311 – Spider Gods

Bella leads me between the anti-abyss shelters where I heal the injured.

『The next closest is in the medical building… We’ll take a right at the next corner, then it’s the big building opposite…』

As I’m receiving directions from Bella, another Lithovar woman comes running from behind.
She’s short of breath, and tears are trickling from her eyes.
It’s shallow, but there’s a mark where a sword cut her arm, and her clothes are covered with mud.
While I’m wondering what’s happened, she flops to the floor, then prostrates herself towards me.

“Bella-sama! Dragon-god-sama! Would you please consider coming this way first?”

“P-please calm down! Wh-what has happened…?”

“The truth is, our hiding place was broken into… They left shortly after in fear of dragon-god-sama, but the children, they took the children…”

After saying that, the woman breaks down sobbing.

Those guys, they’re going as far as to abduct people… In any case, since they broke in directly, the damage there should be worse than anywhere else.
It’d be best to go there first.
If we don’t get there soon enough, it could be too late.
We change our course and follow the woman.

Other Lithovars are tasked with bringing out the wounded when we arrive.
The rate I’m burning through my MP is unexpectedly fast, but… I don’t need a lot for battle.
The amount restored on the move should be enough for the occasional self-heal or attack magic.

While my partner is focusing on healing, Bella asks what happened from someone inside.
Apparently, ten children were abducted.
It seems there’s no longer any fighting around the village, so I was wondering if they’d been fully driven away, but… It seems they made a complete mess of things on their way out.
I’d like to hope this is just their final struggles…

“Why did they take the children…? Did they say anything? How likely is it they were killed right away?”

“If I remember correctly, after slashing someone near me at the start, one of them said『You know about the glittering beast, right?』…” 

Gl-glittering beast…? No way, is why they came into this forest and poisoned the village to try and massacre them?

“…That matches the information I was able to get from the prisoners… Those people… They might plan on provoking the feared gods…”

Bella says, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
Her voice trembles with fear.

Feared gods… The forest children.
I’ve heard about them.
Maybe they have some relationship with that glittering beast.
But still, when she speaks of the feared gods, Bella looks quite scared.
Those guys, were they that dangerous?

I look at Bella to request an explanation.
She activates [Telepathy] with a chant and fumbled hand motions, then explains.

『…It is said that a long time ago, our Lithovar ancestors incurred the wrath of the feared gods, and half of the village was buried.
Children are taught of this from a very young age so such a tragedy never repeats itself.
I’m worried for the safety of those children, but… If they hear about them from the children and purposefully provoke the feared gods, I don’t know what will come of this forest…』

Th-the forest children would destroy the forest…? Those guys, were they not just tottering monsters that suck magic power from trees?

A moment later, I hear a scream from the edge of the village.

“Monster… Monsters are attacking! Everyone who can fight, grab your weapons and come! It looks they’ve already attacked some people!”

Monsters, with this timing.
Are they abyss survivors? No… One of their mages summoned a wyvern.
It wouldn’t be strange if they’d set other monsters on us.

“T-the… The monsters are going away already? K-Kale!? It-it’s the abducted children! The children that were taken are back!”

Wh-what does this mean…? I rush towards the voice and see injured children being nursed by Lithovars.
And a slight distance away, the spiders are rustling away.
It seems they brought them back.

“It’s the children that were taken!”
“Those spiders must have brought them back!”
“They’re spider gods! Spider gods!

…I had a feeling it might be the case, but is godhood cheap here? I’m glad that they won’t attack the spiders by mistake, but… I have slightly complicated feelings too…

Bella, who was chasing after me, counts the children while catching her breath.

“Three, four… Five.
Five are still missing…”

…It’s likely that the remaining five are still abducted.
Had these children not been brought back, who knows what suffering they’d have gone through.
And… I’m worried about the feared gods.

If the spiders came here, then Aro’s probably also nearby.
I want to check that she’s well.
I’m more or less done healing the village.
A few of the injured might still be hiding, but… It doesn’t look like I can put this off any longer.

“Bella-sama! We’ve learnt of their war potential from the prisoners! Since multiple of their testimonies agree, I think it might be the truth!”

A Lithovar man runs towards us from inside the village.

“Is that true! Their scale…”

“In total they had about six hundred, but it seems the majority were headed here, so they should be mostly collapsed now! There shouldn’t be any more attacks coming, I think…!”

Then with the enemies I dealt with in the village, there should be hardly any left? So if I can recover the children and kill their director who’s trying to pick a fight with the feared gods, this conflict will be completely over.

In my mind, I see the guy with a bad taste in clothing, Tolman.
Now that I hear he’s after this glittering beast, I understand the situation.
As I thought, he’s their boss.
I really should have done everything I could to kill him.
If only I’d taken him hostage at that time, there wouldn’t be this pointless struggling of theirs.
It’s regretful that his subordinates got in the way.

“Guooo…”

I groan to draw Bella’s attention, then indicate the village and the forest with my head.

“…! I understand.
We’ll treat the remaining injured!”

After hearing her words, I run in the direction the spiders went.
Probably… This battle will be the last.

As I run, I see the spiders gathered around a single spot.
The petit nightmare’s with them too.

As I slow and approach them, I see a limp Aro.
Her skin looks like lifeless earth, almost like before she evolved.

“Dragon…god-sama…”

She weakly opens her mouth.
Her abdomen has traces of being pierced by a sword.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Name: Aro
Species: Revaana Lowlich
Condition: Cursed
Lv: 31/65
HP: 53/284
MP: 58/299
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

T-this is bad! She’s falling apart!

“Gaah”

My partner quickly chants [Fake Life], wrapping her in black light, and the wound on her body quickly closes.

I stretch my tail out in front of her.
She touches it and sucks out MP with [Mana Drain], and the freshness returns to her skin.

She staggers to her feet and supports herself against a nearby tree.

She must have been in quite the battle.
But it looked like she had a surprising amount of MP left… As I think that, the tree that she’s leaning against turns to face me.
It’s the lesser treant.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Species: Lesser Treant
Condition: Cursed
Lv: 11/25
HP: 37/75
MP: 34/60
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

Was the treant also fighting…? But its level hasn’t increased… As I think that, my eyes meet Aro’s.
I consider the treant’s status again, and realise that, though status has dropped by about half, it hasn’t got any external wounds… Ah, did she take a little from the treant? If anything, Aro’s wounds looked worse than her status implied.

“I couldn’t win… That pale-faced swordsman.
He took the children…”

…A pale-faced swordsman? That must be the guy who summoned the wyverns and fled with Tolman right at the start.
He seems to be quite the active guy.
More than Tolman, it might be more important that I neutralise him.

As an insurance, it would be best to have Aro watch the area around the village for any returning soldiers.
I’ll strike at them directly.
But I could do with someone to guide me…

As I think that, the treant bursts forwards.
Y-you’ll guide me? But, treant… Your movement speed is a bit slow… It’s not like I can run with you on my shoulders.

One of the spiders jumps in front of me and runs into the forest.
It’s telling me to follow, I think.

“……Guo”

I bow my head towards the treant, then chase after the spider.