Chương 79: Spiders

Joe wandered deeper into the sea of flowers. He still had two empty containers and planned to fill them with more unique finds. It wasn't long before he came across a peculiar bloom, one seemingly cloaked in spider web. But when he crouched to examine it more closely, he noticed that he was mistaken. It wasn't covered in web; it was made from it. Repeating the sequence from before, he scooped some dirt into a container and gently placed the flower inside. With a satisfied smile, he stored it away. One more to go.

He felt something tug at his leg. Looking down, he barely had time to react as a long thread of spider silk wrapped around his chest. In a flash, he was yanked off his feet and flung out of the flower field at breakneck speed. The last thing he saw before darkness claimed him was the second-largest spider he had ever seen… smiling at him. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Joe's eyes fluttered open as his body jolted with each bounce. His head throbbed, wet with blood.

He tried to raise a hand to check the wound, but found both arms and legs bound tight. Panic flared in his chest. He was trussed up and lying on something in motion. Above him, tall trees and thick canopy blurred past. He bounced again, and this time heard something humming, casually, almost cheerfully. His eyes darted around, struggling to make sense of his surroundings. His fingers brushed against the sticky material binding him, and a vivid image of a grinning spider flashed through his mind. He groaned.

Of course… he was wrapped in spider silk. Right on cue, a dog-sized baby spider appeared in front of his face.

"Mother, he is awake!" the spider chirped as it scurried away, then reappeared holding up a mirror with a hairy leg. In the reflection, a spider stared back at him.

"Hello, handsome," the mother spider said in a deep, sonorous voice.

"You woke up pretty fast. You must be used to poison. Tut tut." Joe felt Uriel's light burn through his body, purging the toxins. He mumbled, trying to speak, but his mouth was bound shut.

"Now, now, handsome. No talking. Just lie there and wait until we get to my… home. We will have plenty of time to talk then." Joe jolted violently as the baby scurried off, and he swung about, tied to the torso of the massive mother spider. He tried to scream, but only muffled groans escaped. Time passed. As he was carried through the forest, Joe heard the distant sounds of battle.

"Oh my, they're still going at it," the mother spider mused as she swung through the trees on mana-coated webs. Joe, unable to see anything, bounced on her back, listening intently. Someone was fighting out there. He hoped they'd spot him, and hoped someone would come help. Softly, two baby spiders landed on him and leaned close, peering at his face. One began to speak.

"Mother, the fight is almost over. Only the shadow girl and the two long-eared ones are left. Can we go pick up the bodies? They look tasty."

"Now, now, children. What have I told you about eating strange creatures?"

"Don't eat things from another world," the three baby spiders recited in unison.

"Good, good. Now, one of you, poison the handsome man. He needs to sleep a little longer." Joe thrashed and tried to shout, but pain flooded his senses, and the world slipped into darkness. Joe awoke to blinding pain. He blinked rapidly and rubbed his forehead. Then paused. His hands were free. The webs were gone. He sat up, and immediately regretted it as his head spun and his balance wavered. He waited, breathing slowly until the dizziness passed.

When he finally looked around, he stared wide-eyed at two baby spiders dangling from webs in front of him, watching him with unblinking eyes. They giggled and scurried away, shouting.

"Mother! Mother! He's awake again!" Joe threw out his hands, trying to steady himself as the room around him began to shake. With a gust of wind, the massive form of the mother spider filled the room. Her many eyes gleamed, and her broad face curved into a smile.

"Hello again, handsome. Rise and shine." With a speed Joe couldn't track, she scooped him up and darted through a series of tunnels and caverns. They emerged into a vast cave draped in webs. A single flickering light illuminated the space, casting eerie, dancing shadows against the walls. Joe's eyes widened. Spiders… countless spiders filled the cave. Millions of eyes stared back at him, unblinking and silent.

He had never thought in his entire life that he would see so many in one place, and the sheer number of them made it impossible to count. The mother spider tossed him roughly into a sticky web. He hit the strands and stuck immediately, unable to move. Two baby spiders scurried over and began weaving more webbing around his ankles and legs. He struggled at first, but froze when the mother's glare pierced his very soul. Her Aura pressed down on him, and he knew… without question, that his life hung by a thread.

Her power was incomprehensible. His body locked up in fear.

"Now that you're settled. I have a question, handsome," the mother spider said smoothly.

"Do you know what you did?" Joe's mind raced. What had he done? He had no idea what that meant. What could he have possibly done? The two baby spiders stopped spinning and moved aside. Joe hung in place, sweat soaking his skin, trying to figure out what to say. In the end, he just told the truth.

"I'm sorry for whatever I did… But I honestly have no idea," he said. Her eight eyes locked on his, unblinking, and it felt like they were digging through his very being. He couldn't look away. It was like every layer of himself was being peeled apart and exposed. His mind screamed that death was near. Then, just as suddenly, the crushing dread vanished. He gasped for breath, trembling from the aftershock. Beads of sweat dripped onto the web around him.

"You took something. From the garden," she said at last. Oh no.

"I… I did? I took two flowers. If they are yours, I'll gladly return them. I didn't know they belonged to anyone," he stammered. A pulse of mana brushed through him… a scan? It felt like his innards were being searched.

"Where is it?" the mother asked, her voice calm, but the weight behind it made Joe's breath catch.

"It's in my storage ring. If you free my arm, I can bring it out," he said, his voice cracking under the weight of panic. With a flick of the mother spider's leg, the webbing vanished, and Joe dropped to the ground. He scrambled forward and knelt, summoning two flowers in containers with a wave of his hand. His eyes lingered on the Euphemora Eulogy as regret tugged at his heart. The mother spider gently picked up the second flower, the web-formed one, and brought it close to her face.

"It's so beautiful," she whispered, tears gathering in the corners of her many eyes before trailing down her furry cheeks. She let out a high-pitched screech, but instead of pain, Joe felt a soothing calm wash over him. His fear, once sharp and gnawing, melted away.

"Oh, my handsome little thing," she said, her voice trembling with joy.

"You have made me the happiest mother. Thank you." Joe blinked in confusion. What was going on? He stared down at the Euphemora Eulogy, resisting the urge to clutch it protectively. His thoughts were still fogged by the strange calm, but he couldn't understand why she was thanking him.

"Look, children! We have the flower! Cheer for the handsome one!" she bellowed. Cheers erupted from the cavern as hundreds, maybe thousands, of small voices rang out in unison. The mother spider turned back to Joe and gestured toward the Euphemora Eulogy with a long, spindly leg.

"Keep that thing. I have no use for it. This is all I wanted." She smiled as she nuzzled the web-crafted flower against her cheek. Not wasting the opportunity, Joe quickly returned the Euphemora Eulogy to his storage ring. Almost immediately, a wave of tiny legs crawled over him as a group of baby spiders scurried forward, lifted him with surprising coordination, and began carrying him away. Joe sat at a long wooden table so vast he couldn't see either end.

Baby spiders surrounded him, eagerly feeding him a grand celebratory meal. He smiled, taking careful bites of the surprising assortment of foods laid before him. Strange cuts of meat sizzled alongside bowls of pink and purple fruits. Before trying the meat, Joe asked the nearest baby spider what it was.

"Frogs!" the baby said excitedly. Joe used Identify, which labelled it Gaslllor Meat. Joe still felt sore from his ordeal in the flower garden, so he simply ate and hoped it really was just frog meat. It tasted surprisingly good. When he moved on to the fruits, however, he felt a sudden lightheadedness. Alarmed, he activated Uriel's light. The divine light surged through him, burning away the poison laced into the fruit. Were they trying to poison me? he wondered. Or is this just what they normally eat?

He kept Uriel's light active as a precaution and resumed eating. The baby spiders around him munched happily alongside him, including the same poisonous fruit. That made him ponder. Maybe it's just part of their regular diet. Maybe they just like poison. He shrugged. Once he'd eaten his fill, he turned to one of the nearby spiderlings and asked if it knew where their mother was. He couldn't tell the babies apart; they all looked and sounded exactly the same.

"Follow!" the baby chirped, scuttling ahead. Joe followed it through a winding maze of tunnels until they reached a massive cave with a towering ceiling. The mother spider sat regally in the centre, watching him with all eight eyes. Joe descended slowly, rocks crunching beneath his boots. The floor was packed with dirt, and as he stepped forward, he noticed Nature's Touch activate. Grass sprouted gently around his feet with each step. The mother spider took note of the effect but didn't appear bothered by it.

"Hi, erm… I just wanted to thank you for your hospitality," Joe said, bowing politely.

"But I have friends nearby I need to check up on, so I was wondering if it was okay to be shown the way out?" Her many eyes blinked in unison, glinting in the dim light.

"Oh, you didn't want to stay?" she asked.

"I haven't truly thanked you yet for retrieving my… flower." She affectionately stroked the glass container holding the web flower with one long, hairy leg. A chill rippled down Joe's spine as she stared at him. At that moment, Joe felt very, very small.

"A gift is not necessary. You have already given me enough, and I am thankful. But I'm on a time limit and really do need to find my friends," Joe said, doing his best to keep his voice calm and neutral.

"Sit!" The spider snapped. She swung one of her massive legs, striking Joe hard across the chest. He flew backwards and skidded along the dirt floor. The breath left his lungs in a painful whoosh. He tumbled several metres before slamming into a rock and coming to a stop. For a long moment, he didn't move, too stunned to do anything.

"Do you know what this is?" the mother spider asked once he caught his breath. She pointed a long, hairy leg toward the flower.

"No… I only know its name. I don't know anything about it," Joe stammered. His mind raced, scrambling for the best way to proceed. He could try to run. Use Space Jump. But that plan had a major flaw; he had no idea where the exit was.

"Then why did you take it?" The spider asked. Joe hesitated for a beat.

"I took it because I liked the look of it and wanted to study it," he said, deciding to stick to the truth as much as possible.

"Study it? What do you mean?"

"Well, I like flowers… and it was stunning. I've never seen anything like it," he added, hoping it sounded sincere enough. It didn't.

"You're lying." Her voice was quiet at first, but there was a low rumble in her tone. It began to build, like the warning growl of a Beast.

"I have been trying to enter that Garden of Flowers for over a hundred years. And you just appeared out of nowhere and walked right in. How?" she asked, leaning her face closer. Joe instinctively wanted to back away, but the rock behind him offered no escape. Her eight black eyes bored into him, cold and unblinking. He swallowed.

"I… I don't remember clearly. My head was a bit of a mess then. But I used a… skill to open the bubble." Something clicked beside him. He didn't dare turn his head to see what it was.

"Another lie," the spider hissed.

"I'm starting to think you just don't want to tell me." Her voice thundered now, echoing inside his skull. The sheer force of it sent a sharp jolt through his body. Blood trickled from his nose. His healing instinctively kicked in, sealing the wound, but the pressure in the cave had become unbearable. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you," he gasped. It's just… hard to explain. I have this strange thing in my arm… it lets me disrupt mana." The air grew heavier. The walls of the cave felt like they were closing in. Something primal stirred in the spider's gaze as she stared down at him, silent and unreadable. Slowly, menacingly, she began to rise to her full height.

"It's getting late, you will stay here with me tonight. You won't be going anywhere." Something in Joe's mind snapped. Rage ignited within him. He turned to his right, finally checking the source of the earlier clicking noise. Standing just a few feet away was a strange humanoid spider, her thin limbs twitching as she held a pair of scissors in one hand. Her eyes glinted with malevolence.

"Daughter," the mother spider said smoothly, "do show our handsome guest to his hole." The daughter pounced. To Joe, time seemed to slow to a crawl. The anger he'd been suppressing, the humiliation of being bound, the poisoning, the smug condescension he'd been lambasted with boiled over. It all hit at once. The sight of the daughter spider lunging at him, hunger in her eyes, shattered whatever restraint he had left. He exploded into motion.

Aura surged from his body as he darted toward her, ducking beneath her outstretched hand. In the same fluid motion, he swept his leg upward in a powerful kick aimed at her head. Her smile twisted into something monstrous. Her face cracked open, revealing rows of huge, needle-like teeth, dripping with saliva. Her mouth expanded far beyond what her head should have allowed, jaw popping as it stretched unnaturally and lunged toward his leg. But Joe's kick had only been a feint.

As her jaws snapped shut on empty air, Joe spun sideways and looked around the cave. He spotted a dark corner behind her and used Space Jump. He vanished just as her next bite chomped onto nothing. Joe dug his fingers into the cave wall as he landed against the ceiling. Activating Mana sight, he swept his gaze across the cavern. Two possible exits, he spotted them just before a massive leg speared toward him. He Space-Jumped again, reappearing beneath the body of the mother spider.

He raised his right arm and triggered Mana Blast. Mana erupted outward… … The daughter slammed into him mid-cast, sending him tumbling. She was fast. Too fast. As he rolled, her jaw unhinged again, she pounced, her mouth snapping down toward his arm. He barely managed to Space-Jump back toward the ceiling, dodging her jaws by inches. Eight gleaming eyes locked onto him as he reappeared in a new corner. A web launched toward his face, filling his vision. He Space-Jumped again, just in time. They were relentless.

Each jump was met with an immediate attack, either from the daughter or the mother. He couldn't get a single strike in. His earlier Mana Blast had done nothing to the mother, absolutely nothing. He jumped twice more, frantic, and caught a glimpse of a tunnel beyond the second exit. He offered a silent prayer and Space-Jumped into the shadows. He was a fraction too slow. The daughter's hand clamped down on his arm as she was pulled through the void with him.

As they landed inside the tunnel, she shuddered violently and dropped to her knees, vomiting. The sudden spatial relocation had disoriented her senses. Joe was thankful for all the training that prevented him from having that reaction. He didn't waste the opportunity. He turned and ran, Space-Jumping every few seconds. The tunnel shook around him; the mother was somewhere nearby, close enough to cause tremors with her movement. He ran harder, pushing himself through the darkness. Then… a web.

It sprang up around him from the walls. His gaze twitched. Five baby spiders, only their heads poking out from hidden holes, grinned at him. They were joining the hunt now. Joe grit his teeth and kept moving, Space-Jumping to avoid the webs and push forward. But his mana bar was dropping fast. He burst into a new cavern, only to be slammed aside a moment later as the mother spider erupted from the wall beside him. Her legs smashed into him, sending him sprawling across the cave floor.

"Damn it!" he spat, activating his barding, but it was too late to block the hit. He coughed blood and slammed into a thick strand of web, grabbing it to stop his momentum. More webs shot toward him from all directions. The daughter screamed and burst into the cavern behind him, her vomit-covered face twisted in rage.

"Come here! I'm going to make you mine!" she screamed, lunging at Joe. He Space-Jumped to the side. As his feet hit the ground, grass burst up beneath his soles. He dashed, weaving between the chaos, dodging swinging arms and thunderous legs. But he couldn't dodge everything. A massive limb slammed into his side, sending him crashing into the stone wall. A cry of pain tore from his throat as blood spattered from his mouth, his eyes blurring with tears. The daughter pounced.

Her fist struck his gut, cracking his barding. The impact knocked the breath from his lungs and drove him deeper into the rock behind him. It was the hardest hit he'd ever taken. Agony pulsed through his chest; he was sure at least four ribs had snapped. A hand gripped his face. The daughter leered at him, bile and spit trailing down her fangs as she pulled back a fist, ready to end it. But Joe wasn't done. He slammed a foot into the dirt and activated Nature's Step. He vanished.

He reappeared in the first cavern on a small patch of grass, the one where this whole nightmare had begun. A third of his mana bar disappeared with the step. He thanked every god he could think of that this skill, which he rarely used now, did not bring the daughter with him. He tossed a healing pill into his mouth, followed by a mana pill. The cavern trembled as a monstrous scream echoed from afar, the mother spider. He could almost feel her breath on the back of his neck.

He sprinted for the opposite exit, boots thudding, his breath ragged, a multitude of invisible eyes watching his every step. He ran faster. __ Arachnovia screeched in fury as the handsome little thing vanished from her daughter's grasp. This had gone from amusing to deeply frustrating. How could he teleport so fast? So often? Her eight eyes swept the cavern. He was gone. She reached out with her mind into her web network, pulsing her senses through the vast interconnected tunnels. There. Back in her cave.

She spun and bolted. No prey had ever escaped her. Not in hundreds of years. Especially not an E-grade. If her sisters heard about this, she'd never live it down. Her daughter clung to her back as Arachnovia slammed through a wall of web and re-entered the first cavern. But he was gone again, sprinting toward one of her baby nests. She smiled. She swung up into one of her hidden travel tunnels, wide, winding shortcuts only she could use to navigate her lair. Let the little thing run.

Her daughter would feast on him soon. Allowing her to absorb his essence and finally evolve. __ As Joe ran, he cursed his terrible luck. Of all the directions he could've gone, he had sprinted straight into the nursery, a vast cavern crawling with thousands of baby spiders. Hundreds of small webs shot toward him like a storm of silk. With a growl, he pulled out Jingu Bang.

The staff hummed to life in his hands as he coated it in mana and spun it in a furious arc around him, slicing through the webs as he sprinted forward. He was being chased… Gods, he hated being chased. A sharp Space-Jump took him into a side tunnel just in time for another ear-spitting shriek to echo behind him. A split second later, the daughter spider smashed into the tunnel in hot pursuit. He planted Jingu Bang into the ground, let his momentum carry him around it, and drove a powerful kick into her side.

Pain exploded up his leg. He heard something crack in his foot as she was knocked into the wall. It was like kicking a slab of enchanted stone. He bit down the pain and bolted, ignoring the throb up his leg. Behind him, the daughter peeled herself from the wall and charged after him with a growl that echoed through the tunnels. Joe emerged into another wide cavern; he'd lost count of how many he'd run into now. They all looked the same.

His eyes widened as the mother spider slithered her way out from a hidden tunnel in the ceiling. So that's how she's been getting around so fast. He ducked under a swinging limb from the daughter, dodged a clawed hand, and Space-Jumped onto the mother's back. His foot slammed down with force, but she didn't even flinch. He might as well have kicked a mountain. Completely outmatched, he made a desperate gamble. If the tunnel above the mother was larger than she was, maybe he could squeeze through.

Without any idea of what lay beyond that hidden space in the ceiling, he Space-Jumped into the darkness. He stumbled forward and landed inside a wide tunnel, grinning with relief. A heartbeat later, the mother roared and crawled in behind him. He was already moving, sprinting down the tunnel. When he heard the scrape of her legs behind him, he Space-Jumped again just as she lunged. Her massive frame slammed into the tunnel wall instead, losing footing and crashing down in a tangle of limbs.

He spun as he landed, planting seeds with a look. He activated Seeds Will Grow. The tunnel erupted into a mass of blue-purple vines. The thick roots twisted and coiled around the mother spider, wrapping her in a living cage of mana-infused flora. He didn't stop to admire his work; he ran. Another scream ripped through the tunnel, but it didn't sound like she was moving. He swallowed a mana pill mid-stride and stopped using Space-Jump. His mana was dangerously low now, and he needed every bit of it.

Still, there was no sound of pursuit. The trap had worked. At least for now. Breathing heavily, he sent a silent thank-you to the sect and his new seeds and kept running. Joe ran until he felt a sense of impending doom wash over him. Trusting his instincts, he Space-Jumped, just in time. The daughter exploded through the tunnel wall beside him, her hands flashing out to grab him. He didn't jump far, just a metre to the side, so he could counterattack. Jingu Bang pulsed in his hand, humming with mana.

He swung it hard, the staff slamming into the side of her head and smashing her to the tunnel floor. She let out a shriek of fury, twisting and trying to roll away, but Joe unleashed an Aura Shout. The burst of force slammed her into the tunnel wall with a thud. Green blood sprayed from her mouth. Joe grinned as she snarled at him. She shifted and pounced, but Joe moved like water, flowing beneath her outstretched arms. He thrust Jingu Bang up into her abdomen. A loud metallic gong rang out.

The shockwave of the impact shuddered through his arms, making his bones tremble, and his grip falter. Though thankfully, she was thrown to the side, it was clear: his strike had barely done anything. Her exoskeleton might as well have been forged from impenetrable steel. He spotted a flash of light ahead and Space-Jumped, ducking into a side tunnel and sprinting away at full speed, his pursuer hot on his heels. The cavern shook. A massive tremor rolled through the tunnel, like an earthquake beneath his feet.

She was free. Joe cursed, planting seeds with every stride. He had been holding back on his seed planting until now, not wanting to destroy the tunnels and cave himself in by accident. But he was quickly running out of options. His mana reserves were thinning, and his supply of pills wouldn't last forever. Vines erupted from the ground and walls as he ran, slamming into the daughter and knocking her off-balance just long enough to keep her off him. Her grasping limbs kept out of reach.

He ducked and weaved as webs launched at him from hidden crevices. The giggles of baby spiders echoed after each volley. He planted another line of seeds and activated them in a surge. Vines sprang up behind him, forming a thick barricade that slammed into place just as the daughter's fists collided with them. He felt the shockwave of her blow as the vines bent, but held fast. Breathing hard, he stumbled into a new cavern he hadn't seen before.

He leapt toward the ceiling, slammed Jingu Bang into the stone, and held tight. He flipped himself upside down and stood against the roof, balancing on the embedded staff. He closed his eyes and stretched out his senses. He needed to know how close he was to the surface. His gut told him he'd been heading upward as he ran. He always tried to choose tunnels that sloped higher whenever possible. If he could climb just a little more, he might dare risk a Space-Jump into the unknown and pray he landed on solid ground…

not inside it. Below, baby spiders watched him in eerie silence. The walls shook. He was out of time. He cursed as he dropped down, sprinting into another upward stretching tunnel just as the cave behind him erupted. Stone exploded as the mother spider burst in, her scream shaking the chamber as she gave chase once more. It took about thirty more minutes of running before Joe was finally cornered, trapped in a dead-end cave with only one entrance. Panting, he pressed his back to the wall.

Across from him stood the mother and daughter, rage smouldering in their many eyes. The daughter was soaked in green blood, dripping from her as if she'd been dunked headfirst into a fountain of gore. It had taken… a lot of attacks to finally do some damage. Her fingers twitched as she pointed at him.

"No more running. Now, your body is mine. Give up this foolish game," she growled. Joe smiled despite the blood pouring from his wounds.

"You want me? Come get me." The daughter crouched, ready to pounce, but the mother's massive leg slammed down in front of her, halting her advance.

"Let me finish this, daughter. I'll bite off his legs and arms, then he won't be able to run anymore." She moved in a blur. Joe had been waiting for that exact moment. Hundreds of vines erupted from the ground around him, wrapping and weaving together into a thick wall of blue and purple. He bent them to his will, encasing himself in a living prison just as the mother slammed into it. Everything shook but held, and he could hear the murmur of a roar through the dense foliage.

He dropped to the ground inside his vine cocoon. The world outside pounded with fury, each strike a storm of force that made the walls tremble. His ears bled from the noise, but he kept his breathing steady, fighting through the pain. He was out of options. He couldn't stay here long. Every impact weakened both the vines and his body. His mana bar flashed red in his sight. He swallowed hard. No choice left. He tapped into his enriched mana, knowing full well it would come with a painful backlash.

Gritting his teeth, he reached deep into his mind and activated an Enriched Space-Jump. Joe blinked as he suddenly found himself crouched inside a softly glowing room filled with a muted ambient light. He blinked again as his eyes adjusted. He could see clearly, thanks to his sunglasses, but the sudden change in location was a little jarring. He was next to a pedestal, upon which rested a strange skull with an elongated jaw and two jagged teeth curling from its open mouth.

A figure standing beside him screamed and collapsed to the floor at his sudden, unexpected appearance. Joe ignored the shocked cloaked figure, taking in the rest of the chamber. More cloaked figures filled the space, but not ones from the sect he'd been questing in before his abduction. These wore bright red cloaks with a black symbol emblazoned on the chest. To his right, a young woman was chained beside him, her frantic eyes darting from him to the other figures. She squirmed, panic etched into every muscle.

In her lap rested a large glowing orb, pulsing with hues of blue and grey. Shouts cascaded from the cloaked figures as Joe leaned over and touched the orb. The moment his fingers met it, he shoved it into his storage. A sound like a bell tolling from the depths of hell echoed through the chamber as a notification flashed in the corner of his vision. The room was bathed in red light. Fires burst into life around the figures in red.

Joe placed a shaking hand on the chained woman's shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her.

"Might want to hold your breath," he said as he activated Space-Jump. In the blink of an eye, they reappeared in the sky, high above the forest canopy. Wind howled around them. Joe pulled out his skyboat, which materialized beneath them just in time to break their fall. They landed hard, the boat jolting as it dipped sharply, and began to plummet toward the trees below. Joe gently sat his now unchained passenger against the side of the deck and scrambled to the controls.

He managed to steady the vessel, pulling it up just enough to avoid an immediate crash. The boat soared southward. Just as he set course for a steady flight, his body spasmed. The backlash from using enriched mana hit like a hammer. He dropped to his knees, shaking, barely able to keep one hand on the controls. Try as he might, he couldn't maintain control. With a groan of frustration and a pang of regret, he dismissed the skyboat into its ring just as they skimmed the treetops.

Joe and his passenger hurtled through the air, crashing into the forest below. An Artefact has been retrieved by Joseph Caldwell. One remains.