Arachcana
Level 5
1000/1000 HP
The spiders kept pouring out of the broken corpse until they created a copy of Kiula that was the height of the room, staring down at the party. Grey glanced at Amelia’s body, on the other side of the spiders.
“I’ll focus on bringing Amelia back,” they said as they focused their healing beam on Patrick, “Draw this thing’s attention.”
“I’m running low on mana,” Patrick told James. “Got two firebolts in me at most.”
“Focus on basic attacks,” James told him. “I’ll handle the punching.”
“I can hear you!” Kiula shouted. The voice was still distinctly heard, but spoken by thousands of mouths. She raised her hand and spiders flooded out. Patrick and Grey threw energy bolts to shred through them, but there were just too many to destroy quickly.
The three split up as spiders poured down on their location. James ran towards the monster and slammed on the ground. The ensuing shockwave destabilised the spiders a little, but most of them quickly reorganised, not losing Kiula’s shape. The few that were shaken loose fell onto James and bit him.
Cieth
250/350 HP
Poison
---
Poison
Status
Take 1 damage every 2 seconds.
James started choking as he felt the spider’s toxin enter his veins. He tried to shake them off, but they were already crawling into his armour. The massive copy of Kiula encircled him, walls of arachnids slowly building up around him. He swung his sword, but it was like trying to cut through water, and the spiders continued to bite at him. This was added to by a group of spiders balling into a fist and punching him in the face. James looked up as the walls of spiders came together at the top, preparing to fall and crush him.
Skibabylon
Revive
---
GlassAngel
5/200 HP
Amelia leapt up, spun around and slashed the tower in two.
GlassAngel
Whirlwind Slash
---
Arachana
905/1000 HP
The walls scattered and Kiula’s mass of spiders moved to the centre of the room. Amelia landed next to James and he threw her a potion, which she gulped down.
GlassAngel
55/200 HP
“It’s my last one,” James told her. “Don’t die again, we’re spending everything to bring you back.”
“At least she’s not covered in spiders,” Grey said, sending out a quick burst of healing before directing his energy towards James.
Skibabylon
Area Heal
---
Cieth
191/350 HP
Poison
---
GlassAngel
75/200 HP
---
Skibabylon
Healing Pool
310/600
---
Skibabylon
Healing Beam.
The monster tried to swing at James again, but they were temporarily forced off balance by a sudden shockwave in the air and the sound of shattering glass.
Trident743
Shatter
---
Arachana
Break
After the spell found its purchase, the mass seemed noticeably more unstable, not moving with the same level of precision.
“Stay still, damn you!” Kiula growled. The spiders shot webbing towards James: only thin strand, but their numbers created a massive stream of the stuff. Amelia smirked and leapt between them, slashing the webbing apart, only for more spiders to open fire at her feet, wrapping her legs.
GlassAngel
Prone
James quickly cut her out of the webbing just before Grey grabbed them both and pulled them under another burst. Amelia ran past them both towards the group of spiders and leapt up into the air, slashing along the monster before stabbing it right in the chest.
GlassAngel
Prone Condition removed.
----
GlassAngel
Rising Slash
CHAIN
Piercing Blow
---
Arachana
780/1000 HP
Break
A gaping hole was left in Kiula’s chest as the wall was splattered with dead arachnids. Amelia smirked for a second, until the spiders on Kiula’s face shot webs at her. Suddenly, James appeared in front of Amelia, getting hit by the webbing and being yanked into Kiula.
Cieth
Guard
---
Cieth
110/350 HP
Poison
“I was wondering what made that ability different from regular blocking,” James laughed.
Amelia landed on the floor. Kiula laughed as James desperately fought to get out, before she took a fireball to the chest, giving space for James to break free.
“You keep ignoring me and I don’t like it,” Patrick said. Kiula turned and started sending webbing out at Patrick, which he ducked behind a pillar to avoid. Meanwhile, James staggered back over to Amelia and Grey.
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“Since when could you teleport?” Amelia asked.
“I think I always could, I just never knew that skill worked like that,” James explained. “Makes sense I guess. Not much point taking damage for the person next to you if you can just…block it.”
James winced as the spiders kept biting him under his armour, poison still coursing through his veins.
“I can’t keep up with these spider bites,” Grey said. “You need to get those off you.”
“Easy for you to say, you’re not wearing plate armour!”
The group heard an explosion and turned to see a massive bolt of flame destroying the pillar Patrick was hidden behind. He slammed into the wall and collapsed under the rubble.
Trident743
0/100 HP
Available Revive Time: 3 minutes.
Kiula turned to the others, smirking. “You forget that, even in this form, I am an archmage.”
“I only have one revive left,” Grey said. “Cover me!”
Grey ran towards Patrick while James and Amelia ran at Kiula, slashing at the spiders. Kiula swung her massive fist of spiders at Amelia, but James blocked the blow. He moved back so Amelia could take a stab at the monster’s wrist, slicing spiders to cinders.
GlassAngel
Perfect Strike
---
Arachana
613/1000 HP
Break
“Y’know you can’t keep this up forever,” James told Kiula. “The more spiders we kill, the weaker you’re gonna get.”
Kiula reached up to the ceiling, and the spiders crawled up, covering the domed ceiling. Each one created an ice spike, which proceeded to rain down on James and Amelia. They crouched down and hid behind James’ shield for cover.
Skibabylon
Revive
---
Trident743
5/100 HP
“Don’t die again,” Grey said sternly, pulling Patrick out of the rubble.
“Sure I won’t,” He replied, sending an energy bolt into the rabble of spiders.
The spiders stopped firing, grouped up into a sword shape and leapt off the dome, flying at Patrick and Grey. They dodged to the side and Patrick threw an energy bolt, while Grey absorbed some of the spider’s life force, shrivelling them up and making them fall from the greater horde.
Skibabylon
Draw Pain
---
Arachana
493/1000 HP
Break, Awakening
---
Trident743
45/250 Mana
---
Skibabylon
Healing Pool
340/600 HP
The spiders collapsed onto the floor, reforming into another copy of Kiula that was noticeably smaller and noticeably angrier, only two heads taller than the players. As Grey absorbed the lifeforce into their staff, they slammed it onto the floor, releasing a green burst of energy that enveloped the party’s weapons.
Skibabylon
Strength
---
GlassAngel,Cieth,Trident743
Brave
“We haven’t got enough healing to last forever, so we just cut her down before that’s a problem!” They shouted, pointing their staff at Kiula. “One last push, give it everything you’ve got!”
The four surrounded Kiula and all of them swung her weapons at her, but the group of spiders squished down and sprang back up again. The body rotated and created a disk of light around her. However, Patrick and Grey dodged back while Amelia went under the attack and James simply blocked it, allowing them to land solid hits. They tried to pull their weapons back, but the spiders had wrapped them in their silk, stopping them from budging. Kiula grabbed the faces of the two attackers and slammed them into the wall. She yanked them back to slam them again, but Kiula was then hit by a firebolt to the head.
“Get away from them!” Patrick shouted.
“As you wish,” The spiders shouted back, a few of them laughing. Kiula’s body reformed into a large spider head and tried to bite Patrick, but James appeared between them, the mandibles spearing his chest.
Cieth
Guard
----
Cieth
0/350 HP
Available Respawn Time: 3 minutes
“All that time you spent keeping him alive and he just threw it away to save you,” Kiula gloated. The spiders reformed into her normal form, with James hanging from her hand. The spiders crawled out of him and let him fall to the ground. “How pathetic.”
“You’re one to talk,” Amelia growled, swinging her sword at her. “Most of the time you’ve just ran away and shot lasers at us.”
Kiula ducked under the blade, confused about when Amelia managed to get her sword back, but not deterred. “Throwing yourself in harm’s way is futile when you have the strongest arsenal of magic at your disposal.”
“I’m sure the Dark Lord would want to hear how self centred you are,” Grey said, throwing an energy bolt into Kiula’s back. “You don’t sound like you’d serve him.”
“If it means putting this kingdom on the right path,” Kiula growled “I will do whatever it takes...even if I destroy myself.”
Grey threw another energy bolt, but Kiula dived under it, rushing towards them. Grey swung their staff to intercept her, but the spiders clambered up the staff, covered Grey and bit into him all at once, devouring a large chunk of his flesh.
Skibabylon
0/150 HP
Available Respawn Time: 3 minutes
“I won’t let you kill anyone else!” Amelia screamed as Kiula hurled Grey’s body aside. A wall of energy appeared between them, but Amelia stabbed her blade with enough force to break through it. Her strike left a hole in Kiula, sending spiders flying. The simulacrum was now no taller than Amelia was.
Amelia smiled, twirling her sword, as Kiula staggered back. She tried to hit Kiula with a downwards slash, but the mass of spiders split in two, both creating lances that tried to stab Amelia. She rolled between the two halves, slashing them as she did so.
“Let’s finish this!” Amelia tried to strike Kiula again, but an energy lance flew out of Kiula’s body and straight through her chest.
GlassAngel
0/200 HP
Available Respawn Time: 3 minutes
“Yes,” Kiula hissed. “Let’s finish this, once and for all.”
Kiula turned to Patrick, the last man standing, and smiled.
“All that bravado,” the spiders said, “all those sacrifices, and for what? You’re the only one left.”
Patrick raised his hand, fire forming in his hands. Sparks danced around his feet. “I thought you’d be happier about this, being a duel between mages and all.”
Kiula laughed. “You are no mage comparable to me. You no longer have the Staff of the Hollow. You have three pathetic spells, your mana limited. Unless I’m mistaken, you have one spell left in you. What do you think you can do to an archmage?”
Flames spiraled around Patrick, his cloak billowing like it was in a strong wind, and he smiled “Y’know, Grey said I could do small things that didn’t affect combat as long as it made sense within the game’s story. Let’s see if that extends to big things too.”
Lances of light appeared above Kiula’s head and she threw them towards him. Patrick’s free hand was engulfed in flame and he swung it.
“Mega Firebolt!” He shouted. A pillar of flame shot out of his hand, burning the lances like a hot knife through butter. Kiula put up an energy shield, intending to block the flame, but it held its ground, slowly burning through the energy.
“Impossible!” She screamed. “This is far from the magic a mere Sage is capable of...this cannot be true magic...I won’t accept this!”
She collapsed to her knees, the shield barely holding.
“I will take the power of the Dark Lord! I will rule this kingdom forever! I will not die on my knees!”
“I knew you were lying about all that corruption shit,” Patrick smirked. He pointed his staff at her, which flashed blue for a second. “See ya.”
Kiula screamed in horror as the firebolt finally broke through the shield. It exploded on impact, incinerating her and her spiders in an instant.
Trident743
Firebolt
----
Arachana
0/1000 HP
Break, Awakening
----
Trident743
5/250 Mana
----
Encounter Complete
All Party Members gain 3000 XP
All Party Members gain 1500 Gold
Trident743 and Skibabylon: Level 6
Trident743: +50 HP
Skibabylon: +5 STR
Patrick collapsed to his knees, his staff holding him upright. He smiled.
“Fine, I’ll admit it. This game’s actually fun.”
James Stats: Level: 6 VIT: 0/350 STR: 15 DEF: 25 DEX: 10 SPL: 15 INT: 1
Amelia Stats: Level: 6 VIT: 0/200 STR: 25 DEF: 15 DEX: 15 SPL: 5 INT: 0
Grey stats: Level: 6 VIT: 0/150 STR: 15 DEF: 15 DEX: 10 SPL: 30 INT: 0 Healing Pool: 320/600
Patrick stats: Level: 6 VIT: 5/150 STR: 30 DEF: 10 DEX: 15 SPL: 25 INT: 0 Mana: 5/250
