192 Talk Between Two Survival Specialists
Unlike the Spiders who had been forcefully teleported inside the isolation array, Eren could still access his runic imprint to teleport to any place inside the array. He could do it a bunch of times before the runic imprint stopped working.
This was why the Stardust guild members were confident in taking down the Spiders inside the array even when they were short in numbers. They could use their runic imprints strategically to get away from any threatening situation. They could also use teleportation inside the isolated space to launch a surprise attack on Spiders.
Thus, it was no wonder that Yana had called these isolated arrays the Spider-trapping spiderwebs.
Eventually, one of the eight Spiders got over his surprise and asked in a cold voice.
“Ariadne… what the fuck are you doing?”
Ariadne ignored Halder’s question and looked at Eren before sending him her I-Rune imprint with her mana sense. Eren raised his eyebrows before responding to her imprint with a smile.
‘I’d rather not fight with you, Eren. Is there any way you can let me off the hook in exchange for additional information about the Spiders?’
Eren snorted when he heard Ariadne’s proposal through voice communication. He replied without even looking at her.
‘No thanks. I already got that covered. And I’d be a fool to trust someone like you.’
Ariadne looked like she had taken offense to Eren’s opinions about her. She clenched her fists and almost stomped her foot before speaking up.
‘What do you mean by ‘someone like me?’ Listen to me, Eren. Just because I love myself more than the sinking ships I often find myself on doesn’t mean that I like abandoning the sides I’m on.
What would you have done if you were in my shoes? Would you sacrifice yourself for some nonsensical cause or ego?’
Eren was left speechless when Ariadne put things into perspective for him. He had to admit to himself that he would have opted for the same option as Ariadne if Stardust guild was on the verge of utterly destroying itself.
Eren broke his stare with the rest of the Spiders and finally looked at the negotiator. His empty gaze and silence spoke volumes about what he wanted to convey.
Ariadne conjured a light smirk before continuing.
‘I can recognize a fellow survival specialist when I see one. It’s fine if you don’t want any information. Tell me what I can do to make it up to you?’
Ariadne looked meaningfully at Eren. She adjusted her shoulders and made her bust look even more prominent than it was. She put both of her hands on her curvy waist.
Eren sighed before replying.
‘You are indeed pretty. I’ll give you that. But…’
Eren stopped his speech and disappeared from his position all of a sudden. That’s because Haler had appeared at his position and almost got him. He swung his broadaxe at Eren, only for him to disappear at the very last moment.
“Aaaargh. Bastard’s using the array to get away from us. Kill him”
Eren was attacked by another Spider as soon as he appeared at a distance from his previous position. He again used the array to get away from the second attack. Then the third attack was launched at him by another Spider. Then fourth.
When the seventh consecutive attack on him failed, the Spiders realized that they had no way of attacking Eren unless he chose to stay and fight with them. Of course, they had figured out that Eren could only teleport for a fixed number of times inside the array. But they didn’t want to burn their hands in trying to test that limit.
Eren appeared right beside Ariadne when the rest of the Spiders were scattered all across the isolated space. He still had his casual expression on his face.
Ariadne was surprised and stressed that Eren had appeared beside her. But he would have attacked her already if he treated her as one of his enemies. That meant he was up for a discussion. And that’s what she wanted. So she looked to her side and waited for him to finish what he had been meaning to say.
‘But… my balls are empty. So your big hooters magic won’t work on me. At least not this time. What you can do instead is…’
Eren looked into Ariadne’s green eyes as he spoke his next words without using voice communication.
“Help me kill these pests. And I’ll think about sparing you. Hey! I have already done this once. Doing it for the second time isn’t enough to hurt me.”
Eren was talking about Lagartha of course. Unlike Ariadne who was a hired help, she was a genuine member of the House of Spiders. She hadn’t made her presence known since she was separated from him. However, Eren knew she would only rejoin the Spiders when the dust from killing the entire squad settled down.
Ariadne didn’t like that Eren had spoken things out loud. It kind of made what she was discussing with Eren apparent for the Spiders. In this way, Eren had already created distrust between her and her supposed teammates.
“I guess ‘I’ll think about it’ is the closest thing to a favorable response I’m gonna get from you.”
Ariadne looked at him scornfully before finally committing.
“Fine.”
Eren flashed a wolfish sign when he got Ariadne’s answer. He just added one last subtext to his proposal.
“Don’t try to run on me or turn on me. I’m not one of those sinking ships you often abandon. But if I ever become one, I’ll make sure to take you with me. It’s for your own good that you don’t let me sink in the first place.”
Bzzzzt.
The lightning streaks buzzed not too far away from Ariadne and Eren disappeared from his position. This time, he used his movement spell. Ariadne pursed her lips and blinked before drawing her Bichaus out. She disappeared from her position as well, aiming to fight with the lowest-ranked member of the Spiders first.
Blitz Steps
Alfem
Igni Shards
Taranbiest
Eren summoned a huge number of firebirds with his infinite mana core. He then equipped the firebirds with Igni Shards. They were supposed to fight off and keep the rest of the Spiders busy while he dealt them one at a time.
The battlemage knew Alfem wasn’t enough for him to keep all the Spiders busy. They would launch a sneak attack on him while he was busy fighting with one of the Spiders. The demonic rankers might even launch an indiscriminate attack on him and the Spider he was fighting with just to catch him by surprise.
Thus, he also summoned a bunch of lightning-element hounds around him. They would create a safe zone for him to battle with the Spiders one at a time.
A cacophony of noises sounded in Eren’s surroundings as his firebirds and lightning hounds engaged with his enemies. Their sheer number and abundance of mana meant that the Spiders would have had their hands full with them. This is before they even consider dealing with Eren together.
“THAT BITCH! SHE’S ATTACKING US INSTEAD OF THAT PALE-ASS BRAT?
I…. I’LL FUCKING KILL THAT BACKTABBING WHORE!”
Halder was enraged when Ariadne started attacking one of the Spiders using all her might. His red face and his red eyes showed how livid he was. More than being abandoned by Ariadne, he was angry that she agreed to team up with Eren at a moment’s notice.
Of course, he thought that it was his charms that she had fallen for.
‘I fucking hate all fuckboys. Why must they win in every walk of life? I’ll kill this pale bastard right in front of that bitch to let her know who the real man is.’
The dwarf said to himself as he clenched his broadaxe. He then used an earth-element spell to secure his body inside a golem. Suddenly, a 2-meter tall and 5-meter-long spider golem appeared in the isolated space. Its head served as the cockpit for Halder as he controlled the Spider through the extension of his arms and legs.
Eren didn’t know what Halder was thinking about. But he had already started approaching him. So he thought of destroying him first before moving on to his next target.
Igni Chains
Igni Wave
Eren charged up his two axes and let them rip through the air like they had a mind of their own. Meanwhile, he approached the giant spider golem with two Solid Sparks in his hand.
Swoosh
Swoosh
Swoosh
The two axes attacked one of the Spider’s legs and they were met with a shell-like earth-armor surface that had just been created over the Spider’s body, serving as its exoskeleton.
The Igni Chains appeared attached to the axes’ hilts. The other end of the Igni Chains was gripped by the firebirds’ claws that had just appeared out of thin air. They pulled onto the weapons using their flight before charging them up with the fire-element mana they had in their mana bodies.