Chapter 171: Surprise Webbing

  We had three unexplored corridors from the safe room, but we were following the note left by Castile. The corridor was unremarkable, just like the other dungeon levels. It was a short walk before we reached a room with rge, eborate webs crisscrossing the ceiling. The floor was stoh small patches of emerald grass that danced in the light from above. Large, bulbous, man-sized white sacs dotted the webs.

  I was in disbelief. Could those cos tain the remains of Castile and her group? My on seold me there was no way they would have fallen to spiders. I tensed up, realizing for the first time that maybe the Kettle of Souls was gone, and we had no way of the city before being overwhelmed by the specters. Castile could already be dead. I shook off the ive thoughts and sed the room, looking for movement. My heart rate was elevated as I tried to figure out what we were dealing with.

  The webbing indicated spiders, and I was not a fan of spiders. “Maveith, do you see anything?”

  “The floor is coated in webbing. Fighting with our boots stig to the floor will be difficult.” I g the floor, and I pletely missed it. Konstantin would have berated me for not ating for everything in the enviro. The silvery-greerands were camoufged, blending into the floor. As I studied the floor, Maveith specuted, “I t four cos. Maybe the spiders are in there.”

  “You don’t think those are people? Castile’s group?” I wondered aloud, returning my focus to the ceiling.

  Maveith seemed to sider, “No. Too small. They are smaller than legionnaire armor, only about half the length of a person.” I his assessment after studying the sacs for a while. The cos were forty feet in the air, he ceiling, and the flowing lights around them created the illusion that they were bigger than they looked.

  “Are we going to enter?” Maveith asked, eager for a. Or maybe he wao reuh the others.

  I sidered our options. “Go ahead. Take a few small steps in, then step back out if anything stirs. I’ll watch from the corridor.” Maveith did not mind being used as bait and did not hesitate. He stepped into the room, taking small steps to draw out the enemy. His fourth step, just five feet from me, made a sticky-tearing sound. The cos vibrated above him on their suspended cables. He tried to step back but struggled as his boots resisted the sticky strands now attached to them.

  Flossy bck spiders emerged from the cos and immediately shot threads of webbing at Maveith. The thin spider silk did not look dangerous or capable of restraining the goliath. Maveith had made it back to within a step of the corridor. His boots had dozens of sticky strands attached to them, making walking difficult. He twirled his hammer to intercept the ining threads. The strands quickly ed around the hammer’s head, f a mini co, reminding me of cotton dy at a ival.

  Then, all of a sudden, Maveith grunted unhappily. “They are trying to steal my hammer, Eryk.” As Maveith pulled on the hahe entire webbiwork on the ceiling flexed, and the cos and spiders bobbed from his effort to keep his hammer. I stepped into the room and cut the litached to the hammer. My bck bde severed the spider strands with ease.

  “Bato the corridor,” I ordered, ah retreated. I freed his boots from the strands dragging behind him. The four spiders repelled down to the floor, their glossy bck chitinous legs tapping the ground, sounding irritated at our escape. The spiders did not approach us but seemed very agitated by our presence. “Why do you think they’re not attag us?” I asked Maveith.

  Maveith’s boots still made a sticky adhesive sound as he walked. He was also having trouble peeling the spider co off the head of his hammer. “I do not know. Maybe they only have ratacks? They do loile.” He noted with some pt.

  Maveith’s observation was astute. The spiders were ne and looked fragile, with spindly legs and oversized abdomens. Their heads were small, and their fangs were barely noticeable. It seemed these spiders incapacitated their prey before moving in for the kill. There were only four spiders. I wao find Castile, so we o quer this room. “Maveith, you get two if we rush them? The two on the right?”

  Maveith’s response was an uncharacteristic roar as he charged into the room. I guessed the spiders had angered him by trying to take his hammer, and it was time for payback. Don’t mess with a goliath’s hammer, I guess. I rushed in behind him, casting an air shield just above the ground as I did so. Maveith’s hammer smmed into the first spider.

  Two spiders shot a spray of dense webbing at me. My air shield intercepted the attack, the spider silk pooling on the shield in a white mass. The spiders did not uand what was happening and moved closer to me. My bck bde shed out around the air shield, stabbing deep into one spider.

  The sed spider tried to flee. I lunged awkwardly as my feet stuck to the floor, and only caught three legs. It was crippled, oozing blue blood, and it struggled to get away. I looked over at Maveith, who was struggling to move his feet. The sed spider had retreated toward the ceiling and ewing webbing at him. The goliath was angry but slowed as the strands began to yer him, restrig his movement. “Maveith, use your skinning knife. Don’t get captured.”

  I moved to pursue the crippled spider, stepping on an air shield to allow me to move without hindrahe spider was slowed from blood loss, and it offered ance when I es life with my bde. Maveith had freed himself in the meahis had been a difficult room, and we had uimated the threat of the spiders.

  I got within range of the st suspended spider. It thought it was safe a doze above us, but I used my dimensional space to but the strand it hung from. For a split sed, I thought I saw surprise register on its monstrous face as it fell a dozeo the ground, and I quickly dispatched it with my sword as it he dead spider leaked blue blood, its spi slowly releasing more thread.

  The stone reward chest appeared, signaling we had cleared the room. Thanks to my air shields, it was not a challenge for me to traverse the sticky floor. Maveith’s small runiife was the best tool to cut away the strands that were slowing him down. My non-runiife quickly got gummed up, its edge being useless unless ed repeatedly. My bck bde worked as well, but it was awkward. I met Maveith at the chest, which yielded only a few silver s and a siion.

  I turhe potion to read the script. “It says hover, Maveith. Or maybe levitate? I firm it in the dreamscape. I’m going to use the collector. Is there anything else harvestable? Maybe the spis?”

  “Maybe. I try.” Maveith took his skinning knife and moved to try his best to harvest the spider. I remembered Delmar being skilled at extrag them intact.

  Maveith struggled to walk across the sticky floor to each spider. The collector worked on each spider, giving a minor essence of coordination. While Maveith worked, I tried to figure out what the spiders ate. The floor was stoh tufts of emerald grass scattered across it. I ko study the grass. It reflected the light, giving it a shimmering appearance. I tried to pie and immediately regretted it. The grass was flexible but sharp like a knife. A long cut formed on my palm, bleeding freely. “Shit, that hurts,” I hissed.

  Maveith looked up o, “Is there a problem?”

  “The grass is sharp and tough. Maybe it’s fuel for the spiders to make their webbing.” It was a wild guess, but it made sense in this dungeon ecosystem. I stomped over to Maveith, who successfully collected two spis. His first attempt had failed as he cut it with a knife, rupturing the sad the spider he’d smashed with his hammer had a split sac. I added the two say ste.

  We moved across the sticky floor to the only other exit from the room. Once we reached the corridor, we used Maveith’s runic skinning ko cut the webbing from various parts of our clothing and boots. My legs and most of Maveith’s body had remnants of the spider silk. I decided we could it ter in a safe room.

  This corridor was much longer and curved to the right, making it difficult to see more than fifty feet ahead. Eventually, it opened into a massive room that looked like aire forest had been transpnted into the dungeon. The ceiling seemed even brighter, giving the trees something to reach for as they extended high above us, creating a green opy. Remembering the phase spiders, I was hesitant to enter.

  “I ot see any other exits,” Maveith’s voice said over me. This forest made it difficult to see anything. The sound of an axe on wood suddenly echoed from deep within the woods. Maveith and I looked at each other. A sed axe sounded in response. A terrible rhythm echoed as the two axes peted in different tempos.

  I was hopeful that those axes could belong to legionnaires. Maveith was also ing his neck, trying to see past the tree trunks. A familiar voice rang out over the chopping, “Stay away from the knots; it’ll be too hard to split with our hand axes.”

  “That sounded like Firth,” Maveith said excitedly.

  I nodded and listened for a while to firm but only heard axe strikes. “Let’s go, Maveith. Be ready to retreat if necessary.” We moved into the chamber, moving silently toward the other side. The sound of grunts and the thudding of axes grew louder. In a small clearing, I saw a bloody Konstantin harvesting a massive bck bear while Firth, Wylie, and Mateo cut branches.

  I did not see anyone else, but Konstantin art of Castile’s group. Firth, Wylie, and Mateo had been with Felix. I signaled Maveith to stay while I approached the group. Maybe I could surprise Konstantin. My armor rasped as I moved, but the echo of the axe strikes covered the noise.

  Konstantin suddenly whistled, and everyone froze, including me. I was maybe twenty feet from Konstantin, with his back turned. Firth asked, “What is it? You think that annoying goblin is back?”

  Konstantin slowly turned around, and I hid myself. “I thought I heard something,” he said. “And there is something foul in the air, yet there is no wind.” The men suddenly dropped their axes, and I heard swords being drawn.

  So much for surprising them, "Well, if you think I smell foul, then I’ll just leave,” I said, stepping out from cover.

  Mateo grinned widely, “Is that a virgin dryad or Eryk? I hear they’re both pretty rare in dungeons.” His eyes slowly widened, “What in Pluto’s realm happeo your armor?” My armor did look terrible—it was ed, charred, aly covered in spider webbing.

  Konstantin was cautious, still holding his bloody skinning knife in one hand and his runic on iher. Firth nodded, like my appearance was just natural. Wylie started to smile, matg Mateo. Konstantin asked, “Where are the others you were in charge of?”

  “Maveith!” I called the goliath forward. “Brutus and the Schot separated wheered. We’ve been wandering for days.” Maveith came through the trees, and everyone rexed, but happy faces abounded.

  “Wandering, eh?” the always-skeptical Konstantin noted.

  I ignored his suspi. “Are Castile and the others nearby?”

  Firth answered, “Adrian, Bze, and Castile are in the safe room. We’re gathering wood for cooking and harvesting the shadow bear.”

  “What about Felix?” I inquired.

  Smiles faded, and Mateo responded, “He did not make it. The first room we tried…” He trailed off, not finishing the sentence. Felix and Mateood friends, and they had been my roommates when I joihe pany in Formica. I felt the pain of loss, a knot f in my stomach.

  Konstantin started pressing me for information, and I reported what I knew, “We saw Brutus, Kolm, Donte, Linus, Fvius, and the Schor. We couldn’t reach them because they were oher side of a massive earth drake. They said Cyrus, Remus, and Soren were killed by the summoner outside the dungeorahey think the summoner is now wandering the dungeon with us.”

  “That would expin the goblin,” Firth said. “It must be one of his scouts.” I did not correct him and gave Maveith a look to keep quiet about the goblin’s ins.

  My news could have bee better. Konstantin processed what I said, looking unhappy. He looked at everything that had been harvested so far. “We o inform Castile. Let’s focus on wood. We always return to kill the bear again, but we he wood to cook it.”

  Mateo whined nervously, “I don’t want to fight the shadow bear again.”

  Wylie patted him on the back, “At least there was a healing potion for you after the fight.”

  “Was it a hard fight?” Maveith asked, ied.

  Konstantin said dismissively, “It move between shadows, and Castile’s shadow s had no effe it. This is our sed time killing the beast. Mateo just made the mistake of having his back to a shadow.” Mateo wi the memory.

  Firth appraised us, “The meat tastes a little smoky, but it’s edible.” He was iing our small packs, probably thinking we did not have much food.

  “Maveith, help Konstantin with the bear. Show him your new runiife,” I said, smirking, knowing Konstantin would be jealous even if he did not show it. “We should defiake everything we .”

  As we started w together, Mateo approached and gave me a hug, “Just wao make sure you’re real and not a figment of my imagination. I am sure you have a story about why you look like a fiery dragon swallowed you and then shit you out.”

  It was odd talking with everyoer so long. Konstanti eyeing me suspiciously, trying to figure out how Maveith and I had survived for so long. Even on the first level of the dungeon, the rooms were dangerous.

  Once we were finally loaded with wood and bear meat, we started off toward the safe room, where I would reuh Castile and the others.

  ? Chted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne

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