"Not so fast!" Using her wind magic, Riley flung herself forward to deflect the Arachne queen's claws about to be brought down on Haruki.
However, before she could reach her, the queen slashed through Haruki's neck and it tumbled off of his body. Watching in horror, Riley stopped in her tracks, and the others raised concerned eyes. None of them could believe what had happened, and their minds were only slowly catching up to the reality.
"There's no way…" Mumble Margarette, as Asuka breezed past her.
Upon noticing Asuka trying to approach Haruki, Riley flew over to her and held her in place by her arms.
"What are you doing, let me go?!" Cried Asuka, trying to free herself from Riley's grasp.
"Trust him," Riley whispered, knowing full well that the queen couldn't have defeated their master so easily.
"Wha-" Before she could finish the sentence, a strong beam of light sprouted out from under the queen's body.
Soon as the queen looked down at herself, she was once again bound by holy chains while a magic circle spun under her feet. Screeching yet again, she tried to deafen the invisible attacker, however, hidden inside her shadow Haruki couldn't be hurt by sound.
"Who the hell are you people?!" In her rage, she turned to the visible enemies. "And what are you doing here?!"
"If you think we're gonna tell you, then you've grown far too cocky after defeating a single clone" Speaking to her from the shadows Haruki was ready to unleash a spell combo he'd desperately wanted to try. "Not like it'll matter, Devouring Demon!"
Unleashing the built-up magic from the magic circle, the queen was surrounded by misty clouds that burned her skin like acid, and to worsen her suffering the ground under her began devouring her whole body like a swamp.
"Let go of me! Let go!" thrashing her legs she managed to free herself from the holy chains, however, the marshy ground under her feet kept pulling her in the more she struggled. "I'm gonna kill you all imp! Let me go!"
Once again she tried to screech the demons off of her, but bound to the earth she couldn't force them with her voice alone anymore. Covering their ears was enough protection for Asuka and the rest.
"Actually…" Sweeping forward with her dagger, Riley stuck a knife through the queen's parted mouth. "I like you better when you don't talk at all."
"Me too," Asuka added.
With time the queen's skin was scraped off by the misty clouds before being torn and shredded into by the rest of Haruki's party. By the time only her head remained poking out of the ground, Haruki jumped out of the shadow and picked up her humanoid head.
"Still alive with just a head, quite a stubborn bug aren't you?" Looking her straight in the eyes, Haruki held her up by her hair. "Rejuvenation!"
Healing her loud mouth, he quickly choked her mouth with the tentacle familiar forcing itself down her throat.
"We're looking for a Minotaur king, if you know where he is, it might just save your life and the life of those precious spiders we've been killing…" Tilting his head, he gave her a dastardly smirk. "But of course, if you don't accept it, I'll have to kill those bugs you've been calling your babies."
Digging down on the tentacle, she returned Haruki's gaze with great contempt, and yet left with no choice but to do as she was told, she blinked her eyes a few times, letting him know that she was willing to help so long as he kept his promise.
Creating a third phantom hand with emperor of void, Haruki held the head facing forward. Turning around to his party, he quickly switched back to his mercenary form. A bit shocked to find out that the demons she was fighting were the same humans she was hunting, the Arachne flailed her head around to free herself, but unfortunately, there was no way of escaping anymore.
"Let's keep moving then," nodding his head to the others, he began leading the way once again, only this time whenever they came to a crossroad, the head of the queen of spiders was there to help them navigate their way to the minotaur king's lair.
The further they moved in the more monsters they started to encounter, but with the head of the queen held up high in Haruki's phantom hand, none of them dared to lay a finger on him or his company. Instead, they simply crawled away into the dark crevices and hid while watching them pass through the numerous passages.
"How long until we get there?" Having the tentacle crawl out of her mouth, Haruki brought her face in front of him while continuing to walk forward.
Letting out a gasp, the queen drew deep breaths on instinct despite having no organs to suck the breath into. Gradually getting calmer and calmer, she glared at him with the same rage as before, yet the only thing she could do now was answer his question.
"He's not far, but he's not alone and he won't lose to you…" Smiling to herself, she seemed confident that the king would easily defeat Haruki and his companions.
Unfazed by her threat, Haruki carried her like a lantern as they kept pushing forward. After walking a bit further, a distant groan from deep into the dungeon sent everyone on their deepest guard.
"What was that?" Haruki asked the queen.
Her eyes glaring in the direction of the noise seemed horrified by what she'd heard. It had surprised her so much that her lips quivered for words, but no sounds came out of them.
"Is she plotting something?" Asked Riley, taking the head in her own hands.
"This could be a trap, I mean, she came looking for us so…" Shuddering on the spot, Margarette stared aimlessly in the dark.
"I-it's…" Finally being able to gather the courage, the queen spoke once again. "It's the king, it's his screams…"
Turning his attention away from the queen's head and towards the source of the noise, yet another smile crept up on Haruki's face.
"That bastard really is immortal," he whispered out laughing.
[Haruki's stats + New skills+ spells + curses in Author's thoughts]
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