Shadowbane

The air pushing across my face as I run back towards the hive feels damn near freezing. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it has dropped at least fifteen degrees from the time I was in the arena. Is it normal for temperatures to drop this fast? I'm having a hard time remembering if it used to fluctuate like this back on the Elven continent, the only cold climate I've ever known.

Catching sight of webbing in the distance, I immediately hard pivot to the right.

This far off I shouldn't need to worry about sound, and even with their speed, it won't matter unless they somehow remove my aura. I severely doubt spider spawn is going to have light-based abilities. During my run, I've come to a ridiculous idea as to what might be happening, but it truly is insane. Even the most powerful of Eldritch wouldn't be able to rewind time. At least... Not the ones born here. Then again, I've also encountered something else that doesn't belong here...

Looking up I'm once again reminded of the faceless one's realm; a realm of horrors that I was unfortunate enough to grow up in. The sky there looked exactly like this, but there was also a point where it stopped being pitch black, for reasons I never uncovered as I was too afraid to even try. When I first saw this sky, I thought I had found the perfect area to survive in. That is, until I neared the landscape it was overshadowing. Immediately, all of my instincts were telling me not to go under that sky, so I never did...

With the edge of the hive coming into view, I slow down again, but this time I move silently.

I need to make sure everything is exactly as it was last time before I try approaching the girl again. There are way too many unknowns, but assuming my insane rewind theory is true, and they all remember what happened earlier... Well, things would not end very well for me. Dying itself doesn't sound like a big deal if it's just going to reset, but that dog won't leave my mind. I think it's because I ate its soul... I need to test it on something or somebody else to know for certain though. Also, I have no idea when this rewind is going to stop, so no point in taking the approach that 'death is okay' when it could stop rewinding at any point without my knowledge. More than that, they could feed me to the Satyr and none of it would matter anyway.

The Satyr comes into view again, still in his meditation pose.

One, two... That's it. Only two humans here. The one who burned me is missing. I arrived here much sooner than before so it's possible he came later, so I'll wait here for a bit and see what happens.

Roughly thirty minutes have passed and he's still nowhere to be seen. They must be retaining their memories, not that I ever had any reason to suspect they wouldn't. Still though, would've been really convenient if they didn't.

... This is too risky now. I want to kill that girl, but I'll have to save it for another day when they aren't expecting me. From now on I'll start every reset dashing towards the hive to see if the Satyr is obliterating it. It would never finish casting the spell hours in and risk losing it because time rewound. I have no idea if the spell would stay manifested in the world if it resets, but I do know that his channeling of ether is not being deterred if it really is rewinding. I kept the soul from that spear user, while the dog remained a soulless corpse, probably because I ate both of them and they now belong to my soul. Most telling of all, however, is the weather. The weather keeps advancing, completely unaffected by what is happening down below. The spell must be targeting souls and resetting them to their previous locations... Which seems oddly specific? I'm very curious as to what the purpose of such a spell is...

I guess for now I'll run some tests on the spear ability while I wait to see if it resets? Seems pointless to run back considering how long it's been.

Putting some more distance between me and the Satyr, I sit down behind a tree, focusing inwards to enter my soul realm. Before long a new landscape appears before my eyes. A desolate landscape, mired in absolute corruption, with faceless abominations growing directly out of the very land itself. Far off in the distance, a deep pitch-black set of clouds can be seen.

"Heh... As disgusting as ever. Home sweet home."

Wasting no time, I raise my hand and call forth the ability. Instantly a wooden sphere appears in my hand.

"An orb huh? He hit me with a spear so that means..."

Focusing on the sphere, I try imagining it in the appearance of a spear. Moments later it shifts into the spear that pierced me earlier.

"Interesting..."

I don't have the mana required to make use of this right now, but hopefully I won't need to absorb his soul in a pinch. I'd like to keep a multi-purpose ability like this around as long as possible.

After playing with the wood ability for a while, I see my real body on the wide-screen television relocate to somewhere underwater.

Well that settles it, something is resetting the locations of people there, or maybe the entire moon? Which is complete madness to me... If it stays like this forever, what the hell am I going to do then? Absorb everyone within an hour of me until it's just me and Satyr playing catch with this wooden sphere to pass the time? Sounds worse than any nightmare I can imagine.

Upon exiting my realm, I leap out of the water and dash off towards the hive again. Catching sight of the webbing intact makes me realize I don't really have anything else to do besides wait for these creatures to die.

Guess I'll try and find some weak monsters to hunt while I wait?

Circling around the left side of the hive this time, I eventually reach this side's corner. Out of pure curiosity, I keep walking parallel to the hive until I see something I didn't expect. Far off to the left, I catch sight of a legion of spider spawn returning from somewhere. There is also one massive spider covered in an armored carapace. Immediately, I knew what this new creature was.

A Lord huh... It looks strong enough to withstand most attacks. Honestly, it looks like it might even survive a non-directed ancient magic attack. There are plenty of cases of a Lord having a completely different set of abilities and attributes compared to the God itself. They usually make up for each other's weaknesses after all. Even so, I'm going to be disappointed while also finding it hilarious if the Satyr's spell only kills the spawn, leaving a God and who knows how many Lords barreling down onto them.

As the legion passes by me, I see about forty human-sized webbing being dragged behind the Lord.

Ah shit... It's painfully obvious what those are. I'm sorry people, but it's impossible for me to save you right now.

Spawn on the other side of the hive rip open a massive doorway, allowing the Lord and its spoils inside.

So it was a raiding party... That means there are humans somewhere in that direction. I'll try looking for it in a minute. But first, I want to see if they put their captives somewhere for consumption later, or maybe...

Almost on cue, the earth deep inside the hive can be seen blasting upwards as something slowly pulls itself onto the ground.

You never know what to expect when first witnessing an Eldritch... Their spawns and Lords could look like something else entirely.

The Eldritch is about forty feet tall at the height of its joints, with its whole body taking on an almost mechanical look. Neither its body nor legs look solid in design. Instead, its legs are all a mishmash of hardened cartilage with an eerie red light emanating from every part of its body. The mouth also looks nothing like you'd expect out of a spider. It's circular, filled with ultra-thin sharp teeth lining its entire mouth. How it uses such a mouth was unveiled immediately.

A massive force of air sucked me off my feet, almost pulling me into the webbing. I barely stopped myself in time by smashing my fists deep into the earth to hold still. Looking up, I see the Eldritch sucking down all the bodies into its razor-sharp mouth. A sickening display of blood explodes each time a victim smashes into its teeth.

... I really hope it's eating those people's souls. Eldritch almost always do, but if those people are only physically being eaten, that means each reset they are living through this nightmare.

After it was finished, the Eldritch tried going back underground, but it looked like it didn't quite know how to. After several minutes of trial and error, the Lords and spawn were able to dig up a hole big enough for it to crawl down into, before covering him back up. The Lords then sat down on top of where their god was resting, bunching up in such a way that only their armored carapace could be seen.

That was... Bizarre. They didn't look used to doing that at all. For even the god itself to appear confused is new to me. Looking at this scene though, with six massive armored spiders guarding their god from a skyward attack, one answer does come to mind.

The Eldritch knows what the Satyr is doing. Satyrs are very intelligent, there's no way it didn't scout this place out before deciding on a plan. But the issue is, it was most likely unable to have humans keep surveillance over the hive, because of how fast the spiders are. As a result the Eldritch was left to its own devices. The only thing it can't do is leave, since the Satyr will feel its soul moving away.

The Satyr probably made the same mistake I did upon seeing these spiders. I assumed it was one of the multiple different types of mindless Eldritch you can find anywhere that are basically stronger versions of monsters. Unfortunately for him, this one is smarter than it appears... What happens after the Satyr launches its attack is going to be very interesting. I might not get to absorb the Eldritch, but I can see another plan forming in my mind now... Looks like I might get to kill those people after all.

A large contingent of spawn with one Lord rushes out of the entrance, running by me off into the woods.

That is not the same direction the last party came from... There must be lots of settlements around here. Hmm... I think I'm going to follow this group.

As I get ready to chase after them, another large wave runs out of the hive in the same direction.

Yeah... Probably much safer if I keep them barely in vision range by running parallel to them. The Lords are covered in the blue flora, so it'd be impossible to lose sight of them. They look like those weird wavy light lamps my sister had back home, completely lighting up the area around them in a singular color.

Glancing back into the hive one last time before leaving, I can see several spiders carrying flora and placing it on the Lords.

Barely ten minutes into the sprint I see a faint aura of light in the distance, along with what sounds like a bell ringing nonstop. A warning bell for obvious reasons.

Eventually, the sounds of combat mixed with yells and screaming could also be heard from ahead.

It's not exactly a welcoming sound, but I guess I'd be crying in terror too if man-sized spiders were attacking me.

After a little more time, I reach the end of the tree line, revealing a surprisingly large settlement with torches and crystal lights lit up all along the walls. Also, one of their tall buildings behind the walls is currently on fire.

I... can't imagine spiders doing that.

There is a gate far off to the left that is closed with no spiders around, with some men up in a few towers along the way. Most of them appear to be standing around watching, but the ones closest to where the battle is taking place are shooting at the spiders.

The battle itself seems to be centered around the gate around the right corner, that's where all the spiders are congregating. On this side of the corner the spiders are climbing up the walls, but mostly over their own paralyzed or dead brethren while the soldiers up top shoot arrows down at them. It doesn't matter where they hit the spider, if one sinks into its body, it slows down over the next twenty seconds before going completely still. On the gate side, there are three Lords taking turns smashing into it. Maybe they're unable to climb like other spiders? They do look unbelievably heavy... The sound that emits when they hit the gate is so loud that I can feel my body vibrating way over here.

Honestly, watching this battle is rather entertaining. But if the Eldritch is eating souls, and he probably is, then I better try and get some information out of these people before they get dragged away in webs. But this appear to be a large well-fortified settlement, so I'll be surprised if they lose that easily. The only glaring issue I see is that tall building on fire, but people do strange things when in stressful situations like this, even burning down their own home is an option.

Grudgingly pulling away, I begin running to the other side of the settlement.

If this side is under siege, they're more likely to let me in through the other end. The way I look isn't exactly inviting though... I probably wouldn't open the gate for a girl like me who appears alone out of these woods. I wonder if I can turn the wood ability into a ladder? I'll try that as a last option. I could also absorb enough of the soul to do an enhanced jump over the wall but that'd be a complete waste.

After reaching the other side of the wall I realize that getting inside is apparently not going to be a problem. A massive portion of the wall is gone, big enough to fit the Eldritch spider easily. Looks like the wall was blasted from the outside, I can see pieces of stone, granite, and wood scattered all over the inside. There was also a home on the other side that was completely obliterated. Lastly, I see four people standing over a monster's corpse talking, so whatever blew this wall down clearly didn't enter and kill everyone.

They had cleared a path through the rubble so walking in was easy, the problem is all the crystal lights shining brightly further in where the homes are lined up. On this side, they left the flora to keep the area well-lit, which I'm realizing way too late that they don't appear to hurt me at all.

I've never came across a light source that didn't hurt me... I'm having a hard time believing it. I need to study these flowers when I get a chance.

Creeping up to the end of the ruined home, I stop within twenty feet of the party ahead, hiding behind a half-destroyed pillar. They appear to be listening to the large woman complain about the lack of action from the higher-ups.

Alright, which way should I approach this... Reveal myself and see what happens, or stick to the right side of the wall which seems devoid of light? I can see a large makeshift barrier further in blocking this part of the village off from the other half, and judging from the lack of people around here I'm guessing they left a contingent to safeguard this side from whatever blew this wall down and any other monsters that might show up. Speaking of which, I recognize the monster at their feet. It's a somewhat powerful creature known as a Wendigo. I need to try and eat it before the reset, which is impossible right now with them standing around talking near it.

...And now the damned tall woman just sat down on it.

Screw it, option one works. If they attack me after I reveal myself then I can just run away to the dark wall nearby.

Dropping my aura, I come out from behind the pillar and the red-headed female wearing some kind of military outfit draws her sword instantly.

"Wow, that was a shockingly fast reaction. You're obviously well-trained."

The girl raises an eyebrow, "... I've spent my life in the Guardians, yes."

She and the other girl exchange looks, while the three men seem to be confused at this situation.

... I can understand someone well-trained drawing their weapon like that, but that knowing look those two just gave each other is making my instinct to run flare up. The men are giving a more natural reaction, while the women are reacting like they... Ah.

"I remember now, there were two extra lines of communication opened in this direction. That warper girl was talking to you two, wasn't she?"

The tall woman kicks off from the Wendigo, launching herself at me while swinging a one-handed axe backward from the ground up towards my face.

I lean my upper body backward, avoiding the axe. Bringing my right foot up I stomp down on the side of her ankle, which resounds in a loud crack. As she buckles I snap a punch onto her nose, barely dodging backwards in time to avoid the redhead's piercing attack.

"AAGHH!! FUCKING CUNT BROKE MY LEG AND NOSE!!!"

I laugh while jumping backward to create some space.

"What did you expect? That attack was full of openings. I see you are able to block physical attacks with your barrier, but it means nothing when you firmly plant your feet like that. Don't forget that you still take partial impact damage even if your barrier blocks an attack. I'm guessing you're another low-level scumbag like Gaz?"

The redhead smirked at that, but it didn't last long. She followed up with another barrage of attacks that I was barely able to keep up with.

This has been fun but I think it's time to bail. Glancing over at the men I see they still aren't sure how to react. From their point of view, that girl did attack me first, and if they aren't part of the group from earlier, then this whole situation must seem strange.

The redhead unsheathes her other sword. "I see. It appears I have no choice."

Don't think I want to stick around to see what she means by that.

I turn and run towards the dark side of the wall while keeping an eye on her. Both of her swords begin glowing as the girl throws them into the air, where they immediately shoot towards me at a ridiculously high speed.

Ducking them at the last second only gives me a quick reprieve, they quickly turn around for another attack. Enhancing my feet I sprint towards the nearest home and smash through the wall, quickly running to a corner and turning invisible.

"You lot, stop standing around and go find her!" The tall woman yells.

"Since when are you in charge?" One man replied.

"You two want to explain why you attacked that girl, or what she was talking about?" Another man said.

"Did you not see her appearance?! She's obviously part of whatever destroyed the wall!"

"The hell kind of logic is that... Go clean yourself up, blood is pouring out of your nose." The third man said, then continued, "Elven girl, if you can hear me we won't attack you. Neither of these two girls will either. Isn't that right, Hera?"

The redhead who was entering the home through the broken wall stops, turning to look at the man with a forlorn face. "... No Captain, it won't happen again."

"WHAT?!"

More back-and-forth yelling ensues while I'm moving deeper into the village. These homes are conveniently pushed up against one another, one door literally leads to another home, and so on. The occasional crystal light through a window hitting me hurts like hell, but I can take it. It has to be resetting soon and I only plan on exploring from here on out.

Upon reaching the last home in the row I come across something I didn't expect.

There's a headless body on the ground wearing an outfit I swear was tailor-made for me. The entire outfit is black so it won't stick out. A little past the waist-length coat, form-fitting gloves, boots, underwear... The material is incredible as well. I feel like if I sold this outfit I could feed a family of three for a whole year.

Removing it from the body and equipping it myself takes no time at all. After it was on I flicked my aura off and on real quick, so it didn't treat the clothing as external, leaving it visible.

Oh yeah, this is perfect. Once this reset business is over I'm definitely coming back here to steal this. I mean, the owner is dead so it's technically not stealing, but the person who put her in here certainly didn't plan on leaving the armor here unless they're dumb as hell.

Prowling up to the window, I peek outside to see what's on this end. The makeshift wall to the right has three guards standing around talking, while the tent in front of me has two heavily armored men in front of it.

That's some fancy-looking armor... They look more like ceremonial armor than ones designed for combat.

Crawling out of the window, I sneak past the two guards into the tent.

Whoa, there are way more people in here than I expected. There's at least twenty-five gruff men in here.

I move out of the way to the back-right side of the tent, ducking low near some supplies.

"Then what is your plan, Sir?"

"I do not have one. IS THAT A PROBLEM?!" The old man built like a brick wall said.

"N-No sir, I apologize..."

"HA! I'm just messing with you Yuri, no need to curl up in a ball like that." The old man looks back at the map, "Boy we really fucked ourselves in the asses with this one, huh?"

"... Not quite the way I would phrase it Father, but it is indeed not going well. Also, please watch your language around our guest." The man in a long green-hooded cloak said, standing to his father's right.

"Ooh, that's right! Apologies my lady, this old man isn't used to being around high-class ladies such as yourself. Including my lovely wife of course."

A girl seated to the back left of the table waves him off. She puts her book down, reaching for a green board that she begins writing on with chalk. Once finished she turns it to the old man.

{It's okay Godwin. I'm sorry I haven't been of use to you at all.}

"NONSENSE! It is us who haven't done a damn thing. When is this blasted reset going to end? We need assistance from Keith's group, pronto. I refuse to lose another scout damnit, but I don't want to just keep sitting here doing nothing."

"That's the plan then? Join up with Keith and charge out towards the abandoned village together?" His son said.

"Got a better one?"

"No, I'm only asking for confirmation. I'll go and tell Hera to inform Nisha about our plans."

"As expected of my son. Quick on the uptake, even if I did make you by mistake." Godwin said.

His son shakes his head, walking around the table and heading straight outside.

The girl puts the book up to her mouth, silently chuckling.

Who is this girl? She looks completely out of place in this den of bears.

I stand and walk up behind her.

She looks like something out of a fairy tale... About one hundred and fifty-five centimeters tall. Deep blue hair with gold streaks. Two medium-length horns that are also blue with gold streaks. Her white dress makes my newly acquired outfit look cheap in comparison. There's also the fact that she's calmly reading a book in this environment.

The girl turns her head, looking up in my direction.

... No way. No one should be able to see me. Only abnormally powerful beings have sensed me with my aura up.

The girl continues staring in my direction for a few more seconds before turning back to her book.

... Well that was interesti---

Water appears around me.

Ahh, times up it seems. I'm also naked again damnit. I barely wore that equipment and I'm already missing it.

... Also, that girl has me intrigued. After checking out the hive I'm going to bolt over there and try to talk to her. If I can't, then I'll at least absorb the Wendigo. Or even better, those two girls who attacked me.