V2 C1 - The Ash Woods

The Ash Woods were a grim, dirty and murky place, one that David didn’t want to spend a second in longer than necessary.

Monsters and animals alike watched him as he moved, many of them growled or hissed as he passed by. There was little natural light penetrating the thick tree line and the ground was rough with tree roots protruding through the dirt, obstructing every single path David took.

I’ll send someone else next time.

David had arrived early in the day and spent four hours walking deeper into them.

The deeper he got, the more eyes and webs appeared around him.

Their size also grew.

Though David had never been scared of spiders, it was impossible not to feel a chill when he had hundreds of eyes staring at him.

They possess enough intelligence to simply stay back and observe me. If they can be tamed, they’ll expand my options dramatically.

After walking for another twenty minutes, David came across a large clearing that looked like it had once been a lake, until something had dried it out, leaving a barren, cracked crevice in its place with a dark cave on the far side.

Once in the clearing, a hundred gigantic spiders gathered around its edges, staring at him, clacking their fangs together.

David paid them no mind.

He couldn’t afford to.

The Demon Emperor isn’t scared of spiders! David told himself. There isn’t anything in these woods that could even scratch you. Remember that.

“How unfortunate. It would seem that there are no intelligent spiders here to greet me.” David folded his arms. “It seems that the rumours of your intelligence were exaggerated.”

The spiders went silent.

So, they can at least understand what I’m saying. Or did they realise that I’m stronger than them? Actually, am I stronger than them?

As David was lost in thought, several slow, powerful steps rang out from the cave before him. Whatever sort of spider it was, it sounded much bigger than the others around him.

Great. The mum’s even bigger.

One by one, the several metre long, thin legs of a great creature crawled out of the cave, dragging out with it the spider’s gigantic body and hideous fangs, dripping with a green glowing substance. The spiders around David turned to face the gigantic spider as it finished stepping out of its cave before him.

David swallowed quietly in his helmet, trying not to panic.

It’s bigger than my house on Earth!

David cleared his throat and examined the purple-blue skin of the spider more closely.

Unlike the others he had seen, there were few dents and scars along its body, it still had all eight of its bright red eyes, and it gave off an aura that seemed to say it could, and would, kill anything that threatened it.

“…Oh? Are you the intelligent one around here?”

No matter how terrifying it was, David couldn’t afford to look weak before it.

He had to convince the spiders to join him no matter what, even if it meant beating them into submission.

‘It is as I suspected,’ an eerier voice spoke from the spider, yet its mouth did not move. ‘You are the great being I sensed.’

“You sensed me?”

‘A while ago, I felt a great disturbance in the air of this accursed country. Carried on the wind was a dark, foul presence like none I have ever felt, one that I could only describe as a calamity that had been brought into our world. It seems that you are that calamity, aren’t you?’

David smiled beneath his helmet. “Oh? You can sense my true strength?”

‘Of course, Dark Lord. Your presence on the wind was oppressive and heavy. To be in your presence face to face like this, it is a feeling so unpleasant I fear for all those that oppose you.’

Did I really make that big of an impact when I was first summoned here? I didn’t feel anything like what this spider’s describing, but she’s acting as if I sent out a pulse or- David’s eyes widened. Wait a minute.

“You said that you detected my presence when I first arrived in this world?”

‘Indeed, Dark Lord. I am sure that I am not the only one who felt your presence when you arrived in this world. Many other creatures that hide in the shadows did and would submit to you, too.’

And many of them would want me dead.

David clicked his tongue quietly.

Without his knowledge, Eris had already taken action to undermine his chances of success.

If someone as strong as this spider felt my arrival, then surely something else must have too! That definitely means that I made the right choice by keeping my head down. If she really did feel my arrival that day, anyone else who sensed it might be able to figure out that I caused it just by looking at me!

‘Is something wrong, Dark lord?’

David shook his head. “Pay it no heed. Tell me, spider, do you have a name?”

‘Jorōgumo.’

“Then, Jorōgumo, I make you this offer: join me or-”

‘I happily accept your offer, Dark Lord.’ The spider bowed its head a little. 'I, Jorōgumo, and my brood, pledge themselves to the Dark Lord and his cause.’

“You would pledge your loyalty so easily?”

‘Of course, Dark Lord, for had you not arrived here today, I would have sought you out to offer myself to you.’

“Why?”

‘Because.’ The spider’s body began to glow a faint purple colour. ‘I know when to choose the winning side.’

As the purple light enveloped the spider’s body, it began to shrink and change, shifting into that of a much smaller humanoid figure.

Once the light had faded, David could see what Jorōgumo’s human form looked like more clearly.

She had silk like skin, red eyes with four small pupils in each eye which then promptly merged together into a single pupil in each eye, and her hair was a strange dark purple colour. She was wearing a white dress with a pattern of silver spider webs on it and, at the top of her dress along the back of her collar, were four spider leg-like spikes.

Jorōgumo curtsied to David and, at the same time, the spiders around them lowered their heads to the ground.

“Once more, I, Jorōgumo, pledge myself to the Dark Lord and his cause. Forgive the deception, Dark Lord, but this form is my true form.”

“It doesn't matter. Knowing that you were originally a humanoid is a benefit more than anything; it is not a form of deceit.”

“As you say, Master.”

Another one who calls me Master? David cringed a little. Will I ever get used to this?

“Then, Jorōgumo.” David opened a portal behind him and held out his hand to her. “Come with me.”

I wonder if Abaddon had an easy time with the giants.

***

Abaddon blocked the fifteen-metre tall giant Suttungr’s fist with his claymore.

An eight metre tall giant kicked at Abaddon's back, but the demon leapt over the foot before cleaving it off with his claymore. The giant howled as Abaddon spun in mid-air and smashed the giant’s face with his fist.

Roughly, he landed on his feet as the eight-metre fell down dead. Suttungr threw a flurry of punches and kicks at Abaddon, but the demon lazily blocked them all with his blade, before slicing Suttungr’s foot off.

The giant grasped at the wound and fell forwards just as Abaddon swung his claymore through Suttungr’s body, cutting him cleanly in two.

With the remaining attackers dead, Abaddon rested his claymore on his shoulders and roared at the hundred remaining giants around him.

The tribe dropped to their knees in rapid succession, lowering their heads in submission, including the other fifteen metre giants and their chief, Ölvaldi.

Their pride was wounded, their pain was agonising, but they had to submit.

Four of their kin had died fighting Abaddon at once.

“If only you’d done that sooner. Your son would still be alive, Ölvaldi. Still.” He leant closer to Ölvaldi’s ear and whispered, “At least you have the rest of your family.”

Abaddon laughed proudly.

Look, Lord Emperor, I did it! I subjugated the giants for you!