“T-thank you,” Nari mumbled under her breath, sniffling as she spoke. If it weren’t for such an intense situation, the moment could have been almost funny, but the spider had other worries.

  Since she had received no warning, it meant that the System was still out of use, and she had no idea how to gauge the power of that monster—if she could even call it that—other than trying to fight it.

  At best, it was around her rank, or maybe just a bit higher, while at the worst, well, she didn’t really want to think about the worst, not yet, though she definitely felt that this enemy was unlike anything she had fought.

  Even its vibrations were different; it was as if it were an inanimate object rather than a living creature.

  “It doesn’t make any sense…” Lily watched carefully, getting ready for the statue’s next move, but it only stood there menacingly, not even facing toward them. “Any clue on what the hell these things could be?”

  “No, not really…” the girl replied, gulping loudly. “I’ve seen stone monsters, but that thing, it’s like it’s not even alive.”

  “You felt that too, huh?” Lily turned toward the other statue. “What about the other one? Why didn’t it do anything?”

  Nari hesitated for a moment before clearing her voice. “I might be wrong, but I think the right one attacked me because I stepped foot through the doorway, even if only for half a second,” she said. “Maybe it’s just like a defense mechanism or something…”

  An image of the temple’s entrance suddenly flashed into Lily’s mind. “What if these things aren’t actually alive, and they all just follow the same orders? Hell, they might just even be the result of a spell or something,” she supposed.

  Finding a reason for their actions could have also been the solution, or at least that’s what the little spider hoped.

  “No, there’s no way,” Nari promptly retorted, her tone clear and direct. “The two smaller ones at the entrance, sure… maybe even these two, but if we’re saying that all the statues are guardians of this place…” She looked toward the massive one in the next room. “Nothing in a white dungeon could be that strong.”

  Telling her now is only gonna freak her out, Lily thought. The priority at the moment was finding a way inside the next room, since there didn’t seem to be any other way to advance. Something’s not right, though. “Why is the room half destroyed, but the statues are totally intact? It looks like there was a fight, yet there’s no blood splattered around anywhere.”

  “I was thinking the same thing, so the only possible explanation has to be that the ones that came here managed to get through without having to destroy the statues,” Nari suggested, looking around for some clues as to how to escape.

  Lily nudged the girl to fall back and find a safe spot. “I wonder if I could just speed through the doorway since I managed to pull you away faster than they could attack,” she mumbled under her breath, and after a moment of hesitation, shot a web toward the marble frame. “Please, stay here.”

  Nari looked worried, but nodded anyway.

  To be fair, Lily was right. She had moved much faster than the statues just a couple of minutes ago, and for all they knew, the previous ones that reached this place had done the same. With a bit of luck, that may be the solution they were looking for.

  Here we go, Lily told herself inwardly, hoping not to be cut into tiny pieces as a result of her reckless plan. She inhaled deeply, and even though a weird sensation took over her the moment she got into position, she still jumped forward, using the momentum of her web to gain more velocity.

  “Whoa!” Nari exclaimed, closing her eyes and almost losing her balance from how forcefully the little spider jumped away, but when she reopened them, the only thing she could do was fall to her knees, without even having the strength to react.

  It all happened so fast, one moment Lily was almost through, the next one the left statue’s sword slashed her away, sending her flying back through the room like she was nothing more than an insect.

  Blood covered the statue’s dark-red sword, and it even splattered all over the door frame and the floor right beneath it.

  “W-what the—” the golden-haired girl muttered quietly, heartbeat racing faster than ever. “Lily!!!” Thankfully, her body moved almost on its own, and she rushed toward her knocked-out friend. “Renewal.” The white spider had been slashed right in her abdomen, but thankfully, the bleeding had somehow stopped even before the human chanted her healing skill.

  “Fucking ouch,” Lily mumbled under her breath, causing the focused girl to let out a giggle as she sniffled and channeled her magic into her wound. “Thanks, I’m good as new!” she exclaimed as she stood up.

  “Phew, you got me worried for a second there,” Nari replied. “Never do it again!” She slapped the little spider half-jokingly while also staring daggers at her. “What the hell happened?!”

  Lily had no answer to that question; it made no sense whatsoever.

  Against the girl, the right statue moved so slowly that the spider could react and even pull her friend away before its attack could strike, yet the left one was fast enough to slash Lily without breaking a sweat.

  “This time the left one reacted, while the other one didn’t move at all,” Nari mumbled under her breath, trying to figure out their reasoning. “It seems like the left one is much stronger,” she added, but then shook her head. “No, that wouldn’t make sense, because then it would have just killed me on the spot earlier.”

  “Yeah, I thought so too,” Lily agreed. “Unless it just wanted to give its buddy a chance,” she shrugged, “something else is going on.” As the spider slowly climbed the stairs again, she replayed the last moments in her head over and over, but something just didn’t add up. “Hold on…”

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “What? What happened?” Nari blurted out, wondering why the little spider had suddenly stopped.

  That feeling right before I jumped, she thought. “Did anything weird happen when you tried entering the next room?”

  Nari paused and pursed her lips, trying to recall the moment. “Hmmm…” Then ended the humming with a shake of her head. “But I did feel kinda weird when I pointed at the huge statue.”

  The spider’s eyes began to sparkle. “Weird how?”

  “I might be wrong.” The girl crossed her hands. “But I felt somehow weaker,” she said.

  “That’s IT!!!” Lily exclaimed, trying to snap the fingers she didn’t have anymore since turning into an arachnid. “Right…” she sighed, “anyway, I think I know how to get through them.”

  The girl looked at her impatiently. “Spill it!”

  “Okay, well…” She explained her plan thoroughly, going over all the moves, but while Nari listened carefully, she couldn’t really understand the spider’s reasoning, because it didn’t make any sense. Still, the girl trusted Lily enough to do as instructed.

  Without hesitation, Nari slowly headed towards the statues again, determined to finally walk through the entryway, and just like earlier, that same strange sensation overtook her. The moment she stepped her foot inside the bigger room, a heavy noise echoed on her left side, but she was ready to enact the spider’s plan.

  “Hold,” she chanted, and much to her surprise, her pink chains easily captured both statues and halted the left statue’s attack, the same one that had effortlessly slashed Lily as if she were nothing.

  I knew it, Lily thought, then in the blink of an eye, she appeared right over Nari. “Armament.” She went directly for the statue’s torso and, as if it were of glass, shattered it, causing the rest of its structure to collapse.

  Nari couldn’t believe it.

  “And now—” When Lily turned around to attack the other statue, she was shocked. As if nothing had happened, it had freed itself from the magical restraints and returned to its normal standing position, “you…”

  “What the hell?” Nari shrieked, huffing and puffing at the right statue as if it had done something wrong. “Why is not doing anything? You just destroyed its buddy!!!”

  “Do me a favour,” Lily giggled, nudging her friend to look over at the bigger statue in the next room. “Think about going over the doorway, then walk ahead without using any magic,” she instructed, “but like, be determined to do it.”

  The human just laughed and looked at the spider as if she were joking, but soon realized her friend was serious. “O-okay, sure…” As before, she slowly put one foot in front of the other, only this time, nothing tried to stop her, and she passed through successfully. “I don’t get it…”

  “The statues were using us as batteries to fight back,” the spider said. “That’s why we felt weaker whenever we decided to try to go past them. I’m guessing that’s how their ability worked, which is why I could react when they used your power, but I got hurt when the left one syphoned mine.”

  Nari nodded enthusiastically through the whole explanation, then raised her hand. “That actually makes a lot of sense… but even then, why not just always use your strength instead of mine? And why doesn’t the other one do it anymore?”

  “It was a test,” Lily replied, “or more like a hidden riddle that we had to solve.”

  “WHAT?!?” Nari shrieked and frantically waved her hands around, still confused about the whole situation. “Don’t riddles usually have a question or something to answer?”

  “Not necessarily,” the spider said. “In this case, all the clues were out in the open, and we just had to—”

  Nari cut her off. “I feel like my head’s going to explode, so you better explain everything now!”

  Lily interrupted her in return. “Well, if you’d just let me FINISH talking!!!” And the girl immediately sat down. “As I was saying, we just had all the clues needed to figure it out,” she explained.

  In Lily’s theory, they were right when they thought that the statues were just inanimate guardians. As a good guardian should, she believed they were just defending the entryway and stopping clueless or reckless adventurers from exploring the dungeon.

  The first two statues had to be weaker than the two bigger ones, since both had been destroyed, while the ones guarding the next room were still intact and ready.

  That, or someone figured out another way to solve the riddle, because it seemed as if the moment they solved the riddle, the other statue immediately retreated to its first position, so maybe in the end, destroying one of them wasn’t necessarily required.

  “That doesn’t explain why the room was a mess…” Nari thought out loud.

  “Look at the blood,” Lily replied.

  “Huh? Why would that—EEEh?!?” the girl shrieked. “Where’s all the blood you lost?” She immediately rushed back in search of at least a drop of the spider’s blood, yet she found absolutely no trace of it.

  “Now look at the right statue’s sword,” Lily instructed.

  Unlike earlier, when it was dark red, the weapon was now an intense red, the same color as fresh blood.

  “That’s… I don’t even know what to say!” Nari exclaimed. “I’ve never heard of a damn white dungeon being this difficult, and I know that I told you to expect the impossible from dungeons, but this just doesn’t make sense!!!”

  “Yeah, about that…” Lily took a step back.

  “Huh? Where are you going?” the girl wondered, surprised by her friend’s sudden high-pitched tone.

  “Well… do you remember the weird shockwave that knocked you inside the temple?” Lily asked, taking two more steps back, while Nari responded with a slight nod. “It turned bright orange!” She hastily hid behind the collapsed statue.

  “T-the… p-portal…” The human girl was flabbergasted. “Orange,” she laughed hysterically. “It turned orange, just like that,” she laughed again, but much louder. “L-legendary dungeon,” she muttered under he breath, “you mean to tell me that we’re STUCK in a LEGENDARY dungeon?!?”

  “It’s okay, we’re gonna figure it—” Before she could finish her sentence, Nari turned toward her, but the rest of her body stood still. The usually giggly girl suddenly exuded an aura that frightened the little spider more than the basilisk. “I’m so SORRY!!! I should have told you earlier, but I didn’t want to freak you out!!!”

  “That’s okay,” Nari replied, her tone normal and weirdly soothing like rain, almost eerily so.

  “Really?” Lily took a deep breath. “Phew, I almost thought—”

  The girl interrupted her with a laugh. “Because even if the dungeon doesn’t kill us,” she said, smiling from ear to ear, “I will… KYAAA!!!”