The new arrival was not one she had seen on the far side of the shore. Either it had been looking for a better spot to cross the water, or it had been hiding under the mass of spiders. Judging by its intelligent stare, Noble guessed it was the former.
Its eyes were deep red and full of malice. The rest of the creatures twitched with feverish lust for flesh, but it restrained itself with intent and purpose. It stared up at the sky at the human who had spilled so much blood on the battlefield, watching her as she continued her massacre of the arachnid's brethren.
Noble was studying it too, trying to discern its power. Its stillness unnerved her. It was like the creature had already set its trap and was waiting for her to stumble into it.
For this reason, Noble observed it from afar as she beat back the lesser Monsters.
The Devil, for Noble was sure it was at least that intelligent, was not only larger than any of its companions, but it was also fundamentally different. The rest of the spiders were as black as night, but this one seemed to be made of black and white strands of silk.
The result was an unsettling shade of rippling grey. The emblem on its back, too, seemed alive, ready to jump from the threads of its own volition.
Ignoring her fear, Noble kept the Demon in her peripheral vision.
"Come get me," she called gently, taking a perch on top of a tall boulder.
The spiders heeded her comforting voice, skittering up the edge of the rock. The unarmed Master smiled at them, but then her gaze hardened. From the sky, two blades materialized, became heavier than boulders. They ripped at reality with their downward plunge. The Zenith's carnage was bloody and wild. Sweeping from side to side, it covered the ruined wall in blood and bodies.
In contrast, the Ruby Tear, her old practice weapon from her days in the Dreamscape, entered the fray with elegance that belied its deadly intent. It pressed into the chitin on the spiders, slicing them apart like a single-bladed shears.
Noble used her ability to create a storm of steel around herself. She had other weapons she could have added to the strange hurricane, but these two did the job admirably well. It had been too long since she had used her beautiful red blade, and the creatures before her were practically made for its extra-sharp enchantment.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, A Thread.]
The Spell was becoming a near-constant companion in her head. At least she didn't have to speak back to it.
At last, the boulder was no longer raised ground. The bodies of the spiders had piled high, making it look more like a rise in the landscape than an outcropping. It was time to move on.
'Something is wrong.'
Even with the display of strength, the Devil had not moved. She had made the display of strength to entice him to come closer, or even scare him away–anything that would give her some clue about the powerful creature she was about to face.
After checking on her cohort members through her Kingdom Keeper's attribute and making sure Syrce was still alright with a glance toward the beach, Noble came to a decision.
She would not fly into the trap of the spider, for she was now certain that it was one. Instead, she would send something else in her stead.
'You'll do.'
The spider closest to her was lifted into the air and launched at the behemoth, who was crouching low to the ground.
The smaller creature collided with the larger one...and passed right through him!
Noble's eyes went wide. She had been tricked. Feeling more keenly for the Devil, Noble whirled around as a leg bent toward the sky to skewer her.
She moved out of the way as the tarsus whizzed by. The tip caught the tie in her hair, sending her blonde locks in every direction as they peeked out of her helmet.
'That was too close.'
Child of Promise had felt the movement in the back of her mind, yet something had suppressed it from raising her alarm.
A mind attack?
She had seen far too many of those.
Something else was going on.
Noble sent her two swords at the eyes of the creature. But it reversed its leg in time to block both blades. The metal scraped at the hairs on its leg, shaving a small patch but not breaking the skin.
'Hairy little…big guy— girl?!'
With an identical top and bottom, Noble had no way of discerning the monster's gender, if it had one at all.
Either way, it was devilishly clever. Noble circled it from above, looking for another chance to strike.
It went still again, only this time Noble was wise to its game. It wavered ever so slightly before its stationary stance. And Noble caught the demon separate from its illusory copy.
'What's with this place and copies? Is it related to the Others?'
Noble didn't think so. This method of distraction was more subtle, though Noble couldn't find the reasoning behind the ruse, at least not this time. Did it hope to fool Noble twice?
'You'll have to find a new trick if you want to do that!'
Passing the phony, Noble chased after the demon from above. It looked up at her with those malevolent eyes, never veering to the left or right.
Noble frowned, getting the same eerie feeling that she had before. She tried to put her finger on the discomfort surrounding the unblinking red irises.
Sensing movement to her left, Noble flitted out of the way as one of Helie's arrows finished its arc across the sky. A small burst of energy split the arrow into a dozen pieces, spreading out over the area in a wide net.
The magical net entrapped the gargantuan spider along with a couple of its smaller brethren. It sizzled with power, slicing through the lesser abominations and aerosolizing them. The netting dug into the hairy chitin of the demon, straining to contain it.
It was no use. The demon lifted its mouth, jaws clacking. The razor edges snipped at the wire. It broke, but not in the place where its jaw had snapped.
Noble sent her swords to take a second plunge into the creature's head while it was restrained, hoping to catch it off guard. But the jaws twisted suddenly beneath the net, seeming to skip the space between where they had been and the spot where the Zenith was about to land.
It caught the poisoned sword between its jaws and clamped down. Noble tried to pull it away, but the Spider held fast. She would have to lift the whole creature and the net. Instead, she dismissed the sword and called it back into her waiting hand. The jaw snapped shut around the empty air, and yet another spot was snipped from the glowing net.
The Ruby Tear glanced off the skin entirely, failing to pierce the silky chitin. It would be of no use in this fight. Noble dismissed it as well.
Watching the spider's mismatched bites, the floating Master frowned. The next was not going to hold.
As if hearing her thought, the next snip in the net caused the entire enchantment to break.
It also confirmed Noble's suspicion. Something was deeply wrong.