GAMBIT 26 026| Spider

The bare branches spiked into the sky - no sign of life to be found anywhere. Carlsen Forest is so dark they are barely able to see where they're going. Even their stallions start to freak out. Without a siege or any training session occuring, p.a.w.ns and other officials are allowed to use horses. Back in the forest, there are only small sounds of rustling bushes and the howl of the wind. They have no clue what lays in the dark forest, all they know is that it isn't going to be a peaceful journey.

The whole forest is silent, not a single soul to be heard. Above the barren trees, is a thick layer of fog, blocking the eyesights of the the four conquistadors. In a steady and cautious pace, their horse moves. Their colors are soaked with the sweat of the four conquistadors as they search far and wide for the enemy.

The conquest continues for half an hour until the four of them reached a peculiar place. Their stallions are starting to step on mud, giving them a hard time to move. Above them, are what seems to be cobwebs, dangling like wires in branches and twigs. Even the self-proclaimed bird of prey is scared of such eerie.

The four of them start to hear the noises of shadows, somewhat murmuring to their ears. They scour the area, only to see a large tree that stands out from the rest. This tree, is quite obese looking with its roots deeply rooted to the ground. The leaves have the pigment of dark green, and the bark is somewhat painted in a fainted color, gray.

The princess makes the first move, and decides to unmount from her horse. With her left hand tightly gripped to her sword, she scours and surrounds the tree, searching for anything that would pique her curiosity.

Walking around, she accidentally steps on mud, grabbing her attention. With a curious mind, Jupiter starts to kneel as she places a sample of the oozing mud to her the tip of her finger. She then smells it, giving a cough afterwards. The cough of the princess has attracted the attention of the dangling beasts above, spiders of Sacchi.

"This is their venom." The princess murmurs, hearing the chuckles of spiders, slowly descending from above them through their cobwebs. The chuckles, have also attracted the attention of Kingston, Quartz, and Harold, causing them to look above.

"Who has the bravery to interfere my home?" Atop the tree, a spider, much larger from the ones descending to them makes a leap down to the ground. Scaring the princess, bringing her guard down.

"My children have not eaten for days, this is quite a feast for us." In a sarcastic manner, the queen of the spiders start to giggle.

"It has been a long time since I've eaten a member of the royal family. Now, my stomach craves for more!" The queen continues to scare the b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l of the four of them. Escape is merely impossible for her children have completely surrounded the four conquistadors.

"She ate the father of King Felix." Kingston murmurs to the ears of the young man.

Hearing his words, Quartz remains speechless, rotating his eyes to the cl.u.s.ter, earnestly finding a way out of the situation. He then thinks for a minute if running is a decent choice. If he were to run, what would that make of him? A coward? A traitor? Clearly, Quartz does not want his reputation to decline therefore he has made the decision to stand firm and fight amidst the clutter of spiders.

No longer having the compatibility to satisfy her stomach, the queen spews acid to the princess, nearly killing her. Luckily, only a droplet was able to touch the armor of Jupiter, causing the metal to corrode.

"Sire, four is no match for a dozen." Endeavor warns, watching the clutter walking in a subtle pace closer to them.

"I am aware of that Endeavor, but clearly there is no way out, and we would be drowing in a pool of acid if we were to fight back."

"Actually, there is a way sire. The falcons have encountered a lot of situations similar to this. The best way is to take down the queen. Without the queen, her children remain stagnant for no one will be able to command them since the queen uses vibrations produced by its fangs in order to communicate with her children.

Although, a slash of the sword won't be quite easy in the abdomen, so I suggest that you head for the eye. With the queen blind, the four of you are given the opportunity to take her down." Endeavor suggests an opinion, bringing a spark of hope to Quartz.

"Aim for the queen's eye!" Quartz shouts, dashing to the queen, pointing his sword to the eye. However, with all her children, Quartz is quite aware taking down the eye won't be a simple task either.

Seeing the young man dash rapidly with his stallion, one of her children spews a bubble of boiling acid to him. Luckily, he was able to react quickly, jumping off the stallion right away. Although the young man was saved, the horse has turned into a pool of blood and mud, ready to be sipped by the fangs of the cl.u.s.ter.

The princess and the other two then abides with the decision of the young man. Kingston and Harold first unmounts from their horse and with their swords, they aimed for the eye, not minding the other spiders nearby. The queen sends out a vibration, signaling her children on what to do. In a matter of seconds, her children started to attack, jolting towards the four of them, with their fangs ready to gobble the conquistadors as a whole.

"I'll be a diversion, go and slain the queen." Kingston yells, picking a twig from the ground and setting it on fire by scratching the twig on a nearby boulder. He then runs to the east, grabbing the attention of the queen's children due to the lumuniosity of the flames.

"Pathetic mortals!" The queen shouts and enrages, spewing her acid at the three of them, trying to turn them into oozing mud.

"You're demeanor is as those of a pouty child!" Endeavor starts to leap into action, pecking the head of the queen. As the queen focuses on the bird, the three are given an opportunity to take it down.

"This would probably work!" Harold beams with confidence, throwing a small stone to the eye only to grab the attention of the queen. With one of her eight legs, the queen smashes Endeavor to the side of the tree as she returns her concentration to the three of them.

"My bad." Seeing the princess and the young man staring at him, Harold utters with an embarra.s.sed face.

u003cScah!u003e The queen lets off her cry, jolting to the three of them.

"Cut the legs!" The princess instructs. Seeing the Queen jolting to them, the conquistadors separate from each other. With courage, the princess slays down one of the queen's legs.

"Have you not learned?" The queen chuckles, showing her leg regenerating again.

The queen then pounces at the princess, harnessing her venom in order for it to be spewed unto her. Harold and Quartz tried to set the princess free, however the spider spews cobwebs, wrapping them tightly to the point they could barely breath. With the two struggling from the cobwebs, the queen returns back to her agenda with the princess.

"Tsk... Tsk... Tsk..." The queen murmurs, then moves her head closer to Jupiter's ears. She continues, "Where have I seen such the same scenario? Ah, I remember. This is how your grandfather looked before he died... Now you will meet him in the heavens." After speaking her words, the queen chuckles hysterically, ready to spew out the acid.

A moment before the incident, Endeavor comes to save the day, bringing an unexpected surprise to the eyes of the conquistadors.

u003cBwargh!u003e The falcon shrieks and opens its beak. It spews out a beam of ice, freezing the queen. With the spider frozen, the princess quickly escapes from her grip and dashes to pick up her sword. She then slays the cobwebs, setting Quartz and Harold free. As for the falcon, it returns to the young man's shoulder, smiling pleasantly at him.

"Frosty parrot saved the day!" Harold teases.

"I beg your pardon, without me the princess would not be able to save you." In a frustrated manner, the falcon utters, making the rest of them laugh.

With pleasure, Quartz volunteered to slay the frozen spider. Piercing his sword gravely to the eye that connects to the brain. The queen has fallen, as so as the spiders trying to chase Kingston. He halts for a moment to gasp for oxygen then tilts back only to see the cl.u.s.ter not moving or whatsoever.

"The queen is dead." Kingston murmurs in relief, dropping himself the gra.s.s in order to rest from all that running.

With that being said, the four of them reunited once more with nothing but pure ecstasy. With the queen slayed, they finally return to the kingdom. As a reward for their partic.i.p.ation, the princess has given the decision to let them rest back in camp while the rest stare at them with covetous eyes.

As for the princess, she returned to the camp, bringing excellent news before the king and queen of Pureheart. The creatures of the forest shall not be left in vain for the food chain and ecosystem has been saved.