historical

Rokuro's clawed hands grabbed two of the furry legs of the Dokumotsu. The poison that had accumulated in the spider's throat returned to its stomach and it turned backward, ready to defend itself from its attacker.

Showing incredible strength in its arms, Rokuro dragged the enemy's legs with him, pulling them under the ground. Emitting a creaking sound of broken bones, the spider's two legs cracked under the Moruba's traction. ??

"Go, Yoichi! It's your turn, kill that bastard!" Enatsu thundered, unable to take his hands off the ground.

As soon as his words echoed in the cave, Yoichi snapped forward, making sure not to stumble upon the sticky mud. Rokuro held the Dokumotsu still, making it a sitting duck: intent on wriggling to free itself from the mole demon's grip, the spider had stopped producing poison.

As Yoichi ran, its front legs waved toward Rokuro. The mole demon's head was tucked underground and its arms were the only part of the body to come out to the surface.

When the noise of Yoichi's footsteps became louder, the Dokumotsu turned to him: the young tamer's fist hit the spider right in its face and was strong enough to crush its skull. Its little green eyes spat under Yoichi's pointed knuckles and its own jaws rent its skin, reducing its head to a mingle of stinking flesh.

The shockwave unleashed by the fist inevitably distracted the Dokumotsu that was facing Shioko, slowing down its reflexes. Tirelessly, the red-haired archer continued to fire light arrows in quick succession, preventing her opponent from approaching. Nobu followed the fight from the upside, allowing both its tamer and her companions to have a clear view of the inside of the cave.

Not having had time to load poison jet, the smaller Dokumotsu became an easy target for Shioko. She, after yet another roll, closed one eye and looked in front of her. An arrow of light loaded a few more seconds cleanly hit the target impale it on the wall.

Although the spider demon was larger than its team's demons, its body was lifted from the arrow as if it were an extra light object. When it too pierced the wall behind it, it vanished into nothingness, consuming Nobu's shining energy.

The two Dokumotsus in the second room were killed simultaneously. From their bodies, the red spheres of XP points began to float in the air. Two of them entered Kenjii's body, one in Rokuro's and another in Nobu's.

Still unable to move because of the cobwebs, Enatsu used his facial expression to express his joy. Rokuro had fought valiantly, showing to its onlookers to worthy of an enemy it had never faced before, despite their difference in level.

Unable to see his comrades' demon pets' level, Yoichi was sure that, having never fought, Rokuro's level was lower than Kenji's.

Nobu, on the other hand, was a Hotasagi, the evolution of Hotasuka. Its level hat to be necessarily higher than the 15th, otherwise, he would not have had the experience needed to evolve.

Thanks to an 'over-leveled' teammate, Yoichi and Enatsu were facing a medium-low-level dungeon, encountering unknown demons, whose level was not too much higher than that of their pets.

I could try to catch it before its body disappears! Yoichi inwardly thought. By approaching a hand to his backpack and turning off Kenji's powers only on one arm, he knew he still had a Demon Tooth ready to be filled with the soul of the biggest of the two newly defeated Dokumotsus.

When the two small red spheres reached Kenji's forehead, Yoichi's gaze got stuck pointed to the ground and his hand stopped. The young tamer looked focused on thinking and did not share the enthusiasm of victory.

"Can anyone get me out of here?" Enatsu gulped, moving his head sideways with the rest of his body blocked by the cobweb. Shioko put away her bow, caught her breath, and approached him. At the same time, Yoichi broke his silence, shattering the moment of provisional serenity.

The vision of those floating red drops had just made him think of some crucial details. "But... I don't remember that the first spider I defeated gave any XP points to Kenji..."

Shioko froze up and Enatsu stopped talking. For a few seconds, the three adventurers were surrounded by an even darker silence. When Yoichi turned back, the following moment, it was too late.

Instinctively, the young tamer placed the only enhanced arm in front of his face, predicting an unexpected blow. A giant spider's leg struck him violently: being forced to use only one arm to parry the blow, he was hurled across the room.

"KRRRR!" – the resurrected Dokumotsu's chilling cry made the air vibrate, freezing the blood in their veins. Shioko leaned towards Enatsu, kneeling behind him.

The Nightblades tamer pulled a small hunting dagger out of her boot and began to rub it quickly on the cobweb cables, trying to free her guildmate. The hard fibers of the spider's cobwebs weren't torn off under the serrated blade of the dagger, sounding like the metal strings of a guitar.

"Ohu, shit! It's alive! That bastard's still alive! Help! Yoichi!" Enatsu panicked, realizing that he was right in the direction of the enemy's next attack.

Pieces of his brain matter were still on the wall behind the obscure monster: Yoichi's shot had been strong enough to kill it on the spot, but the black mud had healed its wounds.

While the three tamers were busy countering the other two Dokumotsus, that 'intelligent' substance had quietly chosen to get the biggest and strongest spider back on track. The deep head wounds had taken longer than necessary, but the Dokumotsu that had just emerged from the darkness had come back to life, more aggressive than before and imbued with the dark power of black mud.

The whiplash Yoichi suffered when he hit the floor stunned him, but his scaled arm was helpful in cushion the fall. Enatsu's screams kept him alert, forcing him to stand up the moment after, ignoring the superficial wounds on his standard-human arm.