BXBX NOVEL Chapter 180: Broodmother
Boom!!!
"Hold your positions, assess the threat, and respond accordingly." #5 yelled as he encouraged the rest of the team.
With the time the whole squad spent together so far, it has been an unsaid agreement that #5 was the squad's vice-leader, and nobody has any problems with that since #5 was qualified for the position anyway.
In the end, even though they reduced their presence and tried to avoid the wolves and hyenas fighting, they still found themselves getting dragged into their fight. The worst part is that these demons came into a tacit understanding and postponed their fight, for now to take on the humans first.
Having no other options, Squad #1 could only engage in combat. Fortunately, despite not really looking for a fight, the squad was more than ready to take them on.
Colorful lights dotted the depressing darkness of their surroundings. Despite their enemies using the shade of corruption to confuse and surprise them with attacks, the squad has enough experience to discover where they are and eliminate the threats.
A pack of Demon Wolves are a dozen, each one was Tier 4 at least with some being stronger. A pack of Demon Hyenas was 20, they're physically smaller than wolves but they're far more sinister when hunting and they always attack in pairs. The weakest Demon Hyena here was Tier 3.
Despite being outnumbered though, Squad #1 handled them with finesse. They worked together smoothly as if they'd known each other their entire lives. They chained skills and spells right after the other, amplifying the damage they do against their enemies.
Where was Cedric in all of this? Well...
"He said there's only Beast Demons..." Cedric muttered softly as he gripped Solaris Edge - his sword, and stared at the enormous spider marching close to him. "How come there's a Broodmother here?"
Cedric cursed Garrick inwardly for not reporting this to him. That said, it is also possible that he and his squad never encountered this thing, which explains why he didn't warn Cedric about it.
The Broodmother is a Demon Spider...a really big one.
What Cedric was facing was a 20-foot-tall spider with obscenely long legs. The hairs on its body were akin to steel needless, releasing a fatal glare and drenched with a toxic substance. Its body was shaped like a peanut and it had three pairs of crimson-red eyes.
On its own, the thing wasn't a huge threat since it was slow and stiff. Even if it was a Tier 8 in equivalent, someone who specializes in agility could harass this thing to death. What makes a Broodmother terrifying is the nest she carries on her back at all times.
There's a small hill of silk cocoon attached to the Broodmother's back. Even without inspecting it, Cedric knows that that's where the children were...and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of them inside.
It will only take a single command from the Broodmother and her children will lay waste to her immediate vicinity. And unlike the Broodmother, her children are vicious, quick, and carry lethal venom that could be fatal even to Planar Travellers.
The nest children are weak, some of them don't even reach Tier 1 properly. They make up their weakness with numbers though. Because the Broodmother carries her nest at all times, she will never be alone, and that's what makes her species extremely terrifying.
'She already saw me, huh?' Cedric released a breath and braced himself for the upcoming fight.
Just like many things in his life, this battle is something that he can't avoid. And it's against a truly formidable thing so Cedric had to take this seriously.
His squad members are busy dealing with the canine-packs so only he could fight this right now. Since he chose to deal with the Broodmother on his own, he passed the command of the squad over to #5 as he focused on his fight.
Screech!!
The Broodmother released a rallying cry. Not even a second later, Cedric saw her children crawling out of the nest and climbing down her body, spewing toxins everywhere.
With a twitch of his muscle, his sword was erased with billowing flames. He waved his sword and torched his surroundings. He manipulated the shape of the flames to form a cage that trapped him and the Broodmother inside.
The scalding temperature of his flames immediately became evident by the toxins boiling within mere seconds after he caged them. The weak spiders let out piercing shrieks of pain as they felt the high temperature of Cedric's flames.
Taking a deep breath, the flames on his sword intensified and a formidable and sharp cutting aura erupted on the sword's edge - this was Cedric's Sword Intent.
He slashed horizontally, slicing off the legs of the Broodmother. The large spider let out a piercing shriek of pain before it was brought down to a manageable height. Her children were still pouring out of the nest and they were immediately assaulted by the extremely high temperature of Cedric's flames.
Cedric then blurred into nothingness, utilizing his speed to weave through the hordes of man-sized spiders trying to get him. He arrived at the Broodmother's back and plunged his sword of flames into her nest, injecting it with bright orange flames that could melt even Tier 6 metals in seconds.
...and just for good measure, since he's hidden within the cage of flames he made earlier, he also injected a plume of True Sunfire in there as well.
The Broodmother shook in pain and agony. Her nest was burned down to a crisp, and all of her babies were incinerated by both orange and golden flames. Her poison was rendered useless against the high temperature and she's nowhere near fast or flexible to avoid Cedric's assault.
Her children were just as helpful as she was because they're inherently weaker - they couldn't even endure the flames' temperature, so how could they even dream of touching him?
This terrifying beast that should've sent his entire squad running in fear, was taken down with utter simplicity. It was rendered helpless from start to finish.
Bright orange flames swallowed up the demon, reducing it to dust particles scattering in the air. Not even a silk from her nest was left, but the Broodmother left something behind for Cedric.
A piece of its skull, calcified and purified by the flames. It looked like a beetle's shell, only about several times bigger. It's black and smooth, but it also still contains some heat due to what it has gone through. Cedric picked it up, assessed its safety, and confirmed it. He flicked his fingers at it, seemingly testing its hardness, and nodded in satisfaction.
'True Demon Bone, huh?' Cedric muttered to himself, 'This should fetch me around 8-10,000 merit points if I surrendered it. Not bad, at least I've got some harvest in this mission.'
This thing was extremely rare even for the army. Despite coming from True Demons, True Demon Bones are treated as precious resources that the army collects. They use it to create Superhuman Weapons/Armor for Planar Travellers.
Cedric heard that only Lord Commanders and above are eligible for a full set of armor and weapons crafted from True Demon Bones. And even those are divided according to their rarity. How exactly? Cedric doesn't know, and it's not important right now.
He could either exchange it for merit points or keep it for himself and study it. After all, he too was a Master Blacksmith. He'll decide later, for now, he should go back to his team because they're starting to get worried.
Cedric stuffed the bone into his backpack. Despite it being way bigger than his bag, it shrunk down perfectly. Because his connection to the Acala was sealed, he couldn't use the inventory, thankfully this sufficed.
It did, however, make the backpack heavier though. Which isn't a huge problem for Cedric. If you ask him, he'd say that it's still pretty light.
After doing this, Cedric dismissed the cage of flames he made. As it disappeared, his squad members finally saw him and sighed in relief seeing that he was not injured.
It was followed by awe upon realizing that their leader took out a Broodmother and her children - things that could kill even Planar Travellers if they're not careful, by himself.
Nobody saw how he did exactly but is that important? Cedric came out of that cage alone. Not even a trace of the Broodmother was left behind after he was done. That's more than enough for them.
The squad automatically surrounded him and fell into a formation. All threats had been taken care of and there was nothing within their field of surveillance.
Cedric assessed the energy levels of his squad members and saw that they could continue for a little while.
"We've got delayed by those things but not by much. We will continue using the same formation. Let's go, we've got ground to cover." Cedric ordered.
"Yes, Sir!" And as usual, his squadmates vigorously responded.