"come on, come on!"

until she fought back, and as Mars learned from d.o.g.g.i.ng lethal spells for the next 5 minuter Victoria doesn't like to be splashed with water, nor does she hold back when she's angry

"time out!"

as Mars yelled out to Victoria he set off from the riverbed and twisted his body as he jumped over a darkness spear that just missed him and landed on the opposite sh.o.r.e taking down a couple of trees, while Mars and Victoria was 'playing' Isabel watched slightly stunned not only by Victoria's show of force but also from the way Mars effortlessly jumped 4 meters into the air from standing in knee high water to doge and could not help to ask out loud

"...where you even serious when you fought us?"

of cause Mars was otherwise occupied so he didn't hear her mumble nor would he have time to answer her as Victoria had started to use her shadow decoys to launch spells too

after Victoria calmed down and left the river to cool off still slightly mad at Mars and the river turned peaceful again Mars dragged himself to sh.o.r.e and laid down on the gra.s.s while he slightly panted as he caught his breath while Isabel gave him a glance with a slightly red face before she gave a cough

"...would you please put your shorts back on"

as Mars had been jumping around without shorts for some time Isabel had seen more then she would likely ever admit

"sure"

Mars was unfazed by her glances but he still quickly put on his shorts before he laid down on the gra.s.s again and enjoyed the midday sun that was drying him off before he remembered something

"...yesterday you said something about a stealth acid spider nest right?"

at Mars's question Isabel paled slightly and swallowed nervelessly before she gave a nod as she replayed in a quiet voice

"...yes i did"

Mars was slightly puzzled by her att.i.tude but then he remembered that it was Isabel's comment about the nest that made Alvin decide to attack him, aware of what she likely was thinking about Mars gave a sigh before he gave a slight smile

"i'm not angry about that, besides if you didn't convince Alvin i would had found another excuse to beat you all up"

a little color returned to Isabel's face and she gave a sigh before she explained

"we know there is a stealth acid spider nest about 10 kilometers form here, but as we didn't run into a single spider on the way here we amused that the nest was hunting something and took extra caution..."

hearing what Isabel said Mars felt a little funny as he knew what caused the missing spiders but still kept a calm face and waited for Isabel to explain more

"i think it's been 15 years since a stealth acid spider queen took over a small lake and made it it's nest... since then we have lost 4 patrol teams to that nest, it was suggested to clear out the nest meany times but the elders stubbornly have forbidden it since it helps reinforce the barrier forest against outsiders..."

Mars thought for a little bit before he asked

"...what cla.s.s is the stealth acid spider queen?"

"...i think it was cla.s.s 7 when it made it's nest, but it might be cla.s.s 8 now"

"i see"

Mars thought about how much energy would be in a cla.s.s 8 magic beast core and felt more and more greedy after the core but managed to calm down slightly when Victoria sent him a telepathic message

"Mars... the spiders... are here again"

Mars abruptly stood up and looked over at Isabel with a teasing smile as he picked his bone sword up off the ground

"speak of the devil... and he shall appear"

Isabel didn't know what he was talking about and was slightly confused but garbed the hilt of her own sword when she saw him pick up his and looked at Mars with caution before he turned towards the forest where Victoria appeared a few seconds later, and as he kneeled down to pet her on the head Mars asked her

"how many of them are there this time?"

"about... 30 this time... heading here... what should we... do?"

Isabel had no idea what was going on as she didn't hear Victoria's message so she just stood and watched them for a few seconds before she asked Mars

"what is it?"

Mars started to transform and looked over at Isabel with a slightly ferocious smile, and as his horns started to grow out from his head he answered her with a slightly excited voice

"stealth acid spiders, about 30 of them"

at fist Isabel thought Mars was joking but as she saw his eyes where serious her face paled as her legs began to shake slightly before she asked

"...about 30?"

"yeah that's what Victoria told me"

Isabel face turned a shade paler before she gritted her teeth and grabbed the sword hilt hard until her knockers also paled before she asked Mars with a determined expression

"...what should we do?"

as Mars saw how firgeneted she was he had a slight urge to tease her a little but he held back as he also could hear the spiders approaching and looked towards the forest while he answered her

"well me and Victoria are going to kill them all... but what will you do? run away?"

Isabel saw Mars's indifferent att.i.tude and felt like he was mocking her and she gritted her teeth even harder before she yelled back at

"i'm a soldier of Green river, i would rather die then run from some spiders!"

Mars was a little surprised by her yell and looked at her but his surprise quickly turned to admiration as he saw her detriment expedition, and gave an approving nod

"then back me up with magic and don't get close to them... that is unless you want Victoria to hit you by accident"

Isabel gave a nod and let go of her sword as she fell back to the river sh.o.r.e and circulated her mana as she prepared a spell, Mars gave a final pet to Victoria before she melted into her shadow and stood up with eyes closed and waited for the spiders to get closer while he counted them and as he opened his eyes a few seconds later he yelled

"32 of them! in a half circular formation with spiteres in the back.... Isabel can you detect them?"

"no, not unless they come out off stealth"

Mars gave a quick nod and thought for a second before he yelled out a command

"Victoria! focus on the spiters and the ones closing on Isabel, Isabel i will protect you and line up some targets for you to shoot... but keep moving i don't want your pretty face to get melted off!"

hearing Mars call her pretty Isabel's tension lessened somewhat, and as she knew about the hunting habits of stealth acid spiders she was slightly impressed by Mars as she knew he had acutely given the best strategy in a short amount of time, of cause Mars had no idea that his stock just had gone up as he was focused on the sounds of 192 spider legs rapidly moving across trees and the forest floor quickly closing in

"30 seconds! Victoria move behind them"

as Mars yelled he summoned his dragon flame that formed a s.h.i.+eld behind him with red-orange flames, and after a few seconds Mars started rapidly firing fire arrows into the forest to trip the spiders ambush, and to bait some of them to come at him before they set up formation

*SCREAM*

4 of the 10 fire arrows. .h.i.t their mark as told by loud spider screams that sounded like someone rapidly rubbing rusted metal against gla.s.s while 4 spider sized fires suddenly appeared

"28 left! here comes some targets"

Mars yelled out to Isabel behind him as he kicked off the ground and rushed towards the still invisible spiders that rushed out from the forest edge, reaching the first spider he slashed off a leg while twisting his body to avoid another one of it's legs

"this one's all yours!"

yelling to Isabel Mars jumped back from the now 5 legged spider that was rapidly becoming viable and just as he stabbed another spider in the head the 5 legged spider had it's head smashed by a football sized rock that hit it like a truck sending spider blood all over the place as it was launched back into the forest

"nice one, here comes two more!"

as Mars yelled out he slid on his knees slas.h.i.+ng 3 legs off a spider then quickly jumping up and slas.h.i.+ng another in the side before he kicked off again towards the next one while Isabel was slightly overwhelmed she still managed to use a spell that formed a spiked pitfall in the ground under the spider with a cut in its side before she quickly shot the 3 legged spider in the head with a football sized rock

"Victoria one got pa.s.sed me!"

as Mars was forced to doge one spider managed to get past him and changed Isabel that reacted quickly to Mars's call out and used a spell that scattered pepels like a shotgun, only just gazing the spider as it jumped her before a spear off darkness. .h.i.t the spider from behind nailing it to the ground in front of Isabel that quickly pulled out her sword and stabbed it in the head before she yelled out to Mars that was glancing behind him

"i got it, focus on the front!"

Mars gave a approving smile before he stabbed a spider in the head while he manipulated the fire s.h.i.+eld on his back to bash another spider, instantly turning it into a spider sized bonfire as he quickly jumped to the side dodging a acid shoot from the last spider

"...Victoria do you mind?"

Mars got no answer but 3 darkness spears. .h.i.t the spider nailing it to the tree it was sitting in

"thank you"

as Mars shook the blue spider blood off his bone sword he looked around checking if any of the spider where still alive

"...looks like that's all of them, are you okay Isabel?"

Mars saw Isabel was bent over forwards with her hands on her knees with a slightly pale face, but she still raised her head with a exhausted smile on her face

"i'm fine, just a little low on mana"