chapter 116: the 2 hour war

The battle now commences. The alvearix had successfully reached the enemy's home and in record time, to boot. The tunneler was much faster than anyone anticipated, including Diva, who observed from the safety of her home. Yes, the hive queen watched with joy and much anticipation as the first part of her attack could begin. With a single command from her lips, she gave the order

<Attack>

The tunnel came alive, and hundreds of eager masses of chitin marched towards the enemy. Many of them had been looking forward to this day; it was a dream come true, a chance to prove themselves to the one they called mother.

However, the same excitement couldn’t be said about the spiders; for them, it was their worst nightmare. The place they once called home had been bulldozed through without a single care; the once silk walls that protected them were ripped asunder, and now something moved towards them with the intention to slaughter them all. Despite the bleak outlook, the silkwrith Queen refused to back down. She mustered a large force of spiders towards the whole. A sum total of around 200 spiders. She wanted more, she needed more, but as it stands, this was the best she could do. All she could do now was hope. Hope that her lack of quantity could be made up for with quality.

As the spiders got into position, the sound of thousands of chitinous feet echoed down the tunnel. They were close to getting closer. The spiders didn’t have long before the alvearix arrived.

It took a few moments, but eventually the spiders got into position, hundreds of spiders, from the smaller juveniles to the larger jesters. They waited, ready and eager to defend their home. They watched and waited and waited until suddenly the ground began to shake. The shaking grew quickly, becoming more powerful. Something was coming. Something big. The spiders braced themselves until finally the yellow alvearix tide arrived. And one thing was immediately clear. They were not ready.

Before the spiders could register the arrival of the alvearix, several alvearix bulwarks charged into the silken tunnel straight into the jesters with the speed of a moving truck. The jesters didn’t stand a chance; the lucky ones died in a collision with the feral monster. The ones that didn’t were made to watch as their bodies became part of the battering ram that was the bulwarks.

The spiders tried to counterattack, lunging onto the bulwark and trying to bite through its chitin. However, they quickly learnt that spider fangs are useless against several-inch-thick chitin.

Panic spread quickly among the spiders as several bulwarks ran amongst the spiders, maiming, stomping and crushing every spider unlucky enough to meet their path. However, just when the spiders thought it couldn’t get worse, it did. From the tunnel, the main force suddenly emerged, an indistinguishable tidal wave of yellow chitin. That had one task and one task only. Kill. The tidal wave collided with what remained of the  200 spiders and immediately overwhelmed them. The juveniles and surviving jesters tried to fight back, but they were quickly cut down, sliced and turned into a red paste by the warriors. The battlefield slowly turned into a mass grave as the bodies and limbs of the spiders started to pile up. Purple blood started to collect and flow deeper into the tunnel as the spiders were thoroughly crushed.

The Slikwrith queen watched and felt it all happen. Her defences were crumbling, she called back the few surviving combat units to her chambers and started sending workers and anything else up towards the alvearix. If she couldn’t kill them, the least she could do was delay them. Maybe it was delusion, maybe it was pride, or a strong mix of both, but she had convinced herself that she could still win this. As she had one more ace in her hand, she also sent up her last remaining battlefield commander as a last-ditch effort to save herself.

“You will not kill me! I refuse to be defeated by a false queen like her!” That was the mantra she repeated to keep herself sane.

As one Queen swam in delusion, another watched. Diva watched through many eyes the battle currently ongoing, and what she saw didn’t bring her happiness; no, it brought her something else. annoyance. Annoyance at the underwhelming defence from the spiders, annoyance that she made so many units, but in reality, she didn’t even need half of it and finally annoyance that she let these weaklings attack her and slaughter so many of her children

<Pathetic. Please tell me you have more silk with Queen. If you don’t, I swear……> she said to herself. However, what Diva didn’t understand was that it wasn’t that the silwrith were weak; it was just that her children were quite strong, and she herself was incredibly unique. It took the Silkwrith Queen the best part of 3 months to amass the nearly 600 unit strong army that she used to attack Diva. Whilst Diva, in the span of just 2 weeks, managed to outmatch that number with ease. Everything is relative. Diva amassed such a large army because she made the mistake that the spiders could reproduce like her, and the Silkwrith Queen miscalculated by assuming that the alvearix were nothing compared to her.

But alas, it’s a moot point; let's move on. Because as the queens contemplated their next move, the battle raged on. The alvearix had swiftly moved deeper into the spider's nest, leaving nothing but a trail of blood in their wake. The initial 200 combat-ready spiders had been all but decimated; however, there were still some pockets of resistance scattered throughout the nest. Sally’s above-ground assault, consisting of loads of smaller, weaker units, was struggling to push through the spiders in their way. Noticing this, Diva changed tack; she pulled a portion of her spiders, consisting of a bunch of bulwarks and warriors, and sent them towards Sally. The plan was to attack the spiders' rear, sandwiching them between her and Sally.

Diva relayed the plan to Sally, who was knee deep in spider guts at the front. Her once pristine maid dress was now torn asunder; however, she didn’t care, her blades sliced through spiders with ease. She was like a bloody Mary wherever she went; death and bloodshed followed. There was so much blood, more blood than she could consume or use. The blood nexus that followed her had grown so large that it was hindering her movements. Not that the enemy could tell. Sally pulled a portion of the blood and shaped it into several tiny purple blades that she launched into several spiders' heads, killing them instantly. Immediately, a loud whirring sound came from her; several near-invisible wires shot out from her, spreading and looping around the spiders' heads. With one quick pull from her fingers, the loops closed, beheading several more spiders. She could do more damage with this wire if she wanted to, but there were so many friendly units nearby that she could only take small groups at a time. Despite this, she got ready to do it again when suddenly the ground shook. A smile crept across her face as the hive suddenly retreated. The spiders looked in confusion; however, by the time they could do anything, it was too late. The bullwarks had already run amok among their forces. Sally didn’t waste time capitalising, jumping into the fray. Soon the bulwarks were backed up by the warriors in mothers' force, and like before, it was a blood bath, an incredibly one-sided bloodbath that left spiders completely extinct and the alvearix covered in purple blood.

“DAMMMITTT! WHY ARE YOU ALL USELESS!” she roared. Her anger felt through her children; it was over, and a part of her knew it, but refused to acknowledge it. She had lost 90 per cent of her nest to the alvearix any remaining combat spiders were retreating to defend her.

The alvearix quickly grouped up and marched down towards the spider queen, finishing off any stragglers they met. Victory was in sight, the alvearix could taste it, but there was one last hurdle, the spider commander. The alvearix were familiar with this enemy; it had a devastating attack that could wipe out a lot of the alvearix with ease

<Sally>, the hive queen said. Her loyal maid perked up. <I leave the commander in your capable hands> And with that brief message, she left. Sally didn’t need anymore than this; her mother had given her a task, and good daughters do as they're told. She dashed to the front, snaking past all the different alvearix units until finally arriving at the front where her enemy awaited. Unlike before, it wasn’t hiding; it was here to fight.

The spider blocked the passageway to the spiderqueen with its body. It was around the size of a double-stacked bus and as wide as the eye could see. Its body was made of tough chitin adorned with spikes and hooks. All of this was brought together with 2 heads that stood on narrow, snake-like necks. It was a tough enemy, but Sally had a plan. She didn’t waste time and charged at the creature with several purple blood spears in hand. As she ran, she hurled as many as she could, trying to find a weakspot. But nothing showed, unlike last time, Mother's Magic wasn’t available this time around.

The spider turned its attention to the puny thing trying to attack it. It was about to dismiss it, but before it could move, it felt searing heat on its armour. It was the blood splatters from the spears. Suddenly, several thunderous explosions shook what remained of the spider's nest. The commander was shaken; it had been damaged, not a lot, but enough for it to notice. It knew it could no longer leave the tiny thing; it had to remove it as soon as it could. The spider threw its head back and roared, summoning the last remnants of the hive to fight. It wasn’t much, around 50 or so spiders, but it would have to do.

Once Sally saw the spiders, she immediately called the skirmishers to her side. Like her, they were nimble and could keep up.

<spill as much blood as you can. I think I can end this in one move>

The skirmishers immediately jumped into the fray. There, chitin sabres easily make quick work of the spiders, slicing and dicing them into tiny pieces of meat. All the blood that would have hit the floor was sucked up towards the blood nexus that orbited Sally.

<come on a little bit more!>

Sensing her desire, the skirmishers moved faster, killing as quickly as they could, turning into a rapid storm of blades that quickly decimated the spiders.

<That’s it! Now it's your move, spider>

The commander, after watching everything, started to retreat when suddenly a voice like a bolt of lightning struck its mind.

“NOT A SINGLE STEP BACK! I DON’T CARE IF YOU GET HURT. I WANT THOSE BUGS DEAD!”

Its mother had spoken, and the spider opened one of the mouths on its head. Green gas started to bubble from the depths of its belly up. This was the moment Sally had been waiting for. Her speed doubled, putting her next to the spider in no time. The spider glanced down to look at her as she leapt upwards. The nexus that had been following her all stopped in front of her as she reached the apex of her jump. The spider stared right at her mouth, agape.

<Open wide!> The nexus suddenly liquified, and the blood dropped like a stone straight into the spider's mouth and down its throat.

<that’s it>

Sally quickly landed and started running back to the alvearix front lines! <ALL OF YOU RETREAT!> She screamed as she skidded to a halt and turned to face the spider. The commander looked confused, wondering what she had done, but little did it know its fate was sealed.

Sally focused on the blood that was now swimming in its belly and uttered a single word

<Detonate>

Before the spider could realise it, there was a searing heat in its stomach, and suddenly a bright flash and a heart-stopping shockwave that shook the nest, causing cave-ins where possible. Heat surged through the nest as the blast scorched the ceilings and the nearby walls. Thankfully, none of the alvearix was hurt, but Sally knew she had overdone it, and she had that blast, had the power of 500 sticks of dynamite. Thankfully, the commander's body took the largest brunt of it; if not, she could've killed quite a few of her own

Sally watched as the dust settled, leaving nothing in its wake. She and the alvearix marched toward the spider queen. The war was over, the silkwrith had been decimated, and the alvearix was victorious. the First off, many victories to come. However, many of those wouldn't come as quickly as this one, as the whole war took just 2 hours.