The matriarch glared with eight angry eyes as she clicked her pincers at us. The only way out was through…but “through” presented a very high likelihood of death.

“Everyone clear on their roles?” Terrowin asked. Everyone nodded their agreement. I climbed onto Raina’s shoulders. I was wary of the potential of falling, but I’d need the vantage point if our plan was going to work.

Just before we entered, a hand reached out and grabbed Terrowin’s arm. It was Cithrael. The elf had a determined look in his eye as he met the knight’s gaze.

“One thing should be clear,” he said. “We will need our all. Whatever secrets you have, we will keep, but any secret abilities you have may mean the difference between life and death.”

Terrowin’s eyes drifted to the floor briefly before he nodded. “I promise I will not hold back.” The elf bowed his head in acceptance before releasing his grip. Weapons were readied.

“Valencia protect us,” Aelisra prayed before stepping out onto the springy webs.

The moment the last of us had crossed the threshold, stones shifted, sealing the exit behind us. The true challenge of Shaleheart Spring had begun.

Per the plan, we split into two teams. Aelisra and Terrowin inched closer to the matriarch while Cithrael, Raina, and I found a relatively stable portion of ground to stand on.

Spiders raced down the walls and descended from the ceiling on threads of death. Sparkhoppers came first, their abdomens glowing with lightning mana as they streaked towards us.

“Let’s light it up!” I yowled. Raina nodded, face set with determination.

We pulled on our collective mana and the temperature began to drop. Shards of ice sprang to life around us as Raina manipulated them and sent them hurling towards the nearest of the spiders. The sparkhoppers were fast, but they did not dodge well. Raina’s first shards slammed into the lead monster, shredding it to pieces.

Now it was my turn. I focused my attention above. Spiders descended on silky threads from the ceiling, but they were vulnerable as long as they were in the air. My dagger sailed through the air, stabbing into the nearest spider’s head. It sliced clean through the creature, the telekinetic infusion lending it speed and strength as it careened around the ceiling to find its next target.

Those we missed received flaming arrows for their troubles, as Cithrael sent volley after volley at the walls of the chamber. The waves of spiders were endless, but we had to keep them off of Aelisra and Terrowin long enough for them to defeat the matriarch.

The two melee fighters bravely faced the monstrous spider. Aelisra stood firm, swiping her axe at the matriarch’s head and front legs. Meanwhile, Terrowin put his speed to good use, activating his spells to dance between the matriarch’s legs, in search of a weak spot to exploit.

“Hey!” shouted Aelisra. “You’re not so t-tough! I eat scarier things than you for breakfast!”

The matriarch hissed as the paladin slashed at her again. The spider reared back and slammed her front legs forward with incredible speed. The webs dipped and bobbed like a ship at sea, causing everyone to lose their footing. Only Aelisra kept steady, but I could see her shaking with terror as she faced one of her greater fears.

“I’m not afraid of you!” she shouted, likely trying to convince herself as much as anyone else.

The matriarch surged forward with an incredible speed that didn’t seem fair from a creature her size. Lightning mana arced across her abdomen in two twin stripes that ran from her back to her head. Venom dripped from her fangs as she knocked the paladin clean off her feet and prepared to drive those fangs deep into her.

“Valencia grant me courage!” Aelisra shouted, bringing her shield up in a feeble attempt to block the fangs. Each one was twice as long as the blade of Terrowin’s glaive, and any bite they inflicted would come with crippling venom that would easily remove anyone from the battle…if they even survived the bite itself.

Light surged around the paladin as her protective aura coated her and illuminated each of us in the room. The fangs slammed into her magically reinforced shield, splintering the wood with enough force to shatter the thing, had it not been for the magic provided by Aelisra’s faith.

The light also illuminated Terrowin, who jumped on the sticky webs, using them to propel himself into the air. As he did, his glaive swiped up, aiming for one of the joints in the matriarch’s legs. She pulled back, sensing the danger. His glaive sliced through the hard chitin of her leg, leaving a deep gash in one of the segments rather than removing it entirely. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to make the enemy back off for Aelisra to stagger back to her feet.

“You alright?” Raina called, sending another wave of frost shards into a descending sparkhopper.

“N-never been better?” Aelisra stammered.

The hot, sticky air threatened to suffocate us as we fought for our very lives. The only relief was in the cool air generated by Raina’s attacks, but that didn’t extend all the way to those who needed it. The longer this fight wore on, the more likely sweat would drip into an eye or a grip would slip on a weapon.

The matriarch hissed in rage as Terrowin’s glaive sank into her side. He drove it deep into the spider’s middle section before twisting the shaft and yanking it out with as much force as he could muster. Blue blood coated the webs at his feet. The matriarch swung a leg around to swat at the knight, but he was already moving away.

The plan was working! Aelisra shouted and slashed the spider across the side of its head, keeping its attention on her as Terrowin darted around it, avoiding her gaze as much as possible to strike where least expected. Meanwhile, Cithrael, Raina, and I felled enemy after enemy as they cascaded down the walls like a waterfall of beady eyes and long legs.

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

It would have been perfect if this queen of spiders had continued using the same tactics, but then it would be too easy. Without warning, the lesser spiders began to withdraw. Those already on the web floor threw themselves at us, only to be felled by ice shards and arrows, but those further up the walls turned and retreated towards the ceiling. The spiders I was fighting, those descending on silver threads like silent assassins just…stopped. They didn’t descend any further, instead choosing to hang there and watch almost…gleefully.

The spiders clacked their pincers and strummed their strings in the same way I would have expected from spectators in a gladiatorial fight.

Mana prickled my fur, making it stand straight on end as a sense of foreboding filled me. My mind raced. The matriarch was about to do something, something the children didn’t want to be around for. What was it? Another shockwave attack like the ones the thunder spiders had done? Was I about to be knocked from my perch and stranded helplessly again in the webs?

No. Not if I could help it. I would not be rendered useless again! I would not be a distraction the others needed to rescue! I would prove myself smarter than these stupid spiders!

One of the spiders hung from a thread overhead. It looked at me with hunger in its eye. I hissed and sent my dagger streaking towards the monster. It made contact and killed the thing in a single blow. It was only about six feet higher than me. I stood from my perch on Raina’s shoulders and bunched my muscles before leaping high into the air. I dug my claws into the dead spider as it hung from its thread. Another dead spider, the victim of one of my earlier attacks, provided another platform for me to jump to.

From here, the twang of the thunder spiders would still knock me down, but I had a plan. It was quite possibly my most brilliant plan yet…or it was going to get me killed. I wasn’t sure yet.

With a swift swipe of my knife, I severed the first spider platform from its thread. The corpse cascaded to the ground, freeing its thread for use. I then drew my blade back and stabbed into the corpse I was standing on for safe keeping. Focusing my mana on the loose thread, I pulled it closer with telekinesis. Once it was close enough, I began wrapping it around my middle in a makeshift harness.

Ha! Try knocking me to the ground now! I had a safety rope! No pathetic little harp spider would send me flying only to get stuck in the webs. No, sir! I was too clever for such things!

The matriarch reached out to a thick rope of webbing nearby. She hooked a clawed leg on the strand before violently yanking it. The TWAAAANG was deeper and more deafening. In comparison, the thunder spiders seemed like tiny children playing with toy instruments, where as this shockwave was a full explosion that sent everything flying back from the matriarch.

I clung to my platform as it swung wildly back and forth like a pendulum. I raised my voice in a gleeful howl of triumph as the shockwave died away. I had not been trapped twice!

“Come and get me, you eight-eyed hulking piece of rot-flesh!” I shouted at the spider matriarch as she reached for the thread again. This was it! She was exposed as she went for her next shockwave! Terrowin could…

…

Where was Terrowin?

Why was no one attacking the boss?!

I looked down to see each of my hench-humans curled up and twitching. To my horror, lightning mana coursed through the threads. My companions were completely frozen as the lightning kept them completely in place.

This room was a trap…that’s what the inspection had revealed…and we’d just fallen into it.

The shockwave did more than just create a shock. Somehow, the ability was linked with a mana field that was now electrifying the entire floor of the room, but what could they do?

Another TWAAAANNNNGGGG ricocheted through the chamber. My claws gripped tight to the dead spider that was my platform. We swung together, my corpse and me, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of the scene below to glean any ounce of detail that might spark another brilliant plan.

Every other member of the team was down. Terrowin and Aelisra had been flung far apart by the waves of force while Raina and Cithrael clung to one another to keep from being separated. It didn’t matter, though. They all were touching the webs, lightning frying them with every second.

The webs heaved and swayed as the shockwave subsided, making me even more glad I wasn’t down there. I would have been stuck fast in the webbing for certain.

A section of webbing caught my eye. I blinked, thinking maybe it was a trick of the light, an illusion meant to inspire a false hope in me. A section of the webbed floor near Raina and Cithrael was moving less than the rest, as if anchored by something underneath. Where the rest of the webs were suspended over an empty pit below, that section was over solid ground…or at least more solid ground than the heaving, stretching webs that would make even a weathered sailor seasick.

Another TWAAAAANNGGGG sent me spinning once more, but I kept my eyes firmly on that spot, confirming my suspicion as the webs there barely moved. I just needed to communicate that to the others. They could find safety there!

“Raina!” I shouted. She didn’t answer. How could she? She was stuck fast by the lightning mana tensing every muscle in ways muscles were never meant to tense. “Raina!” I tried again, but to no avail.

I took a deep breath and let it out, resolution filling me. There are times when a cat’s gotta do what a cat’s gotta do, and we had rapidly reached that point.

First things first. I needed to reveal the safe spot for my friends to find. I called up as much fire as I could muster in a great sphere over my head. The webs needed to burn. They needed to burn quickly to reveal the rocks underneath. Once I’d pooled as much fire as I could, I hurled it downward, sending it straight for the safe spot.

The webs didn’t burn as well as I’d hoped. Not nearly the entire stone pillar was revealed. Webs still clung to the edge, but it would have to be enough for now.

I heard the next TWAAAAAANNNGGGG only too late. The grip of my claws failed and I plummeted downward, scrabbling at thin air with empty claws.

Before hitting the ground, the rope around my middle jerked me up, and I bounced several times on my elastic string. My safety rope had worked! I was saved!

“Raina!” I shouted again. “Raina! Behind you is a safe space!” Again, she didn’t hear me. Time was running out. I didn’t know how long they could withstand the electrified webs.

I flailed in the air, unsure what to do now that I had no stable ground of my own to call home. I rocked back and forth, trying to swing my rope, but it wasn’t enough.

The matriarch was reaching for the thread again. I wasn’t sure if she was just playing with her food at this point, or if she somehow thought the party was still a threat to her.

Heh…she’d find out who the real threat was. She’d find out in three…two…one!

TWAAAAAANNNNNGGG!

The shockwave blasted through the room, sending me spinning back. But that was fine by me. The rope holding me was long, and near the center of the room. As I swung away from the matriarch, I readied myself, gathering strength and mana for my grand counterattack.

Then gravity slowed me and began to swing me in the other direction. I twisted my body so I was facing the direction of movement. Wind rushed past my ears as I yanked the dagger clean from its corpse as I streaked by like a comet. I pulled it into my teeth and waited for just the right moment.

“Take THIS!” I shouted.

I sent the dagger careening forward. As the matriarch reached once again for the rope, I shoved as much mana as I could into the dagger.

The enormous spider howled a fearsome cry of rage and pain as the dagger slammed into one of her biggest eyes with enough force to explode the gelatinous organ and cause her to stumble back.

As I swung back on my string, I finally saw my companions stumble back to their feet. This fight was not yet over.