Flames rolled down the tunnel, lighting the massive webs on fire. The fire quickly spread to more webbing, making its way towards the area where the other spiders were currently at. Kana kept her senses in that area as she turned around and looked at the path opening in front of them. "Let's move!"
The group pushed forward with Nana at the lead and Kana taking up the tail. Kana could only hope the flames from the torches would keep any human faced spiders that might be in hiding from attacking. She did not wish to be ambushed from the front.
As they continued forward, Kana felt things seemed too quiet. For the path to have been closed off and now they were making good progress towards the entrance of the cave system made Kana worried. She had no idea why things seemed too simple. Even if her flames were holding them back on the rear, the flames to the front were minimal. She only hoped they would ward off any human faced spiders in hiding.
But after so long, she felt no reaction from the spiders. She had sensed that they stirred, but now they were calm once again. "Did the mother spider tell them to stay put?" This thought came to mind as Kana followed her companions. She wondered if the mother spider had sensed something in her flames, so she kept her kin from attacking. If this was the case, she could only thank her death element for being amazing.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAt that same moment, deep in the depths of the cave, a female humanoid figure sat upon a throne made of bones from demonic beasts. Around her were half humanoid, half spider demonic beast kneeling in front of her. "Your highness."
"Who was it that tried to block their path?" The female humanoid asked as she crossed her legs. She looked at the ones kneeling below her with a lofty smile.
"One of the younglings under me. I have already punished it for going against your orders, my Queen." one of the half humanoids, half spiders, replied. This was an evolved form of the human faced spider called arachne.
"Hmm…." The one called Queen stood up from her throne and walked down the boney steps and lifted the arachne that had spoken's head and looked into her eyes. "You have neglected your duties and almost harmed her Holiness. Do you know what the punishment is for almost harming her Holiness?"
The arachne shivered and shook her head. She did not know who her Holiness even was. She had only heard about it today. The Queen looked at the arachne and smiled brightly as she stood up and turned around. The arachne lifted her head and breathed a sigh of relief but soon realized something was off as the world began to spin. It was only when she was looking back up at her own headless body that she realized she had been killed.
The Queen made no expression at all as she turned around and faced the others. "Prepare. We will greet her Holiness and apologize for our transgression. Bring the highest beast cores to allow her Holiness to be able to rank up quickly. Dig out this trash's core as well."
"Yes, my Queen!" All twenty arachne yelled out in unison.
Back on Kana's side Nana suddenly yelled out happily: "Kana, the exit!"
Kana saw the light ahead and smiled. Her worries seemed to be for naught. "Once we get out of here, let's eat some meat!"
"Kana, all you think about is meat!" Fei yelled out with a laugh. This was followed by more teasing causing Kana's cheeks to turn pink and her lips to purse as she thought: 'I like meat, so what!?'
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmIn no time at all, the light of day rained down on Nana and Fei's skin, but just before the others were about to exit the tunnel, Kana felt a powerful presence appearing behind her. Fan and Zhong also felt it and quickly turned around. "Kana!"
Kana eyed the woman who was emerging from the darkness in front of her with many others behind her and realized she felt no danger from the powerful figure. She turned towards the others and signaled for them to put their weapons away. "It's fine. She means us no harm."
Kana then turned her attention back to the woman who appeared. She had what looked like black bikini armor on and two sets of arms. "May I ask who you are?"
"I am known as Queen. I am the Queen of the arachne, Your Holiness." Queen replied as she suddenly knelt down.
Kana was suddenly taken aback by this sudden action and felt very confused. "Why are you calling me her holiness?"
"Her Holiness must not remember…. Many hundreds of thousands of years have passed since you last ruled over this land and ascended to the higher plane. I was, but a small low ranked demonic beast at that time. The day you disappeared was the day that all the king and queen beasts went into hiding, waiting for the day of your return. Since then, the crown of Queen of the arachne has been passed to me. Your Holiness, I humbly request your forgiveness of my mischievous children. They had blocked your path, making you waste your precious energy to burn away their webbing. Please allow me to repay you for this transgression." Queen waved her hand, and one of the arachne walked forward and placed a large bag made of spider silk full of beast cores on the ground with its head lowered, not daring to look up at Kana.
Kana was in a daze, trying to grasp what exactly was going on here. But as she started piecing things together, she was starting to slowly grasp what might be going on. It seemed one of her past lives really did live on this planet at one time and at some point had ascended to the next plane of existence. "Queen, was it? Can you tell me what happened in the past?"
"Of course, Your Holiness. But it will be a long story. Shall we find a place more comfortable for Your Holiness to sit?" Queen asked. Her eyes seemed to be filled with excitement.
"Yeah, why not." Kana nodded and turned to Nana and the rest. "Let's find a spot near a river to rest."