Arachne. Hazel was familiar with the term in more ways than one. It was the name in Greek Mythology to describe a monstrous being that was half-human, half-spider. According to the mythology, the Arachne was once a normal human weaver who was cursed by the goddess of wisdom, Athena. She was cursed after challenging the goddess to a weaving contest and weaved a tapestry of the gods' infidelities.

This mythology also inspired the very popular monster species that went by the same name in RPGs. Hazel knew this because her brother, Damien, actually fought against an Arachne in his video games. She remembered seeing him playing the game and fighting an Arachne in some kind of cave. It was something she couldn't forget because he kept swearing while nearly dying to them.

Hazel used to laugh at that memory, but now it seemed like karma came back to bite her in the ass now that she was facing the Arachne now herself. Only, unlike Damien's video game, she couldn't just respond after she died. Which meant this battle would be her last if she wasn't careful. The same went for everyone else if they let their guard down while facing the Arachne, along with the rest of the spider swarm.

"Dammit..." Hazel grumbled before turning to Astrid and Chegyaeyi. "You guys should get the other players into position. I don't think this battle is going to be as easy as before."

Neither of them argued and rushed over to the rest of the players who were part of their group. While they prepared the players for the worst, Hazel used one of her Astral Eyes and sent it over near the hole where the swarm kept coming from. Her goal was to take a look at the Arachne to see what they were dealing with.

Her Astral Eye zoomed across the streets of Portland, making its way over to the swarm. It didn't take long before the black sea of spiders was within her sight as it got closer to its target. Once the transparent floating eye was hovering over the horde, Hazel scanned the spider wave, desperately searching for the Arachne.

Thanks to their unique appearance compared to their siblings, Hazel quickly spotted the new spider species among the swarm. She saw a spider creature that was slightly larger than the weavers with the upper body of a human. Both male and female. The Male Arachne possessed a lean and muscular body type and either short or long hair. They didn't wear anything to cover their upper body, which was why their entire torso was exposed, revealing abs and pecs that would make any woman swoon over them.

As for the females, they possessed a similar appearance, right down to them being shirtless. Well, mostly. Unlike the male Arachne who weren't wearing any clothes, the females wore a webbing around their chest area, clearly covering a certain part of their anatomy.

Unlike the other spiders in the swarm, the Arachne wielded weapons like spears, swords, and bows. It was likely because of their human features that they were using such things.

While looking at the Arachne, Hazel quickly appraised one of them, curious to know their levels.

<Arachne> Level 38 Human/Spider Hybrids that were specifically bred by the Spider Queen to become the Ultimate Warrior who serves her completely and acts as her general in her Spider army. Their intelligence far surpasses their siblings, making them the smartest and, essentially, the most dangerous among the Queen's children.

Hazel's brows creased under the blindfold. These things were stronger than the Reapers and Sentinels, making them one of the most dangerous spider species they came across. After appraising the other Arachne among the swarm, which she counted at least five, she concluded that their levels ranged from thirty-eight to forty-four, that being the highest.

"Since there are five of them, that meant one of us will most likely be dealing with three of these things. Include the reapers, and this battle was certainly not going to be easy."

Aside from their levels, Hazel was also concerned about the Arachnes' intelligence. Since their description stated that they were smarter than their siblings, that meant they weren't going to blindly attack Hazel and Zoe's groups. The Arachne were considered the Queen's general, so Hazel expected that these hybrids were going to be commanding the spider swarm.

Switching her vision, Hazel returned to the checkpoint. Not wasting any time, she walked over to her mom, who was currently helping the other players get into position for the upcoming battle.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Mom," She called out to her. "I need you to contact Zoe and warn her about the Arachne. Their levels are between thirty-eight to forty-four, and these things are considered the spider queen's generals. So, they'll likely be commanding the army, which will likely change their patterns and behavior compared to when they simply charged at us and attacked mindlessly."

Evelyn nodded and quickly contacted Zoe to relay the message to her. Meanwhile, Hazel went back over to Astrid and Chegyaeyi to warn them about the Arachne as well.

"Alright, so you guys know the plan, right?" She asked.

"Kill the dangerous enemies first, then focus on the rest of the swarm, right?" Astrid answered.

Hazel nodded. "More or less. Our biggest priorities are the Arachne and the Reapers. The reapers will likely attack us like before, and the Arachne might join in on the fun, so we need to be wary of them the most. Also, between the two, the Arachne are the strongest, so if possible, you kill them first."

Chegyaeyi firmly nodded, acknowledging Hazel's advice. "Understood."

"Do you still have the spider swarm in your sights?" Astrid asked.

"Yeah, I do," She confirmed. "I just need to switch my vision and I'll be able to see them."

Stating this, Hazel quickly swapped her Astral View and was now viewing the spider swarm once again. However, as she scanned the swarm coming their way, she noticed something was different compared to before.

Hazel then panicked upon realizing what was happening...

"Aw, shit...!" Hazel blurted out.

"What's wrong?" Astrid asked, sounding worried.

"The reapers...some of them are gone!"

Looking through the swarm, Hazel noticed that a couple of the reapers among them were missing. Using another Astral Eye, she scanned the nearby area to locate them before it was too late. Out of the corner of her eye, Hazel spotted a black blur moving from building to building while making its way over to her group's direction.

Keeping her eyes on it, she watched the black blur, which was the Reaper, sped its way closer to their location.

"We have a reaper making a beeline for us!" She announced to the others. "Get ready, everyone!"

Hearing this, the other players, including Astrid, Chegyaeyi, and Evelyn, prepared for battle. The mages and archers standing on the car-stacked guard towers readied their staves and bows, aiming them in the direction from which they believed the reaper was coming from. Astrid joined the group, drawing her bow and pulling back an arrow to fire.

Meanwhile, Chegyaeyi joined the vanguard that stood near the car wall, which acted as a barricade between them and the swarm. All the warrior class players drew their weapons and waited to strike. As for Evelyn, she stood at the back of the group, acting as support with the other clerics, prepared to cast healing and buff spells on the other players.

Through her Astral Eye, Hazel watched the reaper make it to their destination, appearing only a couple of yards ahead of them. However, instead of moving forward, it simply stayed in place, not moving an inch. Seeing this, the players who were locked onto the monster, ready to strike it down, couldn't help but stare at the reaper in confusion, not sure of what was happening.

Even Hazel didn't understand what was going on as she took a closer look at the reaper, but saw nothing out of the ordinary aside from its behavior.

"What's going on?" Astrid asked, keeping her bow trained on the monster. "Why is it just standing there?"

"I don't know," Hazel said, keeping her eyes peeled on the creature.

She wanted to simply kill it, but wasn't sure that was a wise idea until she understood what was happening. Normally, the reaper should've just run toward Hazel and the others with the intent to kill. It would've been a stupid plan, but it wasn't like it hadn't done something like that before. Not only that, but it almost succeeded in doing this and took out several members in the process.

After thinking it through, Hazel soon figured out what could be going on, before summoning several curse bombs and hurling them at the Reaper. Instead of running away, the reaper stayed in place as the basketball-sized curse bombs crashed into it, exploding on contact.

A purple explosion could be seen as bits of rock, dirt, and trees flew everywhere from the shockwave. But Hazel didn't focus on any of that and simply cursed irritably.

"Dammit...! I think that Reaper was nothing more than a scout. It was looking at our post to see what the swarm would be dealing with and inform the rest of their siblings!"

She wasn't certain that this was true, but she also couldn't shake off the reaper's abnormal behavior when it showed up. It should've just attacked the group like before, but it didn't and simply stood in place while looking at them. So, Hazel couldn't help but think of it as nothing more than a scout to inform the swarm. Specifically, the Arachne.

Those hybrids likely sent one of the reapers to act as a scout and tell them what to expect from Hazel's group. However, she didn't know whether or not her actions in killing the thing made any difference. When she launched her curse bombs at the reaper, it didn't do anything and simply let itself get killed. Why would it do that when it needed to relay the information back to the Arachne?

Unless the Arachne were seeing through the eyes of the reaper they sent. That would explain why the death spider didn't bother fleeing. Its mission was already completed and was no longer needed.

"Those crafty, little...!"

"I-Incoming!"

Hazel heard Astrid alerting everyone around them while pointing at the sky. With the help of her Astral Eye, Hazel followed the dark elf's direction before spotting...a massive rock heading right toward them.

"Ah...crap!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.