Newly Summoned Demoness: Side Story One (Finale) (Patreon)

The hum of the air mixed with the occasional drip of water from a stalactite was punctuated by the occasional rustle of cloth as Yolani prepared the Hornar antlers for transport. Elania watched, her golden eyes reflecting the cavern’s dim light as Yolani worked with meticulous care.

Both horns, now severed from the monstrous spider, had been sectioned in smaller pieces by one of Yolani’s precision instruments. Each piece was then wrapped in a special fabric. It was a deep shimmering violet, and as Yolani handled it, the cloth seemed to ripple and absorb the surrounding light.

“Each section will form a node,” Yolani explained, her voice quiet in the cavernous chamber. “They are natural resonators, perfect for the defensive wards once properly embedded. They also enable the filter for who and what to allow through the protection.”

Elania nodded, not understanding everything but definitely knowing how important the task was. Yolani’s shop would be full of expensive artifice and artifacts once more, and having a proper security system was a requirement for all the artificers.

The Magistry had stored what was left after the looting and vandalism the Guard had done when chasing them, but that was only a temporary measure.

Elania continued to watch the process for a while before feeling the need to stretch her legs. Harlock and Kael had taken up positions and were tending to their singed equipment that had been blackened by the Hornar’s lightning strikes.

“Don’t go too far,” Harlock warned.

Elania nodded and picked her way through the web draped cavern. She made a semi-circle around the perimeter where the Hornar had fallen, not even sure what she was looking for.

The smell of the cavern was distinctly tinged by the ichor of the dead Hornar, and her [Tracking] failed to report anything of value from the chaos. It didn’t work on webbing, apparently.

She passed by walls etched with the scars of their battle, remnants of web and stone hinting at a confrontation full of might and fury. Little orange embers clung to the underside of rocks where they had landed. She ran a finger across a jagged edge of the cavern wall.

Straying further from the group, she found her attention captured by the smaller details of the cavern—the way the thin patches of moss clung to rock, the drip of water that seemed to play a tune only she could hear. The little details revealed the cavern’s secrets, and Elania felt a deep connection with the place.

It was probably the Darkwalker in her that was so attracted to the environ, because she would have really preferred sharing a big comfy bed with Yolani again. The thought heated her cheeks a little.

Maybe it was best not to think of that kind of thing. So much had happened, and there had been no chance to even think about how to approach the subject with Yolani.

She wasn’t even sure homosexuality wasn’t a death sentence in Neftasu.

When they got back, she’d do some very careful investigation.

The only thing worse than being persecuted for it would be getting Yolani in trouble, too. It was a fantasy world that seemed planted in a weird mix of medieval and 19th century stuff, so the worst case didn’t even have to be far-fetched…

The rest of her patrol was spent in silent melancholy. When she was about to return, she stumbled upon a boulder that had created a small, protected arch with another. Both were wrapped in thick ropes of webbing to hold them together, but it was what was nestled underneath that caught her attention.

The large blue and black mottled eggs were nested within cradles of silk, each one at least a foot or so tall. They’d been protected from the fight thanks to their enclosure.

Curiosity piqued, Elania called out to the others, “I found something!”

A quick [Identify] revealed they were exactly what she thought.

[Hornar Egg] [Hornar Egg] [Hornar Egg]

Yolani set her tools down, and the group gathered around, peering at the discovery.

“Hornar eggs,” Yolani confirmed. “We should probably just leave them.”

Elania raised an eyebrow. “I was thinking…maybe they taste good fried? Like chicken eggs?”

Everyone stared at her like she was stupid and she shrank back.

“Spider eggs don’t taste good,” Kael replied. “They’re usually poisonous.”

“Not always, but I really don’t think they are the same as chicken,” Yolani muttered.

“Hornar Eggs aren’t edible. But they fetch a nice price on the market. I know it would be easy to pawn them off for a half dozen gold each,” Harlock revealed.

The group turned to look at him together, surprise etched on their faces.

Harlock shrugged. “What? We were hunting for something. It’s good to know if there are any valuable parts to bring back.”

“It’s too much to carry,” Yolani stated.

Harlock chuckled. “Aye, I did not realize how big they’d be.”

“No eating, too big to carry. Guess we are leaving them then,” Elania said.

There was an undercurrent of agreement, and they turned back to finish collecting the antlers.

As Yolani packed things up, a subtle rumble passed through the cavern floor, the vibration setting Elania’s hairs on end. Her eyes narrowed, and she scanned the far end of the cave. Something was coming.

“What’s that?” Kael asked.

Harlock pulled out his spear and slid his arm into his shield straps. “Nothing good. Everyone, get ready.”

Elania moved quickly, jumping up onto one of the taller rocks and using it as a high-perch to scan the area with a better view. Nothing but webs greeted her [Darkvision] but the rumbling grew louder.

There was no getting ready for what suddenly slammed its way through the far cavern wall.

Rocks arced through the air in an explosion, filling the chamber with a wind of dust. Blue fireflies emerged, lightning crackling between them in steady pulses. The Hornar spider that emerged dwarfed the one they had slain, easily five to six meters tall. Its massive antlers were an intricate dance of arcane symbology.

[Alpha Hornar Mother]

Oh shit.

The air turned electric, the stench of ozone pungent in the cavern’s already dank atmosphere. Shadows flitted across the walls, creating a maelstrom of light and darkness as the lightning aura pulsed from the [Alpha Hornar Mother]. Elania’s heart pounded, a throbbing drumbeat in her ears.

“By the gods, that’s an Alpha…” Kael’s hushed exclamation barely reached Elania’s ears, but she sensed the trepidation behind his words.

She clenched her fists, feeling the wellspring of [Power] churning within her. The others didn’t really stand a chance against this thing, if it hit them, they’d die.

Heck, if hit her, she’d probably die.

“Stay back,” she commanded, her voice urgent. “Yolani, we need those resonance bombs now!”

“I’m on it,” Yolani confirmed, without hesitation. She dug into her satchel, her movements practiced and precise. A trio of the bombs appeared in her hand a second later.

Elania turned her focus back to the Alpha, its colossal form crashing through the rest of the cavern wall and sending rocks hurtling as it entered. The antlers nearly reached the cavern’s ceiling. It seemed intently focused on the group.

Standing up, Elania jumped off her rock and began to stride toward it, her [Vorpal Dagger] in hand. The beast’s antlers began to thrum with more energy, the sigils on them beginning to grow brighter while the little blue motes of light swirling around them began to speed up their swirling pattern.

It was going to take more than physical prowess to bring down the behemoth.

The charging energy was too much of a telegraph, but she had no idea of the scope of the power until the Hornar unleashed it. A solid beam of blue energy shot out of its antlers, two beams coming together to form a single slash that dug up the terrain as it streaked forward toward Yolani.

Elania gritted her teeth and jumped right into the beam’s path; that wasn’t hard when it was so large. She spread out her hands and braced herself. A surge of [Power] flared through her fingertips as she focused on her [Mana Manipulation], forcing the energy to harden into a physical form right in front of her.

The beam slammed into her shield heavily; the angle deflecting the attack into the cavern ceiling. It was much easier than she had imagined, but her [Power] reserves were taking the brunt of the blow. Heat and wind licked at her face and hair.

Turning one of her outstretched hands into a fist, Elania closed her eyes and focused on her perk, [Soul Siphon]. The beam was close and an easily converted power source. Linking to it allowed her to cycle the energy in a rotation that made the shield power itself. That was perfect, except for causing a burning inside of her chest from the massive torrents of power.

As the blue energy beam began to disperse and weaken, Elania sucked the rest of it in along with her own power, focusing it into a small ball. When it reached peak compression, she launched it forward like a lance.

The strike jammed into the massive spider’s torso like a missile, exploding in an outward spray of fire and smoke on impact.

It wasn’t enough.

Leaning forward, Elania braced herself, muscles coiling like springs. She poured [Power] into her legs before forcing a burst into [Mobility].

“Harlock, Kael, keep your distance! Use the resonance bombs!” she instructed, her eyes never leaving the Alpha. The two mercenaries each acknowledged with a shout, each now armed with one of Yolani’s anti-Hornar weapons. They might not have her strength or powers, but they had their own roles to play.

Electricity began to crackle between the Alpha Hornar’s antlers and she released the tension in her legs to shoot forward. A lightning bolt smashed the ground underfoot, and was forced to leap off the exploding ground to shoot forward even faster.

Yolani’s incantation whispered through the air just in time as more lightning bolts began to flash outwards, striking at random all over the cavern. Tracking in front of Harlock and Kael, two blue rectangles of protective magic absorbed the repeated blows.

But for herself, Elania continued to dance from rock to rock, every leap bringing her closer. Much too fast for the two men to keep up or get in range.

Oh well, she’d just have to do this on her own!

The lightning strikes intensified as she got closer, and then the deep blue motes began to streak at her like little darts. When she dodged, they curved around and chased her. The rock behind her exploded into pebbles as the tracking missiles missed a second time.

She needed to go faster. Elania pointed her hands behind her and forced a dump of [Power] out of them.

Elania flashed forward through the air like a missile. The spider raised a leg to move, but her dagger dug into the chitin and carved a glowing path as she used the force to spin herself into a new trajectory upwards.

Pivoting mid-air, she hit the ceiling feet first. Spreading out her impact with a sheet of [Power] the area around her impact cratered itself before she launched herself back down at the spider’s head, just between the antlers.

The blue homing darts shot at her, but Yolani’s protection wards appeared in the air around her, absorbing the missiles.

Channeling [Power] into a strike, Elania aimed for the Alpha’s head and—

A massive electrical discharge exploded around her, turning everything white and stealing her momentum. A weightless feeling filled her and the smell of burnt flesh was overwhelming. Crashing into the ground didn’t even hurt because everything was utterly numb.

Oh.

She realized what had happened.

It had zapped her.

Somehow, a voice carried through the air, really the only clear sound she could hear.

“Elania!” Yolani’s voice was tinged with panic.

Forced [Regeneration] wasn’t pleasant. The damage was much greater than she realized. Black sheets of char fell off of her where the bolt had struck her in the side, dissolving into yellow power motes. Her internal organs had been fried, and she had to force air down into her lungs to re-inflate them.

By the time she regained her senses on the ground, the pointed tip of a spider leg was crashing down on her.

A surge of panic filled her as she drew on her [Power] stores to strengthen her body and create a shield above her head. Her power counter ticked down rapidly in the corner of her vision.

[Power: 891/1501]

She was spending way more power than she thought.

The leg smashed into her, driving her into the ground. Rock exploded outward as she spread her [Power] out around her feet to give herself more surface area and avoid being punched into the ground like a nail.

Even with that, the [Alpha Hornar Mother]’s weight drove her deeper. There wasn’t time to think. All she could do was focus on not being squished.

An explosion erupted above and suddenly the weight pressing down on her shifted away. Elania didn’t waste any time, slipping out the side and jumping out of the cylindrical hole she’d been driven into.

The Alpha’s Antlers flickered chaotically, and a cloud of residue was in the process of dissipating. They’d stunned the beast with one of the resonance bombs!

“Thanks!” Elania shouted. She spotted Kael retreating nearby, then Harlock throwing a second bomb up at the thing’s head. It smashed into a mandible, exploding with the disruptive arcane energy.

“We don’t have more! Do something, lass!” Harlock shouted back at her before joining Kael’s retreat towards Yolani.

Elania nodded grimly. She needed to do something before it regained the function of its stupid shock-stick antlers. Bracing herself in a crouch, she sprung upwards. The blue tracking projectiles were thinned, but as soon as she approached the spider’s head, they began to flash towards her.

“Queen’s Requiem!” Yolani shouted from afar. Dozens of lighter blue projectiles tracked the Alpha’s intercepting ones, smashing them away in a furious barrage.

“Yolani!” Elania shouted excitedly, as she reached the high point of her jump, nearly level with the spider’s face. Its mandibles clicked angrily, just out of reach of slashing her. Looking down at the relatively tiny [Vorpal Dagger] in her hand, she knew she couldn’t rely on it.

She needed to blast it, but an explosion would probably kill everyone. Sudden [Power] release was exponential.

But what if she could moderate it?

Elania raised her dagger above her head, pointing straight upwards. Gravity seemed to forget about her as she hung in the air, the moment freezing in time.

A golden orb of light grew out of her hand, molding itself to the shape of her dagger before snapping to double her size.

Shaped-charge container achieved.

She dumped over half of her remaining energy into the mental construct, eliciting an eye searing flash of light throughout the cavern. She swung in a heavy downward arc, straight at the [Alpha Hornar Mother].

The golden blade of energy expanded and enlarged into a spewing divine flame, carving a wide gouge through the cavern ceiling, and then striking the spider right between its antlers.

The [Power] cleaved the titan just as well as it had the terrain; the blade losing its cohesion and turning into a massive, angry club as it exploded through the belly of the monster.

The ground below was shoved away, digging a massive chasm of liquefied rock and ichor before punching through at least a kilometer through the ground of the adjoining caverns like a finger of God.

The divine blade flickered out as the Alpha fell into the new chasm, completely bisected.

[You have slain Alpha Hornar Mother!]

[You have gained multiple levels!]

[Power: 11/1501]

The sensation of air licking at her back as she fell towards the molten floor suddenly became very relevant. The attack might have been too much. She looked at her arm. Her [Vorpal Dagger] was blackened, but still intact.

So was her hand. She’d made some progress, then.

As she neared the molten floor, she closed her eyes.

Still managed to kill herself, though.

Just before impact, an invisible hand enfolded around her and brought her plummet to a stop. Heat from the rock bathed her face and body before she was carefully lifted back up out of the chasm.

An upset Yolani released her onto the new cliff’s edge.

“Are you okay?” the other girl shouted at her. A brief shake of her shoulders had Elania nodding.

Holding up her slightly charred hands, she moved her fingers. “M’fine!”

Yolani calmed her breathing down, but the girl’s fear suddenly turned into anger. Then the shaking suddenly intensified. “What were you thinking? You almost got yourself killed!”

Elania pulled her into a hug and patted her back. “Thanks for catching me.”

There was an angry puff as the other girl relented. Harlock and Kael arrived, carrying their equipment and the packaged Hornar Spider horns. Harlock shook his head. “We need to get—”

The entire cavern began to shake, and rocks began to fall from overhead.

“—out of here. The cavern is unstable!”

Yolani helped Elania stand, and the party fled the scene of destruction.

Elania glanced over her shoulder toward the chasm. Admittedly, she had gotten a bit carried away, and it was a pity she hadn’t had time to absorb the Alpha.

But at least they had achieved their mission for the Hornar horns!