Exterminator

Alastor watched with a smile as the crowd rushed at him, screaming and overwhelmed with rage.

As the first line entered his range, one swipe of the spear severed their necks. Their falling corpses hindered those behind, allowing him to repeat the maneuver twice more before they realized what was happening and backed off.

Alastor saw that they were getting aware of the situation, and stabbed the meat blob in front of him with his spear, flinging it into Prima's hands.

"I might have overdone it, just a little bit."

Again, rage exploded within the Spider members, Prima herself gently setting down Silvy's corpse and joining the fray, as they threw themselves against Alastor like rabid animals.

'It's like harvesting wheat,' Alastor thought as every swing of his spear resulted in death for another enemy.

 'Only a few here know to use mana, and even they aren't using it well enough to pose a problem. I have to keep that leader in my sight though. Might be annoying if left unchecked.'

Alastor let Prima's hammer slam down on his spear, the material rippling from the point of impact like liquid but not bending, as if taunting her.

With a quick movement, Prima now had a deep slash stretching across her body. She ignored it and continued attacking Alastor.

Alastor grabbed one of the Spider subordinates and let Prima's enraged blow take their head off, before angling their corpse so their blood sprayed into the eyes of another incoming Spider.

Alastor lightly brushed against Prima's arm, but that was enough for him to activate the Rune of Change at an extreme level. Prima's wound 'Changed' into a much deeper one, nearly severing her in half as she coughed blood.

Alastor continued his slaughter unchecked, even as the Spiders' rage turned to fear, and fear to despair. They tried to run, but any who tried found flaming arrows buried in their heads.

Far away, Karna looked outside the window of his inn, bow ready as he shot anyone trying to escape with pinpoint accuracy.

Within half an hour, an entire division of the Spiders, as well as one of the Eight Limbs, had been eradicated.

........................................

Alastor re-entered the 'Rachne Inn', now evident as the 'Arachne Inn'.

Alicia looked at him and said, "Alastor, good thing you've returned-

She noticed the smile on his face, and sighed.

"How many?"

Alastor thought back to the crowd, "Not too much. Just one of the Limbs and their cohort. Easy work."

Amber said from behind, "What did you even expect, Alicia?"

Alicia shook her head, and Amber continued, "Have you seen Axel? I thought he went down with you."

Alastor signalled a no, "It was just me and Karna. No clue where Axel is."

The burly inn owner burst in and lunged at Alastor, "You bastard! Where is she?! Where is Silvy!?"

Alastor smiled and said, "Why would I know that?"

Before the owner could even touch Alastor, he felt a trickle of blood down his neck, a blade of wind formed by Alicia right in front of his neck. One of Amber's daggers was poised to ram into his spine. Tori's sharp bandages were entangling his limbs. A's large fist was ready to pulverize his skull.

Alastor said calmly as he took a seat on a chair nearby, "So, I suppose we should discuss some things, shouldn't we? Karl, one of the Eight Limbs of the Spider."

The man's eyes shook, as he realized the gig was up. He shook and got on his knees, "I'll surrender. But please, don't hurt Silvy."

Alicia asked Alastor sneakily, "You saw Silvy?"

Alastor replied with an absolutely straight face, "No. I have no idea what he's talking about."

They had Karl spill everything he knew about the Spiders, their other bases, the other Limbs, where Axel had been taken, even the Boss' location.

'Ah, the things humans do for emotions.'

Karl crawled to Alastor's feet, "I told you everything, now please give back Silvy. She's just a little girl who has no part in this."

Alastor knelt down to Karl's level, and whispered into his ear lightly, creating a barrier of mana to ensure no eavesdroppers, "I want to return her too. But you see Karl, she's already dead. And it was painful. She really only died after she got trampled on by the Spider members, not from my torture."

Karl froze as he heard that. Just as the information registered, he screamed in rage and jumped to attack Alastor. 

He was obliterated before his feet even left the floor, beseiged by all of the members present.

"Now, shall we rescue Axel?" Alastor proposed calmly, as if he hadn't made a man leap into his death.

.........................................

In another Spider base, an interrogation was occuring as Trevor looked at a bloodied Axel, who seemed unnaturally calm.

Trevor thought to himself, 'He hasn't even made a sound since we brought him here, let alone talk about his comrades. Does he not feel pain?'

Axel simply kept staring at Trevor calmly, as if he hadn't undergone torture. Trevor felt compelled to ask, "Why? Why are you being so dumb? If you just sing, I even offered to let you off free. There wouldn't be a need for pain."

Axel finally said, "It's not the pain that I fear. It's disappointing the one who has their expectations on me. And that one will definitely arrive to retrieve me."

As he said that, a large bang was heard as the building they were in shook violently.

Axel continued with an eerie smile, "Well. Looks like he's already here."

And Trevor's world exploded.

.........................................

Alastor removed the man's head he had pierced through from his spear shaped hand, and untied Axel, removing the mana suppression collar on him.

Axel nodded excitedly, "I knew you would come!"

Alastor simply shook his head.

They exited the building, heading to another one as sounds of battle raged out in the city.

Axel asked, "Is that..... Karna and the others?"

Alastor nodded once more, "They're fighting the Boss. Should be done soon."

A tremor ran through the ground, then a blazing firestorm appeared in the middle of the city, with brighter than usual flames within it and bandages containing the storm in a concentrated area.

"Never mind, they're done. We should get to hunting down the Limbs then."

Axel nodded immediately, but was stopped by Alastor, "First go to Alicia and get healed. Then you can help me hunt down the Limbs."

"It's time to begin a thorough extermination of the remaining bugs."