Chapter 21 - The Greatest Gift.
'...'
O'thnir remained silent, his eye scanning the whole situation from the mace...No matter which way he saw it, they were beyond doomed.
The supposed savior was taken out, Nel'Vess was approaching akin to the Grim Reaper, their mounts were murdered, and worst of all, the connection was down, so no one outside the forest had any clue about their predicament.
"To decide to group on me, I can't imagine what happened there." Sergio uttered in derision as he watched Arthur place Shia and Levi next to him. Then, he fell on his knees, incapable of standing up for another second.
"Get those f*ckers off me!"
Meanwhile, the spiders were still latched on to Arthur, leaving him to groan in agonizing pain.
"Arthur, I got you."
Levi reached out to the spiritual spiders in his vision and killed them off by bursting their abdomen with a single strike. The abdomen was their weakest point, making it simple for Levi to kill them without any struggle.
After he was done, he left the heads attached to his brother's flesh, knowing that removing them was a death sentence.
The fangs were just so deep, the moment he removed the heads, Arthur's wounds would gush out uncontrollably.
Jamal came from behind, still firing basic arrows to further clear out the area. While he had tried his best, he had merely cleared out a five-meter radius.
The spiders took no time to recollect their strength and surrounded the group in a small circle, making anyone believe that their lives were already claimed...But not Levi.
He could hear Shia mumbling something, and if his guess was correct, they must do everything in their power to buy her time.
"Protect Shia!"
Levi ordered as he stood in battle stance, facing the northern side. When Sergio, Jamal, and their nightcrawlers saw this, they couldn't help but smile bitterly.
In their minds, Levi could be excused for acting like this since he was blind and could see only the spiders' spiritual auras.
It was nowhere as terrifying and despairing as the sight of an army of flesh-eating disgusting giant spiders gazing at you akin to a delicious meal on a moonless night.
"Protect her!"
But, when even Blee'der voiced the same concern, everyone's gazes turned solemn, and they swiftly entered a battle stance, willing to fight to the last breath.
If Levi could be excused for not knowing any better, then Blee'der's words reignited hope in their hearts...Hope that Shia didn't group them up for no reason.
Screeee!!
Sadly, the spiders had no chill. The moment their eyes adjusted to their heat auras, they let out the same screech and charged at the party with their fangs clicking nonstop!
Jamal and Sergio pulled out dagger-shaped wooden totems from their backpack and nodded at each other.
Just as the spiders were about to pounce at them, Jamal shouted out an incantation while smashing the tiny wooden dagger on the ground, "By the sun's eternal flame, purge the dark and unleash your claim!"
"Shield your eyes!!"
The instant the last word left his lips, the wooden dagger exploded and released a potent flash of purified sunlight, expanding for more than ten meters and burning away all the spiders in the zone!!
The flash lasted for a mere second before dying out, but the damage it caused was astronomical.
Only ash was left behind in the ten-meter radius while the rest of the spiders cowered away akin to a teenager asked to do chores.
"Fear not, my little ones. It's just a D grade Assault Totem." Nel'Vess' voice resounded from a distance, "I didn't think you were still saving them. Oh well, what does it matter anymore?"
Sergio and Jamal's expressions turned gloomy, knowing that such totems were kinda useless at this point. They saved them for emergencies and as a last tramp card, but this situation was simply beyond their grade.
As expected, the spiders pounced on them again after their short-term memory acted up and made them forget what happened to the previous pack.
Sergio glanced at the last assault totem in his possession and then smashed it on the ground with a grim expression, activating it at once with the incantation.
The second batch of spiders fried up again, but alas, more poured in to fill in the gaps.
"It's getting sad, just give up and I promise I will be gentle." Nel'Vess sighed, "If I was getting something out of this besides my survival, I would have been more motivated to kill you, but beggars can't be choosers."
Nel'Vess waved at the spiders, forcing them to behave temporarily since his authority could not rival that of Dra'Webra.
But, it was enough to create an execution ground.
"So, who's first?"
Nel'Vess picked a medium-sized wooden log and waved it around like he was playing with a twig. But the wheezing noise absolutely petrified the party, making them understand that a single strike was all it would take to blow them into pieces.
"Me...Take me."
Yet, Levi stepped in front of the group, standing with a straight back, but his expression was as regretful and bitter as ever.
"Levi...Cough, get down here. Let me go first, I am already halfway there." Arthur crawled towards his brother with a look of utter determination.
"Arthy, this entire situation is on me...I told you that risks are a must to move forward, but I have truly bitten more than I can chew." Levi smiled wryly, "I have spent my entire life visualizing life through books, but only now do I understand...Real life is nothing like books, where everything follows a written script."
"I am sorry, I have let you down..."
Levi was genuinely upset and regretful that his plan didn't just risk his life but that of his brother's.
He always dreamed of being a Daywalker and roaming the wastelands to reclaim the planet from the infestation of nightcrawlers due to reading many heroic stories of high-ranked Daywalkers when he was a child.
They were his guardian heroes, watching over him and fueling him with the courage to handle the nightcrawlers infesting his little world.
Only now did he truly grasp what life was like for Daywalkers in the wastelands—there were no safety nets, only constant threats, with everything and everyone trying to consume their light.
One could plan all he wanted, but at the end of the day, it would take a single passing powerful nightcrawler in a bad mood to snack on his body and shadowlife seed.
"Don't f*cking apologize to me. I would have chased you to the depths of hell if I had to. I have left you alone once, and you ended up watching our parents get murdered, and your eyes ripped away." Arthur reached out and held Levi's pants tightly and then said with an earnest stern tone, "I have since vowed to never leave your side, not now, not ever."
Clap Clap...
Nel'Vess listened to the whole thing and when Arthur finished, he slowly clapped his hands with a mocking look.
"Ah, now that's what I called true brotherhood. Though, I wish it never finds me." Nel'Vess sneered, "In the Shadow Dimension, you are proclaimed a walking corpse the instant you leave your back open to another one."
"Make no mistake, the real world is no different. But, that's what makes genuine and trusted relationships more special." Levi smiled faintly, "To know that someone has your back in this cruel and merciless era is the greatest gift."
"Greatest gift?"
Nel'Vess snickered, disappearing and reappearing in an instant behind Levi. Then, he pierced Levi's abdomen from the back, lifting him up and Arthur in the air with one hand like they weighed absolutely nothing...
"Huh...Brother?"
Arthur gazed at the pierced bloody log inside his brother's stomach and felt like his vision was getting cloudy. Before he could react, Nel'Vess smacked him back to the party like he was swatting a fly.
Then, he carried Levi in front of him, staring at his agonized, confused expression as Levi gripped the log with trembling hands.
His head darted around, struggling to process what had just happened...Until a creeping coldness spread from his stomach, dull and unnatural, making the moment feel even more surreal.
"The greatest gift is absolute strength! If you were strong, you wouldn't be dangling helplessly in my hands. If I was strong, I wouldn't be following that b*tch's orders. Strength, strength, strength, it's everything!"
Nel'Vess hurled Levi back to the group, his blood spraying and splashing Shia and the others. Yet, their stunned eyes never left the gaping hole in Levi's stomach...
"The sooner you get it through your thick skull, the better your life will get."
Nel'Vess sneered when he saw everyone grouping on Levi, trying their best to close the massive hole, but to no avail. The moment Levi joined the donut club with Rengoku and Ace, there wasn't anything they could do to save him...
"My bad, maybe in your next life."