Scarlet Asger

After more than a little argument from Belle, I manage to make it away from the group and begin heading in the direction of the variant. While, of course, killing any demons I run into along the way. And throughout this process, I still don’t hear from Tar again. Which makes me wonder what happened.

His last words sounded strained. Like he was barely able to say them. And when his voice faded away? It felt almost as if he was leaving against his will.

I hope he didn’t break a rule or something. Because while I would very much like to know what he was talking about, I would also rather not lose the furball. Because his fur is nice to pet, and he makes a good hug pillow.

Maybe some other reasons too, but mostly those.

Yep. Mostly those.

As I get closer to the variant, I stop killing demons so as to remain quiet and instead begin jumping from tree to tree instead. And as soon as I catch sight of the creature, I immediately tense up and want to turn back around.

|Demon Breeder – Variant Subspecies: Arachnid Queen – Level 43|

|Demon Knight – Subspecies: N/A – Level 50|

|Demon Knight – Subspecies: N/A – Level 50|

|Demon Spawn – Variant Subspecies: Arachnid – Level 43|

…

|Demon Spawn – Variant Subspecies: Arachnid – Level 43|

Holy shit.

I tap on my terminal, not moving from my spot no matter how much I want to before sending a message with the silent feature, blocking out any noise from my terminal in the process. The message includes a picture of the demons along with detailed descriptions of their levels and numbers.

Now, their levels aren’t that strong. In fact, the queen itself should be rather easy to take down since it’s a higher level than me only by a few levels. Which means Predator V will give me a nice boost far past its strength.

But the knights are a problem. Not to mention the fifteen or so giant spiders around it.

The breeder itself really does just look like a giant, fat spider that is sitting in a web covering several trees, with a clearing around the covered trees. It has black and red hair on its body – not fur, like the spiders that I saw in my first Fracture had and only realized later on is not a normal thing for a spider to have – and eight total legs with eight eyes to match.

Meanwhile the arachnids just look like mini breeders but without the extra fat in their bodies and less pronounced red streaks in their hair.

The knights are just regular old knights though, which is a relief.

My eyes narrow as I watch the spiders all skitter about around the web while the queen seemingly lays another egg. Meanwhile the two knights simply patrol around in circles on opposite sides of the little nest.

Actually… it might be possible to deal with them.

If I do it carefully.

I wait a few seconds to see if Tar is back and ready to say something about me being reckless, but he doesn’t. And honestly, he would probably agree that I can handle them as long as I don’t take them all on at once. Since I’m level 40 right now, and the spiders are only 43. Which with the predator skill is more like they’re a lower level than me.

My terminal screen turns on again with a very dark light, taking my attention back to it to find Michael suddenly sending a very short message leaves me rather surprised.

[Be careful and don’t mess up.]

Wait, what? How did he… actually, never mind. He has Belle with him. And he probably knows by now about how much of a trouble magnet I seem to be in Fractures.

Assuming he watches the news or videos on the web that is.

Anyways, I could try to go back and get their help, but honestly, I think that would make things harder. Not easier. Since these demons are all higher leveled than me, and I’m pretty sure based on mana level that I’m a higher level than the others in the team. And it would make drawing them away one at a time even harder if the others were here with me.

Although I could see Emily coming in handy here.

In fact, I raise my terminal and send her a message, asking if she wants to help me clear out the demons. Since our skills really do mesh very well together. And if we both use our skills in hiding against one of the knights, it’s very likely to bring it to us.

While I wait for a response from her, I study the breeder in detail.

Fortunately, the creature doesn’t seem to have sapience. So I don’t think it should pose a problem. Just that it is a lot higher level than the average breeder at the start of a Fracture and has a different appearance and hatches higher level spawn. Variant spawn.

Probably the only reason my plan has a shot at working in the first place.

I feel my arm vibrate from the terminal, so I look down at it to find Emily having responded.

[I’m on my way.]

Good.

I send her my current location before focusing on the breeder again.

Alright, so to start things off, I’ll begin using blood boil and life drain on the closest knight to see if it gets its attention enough to bring it over here. Then I’ll have Emily start using the skill she has that makes maladies build up in her target when it begins walking over here. And once it gets within the trees, out of sight of the spiders who are unlikely to notice the knight’s absence, Emily can use her needles on it, which I’ll follow up by jumping down from the tree and onto its back to tear out its throat.

I glance down as I hear the set of footsteps coming from the others growing louder and louder.

Looks like she’s getting close.