Tree of Aeons

250. Trimming Twines

Year 253

The arrival of the demon king of Spiderworld and the moment when the Demons Comet came within our range were no more than weeks apart. 

First, was the Demon King of the Spiderworld.

The Dwarven city was cut up into pieces, and some of the old relics and ancient structures moved away. I was quite surprised at myself for not thinking about moving the city away. It only reminded me of how my approach to problems can still be influenced by my old realities, instead of my new ones. 

Most of the population of the dwarven capital sensibly moved away at the advice of the heroes. Only the dwarven kings loyalists made a fuss.

Im not moving- The dwarven resistance, the last of them, complained as Prabu looked visibly annoyed. The heroes, from what I observed, tried to minimize their dealings with the locals. Disagreements and politics with the natives grated them. Even those who set up their own little fiefdoms, like Hafiz, Adrian and Kelly, employed well-paid managers to handle the nitty-gritty stuff that they disliked. 

Its a good deal for their managers because they were often paid in hero-items, which granted them exceptional financial returns and often, a good deal of levels too. 

Even within the Valthorns, there were those who focused and built a career out of dealing with the heroes. Similar roles exist within the temples, too. 

Friction, due to cultural differences and the huge chasms in their mindsets. Prabu sighed, and a magical bubble emerged around the segment, along with everyone in it. Frustrated, he just vented and the dwarves cowered. Look. Im doing this to keep you guys safe.

And a flicker later, the entire bubble floated into the sky. Most parts of the dwarven city were now empty, houses that could be rebuilt at a later date. I volunteered to pay for my [builders] and [contractors] to participate in the reconstruction, since it was a good opportunity for them to gain levels. 

Prabu levitated the entire bubble the whole way. 

But there were those that remained.

They were first to die. 

***

On the demon spiderworld, a small group of my Valthorns kept watch of the pits. They would warn the heroes that the demon was on their way, and we planted our magical sensors there, to keep watch of the fluctuations in the core. It should give the heroes a day or two of advance warning, before the demon king was on the way.

For us to give the insane dwarves a last warning. Tell them that this is their final chance to keep their lives. 

But dwarven stubbornness was well known. The magical readings began to go nuts, and we all knew it was time.

The Dwarven resistance last year already cost us a tremendous amount of time, and the preparations to set up the magical bombs and traps were not as robust as wed like them to be. The dwarves didnt like the idea of trapping what remained of their kingdoms city, even if it was mostly abandoned, and they protested the plans despite it.

Some of the dwarves were logical, and they saw the logic in our plans. Another portion were the preservationists, who protested everything that tainted their ancient history.

Fools. 

The star path glowed in the same manner as before, and we felt the demon king arrive on the Mountainworld. 

We waited for two weeks, and annoyingly, the dwarves didnt believe us. 

Then, the demon king was here.

The rift ripped the sky above the dwarven capital apart as if the bluish sky was a piece of cloth, its threads came undone from the center. What came out of the blackness were two gigantic legs, each of them smashed into the grounds of the dwarven capital and left a small crater. 

Those who stayed died in that single instant.

What a waste. 

Hold! The Valthorn commanders yelled. It was not yet time to set the bombs off. The heroes tensed, their magics ready to go. Alka stood next to the heroes and waited. He was a dwarf and high-speed movement wasnt his thing. 

He only had one shot to use his ability. 

Two more legs emerged.

Should- should we just blow up the legs? Khefri asked the question as they pinged the Valthorn commander. Alka looked uncertain, trying to figure out what was for the right time. Unlike the heroes, my dwarven mad scientist was not a war genius. His sense of timing was average at best.  

The bombs should be used on the main body, Prabu repeated. Dont waste our debuff.

How many legs do you think it has? Chung wondered as the fifth leg emerged. Eight?

Its a demon king, it could have as many as it wants, Colette said as she rolled her eyes. Her child was safely handled by a group of caretakers back on Treehome, an entire world away. Come on, lets get this over with.

Hafiz, the defender hero, tapped the two archmages on their shoulders. Yeah. Lets get this over with. Shouldnt be that hard to squash a giant spider, and get both of you back to your kid.

Colette smiled at her fellow hero. Wed like that a lot.

We felt a pulse of magic that came from the rift and we all knew it was time. 

[Demon King Rach arrived]

Gigantic spider-jaws emerged from the rifts, and those multiple mouths released gigantic magical webs that spread out in every direction. I was fairly sure that was anatomically incorrect, but I guess the demons dont care. 

From the jaws of the Demon king, in a single explosion of sticky threads and webs, the entire dwarven city, whats left of it, was now covered in webs.

Then it rained spiders. From the rifts. From the webs itself. 

Bombs! The Valthorns yelled and scrambled to activate the bombs. Before our eyes, the demon kings legs seemingly vanished, and all my Valthorns felt panic.

Was that a demon kings aura? 

I felt it brush against my own, and I wasnt sure why we were panicking. Weve done this many times. But my slightly less experienced forces, for some of them, this was their first encounter with the demon king. 

My forces ignited whatever bombs we managed to install. We worked overtime. The explosions detonated in a burst of light that could be felt miles away. Star mana bombs made by the heroes and my Valthorns vaporized the smaller demonic spiders, but the demon king spider was still invisible-

Then, through my subsidiary trees, I felt the pressure from a high speed thrust. 

Khefri was first to react, and she pushed the rest of the heroes out of the way, and dodged the thrusts of the demon kings attacks. Switch to other forms of vision! Its only invisible to normal sight! Chung then roared, his eyes glowing with a rangers special vision. 

I swapped to spiritual vision and saw the Demon King clearly.

I saw the physical outline of the demon king in my spirit vision, along with its partly charred body in the form of jagged outlines. The creature was a gigantic ten-legged monstrosity, a part of its body already burnt from the attack, and of its original ten legs, three were already partially destroyed, leaving just a stump. It was regenerating, but fairly slowly. 

The demon kings legs were its principal offensive weapon, each thrust was quick and came at unusual angles. 

Valthorns, retreat! The commander yelled as more spiders emerged from the rift, and annoyingly, they were invisible as well. Not all of my Valthorns have the ability to use spirit-sight, though some of the archers have heat-sight or magic-sight. Without the ability to see our opponents, we would be sending Valthorns to their deaths, so we ordered them to retreat. At this point, our contribution would be to support from afar. 

Alka looked with uncertainty, the chaos of war still unnerved him. He may be a domain holder, but not all of them were suited for war. 

Wait. I told him. There will be an opportunity. 

Bombardment turrets and stations from further away blanketed the area. They didnt deal much damage against the demon king, but helped clear the battlefield of the mobs. 

Alka waited, and I could sense his restlessness. For now, it was up to the seven heroes.

***

The Dwarves watched the battle from afar, horrified. The Dwarven King himself looked pale, as the Council of Elders that vetoed his decision found themselves validated. Some of my Valthorns were nearby to provide support and deal with the demonic rifts.

The demon spiders were everywhere, similar to past demon kings, demonic rifts experience a surge in activity whenever the demon king descends. 

Nations throughout Mountainworld battled the demon spiders and their champions, and it was a great relief that the invisibility effect granted by the demon king did not extend to those outside its massive wall of webs. 

We would likely face far higher fatality rates if we had to deal with invisible spiders all over Mountainworld.

***

The dwarven capital turned into a field of craters, as each of the spider kings stabs and thrusts left massive craters in the ground. 

I decided to give the heroes some backup, as the volley of magic attacks dwindled. My horde of beetles and spider assassins joined the fray, to distract the demonic spiders and take some heat off the seven heroes. I spawned multiple giant attendant trees throughout the battlefield to help amplify my skills and spawn my army of spiders and beetles.

I thought it was interesting to have  my spiders fight against demon spiders.

But that was a mistake.

The demon spider ejected a blast of goop that smashed into my beetles. I instantly felt my connection to the beetle snap, and then we witnessed the beetle explode and release more spiders. 

I cursed, and so did everyone else. The demon spiders goop-blasts could possess other creatures and turn them into spawning pools. That meant I was just giving the demon king more flesh and hosts.

Even my giant trees were more trouble than help, since the trees acted as anchors for the spiders web, extending the range of the invisibility. 

Aeon, pull back your Giant Trees and just focus on cutting away the webs! Chung roared as he sent out flying arrows that slashed through the webs. The webs were surprisingly magically resistant, and so had to be cut through plain ol physical force. 

Then the demon king pulled out another trick. The demon king vanished again, this time, it was even invisible in my spiritual vision. But, it could still be sensed through movement, through its heat signature and its magical pulse. 

Khefri, of all the seven heroes, had the easiest time with this demon king. She was innately attuned to the shifting movements in the earth as if she could feel every single vibration on the strands of web, every single shift in the dirt. The web, ironically, just made Khefris senses better. As a part scorpionoid, she was exceptionally resistant to poisons, and she survived a hit from the demon spiders poison head-on with very little damage. 

She was more physically attuned and coupled with her wide range of senses, she was the only one able to consistently approach the demon kings vanishing body and land hits. The rest, except for Adrian and Chung, couldnt adapt to the demon spiders changing invisibility as quickly. Adrian, as a monk-hero, also had his own set of invisibility detection, but it wasnt in the same tier as the scorpionoid. Chungs archer skills, luckily, came with some detection abilities.

The webs grew, and that expanded the demon kings hiding spots. 

The battle now turned into a game of hide-and-seek and endurance. The heroes needed to constantly figure out where the demon king moved, while trying to cut down its range of movements by destroying its massive wall of web. 

The massive web network repaired itself constantly. The demon king itself would intermittently release blasts that expanded the web network, it was supported by the demon champions. Those champions were also able to grow the web network, though at a slower rate.

The demon spider king weakened from the initial blasts and repeated attacks, even after its regeneration. The massive size meant it relied on its invisibility and web network to maintain an edge. The webs also slowed the heroes, and would occasionally catch them in its web. 

My artificial minds were able to conclude that the demon kings raw abilities were fairly average, but the variable invisibility was really quite effective against the heroes. Without the invisibility, and in its already weakened state, the demon king would struggle to hold its ground, what more counterattack so effectively. 

Therefore, removing the webs, the key to its invisibility and battlefield control seemed key. 

I recalled the heroes faced an invisible demon king once. Harris died to one. An assassin demon king that seemed to be able to turn invisible at will, and didnt rely on webs as a gimmick. 

Its a good thing demon kings never have the combined skill sets of all the demon kings. There likely is a finite amount of abilities that they can sustain at the same time. 

Since my trees and my beetles didnt help, I diverted to use my spiders, beetles and roots to cut off the webs or pull them underground, while the Valthorns continued to attack only with long range volleys. 

We exhausted most of our supply of magical bombs so they had to use them sparingly on the higher-value targets. 

The two archmages area attacks were incredibly helpful in clearing the field of the smaller spiders. Without their magical infernos and energy explosions destroying most of the lesser spider spawns, the melee and mid-ranged focused heroes, Khefri, Hafiz, Adrian and Kelly wouldnt be able to focus on tracking the invisible demon king. 

But really, of these four heroes, only Khefri was landing hits consistently. The rest were playing a guessing game half the time, and by the time they figured out where the demon king was, it would have moved. 

Even sticking close to Khefri and attacking where she attacked wasnt that great, because they couldnt see the attacks from the demon king, which just put them in danger.  

This isnt the right strategy! Hafiz, Kelly, both of you pull back and just focus on taking out the spiders webs and the laser mobs. Once we remove the invisibility, Chung and the mages can blow it up! Khefri said. Kelly, a knight-barbarian, Hafiz was a defense-focused fighter, and this wasnt the right matchup for the two. 

The two melee heroes split up and went on a cutting spree. The three ranged heroes tried to keep their distance, and coated the battlefield with area-of-attack spells. 

These attacks hurt the demon king slightly, but nothing like focused attacks.  

I didnt hate spiders. But I do now. Chung cursed. The spiders moved really quickly, but somehow only where there were webs. 

His shots kept missing, then he saw a pattern-

Hafiz, Kelly, clear the webs strategically, we can selectively use the webbed areas to funnel the demon king into a narrow space where we can attack. The demon king only sticks to the webbed areas to maintain invisibility!

I looked around the battlefield, trying to align my root strikes and attacks with the heroes. The dwarven city was transformed into a field of craters. 

There was not a single pristine building left. 

I focused my strikes on cutting down more webs. Cutting down webs is probably the best way to contribute, as my attacks hardly hurt the demon king. 

The heroes still had to repeatedly dodged the demon kings attacks, but with both Hafiz and Kelly focused on clearing the webs, the area with webs available to mask the demon spiders presence quickly diminished, and the spider demon kings range of movement shrunk. 

Slowly, the tide shifted. 

They were hitting it more often, and harder, and I already felt the pulsing from the demon king. Weakness. Its weakening. Be prepared for any last-minute oddities. I warned the heroes. 

The demons attacks grew more relentless, at times, flailing with its multiple legs repeatedly. Yet it was getting slower. The attacks were not as fast. The thrusts didnt hurt as hard.

The spider demon king took three more hits from Khefri, and then that pulse strengthened. The heroes recoiled, they were now familiar with that sensation, and all seven of them jumped backwards. The demon king reached is limit. 

Alka! Nows a good time to blow it up before it blows us up! Chung shouted at the top of his lungs while he moved back at the highest speed he could.

Alka nodded, downed a speed-enhancing potion, and zoomed towards the mass of webs where the demon king hid. He zoomed right to the center, and then immediately activated his detonation ability.

Thanks to multiple parties clearing the webs, there was only a small area where it could hide. 

An explosion ripped through the remains of the capitol, and melted what was the outer layer of the demon king. 

The demon king managed to deliver an attack right when Alka was about to explode. It stabbed Alka and cut off his arm. He screamed, and I recalled my explosive scientist back home for treatment immediately. 

His wound was tainted by a demonic-curse-filled strike, not unlike what the demons did to the first few heroes I encountered. An earlier version of myself would not be able to fix it, but even so, Alka still needed at least a week of recuperation. 

****

The explosion triggered the next transformation of the demon king, and each of the legs cracked open. It had four legs left, the rest chopped off through the earlier fights. Its main body melted and then turned into dust. From those four legs, four significantly smaller demonic spiders emerged. Each of them is weaker but so much smaller and faster.

They were also no longer invisible.

The four split up, and these smaller spiders all had spear-like legs. 

To call them spiders was probably incorrect. They were like human-sized sea urchins that levitated and rolled. 

Khefri managed to intercept the one and landed a hit. It stopped in its tracks, and turned to face the scorpionoid head on. The second one fought with Adrian and Kelly and momentarily was on par with the two. 

The third one charged at Chung, and he managed to impale the smaller spider with magical arrows before it got close. It didnt die, even after all the attacks.

The fourth one headed right at Colette and Prabu. They blasted it with magic, but the demonic spider shrugged it off. These spiders were magically resistant. 

Prabu took out a staff made of my enchanted wood and smashed it into the spider. 

At that moment, I detected that familiar pulse again. It came from within the four spider-urchins and spoke to the heroes. Get some distance from the spiders! They are suicide bombers! 

My roots emerged from the ground and tried to grab hold of these spider-urchins and hold them in place. I didnt want the spider to chase after the heroes. My roots managed to catch three of them, and my roots immediately got to work and tried to drain the energy out-

The fourth one dodged my roots, and went straight for Prabu.

No, you dont. Hafiz, the defense-oriented knight, slammed into the self-destructing spider, allowing both Prabu and Colette to flee.

My roots emerged as well and tried to protect Hafiz, while simultaneously trying to grab the fourth spider.

The four spiders exploded. 

The earlier three spiders detonated weakly, their explosions didnt harm anyone. But the fourth one, pinned down by Hafiz, stabbed one of its spears in Hafizs arm, and exploded right in front of the knight. The defender hero was encased in his own protections, but that was no use. Not at this range.

Not with a gap in his protection.

The heroes watched in absolute horror, and I heard their voices yell out in fear. But their screams were for naught. 

Hafiz was burned alive in the demonic explosion. Black flames encased his body. 

[Demon King Rach has been defeated!]

[Hafiz has died. You received one fragment]

[You have 97 fragments!]

[You gained one level!] [You are now level 241!]

***

I checked on the rest of the heroes, but at that moment, I felt something strange coming from Colette. She looked upset, as she stewed in the aftermath. The rest of the heroes were upset and cried too, but Colettes spiritual reaction was unlike anything Ive seen.

She didnt approach Hafizs burnt corpse for hours, even though the lingering demonic flames couldnt really harm her. The body was charred black from the flames. His hero-items were black and would disintegrate at a single touch.

But my senses were locked on the hero. This wasnt sorrow.

It came from her soul, and I felt as if she was a person torn in two. Prabu walked and placed his hand on her shoulder. She buried her face in his chest and cried. 

But the crying did not remove that constant sensation she emitted. I allowed them some time to grieve, they watched as Hafizs body turned into ash and dust, blown away by the wind and leaving nothing behind. 

I waited, while my consciousness shifted to Alka. He was stable. Injured, but stable. He had to nurse his injuries from the demonic curse, and I would need some time to regenerate his arm. 

I checked back on the heroes. They muttered curses, some said a prayer. It felt like they were ready to talk again. 

All of you, please come to my biolab for healing and detailed checkup. I just want to make sure everythings fine because I detected something unusual. I asked, as I still sensed the unusual sensation from Colette.

Ken panicked. What happened? 

Im not sure, Id like to check everyone just to be sure.

The former hero paused. I want to be there.

The heroes returned to Branchhold and straight to my clone body. Ken, along with many others, were there to receive the heroes. Chung walked to Ken, and then stabbed his finger in his chest. You. You couldve stopped this.

Ken stared at Chung, unsure what hes talking about. What-

You. You selfish bastard. You chose to give up your hero class, and here we are now. With one less. He wouldve lived if you were-

Ken glared at Chung. I couldnt believe how Chung came to such a conclusion. Stop, Chung. You know this is bullshit. You dont get to blame Hafizs death on something I did so many years ago.

Chung wanted to say something, but Colette stopped him. Chungs right.

Kens eyes turned to face Colette-

You shouldve told all of us to give up our hero class.

Chung stared at Colette. -thats not-

Kens right, too. This [hero] class is a poisoned chalice. Weve known since we touched the journal. Lets go, Aeon awaits us. Colette said firmly, and she walked ahead of the other heroes. I felt such a strong sensation in her soul that I really wanted to know what happened.

Chung turned to face her partner, Prabu. -what happened to her?

Prabu sighed. Someone died. Read the room, Chung. Whatever you want to tell Ken, now is not the time.

What? Its me, now?

Prabu ignored the archer and walked past him. Khefri tapped Chung on the shoulder. I agree with Prabu. Just give it up for today.

What! Chung protested. We couldve used more hands!

Not today. Khefri repeated, and ignored her pursuer.

Ken watched the exchange, and sighed. He couldnt help it. He walked to somewhere quiet and watched the heroes head to the biolabs. He sighed as Snek sat next to him. Aeon, where did we all go wrong? Should we use the [hero] class weve been holding?

Snek wanted to keep it for Ulara, but I sensed he was also having second thoughts as well. 

***

My book 2 is out next week on 28 June 2023. Please preorder if you want. You can find it here: 

Tree of Aeons BOOK 2

It covers chapters 40 to 81. Sadly my audible's not doing so well so the narrator's only able to work on it by Sep 2023. Hopefully it doesn't get delayed even further. *sads*