The spider slowly descended in a clearing.
Lisa couldn’t hear any of those giants anymore, so they were probably too big to fit into this forest. However, they had to land to get their bearings, and Lisa landed the spider right by a lake. This forest was thick, green, lush, and they landed right by a lake with a river. However, there was still that persuasive scent of death, and the red sky that never seemed to dim…
Lisa hopped off Saskia and sat down on the grass, staring up at the glass.
”… Where should we head next? Lisa thought out loud.
”This place has no rhyme or reason! I’m not sure if we’re even heading in the right direction!”"I don't know if there even is a right direction," Saskia intoned, frowning. They pulled their wings back in with a grimace, two massive holes left in their jacket and blood staining their clothes.
”Maybe we could follow the river?" Ella suggested, pointing to it.
Saskia shrugged.
"I wonder if it's drinkable. Flowing water is most likely to be fresh."”I mean it's also Pit water,” Lisa shrugged, trying to hide that she was definitely thirsty.
”... Well, only one way to find out.” Lisa said as she walked over to the water, knelt down, and cupped some into her hand. She sucked it up with a loud slurp, then looked over her shoulder.
”... It tastes fine,”"Normally you don’t taste waterborne diseases," Saskia said, lips pressing together.
"You won’t know until it’s too late."”It can’t be any worse than what we got from Lupe,” Lisa laughed.
"We have magical healing, it’s fine!" Ella shouted, running over to next to Lisa. She bent down, scooping a bunch of water into her mouth, and then more, drinking like she was parched.
"Maybe we should wash while we’re here too?" "We’ve barely made any progress.""Who knows when we’ll next find a lake!" ”I mean, I don’t feel all that dirty,” Lisa shrugged.
””I agree with Saskia, we sho-Something burst out of the water, roaring at them with its monstrous frame as it reached for Lisa and Ella to pull them in. Ella screamed, shoving her hands out in front of her to absolutely blast it with fire. Because it was covered in water and slime, it blocked most of the fire.
"Lisa, Ella!" Saskia's blood tendril wrapped around Lisa to pull her back. Lisa grabbed on as she looked to the left and right, desperately for some way out. Out of the ground, a chitinous spear ruptured through the creature’s arm, making it yelp in pain, yet it
persisted. The Chitinious spear retracted, only to launch into the creature again and again… but it regenerated each time.
Saskia grimaced, forming a blood whip with their other hand and wrapping it around Ella, falling to their knees to try not to get pulled in too. Ella swapped tactics, bright pinks coating her hands as she punched the creature. Which tanked each hit.
Lisa opened her mouth and vomited spiders directly at the creature - mid-air, they spelled up with her modified stomach acid. They exploded against the beast, loudly and sickeningly sizzling as it roared again, finally letting go. Ella then shot it with a burning beam of light, and it stumbled backward right back into the water…
… Only to dramatically rise out again.
While dealing with that creature, a
swarm of
strange human-sized butterflies descended from above to snatch them into unknown parts. Ella screamed again, throwing her hands above her head with fire shooting out of them at the butterflies, trying to torch them. The butterflies scattered for a moment, hovering above them.
”Stop screaming; you’re going to attract more monsters!” Lisa screamed.
"You're screaming too!" Ella screamed back.
Saskia's wings burst back out through their back, splattering more flesh and blood around them, and came up to cover the three of them from above.
"We need to get out of here.""No shit!" Ella said, going back to trying to pound the water creature with her fists.
”I have an idea,” Lisa shouted as she turned towards the monster in the water.
”Ella, get back!”"Okay!" Ella backed away towards Saskia, fire dancing around her fingers in case she needed to shoot it at anything.
Lisa stuck her hand out behind her, and sighed, before a web comprised of thick, pulsating,
human-flesh, and then whipped it at the creature. As planned, it got caught in the web, and hopelessly thrashed around as the webs bound to its flesh.
Perfect. Then the butterflies grabbed her and she began floating in the air.
Not perfect!"Lisa!" Ella shouted. She raised her hands to blast it with fire, but Saskia interrupted her.
"I’ve got it, make sure to catch her." With a powerful flap of their wings, Saskia launched themselves into the air, slicing at the wings of the butterfly holding Lisa with sharp blood blades. Lisa descended and Ella caught her, with the Wretched Web still attached to the monster, which was convulsing in pain. The other hitch in her plan came when the monster the web was attached to began retreating into the water - with her still attached..
"Ahhhh!" Ella fell on her ass, holding Lisa tightly. Her feet dug into the ground, trying to get some kind of traction to stop them from being pulled into the water.
Saskia wasn’t much help either, in the air surrounded by butterflies.
”Just… hold… on!” Lisa shouted as the two were about to be dragged into the water - and this idea didn’t seem all that great now! However, the creature fell to its knees, violently convulsing and bubbling, and then it
ruptured outwards. It sent blood, guts, and
spiders in all directions - however, the spiders were imbued with acid-burst and when they collided with the butterflies they exploded. The butterflies were ripped to shreds by the explosions and then dissolved by the acid, which was such a devestating atttack that it took out a majority of them. The rest of them fled.
The only problem is that the Agents of Death are
not immune to acid so it splashed on them.
Saskia's wings were completely taken out by the acid, but mostly protected the rest of them, melting away as goopy flesh spilled to the floor and they were sent hurtling towards the ground. They landed with a crash and nasty crunch, groaning.
Ella's eyes widened and she spun to try and protect Lisa, acid covering a large portion of her body and burning away at her clothes, flesh… everything down to the bone. She fell on her non dissolved side, weakly trying to push them back to land.
"Fuckkk…" Saskia rolled onto their stomach, grasping at their backpack for a potion.
"Let's not do that again."”Hold on!” Lisa shouted as she ran over to Ella and put her hands on… whatever wasn’t dissolved. The Healing Spiders forced their way out of Lisa’s pores and onto Ella, which they began digging into her flesh to heal her. Lisa sighed in relief before she turned to Saskia,
”… Let’s save the potions,” Lisa said as she walked over to them…
"Sure," Saskia groaned, face twisting in pain as their bones started snapping back into place and they pulled their damaged wings back into their body.
"My clothes" Ella sobbed as she got healed enough to react… but she was now practically naked because of the acid burning away most of what she was wearing.
"At least you brought plenty to change into," Saskia said drily.
”There’s no one here to see, Ella! Relax!” Lisa rolled her eyes, as she threw Healing-Spiders at Saskia. Though they were wasting time, the butterflies were probably recuperating and ready to attack again.
”We should find somewhere to take five.”Then blankly looked at the lake.
”… Away from water, though.”Saskia nodded tiredly, getting to their feet. Ella dragged herself away from the water, opening her backpack to at least pull on a purple hoodie that covered enough.
"Let's follow the river but keep a safe distance?" Saskia suggested, pointing to where it went into the forest.
”Sounds like a plan!” Lisa shouted, gesturing for them to follow after them. She walked into the forest… this place was honestly kind of beautiful. Like a magical forest in the movies! Every step she took here was gorgeous! Except they’re literally in hell, Lisa sighed as she kept her eyes open. Every cricket chirping could be a monster…
There were footsteps approaching. Loud. Distinct. And odd for this place, mechanical. Lisa quickly gestured towards a downed tree and dove underneath it.
Saskia grabbed Ella and pulled her under it, squeezing in tight beside Lisa. They carefully pulled their knife out of their pants, making a small cut on their thumb, blood just coating their hand. Ella put her hands over her mouth as if to even silence her breathing. While a slick, black exoskeleton covered Lisa… However, she grew extra eyes as she poked her head over the tree branch out of curiosity - a dangerous move she knew.
A group of…
robots? Scrolled by… there had to be around a dozen of them as they robotically marched by wielding various weapons. Thankfully, they were gone as fast as they showed up, and Lisa sighed as she sat down.
Saskia pointed up behind them, then held up, mouthing, ‘gone?’ Ella dropped her hands, rolling forward and putting her head on her knees with a heavy sigh. Saskia silently patted her.
Their footsteps were in the distance before they disappeared.
”... I mean, you don’t hear them anymore, do you?” Lisa whispered, laughing as she stood straight up and the exoskeleton disappeared. Lisa gestured for them to follow her and continued down the same path she was going before the weird robot knights appeared. Giving the river a healthy distance, they eventually made it to another lake… and down a path to their left was a
cozy looking cabin. Strange down here, yes, but Lisa looked to her comrades and said,
”You all want to take a break there?”"Beats being outside," Saskia intoned, looking at the cabin with a good deal of suspicion before they shrugged.
"Hopefully there’s somewhere comfy to sit!" Ella said cheerfully, skipping over to the cabin. She paused in front of the door, hesitating a moment before just straight up going to open it…revealing a mess of a place where furniture was tossed all around. However, there were large scratch marks on the walls and floor, and some of the furniture. Other than that, the place looked alright. Lisa walked in and looked to the left and the right,
”Let’s make sure this place is safe before we settle in,” Lisa nodded her head.
Good plan!" Ella ran ahead, starting to search the cabin. Saskia rolled their eyes and followed close behind her as she checked all the other rooms, and properly searched the main one.
"All clear! Let’s take a break!"Ella, somehow full of energy, picked up a few chairs that had been thrown around and righted them. Then she took off her backpack, pulling out a pair of pants and putting them on so she wasn’t just wearing a hoodie.
"We need to find a way to actually navigate," Saskia said as they sat down, frowning.
Lisa sat down next to Saskia…
”Like how? A map?” Lisa scoffed, before she poked her finger onto the table, as if she was navigating on an invisible map.
”Here’s death. And here is death. Here? More death!”"A direct path to the All-Blade so we can fight less would be nice," Saskia rolled their eyes.
"Maybe we’ll find someone who knows!" Ella said, taking her own seat with a sigh.
"This is so tiring! I think I preferred fighting Morningstar and his minions…"”We haven’t even met another person!” Lisa said, before she clarified,
”.., Other than Chloe.”Lisa stretched,
”We’re on our own here, I’m afraid. No one is coming to save us.”"We don’t need saved, anyway, we’re capable by ourselves! Except we don’t know where we’re going… but we’ll figure it out!" Ella said with a grin.
"I think, before we go out again, we should agree on some things," Saskia said.
"Hand signals, plans… in case we can’t talk again. It worked last time, but we might get caught out."”Yes, what should this one mean?” Lisa said, before she flipped off an empty space.
Saskia threw their hands up, looking a bit frustrated.
"Fine, we won’t preplan then. Let’s just die."”I’m just lightening thr mood, re-lax,” Lisa laughed.
”What did you have in mind?”"Some are obvious, like stop, be quiet and the like," Saskia started, tapping their fingers on their legs.
"But others… ‘monster here’, attack, safe. I suppose a thumbs up works for when somethings safe. Really we need a way to coordinate without talking. We-""Oh!" Ella jumped up.
"We can use cool hand gestures like sailor moon would!"She posed, pointing forward with her right hand while her left hand crossed in front of her with the middle two fingers down.
"... And what would that mean?""Attack, obviously!" ”… That’d throw the monsters for a loop,” Lisa chuckled.
”We definitely need a hand gesture for ‘haul ass.’”Lisa looked at Ella,
”…One that’s not from Sailor Moon.”"... Aw," Ella pouted, hanging her head.
Saskia put their hand on their chin as they thought.
"What about this?"They held up their hand, first two fingers up, then rotated it sharply once.
"Noticeable enough, not something we’d normally do, not obvious to monsters. Or…"They chuckled.
"We just flip each other off to mean ‘haul ass.’"”No, we should be flipping the enemy off,” Lisa laughed, before she put up two fingers,
”What about two fingers like deuces!? I mean, you wouldn’t get that, Saskia, beeeeeeeeecause…”Lisa looked at her.
”... No reason.”"I get the reason," Saskia laughed, shrugging.
"Sure, let’s do that.""But Sailor Moon is cooler!" Ella shouted.
Saskia ignored her.
"What about a sign for ‘I’m about to blast the area with acid get away’?"”That could- shit, what could that be?” Lisa rubbed her chin, before she raised a finger as an imaginary lightbulb (with spiders, of course) illuminated in that deranged head of hers! She hopped up and threw her hands in the air like it was a surprise. Lisa looked to Saskia and Ella before she did it again, hoping that they would get it.
Saskia narrowed their eyes as they watched, before nodding.
"It does look like an explosion. It’ll work." "It’d be cooler if you spun while doing it and struck a pose at the end!" Ella said.
Saskia rolled their eyes yet again.
"We’re not doing this to look cool." ”I mean, while Ella is posing, she can distract the monsters so we can get away!” Lisa laughed before she yawned.
”So, do you all just want to lock this place up and nap for a while?”"True, it’ll be a necessary sacrifice," Saskia laughed, while Ella pouted.
"Yeah, let’s nap while we can. Who knows when we’ll next get the chance?" "I’ll block the doors!" Ella said, already lifting up furniture to move towards the front door.
Darwin’s Bark spiders came from the hidden corners of the room and began weaving a thick web… around the furniture they placed against the walls and front doors. Some extra on the windows and vents, and once they were done, Lisa summoned a mass of venomous spiders and positioned them around the room, commanded to attack
anyone who entered. With that done, the bed was still in one piece, and together, they flipped it over and
cuddled.
Lisa was peacefully sleeping as the littlest spoon.
A bang on the front door awoke them. Lisa’s eyes shot open.
“... Come out!” They faintly heard the voice. “We have the building surrounded!”
Ella let go of both Saskia and Lisa, sitting bolt upright with wide eyes. She gestured to the door, then held her hands up in a shrug position.
"Go out, set them on fire, cover them in acid, haul ass?" they whispered.
”If they have the building surrounded, that might not work,” Lisa said as she stood straight up and looked to her left and then the right.
”We might need a flying spider, so we can just burst out the ceiling.”“Come out!” The voice spoke again, sounding oddly metallic. “... Or we’re coming in there.”
"Make the spider," Saskia said, frowning, properly getting up.
"Do we go outside?!" Ella whispered, looking panicked as she got up.
”Yes, we’re going outside… when we fly through the ceiling and escape,” Lisa said as a tiny spider was wrapped in a glowing cocoon with both the hybridization and enlarge spells applied to it. It began slowly growing in size, as Lisa shook in fear.
”Okay, we just need to chill, and we can we just-”Then it burst through the wall, which was not what Lisa expected. She was expecting a human being, but this thing… this thing… it was some type of
robot. It stood over twelve feet tall, had shiny metal armor… and held an oversized musket in both hands.
“By the order of the King,” The robot said. “All magical users must submit to the King’s Rule and join the Kingdom’s armies. Do you accept?”
"What's the army's uniform?" Ella asked immediately.
Yes, stall! Lisa thought to herself as she glanced at the glowing cocoon, which grew bigger and bigger.
“If you comply,” The robot said, “Come with us and we can induct you into the Kingdom.”
”That doesn't answer my question!" Ella said.
"What's the uniform like? Is it cute? Or do we have to wear metal suits?"“There
is no uniform,” The Robot answered.
"Oh, so we can wear whatever we want? Like this?" Ella spun, and as she did her clothes magically transformed into her magical girl outfit. She then struck a pose.
"Super cute, right?!"The robot lunged for Ella.
“... We have no time for these games!”
"Awwwww," Ella pouted. Her leg was coated in a rainbow light and she kicked right at the Robot's stomach as it went for her. It left a dent, stumbling backwards, and dropped its musket.
”The Spider’s almost ready!” Lisa shouted as the spider was almost sedan sized…
… Then other robots burst in, brandishing oversized muskets, swords, and even… a fucking cannon.
”Fuck, fuck, shit, fuck, fuck!” Lisa hissed through her teeth as she immediately attempted to use the Chitionious Spear… only for it to bounce off their armor immediately. However, Lisa switched to using Snare which… was just as effective against them.
Ella ran towards the robot with the cannon, going to bring her foot down on the cannon itself. Saskia grimaced, blood tendril forming on their back and lashing out in front of them to try and smack the robots aside.
”Keep the spider safe," they said to Lisa.
”I’m trying here!” Lisa shouted, knocking a sword free with her chitinous spear.
”Nothing is working!” Lisa hissed.
“… Fall back!” One of the robotic knights shouted before funneling through the nearest exit. Lisa was perplexed.
”… Well,” Lisa shrugged.
”That was easy.”"They barely put up a fight!" Ella shouted, running back over to Saskia and Lisa. Her legs were still surrounded by prismatic lights.
"Maybe they went to get a trebuchet?" Saskia intoned.
"We should still leave."The spider burst out of its cocoon, and Lisa smiled… up until a cannon round blew through the house. The house was lit up by a barrage of musket and cannon fire. Lisa immediately hit the deck, fearing the worst for her spider.
Saskia dropped to the floor, turning their head and frowning.
"Close enough to a trebuchet.""We can't fight guns!" Ella yelled, lying on her stomach and starting to awkwardly army crawl towards the door.
"You have ranged magic. Throw a fireball at them.""I'll burn the house down!"”The house is already getting blown to bits!” Lisa shouted, throwing her hands over her head.
”We gotta protect the-”A cannonball blew The spider in half before her eyes, and it fell over.
Dead.”... Shit.”However, the gun and cannon fire stopped, and a few heavy steps from the robots approached...
"Get back!" Ella shouted, getting to her knees. She pushed her hands in front of her, large bursts of fire shooting out of both of them. She spread them to the side to torch the whole area in front of her… burns appearing on her own hands and arms as the flames got larger than normal. The footsteps stopped.
… Then, the sounds of reloading started.
Lisa looked up; the roof was still mostly intact despite the house getting blasted to bits. She had an idea. It's a crazy idea, but it's still
leagues better than getting their teeth kicked in by a group of robots. She crawled over to Saskia and said,
”... We need to cast Blood Rain. It’s the only way we’re getting out of this!” Lisa summoned spiders with pulsating blood sacks in the sky; Saskia had to activate the blood rain part. Then, they hoped the cabin's roof could withstand acid. Saskia held up their hands, expanding the blood sacks in the spiders until they exploded, raining down acidic blood on everything underneath them. There was that sizzling sound as the robots outside were dissolved - and unfortunately, so was the cabin's roof. Lisa screamed in pain as some of the acid hit her in the back. It burned holes in her back, but she was still capable of standing up.
Then, it began binding, which was the entire plan. Lisa looked up at a hole in the wall, climbed to her feet, and immediately darted to it.
”... Run!” Lisa shouted.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Saskia muttered as they jumped up, blood and flesh sliding off their back onto the ground as they ran after Lisa.
"YOU DIDN'T USE THE GESTURE!" Ella screamed as she followed behind, acid coating her shoulders and chest, some splashed on her face. She practically shoved the other two through the hole in the wall, using the ice scepter to fill it with a massive block of ice.
”FUCK THE GESTURE, JUST RUN! Lisa shouted as she hauled ass through the hall and into the woods… she caught sight of the robots and, as planned. They were dissolved in acids,
then bound, which immobilized them enough for Lisa and the gang to haul ass into the woods…
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