Chapter 193

Opal’s larger Eidolon body

Citrine sets me down on the wall and flies off again. Noir, one of the daughters I don’t see much is there but she looks a little different. Well, there are a lot of different potions for that kind of stuff so I shouldn’t be surprised. I see Morganite is coming this way with a smile, so Noir’s changes shouldn’t be doppelganger related. I give my dagger wielding daughter a hug and say “Noir, you look good. Have you seen Sapphire?” She chuckles and pats me on the head responding “Thank you mom. It’s so strange seeing your smaller body… Oh, Sapphire went to the dungeons to leave a message for anyone coming out.”

Morgan gets to us then and hugs us both before saying “Hi mom! Doesn’t Noir look great? She finally got the courage to take that sex change potion.” I look at my daughter again. Her voice did seem a little deeper, and her chest is a lot flatter. I just thought she took a few breast reduction potions. I smile and answer “She does look great. Congratulations sweetie. I didn’t know you had wanted one of those. I have some kept in a chest at home.” My daughter smiles and says “I know mom, when I went to check out the daggers you offered, I saw the potion and Amber said I could take it.” That makes sense. Amber did mention her sister coming to look at stuff.

It must have been while I was preparing food in the back yard. I think about it a bit and decide to ask “So do I call you son now instead of daughter?” She shakes her head and answers “No mom, I’m still your daughter. I’ve just been curious about what it’s like to be a man for a while. Morgan here finally convinced me to give it a try. It’s not bad so far, but I haven’t had the chance to use my new penis for sex yet since we’ve been so busy. Masturbation is a lot easier though. I’ll probably switch back after I’ve tried enough stuff with it.” So she’s not trying to make a permanent change. I nod and tell her “Okay sweetie, well we have potions for the other way too. Just stop by and grab one when you’re done.”

I’ve never been interested in the potions. I look too good as a woman, and I can’t have babies as a man. That reminds me of how my sons have always avoided making babies with me, so I get an idea. It will have to wait until after we deal with the spiders though. I turn to Morganite and ask “Did you or the kids spot any more of the dops today?” Our kids fully matured not long ago, and she was put in charge of getting them to check Opal’s Home. She smiles and replies “Nope, it’s all clear unless they’re hiding in the buildings. Cindy told me to wait to check everything thoroughly, since we’ll want high tier family to escort us.” I can understand that. The doppels aren’t usually very tough, but Morgan and our kids aren’t either yet.

The higher tier family members are all busy with spiders right now. My citadel is going to be just as busy with them soon, and there aren’t any 7th tiers except for myself and the others rushing back. Most of us won’t make it in time, but based on the howls, she should get at least one more person. It’s also almost night time, so I’ll be able to use Gloaming Call. That should make this much easier for everyone. The fight between my fire hound summons and the spiders over there might end before that, but I can’t use the skill around other people or towns.

30 minutes later

Sure enough, the stream of hounds coming out of the portal slows until almost nothing. Then after another minute or so, it blinks out. The skill must have ended because I don’t have any bodies in combat. I look around with my Bunny body and see a large plain of burnt soil and ash. At the edge, probably a few miles away, I can see trees still on fire. There aren’t any hounds, since they disappeared when the portal did. Maybe the fires would be harder to spot if the sun hadn’t just set. It is kind of a pretty scene, the black ground surrounded by burning, dark green foliage. Above it all the sky has the red and orange hues right before it usually turns dark.

The only spiders I see are burnt husks near the forest line. Well, I guess I should head back to Barrier. Looking at my arrow that points towards Jessica, I start running. As my bare feet press against the ash and dirt, it feels pretty different, softer than usual. Maybe it would be nicer to sleep on than normal dirt. I have beds though, and don’t usually sleep on the ground anymore. I don’t have to sleep either, so I’m not sure I’ll ever try it out. There’s a path through the trees in this direction. It’s probably from my fire hounds following the spiders that headed towards Barrier.

Citrine probably would have mentioned if they became a problem, so the hounds probably never made it all the way there. The fire does seem to have spread a lot in this direction though. I think about it, and they probably have mages who can do water stuff like Sapphire. When she doesn’t want to wait for our fire to go out at home, she douses it with a skill and the fire stops. I usually just let it burn until it’s done, but she says it’s fun to put out. It is kind of fun to watch too, so I can understand.

-POV Cindy-

I let out a sigh as the sky turns dark. The fight with the giant creepy spiders was bad enough during the day. I’m probably going to have nightmares about this for a while. The wave of spiders continues to assault the walls, and the defenders keep them at bay, swapping out for injuries or mana. There did end up being a few deaths. A group of 5th tiers that were overconfident, ignored Ruby’s warnings and pushed past the higher tiers before jumping down off the wall. They of course got swarmed before we could do anything. Everyone was already too busy doing what they should.

They were probably just excited to fight, with their only real experience being the limited amount of monsters on the lower floors of dungeon. I wanted to call them dumb, but they probably just didn’t understand the difference. Most people have been listening to Ruby and the other leaders for the fight, so it only happened once. It makes me wish we could teach them better before a situation like this does happen again.

My thoughts get interrupted when I see an elf next to me make a familiar black hole on the ground. As I watch a shadowy figure climb out of the hole, I realize it’s just like Opal’s OP summoning skill. How did this person get it? I spot a couple others casting the same skill and it click. I forgot that her kids could get skills that weren’t passives. I’ll have to update my notes for Woodville. I guess I just don’t see it that often. I yell over the sounds of fighting “It’s not limited to one! You can cast it as many times as you have mana!” The elf woman close to me gets a surprised look, like it had never occurred to her. Well, most summon skills you can only do one. So I wouldn’t be surprised if someone told her that and she never checked.

She casts more of them and I see the other people with the skill already did so before I said anything. So I guess it was just this one who had the incorrect information. I watch as shadows start climbing out of holes to nowhere all over the place. They all kind of look like the Player who summoned them, and soon start shooting off towards the giant gross bugs. Ah, nighttime might not be such a bad thing for this fight with the spiders. I hope I can get that skill census going so I can calculate the chances for skills being passed down… I guess that would be hard if the information is anonymous. I’ll have to figure something else out then I suppose.

A few minutes later I realize that the shadows don’t seem to be as useful against the spiders. They are still easier to kill, probably from their eyes being covered or eaten by the shadows. The problem is, the shadows don’t seem to be able to ‘eat’ the spider’s exoskeletons. I’ll have to add it to my notes on the skill. Opal has showed it off for me a few times, and I guess I assumed the victims flash was dissolved. Sure, there’s the chewing sounds that usually accompany the skill, but I always thought that was magical flair, added for inducing fear. The shadows don’t seem to have any teeth, I checked very thoroughly.

This could mean the skill will be less effective against those with heavy armor… No, they could just get into the armor, spider exoskeletons are part of their body. Is that why the spiders seem to have slower movements? Have the shadows eaten parts of their joins somehow? I’ll have to do tests. The list I’ve made in my head for stuff to check after this battle is getting really long.

-POV End-