Chapter 115: Impossible to Lose

Spider finally listened to his words and left his avatar lying on the ground with a blood soaked shoulder.

His eyes were shut and covered in crusted blood, but this didn't stop him from being able to see her strange movements.

She was used to walking like a spider and didn't walk like a person would. She walked on her hands and feet like some kind of woman from a horror movie. Being completely naked and such a large body, Styx was bereft of words as he witnessed a truly unflattering sight.

Spider grabbed onto invisible webs made out of space with her hands and toes, using them to 'crawl' into the sky and slip inside a fold in space.

The humans who were pushing closer and closer to the edge of the town outside of the dungeon, which had already turned to rubble in collateral damage, were suddenly sliced into pieces one after another.

An endless web of threads suddenly glistened as it appeared in the sky above the battlefield. Spider, still in her 14ft human form, hung from the center of the web by her fingers and toes. Unlike certain spandex wearing heroes though, she was the incarnation of death and terror. Her eyes were blood red whilst she emitted mists of poisonous fog from the corners of her mouth the drifted across the battlefield.

"Above!"

"In the sky!"

"Monster Lord!!"

Shouts of shock and fear begun erupting from the human army as they fell victim to Spiders attacks. There were those who suddenly fell into small pieces, being cut up by invisible blades, whilst others clutched their throats as their entire respiratory system and even chest melted into noxious slag.

The Ritualists who were restraining Aura were no exception to this. They tried to flee, but just as they stepped away, their feet became stuck to the ground.

"Is there anything more sexy than a woman who knows how to lay traps," Styx mentally sighed to himself whilst admiring her trap laying skills and comparing them alongside his own.

Spider didn't attack the Ritualists directly, but instead tore at the chains extending down to the earth from the sky and supressing Aura.

The specialized human forces had enough difficulty holding down one Monster Lord, once Spider also attack them, the combined force created a backlash too powerful for them to withstand.

Their bodies were immediately drained of blood and turned into wrinkled husks, undeniably now corpses.

"AAWWUUUUU!!"

A heaven piercing wolf's howl echoed across the battlefield, sending everyone flying regardless of side whilst the ash and brimstone covered sky blew away from the center, creating a giant clear circle of view above the battlefield where the strange oil like barrier was viewable again.

Aura tore of the remaining shackles herself before charging at Spider hanging in the sky blind with rage.

Spider spat toxic venom at the wolf-eared woman as she flew towards her, but Aura opened her mouth wide and swallowed it whole alongside the entire space around it.

Frightened, Spider fled into a space crack as Aura began destroying her web network in the sky with giant swipes of her phantasmal claws.

"Aura, enough," Styx sent a mental message to the woman, but she had truly become a berserker by this point. "Come here."

His words had redirected her attention, as her eyes filled with madness and rage turned to face him. She appeared to be about to attack, but finally withheld herself at the last moment. Instead opting to his side with her ears drooping.

"Don't worry. It was unexpected as I didn't think they would be able to tie you down without their cannons. Sorry, Aura."

Styx reached out and rubbed the base of her large wolf ears, prompting her to rest her head in his hands.

Spider appeared at this moment from a fold in space behind Styx, standing over him and looking down at the two.

Aura was about to react, but Styx grabbed a clump of her hair and did his best to hold her down. He wouldn't have been able to stop her if she tried, but his intention was passed over and she just silently glared at the other Monster Lord.

"Wolf. Death."

When Aura didn't appear to be about to attack, Spider instead started the conflict and was about to vomit soul corroding poison all over Styx's avatar and the wolf-eared woman.

"Go away, bug, before I kill you," Aura retaliated and bore her teeth whilst growling in a voice deep enough it resonated through Styx's chest.

"Can you two not fight right now!? Why do you keep fighting?"

"The bug is crazy and always attacks."

"Wolf. Ate children. Death."

"Eh?"

"They were on my territory, bug."

"Death!"

Spider's expression was filled with rage, contrary to her endless patience with Styx. She wanted to attack and kill Aura with every fibre of her being, but Styx was currently in between the two of them and formed somewhat of a buffer.

"Just… settle your differences later. We have a battlefield to clean up."

Styx pinched his brow whilst being dumbfounded at the two of them. Even if he tried, they refused to get along. He was happy so long as they were at least cordial for the time being and not trying to kill one another.

Spider had annihilated half of the remaining soldiers, and with Aura free again, the remaining half had lost all hope. They tried to retreat, their commanders already dead and captains taking charge of the surviving forces.

"Aura, Spider, go kill the remaining soldiers."

"Make. Stronger."

"…"

"Make. Stronger."

"Go kill the humans first."

"Make. Stronger."

"Fuck! Do I need some gym badge or something?!"

~~~~~

⠀

A group amongst the soldiers had a martyr mindset and charged towards Styx's dungeon forces in an attempt to give the others more time, but Styx promptly denied their plans by sending out Aura to crush the final soldiers, Spider on the other hand loomed over his head constantly and refused to listen to his commands.

By now, all the dungeon residents had gathered together and focusing on tending to wounds and cleaning themselves of dirt and dried blood. Styx's dungeon wives stood beside him and stared warily at Spider, who had mostly ignored their presence until they tried to approach Styx, at which point she hissed aggressively and forced them away from him.

The only one who could resist Spider, and could even intimidate her, was Aura. The two of them were currently having a cold war where anything could become the spark for conflict.

Still trying to find some cordiality between Spider and the others, Styx turned his attention to the giant foreboding barrier covering the sky and over the horizon.

"Now, we just need to investigate what this barrier is, and who created it…"

"Time."

"What?"

Styx raised his brow at what Spider said, but before he could pursue it further, a giant beam of white light shot down. Within this light, the figure of a human woman with crimson armor and a giant spear appeared, her presence pressing down upon everyone in the area.

"…Goddess Eve…"

Styx instantly recognized her based in the statues Rebecca Euklid prayed to. There were some slight differences, but the overall resemblance was too close.

She was of average height for a human woman, with long silver hair flowing down her back and golden irises. She was almost completely flat chested, yet had broad hips and meaty thighs that tempted the eyes.

Aura and Spider were both completely silent, staring up at the imposing figure with fear and reluctance.

Spider was the first to react, she grabbed Styx and tried to flee into a fold in space with him, but Goddess Eve had appeared before them without any warning and swung her divine spear.

The attack seemed ordinary, but the landscape was changed and Spider was sent flying, creating a giant trench alone the ground where her body passed through. Aura had saved Styx's avatar at the final moment, but Spider's mangled and broken body lay in the distance, rapidly healing itself.

"Do not think to escape, vermin."

Goddess Eve's voice was ethereal, containing a tone that was both exceedingly pleasant to hear as well as carrying an irrefutable dignity.

Styx, trying to buy time for Spider to heal while also rapidly thinking of a solution, spoke to the goddess who appeared before them.

"Goddess, why have you descended?"

"Do you honestly not know?"

Styx bit his lip. Of course, she was here to kill him and destroy the dungeon.

"There are treaties in place! You cannot simply descend and intervene in mortal affairs, especially when Fifth Step existences are involved!"

"You have broken that treaty. I had thought my kingdom's army would have been enough to enforce your punishment, but I will instead bear the cost of erasing the parasite that you are from my kingdom."

"Bullshit! They attack us first! We are fully within our rights to kill them without breaching the treaty. You had already intervened with this barrier."

"I am free to bestow my blessing upon my believer as I wish. Who are you to dare judge a god?"

Styx gritted teeth in anger, feeling his time was running out and he was cornered.

"Don't think I haven't figured it out! This is a temporal barrier, blocking off the flow of time within it! This means our entire battle in here took a single instant outside, preventing the arrival of any hope of reinforcements! A blessing!? Judging a god!? That is bullshit! You planned to kill me from the very beginning regardless of the cost! Where is your fairness!?"

Goddess Eve's gaze turned ice cold and her grip on her spear tightened.

"You are a parasite in this land my own father founded. You spread through my people like an infectious disease, twisting their minds to betray their kingdom. Not only that, but you also dare to become a gateway to allow foreign forces to invade my territory. You know not the matters of gods, yet you have the arrogance to seek fairness?"

Aura appeared in front of Styx at this moment right as the goddess attacked. Her spear was like a light in Styx's vision that completely blinded him, even in his omnipresent dungeon sight.

The wolf-eared woman had offset the attack, but all her claws were broken and blood ran down her hands. Just like Spider, she also had difficulty healing from the attack laden with divinity.

Therina, Kale, Klair, Vivy, Elena, and all the other residents stood on weak legs, determined to use their lives to save Styx.

"Goddess Eve, so you know that Heaven and The Void are behind me, yet you dare to attack personally!?"

The goddess flew up into the sky like a red comet, her spear turning into fire and inflating until it seemed to cover the sky, dying everything within the barrier in red and causing smoke to rise from everything.

The weaker First Step dungeon residents directly collapse as the water in their body evaporated and their blood boiled. The Second Step and above residents could hold out longer, but even they were falling into dire circumstances.

"You are a parasite, a coward that only knows how to hide behind others. It is because of Heaven and The Void that you will be erased. They haven't invested anything in you, and should you prove incapable of living, you are merely as worthless as your broken shards of a corpse."

"Monster Lord, you were granted forgiveness last time given the conditions, there will be no second time. Dungeon soul, you have caused grievous harm to my Maple Dragon Kingdom by killing tens of thousands of soldiers crucial for its defense, and have become a direct threat alongside these two Monster Lords. Today, in the name of Goddess Eve, I will permanently erase you from existence."

It suddenly dawned on Styx.

"You! It didn't matter whether the battle was won or lost, did it!?"