Escape from the Spider Queen

I needed to think of something. The longer I wait the less time there is. There aren't many options. Fighting is a dumb idea. I have no chance of winning. Even if I was in my top condition I still wouldn't be able to win.

My mana could run out at any moment. Entering the shadow realm isn't an option. There isn't much of a choice. I will have to charge and grab everyone. There seem to be about five cocoons that haven't been touched yet.

If I quickly try to run, grab a few and throw them into the shadow realm, collect the remaining ones and run out, I could manage it. However, I don't know how long I can keep the shadow realm holding them inside without losing them within the realm.

I grabbed my dagger and decided to charge straight at the Queen spider. To prevent her from eating the bodies I quickly sliced part of her abdomen and sprinted towards the cocoons. I grabbed the one closest to the Queen and sliced open my shadow realm, dropped the body in and closed it.

Next, I went for the cocoon laying on the side alone. At this point, all the spiders were charging at me. I had to slice my way through them. I managed to get to the cocoon and quickly throw it into the shadow realm. Now with all the spiders jumping around trying to attack me, it's going to be impossible to go out of the shadow realm.

The only solution I have is to just travel through the shadow realm. There isn't much time, I dragged the bodies across the shadow realm with me closer towards the other. Luckily the spiders can't see within the shadow realm. I was able to drag the remaining bodies into the shadow realm. All that was left was getting out.

Time was running out. Shit. Shit. Shit. This was harder than I expected. Having this many people inside the shadow realm with me is extremely exhausting. This is why I didn't want to do it like this.

I dragged them towards the exit from the cave. Since the spiders were disorientated it was far easier to escape. I managed to get a safe distance, as fast as I could, I quickly dragged them out of the shadow realm before it was too late.

They were all out. Just in time. I have exhausted all of my mana and energy. I laid down on the cave wall surrounded by cocoons. I was breathing extremely heavily. I need to get some water, but I don't have my canteen on me.

I took a moment to catch my breath and I began to drag the cocoons out of the cave. The girl was still there, she seemed to be asleep again. One by one I dragged each cocoon out, once I was finally done, I got the rest I needed.

After a few minutes of laying around the girl from earlier woke up.

She rubbed her eyes and looked around. "Oh.. you're back… alive…" Her eyes quickly widened. She seemed relieved but also in disbelief.

"Here, there's still water left inside" She handed over to me my canteen.

I grabbed it and guzzled the remaining water down within seconds. I said "Thank you" while trying to catch my breath. I laid myself down flat on the ground and relaxed my breathing. Looking up at the sky I noticed that it was starting to get late. We better hurry and get those guys out of the cocoons and head back to the camp.

The only real issue will be trying to get out of the Spider Queen's realm. Considering the size of her and the amount of mana she has, it's calm to say she won't have any issues keeping the realm up for days. I will have to discuss this with the rest of the refugees and figure out a plan going forward.

I got up from the ground and pulled out my daggers. I began cutting open each of the cocoons and dragging them out. The girl seemed to be doing much better and helped out in moving them out of the cocoons.

All the five were now out of the cocoons and seemed to be physically fine. However, they don't seem to want to wake up. Could be potentially due to the poison from the spider, will need to give them some time for it to wear off.

"How did you manage to beat the Spider Queen?" The girl asked me.

"I didn't," I replied whilst laying on the ground.

"So how did you get them out alive?" She looked over at me confused

"I just threw them into my shadow realm, although it was exhausting and I almost drained all my mana, I just managed to make it out." I explained.

"Oh, wow, that's quite amazing I have to say. Are we out of the magical thing from the spider queen?"

"Not at all, she's still alive and from what I saw. We won't be leaving any time soon unless we kill her."

"Wow, are you able to kill her? Or are we going to be stuck here?" She continued to ask questions.

"No, I can't kill her. Not alone at least."

She stared at me, thinking what to say. She seemed a little worried. Makes sense considering I just said that I can't defeat the Spider Queen, however, she seemed to ignore the fact I said 'not alone.

"I never asked." She looked at me as I asked. "What's your name?"

"My name… is… Maelyrra… Maelyrra Aegella."

Aegella… Aegella… Maelyrra Aegella… I feel like I heard this name before. Oh well, It probably wasn't important enough to remember anyway.

"What about you?" She asked curiously.

"My name is… Fiwen Tewen."

"Wow, such a fancy name. It doesn't fit an assassin like you. I was expecting something… cooler I guess."

That felt a bit personal. "I didn't go by my actual name while working as an assassin."

"Ohh, you had a pseudonym? What was it?"

"Yeah, I went by the name Zeng."

She stared at me in disappointment.

"Really? Zeng? That's it? That's so lame."

Why is it always the short women who are never satisfied with anything?

"Ha… ha… If you say so."

She looked over to me in concern and said "Oh… sorry didn't mean to offend you."

She was starting to get annoying now. I wasn't feeling the unproductive chit chatting but since she was able to think on her own now, we no longer had a reason to sit around doing nothing.

I stood up and said "Let's get going. You seem to have plenty of energy."

She looked up at me and didn't say a word.

"Come on. The quicker we get going, the quicker we can get back to the camp."

"But…" She carried on staring at me with her cat eyes.

"You seem to have plenty of energy. What's the issue?"

"Talking doesn't take as much energy as moving around does. I haven't recovered enough to move around yet." She explained.

She does have a point but this isn't the best spot to be resting in. I need to get us moved somewhere further away from the cave.

"We won't go all the way to the camp. Instead, we will move somewhere safe."

"Safe from what?"

"From the spiders, we are right next to the cave. Though you said you don't have the energy to move so I guess I can leave you here while I go search for a safe spot."

Her eyes grew wide and she jumped up. "Haha, I suddenly found some spare energy to move a little bit!"

"That's great, let's get moving."

I got her to grab one of the cocoons while I grabbed the rest. Although it will be tiring, there isn't much I can do about this.

We travelled for a short while and managed to find a nice spot to camp in. We should be far enough to be undetected by the spiders here. Not like we could go any further even if we needed to, Maelyrra is already worn out.

"We can camp out here, we should be out of their range."

"G… g… gre… at…" She let out her final word before passing out on the ground.

She tried her best. I did push her to her limits in the end. I got all the guys out of their cocoons and checked to make sure that they are alive. Luckily they were all fine. Although they seem slightly dehydrated. I will have to go find some water, but I can't leave these guys here unattended.

I need to somehow recover as much mana as possible, but I'm not sure when I will get enough time to rest. It has been a few days since I had proper rest. Since I betrayed the assassins I haven't had the time to restfully. Was this a good idea…

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"Hey"

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"Hey"

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"Wake up"

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"HEY"

"Uh-huh?" Someone woke me up…

"WAKE UP!" The yelling only got louder.

Wait… someone woke me up.

"OII! WAK-"

I quickly got myself up and looked around. From what it looks like, it's already around noon. I'm not sure what time I fell asleep but I must have been out for a while either way.

"Oh, great you're awake!" Maelyrra said cheerfully.

Looking around everything seemed to be fine. All the guys who were passed out last night are wide awake and moving as if nothing happened to them.

"We ran out of water while you were asleep so I got some for them," Maelyrra mentioned.

"Wow, how'd you get the water? I don't recall there being a river or anything nearby" I questioned.

"Magic." She said with a big smile on her face.

"What do you mean by magic?"

"I mean that I used my magic and it so happens that my attribute is water." She replied with a smug look.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? This makes everything far less stressful."

"How does this make anything less stressful? Also, you never asked. Hmph." She said while pouting.

"We don't have to worry about any water issues this way. That's assuming you don't run out of mana easily. Also means you can fight since you can use magic."

She stared at me with a frown. I guess she didn't approve of her getting used in this way.

"You did a good job though. Glad you managed to take care of them while I was resting." I complimented her and patted her on the head.

She smiled while I patted her head, it seemed like she just wanted to be appreciated for her work.

"It's time to get going. We gotta get back to camp and figure out what to do next."