A large room opened up at one end of the long corridor. The Goblin grumbled as he took a closer look at his map and muttered angrily to himself. Under the light of the lantern, his own handwriting looked like dirty smudges and messy scribbles on the paper. He pressed the top of the strange pen he had and wrote down notes on on side of the page while he looked around the room.

The other three just watched the Goblin mumble to himself while they looked around the empty and dark chamber. On one end of the room is a large door that is connected to a set of stairs that spiraled downwards. On the opposite side of the room is the remains of a long-dead Mimic that assumed the form of a chest. Stefan kept an eye on the corpse while the three of them approached the Goblin. 

"Mister Goblin, there's a dead Mimic over there."

"Mhm. I killed box monster long ago."

The Goblin glanced at the dried-up corpse of the Mimic and immediately looked back at the map in his hands.

"Something different here. No more big Slime."

"What do you mean?"

He pointed a green finger at the center of the room and snarled. His red eyes darted across the room and up towards the ceiling.

"Slime should be resting there. Not here anymore."

Everyone immediately drew their weapons and looked around the room, their eyes open for any sort of unwanted movement in the shadows.

The Goblin walked over to the center of the room, his sword placed between him and the empty spot where the large Slime is supposed to be. His foot made a squelching sound as he approached the center of the room and he looked down at his now messy shoes. 

The floor around him was damp and there was something gelatinous and mushy strewn about everywhere. The Goblin knelt and poked at one of the pieces with his claw. It was sticky and every time he rubbed his fingers together, it slowly fell apart into a thick liquid that splattered on the ground. He snarled softly and wiped away the mess in his fingers with the back of his cloak.

"Dead. Dead Slime."

He lifted his lantern and looked around the empty room. His ears waited for any sort of sounds that came from the dark stairway, but all he heard is Stefan walking towards him.

"If it's dead, then whatever must've killed it is still near. It looks fresh to me."

"Death is normal in dungeon. Slime was strong, but not strong enough..."

Stefan gulped and looked at the large chunks of Slime around the center of the room. It must've been a large Slime when it was still alive judging by the large chunks scattered around them, but it was still just a Slime. Something that could be easily defeated with one lucky hit to its mana core.

"We keep moving. No Slime means more monsters coming."

"Okay. Lead the way."

The Goblin nodded and he got up and glanced at the Slime's remains before he turned his attention back to the stairway. His lantern revealed only a small part of the stair's steps before the light was swallowed up by the darkness. A feeling of something watching them just beyond the reach of the lantern's light made everyone shiver yet they pressed on behind the Goblin's lead.

The Goblin himself was scared. Below him is the floors where giant insects skittered about and clashed with one another. Sometimes, other strange creatures would rise from the lower floors to prey on the insects, and sometimes those shambling things from above will push down into the insect's domain. He saw it once when hordes of Undead accidentally fumbled their way towards the lower floors.

It was a messy experience to be stuck in the midst of such chaos. He hated the feeling of having to sneak his way through rotting bodies and the shells of Giant Centipedes. But that wasn't his first disgusting and scary experience in this damned place, so he pushed on and took a step down into the stairs he had passed through countless times before. Everyone followed after him down the stairs, the Goblin grumbling silently to himself while they walked down the hard, black, granite stairs. 

Their steps echoed down the stairs as they slowly made their way down into the lower floor. The Goblin swatted away the strands of webs in front of him while Riel continued to cast short bursts of [Flame] to burn away the cobwebs. Semilia whimpered silently while she tried to untangle the webs that got stuck in her hair while Stefan tried not to think about how large the cobwebs are getting the more they descended.

Of course, they all knew these aren't normal spiderwebs. They are far stickier and thicker than regular spiderwebs and are meant to ensnare larger prey than flies and moths. No, these are meant to catch things like the Cave Frogs that wander down from the upper levels and adventurers that were unfortunate enough to get caught in such a trap.

But the worst kinds of webs are the ones made by the Ironstring Spiders. Named for their steel-like webbing, these are highly sought after monsters that have the ability to take down Silver Ranks on their own. These spiders are solitary, preferring to hunt alone in dark caves where they set up a unique kind of spiderweb. They would line corridors and passageways with thin lines of webs coated with their venom and these webs act like razor-sharp garrote wires that could easily cut flesh if adventurers weren't careful enough.

The Goblin himself nearly got decapitated by one such trap a year ago. The webs themselves aren't dangerous since one would have to be running in order to get cut by the web. No, the real danger is the venom that coats the web. He experimented with it before and he found that it's capable of taking down even a Giant Centipede if given a high enough dosage. He wondered what would happen if he was cut by such a web and he recoiled at such a thought.

The Goblin took another step forward and nearly tripped after taking a phantom step in front of him. They were already at the end of the spiral staircase and everyone jumped at the sound of the Goblin nearly tripping over himself. The Goblin's green cheeks went red while he immediately tried to regain his former composure.

"Was thinking. Didn't see floor."

He said coldly as he examined the corridors in front of him. Of course, he was just pretending to look around for threats while in reality, e was just hiding his embarrassed face from them. They quietly chuckled at him behind his back.

"It happens to the best of us. Don't... worry."

Stefan's smile immediately went away as he saw the giant cobwebs and dusty, half-eaten skeletons around them. 

"We must be careful. Many monsters here now."

The Goblin swiped at something that skittered by his right with his sword. They looked at the twitching legs of a spider the size of their hand staining the wall beside the Goblin. Riel and Semilia shuddered and looked away from the twitching mess on the wall. Their skins crawled at the thought that they'll have to fight these things.

"I hate spiders."

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The Goblin was clearly fazed by this, and he immediately burned it with his magic.

"Same."

"I can handle small ones, but this?! This is crazy."

"Too bad they're only the baby ones."

Stefan grimaced and shook his head. The two girls turned towards the Goblin while he swatted away the spiderwebs in front of him.

"H-Hey! That's not true, right? That wasn't a baby, right?"

"Hm? No. Not baby."

"Oh, okay. That's goo-"

"Hatchling. Baby much larger. Up to my knee."

Everyone went silent at the Goblin's words. Stefan signaled Riel to ready some Fire Spells just in case as they moved deeper into the dungeon.

----------------------------------------

"To your right!"

"Tch! I hate this place! What the fuck is all of this?!"

Stefan hacked at the Giant Centipede as it crawled out of the hole in the wall. By now, they were drenched in sweat and the gore of the giant insects that they had to cut through. 

For hours now, they have made their way towards the other end of this floor. They were attacked by a large variety of monsters, some they had to run from out of pure terror. In fact, for the past hour or so, Riel made no noise other than the occasional squeak for help after her encounter with a Cave Moth. The memory of a moth the size of an eagle screeching and flapping its wings over her face was still fresh in her mind and she hasn't stopped crying after that.

"Grraah! [Flame]! [Flame]!"

The Goblin burned three smaller centipedes as they rushed out of the wall their parent came from. They writhed in the flame as their chitin turned black while Stefan angrily stomped on the Giant Centipede's head.

"Gods! This is worse than that time we had to trek through that swamp!"

"Shut it, Semilia! How's our rear?!"

"You asking about that fucking Giant Spider that crawled up on us? It crawled away earlier!"

Semilia shot a handful of arrows into the darkness behind them. Some snapped against the wall or flew deeper into the corridor behind them. Most, however, let out a wet and fleshy thump as the sounds of chitin cracking and something soft being pierced reached Semilia's sharp ears. It was followed by something hissing and snarling in pain as it skittered away into the shadows with its many legs.

"Walk forwards! Room there with no monsters!"

The Goblin yelled out as he swatted away the spiderwebs with his sword. Everyone charged behind him as they followed the light of the Goblin's lantern. 

Earlier, the floor was silent and devoid of any monsters. He didn't know what happened or who did it, but after an hour of walking in the empty corridors, the entire floor seemingly came to life as the creatures that inhabited this area suddenly emerged to attack them. The Goblin winced as he tried to ignore the cut on his leg after that Steeljaw Ant managed to bite him. 

Finally, they reached the room at the end of this particular corridor. The Goblin wheezed as he slammed his entire body onto the door's surface. He rolled forwards as the door swung open violently and everyone followed after him through the door. Semilia fired some of her arrows into the darkness while Stefan squashed the head of a Steeljaw Ant as it tried to shove its way into the room. With a resounding slam that probably shook the entire corridor, Stefan slammed the door on the ant, crushing it and sending out yellow blood and insides everywhere.

"Gods! What kind of dungeon is this?!"

The door rattled violently as shrill shrieking came from the other side of the door. The Goblin knew that the door would hold, but everyone else was still huddled around the door with their weapons drawn. After a while, the creatures outside lost interest, and the rattling slowly subsided as the chittering noises the insects made faded into the depths of the dungeon.

They all breathed a sigh of relief before collapsing beside the Goblin. Stefan looked around the small and empty room, taking note of the empty chest near them as he looked over at the Goblin. He was pouring a small amount of Healing Potion on the deep gash on his leg.

"What is this room?"

"Treasure room. I loot it before. Use it as shortcut once."

"Shortcut?"

The Goblin pointed at a sunken part of the wall opposite the door as he gnashed his teeth in pain. His wounds closed slowly since the lacerations made by the ant's mandibles were designed to inhibit the wounds from closing. 

"Where does it take us?"

"Down. Another room with stairs that lead to floor you want."

The Goblin snarled as he watched his own flesh stitch itself together and close up thanks to the Healing Potion.

"Goblin, are you okay? Do you want to rest?"

The Goblin looked up at Semilia as she pulled out her bandages from the bag she carried. He finally noticed that everyone else in the room had small cuts all over their arms and legs while Riel sat in the corner with a depressed look in her eyes.

"I'm okay. Riel?"

"Her? Don't worry, she's fine. She gets like this whenever giant insects are involved. She's scared of bugs."

Semilia whispered the last part while Stefan sighed to himself as he lifted his right arm to Semilia. He had a cut on his forearm due to the Giant Centipede thrashing around with its tale.

"At least she wasn't hurt. She probably won't be talking for a while though."

"I hate bugs. I hate bugs. I hate bugs. I hate bugs. I hate bugs. I hate bugs..."

Riel muttered repeatedly while she rocked back and forth in place. She was curled up into a traumatized ball with eyes like that of a dead fish in the corner of the room.

"She won't be moving for a while. Might as well take a breather right here."

"Yeah."

Stefan winced as Semilia bandaged up the cut on his arm. She also had minor cuts all over her limbs but they weren't as bad as the ones Stefan had. But she still needed to bandage them to avoid them getting infected.

"We're lucky that we had Goblin with us back there. Who knows what would've happened if we went there alone."

"That's why we need to get back as soon as possible. These are the kinds of things that need to be reported to the guild. Ah, thanks."

Stefan rubbed the bandaged part of his arm while he looked over at the Goblin.

His notebook and maps were spread on the floor in front of him while he furrowed his brows together. He was muttering something under his breath while he traced the path they took on the map with his finger. Something was clearly bothering the little Goblin, but they didn't want to disturb him from what he was doing.

"Hrr... This is... not good."

Semilia and Stefan looked at the Goblin as he tapped at the map with his claw. 

"Is there a problem, Mister Goblin?"

"Yes."

The Goblin pointed at the lantern he had been carrying all this time. Its light was significantly dimmer now and the flame looks weaker than before. 

"Don't worry about the light. Riel can cast-"

"No. No light after room with stairs."

The Goblin looked back at the map and cursed in Goblinspeak. He pointed at a section of the map that depicted a winding set of corridors that branched out and sometimes merged with other ones. He tapped at the large room at the end on one of the corridors.

"Here is room. This is the path, but..."

"We can't use any light there, can't we?"

The Goblin shook his head at them and looked back at the map once more.

"Why?"

"Monsters there. Drawn to light. Very deadly."

"What-"

"Spiders. Big Spiders. Eyes sensitive to bright light and use webs to find things in darkness. There also big guardian that guard door to upper floors."

"Oh... oh..."

Stefan sighed as he slumped back against the wall. The Goblin looked at him and groaned before looking back at the maps.

He had heard of such things before from higher ranked adventurers. They told stories about creatures that guarded the final room of dungeons and how deadly they were. He heard rumors as well of people dying after mistakingly going into such a room and facing off against powerful monsters. Those accidents happen to unprepared and under-equipped adventurers who had the sheer misfortune of wandering into such a death trap.

But here they were, unprepared and exhausted, about to do just that. He wondered if the Goblin planned this all along, or if he was working with the monsters. He looked over at him and saw how frustrated the Goblin is while he looked at his map. He wondered what he was getting so frustrated over when the Goblin suddenly yelled and slammed down his fist on the ground.

"Kir'irjul!"

The Goblin cussed angrily in his native tongue as he scratched his head angrily.

"Goblin?! What's the matter?"

The Goblin looked up at Semilia, then he looked back at the map at his feet.

"Way is deadly. Goblin is weak. Don't want to go to guardian's room."

The Goblin looked away from her and snarled at himself. 

He wasn't lying to them when he said that the way is deadly. There was a reason why it took him years to map out this one floor. The monsters inside the labyrinth are on a whole other level than the ones on his floor, and he knew that from firsthand experience. Only spiders lurked within the labyrinth's walls but they were different than the regular Giant Spiders. The ones they encountered are nothing more but wild beasts relying on their primal instinct. These things, however, were different.

They could think. They didn't prey on creatures, they hunted them. They were malicious monsters that protected something in that room. It was the same room that held the only way out of here, but it was guarded by her. The Goblin frowned at the memory of having to sneak through her disgusting lair and having to watch the massive creature give birth to her spawn.

And deep within the dungeon where only three people heard him, he screamed another curse in Goblinspeak and kicked a wall. He didn't know why he did that, but he did it anyway. It didn't make him calmer or any more frustrated, it just confused and surprised the other people with him inside that room as well as a Giant Spider skittering silently just outside the door.

Then he clutched a foot and cussed another time while the other three people wondered what had gotten into him.