Tales of Astora: Legacy

Chapter 45: What lurks below

Chapter 45: What lurks below

"Mother, we have returned!" two spiders who, from the look at it, seemed to have gone through quite an ordeal just to get back to the den of their mother, the Spider Queen Archna.

"Where have you been? I did ask you to expand the cave but not that far, just directly to the demon lord's castle. It shouldn't have taken that long." The Spider Queen proclaimed.

"We encountered some troubles along the way...."

"Trouble? Did someone attack you?" Archna, despite being a cruel monster, was a caring mother to her children. And she had a history of not forgiving anyone who attacked her children. Things usually went downhill when someone did that.

"No...no one attacked us. It's just that there is something buried deep in the underground of Ragna, some kind of wall, that we can't seem to find a way to pass through to get to the demon lord's castle."

"Is it a rock or a dungeon? There used to be a kingdom above but it sank into the underground a long time ago. Could it be its remains? Why didn't you go around it?"

"We tried but that thing spawns for hundreds of miles across the entire continent and at least a hundred miles deep. Also it was made in a special material that even our poison could not melt it."

"A special material that our poison doesn't work on... That's not possible. Even holy mithril and sacred orichaclum would at least be slightly eroded by our poison. Nothing in this world could resist against it. Unless...Was its surface smooth and looks a bit silvery? Like almost a mirror?" Archna jumped of her chair.

"Actually it was. How do you know it, Mother?" one of the spiders said.

'No it can't be.... I have to make sure.' Thought Archna. "Bring me to where you find this strange wall."

.....

Archna arrived at the first location where her two children first found the bizarre wall in the underground. It was rare for her to go outside the nest. She would never leave most of her children alone there. What could push the Spider Queen to step out of her cave for the first time over a century?

Although it was dark, the spider's eyes could see through the obscurity and examined the wall. It was true that normal poison from these young spiders could not do a thing against this strange material. She tried to scratch it with her claws and still nothing. But she still had an ace up her sleeves. The special poison that resided in the Spider Queen's body was said to be able to melt all, even the hardest and sturdiest metal in the world. How would that fare against this wall?

Seeing their mother spitting on the wall but remained motionless, the young spider decided to approach and ask her. But before he could say, he saw that the wall was still intact just like before.

"So it did not work after all. Even Mother's poison...."

"No it did... Watch again closely this time!" Archna spitted out a second wave of poison. The spider watched closely as the surface of the wall began to melt away. But something strange happened. The hole the poison made....was closing before disappearing as if it was never there. That wall was regenerating itself.

"What the...? How could it be possible? Just what is that?"

"Akroma....Also called Living Metal. A unique ore that has the capacity to repair itself no matter how much damaged it was. This accursed thing was right here all along..." Archna clenched her fist in anger. "You said that this structure is made in the same material that expands for miles down here, correct?"