The next floor was about just as easy for me. We passed through it quickly, taking less than three hours to reach the boss chamber as we didn’t get properly lost. Once again, as we reached it with me in the lead, I got a level up in [He Who Wanders] and I grinned. It seemed the skill was meant for dungeoneering at least to a small extent. I wondered if there was nothing of value from anywhere but the boss chambers as we approached the next one. This time, instead of a massive cavern filled with just a few glowing mushrooms, it was a smaller cave maybe thirty feet across. There were webs everywhere. They were filled with objects, what looked like various monster corpses.

  Given the size of the small cavern, as we neared we almost immediately found the spider in the center of the chamber. I went to step in but Rose held up a hand and frowned. “Let me try it first, I’ll sing it a lullaby and go poke it with a sword.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked shocked that she wanted to take it on alone.

  “Well, you got the last one. And I’ve only killed like... twenty spiders. And you guys aren't getting hurt. Let me do something gods damned it.” She huffed in frustration and blew a loose strand of hair from her face only for it to settle back down.

  Maybe I could brush it out of her face? Nahhh definitely weird and flirty. I chuckled and raised my hands in resignation. “Okay, we’ll be right here to support you. Want my sword?”

  She shook her head before pulling out her flute. It was a simple thing made of reeds but it made a beautiful airy melody as she played. We tensed for a few seconds as the spider within stirred. It simply got up, scuttled about for a moment then settled back down. It took her playing for about two minutes to have it fall asleep, at which point she drew her dagger and slowly cut her way to where it was, following mine and Evas directions.

  Rose did get a little stuck twice, but not so bad she needed our help. Finally, she reached a yellow and black spider that was about three feet wide and stabbed it in the eye, then the next eye as it tried to wake up, then finally one last time in the top of its head causing the spider to screech out and writhe. I winced watching it but after a few minutes it died, between rotations of her playing her flute and stabbing it.

  “So, what did you get?” I asked gesturing to the golden chest that was materializing as I went around and cut the webs to collect some. I wasn’t weird, okay, spider silk was just a strong material. I was not a hoarder.

  “Do you really need more webs? Why not just keep the ones that were system provided? They are already clean you know.” Eva snorted as I started to roll up a web.

  “Well, the spider was called a ‘Caustic Golden Orb Weaver’ so, we’ll probably get some venom. It was level one-fifteen though. I leveled up even!” Rose beamed at us excitedly. “Okay now for the chest I guess. Lets see, its gold so its just a step below yours Lios.”

  Rose knelt beside the chest as I watched her, my pack too full for more webs so I stopped gathering them. She stared into the medium size container before pulling out another spool of spider string, sighing heavily. Then she pulled out what looked like a veil, eyeing it curiously. She put it back in to pull out the last item, another dagger though it was a bit different from the first. This was was a golden colored dirk, much smaller than the almost foot long dagger from before. I stepped up and quickly used [Arcane Analysis] on both the dagger and the veil.

  Golden Chelicera

  Taken from the Caustic Golden Orb Weaver this dirk will impart its necrotic venom into any it strikes

  Widow’s Veil

  Silenced: The wearers footsteps will be muffled

  Web of Deceit: Masks the user and hides their identity, altars their voice, and prevents the user from being scried upon.

  I relayed the information to them as Eva took the dagger and Rose the veil. It was a short veil, the sort that one might expect to see on a noble woman at a memorial service that only covered about half of their face. It was weaved from silver thread and shimmered with its magic.

  “Those seem useful, yeah?” I tilted my head looking between the other adventurers. Luna huffed from beside Eva, seeming bored from the lack of combat. I thought that my skill was leading us through less populated areas at times in favor for enemies with more valuable drops. It was fine with me, especially as we continued to get vials of venom or even antivenom from a few of the spiders, and some other interesting sellables. The spider eyes had some value among alchemists, so we planned to sell a bunch of them.

  “Yeah, they can be if used right. If I ever need to hide my identity, this will be very important. Time for some clandestine meetings with a suave, handsome man in the middle of the night.” Rose giggled as she rose dramatically, donning the veil. “Oh Pietro, our love is forbidden by our clans, we really must stop this. Oh what’s this, you want to run away with me and get married in the countryside? Oh Pietro muuuah.”

  She flitted around the small cave in her theatrics. I chuckled heartily as I watched her, noting how if I didn’t know it was her I’d never be able to tell. Her voice was changed by the veil, and despite only covering half of her face it seemed to make her other features less distinguishable. Eva rolled her eyes as a small smile crossed her lips, nodding a little bit. After Rose removed the veil and we rested a little longer we turned toward the entrance of the third, final floor.

  “Not that I’m complaining, but aren’t the boss monsters meant to get harder to beat? I feel like this floors monster was pretty... easy...” I didn’t want to jinx it but I felt like we were jipped in a way.

  “You're not wrong, but the first one was a variant boss. Plus, most dungeons including this one actually have a few different bosses, we just happened to find one that’s weaker than the first.” Eva replied, scowling a little bit. “Did you really do zero research on dungeons before coming with us?”

  “I’ve uhm. I've been a bit busy...” I sheepishly glanced toward the entrance to the next floor.

  “Plus, its likely that we have just had good matchups against both bosses so far.” Rose piped in. “The first one was a few thousand weak enemies and one slow moving large one that Lios was easily able to take down. This time it was a single enemy so I wasn’t swarmed the instant I stopped the lullaby. Even with charming them with my singing, the moment I started attacking the other spiders would have woken if there were any, unfortunately. The next one will probably be a bit more difficult overall but I’d wager a bet it’ll be something Eva will have no trouble against.”

  I nodded, satisfied with the answers and led the way, [Portent] at full blast. We made quick work of the smaller spiders that neared us with me not having to use mana skills or spells. The spider dungeon was dangerous specifically because of how stealthy spiders were, and according to Liana most people at my level didn’t have such a broad perception spell. It was something that most mages at a later level would gain, but I was somehow ahead of the curve.

  The last level of the dungeon was much the same as the previous two. The only real difference was that my [Detect Metal] skill let me know there was some raw ore in some of the walls of the dungeon. I didn’t bother with it, it would take longer to figure out what to use as a pickax than it would take to extract the ore. Plus, my pack was filled with webs that I wanted to keep, much to my companions chagrin.

  As we were resting before what felt like the final chamber, Eva turned to me and glanced at my pack. With an exaggerated sigh she intoned, “So, why the webs?”

  I smiled a little and shrugged, Sky not riding my shoulder at this moment so I didn’t have to do much maneuvering. “I’m going to turn it into fabric. I probably have enough here for a set of clothes or two, if I had to guess.”

  “You know, Lios, It’s probably going to take you way longer to make the clothes than to earn the money to buy them, yeah?” Rose chittered at me, amusement in her eyes.

  “Probably time that would be better spent actually reading up on the dungeons we’re going to.” Eva said snarkily. I couldn’t tell if she didn’t like me or was simply exasperated with my lack of preparedness. I felt if she really didn’t like me she’d have called an end to this dungeon run already but she hadn’t made a mention of that despite all of her protests.

  “Speaking of, any thoughts on what we might be facing in there?” I nodded toward the entrance to the next cavern. We had already scouted it out and at the end we found, unsurprisingly, a chamber filled with webs and egg sacs. Aside from the egg sacs I didn’t see any signs of actual enemies which had me concerned.

  “Well, given that the first boss was a total unknown, and the second was a variant too, I’d wager this one will be some sort variant as well. I’m not sure which one, but based on the chamber I’d guess either a Broodmother or a Broodguard. Maybe several if its the latter. The fact you couldn’t sense them though... that seems a bit odd... Broodguard aren’t typically the most sneaky breed and dungeon monsters don't often leave their zones. Sometimes they do, but not often.” Eva turned to look at the entrance to the cavern, frowning.

  “Sounds like it might be something else entirely. Want to start with me flinging fire in to burn the webs? Eva and Rose, you guys can stay back. The room is small enough that one of my spells would be able to reach each wall from the center, I think. After we burn away the web, we can have the companions join me and you two to play support?” I scratched at my hairless chin.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  Eva took a couple of moments to think before nodding. “That plan makes sense, the only problem is that we don’t know what kind of spider will be coming at us. You’re probably the quickest among us and your aura can really help to prevent you from getting hurt.”

  “Okay, so thats the-” I was interrupted as [Portent] picked up a flare of mana. All things had mana, why I only felt it now when it was just behind Rose I wasn’t sure. My eyes widened and I bolted up, moving to pull her toward me. As I stood I noticed a foot wide spider just behind her with four yellow stripes pointed toward the center of its back, right to the edge of a yellow circle. Without hesitation I activated my quick haste spell, seeing the spider as it arched back as they do before taking a bite.

  The Runes poured out of my pathways, lightning mana flooding them as electricity crackled around my body and eyes. [Compendium Actualization] helped me create the runes instantly and I leapt forward, drawing my sword. Eva started to react as I moved, slow to my vision, and Rose started to rise. I pushed off the ground in an explosion of energy, expending some of the lightning mana to help me move faster.

  With some effort, I grabbed onto Rose’s shoulder and pulled her out of the way as the spider moved to bite down. It hissed and attempted to scuttle backwards but my blade pierced it before it was able to. I felt heavy resistance as the blade poked through its natural armor. The small thing was silent as it writhed then died over the course of a couple of seconds.

  You have slain Armored Yellowback Archaeidae LVL 110

  “Eva, any knowledge on Armored Yellowback Archaeidae?” I watch the areas around us carefully, realizing I cant rely solely on [Portent] at this time.

  “Not that full combination but... Archaeidae are typically known as assassin spiders... typically they prey on other spiders but some species are territorial. And we must be in their territory. Keep your eyes open.”

  I looked around thoroughly, hoping that they all had those yellow marks as that would help them stand out in the shadows. “Anyone with a light spell? Luka, Sky, keep your senses open. Luka, burrow, Sky on my shoulder. I don’t want you getting ambushed.”

  “I don’t have a spell but I have a few torches. How far does your aura extend, we can have you walk the edges to light it up.” Rose started to pull a few torches from her pack. We didn’t think anything of it until she yelped in pain and her skin went white, as she stumbled back I saw a small fist size spider crawling out of the bag.

  “Shit! Eva, do you have those antivenoms?” I turned to look at her as she shot an arrow toward a small moving object. These spiders were quick. I moved to intercept as I noticed the arrow bounced off of its chitin. “Help Rose first, I’ll cover you guys. Luka, earth spikes when you detect, Sky wind blades. Act fast, our opponents wont wait for us.”

  “Yes Papa.” “Yes Big Brother!” their voices sounded in my head and I saw a rock spike attempt to impale the spider. Sky took it out a second later with a wind blade. I turned to see Eva administering the antivenom to Rose, the same one we had gotten as loot from other spiders. I worried it wouldn’t be strong enough but Rose was still awake and had started to sing, closing her wound as the neurotoxin made her arm fall limp. Sky sent a wind blade into the spider on her pack.

  I activated the aura on my sword, instantly lighting the area around me but casting some darker shadows in the corners. After a few moments of waiting I felt another ping near the girls, and rushed to intercept. Rose was still singing, her skin pale, as I passed them and saw the culprit. Another foot wide spider with a yellow back was rearing up to attack. As I neared it tried to back away, feeling the heat of my aura. It was fast, but I was a little faster. I moved to it and stabbed it, pinning it to the ground. As it writhed I smirked for a moment before I heard Eva yell.

  “Aah get away!” Her voice sounded panicked as she drew her daggers, slashing at one of the nearing monsters. I turned just in time to see as she cut one out of the air and a second on the ground, but three, four no seven more were coming toward them.

  “Luka!” I sent Luka an image from above, feeling sure he couldn’t feel the monsters with his senses. At the same time I burst into action, desperate to prevent Rose or Eva from getting swarmed. I tried to quick cast a spell again but [Compendium Actualization] was still on its cooldown and probably wouldn’t work for a little while longer. Instead, I mentally directed Sky to take out some of the closer foes as I launched a blade of fire at one of the ones near the back of the group.

  As soon as I did, and my aura vanished, I felt a ping of mana from [Portent], I wasn’t sure how exactly the spiders were avoiding my senses but part of it seemed like mana suppression. I looked up just in time to see a spider falling toward me and slashed up instinctively. The moment I did another flash lit up from beside me and I lifted my leg just as a spider attempted to bite it. Stepping down I stomped on the spider and reactivated my aura at the same time. That didn’t stop one of them from hopping onto my back and plunging its fangs into my shoulder, Sky having to jump off to avoid being bitten herself.

  I yelled out in pain as I fell to one knee, using my stump to smack the spider from my shoulder. The fist size monster hissed as it hit the ground on fire, allowing me to track it. My sword slashed the one in the air handily, cutting it clean in half, before I turned to the one that I had thrown and stabbed it.

  My left arm screamed as the venom attempted to corrode it. Despite the pain I glanced over at Evan and Rose to check how they were doing, panicking slightly as I forgot the ring I got earlier granted me immunity to venom. Luna had just been released and was guarding the two as Eva switched between shooting arrows at the few that were far enough away and visible, and slashing the rest with her new daggers. I stumbled over towards them, the neurotoxin fighting to take effect. Rose had risen as well, though it seemed her left arm was still slow as she hadn’t drawn any instruments. She was singing while slashing at the spiders using a long knife. It didn’t give her much reach but did provide the ability to react quickly. I didn’t see any other bites on either of my companions.

  As soon as I stepped close she started a song of healing, and quickly grabbed another vial of the antivenom. It was clearly not fully effective but I’d take a stopgap at this point over being unable to fight. I cut the knot of my sleeve off and shrugged my shoulder out of my tunic as she poured the antivenom into it. It stung, it stung a lot. It felt like fire ants started to crawl down through my veins. I winced but was grateful as that meant the substance was working.

  Her song started to mend the wound itself, accelerating my natural healing rate by a significant margin. I turned to face the spiders, glancing up every few seconds as Eva culled the ones near us. There was a lull as the spiders stopped appearing, giving us a few seconds to breathe. Rose continued to sing a song and look around, healing both of our wounds.

  I reactivated my aura the moment that the wound closed up, stepping away from the others. “I get a ping every time they start to attack, it seems to take them about a second from that moment to the actual bite. These things are pretty smart, I want to burn down their nest just in case but I don’t want to leave you guys alone.”

  At that moment I got around five pings at one time, all from above. I looked up and yelled “Above us!” Causing everyone else to spring into action. It wasn’t only the five of them, but a dozen or more spiders were falling down. I still couldn’t quick cast and only had a moment to react so I swung my sword up and sent a flame blade toward the ceiling. The blade rushed past most of the spiders but the heat from it still caused several to catch flame, and still sliced through a couple more. All told, seven of the spiders died from the strike.

  What happened next, however, would strike the bravest man low. Above them on the ceiling as it was lit up was a crawling mass of the spiders. Dozens of them, the smallest the size of my fist and the largest the size of Luka. My eyes widened as they started to rain down on us and I, as I slashed at them, attempted to form a spell circle of wind magic. A burst of wind to push them all away and mitigate the risk of being bitten. Eva and Rose, Luna and Sky all burst into action. As I relayed the image to Luka he sent spikes of stone into the air piercing many of them as they rained down.

  My sword, in most cases, moved before I could register which threat was near me. I simply saw movement and moved myself, staying several feet away from the other others to avoid them. Quickly the wind spell was ready and I approached the others, sending my aura out as a blade to massacre a few of the spiders. The majority were on the ground now, getting tangled up as they tried to crawl over each other to get to us. Once I was close enough I called out to the group.

  “Get in next to me, you’ll be safe for a moment!” I said before pulling Rose toward me, having had to stab my sword into the ground at my feet. Eva glanced over then quickly moved, taking a spot at my back as I fed wind mana into the runes to activate them. A swirling vortex of wind emanated from around me, my friends safe within the eye of the storm as spiders were picked up off the ground and sent into the nearby walls. Sky braced herself with her own wind mana and used the distraction to kill a few more spiders as they were dazed and Luka rose from the ground at my feet so he could better see the monsters when the wind died down.

  The wind had disrupted the mass of spiders enough that we were able to start picking them off. Eva shot arrows at the few we could see on the ceiling, my flame blade still eating away at some of the moss and vines and webs overhead and lighting the way. I went around stabbing or slashing any that grew near, the number of spider bodies around us piling up and makin git difficult to determine where living ones were. Luka and Sky split away to kill and maim a ton of others as well.

  After several minutes of killing the arachnids, they started to glimmer and get pulled back into the dungeon and we each sighed a great sigh of relief. My body ached as I turned to the others with a small smile on my face. “Well, wasn’t that a hoot? Think we got any good loot?”

  “That was terrible. Why did you make it rhyme?” Eva complained as we collectively and slowly made our way toward the webbed mess. Eva spent a few minutes picking up her recoverable arrows.

  “Welp, Imma burn it now.” I said before poking the wall of webs with my flaming sword, everyone else standing back a little bit. The webs caught fire easily, the thin strands of silk extremely flammable especially with the sticky material that spiders produced covering them. It took about ten minutes for the webs to be cleared from the room, after which we saw another silvery chest in the middle of it.

  “Just a platinum? For all of that? Honestly, without your senses we would not have made it I don’t know how other teams beat that ‘Boss’,” Eva grumbled and frankly I agreed. That had been the worst fight yet without question.

  “We must’ve been marked down for taking a few bites. Eva, why don’t you open it up?” Rose trotted up to it excitedly, not minding the rarity of the chest.

  “Are you sure? I mean I didn't-”

  “Eva, I agree. We got the last two, go ahead and open it.” I smiled at the elf.

  “Okay okay fine. Don't gang up on me.” There was a small smile on her lips as she pulled open the lid of the container. “There’s only one thing in here... Lios, identify?”

  Eva withdrew a long silvery white cloak. The clasp on the front was a spider, of course, and the cloak itself was brimming with magical power. It was made of thin silk made from the webs of one of the spiders in the dungeon, most likely. I felt mana draw into my eyes as I activated [Arcane Analysis] not for the first time that day.

  Weave of the Archaeidae

  Woven from the threads of the assassin spider, this cloak will silence its user as well as shield their mana signature from all nearby enemies. It will remove all smell from the user.

  Sticky feet: Allows the user to expend mana in order to climb vertical surfaces.

  Venomous: All attacks made by the user against a foe who is unaware of their presence infect the enemy with a powerful neurotoxin.