The Spider Queen

"Let's go inside and tuck you into bed," Sophie whispered softly as she walked into the circular pod.

The interior of the tent was exactly as she remembered.

Captain Dawn was a strange man with no decorations or furniture except for the bare minimum.

It was a relief that there were multiple bedrooms inside the pod as Sophie would not have been comfortable leaving herself unguarded and in the open.

The bedroom Lily was staying in had an additional mattress on the floor for Sophie to rest.

There were other rooms available, but Sophie wanted to stay within arms reach of Lily in case of an attack or ambush.

Sophie gently placed Lily on the soft blanket and hummed softly as she tucked the little girl inside.

Lily yawned sleepily as Sophie stroked her hair with care and gentleness in her movements.

It didn't take long for the tired girl to slip away into a deep sleep. Sophie smiled playfully as she saw a thin bubble of drool form on the bottom of Lily's mouth.

This was a peaceful moment.

Sophie walked behind the cot and saw the comfortable mattress laying on the floor in the exact same position as she remembered.

Despite being healed after the end of the trial, it had been a mentally exhausting ordeal to the point where Sophie just wanted to sleep.

Still there was something she needed to do before bed.

Sophie pulled a tiny metalloid device from her storage bag and pressed a button on the right side of its body.

A harsh red light scanned the room multiple times for any listening or spy devices.

The light was so powerful that it penetrated the walls of the bedroom and also swept the adjacent bathroom.

This was a habit Sophie had picked up from the first day she had woken up in the captain's tent.

Every day the results would be the same, but Sophie still maintained vigilance.

She still recalled the unusual emotion hidden in the captain's gaze whenever he looked at Lily.

The light swept every nook and cranny but there was nothing shown on the reader. Sophie shut down the scanning device and prepared for bed.

The bodysuit she was wearing was still a bit dusty, so Sophie pressed a small button on the back and the material melted off her body.

Sophie curvaceous body with two sensuous peaks was on full display in the middle of the room.

She glanced at Lily to make sure the little girl was still asleep and then headed towards the bathroom.

There was a large bathtub in the middle of the room that was already filled with a greenish liquid that swayed gently from side to side.

Sophie skillfully operated the temperature control and soon the greenish liquid inside the bathtub started to bubble slightly.

She waited a few minutes for the liquid to heat up before gradually slipping into the mixture with a sigh of contentment.

Sophie could feel all the dirt and grime covering her body melt away under the effect of the cleaning liquid.

Nothing beat a warm bath after a hellish day.

Sophie closed her eyes and allowed her mind to fully relax for the first time in what seemed like days.

Still even in her moment of rest, Sophie could not help thinking about the weakened figure of the captain laying down in the pit covered in vines.

The drone attack could not be traced back to her but naturally it was impossible to avoid suspicion.

Of course, this planning would only be needed if the captain survived the attack, but Sophie always prepared for the worse.

Regaining her lost limbs was indeed a blessing and more importantly, it showed that the future vision that she had seen had already been changed.

As for what direction things would develop….

Sophie had no idea.

Wait a minute….

Sophie sat up in shock as she realised that the mercenary ship travelling to the frontier region was supposed to leave in a few days.

The size of the unknown desert planet was not particularly large and on hoverbike it should take around two days to get back to the meeting point.

It would be safe to assume that since the plant's location had been found, the Hyperion knights would have sent a message to the higher ups.

Mercenaries and other secondary forces would probably be forced to leave the planet since the goal had already been accomplished.

Sophie narrowed her eyes as she thought of a dangerous possibility.

Right now, Lily and she were the only non-members of the Hyperion Order to know the location of the seedlings.

Would the Hyperion Order let them live?

The importance of the seedlings could not be understated, and it was precisely for that reason that the religious organization would not want the news to spread out.

They needed to leave tonight.

Captain Dawn was still stuck in the trial and the majority of the knights were keeping guard at the entrance of the sinkhole.

But it was important to have a plan.

They needed to find a way to escape unnoticed but also not raise any sort of suspicion for the next few days.

The group in charge of the mercenaries was 'The Sun's Glory' and Sophie could only rely on the fact that they were probably not aware that Lily and she were travelling with the knights.

If the Hyperion Order wanted to clean them up…

Then any information about their route and movements would most likely be hidden.

Sophie got up from the bathtub and stepped into the drying chamber where hot air blew away the traces of the greenish liquid from her body.

The hybrid girl reached into her storage bag and pulled out another combat bodysuit.

Sophie simply needed to place the material on her chest and the memory foam would wrap around her body until she was fully covered.

Now to deal with the most important step of the escape plan.

Transportation.

Most of the hoverbikes were kept in the central area of the rest site and fortunately that area wasn't heavily guarded.

Sophie had not counted the exact number of hoverbikes that the knights owned but knew that there was extra.

Stealing one bike would not raise any alarms and just in case, she did have a scanner that could detect any positioning devices or trackers on the hoverbike.

It was unthinkable to the knights that someone could possibly sneak past the layer of watchmen protecting the campsite just to steal a transport vehicle.

Still…

There were at least two squires on active duty so she would need to take them out quickly or sneak past.

But what could she do to prevent the knights from realising that the captain's guests had left?

Sophie frowned and sat quietly in a cross-legged position. This was not something that could be solved with violence.

Circulating the Spider Whisper Art, Sophie opened her eyes to find herself floating around the empty void.

Inside the space was the familiar stone monument but this mysterious realm also acted as a mental space, so Sophie was able to materialise the library of knowledge that her aunt had given her several months ago.

Knowledge about the various techniques and skills of the Arachnais tribe as well as their culture.

Sophie floated over to a certain section and scanned the familiar technique of 'Rsychosis'.

Creating multiple physical clones was probably the best option but Sophie had only ever mimicked the appearance of her own body.

Rsychosis was extremely powerful but there were obviously a few downsides to this incredible technique.

The first being that the mirror images did not have the full strength of the original.

And more importantly, the copies would die within the span of a week. That gave Sophie just enough time to pull this off.

Sophie scanned through the lines of text and searched desperately for a way to change her mirror image into the appearance of others.

There it was!

Sophie let out a sigh of relief at the relatively straightforward method. It was a bit unpleasant, but she needed to take a small sip of blood from Lily.

The hybrid girl took a quick glance at the floating stone monument and then stopped circulating the Spider Whisper Art.

Opening her eyes, Sophie found herself back in the bathroom in the same cross-legged position.

She got up from the floor and headed towards the bedroom where Lily lay sleeping peacefully without a care in the world.

"Sorry baby," Sophie whispered quietly as she reached into her storage bag to pull out a small container.

She unscrewed the white cap and then dipped her fingertips inside to brush a thin layer of black powder on Lily's nose.

The little girl snorted uncomfortably and shifted around a few times. This was a mild numbing agent that would keep Lily from feeling any pain.

Sophie took out an empty syringe and placed the sharp needle against Lily's arm.

The line from the scroll had recommended to rip and tear into the flesh and then swallow the blood directly but Sophie was not going to risk hurting Lily.

She plunged the needle into the flesh of Lily's arm and quickly withdrew a small quantity of blood.

Without even looking at the syringe, Sophie immediately took out a healing salve and covered the injection site.

She placed a gentle hand on Lily's cheek and planted a soft kiss on the little girl's forehead.

Lily opened her eyes sleepily and smiled warmly at her beautiful big sister.

Sophie touched Lily's chubby cheek and spoke openly about what would happen later.

It didn't make sense to keep her in the dark and more importantly….

Sophie knew that Lily had a good impression of the captain and the knights who had been kind to her, so she didn't want her to be tricked in case something went wrong during the escape.

She didn't spare any detail from the mysterious trial to the possibility that the knights might try to kill them later.

The only thing that Sophie didn't mention was the killing order from the hunter goddess.

Becoming a vessel of an ancient primordial being was a secret that Sophie could not easily tell even to those she trusted.

Sophie stared at the little girl with firm determination in her golden eyes,

"Lily…"

"We need to leave tonight."

It was now time to put her escape plan into action.