Belly of the Beast

-----Kaede's POV

In all honesty, I could deal with these spiders easily, but everyone came to help, including Yui who I thought would be strongly against it. So I'll let them play as well, but if anything happens, I won't hesitate to wipe everything out. With Mell clinging behind me, it only strengthens my resolve to protect everyone here. Looking back down at her, I give her a smile, reassuring her that mama's got this.

Soon enough, the spiders were upon us. I could try and practice with the powers I have being a vampire, but that would defeat the purpose of bringing Mell here. I have to use light magic. With my mind made up, I raise my hand like I did before, only this time, the light portals were larger and extended above the approaching spiders. With a snap of my fingers, spears of light shot out of the the light portals, like an arrow shot from a bow, piercing the spider's to the ground.

Almost like my attack was some sort of signal, I saw in the corner of my eyes, trees beginning to move unnaturally. Their branches began to move like a serpent, bending down to crush and pierce the spiders. "Is this?"

Looking at Lillian, it does look like she's using some kind of magic. Could it be that she's manipulating the trees? Turning towards Sicily, she also looked to be controlling the trees on her side. This is the first time I'm seeing their magic in action. Is this sort of magic linked to the elves? I'm not sure. But thanks to Sicily and Lillian, the spiders were forced into a funnel, unable to escape in an attempt to flank us from behind. It realize now why they chose to split up to cover both sides; smart.

Olivia mainly used her water magic to keep the spiders back for Sicily to kill them with the trees, occasionally shooting out water blades, cutting down a few spiders that managed to slip past. Yui on the other hand, was quite different. She opted to get close to the spiders, which I thought was very brave of her considering her extreme fear of spiders. Seeing her hack and slash the spiders was brutal if anything, very different to what I had seen when she fought in the tournament. That pure elegance is no where to be seen now.

Mell: "-azing..."

Kaede: "Hmm?"

Her voice was quiet as her grip tightens around the back of my dress.

Mell: "You're amazing, mom."

Kaede: "Hehe. You ain't seen nothing yet."

The desire to show off spread through my body as I could feel the mana boiling inside me. I wanted Mell to see something even more "amazing". Clenching my right hand into a fist, mana quickly built up. I concentrate the mana more and more, tighter and tighter until it felt like it was going to force my hand open. It was then that I shot my arm forward, opening my hand as several lightning strikes pierce though the spiders, cutting though all the way to the ones behind all the others, destroying some of the trees in the process. "Oops!" I didn't think it would be that destructive! I accidently, wiped out the majority of the spiders in that single blow. Looking at their bodies, it would be hard to harvest the silk glands from them.

Mell: "Ah~"

She looked delighted by the spectacle I showed her, as the smell of the spiders burning to a crisp began to cloud over us. After some time, we finished wiping out the horde of spiders. Everyone appeared to be okay, except for Yui. She panted heavily, like her heart was about to jump out of her mouth. I quickly move over to her, hugging her from behind like she does to me. With my arms wrapping around to her chest, I could feel how intense her heart was beating. It only made sense since she would always choose to "run" whenever spiders popped up in our old world. But now she forcefully chose to "fight" instead, contradicting her own fight or flight instinct.

Kaede: "You did well."

Yui: "K-Kaede?"

Our break would be cut short however, as loud cracks could be heard deeper in the spider nest. Trees began to shake. It was then that I saw a couple legs, appearing out from behind a couple trees that I destroyed just before. The legs are much larger than the other spiders that we just fought, and as more of the spider emerged, it sure felt like this was what we came here for. There was no mistake that this was indeed, the giant spider.

It's glowing eyes beaming at us as it's body towers over the corpses of what I would assume is it's children. In those eyes, I could feel the intense hatred oozing out as it waits there. I gently let go of Yui as she in turn moves behind me next to Mell.

Sicily: "Uhm... That looks a lot bigger than giant... Kaede?"

Kaede: "Don't make any rash decisions. I've got this."

I'm not about to have the people I care about, risking their lives. They had their fun. This however, is different. That creature that is classed as a B-ranked threat stands before me as I slowly walk towards it. "Obey." I glare at it's eyes the same way I did when I first brought Silver into the guild, attempting to command such a creature. But my attempt would go un-answered as the giant spider rushed forward as if to defy me. At the same time, with one of my nails, I grow it out into a sharp, dagger-like nail before digging it into my palm with a clenched fist. In the next instant, I brought out my blood into a whip before immediately slashing at the spider's face. The cracking sound of the whip echoed though the forest as the spider stopped in its tracks. "Obey."

Instead of listening to my command, the spider shot out webbing towards me. With my free hand, I draw out more of my blood, as I use it to slice though the spitting web and into a few of the spider's eyes, causing it to shriek in pain. Again, I stare into it's eyes, trying to dominate it as I walk closer. I'm surprised it could take these hits, but it's now that I can see fear beginning to replace the hatred in it's eyes. "Obey." With the opening made, I thought it would finally work, but instead the spider charges forth, closing the remaining distance. "So be it."

Giving up trying to command the spider like I did with Silver, the whip in my hand straightens out into a long sword, reaching roughly 3 meters long before I slash at it's fore legs that were about to try and pin me down. The blood sword cuts cleanly as the legs fly off. Using this as an opportunity while the spider collects itself, I plunge the edge of the blood sword into it's face, making sure not to damage it's fangs as it slices cleanly in the middle, in between it's fangs. It's cries stopped the moment my swing ended as it's legs begin to cave in, causing the body of the spider to crash onto the ground.

Kaede: "Okay! All done!~"

I bring in my blood back into the palms of my hands before healing them while I walk back to everyone else, past all the spider corpses that were still burning from my lightning attack earlier.

Yui: "Scary..."

Kaede: "Yeah. Spider's can be scary sometimes, hehe."

Yui: "No. You made it look so easily. It moved incredibly fast, yet you stopped it without much effort."

It stung being called that I was scary from Yui. Scarier than her biggest fear. But I get it, I'm a monster so this is to be expected. Thankfully, her eyes said something different. Looking into her eyes, I couldn't feel a tinge of fear as she looked into mine.

Sicily: "Why did you wait that long though?"

Kaede: "I was trying to enslave it. Like I did with Silver."

Lillian: "But why? It's not like you could bring this spider back to the guild as well, haha."

Kaede: "I know. But after our talk from before, I kinda wanted to practice, and see to what extent some of my vampiric powers could go."

Sicily: "So then, it resisted you?"

Kaede: "Yes."

I felt my hands being grabbed. Looking down at them, I could see Yui had grabbed hold of them, her hands slightly shaky.

Kaede: "Fufu~ Can't stand it?"

Yui: "M-mm..."

Nodding her head, she moves closer in an attempt to block more of her vision. Even though the spiders are dead, she's still terrified.

Kaede: "Okay. We'll head back soon. Alright! let's start harvesting what we can!"

I don't know exactly where the silk glands would be, but it would make sense it would be in their abdomen. With my dagger, I gently carve into the giant spider's behind, looking to see if there's anything that would look like Faye has described. Everyone else was doing the same with the smaller spiders, however Yui remained by my side, burying her face behind me. That was when I spot something. I nearly stabbed it, but stopped at the last second. I could see what looked to be 4, no, 5 silk glands towards the bottom of the abdomen. I gently carve each one out before stuffing them into the bag.

The fangs, which was the item we need to clear the job were quite simple since I didn't need to dig around anywhere. I gently slide my dagger down the sides of the fangs, carving them out along with the venom sacks attached to the base of it. I don't know if Faye wanted the venom sacks as well, but they seem pretty connected to the fangs, so I may as well keep them.

Kaede: "Okay. I'm done."

Yui: "Phew!~"

In a hurried fashion, Yui dragged me away from all the spiders as we laid down on the ground that wasn't covered in web while we wait for the others to finish. "She's so cute when she's scared." Just makes me want to tease her, but I'll save that for later.