Of all the parts of the forest that we had seen so far, they had chosen the darkest one for their lair. Even with the noonday sun high in the sky, it was hard to make out each spider individually. That was certainly at least one of the reasons why they had picked the location, but I had no way of knowing if there were others yet.
I didn’t like the look of the three spiders chittering away in the center. Each of them was about my size,but more, the way they moved reminded me of the elite fighters I had seen before. At least their presence meant we had likely found the anchor.
“Floof, I need you to stay here and guard them, okay?” As I said this, I realized I hadn’t even asked the Rock Troll’s name yet. I’d remedy that after the fight, when I’d made sure his parents were safe.
Judging from the cocoons in there, there were far more people than just his parents captured, though. How many of them were Humans? Hell, they could even have been from other invading factions we hadn’t encountered yet.
That last one could actually be a problem. The chances that any of the groups on the planet were the type willing to play nice were incredibly low. I had somehow run into one when my own world was integrated as a kid, but that wasn’t something I could rely on happening again. And even then, it wasn’t so much that they were moral, as much as they preferred not to get their own hands dirty while scoping out potential new powers.
Floof gave me an oddly serious look in return for my order. Yeah, that dog was certainly starting to understand a lot more. Had he managed to take a class?
As I slowly crept around the trees, looking for a good opening to attack from, another, more mundane thought occurred to me. Did the kid count as a member of my party already? If we were both members of an invading force, I was sure he wouldn’t. But with both of us being natives of the new planet, I had no idea how the growth orb would see him.
It wasn’t remotely an important thought, but sometimes the stranger things creep in as your brain tries to distract you from the dangers you’re about to face. At least mine always had. It was an odd defense mechanism, one that could sometimes get me in trouble.
Clearing those thoughts, I focused on the spiders. So far, it looked like none of them had spotted me, and considering how shitty I was at stealth, that was a good sign for how powerful they actually were. Then again, if that was because they were hyper-specialized in fighting, three-on-one wouldn’t be a fun fight.
The real question would be how strong the queen and her main guards were, of course. Once I destroyed this stronghold, I had a feeling I would become her prime target. I wasn’t sure we’d have time to get as leveled as I’d like before that happened, but that was the nature of the System and everything that came with it.
You were never actually prepared for what was coming. And anyone who thought they were was a fool about to die, or worse yet, about to get everyone around them killed. The System only pretended to bring order, while in truth it unleashed a grand chaos onto every planet it integrated.
There were a few of the larger spiders I had already killed, and at least a dozen I could spot of the type that kidnapped Ash, the brood soldiers. I wasn’t sure if the giant spiders I had fought today were the same as the brood father that first night or not, and likely wouldn’t find out until the stronghold was gone.
God, I wished I had access to some of my more powerful magic. It hadn’t been the first time, and certainly wouldn’t be the last, when that desire hit me. I knew it would stay firmly planted in my brain until I could launch a volley of fireballs as I charged into battle.
My best bet was charging the three I was pretty sure were fighters and taking them out as fast as I could. But the second I stepped into that gathering, everything in there would be trying to kill me. It was too bad I had to leave Floof guarding the others. A second body would be incredibly useful right now.
Calming my breathing, I steeled myself for what I had to do. There was no way I was going to walk away from this fight as unscathed as I had all the others. There were just too many of them, and this was the center of their stronghold.
But I didn’t have much of a choice. Each of those cocoons was probably an innocent person they were storing for either food or sacrifice later. I couldn’t just leave them. And I sure as hell didn’t want this force growing right on my doorstep.
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I turned my head for one last look, and my eyes met the eyes of another spider about fifty feet away. It seemed fate had decided to make my mind up for me already. Just as it started to scream out an alert, I was already charging the ones I had targeted.
Somehow, the noise worked to my advantage as they all turned to see what was going on, only for me to crash into the first one, slamming my left shoulder as hard as I could into its head, while I swung out with my right arm, digging the blade hard into a second one of them. My worries proved true as neither of the spiders fell.
“Human, stop, perhaps we can find common ground!” a chittering voice yelled from somewhere above. So one of them did have a translation ability.
“Not happening. That chance was gone the moment you took my daughter!”
The third spider had swung a sharpened leg at me anyway as the voice tried to call for a truce. It had been nothing more than an attempt at distraction, one that had failed. I leapt over the attack, jamming my elbow into the eyes of the attacker.
Several of them popped from the impact. The one I had shoulder checked was already coming in for another attack, and I just barely ducked under it before spinning my weight around with enough force behind my sword to cut the creature in two.
One down.
I kicked out behind me, feeling something probing my back. My foot hit something with a crunch. As the bladed spider was coming in for another blow, I didn’t have time to check what.
It caught my shoulder with its swing.
I caught its head.
The spider went down twitching as my shoulder screamed in pain. It hadn’t been deep enough to sever anything, but it still hurt like hell. More than it should have. Did they coat their blades with their venom somehow?
I’d worry about that once I survived the fight.
The third one came at me with its own bladed leg, and I decided it was time for a different tactic. I dropped my sword, the attack scraping the top of my hair and barely missing my head as I rolled under it. My newly-free hand grabbed one of its back legs, and then swung it hard into the others that came up behind me.
It flailed trying to get free, and in its desperation, managed to cut through several of its own allies before its leg snapped in my hands. Grabbing the sword back from the ground, I dashed for a clear spot to get a new look at the battle.
All of the giant spiders were still standing, but my makeshift attack using the bladed spider had taken down most of the smaller ones. The bladed one itself was likely still able to fight, but it was down a couple of legs. Considering the numbness spreading down my arm, that probably just made the fight equal again.
Pulling more mana back out of the sword, trying to correct for some of the damage the venom was doing. Unlike before, the sword wasn’t able to steady my arm. There was just too much in me this time. Instead, I cycled the mana through my body, trying to stem the spread before it got any worse.
Nerves blazed to life as the cycling mana washed across them. I used that pain to push me back into the fight. More of the spiders fell as my rage grew with each new jolt of electricity.
By the time the venom was dealt with, my left arm hung useless at my side. It would recover in time, but that did nothing for the fight at hand. There were two giants, and the injured bladed spider left. They had me encircled.
I swung the sword hard in my right hand, letting go inches before it carved into one of the giant torsos, and threw myself backward to the ground. The bladed spider whiffed through the air where I had been standing moments ago. I brought both my legs up in a hard kick that smashed into the bladed leg’s joint, cracking it.
Throwing myself to my feet, I ripped the damaged leg loose with my good arm and swung it hard at the last giant. Again, I released it as it cracked into the exoskeleton, turning to rip the runic blade free from the first. I brought it down again this time into the spider’s head.
As I finished off the other giant, the formerly bladed spider had limped off into the forest, vanishing into the darkness with whatever few spiders I hadn’t managed to kill. They left behind a small green glowing spike that had been driven into the ground.
It was the anchor.
I ripped it out of the ground with my right hand while trying to make a fist with my left. Still nothing moved, but the System message was enough good news for the moment.
__________
You have destroyed the stronghold of the Rachnia Consortium.
You are the first person to destroy a stronghold.
You have gained the title Stronghold Smasher.
__________
It wasn’t surprising that I was the first to destroy a stronghold, considering I was still somewhat shocked that one had already shown up on Earth. Sadly, unlike the experience from it, that claim wouldn’t be applied to Ash and Floof. Titles generally only went to the exact person who accomplished their requirement.
“Dad, are you okay?” Ash’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Your arm is green.”
It had taken the brothers nearly two hours to climb down and retrieve the glowing object, and then another hour to get back to the safety of their shelter once they had it. As they had no idea what it was, neither of them wanted to be caught outside trying to solve that mystery when night fell. There were still far too many monsters that came out to hunt in the darkness.
“What do you think it is?” Adam asked. He could feel a strong energy coming from it, similar to what he felt when he used his class abilities.
“Maybe a magic orb? But I don’t know how we’d use it, or why a frog cat would have one. Did it even use any magic?” Alecks asked, rolling the orb along the ground gently.
“I don’t know, it did move faster than any of the other frogs. Maybe that was why,” Adam replied.
“I guess. You know that auction is pretty soon. Why don’t we bring it there and see if anyone can help us?” Alecks suggested.
“Good idea!” Adam agreed.
Memories of Adam Miller before he found Earth
The King is dead.
The Seven Great Houses gather to choose a successor, and Kayode Balógun is summoned to vote.
Five hundred years ago, his blood crowned an Empire. Now he owns no land, commands no knights, and bears a Blight no Healer could cure—one that leaves him Classless.
He is a Great Lord only in name.
When the vote is called, the nobles see him as nothing more than a pawn to be used.
Yet Kayode refuses to play their games.
He refuses to vote.
For that defiance, he is murdered.
Kayode wakes at dawn—alive, unscarred—and bound to an ancient Class long believed lost to time: The Kingdom Maker, the world’s only S+ Class.
Each death returns him to the same morning.
A hundred Loops.
And he will live them all as no one’s pawn.
What to expect:
- A world shaped by West African–inspired characters, traditions, and dynasties.
- Variance in Loop lengths and trajectories.
- Character driven storytelling with deep world-building.
- Political maneuvering, leverage, and plotting.
- LitRPG and progression fantasy systems with steady, earned growth.
- Lots, and lots of action!