Chapter 97: Chapter 97: First push

Leander placed the barrier stone at the base of the stairs. Atha had made it with extra mana. It would be good enough to last for a month. And might hold a swarm for a day.

The army was on standby upstairs, in the guild house. The king wanted for Alcandino to become the first nation that was free of dungeons. Or, to at least not get new dungeons.

He had evacuated to his summer home by lake Airon, with no less than a thousand soldiers guarding him, if the rumors were true. The Klorfiel family had stayed in Huergaz, ready to fight tooth and nail for their home. But, they, too, were supportive of the underground being cleaned of mobs and dungeon cores. 

Leander looked at the orange glow, and sighed. This was it, their boats were burned. Nothing, not even he, would be able to get through the barrier without breaking it. This was their moment of truth. If there were deserters, they would need to remain near the barrier, with only as much food as they had brought, and no more.

"We must head out towards Puebleque!" Leander called as he made his way to the head of the guild's formation. Each platoon was in formation. Platoon number 23 now numbered the Raging Bulls and the Griffins with them. Making sure that they had all the needed requirements.

"Why Puebleque? We would need to return here if we go to Puebleque,"  Leander heard someone murmur. But, the person had said as if only to himself. And, if Leander had not been passing by the berserker, he wouldn't have heard it.

"What is Puebleque known as?" Leander asked, his voice carrying through the crowd.

"The spider den," Puebleque, had been lost a thousand of years ago to giant spiders. No one knew how to get it back. But, Leander thought he knew how the spiders kept their foothold.

Leander nodded towards Antonia, and then took the final step out of the crowd and into platoon 23's formation.

"Yes, the spider den. It has been lost for far too long. No one has managed to find the dungeon core that produces the spiders. I think it is underground. Too strong for whatever it is that moves the cores to touch. Just think: Puebleque was a boarder town, before the spiders took it over. The treasure lays untouched. Full shops, houses, the Ivory tower," Leander listed, and he saw how the eyes of everyone began to glisten with greed.

"Those spiders are as good as dead!"

"Their eggs are a delicacy, you know? I always wanted to try a boiled spider egg."

"Puebleque alone can set us all for life. Just imagine what we will find under the rest of Alcandino!"

Leander smiled at their enthusiasm and cleared his throat.

"The main commander will be platoon 23's leader: Dorian Serty. You are to follow him as you follow me. Dorian, if you would do the honors?" Dorian straightened up and blew the whistle two times, and the entire guild ran towards the tunnels that led to Puebleque.

It hadn't been even a single day of running, when they saw the first spiders.

Dorian raised his fist, the signal for the golems to move in and attack, and the adventurers stayed to observe.

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"Why are the spiders so close to Huergaz," someone finally voiced the unspoken question. Leander looked at the carnage that was happening, and then a spider slammed itself into the barrier he was keeping around the guild.

"The golems are not enough," Leander whispered, and then created the shadow mantises to enter the fray. There was no way that he was going to risk the guild until he ran out of tricks.

The smaller mobs were an effective swarm, and they piled on top of the spiders and began cutting into them with their pincers. Leander watched as the spiders were pushed back.

He smiled, daring to hope it was that easy, then, a big spider leg came out of the darkness and pierced a golem in the head. It went through the stone, like it had been mud, and then the spider threw the golem against the barrier.

Dorian closed his eyes. There was no way that Leander could handle something like that by himself.

"All ranked B and up, prepare to take down the boss mob! All below that rank, remain behind the barrier," Dorian commanded. Leander looked at him with wide eyes. Dorian wanted him to stay back?

"Dorian!" Leander began to protest, but Dorian turned back to smile at him.

"One day, you will be ready for that," Dorian pointed at the spider, which was being swarmed by mantises, but looked undisturbed by them. "But today is not that day. Please, trust me, guild master."

Leander nodded and Dorian rose his open hand in the air, then, one by one, he closed his fingers in a fist as the lower ranks went to the back of the formation and those ranked B and up went to the front. Finally, Leander stepped back, clutching his staff. He couldn't see the signal, but he saw the adventurers charge, illuminated by Alklair's light wisps.

"Guild master, do you think they'll be fine?" Leander turned to see a pixie of a girl clutching his uniform's sleeve. How old was she? Did she even have fourteen? How had she even gotten in the guild? There had to be an age requirement, surely?

"They will be fine. They are the elite of the guild," Leander spoke, and he created a new swarm of golems to guard the inside of the barrier. Just in case, the spider went past the attackers and crushed it.

It was up to him to protect the lower ranks. He gripped his staff and allowed the small girl to keep on clutching at him. They both needed the comfort.

Then, something like saliva fell down on his shoulder. He looked up and saw a giant spider lowering itself down. It had kept itself hidden the entire time.

"Two boss mobs," Leander's blood froze in his veins. He took the hand of the little girl and pushed the girl away from himself. Ebony was with Armaros, fighting the other spider, so, no help would come from the dragon.

Leander smiled at the panicked lower ranked adventurers, and placed a barrier stone between himself and them. Now, the spider was boxed in between two barriers. With a single dungeon core standing in its way of killing Leander's guild mates.

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