Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 135 Into The Deep

"Do it with all of me."

"...What?"

The only thing Rhys could really do was stare at Arachnea as her legs once again disappeared into her spider body. His mind, going to a million places — and whether Rhys admitted it or not, the first thought he had in his mind was not to refuse… but wonder what hole he was supposed to insert his sword into.

"...How?" Rhys blinked a couple of times as he looked at Arachnea from head to toe.

"Where else…?" Arachnea smirked as her legs sharp legs stretched her up; slightly opening the front of her spider body and revealing her hole just beneath her waist, "The same place you inserted it earlier."

"...Oh," Rhys closed his eyes.

"Wait…" Arachnea traced her finger on her lips as the back of her spider body began wriggling, "...Were you expecting to do it somewhere else?"

"No," Rhys quickly answered as he slightly took a step back.

"I do have a hole there, if you'd like," Arachnea started brushing her hands behind her, "Two — one for breathing, and one to make… very special threads."

"I'd prefer not to—!!!"

"Oh?"

Both Rhys and Arachnea leaped back as an arrow shot toward their direction. Of course, the two wouldn't have had to completely leap away if it was just a normal arrow — it wasn't. It was an arrow the size of a train, made of ice.

Fortunately for Rhys, the arrow was not meant for him as another shot toward Arachnea; giving him a chance to take off his coat, before tying it around his waist using his threads to cover his… privates.

"Rude," Arachnea let out a long deep sigh as she lowered her shirt, "The Descendant of Eros was about to brutalize me completely. But mortals just have to ruin everything, don't they?"

And even though Rhys and Arachnea were now separated, the two of them looked at the woman shooting arrows at them; her glowing white hair, glistening more than the gigantic arrow of ice floating above her raised hand.

"Esme," Rhys whispered. Esme also glanced at him for a few seconds, before throwing another giant arrow toward Arachnea. This time, however, the arrow the size of a train suddenly cracked and separated into probably a million pieces.

Arachnea, however, did not move from her spot; a smile, even forming on her face as she seemed completely amused. She then stretched her fist toward the oncoming projectile, and as soon as she opened it, a wall of web instantly formed in front of him; blocking everything—no.

The icicles still continued to move toward Arachnea as the web began to stretch — but as soon as the icicles were only an inch away from hitting her, the web snapped back and shot all the icicles back toward Esme with seemingly even greater force.

Esme did not move or dodge as well, as she just let all the icicles hit her directly. But as soon as the ice made contact with her body, it just instantly vaporized and disappeared completely — perhaps a mistake.

"Hm…" Esme's eye slightly twitched as she looked at her arm, which now had an arrow seemingly made of spider threads pierced through it. This did not seem to bother her that much, however, as she just quickly pulled it away — but the sound it gave was not the sound of flesh tearing, no — it was a sound similar to one shoveling snow from one's driveway.

No blood also trailed from her wound, no; as the wound just froze before leaves and roots began forming from it. But the leaves too, completely froze.

Esme then began walking toward Rhys, snapping off the frozen roots and branches from her arm and revealing her wound to be completely healed.

"A descendant of Demeter," Arachnea then let out a small chuckle as she saw Esme standing beside Rhys, "She would be absolutely fuming if she found out that her descendants were hanging around with each other, absolutely fuming."

"Why don't you speak in a language I could understand, Spider God?" Esme breathed out; her breaths, releasing vapor as she scanned the surrounding area; seeing all the corpses scattered everywhere and even spotting Edward, "The Cerberus guild, but I don't see any of their Nobles."

"They weren't here," Rhys let out a sigh as he looked at Esme. It would seem one of his theories has been proven to be correct — no one else but him could understand Arachnea.

"But you are," Esme glanced at Rhys, "It would seem the rumors about you are not false — for you to even be alive in front of a god after she had already littered this place with carnage is a feat not even the top 15 could boast; of course, Ayesha is one of them… who just happens to be one of your many lovers, Black Hair."

"That is—"

"And from what I saw while on my way here, you even had her separated from her spider body and strangled," Esme looked at Rhys from head to toe, "Just how strong are you, truly?"

"That's… not really what was happening," Rhys could really only take in a gulp. Fortunately for him, Esme seemed to have misunderstood Arachnea and his position earlier. And of course, it was better that way,

"I only caught her off guard." A statement not entirely false.

"Losing you would be a detriment to humanity, Black Hair," Esme breathed out, "Our only option here is to escape, I'm not really that confident we can win against her with just the two of us. Even now, she's just watching and speaking to herself — probably thinking of ways to play with us."

"She is one of the gods you need to avoid, Descendant of Eros." Contrary to Esme's guess, however, Arachnea was actually talking with Rhys, "She's one of the Olympians who voted to exile Eros."

"We need to escape," Esme started looking around, "But you and I both know we're probably already trapped here."

"We're already dead, we just don't know it yet," Rhys whispered.

"What was that?" Esme raised an eyebrow.

"Just a motto of my squad back in the Underworld Corps," Rhys shook his head as he let out a subtle chuckle, "And you are wrong, losing me wouldn't be a detriment to humanity at all. It… would be a blessing."

"You are a pretty intense person, Black Hair. Has anyone ever told you that?" Esme scoffed; her eyes, now completely focused on Arachnea and observing even the tiniest of her movements.

"But it's true," Rhys smiled and nodded before placing his hand on Esme's shoulder, "You, on the other hand, are needed by humanity."

"What are—!!!"

And before Esme could even finish her words, Rhys suddenly pulled her away and threw her straight toward one of the buildings; shattering the windows before she just gracefully summoned sheets of ice around her to soften her momentum.

She quickly ran back without any hesitation, only to see Rhys rushing toward Arachnea recklessly.

"Black Hair, what are you doing!?"

"Taking this fight elsewhere!" Rhys let out a roar as he leaped toward Arachnea — moving past her before tying her neck with threads.

"...What!?" And there, Esme watched as Arachnea started moving everywhere with a speed fast enough to shatter the ground beneath her feet. Esme's entire body then started to be wrapped around an armor of ice, but before she could do anything, however, she saw Rhys flying away and Arachnea grabbing him by the head — and then just running away and disappearing into the distance.

"Did… he just save me?" Esme blinked a couple of times as she stared blankly at where Rhys and Arachnea disappeared into. Unbeknownst to her, however, Rhys did not actually try to save her at all — he only just wanted to get more information from Arachnea.

"Not good…" Esme closed her eyes as the armor of ice around her melted away before they could fully form,

"...The Mayor is not going to like this."

***

"Shit… Recruit!"

Ayesha was currently diving through a Hole — no, she was running across the walls of the Hole like some sort of tigress as she made her way to the Surface. Just a few seconds earlier, however, she was actually in the Underworld preventing any more monsters from going to the Surface.

But as soon as she heard that Arachnea was spotted on the Surface… holding Rhys in her arms, Ayesha quickly abandoned everything and dived into the Hole.

"Faster…" Ayesha gritted her teeth as winds of skirt started to explode from her waist as she pushed herself down with all her might, "Fas—!!!"

Soon, however, she could not help but just stare as a silhouette brushed past her coming from the Surface — Arachnea, with Rhys around her arm.

"...Ayesha?"

"Recruit? Recruit!" Ayesha quickly pushed herself from the wall as she pounced toward Arachnea. But alas, a wall of webs suddenly blocked her path. She quickly tore it apart; not even minding that her fingers were being cut — but as she managed to tear the web and lift herself up; she was welcomed by another ceiling of web.

"Fuck…

…Fuck!"