Chapter 214: The Hive, II

Magical beasts of Du'kki called this Hive: Araneum, others called it simply the Hive or lairs.

Du'kki mountain was an inactive volcano towering of more than 3, 000 meters. The vent of the dome-shaped volcano was covered with crystal-like lava that dried with time. The once lava-filled holes dried up and shattered or were mined and made chambers that were now used as living quarters for the community of beasts.

Ned assumed he was a thousand meters below the volcano. The formation of chambers was random, just like ants how they made their nest. And just like ants, the magical beast lived socially.

The community was mostly comprised of a humanoid-like beast that resembled spiders and walked on two, the highest of the class, Ned assumed as he saw a male arachne riding a spider—this time resembled a tarantula in black and white stripes.

The domesticated spider hissed as it passed beside Ned, and walked over the wall to Ned's right as it carries a basket over his abdomen of what seemed to be uncut mana stones. Its rider pulled the straps that were attached to the spider's fangs and stopped. There, suspended at the wall, the spider and the arachne humanoid waited. Then the wall under the spider cracked and made another opening. The spider entered the chamber, and the wall closed once again.

"The queen," Ned said under his breath. It's not surprising at all that beasts made their community. Hunters have been hunting them for years, of course, they (the beasts) bundled together and formed a community. "What is your goal?" Ned said over his shoulder. Moloatiss stood behind him. Ned was having a hard time analyzing the beast's intent, he just can't pass his facade.

Moloatiss remained silent.

"You have thousands of beasts here," Ned said after backing up, closer to the beast. "Judging by your number, you could invade the entire island. So, why? Why remain underground?"

Moloatiss wiggled his head, he looked at Ned up and down and smiled. "Come," he said and spun going back to the room where Ned had been held captive. "Everything will make sense once you've changed."

Ned looked down, he doesn't care. It was his body, and his body was all he got. He doesn't need to be ashamed of it. "First," he said, following the beast. "I need my ring."

A lady arachne brought Ned's clothing—ragged, and torn, his clothing was worn without much hesitation. No boots this time as he went outside the room while he balanced himself with his hands pressing against the wall. Ned wondered why he was allowed to walk freely; ain't like the humans he saw with chains and turned to slaves.

"Now tell me," Ned said as he rested against the edge of the door. "Why am I here?"

"You see, Ned," the beast said, explaining. "Humans are not our only enemy. Even before I became… " he paused. "This."

"And."

"And," he continued, and gestured with his free hands to follow Ned. The cylindrical glass of green liquid was empty, no human heads this time. As he walks, slimy liquids were leaking out his crab limbs. "Have you heard of Lords, Ned?"

Ned slid his hand against the wall of the hive. It was rather warm than cold, rather smooth than rough, and rather rejuvenating. As Ned continued to walk chambers after chamber, Ned's mana was slowly, yet, constantly increasing.

"I did, yes," Ned said after the two cut an intersection that led them to another passageway. From the room where Ned was held, until their walk, mana stones were itched at the walls as if torches. As Ned walked past the hallway of mud, and stones and crystals as walls, mana stones were flickering and dimmed of light. "Why?" Ned's mind then transitioned to the first Lord he had met, or he created. Gazul, the goblin-orc Lord, met Ned's vision, his voice lingered as if it was yesterday: "179," Gazul had said, his voice echoed inside Ned.

"Kon Sas Koron," Moloatiss said and stopped. So as Ned. "Was a Lord for four-hundred years. Give or take, she was here before us."

Four-hundred years, Ned thought as his eyes scanned the surroundings they were in. They stood inside a hollow space and were surrounded by chambers of different sizes. At the base, were chambers too narrow Ned needed to crouch to enter if he wanted. "Kobolds," he said, as he gazed the nearest chamber.

A family of kobolds was muttering inside at the bottom chamber. Their snouts were stretched like alligators, standing in two. And wore clean metal armor. For Kobolds that stood a meter, they looked proud as they held spears over their shoulders.

Ned turned around hearing a breaking voice. "Gnoll?" Ned said, he reached for his wound, and lightly press it to lessen the pain. He hissed doing so.

Gnolls were like hyenas standing in two, with black hair braided from behind, and green fur all over their body, some black spots were visible under the bright light of the mana stones. They moved like soldiers as they passed Ned in one single file. Some gnolls held shields painted with red.

Behind the passing gnolls was a black beetle, the size of an elephant. Head hooked with pointed bones ( ribs of some sort), and a horn pointed with different spikes. Riding the beetle was a human.

"Why?" Ned asked, eyes looking at the human. The wood necklace he wore and dangling as he rode the beetle uncaring of Ned. Long hair, unkept, he wore tattered clothes like Ned. But his eyes, his eyes were blank. As if programmed only to do a menial task.

The beetle passed. The rider held the straps that controlled the beetle and didn't even bother to look at Ned. As he passed, with gnolls beside the beetle, Ned saw that the human was being controlled by the parasite. Ned looked at Moloatiss, and the latter didn't even care that he was being stared upon. He even grinned as if irritating Ned.

Ahead of them was a door, or a gate so massive it spun the entire chamber and reached the darkness from above. Embossed decorations were itched at the massive gate, some were tribals of swirls, and fangs of black color. In the middle was a spiderweb, that would break in two as the gate opened, and words that Ned—to his surprise—he could fully understand: Third Sanctum, Ned thought. Brows furrowed. The words were like snakes, coiling, and overlapping each other.

The massive gate clutched open. The room roared from the sound the gate made. The room from behind appeared slowly. After the gate opened for three to five meters, spiders of different species crawled out of the massive gate.

Spider with a massive abdomen of green and black stripes exited the gate from above. Ned looked up, for a moment, his neck was having a hard time maintaining the angle. Then, another spider crawled out the gate. This time, the spider was burning with flames all over its body. Their sizes were different, some were only a meter tall, others two, the biggest Ned had seen was a spider almost seven to ten meters high.

Moloatiss started to crawl forward as the gate was half-opened.

"Wait," Ned said, stopping the beast. "Sas Koron, you said, was at least a Lord for four-hundred years?"

Moloatiss didn't respond. His eyes over his body. The tubes vibrated as the cylindrical glass bubbled.

"So," Ned added. "How come that you didn't invade the humans above?"

Silence was the beast's response.

"You have an army of magical beasts here," Ned said, confused. Although looking dry, his hair remained silver and full of life. Ned wanted to lick his lips but was stopped as his tongue touched nothing but cracked skin. They could at least give Ned a water.

"Humans are not the only enemies here," a voice from behind made Ned spun around.

Ned frowned at the new figure's words. This figure's skin was melted, like burned. His face, unrecognizable, his eyes were dark, he was bald, and wore leather clothing Ned assumed much expensive as Twali's black suit. Horns extended over his forehead and tiny horns ripped his leather uniform on his shoulder. His clothing was rather clean (aside from the holes on his shoulders), and covering all his body aside from his head. He even wore gloves to hide his monstrosity.

"What?" The figure said looking at Moloatiss in silence. His voice was calm and old, and human. His eyes went back to Ned and said, "Who's this, Moloatiss? Another one of your subjects?"

Moloatiss grinned and bubbles rapidly gurgled inside the glass over his shoulders. "Soon," he said, "you'll find out soon, Cotilis."

Cotilis scoffed from his nose. His nose was almost flattened by his burned face. And aside from his nose, his face was flat. Not even his lips were pouting.

"Where's Khiccaal?" Cotilis said and walked to align himself with Moloatiss.

Now that Ned wasn't focused on the new figure's face. The sword on his waist sparkled, and the shield slung behind his back squeaked against the leather he wore.

"Still outside," Moloatiss said and eyes peeked at Ned. "We will talk about it later, for now… "

Ned's attention focused on the gate across them. It was now fully opened. From afar, Ned could see nothing but green light, bouncing up and down, a flicker of white, and red. The rest was rather dark.

Moloatiss spun around to face Ned and said, "We'll talk with the Queen."