In the last few instants that my fire lit up the other side of the huge cavern, an arrow streaked past me and struck the same leg that my blade of fire had hit. I looked around, primarily with [Portent] as I was again surrounded by spiders. Some of them were larger than the ones before but didn’t feel like they would pose much of a problem. I strode forward, careful not to overextend. As I walked I allowed mana to pour out of the channels on my feet, creating another flame spell. This time I wreathed my blade in even more fire, brightening the area around me.
I swept my blade horizontally, my aura shielding me from most of the small critters, and my ability to see them allowing me to dodge them. Stepping around dozens of small flaming arachnids I flung a blade of searing fire towards the large spider once more. The monster had to have been at least thirty feet up from the ground where I stood, its legs multiple feet wide. It was still far from me, a few hundred feet, but thankfully with the amplification of my sword the range of the blade extended even further. It struck the spider handily, causing the monster to shriek as more of the spiders on its back writhed and jumped off, coming toward me. The next two flame blades went toward two of its legs, dimly visible due to her flaming carapice.
I maintained the aura on my sword, loving the extra power that came from using it but noticing a fairly decent draw on my mana. Thankfully, the five rune spells didn’t use too much mana, neither did maintaining the aura on my sword. Still, with [Portant], I was losing mana quicker than I’d like. I needed to fight the spider and exert more power. I grinned, excited. The cave around me was large enough I didn’t feel I’d run out of air anytime soon, and my new sword amplified my fire.
I wished that I had had time to develop a stronger fire spell, but alas I was not so lucky. Part of me wanted to try to develop a spell in the moment, but remembering the first time I cast “Flash Step Lightning Bolt” I decided against it. Getting struck by my own lightning wasn’t fun, I couldn't imagine getting hit by my own inferno.
I picked up the pace, jogging as I dodged and weaved around spiders. Every few steps I’d use a spell to burn all of the spiders gaining ground around me as I approached the giant spider. As it came into view with [Portent] I shuddered. The thing was disgusting. I could see the other spiders climbing all around it, and worried about them. My plan had initially been to find a way to climb the terror, but now I made a new plan.
Just beside one of its legs, I launched the aura from my sword straight at the joint. With a terrible screech the hairs on it engulfed, and the blade passed through the joint spraying me with hot, viscous liquid. I was thankful for having a closed mouth as I backed away, the spiders pained scream nearly sending me to my knees. I stayed up and reactivated the aura, eyeing my mana pool.
With the light I saw as another arrow came through and struck the spiders giant body, just as likely piercing it as claiming the life of one of the small ones climbing all over it. I slashed at another leg, avoiding some of the smaller spiders as being in my proximity was painful for them. I hacked at it, cleaving into it rapidly as I developed another wave spell. I bit my lip as I decided to try something.
Pouring my intent into the spell circle, I asked Sky for assistance. Normally I would want the spell to send flames out around me, in a fifteen or so foot diameter. This time I asked Sky to start a bit of a vortex to send the flames upward as I poured my own intent into the circle. She started the vortex around us, whipping my clothes along with dirt and some of the charred corpses all around us. I took a deep breath, nervous to try something new, and activated the spell.
The spiders belly was around thirty feet above me, it moved pretty slowly especially after having lost one of its legs. I was grateful that it seemed this boss wasn’t a combattant but was meant to swarm adventurers with its brood. It wasn’t moving when the flames erupted from around me, with sky and i in the center. The wind picked them up and, with the dirt and dust and remains of spiders, became a cataclysm. Fire swirled around us and slammed into the roof above us, scorching the underside of the massive boss monster.
I had thought its cries when I cut off its legs were horrendous, but they were doubly so as the bottom of it caught fire and burned from superheated and amplified flames. I wasn’t sure if even with Sky’s help I’d normally be able to reach so high with my spell, but with the amplification effect as well... There was no question. I was amazing briefly that the flames didn't feel warm to me, Ignium’s Shroud felt more powerful than I deserved as a random spell but I wouldn’t complain.
As the flames died down I jumped back a few times, away from the spider to observe its reaction. It turned toward me with hate filling each of its unintelligent eyes. With this dozens of spiders around two feet in diameter jumped from her back and came toward me. One of them was immediately sniped from the air with an arrow. Seriously, we’re far from the cavern entrance, how far was Eva’s range? I asked myself as I slashed through a few of them.
With a glance at my mana reserves I steeled myself to continue. I was just over half of my capacity and had no clue how much more health the spider had. I growled with some small amount of frustration and sped forward once again, this time the spider mother itself reacted. Her fangs snapped closed over me as I ducked just in time. I felt them grab hold of my tunic for a second before tearing through the material. With a roll, I wound up underneath the beast once again and leapt toward another leg on her left side, the next one down the line.
I used [Compendium Actualization] to cast a flame wave and wondered briefly if I could summon multiple circles at a time, but thought testing that would have to wait. I created a single overloaded blade over my sword and launched it, backed by the wind enchantment, and cut clean through the leg. I had angled myself such that it also clipped and cut through part of the next leg. Without hesitation, I rolled from beneath the spider and to its other side, largely ignoring the small spiders that surrounded me. I rushed forward and cleaved through the next leg, not quite as high up but it was better than nothing, as I readied the next spell.
I circled around to the back of it, trying to line up a strike that would go through its rear left leg and possibly either carve into its underside or another leg on the other side. The spider was struggling to turn toward me with it missing two legs and having heavily damaged a third on the same side. Still, it stayed up. Sky was working hard to send wind blades to any spider that was large enough to approach us.
With a deep sigh, I activated the spell and sent another blade up and through the leg of the monster. Predictably, with the leg removed and only having one damaged one remaining, the boss collapsed in front of me causing the carn to rumble from the weight. I noticed far fewer spiders clamoring on its back, and less still were entering my senses. My flame blade carried on as intended and cracked against her body but I didn’t hear the telltale sizzle of it burning her insides.
My reserves were even lower now, low enough that I was getting worried. I hadn’t sustained an injury yet, but one bite from some of the spiders would be catastrophic. That was the main reason I needed to keep both the aura and [Portent] active, despite the drain. Looking at just over a quarter of my mana pool, I maneuvered toward the head of the spider. I activated my flame blade spell and felt the inferno wrap around my blade as I stepped directly in front of the queen.
She tried to push toward me and snap at me with her destructive mandibles, but could barely do more than turn herself with her remaining legs. A hiss escaped her mouth and I grinned, cleaving my blade down vertically, backing it with the power of wind mana. A white hot swirling blade of fire sliced toward the giant monster who let out a shrill cry, enough to make me fall to my knees being right before it.
As the blade struck her face, hardened by her chitinous exterior, it sizzled and broke through with ease. It burned everything in its path and as it reached her actual body worked to split her in half. Several of the remaining spiders popped as the searing blade of mana passed by or even through them, their insides boiling with nowhere or the pressure to escape. I panted, reactivating the aura with the final bits of my mana, sweat running down my face and back as I was covered in spider viscera.
As I stood there I received a few notifications, and watched as the various corpses started to dissipate. They were being reabsorbed by the dungeon, as intended, and I was grateful. If I had to walk through more charred spiders I would be upset. When the few remaining spiders scuttled through the tunnels and out of my range, I finally dropped Igniums Shroud. Just what is Ignium? It must be powerful to have a skill like this...
Before me the corpse of the giant spider disappeared and was replaced by a silvery chest. I didn’t see any other loot dropping, only where the spider queen had died. Isat down and waited for my team to come toward me as I took a few deep breaths and smiled. With a thought, a blue screen with text floated before me. I ignored most of the notifications, not caring about all of the thousands of level 15 or even up to level 50 spiders that I had killed. They barely counted toward my experience anyway.
I had hoped for a new achievement for slaying a boss almost solo, but I had no such luck. I did level up once, which felt underwhelming, but I had gained plenty of experience with my sword and that would have to be enough. The spider queen was evidently called a “Titanic Broodmother” and had been level one hundred and ten, nine levels higher than me. The only other shocking notification was one that gave me two levels in [He Who Wanders], a skill I often forgot about. I guessed it was because I had followed my gut to find this massive chamber. It made me wonder if each floor had multiple bosses, or if just following my instinct triggered the skill to level.
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It was lucky that my first entry into adventuring again was against seemingly mindless foes, insects. They were easy to predict and with my ability to ‘see’ them, very easy to avoid. Easy to fight although I could see this having gone very differently without some sort of aoe skill, like my flame wave. Overall, I was happy and excited about the abilities of my new weapon and was grinning wide as I looked back over the battle and decompressed.
“So, Sky, what did you think of the fight?” I asked as she wriggled on my shoulder then hopped off of me.
“Those things are icky. Brother got guts on my fur. Bath time?” their sentences were still simple but her teasing tone betrayed her. She had enjoyed the fight, despite getting spider blood all over her through the aura.
“Yeah, yeah they are. Bath time later.” I smiled and pet her as she licked at some of the gore.
At this time I heard the gentle footfalls of Eva and Rose and the thunderous ones of Luna the bear as they came toward me. As they noticed that I was sitting on the ground with a tear in the back of my slowly stitching tunic, Rose’s footsteps rang faster.
“Lios are you okay? Were you injured? Why is your shirt ripped up?” She sounded panicked as I turned to face her and Eva. I smiled at her which eased her worried expression.
“I’m fine, didn’t even get bitten once! A miracle, honestly.”
“I don't know why I agreed to let you go alone! You know, boss monsters are typically meant to be tackled by a group not an individual! Eva said the thing was level one-ten!” Rose pouted at me causing me to chuckle as I slowly stood up and started stretching.
“I mean, I didn't take it out on my own. Sky and Eva helped! How were things on your side?”
“They were fine. Luka had a hayday killing a few dozen spiders that wandered over but the rest were focusing on you. How much mana did you use?”
“Speaking of mana, I thought you were a swordsman who was sometimes a smith, how are you flinging spells too? I know it wasn’t just your sword so don't give us that bullshit!” Eva cut in glowering at me. I withered a little bit, none of us had been particularly forthcoming with our individual abilities but that didn’t stop me from feeling bad for downplaying my abilities.
“First, almost all of my mana. Second, sorry I didn't mention I’m a wizard too. Of sorts, of course. I’d prefer not to go into too many details but here’s what I will say. Currently, I’m limited to mostly fire spells but I have four other affinities. I’m making a sword similar to this one for each affinity, so I can exercise my full strength at any time depending on the need. If you haven't figured it out, the foxes are magical too. Sky uses wind and Luka earth magic. Any other concerns?”
The last bit came out a bit snarky which I felt a little bad about but didn’t apologize for. They hadn’t exactly disclosed any of their capabilities to me, it didn’t feel pertinent to do the same with them. Eva gave me a cross look before sighing and turning to the chest.
“So, loot? As far as I’m concerned its all yours. It'll all be spider related, which isn’t great, but could have something cool. Platinum chests are fairly rare after all.”
“Before that, we should take a quick rest. Lios, I’m going to cast a spell to help you regenerate mana. You can go through the loot during but make sure you stay around twenty feet of me, okay?” With that Rose began to sing. It was a soft song with words I didn’t recognize. It didn’t sound like elvish which I had heard a bit of with Liana, nor dwarvish which Derren had cursed in on occasion. It was pretty and flowed nicely, but it made me wonder at the words.
I smiled as I felt more mana pull through my pathways, filling my core up quickly. I didn’t know where I sat compared to others my level as far as mana capacity went, but it was likely a bit higher than the average. I made sure to keep close enough to Rose as I walked over to the silvery chest. Eva had mentioned it was a platinum chest which, if the guild ranking was anything to go off of, was pretty good. It was based on the recipients current level, still, so someone at my level wouldn't gain something meant for those of a much higher level, but the loot would be stellar for the recipients current level.
Everyone held their breath as I shakily opened the chest. Inside were not many objects, just four, each sat on the pillowy velvet interior. The first was a black ring that looked like it had eight legs. Beside it was a box that seemed simple enough, made of a simple stained wood. Next was a dagger that was both silver and black, the sheath next to the blade and the handle looked like they were made of spiders silk. Lastly were two spools of what looked like thread. It glimmered faintly and I knew it was the biggest prize here, for me at least.
“Well, what are you waiting for. What did you get?” Rose asked as she finished her song, the effects carrying on.
“One moment one moment. Geeze, have a little patience aye?” I laughed as she smacked my shoulder with playful frustration.
I took out the item I was least interested in first - the plain looking box. As I opened it we could see six total vials full of a dark green liquid. I attempted to appraise it but as it wasn’t an enchanted item my skill fell short.
“Any idea what these are?” I turned toward Eva and she nodded after examining one for a few moments.
“Yeah. Its broodmother venom. Very strong paralytic and neurotoxin. A drop or two would paralyze anyone below level seventy-five is my guess, and make anyone below one-twenty-five sluggish and slow. This is... this is a lot of it.”
“Does it sell well? Do you use stuff like this on your arrows?” I asked and passed the box of them over to her. I figured she was some sort of beast tamer, or in dnd terms a ranger, and rangers often used poisons to take down stronger enemies.
Eva shrugged and nodded slowly. “It sells well, its a pretty rare drop for this dungeon and the next nearest place you could get it is in the center of the country. I do use some poisons in fact. How’d you guess?” She was completely serious as she asked as though she wasn't aware she was a cliche.
“Doesn’t matter, I’ll leave it up to you if we sell it or you keep it.” I turned my attention to the next thing, the dagger. Pulling it out I was able to use [Arcane Analysis] and pull up its details.
The Spiders Bite
Sting: When this weapon damages an opponent it exerts a powerful neurotoxin.
Dynamic Attachment: The user may exert mana and use this weapon as an anchor point to more easily climb surfaces
The enchantment seemed a touch lackluster compared to my weapon but I noticed Eva looking at it greedily. She definitely would never ask for it but I passed it over to her.
“Lios, I can’t. Not with the venom and the dagger. This thing is valuable. Rogues all over are going to want it besides you took down that spider practically by yourself.” She protested heavily but I ignored her as I went down to grab the ring. I hated the way it looked as even the coffin stone on it was almost shaped like an abstract spider body.
Spiders Grace
Grants its user immunity to venoms and poisons.
As I showed them the ring both girls gasped.
“Immunity?” Rose asked in a shocked voice.
“I don't feel so bad about the dagger...” Eva spoke in a little voice but still didn’t pick up the weapon.
I tentatively took the ring. I went to slip it onto my index finger and as I did, the bands that looked like legs unraveled in an unsettling way. To be fair, I don’t know that an inanimate object could start moving in a way that wouldn’t be unsettling to me, but that was beside the point. With Rose and Eva’s encouragement I sighed and placed the ring on my finger. The ‘legs’ curled around it snuggly, fitting perfectly. When I went to remove the ring the legs undid themselves again. I’d have to figure out the enchantment, it seemed like a fun inclusion for my future wares, should I start making rings.
Lastly I picked up the thread and smiled. It was exactly what I thought it was, though I couldn’t identify it as it wasn’t enchanted. I tried pulling the string to tear it by holding the spool in the crook of my knee, but even with my enhanced strength I couldn’t rip the silk. Next, I turned to Eva, holding the string before me. “Can you try to cut this with the dagger?”
“Lios I told you I’m not - “
“Eva, I don't have a use for the dagger, you do. You use daggers when you fight up close, I don’t. Take it.” My tone took on a note of seriousness that was rare to me. Shocked at how I spoke she finally rolled her eyes and picked up the dagger. Unsheathing it she slashed at the string expecting it to pass right through, but it only did so after she increased the amount of pressure she put behind the blade.
“Okay, I’m ready to keep going. What was that spell by the way, Rose?”
“Are you sure, you said you were pretty empty... and its called Aria of the Reservoir. I didn’t name it, I’d have come up with something way cooler.”
“Oh I’m fine. I’m already half full and the reservoir is all around you, yeah? I think we’ll be fine.” I turned toward a cave entrance that hadn't been there before, appearing only after we had defeated the boss. I hadn’t noticed it at first but once I turned it was almost instinctual that I registered it hadn’t been there before.
