124 King Spider (2/2)
Ed rose an eyebrow as he nodded and followed behind the large spider. They entered a dark tunnel that led far below ground. After nearly an hour of walking, Ed's eyes widened in a mix of surprise and shock. 'Another manullium mine... and it's an ordinary one for once.' Crude cages constructed from manullium ore held the prisoners inside. The purple ore wasn't even slightly purified, and some of the more talented espers such as Tai could probably still use their powers. But how would they defeat the spiders with incredible defense even if they managed to escape?
Unlike the cage and the Reef city mine, this manullium mine was like the one in New Hampshire. There was no purple lava or smoke. Large purple meteor-like objects made of manullium ore hovered in midair, allowing nothing to come near them. Traces of manullium ore were lodged in the ground everywhere. 'Hmm.' He rubbed his chin. 'If the spiders have accepted me as their king, then this manullium is all mine now, right?'
”Ed!” A voice yelled in surprised delight. Tai was in a cage with many other espers. Additionally, there were many espers that Ed didn't recognize. Clearly the spiders had been raising them like livestock for the colosseum. They were probably the original inhabitants of Hawaii as well as those that had visited over the decades.
”Yo, Tai.” Ed grinned as he waved. ”How much are you going to pay me to help you and your men out?” He whistled as he slowly looked them all over. ”It's looking to be expensive.”
Tai frowned. ”Don't forget that you need me and my men to properly sail away from this island. Unless you kept the ship you came here with?”
”Oh?” Ed chuckled. ”And what if I just steal your ship? Besides, you're a prisoner right now. What's to stop me from just taking the purple mana-cores?”
”You can try?” He waved his hand mockingly as seven flames of different colors lit up on his arms.
”Tsk.” Ed clicked his tongue. ”So stingy to the guy that came to save your life. I'll just take advantage of your sect resources in the future. Be sure to become the leader someday and pay tributes to the dear friend that saved your life.” He glanced at the spider. ”Can you understand me?” He asked while feeling slightly ridiculous. However, he knew that Tao could understand him, so the idea wasn't that farfetched.
The large spider nodded before lowering its head to show its respect.
”Good.” He nodded while pointing towards Tai. ”Release all the prisoners that you captured with him. They're with me.”
The spider screeched, and a moment later, dozens of smaller spiders appeared from seemingly nowhere. They quickly set to work releasing Tai and his forces. Before long, all of Tai's men had been released. They excitedly chatted a short distance away.
”What about us?!” Someone unrelated yelled as they stuck their face against the crude cage.
Tai glanced back-and-forth between Ed and the prisoners. ”I won't interfere.” He sighed. ”Truthfully, I wouldn't trust bringing these unrelated espers to China with me. It's not like the cage where I had time to properly select them.”
”Hmm...” Ed rubbed his chin while looking around the place. He looked to the large spider again. ”From now on, keep feeding these espers, but don't make them fight to the death. I'll still allow you to let them fight for entertainment though.” He pointed towards the manullium ore in the mines. ”Each day, I want you to have the prisoners gather ore for four hours. Make sure they don't slack during that time. As for the rest of the day, just let them sleep, eat, and relax.”
The large spider hesitated a moment before nodding. Releasing another few screeches, the spiders began working the imprisoned espers like slaves. If any of them slacked, a quick whack of spider webbing quickly got them back to work.
”Let's go.” Ed said while looking at Tai.
”Are you sure that's what you want to do with them?” Tai questioned while looking at the imprisoned espers. ”You might be able to convince them to join Harmony or something.”
”There's no point.” Ed shook his head. ”I'd need a way to transport them to America, and then I'd need a way to ensure their loyalty despite me leaving for a long time. There simply isn't enough time to indoctrinate them. Besides.” He glanced at the manullium, desire sparking in his eyes. ”Who knows how much manullium they'll gather while I'm gone. Between it and the spiders, I'd say my combat forces just rose significantly.”
”Maybe...” Tai half-agreed. ”But faith energy is often unstable and difficult to manage. What if a new king spider rises up?”
”Ah, good point.” Ed nodded while rubbing his chin. He looked back towards the nearby large spider. ”Hey.” He called. ”Build statues of me around the entire island and make all the spiders worship them. If any spiders step out of line and worship another spider or human, all other spiders are to kill it immediately. Those spiders are false gods and must be exterminated.”
The spider nodded and screeched, passing the orders to the smaller spiders.
Tai and his men followed Ed as they walked for nearly an hour to leave the dark tunnel. Almost as soon as they left the tunnel, they started seeing spiders kowtowing to black and white statues of Ed.
”It's surreal how fast they work...” One of Tai's men muttered.
”Mm.” Tai agreed. ”They're ideal workers to have, providing golden faith energy so easily.” He glanced a bit enviously at Ed.
”They certainly make for a good source of faith.” Ed nodded in agreement. ”Humans would be much harder to convince. It's too bad the spiders have such weak souls though.” He sighed while shaking his head. ”Otherwise, I'd be drowning in golden faith energy right now.”
The large group slowly moved from the forest and returned to the wooden ship. Ed glanced at Tai. Finally, he could ask the question that had been burning in the back of his mind since he arrived. ”So... What's with the ordinary wooden ship?”