Now that both Lucian and Halcyon had been let through the gate by the Sentinel, the air had changed. She had awakened… but something was off.
She was quiet again… Despite, them barely having anything to talked about it wasn't normal for her to be quiet, after something like that.
He noticed immediately. Her silence wasn't like before… withdrawn. He had no idea what she'd experienced while unconscious, but judging from her demeanor, it wasn't anything good.
Still, now wasn't the time to dig into it. They had to keep moving forward. Especially since this place… wasn't the exit.
Why would a Sentinel lead them forward?
They stepped beyond the gateway, their eyes darted around. A crumbled mausoleum, it's walls layered by dust and cobwebs. Shattered pillars and shattered stone coffins lined the hall, the air thick of decay.
"Ka! Ka!"
Suddenly, a sharp cracking echoed around them. And before either of them could react, the ground beneath their feet gave way.
They tumbled… Twisting, flailing through darkness.
Halcyon stopped falling abruptly… She felt suspended… Something held her midair?
For Lucian, his agile and control of his decent, he managed to land on his feet… but not on solid ground?
Skulls… humans, creatures. Thousands, did the Sentinel lead us to our deaths also like other or this was another inevitable trap set by the builders.
"What creature could cause this much death?"
Above him, Halcyon twisted and turn… She realized that she was stuck she couldn't move…Her eyes scanned the area and widened as she saw what held her… thick web lines crisscrossed her body.
And more skulls… So many skulls, used as a floor.
She chuckled slight. "Lucian help me!" She called down.
Lucian looked up, spotted her trapped in the webbing. With a grim nod, he drew his dagger and began scaling the mound of bones. One quick slash, and…
"Ekkk!"
As Halcyon dropped, landing hard on her feet. She winced, brushing off strands of silk when…
A sudden screech shattered the silence. Both of them turned… They weren't surprised… but they were definitely unnerved.
A towering nearly seven feet tall spider, emerged from the shadows.
Its obsidian-black exoskeleton gleamed like polished stone, jagged emerald patterns etched across its segmented form. Eight glowing green eyes burned from its armored skull. Its legs clicked against the bones.
"A Xiasrad spider," Lucian said. "So, you're the one behind all the killing."
Halcyon smirked nervously, one brow raised. "I'm guessing… you won't let us walk out of here."
She turned to Lucian. "You gonna kill it?"
He didn't answer.
Lucian said nothing, he had no expression not even a smirk like he usually does before a major or entertaining fight… It caused her to frown deeply.
"I can't."
"What do yo…"
Before she could finish, the Xiasrad lunged. One of its legs slammed down between them, cracking skull and stone into dust... They both leapt away.
Lucian skidded across the mound of skulls. "Can we talk about this after…" Another leg smashed where he'd been. "… we survive this?"
The spider roared, a shriek that echoed across the crumbled walls, rattling the skulls.
Without hesitation, Lucian dashed forward, drawing a short brown sword. His boots slid across skull, beneath a leg as it came crashing down, dodging just in time. Dust and fragments exploded around him.
Twisting mid-run, feeling the air pressure whip past his ear as another leg sliced downward... It was a little faster and he would've been crushed.
Grinding his teeth, Lucian pushed off the ground, propelling himself into a short sprint. As he shot forward, he dragged the edge of his short sword across the Xiasrad underbelly, it's metal screeched against it's tough, scaled surface… it sent tiny sparks flying, but as he passed he noticed, that his blade barely left more than a shallow scratch.
Damn. You and your tough scales… speed would have work but I don't have any.
Despite being faster than most humans, that had max capability of their bodies… This spider wasn't normal. It was a demonic variant… stronger, faster, supernatural. That a natural fiend possessed power, and superior strength and speed compared to humans.
He was forced to retreat as another leg stabbed at him, he flipped backward, narrowly avoiding being skewered… No sooner as his feet hit the ground, he saw it… Two small, fast-moving shapes erupting from the giant spider's body… he brows frowned as it was spiderlings, each the size of large dogs, scuttled across the floor with terrifying speed.
Before he could react, sharp cracks echoed through the mausoleum.
"Thwip! Thwip!"
Two quick bolts shot past him, each one embedded cleanly into the heads of the rushing spiderlings… The bolt momentum carried their bodies a few more feet before they collapsed, legs still twitching.
Untop a small stack of skulls, Halcyon reloaded her crossbow swiftly, her eyes were sharp never leaving him.
"I've got your back," she called out.
Lucian nodded briefly, she at ease, before he lunged to the side as another one of the Xiasrad leg crashed down where he had just stood… The skulls around him shook violently, making him stumble, about to fall.
The giant Xiasrad shrieked… At the same time a wet, grinding sounded as it shifted it's many eyes toward Halcyon. Without warning, it reared back… In that moment a thick strand of sticky webbing launching from its segmented, aimed straight at her.
Halcyon already being weak, she barely had time to react.
Lucian had noticed, he moved on instinct. He hurled one of his dagger with all his strength he could muster... It blade spun in a tight arc and sliced through the webbing just before it could entangle her… She watched as the strands fell at her feet.
But the Xiasrad wasn't finished. It spat another web, this time at Lucian…. As he doged he was halfway through, he became vulnerable.
"Thwip!"
Halcyon bolt zipped through the air, ripping cleanly through the new web. Lucian used the moment of freedom to roll forward, he hoped up from a low crouch.
They locked eyes for a split second across the battlefield.
This spider is currently way to fast and durable for us… now matter how I will attack nothing will happen… it even has it's spiderlings and it's two of us… her marksmanship could help but there will have two many spiderlings.
So Lucian had a plan. He looked to his left. "Restrict its movement!"
Halcyon didn't hesitate… it came naturally to her as, she had experienced from all there past fight. She dropped her crossbow…
Even took a deep breath and murmured to herself. "You can do this."
As she finished, she crouched down, her hand rest onto a skull. Still, looking at Lucian, who was still dodging that Xiasrad legs she whispered.
"Frostbind."
At the same time, intricate circles appeared around her hand pulsed of energy into the ground… The air in the mausoleum dropped it became cold. That even the Xiasrad stopped and looked at her.
But before it could do anything, multiple thick crystal ice blue chains shot up from the ground, the spider was spoke that it attacked back destroying one, but another erupted instantly all wrapped around limbs, the ice chain felt blood chilling cold onto its body.
The chains even pulse of freezing energy, spreading cold through there body, making them slower as each second passed… Their movement became difficult.
Halcyon began coughing loudly, but he strenght hardened she couldn't stop now, to hide the blood.
The Xiasrad screeched in rage, its body stumbling sideways under the restraint.
Lucian took the opening…
He sprinted forward, weaving between the spider's flailing legs. He climbed onto a pile of shattered skulls and broken bones beneath it, using the unstable mound to launch himself upward.
Mid-Air, he yanked two throwing knives from his belt and flung them at a jagged rock formations hanging above the spider... he noticed as Halcyon prepared… The first dagger embedded deeply into a cracked part kf the stlne, the second hit slightly lower, widening the fracture.
But it still wasn't enough.
Lucian took a deep breath, focused, and with a final spinning kick, he launched his short sword like a missile, sending it slamming into the center of the cracked rock.
It weakened the rock as it groaned.
Then finally the rock split from the ceiling and plummeted downward.
Xiasrad shrieked as it noticed, trying to pull away, but Halcyon chain held it down... It moved to slowly.
"BOOM!"
Jagged stone slammed straight into the Xiasrad massive head, splitting its scales skull… it blood exploded outward, painting the mausoleum floor in black.
The spider twitched violently once… then lay still, legs curling inward like a dead flower.
Silence filled the area… broken only by the sound of both their heavy breathing.
Lucian landed hard, rolling across the ground before coming up to one knee. He wiped the sweat and grime from his forehead.
Halcyon hopped down and approached him. She gave him a smirk as she walked
"Not bad," she said, nudging one of the dead spiderlings with her boot. "That sword kick? Show-off."
Lucian chuckled hoarsely, retrieving his short sword from among the rubble. "Could've been worse. You could've missed that web shot and I'd be hanging like a wrapped gift."
She laughed, low and genuine. "Please. You wouldn't look half as good in spider silk."
Before Lucian could react or say anything, at the corner of their eyes they noticed that the Xiasrad glowed. As they looked, they saw a glowing man floating in the air before they could do anything it flew threw the walls.
"A spirit… possessed the spider."
Halcyon's jaw clenched. "That explains it's physical strength. And intelligence."
They knew that, spirits can manifest physically and can choose whatever they will manifest into… or possess on. They would gain that race abilities and weaknesses.
They both stood there and ignored the spirit, they had no reason to chase as they had a feel they will encounter it again or something similar.
As Halcyon watched she looked at Lucian as he bent the spider leg kicked it. And, it snapped, he placed it under his cloak…