The Spider Queen

(Zrudread University)

(Forest Lord Kingdom Park- Maze Complex)

The reddish-brown snake entered the outermost left path without being affected by the smell due to the fact that it was mechanical.

Moon bravely flew in as well, but the overwhelming stench of rotten meat and eggs was proving to be a burden too difficult to bear.

Sophie could do little except offer mental words of comfort to her pet who was obviously suffering.

The walls of the maze soon turned from metallic to something….

Much darker.

Dim light shone through the tunnel, but it was enough to illuminate the horrors that lay in wait.

Biological fleshy growths coated the walls with unsettling appearances that caused even Sophie's heart to skip a beat.

Multiple organs, orifices and eyes grew out of these walls of flesh and Sophie could swear that some eyes were looking at Moon as he flew by.

The flesh was a pinkish red colour, but several parts seemed to be rotting or poisoned.

This was the main source of the unpleasant odour that made it difficult to breathe.

The mechanical snake was swaying from side to side when an arm burst out of a nearby wall and clutched its neck.

Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

Moon slowed down in shock as the reddish-brown snake thrashed around helpless as more arms emerged from the wall of flesh.

Each arm was covered in blistering pus-filled wounds that oozed out a green liquid that splashed on the floor.

They gripped the body of the snake tightly and started to tear and pull at the mechanical creature as if to rip it apart.

"Moon use your frozen domain!" Sophie quickly ordered as her danger sense warned of an impending threat.

Squeak! Squeak!

Moon gathered the frost energy in his dantian and soon a chilling blast of icy wind shot out from his open mouth.

The blue patches of fur on his back started to glow an eerie colour as the temperature rapidly dropped to below the freezing point.

"What?" Sophie inwardly was a bit shocked at just how effective his ability was.

It must be noted that adult Frostwing bats did have an impressive frozen domain ability, but Moon was still a child.

To instantly drop the temperature so low meant that his ability would eventually outperform even the most powerful of his species.

The hands gripping the robotic snake were instantly frozen and began to show signs of frostbite as the fleshy skin started to turn a bluish white colour.

Unfortunately, the mechanical snake had also been affected by the ability and as Moon swooped down to try and rescues it….

He found himself unable to move the body out of the grasp of the hands.

Moon gritted his teeth and tried his best to pull the snake, but his strength was not good enough.

Sophie meanwhile was extending her senses to try to pinpoint anymore threats coming from the nearby area.

It was all clear and she could no longer detect any signs of an impending attack.

What was truly chilling was that before Moon activated his ability, several hands were extended outwards from the ceiling towards his body.

Whatever this thing was…

It had some form of intelligence.

Moon had now resorted to gnawing the body of the mechanical snake in order to scrap off the icy coating, but it was to no avail.

Should we continue down this tunnel or turn back and try another one?

Sophie groaned as yet another major decision had to be decided.

It seemed that the pair would no longer be able to use the services of the companion snake.

But Sophie did not have a good feeling about the tunnel they were currently in.

That meaty wall of flesh had freaked her out and she had a sneaking suspicion that the worse was yet to come.

"Moon let's go forward but be prepared to turn around and flee at my command," Sophie ordered.

Who knew what else was in the other tunnels and at least this was the one that the companion snake had led them in.

Moon reluctantly got up from the ground and took one final look at the robotic snake before rising into the air.

The dim lightning was a bit annoying, but Moon's echolocation meant that there were no problems when navigating the path ahead.

As the little frostwing bat went deeper and deeper into the tunnel, the humidity in the air started to rise and soon drops of sweat formed on Moon's forehead.

The temperature slowly increased to a sweltering degree and Sophie could detect the discomfort Moon was feeling through the blood bond.

Fleshy eyes stared at Moon as he flew through the tunnel but oddly enough no more arms emerged from the walls to attack them.

Sophie continued to extend her senses to cover Moon's immediate surroundings, but the constant pressure was beginning to take a toll.

She could feel a warm liquid flowing out of the nose of her physical body and knew that it was probably blood.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep her consciousness in Moon's mind, so he needed to escape quickly.

Thump! Thump!

Thump! Thump!

Moon stumbled midflight as powerful soundwaves assaulted his tiny body.

The beating resembled that of a heart and Moon could feel the flow of blood in his body begin to speed up.

He flew into a wide-open hall where a large biomass lay in the center of the room.

It was composed of the same pinkish-red material of the flesh wall but pulsated regularly in some kind of sick rhythm.

Thump! Thump!

Thump! Thump!

With every beat, Moon groaned in pain as his heart felt as though it was about to burst out of his chest.

Sophie could spot a narrow exit on the other side of the fleshy mass, so she urged Moon to quickly fly to it.

Moon nodded quickly and flapped his wings rapidly as he shot towards the exit.

As he came closer to the biomass, the pressure became too much to handle and Moon started to slow down.

"Use your frozen domain," Sophie quickly whispered in his mind.

Moon tried his best, but his body would no longer obey him.

It was like flying in a fog.

Everything was unclear and murky as if he were trapped in a never-ending dream.

Sophie continued to extend her senses outwards but the only threat in the room was the gigantic biomass in the center.

What to do? What to do?

Sophie frantically tried to come up with countermeasures but Moon at this point was too far gone to obey any of her commands.

The blood bond link between them started to get weaker and Sophie could tell that Moon's consciousness was about to fade.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, so Sophie decided to try one last plan.

"Sorry baby," Sophie whispered before sending a wave of her qi through the blood bond.

Moon's consciousness was extremely weak, so Sophie easily took over his mind and gained control over his body.

It was an odd sensation to suddenly become a tiny frostwing bat, but she didn't have much time to act.

Sophie could feel that taking over Moon's body was stretching the blood bond connection between them to the breaking point.

She only had a few minutes to act.

Frozen Domain!

Sophie circulated a wave of frost energy in Moon's dantian before opening her mouth and blasting an intense beam of icy wind towards the biomass.

She had used Moon's full strength for the attack and the biomass instantly froze over which caused the sound to disappear.

Without the noise, Moon's consciousness began to return, and Sophie found herself relegated back to being a spectator.

Okay now Moon just needed to fly through the exit and deal with whatever was on the other side….

Snap!

The fragile blood bond could not longer maintain the connection!

Sophie opened her eyes to find herself sitting outside in the same cross-legged position she had been in at the start of the exam.

She touched her nose absentmindedly but found that there was no blood as she had expected.

Instead, several blood-stained tissues were next to her body as someone had apparently been wiping her nose.

What happened to Moon?

Would he be okay by himself?

Sophie immediately panicked but forced herself to calm down.

Now there was no longer anything she could do.

It was up to Moon to finish the exam.