A Sinner’s Chance

There was a grisly squelching as my clawed hand pierced through the eye of the monster and began to push into the skull, though it was soon drowned out by pained roars of the beast as bolts of lighting discharge from its mouth and thrashed about. It was hard to believe that the creature was still alive with my arm nearly buried up to the elbow in the socket, but its resilience was rather amazing and was somehow still managing to hang on.

Unfortunately for it, my powers were far more devastating internally than externally and when I used both my Yinfire and Vibro magic simultaneously to not only burn and consume the vitality, but practically liquefying the flesh in the skull the monster didn't stand much of a chance and it soon fell still.

With the monster dead on the ground I pulled my arm from its face, covered in blood, chunks of fleshy meat and some gray matter that I assumed was likely from the brain of the monster. Telling Neyla through the Communication Jewelry that we were temporarily safe and could continue moving, she soon reappeared near us as I cleaned my arm off and gathered the equipment I'd hidden away so it didn't get damaged.

Out of all of us, Arya was the most tired and had clearly exerted herself far more than either Steria or myself, not something surprising since the mana arrows took a rather heavy toll and she'd been using them almost nonstop to pin the monster in place along with Steria. While I wasn't tired, I had taken quite a few heavy blows and as the adrenaline began to wear off my rationale was becoming harder and harder to maintain, especially with Arya's essentially naked body glistening with sweat under the transparent yet reflective armor she was wearing.

While it wasn't like I couldn't construct a nest it wouldn't exactly be safe, especially if something even half as powerful as the evolved Lightning Lizard found it. If it hadn't happened to be something I was a decent counter for I didn't doubt that we'd still be locked in a deathmatch with the monster. While me and Neyla were both in good shape, Arya likely wouldn't be able to do much more than be a lookout, while Steria was likely somewhere between the two.

According to Neyla we shouldn't be too far from the Center ring, and I figured it would be in our best interest to get to somewhere at least relatively first. So we pushed on, thankfully Arya was able to ride Neyla and Steria wasn't tired enough to need reinforcement from Essence Sharing as her race was already horny enough as is and adding mine on top of that would be too much for her to handle at once.

I didn't know if the other intruding monsters had somehow seen the battle or if they simply instinctually knew that we'd killed a native, but every encounter we'd had with any of them resulted in the monster fleeing from us once it discovered who we were. I was rather thankful for the reprieve and I was positive the others were as well, but at the same time, I feared that we had attracted the attention of something we didn't want to deal with and the other monsters could sense such.

Regardless of the reason, we managed to reach the edge of the Center ring extremely smoothly and without any real trouble. Not only was the Center nothing like I had expected, it was like it belonged to one of the Races, a massive city that had somehow made its way to the middle of a forest that was basically a deathtrap at every step.

Not only did I see stone walls that looked like fortifications, but could even see several humanoids patrolling them. It was at this point that Neyla said it would be best for her to leave and that we should make our way to the gate. "There shouldn't be any problems as even if they were to look at your Statuses none of you belong to the Races so you should be welcomed, even if they don't recognize the names of any of them."

Nodding and listening to a bit more advice we were just about to bid farewell to Neyla when a voice seemed to suddenly manifest. "No, no, no. It wouldn't do to have the traitor leave and escape from under our nose once again. Not that it matters since I know where you have hidden yourself away now." A woman's voice resonated before Arya's shadow suddenly rippled as if it were water and a mostly humanoid woman suddenly began to rise from it. If Ashara had been more human, I imagined she would look quite similar to this woman, with her long dark hair and curvy figure.

Her voice and appearance had caught everyone off guard so no one really had time to intercept her as dark threads shot from her fingertip and wrapped around Neyla in a matter of moments. It wasn't a full wrapping but rather just a few threads crossed across her body, however I could see that the threads were not only keeping her immobile, slicing through not only the armor I'd made, but also slowly digging into her skin, small amounts of blood coming to the surface as it bound her tightly.

I tried to lash out but the woman was able to evade me perfectly as she gracefully shifted. "I would be careful Princess, Lord Voras would be extremely displeased if his own daughter sided with the enemy after all."

My brain short-circuited a moment as her words cut into my thoughts. I could assume that she was referring to my biological father, rather than Alcrem, which meant she knew Demonweb, I just couldn't understand why she called Neyla a traitor.

"Vell. You were supposed to be-" I heard Neyla start before being cut off with a groan before the threads the woman were manipulating suddenly bite into her with great force rending Neyla's body asunder as if a firework that had just reached its peak and exploded. The sole part that remained intact was her head which her killer picked up with a single hand and wrapped in her dark thread.

"Come now, Princess Vell. Your friends are perfectly safe as they have done nothing to warrant death or even punishment. That woman was a heinous criminal who had plotted not only against Lord Voras, but his wife as well, your late mother, Ashara."