If only I could describe the glorious amalgamation of shock, dismay and reservation that swept across Korbin's face as I arrived at the docks. He'd been standing there awaiting our arrival, something I found odd until he finally composed himself from his internal conflicts.
"Got your God's contract. 'Beast Tamer', huh? Didn't take you for a slaver of oceanic predators." Korbin said with a spiteful grin.
"Damn, I didn't take you for the bitter ty-…"
We both looked at each other knowingly.
"Yeah, you're definitely the bitter type."
"No yeah absolutely." Korbin confirmed quickly.
"Anyways, this is Steve, he's our new friend this contract is for."
"I don't think he'll understand me, Tom." Steve mentioned mentally.
"Oh, right. You can't hear Steve but uh, he's glad to be here and everything." I added with a few nervous laughs.
"I mean yeah but you're putting words in m-"
"That's great, honestly this contracts…fucking insane. And I'm only doing it because it'll probably give me crazy fucking experience so, let's head into my office. Also, take these."
Korbin handed me a pair of rings.
"Bought these off the Pylon, think of it as a little cash card. You ask me directly or get a message out with justified reasons for a loan, and I'll send over some emergency funds. But only for emergencies."
Looking down at the silver bands, I noticed he glazed over something.
"Hey wait, how would I get a message to you?"
"Tom, do I need to wipe for you after you shit too?" Korbin retorted.
"Fair enough, why two?" I asked.
"Because you're you, and I'm sure you're going to break one. They aren't armor, so don't let shit smash into them." Korbin answered semi-seriously.
"Yeah alright, come on let's get this over with. Me and Steve want to kill stuff." I concluded, starting to walk toward the city.
"Sure, just bring the giant snake through the newly populated Pylon, why not Tom." Korbin said following, with Steve slithering behind, snaking his large body through the doorway.
"Wait, newly populated? I was only gone for a few hours?" I responded, confused at the sudden surge of migration.
"Yeah? I've been gone for a few days. I got back just in time to hit up your special little chosen contract." Korbin said in a deadpanned tone.
"…when did you leave?" I asked, not entirely sure how he snuck out of his own settlement.
"While you were just too busy moping around about your lack of a profession to notice. I was making connections, getting this place rolling. Yet, of course your profession ends up fallin into your fucking h-." Korbin shot back before stopping himself, grunting angrily before taking a deep breath. Shaking his head, he waved us to follow as we entered the settlement. Not entirely sure why Korbin's so upset, he wanted me to get a profession, didn't he?
It wasn't much of a population boost, having counted only 5 new faces working busily at their respective professions. Still, that was double what this place started out with after day 1, and the settlement structures only grew in size and quantity. Whatever TP schemes Korbin's got going now, I don't care. Reaping the benefits while getting to do my thing is good enough.
Of course, everyone including Lonni had to at least take a double take, as the Pylon leader and his best soldier were headed to the Pylon building with a 25 foot water snake casually slithering behind. Poor Steve was all the wiser to the attention.
"I'm not sure these people like me much, Tom." He said, slithering behind as he peered around the few hawking faces.
"They probably don't like me anymore than they like you. Quite frankly, you've given them less reasons to be afraid than I have." I said theough a stream of involuntary honesty. This mental messaging bullshit is way harder to filter than just talking.
"Fair enough. I'll write it off as ignorance then."
Steve added, his head now focused toward our destination. Fuckin' love that snake, he gets it.
We made our way through the Pylon building, where after a screech and some arguing between Kaitlyn and Korbin regarding 'giant fucking serpents slithering across our living room' or something. Honestly I wasn't paying attention, me and Steve were trading hunt stories waiting for Korbin.
"…so the Eels were super aggressive when I'd first encountered them. They'd immediately attacked me without warning with their flailing little lightning bodies and tiny snapping maws. The funny part is, I'd grown attuned to the lightning affinity through my incredibly fast bite just the first few days hunting. Long story short, those specific eels were delicious, and now they're pretty laid back as a collective. At least the ones in the territory I've usurped rulership over." Steve said, finishing off some of his Tutorial origin. Crazy to think he'd been here over half a month longer than any human had.
"I'm not gonna lie, that's both so fortunate and badass at the same time I can't even be mad." I said, finding myself far more willing to give flowers where they're due through a stream of consciousness than a considered retort. Korbin's head leaned around the corner of his office door, waving us to enter.
The decor was wildly different than when I'd been here just a few days ago. Papers stamped with a large circular red embossing shuffled through the air, the filing cabinets twisting and contorting in shape and size aloft as contracts shuffled into their places.
A portrait of Korbin and a Devilish fellow hung behind his desk, along with a surplus of feather pens and ink containers scattered around his workspace. Randy's spot was easy to glean upon locating the dark rotten outline at the right corner of the desk.
"Alright, have a seat or, coil up or whatever. This should be relatively quick, however longer than my typical clients. Some rather hefty requests from your very, very pushy God are to thank for that." Korbin said, sighing as he sat down, reading glasses appearing from nothing on his head.
Just as suddenly a contract appeared in hand. Without hesitation, he tossed it towards me, duplicating in air as it flung out to both me and Steve. As soon as my hand made contact it vanished, replaced by a prompt of an overly long contract in front of me.
"Normally I wouldn't be doing this but, here's a rundown on what these clauses are stating." Korbin began, rubbing his eyes as he spoke.
"Basically, this contract will make you a Beast Tamer, and for having another chosen as your first beast? I guess he's pulled some strings and loopholes. Even asked some 'specialists' to look into it. Turned out to be good info. So now whenever you, Tom, level up your beast tamer level." Korbin said, pointing to me before panning his finger to Steve.
"You, Steve, Chosen of Wadesha the Water Serpent Goddess and branch of Anutir's faction, will also be granted a level until you're equal to Tom's class level." He concluded before quickly pointing back at me again.
"Tom, when Steve," he pointed at the snake again looking at me still, "levels up, you will level up your Beast Tamer Profession up to his current level." He finished, now sitting back in his chair, putting his finger tips together as his elbows sat on their rests.
"Wait…so basically, we're going to level each other by-"
"-leveling each other. Yeah, it's some bullshit, Tom. This contract was 267 pages long written in an eldritch language. I had to get it translated by several demons that were bred to translate this shit. The fact I'm even allowed to complete this level of a con-" Korbin's face reddened, as once more he was forced to breathe slowly before proceeding. His face took on a forced pleasant smile.
"Anyway, if you would both accept, provided you understand if Steve dies, this boon will not be transferable. However," Korbin rubbed his eyes as he said this. "If he doesn't, you may rip said boon and apply it to another beast by way of this exact contract. Bring it to me, I bring it to someone else, it's changed and you're set. Just don't let him fucking die until you do... So, you in?"
Looking over to Steve, we both nodded. The snake couldn't really smile, but I knew that fucker was just as pumped as I was right now. Signing via a consideration, a wave of power came over me, along with a series of notifications.
ding
Congratulations! You've selected the Profession - Beast Tamer (Level - 1)
(Title unlocked) -> Chosen Beast Tamer of the Ocean's Wrath - The Sovereign Gods of the Storm and Sea's have deemed your potential exceptional, allowing their trust in your power to reflect in the power gained from your trust. Beast companions that level up will also level up your profession, as a direct result of your instruction watering the fruits of their efforts to comply.
Congratulations! You've tamed [Giant Water Serpent Level - 4]
Congratulations! You've leveled up to
(Beast Tamer level - 2)
+1 wisdom +1 willpower
…
Congratulations! You've leveled up to
(Beast Tamer level - 4)
+1 wisdom +1 willpower
Congratulations! You've leveled up to
(Human level - 2)
+1 endurance +1 vitality
…
Congratulations! You've leveled up to
(Human level -4)
+1 endurance +1 vitality
Holy shit?!
"Right?!" Steve said telepathically.
So much power surged through my body, it eclipsed past divine euphoria and entered the realm of actually painful. My mind and soul flexed and turned as it was forcibly reinforced with gains on a multitude of levels, +4 entering 4 total categories from leveling. In total, 6 levels fired off all at once.
Steve mentioned a race level can't be increased without your profession leveling, and this huge boost in power had confirmed his theory. Korbin's face looked absolutely unamused as me and my Snake got a feel for our gains.
Speaking of 'my snake', a surge of inherent knowledge brought the innate awareness over where Steve was. Even sat a mere two feet away, I knew there wasn't a need to physically see him any longer, and my intuition concluded he had something similar as well.
"I take it you just leveled up a lot there, Tom." Steve said, looking over at me.
"Yeah?! Wait, you're my level, you didn't really get anything did you?" I realized internally and therefore to him.
"Nah, but you gotta understand the implications. I got my title, only my second title thus far under the Chosen one, that levels me when you level your profession, therefore leveling your profession until I catch up to your class. You humans have a lot more ways of getting stronger much quicker than us beasts, awakened or not. I've been here for weeks, Tom. You've mentioned this is your, what, fourth day here?" Steve asked rhetorically yet in a reassuring tone.
He was right, I'd matched and passed him in less time in the tutorial. I also had a lot of non-fatal fights to warm up and get some free shit before getting here at all. In theory, I just gave him the cheats to beat his built in limitations. Korbin's finger snapping took our attention.
"Hey, weirdos? Stop staring at each other lovingly long enough to get going, I have a meeting, and some class levels to revel in." He said, waving us to the door. However, he spoke before we turned down the hallway.
"Oh, can you send in Randy for me?"
Turning around, I scanned the hallway back and forth, and was about to holler when Korbin spoke again.
"Uhp, Randy!!! You guys are all good, thank you!"
Korbin yelled out, apparently finding Randy in there. Kind of creepy, I hadn't even noticed the thing was in there.
"Who is this 'Randy' Korbin speaks of?"
"Oh, h-AHH" A shooting pain fired into my mind as I began pondering the concept of Randy out loud.
Fuck, the contract.
"…can't really say. They're friends, sort of like me and you I guess." I said, my eyes still squinting from the splitting headache.
"Ah, simple enough. So, what shall we do now my noble Tamer Tom." The snake asked, stopping its forward slithering to bow its giant head sarcastically. His bright yellow eyes barely peaking through squinted eyelids as if he wore a shit-eating grin. I was going to admonish the bad joke, when a genuine answer popped in my head instead.
"You know, there's like, a lot of spiders just a little west of here. You ever been to a forest?" I asked, with a toothy grin. The snake's pupils dilated.
"I've yet to have land prey since my awakening. It would be wildly nostalgic if nothing else." Steve answered, excitement in his tone.
"Yeah, and I level by killing stuff pretty quick. See what I'm gettin' at?" I continued, now headed toward the city exit with my super snake.
"Aaahhh. I must get used to the pampering our system does for you." Steve joked.
"Us, my scaly friend . The pampering it does for US now." I corrected, still wearing the same devious grin. As we exited the Pylon, Steve slithered out in front onto the sand, gliding about in circles.
"I must say, Tom. It feels GOOD to be on land again. I didn't think I'd be so comfortable?" He exclaimed, now slithering away and back rapidly.
"I'm glad you're comfy, big guy. You ready to go kill some eight legged assholes?" I asked antsy to get my hands dirty after days of bullshit.
"Definitely. Hop on and lead the way." Steve said, turning his body around to give me a platform to walk up. Leaping rather than rubbing my dirty striders on my buddies back, an odd connection occurred as I sat on his back. Our minds felt intertwined, like the telepathic connection we already shared had been put on x20 speed.
Immediately, Steve knew where I wanted to go, and we serpentined through the sands like a curving bullet train due west for the tree-line. After about a mile and half of snaking through the foliage, I intended we slowed down to get a feel for the area, thus Steve slowed.
"What's up? You see something I didn't?" Steve asked, as if he didn't slow his own pace just now.
"Nah, not that. They should be here by now." I answered, scanning above in the trees.
"To be honest, I've had the faintest smell of blood I'd never tasted looming in the air around here. And, I've had people." The snake said, alluding to an impossible idea.
"No, there's no way they're all dead. There had to be hundreds of those creepy crawly shits. They must have moved, let's try heading a bit more southwest. New territory to trail-blaze anyway." I decided, the whip from Steve's body gliding in that direction immediately following.
There were a few dead spiders along the way, but the trail sort of died off for a a couple miles. That changed after traveling another few miles south, where a basic wooden Pylon structure was sat with its gate completely ajar.
"Hey, Steve, that's what the settlement we signed the contract at starts out as on day one." I pointed, amazed seeing the difference a few days could make.
"Tom, what part of 'I ate 8 people in their home' did you not understand? I've seen one." He answered, laughing as he did.
"Fair enough, well last time one was like this, a dinosaur sized wolf tiger and some zombies were waiting in there." My face smugly responded.
"Ah, then we shall approach with care." He said in a slightly more serious tone. After brazenly slithering straight through the open gates, Steve paused to survey our surroundings.
"You hearing this lady?" He asked, his head sharply darting about.
"No? What lady?"
"…she said we've 'entered the wrong domain', and is threatening us. She sounds creepy." Steve explained. Now scouting the area myself, I identified the Pylon building based on its considerably larger size compared to the others. On memory, it had been the only building this large at this low stage of a pylon upgrade I'd run into, looking more like a warehouse than building.
"Let's head for the Pylon building over there, see if there's any survivors." I said, my intentions half true. The gains of claiming a free Pylon wasn't anything to scoff at, after all. Having to dismount for Steve to fit the entranceway, I entered first. Turning one way, nothing but an empty room. The room behind however was packed nearly wall to wall with giant spiders, all leading up a staircase.
Steve filed in behind me as I looked on at the crowd, a moment of doubt creeping in my mind seeing their numbers.
"Oh, Tom! We found the spiders!" He said, slithering around me. Without hesitation, Steve raised his head high in the air and crashed his maw into a spider, the bite force exploding its body instantly. His tail slapped down onto the floor, crushing several other unsuspecting spiders before their attentions turned.
I fucking love Steve.
Separating my twinblade, lightning crackled across the steel as I stepped alongside Steve's body, slashing and stabbing at everything with more than two eyes and legs. lightning Strike triggered only when I could hit two or more in my vicinity. Frankly, my stats from all the skills, titles and items made it less of a necessity against these level 3 arachnids.
My blades snd Steve's entire body ripped through the spiders in harmony as we maneuvered through the crowd. Steve's mouth and tail served as his own tools of death. Whenever a spider got too close to my flank, his tail would whip through the insects skeletal structure, his Flow absolutely flawless as it crashed into the encroaching target, electricity exploding in unison with the spider's body.
The spiders numbers dwindled slowly but consistently. There was certainly room for a hasten extermination, but I wanted to try throwing one blade out and spinning it into a few spiders like a bladed flail reliably. The only replicable form I found was sticking the finger up on the hand that gripped a hilt, which increased control over when and where the chain bends and tightens when I tossed the other. My experiment temporarily distracted me from noticing Steve used perfect Flow as he not only fought, but moved. Nothing was out of place, every Flow point traveling to the next along the most efficient path.
Reading his next strike, I hovered back toward Steve's tail while slashing through the attacking spiders. As soon as he bit into another ugly 8 legged monster, I placed my feet against his tail, riding the whip that followed down his body sending me spiraling aloft toward the group of spiders at his flank.
Lightning mana illuminated the room in repeated blasts, my blades stabbing through every spider in my immediate reach. Occasionally two many would push at once, prompting me to step onto Steve's tail before volleying across the length of his body whenever he struck next. Green gore, body parts and white and blue energy painted the room as the carnage ensued.
After dwindling their numbers by a massive margin, the survivors backed away surrounding us, in the corners of the room. Steve arched his head up pointing toward the staircase.
"Seems we've angered their mommy." He snickered as a spider the size of a fucking tank crawled down the wall onto the floor. Its mouth foamed a disgusting purple liquid, its body a deep black with the same purple hue on its abdomen. Its outter layer rippled along its body, like its hair follicles were shifting along its skin.
"She says you specifically should've heeded her warning instead of killing what's left of her children. Sounds like you did a number on these things." Steve relayed during the standoff.
I did?
"I'll be honest, I don't remember how many I killed, but today was definitely more. Regardless, does she want to fight?" I asked, tired of the terrible leg to body ratio here.
"Let me see." Steve responded. After a brief silence, the mother spider leapt forward, Steve lurching for an attack of his own in kind. Taking the hint, I Water Stepped onto the back Steve as his body coiled forward, allowing his tail to launch me in the air above him.
While plummeting toward the back end of the mother spider, I spotted Steve effortlessly change his Flow around the spider's outstretched needle-like limbs, landing a bite on the side of its body. The way his head practically teleported into its side made me blink a few times in shock as I fell. My time had come, however, forcing my mind to focus on landing my chain around its rear leg as I fell a bit off center from its body.
Throwing one blade, the chain wrapped on one of its hind legs. Lightning mana exploded from the chain as I caught the blade again and yanked back, adding to the weight of my fall. Its leg snapped in half, a guttural squeal it's pained retort. The mother spiders children began closing around me and Steve in support of their wounded mother.
The Boss spider tried stabilizing on the side she was bitten by Steve, but found the leg was completely limp, and I knew why. He hit a fuckin Flow point with his bite. Not only that, but Steve appeared to even steal the Flow, his head escaping the spider's range even quicker than it had clamped on. Now, the spider's limb was effectively dead weight, like a leg after a few perfectly placed calf kicks.
Steve turned his attention to the oversized spiderlings now trying to crawl onto him. His body whipping around at incredible speeds, his scaly skin moist from all the mana he'd apparently spent to move so fluidly. Only after he turned his body vertically did I notice the swarm of spiders collapsing around us. Leaping between his long serpent body and the flock of arachnids, lightning danced around the room once more carving through a group of 6 in rapid succession.
Changing targets back to the mother spider, my pace slowed watching her rip off the leg Steve had rendered unusable. Honestly, looking at the state of the spiders leg gave rise to anxiety about Steve's go to move. If he had decided to fight me instead of curiously prod my being at the bottom of the ocean, I'm almost certain I'd be dead.
Certainly he can't be the only beast capable of this, making my newfound exploitable dependence on Flow noteworthy for later training. For now focus has to dwell solely on the oversized 6 legged arachnid fleeing up the wall to the ceiling, roughly 12 feet above.
Immediately, a large web ball festered before ejecting from its rear, strings of webs gliding around quickly to connect the cluster to the ceiling. The monster then switched targets to the ground, the odd looking webs spreading out like a growing fishing net. Steve had dodged an attack from one of the remaining normal spiders when his body grazed one of the webs.
Steve's entire body rubber banded back as he tried to wriggle away quickly, the momentum slamming him into the entire web ripping it as he tumbled. Once the webbing disconnected from the rest, it merely fell off like cobwebs in an old garage after a light draft breezes through. Steve spun around quickly to gather his bearings before regrouping with me.
"Yeah so, don't touch the webs." He said, turning his scaly body to the side revealing green burn marks in the same design patterns as the webs.
"Noted, now whip your tail." I commanded, leaping toward my serpent companion. Having already felt me pull this move a few times while he worked his magic, Steve was able to launch me much faster putting his full intent into the swipe
Flying forward, I charged Lightning Strike soaring toward the spider, its many eyes reflecting the energy my blade emitted closing in. Its body leaned over quickly, leaving my weapon to blast into the web sac she'd hung up like a stringy mistletoe. The energy exploded as it released into the sac, the concussive force firing me back down. Steve's quick reflexes were truly something else, his scaly body slowing my momentum as he curved with my fall, catching me like a fireman's life net.
*ding* *ding* *ding* *ding*
*ding* *ding* *ding* *ding*
An annoying chorus of death notifications spammed in my head. Looking up after the light settled, green rain fell from the ceiling. Squinting with my hand blocking the raining liquid, hundreds of little legs could be see crawling out from the web sac, confirming my internalized denial of it being an egg sac.
"Steve, my man. That's a lot of fucking spiders." I said, backing to a corner with him.
"No kidding." He agreed. The mother spider fell abruptly to the ground with a loud THUMP. Half of her body had looked completely charred and battered having been the side my attack blasted behind. No doubt it was wounded, but that fucker must've known the cost when she made the sac just to sit on it.
The mother spider didn't move an inch, she merely stared down at us as her army of dog sized baby spiders began approaching our corner. They were brownish but translucent, their internal organs and venom sacs visible from the outside. My blades crackled with power as I assumed my stance, Steve wrapping around to defend my flanks.
BOOM
THUMP
POP
The sound metal getting blasted rang out from above our heads, followed by an unknown female voice.
"Hey fuckers?! Remember lil old Cass?!" The lady barked gruffly. Shards of water forms rained down onto the spiders below, being absorbed back into her fists as she fell down from the walkway above me and Steve. The water formed larger fists shapes on her hands as she began blasting the big bugs in a violently efficient fashion.
One spider tried to flank her while she mercilessly pounded on multiple spiderlings, only for the water rippling around her fist to roll down her body, apexing at her foot as she front kicked the incoming spider. Its body shattered inward and deflated, expelling its bodily fluids before she flicked it off her leg, resuming her carnage.
"Should we help her out?" Steve asked, breaking my marveling at her expert use of water mana.
"Huh? Oh no yeah, absolutely." I said, charging forward as well. Steve was swift to get ahead of me, twisting his body and whipping a group of spiders into a wall, their bodies exploding from the impact leaving a green mess behind them.
My priority was on finding the mother spider, who slipped away when my attention diverted to this 'Cass' lady. Staring around the bottom floor, an idea lit in my brain.
If I were a spider, I'd probably hide so I can't get squished.
Raising my sights to the ceiling, red glowing eyes barely breached the darkness above. Before I could alert the others, however, it felt my gaze and leapt towards me. Water stepping away, I pressed my foot onto a spiderlings head, using Flow Inverse to fire back at its mother.
The boss spider was fast to recover its balance, spraying a miasma of rotten smelling green liquid out from its mouth, my body throwing me to the side before considering its nature. The floor where I'd stood melted as the liquid descended down into the earth below with an audible sizzle.
Seizing my moment of respite from its tricks, I utilized my own incredibly creative ploy, and ran straight past it toward Steve. He'd been chomping and slapping spiderlings around with his tail, many turning into mangled spider-parts on impact. I'd hoped he kept an eye on this thing, but he hadn't reacted yet as I neared.
"Steve comin' in hot." I sent out mentally, the spiders body blasting into the ground landing behind me from what I assumed to be a massive leap and slam. Steve turned to attack, however her mouth fired a ball of venom his way, forcing him to sway and avoid any conflict. This left me standing in place like an idiot, having prepared to combo off of Steve and arriving early.
My feet kicked off the ground hard as I dodged, however one of the mother spiders eyes locked on me. It was only one out of its ridiculous total, but it was clearly fixed on my every movement. Its body launched into then off the wall, changing its trajectory back toward me. My blades had begun thrusting up when the ferocious woman barreled her foot into the spider's side, sending it crashing hard off the wall it had leapt from.
Eyes wide with excitement, Lightning Strike irritated as I shot toward the downed spider, its legs just getting back under its body. Flow Inversing my strike to avoid its reared front peg, I spun around and slashed two of its legs clean in half, the energy exploding through each of its severed limbs.
My foot planted hard into the floor as my blade flew out towards its gnashing maw, only for the glow of its acidic spit bubbling forcing me to change my angle, inversing my Flow again to head diagonally.
My rear blade flew from hand, my other yanking hard as the blade embedded deep in its body. Focusing my will, lightning mana surged through my blades, the spider screeching its terrible whistle in pain. The woman took advantage of its momentary stun, grabbing one of its legs flailing about and pulling it clean off. The energy also surged through Cass unfortunately, her hands gave off steam as she shook them in pain.
One of the mother spider's two remaining good legs on that side stabbed into Cass's shoulder as she inspected her burnt hands, before flinging her across the room. Anger boiled at the sight of our unknown back up going down partially by my hand. I growled in frustration audibly, pulling hard on the chain as I jumped. My body flew towards the spider, my blade slashing sideways in anticipation for its defending front leg. It diced through the spiders limb like butter, my spinning hips allowing my rear leg to use the continuous Flow to land a spin kick to the beasts filthy mug.
My foot pierced deep in its ugly face as the second Lightning Strike triggered out of my strider, its head blasting back in its body. Not risking anything, I pulled my chain on the still embedded blade again to fall closer to it.
Rolling, I slashed away its other front and final intact limb. What followed may have been overkill but, you do what you got to do.
Gathering my second twinblade from the spiders body, I slashed over and over across the side of the defenseless mother spider while it squirmed and squealed for its spawns aid. Too bad for her, they were busy being crushed, snatched and pulverized by Steve. There was no running from this now.
Eventually, the familiar ding sounded, my arms falling limp right after. My head turned weakly toward Steve expecting to see him continuing the good fight, however the spiderlings had all retreated, now backing to the exit before zooming out one by one into the night. Eventually, we were alone in this Pylon room. Summoning my strength, I got up and headed for our wounded aid, kneeling beside her.
"H-hey whoahhh" my introduction cut short at the sight of the acid slowly eating her wound from the mother spider. She smiled through the pain, but her eyes were fluttering and rolling into her skull.
"We need to get you home, now." I said, sweeping her upper body over my torso. Her eyes were completely shut as I lifted her, indicating she was entering a 'not going to live' state from the stab.
"Steve! Come on man, we got to go!" I yelled, now just stepping out of the exit. Steve had been sort of chilling in one spot, feeling puzzled as I looked at him.
"Oh yeah, here let me." he said before diving under me, swooping me down his body before taking off toward the beach Pylon. Behind us I caught a glimpse of the spiderlings scrambling northwest, opposite of us.
Good idea.
The ride back was quick and quiet, no room for conversation as we both focused on getting our new friend to a healer. By the time we arrived, it was dusk already. The gates opened in, revealing Korbin with Lonni and Kaitlyn already with him.
"Saw you guys coming in, she looks in real bad shape. Lonni, take her with Kaitlyn to the medical unit. Kaitlyn, stabilize her till you get there"
"I got her Korbin." She said, following Lonni back into the settlement.
"Looks like you found two friends in one afternoon! You won't make this one your warhorse too will you?" Korbin snickered as we walked into the settlement.
"Ha-ha, no. She actually saved me and Steve here's skins out there. We owe her this much." I fessed, not willing to risk failing to repay my debt.
"Whatever, you found her at a Pylon right?" He asked, waving his hand.
"Yeah."
"Then another one down, who cares." Korbin asked, shrugging his shoulders.
I paused for a moment, thinking carefully to be sure of what I was about to say next. My mind raced through everything that had went down, the gore and energy bursts, spider limbs flying around the room. Our companion, adding some much needed fire power to the fight, only to be possibly mortally wounded. Through everything, one memory definitely was missing, because it simply didn't happen.
"Yeah, so.. I didn't claim the Pylon."
"Meh, meh meh mehm- wait, what?"