Arachnomancer 14 War

I wake up to see the spiderlings scrambling around. Set and Kess are also missing. What's going on?!?! Running through the tunnels I reach the hidden entrance at the base of the cliff.

*Booom

+10 exp

+10 exp

+10 exp

...

+130 exp

level up(3)

+ 1 free attribute point

+ 1 free skill point

*Eaters have started to move

Kess has leveled up(2)

After reaching the opening I see plenty of treant corpses including another shorty. Wait I can see their info now.

Lesser treant(common)- Lower-rank treant that fills their forests. Not hostile unless you attack their brethren or intrude on their sacred areas.

Treant brute(uncommon)- treant that acts as a great deterrent to invaders. Smaller but much thicker than most treants, this specimen crushes forward with little care for it's own life.

There is literally a wall of treants being built around the entrance with Kess wrapping web on them to make them stay together. I can see Set off in the distance chopping more and more of them up

+10 exp

+10 exp

At the rate things are going I might level up again. Wait, why are they doing this? ' Kess, Set come here.' I give the order and, I see Kess flinch while Set rockets back here. Kess rides her spiderlings back and looks at me with upturned eyes. I think I know what's going on..... Set and Kess probably wanted to get revenge on the treants....

*Sigh(Gin)

I pet her head and am surprised. I thought it would have a metallic feeling but, its more fleshy.

"Scccchreee~" Kess

I feel a sense of joy from her but.... Is there something else in it? Probably just my imagination. Set makes it back really quickly and stares at me with expectation. You too huh.

"~~SHEEE~~" Set

Ughhhh..... What was that... I'm feeling kinda gross seeing her spasm on the ground. All I did was pat her head. I don't even want to focus on the feelings that are being sent through... A screen pops up and I start to hear some strange noises

*CREEENNNK

*ERRRRRRNKKKK

*Treant circle(rank-uncommon) has declared war on your unnamed territory(common).

s.h.i.+t! 'Get back into the nest!' I give an order and immediately sprint into the nest. I had to carry Set along as she was still spasming but, luckily she's not that large. There they are. A lot of treants start moving into the clearing. They stop right in front of the treant wall being built, which is about 20 meters in front of the hole. In the front are 3 brutes and a much larger and older looking one.

Elder treant(uncommon-rare) - Treant that can be the base of a treant forest. Strengthens and commands subordinates in a 30 meter radius. They are a species that can reach rare rank easier but, the difficulty of advancing ranks beyond that is immense.

Welp.... This is interesting.... I don't think they can do anything as long as we're in our base and we don't have the firepower to deal with this. I mean.... Set and I have stealth so we can....

Wait.... Why didn't she kill them with stealth! That would have prevented this! 'SET! Make sure to use stealth whenever you can so we don't have these problems!'

"Sheeee~~" Set

I'm not sure if she understood. Seriously.... Anyways back to this conundrum. Hmmm....The normal treants are moving. What are they going to do, beat on the side of the cliff? I don't think that will make it collapse all too much. Some stray pieces may fall off but for the most part this cliff has been reinforced with dozens of metal rooms and tunnels.

*Boom

*Boom

See, nothing. The only other thing they could do would to be to try and infiltrate with roots but Set could just chop them up..... Ohhhh, They're getting p.i.s.sed

*Boom

*Boom

They hit even harder but get no results. All it's doing is p.i.s.sing the harpies on the top of the cliff off. Their screeching is echoing all the way to here. Hmmmm. I wonder if I can get them to fight.

I don't want to turn into a psycho who kills everything or, tries to get everything to kill each other for their own benefit. Standards are important. Well.... Lets just be hostile towards everything that's hostile towards me. Harpies did try to kill me earlier when the nest was just a hole.

While I was contemplating, the harpies began to attack without me having to do anything. They swooshed down and started clawing up the faces of a couple treants killing them. A couple dozen even picked a brute and dropped it from the sky.

*Booooom

At this point another screen opens up

*Harpy colony(uncommon) joins the war. Hostile towards both factions.

I guess this is justification to kill them. While the treants are preoccupied waving their roots into the air and trying to bat harpies away with their branches I give an order. 'Set start killing with stealth activated. Kess get your spiderlings to swarm on them. Also start spiking them as well.'

I activate stealth myself and sneak around the new battlefield. I occasionally shoot a poison lance whenever a harpy has trouble moving or I get a clear shot at one of the treants faces. The real heavyweights though are Set, the elder treant, and a much larger white harpy.

Harpy(common-uncommon)- Most common airborn monster that infests mountains, forests, and cliffs. Have great enmity towards treants as many have been killed by landing on more aggressive brutes or by intruding on their sacred areas. Great swarmers.

High-harpy[variant snow harpy](rare-unique)- high harpies are very powerful leaders. They can lead upwards to 5 thousand normal harpies. Snow harpy variants are much stronger overall and have intelligence similar to humans. They are even acknowledged in some places and are allowed to roam around towns.

....

My side is the one taking the least loses as my spiderlings don't take much damage. There are the occasionally ones that are dragged underground and suffocated while some are picked up by harpies. However, that does not have a major effect on the numbers. Over the past week there are a little over 300 have been summoned making them a serious force.

Harpies are having a lot of casualties. My spiderlings will jump on them, hold them down, and chomp them to death. Set just chops them out of the air. The treants are entangling them and wacking them out of the air. Kess.... is only going after treants because she cant jump.....

The treants have even more casualties than the harpies as Kess spikes them, Set chops them, and the spiderlings tear them apart. The harpies have been going after their faces as it's the easiest way to kill them and, occasionally, one is lifted off the ground and dropped.

Ive had dozens of notifications and a level up. After a while another level up appears for both me, Set, and Kess.

Gin(5)( 3 unused attribute points 5 skill)

Set(4)

Kess(3)

Something drastic changed when I got my fifth level up though. The weird screens that pop up when I level up changed

* Eaters have arrived.

At that notification, a giant blood red gate opens up in the middle of the battlefield, preceded by a net that stretches over the sky to prevent escape. The battle stops as everything stares at it.

*Pulp

*Pulp

.....

A dozen red rats about a meter tall and a ma.s.sive rat around 4 meters tall scampers out. They look like a combination of a hyena and a rat but are furless. So.... Are these eaters?

Pantry rat(common)- The pantry is a place comparable to the h.e.l.ls in danger and horror. At the lowest of it's monsters lies the pantry rat which everything feeds on endlessly. Even it's own kind. It may be common but it shows strength much stronger than it's rank.

Pantry rat[variant giant](common)- While it remains a common rank even in it's variant form, this pantry rat shows more cunning and strength than its brethren. Be aware that it has poison that is comparable to a wyvern's.

The Pantry.....