The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Outer Regions)

(Planet Vrean)

"What? What the hell are those?! This… this makes no sense!"

"No! No! Stay… ARGHHHH!"

A horrific scream echoed through the desert as a handsomely dressed man was split open by a swarm of the flying monsters.

Blood, guts and chunks of flesh stained the desert sands as the monsters feasted on his remains.

The wet chewing noises that they made as they ripped apart his body piece by piece were enough to send a chill down the spines of the remaining tourists.

"No… I can't… please…" a woman sobbed as she backed away from a monster that was flying towards her.

She desperately turned around and tried to run but it was already too late. The creature's needle-like arm penetrated her lower back and tore out her spine.

The woman collapsed on the ground and screamed as the monster lingered over her paralysed body.

These eight feet tall abominations bore a striking resemblance to demons crawling out of hell.

The monster hovering over the woman slowly descended and placed its needle just above the woman's fragile neck.

With slow, almost gentle movements it used its needle to penetrate the woman's neck and sever her head from the rest of her body.

Sophie quickly glanced back and saw the carnage taking place. Her heart was beating faster than ever as she held Cleo tightly in her arms.

Thousands of creatures were still pouring out of the hole in the barrier with no end in sight.

There were so many of them that the sky itself was turning black as they blocked the rays of sunlight.

This was the sight of an apocalypse. The end times for this planet and for those who were foolish enough to remain.

"Cleo… open your map and tell me which direction is the teleportation site," Sophie muttered quietly as she leapt to the side.

A needle swished pass her cheek and landed on the sand mere inches away from where her body had been seconds earlier.

Thanks to her quick reaction, Sophie was able to put a decent amount of distance between herself and the monsters but apparently, they had other tricks up their sleeves…

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Dozens of needles were fired off from the creatures' hands and were shot in the direction of the fleeing hybrid girl.

Sophie gritted her teeth as she saw what appeared to be an endless tsunami of sharp objects hurled in her direction.

Fuck! Why couldn't she just have a normal vacation for once?

Rsychosis!

Sophie's figure blurred along with the princess in her arms.

When she reappeared there were twenty additional copies of herself each holding what looked to be a version of Cleo as well.

"You know what to do!" Sophie yelled angrily as she narrowed her eyes.

One of the clones sighed unhappily before positioning herself behind the original Sophie's back.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The needles finally arrived, and Sophie tried her best to avoid them.

She was able to dodge most and the ones that she couldn't were handled by her mirror copies who threw themselves in the path of the sharpened blades.

Sophie stumbled slightly as she received the unpleasant memories from the clones' demise but continued running.

She glanced back and saw something that was quite curious.

All the creatures that had flung their needles at her were now falling to the ground in a state of apparent unconsciousness.

Were they similar to bees?

Once the stinger was removed… would they die?

It was an interesting observation but unfortunately with the sheer number of monsters pouring out of the hole… the hundreds that died barely put a dent in the swarm.

Cleo powered on her communicator and hurriedly tapped a series of commands. Soon a holographic window was projected from her metalloid device.

It showed a map of the planet along with a red dot that was a few dozen kilometers away from their current location.

Sophie looked at the map and gritted her teeth. Now was not the time to conserve her strength and she knew that she needed to go all out.

The hybrid girl briefly closed her eyes and felt the qi strands flowing through her body. She redirected them to the meridians in her legs and felt a sudden burst of energy.

Sophie's speed rapidly increased and her figure was now a lightning-fast blur.

Some of the creatures in the swarm broke away from the pack to chase her down but Sophie was too fast for them to catch.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The surviving mirror copies died one after the other as the needles penetrated their flesh and severely damaged their inner organs.

Rsychosis!

Again, Sophie used the ancient technique from the Arachnais tribe and more mirror images of herself and Cleo appeared.

It was quite tiring to use that technique twice in a row, but Sophie had enough qi in her dantian to force herself to continue.

"Lanuae me hinc!" a voice shouted in panic.

There was a blinding flash of light and Sophie saw a body appear a few hundred meters ahead.

It belonged to the mage in the group, but she was not in good shape.

One of the needles was stuck in the center of her chest and she began to cough violently. Heavy flecks of blood stained her lips and she collapsed on the sand motionless.

Sophie wanted to help her, but she had to keep moving.

The swarm was an ever-present threat loaming in the distance, and she could not afford to stop for any reason.

The hybrid girl gritted her teeth and forced herself to look away as she ran pass the mage's body that was still warm.

"How much further?" Sophie asked softly as she continued to run.

"Fourteen more kilometres… I managed to send a message to the team in charge of the teleporter but I'm not sure if they believed me…" Cleo yelled with great difficulty.

The princess' body could barely handle the high speed that Sophie was running. Winds and sands constantly slammed into her face and her hair was now a complete mess.

Still… there was something that she could do to help.

Cleo closed her eyes and slowly rubbed her temples as she extended the mental tendrils in her mind.

Mental Boom!

An enormous shockwave of mental energy burst out of Cleo's mind and headed straight for the monsters pursuing them.

The first creature that was hit froze in place as its mental capacity was completely destroyed.

It forgot how to fly, and its wings gradually stopped beating.

One after the other, the monsters fell out of the sky and landed on the desert sands with a sickening thud.