Supreme Magus novel Chapter 78

After the end of their shift, Vastor and Thorman went back to their quarters. Vastor waited until they were alone, before expressing his hilarity.

"Thorman, old friend, I would have never imagined you had it in you. Helping your student like that. Technically, that’s against the rules." Vastor tone of fake indignation wouldn’t have fooled a deaf man.

"I did no such a thing. I just used the spells that I considered best for the situation at hand. If she ended up copying me, how is that my fault? Are you going to report me?" It was a rhetoric question, Thorman already knew the answer.

"Are you kidding me? Your student ended up saving mine. The least I could do is gifting you that bottle of 50 years aged Blue Flame you keep eyeing every time you enter into my office. I’m glad you loosened the stick up your a*s."

*****

In an underground maze, several kilometres away from the castle, another kind of conversation was taking place. After slaughtering its way through the nest, Scarlett was facing the Brood Mother.

It was the creature responsible for the abnormal spawn rate of the Clackers. Every single one of them was one of her children. Its abdomen was that of a giant spider, with eight long longs, but in the place of the head there was a human-like figure.

It was like someone had attached a human, starting from the thighs, to the spider body. But it was a human with no distinctive features, its chitinous skin was grey, the hands had unnaturally long fingers ending in razor-sharp claws.

The head had eight eyes, and a long slit were the mouth was supposed to be, allowing it to speak.

["Look, I’m tired of playing hide and seek. I only came here because I know you are smart enough to understand me, and because I hate senseless destruction."] Scarlett was quite angry from the repeated assaults it had suffered along the way.

They had no effect except wasting Scarlett’s time.

["What do you want, oh mighty ruler?"] The Mother’s voice was low and hoarse, every word sounded more coughed rather than spoken. Yet it managed to laugh, sneering at the Scorpicore claimed title.

["Stop laying so many eggs. Your children are a plague for the forest, you have already invaded other’s territories. I won’t repeat myself a second time."]

The Brood Mother chuckled again.

["It’s that so? Then I challenge you, oh ruler. The forest needs a new guiding hand..."]

Scarlett scoffed, it had heard that speech countless times, either from humans or magical beasts.

["Fine. Challenge accepted."] The conversation was cut short, much to Mother’s annoyance.

Violating all the rules of the challenge, the Brood Mother attacked without notice, making the fully developed Clackers that guarded the throne room, each the size of a bull, coordinate with its attack.

The Scorpicore’s roar struck in two waves. The first was a cold one, turning the whole underground nest in a frozen wasteland. The second was an ultrasonic one, that turned the newly formed ice sculptures in countless shattered pieces.

["Oh! I won. Big surprise! Long live to me."] Sad for having no witness of its crushing victory, Scarlett called Linjos.

"The Clackers’ issue is solved. With the Brood Mother dead, the survivors will go into hiding until another comes up. Let’s hope the next one will have more brains than brawns."

"Thanks for solving the matter so quickly." Linjos replied.

"What do you want in return?"

- "I like this human." Scarlett thought. "Always saying please and thank you, instead of treating me like a tool, like his predecessors did. I’ll make sure he keeps his position." -

"Let’s just say you owe me one. What’s the survival rate of your cubs?"

"Better than the previous years, around 50% of the groups made it through the first day. It’s time to kick things up a notch."

***

Back in the cave, Lith’s group was finishing breakfast and planning the rest of the day. Everyone had much appreciated Visen creating a side-cave bathroom.

Despite everything was supposed to be a team effort, not all of them could be executed properly in front of others.

With so many mouths to feed, Lith’s stash wouldn’t last more than three more days.

Using magic burned a lot of calories, it exhausted both the body and the mind.

"Thank the gods you ended up in my group." Belia said gnawing away the last shred of meat from the bones. "After fasting for a whole day, I would have either surrendered or eaten Visen."

Everyone at the table laughed, but Lith.

"Why so glum, mate? And seriously, why do you keep so much food on yourself?" Visen asked. "Not that I’m complaining!"

Lith glared for a long moment, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"And what about a swarm of big enemies?" Solus asked. _{freeweɓnovēl.coɱ}