Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

CH727 Crypt Spider Cavern

***

Bang!

Unsurprisingly, Alex and Saul immediately met fierce resistance from the Crypt Spiders.

Saul fully displayed the might of a Combat Saint as his twin warhammers smashed into the spiders one after another, pulverising hardened exoskeletons and turning entire bodies into mangled pulp.

Thrust!

[Dragon Kumite: Ripple]!

Alex drove his baton into a Crypt Spider’s maw, and a violent ripple of mana erupted through the creature’s insides, shredding its internal organs apart before it collapsed lifelessly.

Alex, who already had five spider carcasses around him, glanced toward Saul with a trace of awe.

Around the older man lay more than ten ruined Crypt Spiders, their cephalothoraxes crushed beyond recognition by nothing but overwhelming physical force.

’So it’s not that their exoskeletons can’t be broken from the outside...’ Alex mused inwardly. ’It’s simply that most people can’t hit hard enough.’

He nodded thoughtfully to himself as though he had just learned some profound truth.

’Indeed, there’s no skull a hammer cannot crush. If it doesn’t break, then you simply didn’t use enough force.’

After briefly admiring Saul’s brutal handiwork, the pair resumed carving their way through the Crypt Spiders infesting the underground tunnel.

Eventually, the tunnel opened into a massive cavern.

It was immediately obvious this place no longer lay beneath House Skywalker’s castle—nor even beneath Anakor City itself.

Judging by the depth and direction, the cavern most likely stretched beneath the mountain range behind the city.

Alex guided the floating [Solar Ball] higher toward the cavern ceiling, illuminating the darkness around them.

For one fleeting moment, he regretted doing so.

The scene before him was the nightmare of every arachnophobe.

Hundreds upon hundreds of spiders filled the cavern floor and walls. Some clustered together in massive swarms while others crawled endlessly through countless tunnel openings scattered throughout the cavern.

And at the very centre of it all rested a gigantic spider nearly three metres tall, lying motionless yet radiating a deeply oppressive presence.

”Crypt Spider Queen...” Alex muttered grimly.

At the same time, the sudden burst of light stirred the entire cavern into chaos.

The Crypt Spider Queen slowly lifted its massive body and looked upward toward the floating Solar Ball.

Then, as though tracing the mana signature connected to the spell, all eight of its eyes snapped toward Alex and Saul simultaneously.

Screeeech—!!!

A piercing shriek echoed throughout the cavern.

Saul tightened his grip around his twin warhammers.

”That,” he remarked dryly, ”is quite the menacing aura.”

”It’s somewhere between Fourth and Fifth Circle. Can you handle it?” Alex asked.

”If it’s truly that strong, then I probably won’t be able to crush its exoskeleton through raw strength alone like I did with the weaker ones.” Saul replied calmly. ”I’ll need to use Combat Energy.”

Alex immediately understood what the older man meant.

”Don’t worry. I’ll neutralise the Decay Aura and keep the weaker spiders from interfering with your fight.” He assured.

”I would appreciate that.” Saul nodded.

Hisss—!!!

Before the conversation could continue further, the Spider Queen suddenly released a sharp command.

At once, Crypt Spiders began pouring out from the countless tunnels lining the cavern walls, surging toward Alex and Saul like a living tide.

[Spirit Mage: Five-Clawed Divine Dragon]!

Alex immediately cast one of the newest additions to his growing arsenal of spells.

A majestic dragon formed from blazing Fire and radiant Light mana materialised before him.

However, compared to the last time he had summoned it, the Five-Clawed Divine Dragon was noticeably smaller.

The pervasive Decay Aura filling the cavern was suppressing the ambient mana Alex could draw upon. Most of the spell’s fuel now came directly from his own mana reserves.

Still, Alex had deliberately chosen this spell for precisely such an environment.

’Go.’ Alex issued mentally to the dragon—or more accurately, to the Aetherkindle splinter acting as its core.

Roar—!

The smaller Divine Dragon released a silent roar before shooting toward the incoming swarm of spiders.

Boom!

The dragon exploded high above the battlefield.

Yet unlike a conventional explosion, there was no violent shockwave or destructive burst.

Instead, mystic flames spread outward like a blazing tide, washing across the entire cavern in a sea of radiant golden fire.

For a brief moment, the entire underground cavern appeared engulfed in divine flames.

Then, just as suddenly as they had appeared, the flames vanished.

Not a single Crypt Spider had been burned.

The swarm froze momentarily from the sudden phenomenon before resuming their charge.

As the spiders turned back toward him, Alex almost felt as though the countless glossy eyes staring at him carried traces of mockery and disdain.

’You little...’

Alex waved his arm, and a spell formation rapidly materialised before him.

[Darkshock Chain]!

A thick bolt of dark lightning burst from the centre of the formation, striking the shadow beneath the leading Crypt Spider.

The spider instantly froze.

Then, like a living current travelling through darkness itself, the lightning leapt from its shadow to the next spider’s shadow, stunning that one as well.

Again.

And again.

The dark lightning continued jumping through the swarm, chaining from shadow to shadow until the charging tide of spiders ground to a complete halt.

Even Alex himself stared in brief surprise at the spell’s effectiveness, nearly forgetting to cast the follow-up spell he had prepared.

[Judgement Ray]!

Multiple condensed beams of Solar mana erupted from the spell formation behind him.

The radiant rays pierced through the immobilised Crypt Spiders with terrifying precision, each beam punching through several spiders at once in straight five-metre-long lines.

The cavern instantly filled with the screeches of dying spiders.

Even Saul found himself astonished by Alex’s rapid succession of spellcasting.

The earlier explosion of the Five-Clawed Divine Dragon had never been intended as an offensive attack.

Instead, Alex had used the spell to spread Aetherkindle’s purification concept throughout the cavern via the wave of mystic flames.

The result was the temporary cleansing of the Crypt Spiders’ pervasive Decay Aura, reopening the surrounding ambient mana for Alex to use once more.

However, although the ambient mana was returning, Alex was no sure regarding how quickly the environment would stabilise.

Thus, he had immediately gambled on testing a newly developed spell against the swarm.

By combining the [Chain Lightning] and [Curse of Frailty] spells, Alex had created a hybrid spell, [Darkshock Chain].

Like Chain Lightning, the spell jumped rapidly from target to target.

Like Curse of Frailty, it weakened the physical strength and endurance of those affected.

However, [Darkshock Chain] had developed an unexpected property entirely its own.

The lightning not only paralysed its victims through electrical shock, but also achieved its weakening effect by siphoned away portions of their mana reserves.

And strangely, the draining effect intensified with every jump the spell made.

By the time the chain reached the weaker spiders deeper within the swarm, many had been completely drained dry.

With the spiders weakened and the surrounding mana restored, Alex immediately followed up with the high-output [Judgement Ray], wiping out the majority of the lesser Crypt Spiders that survived the Darkshock Chain.

Each spell was not only powerful, but executed with deliberate timing and purpose.

Saul genuinely felt the urge to stop and applaud Alex’s spellcraft.

Unfortunately, now was not the time.

Boom!

Stomping his foot into the cavern floor, Saul launched himself forward like a cannonball.

[Domain of Pestilence]!

A dark Saint Domain unfurled around him as he raised his twin warhammers and smashed downward toward the Crypt Spider Queen.

***