The Spider Queen

Sophie took one last look at the frail figure of the captain laying helplessly in the hole and turned away.

"Okay I won't harm him!" she shouted out.

Sophie's voice echoed through the empty room but there was no response.

What a pain in the ass….

It was fairly obvious what was going on.

Judging from the green light that had scanned Sophie's body when she woke up, it would be logical to assume that the sun god's worshippers controlling the initial stages of the task were watching her every move.

Perhaps the green light had scanned her body to search for the seedlings or maybe there was some other purpose.

If the worshippers saw that she had obtained the seedlings, then who knows what would happen…

Inside the underground caverns she could not move without slowly testing what was and was not allowed.

Direct attacks on the captain while he was still wrapped in the vines had resulted in a warning, but Sophie had another trick up her sleeve.

A bloodthirsty snarl flashed across her face as she pulled out a small metalloid device from her storage bag.

This device resembled an insect with four slender limbs and a thin blade-like needle that jutted out of its center.

This loophole relied on Sophie's guess about the mentality of the secretive worshippers.

Clearly the sun god had commanded his followers to retrieve the seedlings for him.

But could all of his followers resist the allure of immortality?

The knights of the Hyperion Order were a separate group from the worshippers in the underground caverns and hence there must be some level of mistrust.

No doubt the secretive worshippers planned to retrieve the artifact either by force or persuasion from anyone who claimed it.

She couldn't kill the captain while he was undergoing the trial but his life after he failed or passed had nothing to do with those watching.

At least that was what her theory assumed…

In fact, they would probably welcome it should the captain pass the final challenge and claim one of the seedlings.

Save them the trouble of killing him themselves…

Sophie focused on her danger sense as she placed the device near the edge of the pit. At the first warning sign, she would halt all activity.

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There were a few raised buttons along the sides of the device which she pressed in quick succession.

A soft hissing noise could be heard as a secret compartment opened in the back of the device that was completely empty.

This compartment was then filled with the contents of three vials containing highly toxic substances and then closed carefully.

Sophie pressed another button and a tiny scanner in front of the device was activated.

The trap was now complete.

Katarina had given her many weapons and dangerous trinkets when she had left for university, and this was one of the more useful ones.

A mobile injector that was outfitted with a startium needle capable of penetrating into even class four armours.

The only downside was the slow speed of the device and its short range.

Sophie could not guarantee that the captain would be struck by the attack but the poisons inside were enough to kill a cultivator in the qi tide stage.

And there was no way to trace this device to her.

Sophie left the device at the edge of the pit and took a few steps backwards while cautiously looking around.

Nothing.

Her danger sense did not react, and the unseen threat appeared to have vanished. It seems that Sophie's assumption was correct.

The memory of the terrifying stone abomination was still clear in Sophie's mind, so she wanted to get out as soon as possible.

A future plan would need to be made in case the captain survived the miniature drone but that was not a priority at the moment.

Sophie took one last look at the underground chamber and fled towards the open tunnel she had travelled along to enter the room.

She did not see a green light scan her drone numerous times before shutting off once an assessment was made.

The memory of a cultivator was photographic, so Sophie had no problem retracing her steps through the darkness.

The stale musty air underground made her feel a bit lightheaded, but it was nothing that she could not deal with.

Numerous small rocks crumbled beneath her feet as Sophie ran pass an endless sea of drawings depicting the fearsome image of the stone abomination.

There was a blue light up ahead that shone with a glow that was oddly hypnotic. Sophie channeled her qi into her legs and confidently jumped into the blue light.

She opened her eyes to find herself back in the familiar large open space of the sinkhole.

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Numerous yellowish- red flowers swayed slightly beneath her feet as the light from the blue crystals protruding from the walls lit up the space.

Sophie spotted the climbing gear still in place and gripped one of the metalloid ropes.

With practised ease, the hybrid girl began scaling up the wall using her bladed appendages for extra stability.

It was now nighttime and the pale blue moon shone high above in the sky.

It was a welcome sight for Sophie who was just about ready to get the hell out of this cursed place.

The distance to the top of the sinkhole from the bottom was around sixty feet but Sophie easily climbed the distance in around fifteen minutes.

Sophie grunted as she gripped the edge of the sinkhole with her right palm before hauling the rest of her body upwards.

She crawled onto the dusty sand and saw the stern figure of numerous Hyperion knights staring at her.

Metalloid helmets covered their faces, so Sophie did not know what they were thinking.

Tension filled the air but it was broken by one of the knights.

"Did you succeed?" an eager voice came from the front of the squad.

This voice was oddly familiar.

Sophie thought for a moment and then remembered it matched the second-in-command of the knights whose real name was Ragnar.

In an instant, Sophie fixed her expression and begun her performance with no trace of acting in her demeanor.

"No… I only managed to reach the second stage," Sophie bitterly replied.

"I couldn't figure out what the voice behind the door meant by what valuable thing I own."

Sophie spoke with a tone of bitterness and regret that was impossible to fake.

The knights could sense that the captain's guest was disappointed that she hadn't progressed further in the trial.

"Same! That challenge was impossible!" a younger voice yelled from the back of the crowd. The voice belonged to an alien wearing the squire uniform.

Ragnar sighed heavily and spoke, "Ahh… well…I guess no one has succeeded yet."

"Can you explain what's going on? One moment I was with the exploration team and then I was taking part in some challenge," Sophie asked with some confusion.

"There was a sudden loss of communication, so we assumed that something unexpected had happened," Ragnar explained calmly.

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"I was about to organise a rescue effort when one of the squires climbed up and explained that he had died and then woken up in a pit."

"After that… well… people just came up one after the other. No one had any major injuries, and some had even established some form of communication with the entities behind the scenes."

"Apparently the plant that we have all been searching for is given as a prize to anyone who completes all the stages.

"In fact, there may be an added healing benefit to anyone who undergoes the trial because some of our men had old wounds recover and I see that even your missing limbs have regrown."

Sophie thoughtfully stayed silent for a brief moment and then nodded in understanding.

Not a single one of the knights could find any traces that she knew all of this information already.

Ragnar gestured towards the campsite and spoke warmly,

"We are going to keep guard for the rest of the night so why don't you head back to your tent."

"Okay… you all have a good night," Sophie replied with an easy going smile and then headed towards the resting site.

She nodded politely at the knights as she left and received a few nods back. The familiar spherical shaped mobile homes came into view.

Sophie spotted the captain's tent easily as it was in the center of the rest site and walked over to the metalloid door.

Knock! Knock!

The door swung open, and Lily dashed into Sophie's arms with a cry of relief. The hybrid girl wrapped her arms tightly around the sleepy looking little girl.

"Why did you come back so late?!" Lily demanded with tears in her eyes.

Clearly the second-in-command hadn't told her what had happened in the sinkhole.

"I'm sorry baby… it won't happen again I promise," Sophie whispered softly as she gently stroked Lily's back.

Sophie planted a soft kiss on Lily's forehead and lovingly played with the soft black hair that curled down the little girl's shoulders.

"I don't forgive you…." Lily pouted and stared at Sophie with a cute expression.

Sophie laughed and wiped away a few tears that had formed on the corner of her eyes.

The entire time during the trial, Sophie could not help but worry about what would happen to Lily if she died.

Holding the soft body of the eight-year-old girl made all those fears melt away.

Sophie knew that the journey back home would only get more dangerous from here.

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But she would never give up.