by Naiara’s tutoring was immediately apparent, and for some brief moment Gauge felt like he was watching a familiar shadow of their class president as Argent drove his blade forward into the spider’s maw.

To the side of the {Alchemist}, the two spiders held captive by Shizuka thrashed and fought against her chains, managing to create enough disruption that they lifted the beastkin girl from the ground and swung her through the air. Fortunately her aerial maneuverability was proficient enough that she rolled through the motion, flowing with the chains as she swung to skillfully brace with her legs against the impact on a nearby tree. Unfortunately, despite managing to kick off the trunk and land safely upon the ground the {Kunoichi} lost control of her targets, and the spiders reared free from their restraints.

One barreled towards Argent and the other for Gauge, forcing the {Rogue} back as he was unprepared to fight at close range with his bow. Reaching behind himself as he moved, he covered his retreat with [Shadow Spew], the clouds of draining energy burning the advancing spider enough to make it think twice about giving chase.

Determining that the arachnid he had previously been fighting was wounded substantially enough to be incapable of effectively hampering his movements, Argent turned to engage the newcoming threat, leveraging his window of opportunity to maneuver. Carefully working a few steps forward from Matthias in order to keep the {Priest} clear from the center of battle.

While pragmatic in theory this tactic did not prove to work in the manner Argent intended; as he pressured the newcoming huntsman, the wounded spider fell back, and the {Alchemist}’s slight advance had brought him out of line with Matthias. Without him directly body blocking the {Priest} the injured huntsman fired off a shot of webbing, snagging Matthias in a net of glue and silk and beginning to reel him inwards.

“It’s got me!”

Matthias yelped as he was dragged through the muck. Argent swore, his eyes darting around the bog as he tried to place his classmates, searching for someone that could intervene. Far in the back, Seren had defeated her initial target but was now caught battling two more of the wolf-sized arachnids which had emerged, trying her best to keep them off of Remelia. The {Rune-Knight} in question was mostly free from her prison, web-matted hair clinging around her face like an eyepatch, but even with one free hand and one good eye the small girl was still formidable enough to send a huntsman spider rolling with a strong [Ki Pulse] when it got too close.

Gauge had fallen back and was in effect playing ‘ring around the rosey’ with his adversary, using a tree to shield himself from the spider as they both circled the trunk in attempts to get at one another, and Shizuka had set about finishing off the huntsman which had initially bitten Matthias. There was no one to help but him. Gritting his teeth, Argent dug in his heels and directed a [Firebolt] towards the spider attacking him, attempting to buy himself a few seconds before lunging to the side and bringing his sword down in an attempt to sever the strand of webbing attached to Matthias’ cocoon-like prison.

Unfortunately [Lesser Divine Edge] had faded from his blade and the single stroke was not enough to cut through. Argent swore and raised his weapon to swing again, but before his blade could fall he was struck from the flank, the spider he had disengaged from pouncing forward and knocking him away. Pain shot through his shoulder as he tumbled through the fetid swamp muck, a cursory glance revealing that the impact had dislocated the joint on his left side. Grazing cuts from the monster’s fangs drew fresh blood from his forearm, the scent of gore sending the huntsman into a chittering frenzy as it rushed the {Alchemist} and bit again and again. [Lesser Barrier]s between himself and the creature were the only thing preventing the loss of a limb as the {Alchemist} scrambled back through the silt.

Straining beneath the growing arts fatigue, Argent tried to think of a way out that didn’t involve blowing himself and the arachnid apart with a satchel of bombs. [Firebolt] had proven itself largely ineffective at this point– although the creatures clearly disliked fire– the bursts of flame were not intense enough to cause significant damage outright. Breaking into a cold sweat as he watched Matthias being dragged away, the {Alchemist} was struck with a sudden idea. After another bite from the huntsman was warded by his barrier, Argent released the art and quickly channeled another.

“Teth niferri, sa’hobua tjii yoenn!”

Sticky tendrils of netting burst forward in response as the command manifested [Web]. Argent briefly wondered if the substance would even impede the spider or if its natural ability to navigate its own webs would protect it somehow– but the webbing stuck true. Relief swelled in his chest as the spider was engulfed and entangled, spasming angrily inside the thick threads.

Turnaround is fair play~

Or so the {Alchemist} thought to himself. Snatching up his sword from where he had released it to channel [Web], Argent pushed himself to his feet and took off towards Matthias, his left arm hanging limply at his side and jostling with each heavy step. Ignoring the small waves of pain resulting from this, he closed in on the length of silk and hacked it apart, drawing a grateful sigh from the {Priest} as the dragging stopped.

“I can’t stand, come down to me.”

Argent looked at Matthias, who was struggling to raise his arms as much as he could shift them inside the webs. Confused at first, Argent put two and two together when the {Priest}’s hands began to glow, and he knelt down to push his own shoulder up against the boy’s palms. The energy flowed through him and Argent grimaced as [Lesser Regeneration] re-set the joint, mending torn ligaments and tendons along the way. Rolling his arm back and forth gratefully, Argent prepared to put himself back into the fight when the earth around him shook.

Remelia’s sword crushed the wounded huntsman to pulp as the {Rune-Knight} flew into view, her steps like lightning as she rushed into the fray. In a matter of moments any foe which had not been slain was mopped up effortlessly, Seren assisting Gauge as Remelia proceeded on to pulverize the remaining arachnid that Shizuka had been harrying. The final web-locked arachnid screeched and hissed, rolling violently in an attempt to pull loose from the threads of glue which bound it steady to no avail. Argent closed the distance on his foe, feeling a surge of confidence rush through his veins as Matthias’ [Guidance] buff fell upon him. A single well placed thrust, and the battle had come to an end.

“Twelve.”

Remelia’s final count could be heard in the distance. Breathing heavily, Argent took a moment to survey the landscape before making his way back to Matthias in order to cut the {Priest} free. Around him, Seren was panting heavily despite looking thrilled, Gauge was bleeding from a number of minor wounds, and Shizuka’s typically neutral demeanor was fixed in a frown. Of all of them, Remelia seemed to be the only member who was none the worse for wear, free of affliction other than the webbing still caught in her hair.

“I told you.. There was no problem..”

Seren bragged between breaths, straightening up and fancifully spinning her dao into their sheath.

“You call that no problem?”

Gauge retorted, giving her a glare as Matthias channeled [Lesser Regeneration] into the {Rogue}. Seren huffed, looking away from him as she tucked her arms behind her head.

“What? We won didn’t we?”

Growing frustrated by the looks she received for that statement, the dragonkin girl sucked her teeth audibly and turned away from her classmates to begin digging through the huntsman spiders for their argonite. The remainder of X13 gathered up around Matthias, making sure the {Priest} was alright. Healing arts were incredible yet specific, and often even those with powerful healing specializations had limited capacity to directly heal themselves. Luckily the regeneration type arts were self-targetable.

“She’s partially right–”

Argent conceded, glancing over at Seren as she hacked into the corpse of a spider.

“--But how much of that was because of Remelia?”

The girl in question tipped her head as she was mentioned, giving the {Alchemist} an innocent look as though unsure of what exactly she had done. The others nodded in silent understanding, and Gauge sighed.

“It definitely would have gone south fast…”

“..It would have worked better if we had a stable formation.”

Matthias offered, drawing another series of head nods from his classmates.

“I think that’s the core of it. Everyone has some potent abilities, but our coordination was… Well..”

“Embarrassing.”

Gauge finished Argent’s thought for him, and the {Alchemist} frowned in agreement. There was a pang of guilt in his stomach, feeling accountable for much of the chaos. It had been him who had fallen prey to the initial ambush, and it had been him who left Matthias alone to try and assist Remelia. Thinking back to those split seconds of the battle, he realized something else.

“Matthias.. Do you cast all your arts from the m– from the aether plane?”

The {Alchemist} questioned, just stopping himself short from referring to it as the ‘menu’. Each time he had noticed the {Priest} utilizing an art, he had been trancing, making him excessively vulnerable to the events around him. Matthias fidgeted slightly, looking down at his boots.

“Uhm.. Yes.”

“...Why?”

His classmates looked at him curiously, and the {Priest} clasped his hands in front of his waist, looking flustered. After a few moments of awkward silence, he cleared his throat and mumbled;

“I can't speak the cardinal language.”

Argent blinked.

“...What?”