The Devil In White: An AA Online Novel

Amelia had worried that with the number of Residents and Transients entering the tomb they wouldn't get very far. The Tomb Behind the Royal Apothecary had quickly proven that those fears were unfounded.

Even with their huge group, after the initial entrance, it seemed like they hadn't brought enough people. The tombs had widened to the point where several city blocks worth of people would have been needed to fill all the space. As it widened, sarcophaguses began to litter the area as well as several pillars that streamed upward to support the roof as if they had grown from the ground. In between these pillars, large webs glistened in the low light as their torchlight approached.

Amelia had wondered how the Residents would integrate with a large number of Transients brought in by the trade treaty, and she didn't have to wonder long. Large Level 117 spiders began to emerge all over the first open area emerged as webs were cut to move forward and moved toward the group. Without delay, several of the Transient groups moved to intercept them and began fighting them. The Resident Royal Army held ranks and moved forward slowly, dealing with Spider's that attacked the fringe of their formation. What the Transients did with eagerness and audacity the Residents did with cool and calm precision. The first wave of spiders died on the shields of the Residents. Near the walls that the Transient groups had gathered toward carapaces littered the ground from where they had been slaughtered wholesale.

It seemed disjointed to Amelia. The Transient guilds and the independent players that were present killed spiders with near abandon as they appeared from their holes, almost as if they were competing. They threw themselves enthusiastically in large numbers and bore the spiders down under intense skills and spell barrages. The Residents, in turn, waited for the spiders to throw themselves against the wall of shields and then arrows and spells and swords snuck through shield wall finished them slowly and efficiently. It was like watching two different forces destroy an enemy that hadn't quite understood their opponent. Still, the rate at which the spiders died was incredible, and even more incredible was their number. They continued to swarm out at the allied force and were met with death in droves. Soon they began crawling over the corpses of their predecessors to get a chance to attack. The experience was pretty good, even though Amelia herself had done little more than cast [Molten Shot] a few times. Aidan for his part had stood near her but didn't feel compelled to cast spells. He was frowning too.

"We're not very cohesive." He mentioned. "I think our numbers are numbing us to strategy. This will get more difficult when the monsters are high enough level to pose a threat to members that aren't high level?" He posited. His eyes were turned upward as if his talking aloud was merely a byproduct of his thought process.

Amelia feared that he was right. So far the spiders had been swarming out and were easily dealt with on a large number based fighting stratagem. If the spiders had been higher level and individual skill came into play there was no way to ascertain whether or not the Residents or Transients would fare well against them.

That fear was realized a moment later as the large group moved forward and then stopped. Ahead of them on the far side of the gigantic enclosed area the darkness crawled. Half the room swirled ahead of them out of torchlight, and Amelia's own fears started to be whispered by the soldiers around her.

"How many would that be?"

"We'll be alright. Right? We'll form a wall and…"

"Ixiol. It's just one giant…"

"Boss." Aidan grinned. He was staring transfixed, pondering the shape. He closed one eye as if here were trying to get a better idea of what it looked like from so far away. The entire room seemed to be a series of sharp reflections that moved slowly as the creature stirred far to the front in what was still mostly darkness.

Amelia didn't smile. Her knees felt wobbly all of a sudden. This venture had seemed like the only way to advance to the Far North and defeat the visage. Raise the levels of the army and use them to subjugate the objective area. As the shape began to move toward them she realized how foolish that was. All the Residents that Shadow Fall and the other Transients had been bringing through dungeons were all here with them now, in what now seemed an idiotic display of bravado. They should have split up their forces. No one had ever imagined that they would be annihilated on the first floor of the new dungeon.

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Local Announcement

Syrxis - Cannibal Mother of Spiders Level 200 (Boss) Health: 100%

Abilities: ??

Untold years of sleeping in the dark had made this 50-meter spider matron the apex predator for this floor of the Tomb. Unusually large and aggressive. It has survived by eating its own kind when enough food wasn't available and has grown larger and stronger under the influence of an unseen magical source from many floors below giving it a size that would otherwise be unobtainable in nature.

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A long segmented leg slowly came into view as the spider crawled forward. It was a hideous deep black that reflected the light of their torches, giving it the illusion of movement even as it slowly pierced forward, pulling its huge bulk. Pulling is the only operative word since it was actually hunched down to fit under the rather high ceiling. The body of the spider came into view as it was propelled by the remaining seven digits, that same nightmarish black broken up by golden red diamonds that crossed the front and top. Its fangs were bared as it moved forward, and small arms twitched on either side. Amelia had never gotten a good look at spider mandibles before, but now that she had a truck-sized version to look at she was glad she hadn't ever bothered. It hissed at them as it approached, and slowly leaned down toward the floor 20 meters away and reached out with its legs.

The Residents in front of her that were the shield line all brought their shields up warily, and everyone else waited expectantly to see what kind of battle this spider would bring them. No one was prepared when the legs that had gone down toward the floor stopped well short of the large group. A moment passed as Syrxis seemed to be staring them down, and then, those same legs began lifting. Gossamer strands reflected in the torchlight and Amelia had just enough time to wonder what it was doing when she felt something tense around her feet. She looked down, and seeing nothing, leaned down even further to see what was under the layer of dust, matted fur, broken chitin, and small animal bones that had acc.u.mulated over years of neglect.

"We're on a web!" Aidan had seen it first, and at his cry, everyone in the Tomb who hadn't already been looking at their feet was looking now. Sure enough, the spider had spread a fine web on the floor of the tomb and they had avoided sticking to it because they were walking on top of a fine dust layer. In the same way, a trap might be laid down and covered with leaves, Syrxis had laid down a giant carpet of sticky silk. Now that the strands were being pulled it lodged around Amelia's boots and stuck tenaciously. In addition to that all the dust, dirt, grime, and creature parts also wrapped themselves around her legs forming a disgusting and macabre layer.

"Cut free!"

"I'm stuck. Dammit."

"What's the point of this? We're all trapped?"

"So disgusting..."

The point became very clear moments later. The web had not been spun to keep them rooted in one spot, it had been planted with the firm intention of retrieval. Amelia suddenly had an image of a hideous spider on a boat that slowly pulled in its catch from a translucent net.

The spider pulled, and with the net that it left lying on the ground for large groups of prey, dragged everyone off their feet. Amelia herself fell on her back and immediately had her right elbow entangled in the web. She gasped more from shock than the virtual reality impact and looked up toward the nightmare that wasn't as far as it had been moments before. It was pulling several hundred Residents and Transients with ease toward her drooling maw. Large strands of poison and drool were starting to hit the floor under Syrxis, a mixture of hissing and smoke arising from spots that began to burn. All around Amelia people were panting or whimpering as they struggled individually with their bindings. It was strangely silent, punctuated only by small sounds of desperation.

[Aura - Forceful Awakening.] Amelia called grimly and began tugging at her binding in earnest. It did nothing, the increased strength she received from her stat bonus little able to help her do more than ensnare herself more tenaciously. She stopped after a moment and laid on the web as she was pulled across the floor, and for the first time began wondering if there was anything she could do. Amelia looked around and was struck by the horror on the faces of several around her; their eyes darting in a fashion that made her think they were actually considering forcing a logout rather than wait for the grim end near Syrxis.

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Local Announcement - Morale Failure

General - Chances of Residents fleeing increased by 20%. Minor intelligence and wisdom reduction of 5%.

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"HAHAHAHAHAHA." Aidan began laughing, and it was the only human sound that had punctuated the air since the nightmare spider had made a silent and unbidden attack. "RULE ONE." He cried. Amelia was surprised that not only did he yell it, but he had activated party chat.

"Strike the enemy." Forsythe and Raven cried in response through the party channel sounding excited. Well, Raven sounded really excited and Forsythe more interested than usual.

"[Mass Manipulation Flame - Field]." Aidan pointed his staff at his feet.

For a moment the room flared with unexpected light as the flame field took up a large portion of the room before being extinguished by Aidan almost immediately. Cries and shrieks rent the air and were almost as soon gone. The panic died swiftly, even as the flames crept and burned through the webbing all around the room. Mass spells were friendly spells and had no effect on players who weren't enemies. They would be useless otherwise. The flames that wreathed briefly around Amelia's body and of the other players was painfully bright but burned them not at all. What it did burn was the strands of webbing, like lightning it burned, all the way back to Syrxis.

The giant spider shrieked and dropped the web net immediately, backing up hastily while using six of its prodigious legs. More surprised than hurt, two of its front legs were up as if to block the light that had blinded it.

"Rule two!" Aidan announced, already on his feet.

"They retreat, we advance!" Raven said, clearly enthusiastic. She had no idea what was happening but it must have been rare for Aidan to announce these rules.

"Amelia! I noticed a while ago, but when your aura is on me my stats increase and it unlocks a second release to some of my abilities!" Aidan turned to her and grinned. "I bet when we're higher level we can use them without the aura! I can't wait to see what unlocks with your aura when we get to that point!"

"Yes?" Amelia said stupidly. She was sitting in the dark blue pool of her cloak, staring unintelligently upward at him. The fire had been cunning and frighteningly quick, and she still hadn't recovered mentally from the sudden sensation of flame igniting across her whole body; painless or not it had shaken her and it seemed she wasn't the only one as everyone around her moved as if they were deep underwater.

Aidan turned and his shoulders tensed under his white robe, his cowl suddenly shielding his face from her as he took a first step toward the large spider, and then a second. The spider held its ground and even began moving toward him, which made sense to Amelia because he was the easiest to see in the dim lighting and was now separating himself from the others. Most hadn't made it back to their feet yet.

"[Electric Manipulation - Bolt]." He called out, pointing the amber jewel of his staff directly at the spider. A thin beam of dazzling light shot out and struck Syrxis in the face, pulling it up short and doing nothing more than make it hiss at him. It took a stride on its legs toward him, covering meters of ground with mere steps.

"[Light]!" Aidan called, and his staff shone brilliantly like a spotlight out toward the spider who began to move sideways to see around the sudden flare. It moved forward with terrible purpose and bent down, exposing fangs. Before impact, Aidan called again. "[Electric Manipulation - Bolt]."

Amelia held her breath and struggled to her feet. She began to call for Molten shot but felt her own voice fade in her throat as Aidan called out a second time before his attack had fully been realized.

The beam shot out and struck the spider again, but before it had entirely connected Aidan spoke, "[Second Release - White Lightning]." The bolt changed direction and then branched all along its course in hundreds of directions, suddenly turning to a white color that was whiter than anything Amelia had ever seen. The sharp points from all these branches stabbed at Syrxis eyes, fangs, legs, and body and the great killing machine came to a dead halt as it's hissing turned to a shrill cry of pain and surprise.

"Get up! Form a wedge around that lunatic!" A Resident Commander was finally on his feet, and he was pointing to Aidan. "Shields on either side. Archers, Lancers, Wizards, maintain in the middle behind the shields. Shieldsmen, lock shields and block attacks together that beast is too big to handle alone!"

All around her people began recovering and jumping up, the threat of imminent demise lending haste to their actions. Army shields began flanking Aidan as he continued his electrical onslaught. Arrows and long pikes skipped over the shields and filled the air with deadly purpose. Other spells began lighting the dark room.

The spider lashed out with its legs, suddenly hesitant to move its head in toward the group of ferocious fighters. Shields came up and pushed the legs away, loud grunts punctuating the air as the impact made crashing noises. Healing spells were cast hastily, and probably unnecessarily. Everyone was overdoing it and even small wounds were immediately healed with the highest tier of magic.

"You people should check your skills and see if you have a second release!" Aidan called over his shoulder. He was casting [Light] on all the shields and lances near him, making it almost too bright to look at for Amelia. She could only imagine how bright it was to this darkness predator.

A man in dark grey plate rushed to the front, complementing the wedge of shields, and he called out, "[Bulwark - Shield Wall]." Immediately a translucent shield of magic appeared over his own shield. "[Second Release - Allied Defense]!" Translucent shields began bleeding into view over the Residents shields, and cries of shock and victory began. The wedge of humanity actually began moving forward until it was slightly under the mouth and head of the giant spider.

"[Multishot]," a ridiculous amount of arrows was fired from an Archer that Amelia didn't recognize, one of the volunteers. Not to be outdone, she used the second release. "[Second Release - Blacken Sky]!" The already incredible amount of arrows split apart to twice that number and rained down on the head of Syrxis.

Frantic movements began to appear as the spider began dashing left and right and trying to strike the group. Cheers from the craftsmen and the traders in the back began, shouts of encouragement from them breaking up the sounds of battle.

"Don't you think the people over there are loafing?" Residents glanced toward the direction that Aidan had indicated, and Amelia was surprised to see a large number of Transients on the sides of the spider, safely out of reach where they were casting spells or shooting arrows. For the most part, it did look like they weren't part of the battle. Shouts of disdain and sneering from the Residents shocked Amelia, and apparently jolted the large number of players as well. They began to move warily in forming their own large shielded groups and pressed the spider from the left and right, minimizing the area it could move without having to step over them and reveal its underside. The sneers immediately turned to shouts of thanks and gratitude.

"That's it! Press in from the sides!"

"It's just a spider. We've got enough boots here!"

"It's so big that you can't miss anyway! Just stab randomly!"

In a matter of minutes the group was pushing the spider to the final wall where it had backed itself, and as it began to look around Amelia realized it was thinking of fleeing. There was nowhere to go except narrow staircases that lead down entrenched in the wall. Syrxis's size made travel through those ultimately impossible. The spider had grown too big to leave the chamber where it had reigned for all these years. Resigned, the spider turned toward them and hissed again, lashing out in death throes as it slowly sank to the floor Large jointed legs began to break in places until the spider was prone on the floor able to do little but hiss at them angrily until it couldn't even do that.

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DING!

New Level 107

Level up. Level up. Level up. Level up. Level up…

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A cacophony of cheers burst from the players and Residents, and Aidan's voice was among them as he cried out, "Shadow Fall Victory!" A ridiculous and absurd shout since there were only a few of the Shadow Fall members in attendance and Aidan wasn't part of their guild. Still, the chant reverberated back at him for a moment, and everyone broke ranks to look at the spider and congratulate each other.

Amelia watched from the back silently, wondering why she had even come. She hadn't cast a single offensive spell the entire time and had been certain of the group's demise. She stared at the spider, grinning despite herself, feeling completely unworthy of being here. Still, her eyes were bright even as Aidan came up to her and clapped her on the shoulder.

"Look at you. You've got that 'seen something good' look on your face. You can scare children with that smile." Aidan grinned.

"Shut up. Shadow Fall victory?" Amelia turned on her party channel. "He called out Shadow Fall victory like an idiot."

"If you guys wanted to join Shadow Fall all you have to do is ask," Hunter replied dryly. "We're about done here. It was tough. There was a boss named Crazed Ancient. It was a giant tree if you can believe that and it rooted all of us. I'm glad I kept most of my guildmates with me. Could have been bad."

"Hey. What'd you beat Aidan? I haven't heard you that serious since…" Raven asked.

"Giant spider. It was hideous." He informed her.

"You are so lucky." Raven sounded envious.

"We should join Shadow Fall," Aidan said suddenly. Silence over the channel before Raven and Forsythe both agreed. Aidan stared at Amelia, and he shrugged. "If you want."

"Yeah," Amelia said, surprising herself. It wasn't that long ago she had turned the idea down, but it felt right now. She couldn't imagine not seeing Hunter and Elisha anyway.

"Shadow fall victory!" Elisha laughed.

"Forsythe?" Aidan asked.

"What?"

"Are you… done?" Aidan asked tentatively, rolling his eyes to Amelia.

"No. I'm cooking. There was a big snake. Snake steaks." Forsythe paused. "You lot start dissecting the middle part."

"You're… cooking the snake boss?" Hunter asked in amazement.

"Grilling." Forsythe agreed.

"Hard?" Aidan asked about the fight. He seemed to be trying to get details and failing.

"No. My skill is high enough I think these will turn out soft and juicy." Forsythe answered, missing the question in its entirety.

"No I… You know. Good luck." Aidan finally relented. "After that logout. We're flying stateside tonight."

"Understood." Forsythe acknowledged, and then went silent. Presumably to continue cooking. Amelia wished he had used a word other than dissect to describe the gathering of meat that someone over there would have to eat.

Aidan was laughing again, staring at the spider. Amelia stared at him, wondering for the fifth or hundredth time what sort of madness he had. She checked her status, and after confirming her new level, happened to glance at Aidan. The status menu opened up and she saw his details since they were in a raided party. She scanned them, wishing she could see his spells too. She stopped short at the bottom, and after a long moment closed the status window. It was still amazing.

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Morale: Invincible

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Morale in this game was based on a loose set of standards. Party survival, environmental, and other factors. An interesting part of Morale though was if you beat a monster of a certain caliber you adopted the Morale it would take to fight that monster without suffering penalties. The spider boss had been enough to cow everyone in the raid except Aidan, implying that the bosses he had fought and defeated were so far above the spider that its presence hadn't affected him at all. It even implied that the game acknowledged that he might be able to beat it solo. What kind of boss he had killed to earn that sort of rating, Amelia didn't know. He never talked about raids or groups besides the one he had with Raven and Forsythe. What kind of bosses could they have defeated with just the three of them to earn that sort of Invincible and unconquerable morale?