“What do you do when you’re up against a significantly more powerful opponent you have absolutely no chance of beating? Imagine it would take a single hit for them to turn you into a red smear on the dirt and the only attention your corpse would get would be from carrion. What should you do in that situation?
The answer is simple; you cheat.
Poison their food or drink, set up traps on the battlefield only you know about, threaten their family! When it’s life or death, anything goes! I’m not talking about war mind you. Countries need honor or else there is no limit to how depraved they can become. This notion only really applies to simple life-or-death situations for an individual, such as during a mugging or assassination attempt. Situations you didn’t sign up for, so anything goes.
So you may be asking, how can you cheat when anything goes? The answer to that is also simple; cheating is a mindset. Even when we are told anything goes, we limit ourselves based on predefined notions on what is ‘appropriate’ and don’t make full use of what tricks and tools are available to us.
When I was a child, I was picked on quite a bit. Not for any particular reason, I suppose I simply had the kind of disposition that attracted such animosity. But that's besides the point. Someone picked a fight with me and gave me no way to back out of it. So what did I do?
I cheated.
I put castap seed juice in his food that made him lightheaded, put dirt and bugs in his clothes to give him a terrible itch, and even spread a terrible rumor that despite being quickly proven false the next day, took up all of his attention even during the fight.
Of course, I still lost the fight, but my injuries were incredibly minor! Imagine what would have happened if I had fought fairly?! So when you get accosted on the streets or pushed into a situation you are absolutely not comfortable with, feel free to cheat! Whoever you’re up against isn’t playing by the rules, so why should you? You just need to remember to take advantage of that more than your opponent.”
-Introductory speech, as part of Self Defense with Savius Fistor
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Stealth is overrated, treasure isn’t. [Command Subordinates]; Attack!
Click pointed a single leg towards the [Adult Dungeon Boar] and the other spiders ran.
Of course, the swarm of spiders wasn’t exactly subtle, and the [Adult Dungeon Boar] quickly took note of the oncoming arachnids and ran to meet the new challengers. The comparatively diminutive [Dungeon Boars] on the other hand turned around and trotted away from the swarm. They would have gone faster if not for their injuries. But those injuries motivated them to leave in the first place, and they carefully made their way out of the alcove, despite tripping once more on the trap.
The [Spider Army Commander] let out a sigh and poured their focus entirely on what was before them. Split the group in the middle and hit it from the sides. Click added on to their command at the last second, and their subordinates followed.
The spiders jumped to either the left or right of the hulking creature before them, leaving it slightly confused at there not being a single easy target, and quickly turning and running into its flank. They caught the boar off guard with the simple maneuver, but it didn’t seem to have too much of an effect.
The veterans slammed into its sides trying to throw it off balance while the newborns went for its already weakened legs. Yet the boar barely moved. It stood tall in the face of the assault, and the scraps of damage it was taking only motivated it to bare its tusks at the largest of its enemies.
Bored deflected the first thrust and barely avoided the second.
The third dropped the spider to the ground.
The [Spider Army Commander]’s heart skipped a beat as they commanded the others to swarm and divert the next hit. Bored was still moving, albeit slowly, but still much too slowly to do anything about the next attack coming its way.
Thankfully, the others didn’t have to do anything.
The [Adult Dungeon Boar] stopped its attack mid-thrust, and instead turned around towards the chest. It glared.
The [Web Spider], Click quickly realized, wasn’t included in the commands. The pseudo-words and intentions used alongside the Skill were targeted specifically for combat-oriented spiders. The straggler had never gotten a taste for combat.
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And it still hadn’t, as rather than join the others, it snuck around to the side and grabbed at the blade. Of course, the boar noticed, and charged right at it.
Spiders were thrown off it as it ran right towards the pitiful creature who dared touch items associated with the outside world, where invaders came and murdered so many of its own in pursuit of these vile trinkets! They deserved to be destroyed!
Thankfully, the lone spider had common sense. At least, common sense for an insect, and decided to abandon its quarry in exchange for its life. The [Web Spider] ran away from the blade and up the wall, just outside of its range.
That didn’t matter however, as the [Adult Dungeon Boar] stopped at the blade itself and once again began to smash its tusks against the cold, shining blade.
A repeat of the last minute played itself out, with the other spiders charging at the boar and the porcine monster charging back and making a fool out of them.
Obviously this fight can only go one way with how everyone is acting. Mutual annihilation. Click sighed. How about if I turn things around? I even have the perfect way!
As if by instinct, the [Web Spider] slowly turned over towards their leader. Just in time too, as a Skill shot out from them and brought the straggler to attention.
Head back down to that treasure and weave another trap. I thought of the perfect one against this [Dungeon Boar].
It took about half a minute to put the plan into fruition.
The spiders taking on the boar were all on the defensive, having been ordered specifically to keep it busy and keep losses at the minimum. The front row of arachnids cycled out whenever any of them got hit. Only the strongest and most hardy would take a position in front of either tusk. Bored just took the front spot again, and was about to be hit with one final strike, when the tide of the battle shifted.
No, it wasn’t that the tide shifted, that implied whoever was dominating the fight changed. The tide disappeared altogether.
The [Adult Dungeon Boar] simply turned around and began running towards the blade once more, leaving the spiders in its wake.
But the spider that got its attention wasn’t the [Web Spider] from before. No, that spider was walking up to Bored that very moment and handed the larger arachnid a strand of metallic silk.
The spider that was the current focus of the boar wasn’t able to move as fast or as early as the [Web Spider] and readied their fate at the end of a sharpened tusk.
The [Adult Dungeon Boar] closed in fast. Three feet. Two feet. One-
Bored pulled on the string it held as Click issued the command, and the lasso on the ground lifted up and tightened around the charging boar’s front legs.
The material was thin and utterly imperceptible in the dim light of the cave, yet strong enough to hold the creature’s legs together no matter how hard it kicked or flailed around.
The spiders took no time to gloat. Without a second thought, Click ordered the swarm to attack and finish off the boar. Envenomed bites dug through fur and flesh, with much greater accuracy now because it was forced still, and soon the boar succumbed to its injuries.
Click slowly approached the body as the other spiders parted for their leader.
I can’t believe we won that without any major losses.
A few newborn spiders, a small enough number Click could count with the legs on only one side of their body, had met their end beneath the creature’s hooves or its tusks, but out of the thirty one Click brought down? It was a worthy sacrifice for the rest of the tribe.
[Level up!]
A very worthy sacrifice. Though still…
Let’s grab those items and head back home! Bored, feel free to grab the boar too if you’re hungry.
The large arachnid began to hop in place as it walked over to the corpse of their enemy.
The trip back to the first level of the dungeon was thankfully uneventful. They encountered no other enemies on the way, and the quarry; the blade with a few bites taken out of it, the vial of blue liquid, and the corpse of the [Adult Dungeon Boar], were easy enough to carry along for the thirty-something spiders.
When they finally made their way past the spike trap that marked the boundary between floors and looked longingly at the webbed fortress…
A series of barks echoed out as a quick team of [Juvenile dungeon Hounds] weaved past the various traps and guards positioned around the fortress and into its heart. Many smaller spiders met their end as the hounds chomped, stomped, and otherwise rolled over to crush them.
But that wasn’t what caught the [Spider Army Commander]’s attention. Just outside of the fortress, far enough back to be safe from a counterattack, was a lone figure. Another [Dungeon Hound], but much larger. Almost as large as an Adult variant, but it was not. Not according to [Observation].
Alpha Dungeon Hound (Level 1)
Name:
Soul Link: Rockfort Hamlet Dungeon Core Ṁ̶̡̄̒͜o̷͚͍̊͒̃̓̿ǰ̵̧̢̭̫̪a̷͇̋̿̿̽͘ ̵̨̛̥͎͉́̋̈͘D̵̝̭͇̓̎̅ȋ̷̯͔̤̑͋̑t̴̛͉͈̟̽̑͑h̸̪̲̩̗̀̉̃͝͠ä̵͕̼̠́̊̓̕b̴̗͕̏͊̂̓̚ä̷̡̰̱͕̒̌̋
Classes: N/A
Oh. Oh no.