Stark Changes
"Nobody charge in just yet." Xander said with a frown as the spiders swarmed forward and the other squads began to advance. He simply glanced backwards at Aubrey whose eyes were already wide open, analyzing and waiting for preliminary judgements.
At the same time, he made some judgements of his own.
'Each one is quite weak, actually. Fodder from what I can tell. The problem is...' He glanced at his bracelet and frowned.
'Aubrey said her spells don't actually consume that much mana. Most of the strain is on her brain from all the information she is processing. Falael can't go over the mana limit even if they wanted to. That leaves me and Curtis. Which isn't ideal, especially since we don't know what the limit is, but I think I have an idea.' At that moment, Aubrey spoke.
"The spiders all seem to follow basic movements, even if they are beasts, they move more like constructs rather than living creatures. Moreover, even though it's faint, there are connections of mana from each small spider to the large one. I think it's a hivemind, so most likely, if we slay the big spider, the rest will die as well." She explained quickly, and Xander, despite being used to it, was still amazed.
'Acquiring so much in such information in such a short time. Awesome. However...' Xander spoke.
"Great job. But tone down how much you are processing, even if you are less likely to go over the output limit. Only focus on the important things, that way, you won't burn out too fast." Hearing his command, Aubrey blinked, surprised, but she nodded.
"R-Right!." Xander then tilted his head in Curtis's direction.
"Do you think you have a spell that significantly lowers the temperature around us? Preferably with a low mana cost? Freezing each spider will be too costly and risks pushing you over the limit." Curtis stood straighter.
"O-Oh! Well, I don't have a specific spell for that, but I can manipulate my mana to achieve a similar effect." Curtis said quickly, and Xander nodded again.
Them he faced Falael who seemed annoyed with the general situation.
"... You don't have to do anything until we get close enough to the big spider. Just stay in the center of the formation." Falael rolled their eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. I gotta conserve my mana and all that nonsense. Let's just get it over with." The Half-elf grumbled.
'At least they aren't outright refusing to cooperate.' Xander thought that was a win in his book.
At this point, the other squads had already begun engaging with the spiders, so he took a breath.
"Alright, let's go." They all moved together, and soon enough, they reached the swarm of arachnids.
Immediately, the temperature dropped significantly, and a thin layer of frost covered the surroundings. No one in the group was affected, but the spiders showed immediate reactions as their movements turned sluggish.
'There really are a lot...' Xander grimaced as he waved his sword, slicing through several spiders that jumped at him in one swing. The grimace turned worse when putrid green liquid spilled from their bisected bodies.
'Why do they need blood when they are mana constructs?!?!' He yelled inwardly.
"A large group of spiders is coming from our left." Aubrey called out, and sure enough, a larger pack of spiders started to converge at their left side.
Xander immediately aimed his sword that way and trusted several times in a moment.
Air Bullet
Several air bullets pierced through the gathering spiders, turning them into bloody sieves as they fell to the ground in a heap.
"Aubrey, don't just focus on callouts, think of ways to actively improve our situation to allow us to get to the spider faster and easier. For instance, the spiders we don't kill and pass by are gonna converge kn our flanks and backs, surrounding us." He sliced through another spider.
Aubrey's eyes widened, clearly having not considered that, and she looked around. Sure enough, some of the spiders their group passed were starting to round up on them.
"Curtis, create a moving wall of ice that covers our sides and backs, and make them lean forward so the spiders can't climb over them. Aubrey, help Curtis calculate how thin he can make the walls without letting them get broken by the spiders to save mana." He continued calmly,
'Also, the bracelet places a limit on my mana output, meaning I can still use many spells, I just can't use too much mana for them at once or else I will cross the limit. That also means Falael is indeed at risk of activating the bracelet, their mana capacity is sad but their output is more than capable of crossing it..' Xander thought and relayed that information as well.
Unbeknownst to him since he was at the front, his teammates were looking at him with surprise. While yesterday he had pretty much taken the role of leader, compared to yesterday, he was being far more proactive. Not just that, he was almost teaching them as they advanced.
Regardless, his orders were swiftly carried out.
A moving wall was created that covered the group's flanks and back, and it leaned forward making it difficult for the spiders to just scale over.
Sure enough, sounds of scratching could be heard as the spiders surrounded the wall and tried to break through, but they failed. And those that tried to climb slipped on the ice as they had no purchase.
'Good, now we can focus on advancing, and thanks to the wall, the spiders only have one avenue to reach us, so I don't have to exert to much effort to kill multiple in one go..'
"I've seen three possible routes we can follow. Our current one is the most stable, and we will reach the spider at a moderate speed. Another route is far more dangerous but we will get there much faster, lastly there's one that doesn't have a lot of spiders but it will take the longest for us to reach the big thing. These are likely to change with how chaotic things are." Aubrey spoke, and unlike before, her analysis was more proactive, but Xander still pressed.
"And what do you think we should do with that?" Hearing this, the girl hesitated for a moment, then she spoke.
"I... Believe we should continue with our current pace. If we pick the faster route, the pressure leaves us likely to increase our output unnecessarily. If we pick the slower route, there's a chance we won't even get a chance to engage the big spider. So this path is the most optimal to me." She finally said.
'And I agree.' Xander smiled to himself and spoke. "Then we we will do just that."
And so they did.
The 5 squads all advanced at different paces as they fought through the swarm of spiders to reach the mother.
Quite a few people crossed the output limit, though, and Xander was able to get a look at the "mild" electric shock Alya had been referring to.
'... If I'm able to physically see the electricity going through their bodies, that should be a sign, right?' He pursed his lips as he witnessed someone light up like a light bulb as electricity coursed through them violently, not even giving them a chance to scream, and he shuddered.
Actually, he had already gotten close to moving over the limit set by the bracelet. He knew this because he had increased his output for one of his attacks and felt an unnatural buzzing sensation from the accessory, one that grew stronger the higher his output rose, and something told him that when it reached a crescendo...
'Best not to get to that point.' He sighed as he cut down the next spider.
Now, there were only about a dozen meters between the squad and the spider. As a result, the number of spiders they encountered had increased significantly, putting them under far more pressure.
Curtis and Aubrey were trying their best to keep up, while Falael was looking increasingly annoyed due to inaction, and Xander, well...
'In, and out.' He exhaled as he methodically cut through the spiders despite their rising numbers. If there was one thing he was good at—and he was good at many things—it was pacing himself.
Years of swordplay and habits drilled into him made him instinctively pace himself, exerting the most amount of force required using the minimum energy needed.
Granted, this only applied to his physical energy at the time. But after getting somewhat accustomed to mana, he became great at managing his mana pool, and this low output training was simply increasing his mastery.
Right now, he wasn't even using any of his skills or spells. He'd judged the exact amount of power required to kill the spiders effectively and swiftly, and now, the mana coursing through his body was just enough, and the energy channeled into his blade was just right.
Falael, who was pretty inactive for obvious reasons, and as such, had more time to observe more, was as irritated as they were intrigued by this.
'... I don't get it. How is he doing that?' Their lip curled.
'I've seen swordsmanship countless time, and I've seen just how wasteful and unreliable it is. Yet every time he fights, he keeps doing things that don't make sense. He doesn't chant, yet he can cast spells. He isn't buffing himself, yet he can keep up with high-intensity battles using his bare body. None of it makes sense!' They gritted their teeth and stared at Xander's back. But whether their gaze was filled it anger or something else, it was uncertain.
"The big spider's attention is on us."
"How much closer till we enter its attack range?"
"Just a few more meters. We'll get there in about thirty seconds."
"Alright. Curtis, right before that time passes, I need a shield in front of me."
"Okay! I'll tell you when!"
'And he already has them wrapped around his damn finger.' Falael almost growled., their hand gripping their wand tightly.
'Can they not think for themselves? A few nice words and they are his obedient little dogs.' They scoffed inwardly.
Yet he couldn't deny the attractiveness.
'And his confidence. How is he so sure his ideas and plans will work? Why does he expect us to follow them just because he says so?'
Yet they work more than they fail.
'And he keeps talking about how he might have ways of "rectifying" the weaknesses of some of us. How can he come up with solutions to things we've been struggling with our whole lives?'
But did he have a way for Falael as well?
'And there's his sudden closeness with that strange Mia girl. What? Does he have a habit of befriending strange people? She's so useless not even the Sergeant wants to bother with her.'
What if he found out something about her?
'Dammit... Dammit! It's so infuriating! I don't understand him! How! How is he so good at–'
"Falael, I'm not entirely sure I can damage the thing effectively, so we'll try and create an opening for you to attack and deal a lethal blow, alright?" Xander's voice reached their ears, and they opened their mouth to curse him, but...
"Whatever. Let's just get it over with."
'–making me follow his instructions?!'