World's Last Hope-Chapter 104: The Tremors of Doom

"Steady," Eric muttered to himself as he ran with full force ahead.

He was accompanied by four other Masters and was up against about a hundred spiders. In normal circumstances, he would be able to take them out alone, but right now, the plan wasn’t for him to go beyond his limits and push his body to the verge of breaking down.

His goal was to learn how to fight alongside other people. Up until now, he had only fought alongside Aria and Olivia. As such, it was safe to say that he lacked experience when it came to teamwork.

Hopefully, that was going to change today.

Eric took a deep breath as he finally reached the monster that was closest to him. With no hesitation, he slashed, splitting it in two.

Before, this feat would have been impossible, but after becoming a Master and with the time he had spent training with Grandmaster Gryndor, it clearly wasn’t a waste.

He allowed himself a moment to be impressed by his quick progress as he shifted his gaze to the next target.

Before he could move, however, he was momentarily blinded as a light flashed throughout the area and hit the spider square in the face, killing it the next second.

At the same time, there was a thrown spear that was impaled in another of the monsters.

The air around became colder as one of the Masters seemed to use one of their miracles that allowed them to use ice attacks to some extent.

Eric smiled a little. It was going to take some time to get used to fighting alongside so many people.

’I am not going to be outdone by them, though!’ he thought as he dug deep into the ground and exploded toward his next target.

Even if there were about a hundred spiders, it looked like they didn’t stand much of a chance against Eric and the other four Masters, as the battle didn’t last more than five minutes.

Glancing around, Eric saw that no one was seriously injured. It seemed that these people were more reliable than the Awakened, at least. He wouldn’t have to worry about them dying so easily.

"Good job." Hearing Olivia’s voice behind him, he shifted his gaze to her.

"But," she added, "you will need more practice. You have to be more comfortable letting your allies have your back and for you to do the same," she suggested.

He took note of the advice as they quickly destroyed the cocoons and continued their march. They didn’t have time to rest, as the more time they wasted, the more spiders would be born.

Eric scratched his chin, deep in thought. ’I need to be more careful to let people have my back...’

A moment later, his eyes widened as he remembered something. ’We did seem to make a good team, me and Master Varek. I wonder what the situation on the other end is. Are they having an easy time like us, or have they already encountered colossal spiders?’

*****

"Grandmaster Aria," Varek spoke as he bowed in respect.

"We have dealt with the spiders in the area. I recommend that we proceed ahead."

She didn’t answer him at first as she was gazing into the distance. After a moment, she parted her lips.

"How is everybody’s condition?"

Varek turned around to get a quick glance at the Masters. Some had small parts of their armor melted by the acidic blood, but other than that, they were in good condition, if they excluded the fact that they were tired from the battle before the gates.

"In perfect condition," he spoke, inwardly thinking.

’Until now, we have destroyed about 500 cocoons. We are proceeding smoothly. Eventually, we will meet with Olivia and Eric from the other side, meaning that we would have managed to clear them out.’

Of course, there was doubt. Despite the seemingly large number of cocoons they had destroyed, it was a mere fraction compared to the swarms of spiders they had battled at the gates—practically insignificant 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Was it because the spiders were reproducing at a slower rate than they believed, or had they just yet to arrive at the heart of it all?

He didn’t have much time to ponder the issue as Aria’s next words made his spine turn cold.

"Get ready for battle. A colossal is coming."

’A colossal?’ The old man repeated her words in disbelief. He shifted his gaze forward. There was a mist making it hard to see ahead, but the colossal spiders were supposed to be hundreds of meters in height. Surely, the old man would have been able to see them despite his bad sight.

That was what he thought until the ground trembled beneath his feet.

Once, twice, thrice.

Each time, the shock came faster than the previous one. It was almost like something was running... something colossal...

"Get ready for battle!" Varek shouted with all his might as he summoned his weapons.

Without asking questions, the Masters mirrored his movements, and in the next second, a menacing roar came out of the mist. And then, out of it, a white colossal spider emerged with its massive jaws open, attacking at the strongest human currently present—Aria.

In the span of a second, she exploded backward as she slashed with her sword dozens of times, each strike creating a light arc that traveled forward and collided with the giant creature’s body.

Varek and the other Masters shuddered for a moment.

The thing they were looking at was easily 200 meters in height. In their lives, they had never thought they would encounter a being taller than the walls that had protected the city for so long.

And yet, currently, they were looking at such a creature that was easily three to four times taller than that.

And the worst part was that the ground shook again, more violently.

One, two, three other colossal spiders came out of the mist, their eyes focused solely on the Masters.

Varek gulped audibly. "I guess this is where I die."