I suddenly found myself drawn violently into the swirling disc of darkness. Unlike my own Portal, I could not see through it. Only unyielding darkness awaited me! It could not be helped, since if the Human Ball was tonight I had a strict deadline to meet! I hate deadlines and business! Why couldn’t I just be evil in the forest forever? Suddenly the atmosphere changed dramatically and my stomach rushed to my feet as I felt my body twist. I take it all back! I screamed in the blackness, yet the whirlpool kept spinning me. This was worse than the Dark Stone’s pull. I’ll keep my dinky Light Portals!

Something wet dripped on my nose when I finally emerged through the murky hole. Water? A blast of earthy musk hit my face in waves.

“Gah, Blanche,” I sputtered. “Your Skill is amazing! Blanche?”

It was cooler and smelled like death, wherever I was. Oh, I noticed the stone brick walls covered in moss and Spider webs. I was home! Ah, the fuzzy butts have outdone themselves here! I turned and nearly froze when I noticed the true size of the room. The place wasn’t a room– it was a valley! The original Dungeon’s rigid and narrow halls have been replaced by more natural caves and incredibly huge open spaces. This is a true Labyrinth, after all. Waves and waves of excited fuzzy butts gathered to see me, their thunderous crawling pounded along the ceiling and the mossy walls made my ears hurt. Even more gathered behind massive pillars made out of Spider webs holding the floors together. There were many types of Spiders I have never seen, including ones with glowing wings hovering in the air. What in the Human Realm is a Wolspider? How did it have Light Magic? I squinted at one of them. It simply tapped its fangs together and lowered its head in servitude. They have Geer’Sha’s blessing as well, I supposed it made sense that they possessed that element. Still, it was nice being in a labyrinth when things were not trying to murder me!

— Dungeon: You have entered the 21st Floor of the Atorcoppe Labyrinth, “the Tribute Portico.”

“Your Majesty,” a chorus sang out to me, nearly making me topple over.

“Your Majesty,” Blanche said behind me. Gah! Can you not pop out of nowhere like that! “Follow me, there are many things I would like to show you, My Charlotte. But first…”

“First?” I followed her as we walked down the gargantuan steps towards the ocean of Spiders.

It was a little overwhelming being amidst the parting crowds like a living hallway expanding its maw. There were not as many people in the Bohun estate. The hallway’s throat opened up as the Giant Soldiers and Steel Spiders moved their fuzzy butts out of the way, revealing a dark glowing sphere resting upon a familiar pile of rubble. This was where the Dark Stone was, as well as the first Tribute I collected. Not only that, I stared at the little area in wonder. This place was the exact room in the burrows, like someone scooped it out with giant hands and placed it inside an even larger chamber. The Spiders began to shiver in excitement, rattling the ground as their bristles scratched together. I stopped and felt a sense of pride welling up inside of me. These fuzzy butts have worked so hard for me, while I had no idea why. Therefore, I must repay them! Blanche walked ahead and turned at the foot of the stairs leading to the sphere.

“Touch the Darkness, My Queen, Our Queen,” she bowed. The bristles stopped rubbing together and a wave of silence flooded the Spiders as they lowered their massive heads to the ground. “This Tribute shall make us stronger together.”

Well, she wasn’t wrong. I still tentatively approached the staircase and slowly started my ascent. I couldn’t remember what happened the last time and it was not as massive as this! I could hear the Tribute, like the screams of many people swallowed in its typhoon. This object must contain a lot of those souls to make it worthwhile for the Spiders. Yet those foolish victims did not ask for permission to follow me. I scoffed. I’m not afraid. Charlotte, you’re not afraid and you can do this! I gulped. This new hand shall touch this foul black beacon!

I thrust my hand forth within the Tribute and felt… cold? This feeling was freezing my veins! How was this possible? My vision blurred and sharp pain slashed at my shins as I caught myself before I collapsed completely. This was Darkness! I struggled against the channeling energy forcing itself in my body, like I was tossed in a raging river. It swirled around me and black ice coated my eyes, but something was watching me in its reflection. The outline of a face towering over me looked down upon me, easily the size of a castle. It was a shadow of its true glory, I could tell; it was like it was covered in sheer black sheets pressing against its every crevice as I was dwarfed by its sheer size. It mouthed something to me? I stared at its lips, though it swirled back into the tornado.

Find me.

A notification with a message like that could only mean one thing! I rebelled against the dark winds and stood up. Wherever I was, it was no longer the Labyrinth. If I recall, the last time I took in the Tribute, it was almost like something was trying to possess me. This suffering should be over soon, but I had to force myself through this storm to make one last call.

“Wisdom,” I said calmly, despite feeling like my Soul was cracking apart. “Wisdom, speak to me! Please.”

The massive silhouette of the face appeared to me once again, but instead of speaking its gaze looked beyond me. The darkness parted ways and I saw the giant’s body sink back into the eternal abyss. Was that desperation on her face? Why can’t I help you more, Wisdom? Multiple notifications flooded my eyes as the coldness receded from my skin. I felt like whatever released me dropped me on the rocky steps of the tribute, but through the translucent windows the black orb was gone. The notifications wearing her face chirped along, as if I didn’t just see whatever eldritch being gasping for help from beyond a moment ago.

— Tribute from the Spiders obtained. Charlotte has obtained the following upgrades.

* Earth Element acquired. Associated spells can be found inside the Spellbook!

* Skill Advanced Web Conjuring has been upgraded to Master Web Conjuring.

* Title Spider Queen [Ancient] has been upgraded and is now compatible with the Divinity Seed. The Spider Queen has gained new abilities.

* Spiders worship the Spider Queen.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! That’s way too much information for little old me!

That’s what I would say, but I supposed I had some time to kill before I have to go back to the Humans. Something inside of me felt like I was supposed to be out of breath from entering the Darkness, but the truth was I felt alive even if I was currently heaving in front of the stone altar. I suddenly puked, sputtering in a murky dizziness as I struggled to find my bearings.

“Your Majesty?” Blanche asked me. I breathed in and out, ragged.

“G-Give me a moment,” I hacked up something else sticky. What was happening to me? This is the last time I’m ignoring the Spider’s request to take my Tribute, by Geer’Sha! Speaking of her, I have to go talk to– “Blurgh!”

“Forgive my intrusion, My Queen,” something else said to me. Healing light touched me and suddenly I could breathe properly again.

“Gah,” I spat, looking up at the source of the Healing magic. The light of a curious Wolspider's fangs illuminated the mess I made beneath my feet. It simply looked at me as it hovered above me. The thing was huge!

— Nameless Wolspider, level 50

— Classes

Worker Spider [Common], level 20

Spider Assassin [Epic], level 20

Wolspider [Legendary], level 10

A mutant Spider class evolved when touched by the Light of the One and the Forbidden Skill. This one worships its Queen fervently. It prefers to utilize the Light spell given to it via the Spider Queen’s Title for devastating attacks from above and also does aerial transportation for construction work.

What a beast of a Spider you are! Level 50! I squinted at its Status. I noticed Blanche was also level 50, as with the majority of the rarer classes among the Spiders. They appeared to be capped at that level, I noticed. Perhaps this World’s max level was 50? It took quite a lot of effort to level up once after that initial growth spurt and I was only level 34! I thanked it with my mind subconsciously and it flew off to join its siblings up there. Wait, could I always do that? I looked at the Wolspider once again and directed it where to go with my eyes. It immediately complied, buzzing off to one point to the next before I released it. Now that’s new. This was the work of the new title, it seemed. I know that I am unable to help you Wisdom, wherever you are out there, I prayed. Yet I must continue on and get stronger. Reveal to me my Title, O Forbidden Skill Creator! A prompt appeared to me, making my eyes widen and my cheeks hurt. I realized that the latter was from me grinning so much!

— The Spider Queen exerts her Will upon the Spiders who love her so much.

— Title: Spider Queen [Ancient] has been upgraded to [Origin]. Attach the Divinity Seed to it?

Why not? I had no idea what that did, but a chime played nonetheless. I waited to get pulled into some kind of Darkness again, but nothing happened. I felt fine. There were quite a lot of questions for me that required testing, like the Earth Element, but that was for another time.

— The Divinity Seed has been integrated into the Title: Spider Queen [Origin]. Work with the Spiders to absorb other prey’s Light to increase the Divinity Seed’s growth.

— Charlotte has gained the following abilities: Spider Spawning, Darkness Portal.

— Skill: Divine Web Conjuration has been added. Cast a Tier 4 Web of Light spell which can be manipulated by Skill: Master Web Conjuration and is enhanced with the Divine Element. Warning: Using this Skill reduces the Divinity Seed’s experience points.

I see. Perhaps there were enough things dying inside the Dungeon that possessed the Human Goddess's Light. By stealing it and absorbing its energy, I seemed to be given the Divine Seed when it fully grew into that stage. Could the next stage be some kind of System Goddess? If that was the case, I would have to destroy as many humans as possible here! The Darkness Portal seemed effective awhile ago, yet I didn't want it because of how awful the last time I passed through it went. I also decided I would not use the Divine Web for the same reason as the Tier 4 Spellpage for now. I did not understand how the Tier 4 Spells work, but this was an interesting development I was simply not going to entertain if it meant giving up Divinity. And what is this about Spider Spawning? I thought grimly and shuddered. I never gave birth to anything, even as a Demon Queen! I saw the size and shape of the Spider eggs as I walked down here, making the thought of the Spider Spawning skill even worse. The idea of giving birth to an egg sounded horrific and evil! I stared at its option, which listed probabilities. The Skill could fail? I scrolled down the options. Since the success rate was lowest at the bottom, I scrolled to the top. Let’s do it all the way! I accepted the screen’s prompt and immediately saw my Mana Pool drop to 0%. Oh no.

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— Skill: Spider Spawning activated at the max probability. Rolling eggs.

I suddenly fell into a coughing fit as a notification played through my teary vision. An odd wheel began to spin in one of them, with multiple options of different colored eggs to randomly choose from. Is it too late to take it all back? I hacked up bile as I buckled over again. Something solid was clogging my throat and I had a sinking feeling I knew what it was. This is going to be awful! I reached over and gripped something for support as my throat tore itself apart. Blood and chunks of my shattered bone spilled out as something spherical landed on the ground.

“Your Majesty!” Blanche cried out, but all I could see was shards of my own jaw scattered on the ground before my vision went black again.

— Skill: Spider Spawning was a success! You have obtained three eggs.

— Skill: Spider Spawning: Eggs are about to hatch. Standing by…

Well, I dusted myself off sometime later. I found myself in the Tribute room lying on something warm. My health was back to normal, thanks to the Wolspiders and Blanche. I could still see through my Messenger Spiders back home, so I knew no one was bothering me. Thank Wisdom and Geer’Sha I didn’t die doing that. That Skill was dangerous! When I checked my Mana Pool, I noticed that it was also at 100%. That could only mean one thing, I sat up and felt rough scales.

“Attor!” I jumped off him and fell much further down on the ground than I thought I would. A blast of warm breath covered me, nearly making me lose my balance. I saw his whiskered chin slowly lower down from the darkness above me. His head was about the size of the Bohun’s gates! “You’re huge now! What in the Human Realm were they feeding you down here?”

His glowing eyes alone lit up the surroundings, like the boulder sized comet fragments scattered along the Forest grounds.

“Do you know restraint?” He chastised me.

“Eh?” I looked at where he was breathing towards. “Whoa!”

Three eggs were resting on the stairs, surrounded by protective Wards. I tried to get up, but Attor scooped me up on his head. Each step shook the ground as I was lifted in the air. Despite not seeing the ground beneath me anymore, I saw the glowing translucent Status windows skittering above busy Spiders further in the distance as he moved me towards the Tribute altar.

“You used all your Mana on all these,” he growled. “You could have died!”

“Bah!” I pounded his head, but it wasn’t enough to even make his head budge. “Is that concern for me?

“No,” he scoffed, though we both knew we were missing quite a lot from being apart. “We haven’t seen each other in quite some time, I admit.”

“How has work here been?” I asked. He snorted. Luckily, the eggs were safe from being vaporized by his breath. “You were slacking off, weren’t you?”

“I had to grow, Charlotte,” he retorted. “That’s enough work for me.”

“I missed you,” I laid back down on his head. I didn't really care what he did here, but I had regrets sending him away regardless. Still, he was much larger than the Manor so it seemed to be the right call. It was odd that I could roll around on his head and still be left with plenty of room on it so I couldn’t fall off.

“The Spiders have been busy siphoning the Humans of their hearts and light,” Attor reported. “And I have been using the Skill Points on my growth.”

“Is that so,” I mused. He actually used his hoard? “There has to be a reason you’d use those, right?”

“For growth,” Attor confirmed. “I was the protector of this Forest until you came along. Now the Spiders look to you for Divinity and me once again for Protection. Though you’ll have to see the Caretakers and Geer’Sha for details on Divinity. I’m busy guarding this place until I’m ready for the Tower.”

“The Tower?” I muttered. “Never mind that, I want to see my children!”

“For someone being grossed out by them at first, you sure do care a lot about those things,” He lowered his head as I slid down. The air and ground seemed like they were coming too quickly! I instinctively raised my hand to shield myself, but instead webs caught me before I splattered. They were nearly invisible and attached to the pillar behind the Tribute altar, but stretched far enough to catch me. These webs were mine? I dangled for a moment, but as I aimed my hands more webs formed. There seemed to be a lot more to these than even the Advanced Conjuring. The strands I secreted were tougher, gathered instantly into thick ropes, and unraveled back into invisibility as I manipulated them into stairs down to the floor. Before this upgrade, all I could do was launch them into a straight line like a spear and wrap targets up. These were incredible! I knelt over to inspect the three eggs I “laid.” They were almost as large as the altar itself, making me wonder how I didn’t die while they left my body. The memory of my jaw exploding took that thought away quickly, so I just assumed the egg and whatever was inside of it were growing outside!

“Arachnes?” I read from their Statuses, but one drew my attention towards it. This egg was golden, unlike the other two which were dark blue.

— Skill: Spider Spawning: Caretaker Arachne Legendary Egg (x2) and Golden Arachne Ancient Egg (x1) are almost about to hatch!

— Arachnes are hyper intelligent Spiders with living Human-like torso effigies affixed to their heads and can even transform into beautiful Humans to lure the hearts of Men. They also possess enormous magical strength, supreme defenses, and lethal Skills.

My children are going to be super strong! That’s wonderful! After nearly dying while spawning them, they better be powerful! Suddenly, the two dark blue ones cracked apart and both of the baby fuzzy butts launched out at me. I prepared for an attack, but it was too late! They were heavy! One of them chittered loudly as the other one transformed into a human girl while clutching my chest.

“Mommy!” She cried out. That address made me feel queasy for some reason, but as the other one transformed and embraced me I felt the need to protect them pulled me out of my doubts. Attor sighed, before marching away into the darkness. “Feed us!”

“Is that so?” I hefted one of them off me and stood up. I have to take care of these cute creatures? I nearly scoffed, but prepared a Traveler’s Feast for them. “Eat, eat!”

“Yeee!” The first one cheered, while the other lost its magical control and reverted back to a Human-less blue Spider. The pile of food was vaporized in an instant, with them begging for more food. Gah! I was going to need Blanche for this, won’t I? Both were happy that I spoke to them and ran in circles around me even though it was difficult to keep up with their speeds. I also realized the way they sounded was complete gibberish, yet I could understand them. There was something else that bothered me about these two Arachnes. They were growing rapidly, yes, even as I called for Blanche they were already nearly the size of a Worker Spider, but they looked exactly the same. O Geer’Sha, they’re twins, with blue hair, eyes and all! They looked like me, for some reason. Mysteriously, the Golden Arachne has not hatched yet. That one will take some time, I think, so I’ll have to leave her alone for now.

“I think I’ll call you Aqua,” I pointed at the one on the right, seeing her Status register as Aqua. That is how I shall cheat their overpowered Twin Skill! That’s not a Skill? So what! “And you shall be Marine!”

The satisfying chime of Marine’s Status played as her Nameless tag disappeared. The Twins stared at me with wonder, but immediately begged for food again. After looking at both their human and spider mouths, I guessed it made sense why they wanted so much food. If that’s the case, then did I have quadruplets instead of twins, then? It did not matter, since they tackled me with their pleas and adorable faces. Fine, fine!

“Third Skill: Hero’s Feast! Go!” I pointed my wand and launched the spell. “Eat up, O children of mine!”

The three of us were left in shock seeing the mountain of food rise up to the ceiling. That will keep them busy! Ha! A low growl shook us all, before I turned and saw Attor standing above me. Eh? He also wanted a cut? You’re making this complicated! Don’t look at me like that! What do you mean, so what? I groaned. The chaos ensued was strangely amusing to me, yet as long as the three were eating and not bothering me I was fine to be left alone and down quite a significant amount of Mana. Being a parent of three is hard! It was a shame I could not catch up with Attor, though the Dragon seemed happy to be here!

“Glad to see you’ve recovered, my Queen,” Blanche bowed. “I can take care of these ones.”

The Twins looked at her with awe in their human eyes, before Aqua blurted something out.

“Auntie!” They circled her. I looked at her apologetically, but Blanche seemed to not mind their overwhelming energy. A dark portal emerged from behind her, as she directed the children back to the pile of food. Another Blanche walked out of it! Huh?

“Come this way, My Charlotte,” the new Blanche greeted me. Shadow Clone, I remembered. They had a lot of convenient abilities! When would I get to be able to create a copy of myself? I could send her to destroy the Human Ball and I could play with the Spiders here! I hesitated before I stepped in the portal, but suddenly Blanche pushed me in it. Gah! I twisted and my being became one with the swirling energy. “We have to take care of you, now.”

“What in the Human Realm? Who did you learn from to be rude like that?” I yelled as I dissolved into the darkness. “Emma? Becca? My Brother? What even happened to Becca?”

Before I knew it, I realized that I was standing on my feet yelling at the ground. The new room I found myself in was tighter, illuminated by a purple hue. Magic?

— Dungeon: You have entered the 49th Floor, “The Celestial Breach.”

Forty-ninth? I stared at the notification. Come to think of it, I was born in the Demon Labyrinth’s thirty seventh floor. Why would anyone want to go any deeper than that? My thought process was simply trying to ascend and reach the surface to kill the Demon King, like every young and aspiring demon. Now, with this much power and freedom, I could descend into the deepest depths and plunge my fist in the Realm’s very core. The fiftieth floor had the Pink Fuzzy Butt Queen, didn’t it? I stepped over and found the massive Boss door. A hand stopped me, with an apologetic Blanche behind me.

“F-Forgive me, Your Majesty,” she bowed again. “Queen Ariadne is refilling the first twenty floors with your underlings. She is quite busy… and large… so…”

I gulped. Normally, Spiders didn’t seem bothered by even the Arch Spiders or Queens. That fearful look on her face meant that Ariadne was much larger than even that. It has become so powerful that it named itself, hasn’t it? The rows of pink Spiders I’ve met down here still bowed and worshiped me, so I didn’t mind letting her perform her duties in peace!

“Well, it can’t be helped,” I supposed. “I would love to see my adorable pink fuzzy butt, but if she’s busy then I’ll check in later! Take me away! Give me a fine dress!”

I was a mess, according to the Humans. Whatever liquid that Noble Lady’s Skill poured on me melted my dress off. Wisdom did not inform me that I was immune to it, so it wasn’t an Acid attack. I lost many pillows and other clothes to random Spiders drooling on them. Perhaps it was just a spell aimed at dissolving clothes specifically?

“Your Majesty, O Queen from the Demon Realm,” a booming voice broke me out of my attention. I was led to the source of the purple light. “Our ritual is not yet complete, yet you grace us with your presence. We are eternally grateful for you.”

There were forty-two individuals arranged under a massive apparatus in a ritual circle with glowing ley lines connecting them in pairs across from each other. A massive orb? I looked at the device. It was as large as a castle; its surface was bubbling out beneath the darkness, yet the source of purple light was glowing within its middle far above our heads. What was this thing for? Those slender figures with eight limbs were the Caretakers! Blanche led me over to the closest and tallest one, who appeared more human-like than the last time I saw her.

“O, child,” it weaved me into a web. “Allow this unworthy soul to tend to thee.”

“You don’t have to belittle yourself,” I muttered, but was immediately spun into a cocoon. Gah! I forgot about this part! Wisdom, I prayed to her as I felt woozy. If you could hear me right now I could really use a Dizzy Immune Passive Skill!

— Clothes Identifier: Pink Ball Gown Dress “Empress’s Revenge” [Legendary] obtained. Crafted from the finest Spider Silk, in addition with magical weave and crystal mesh for a sparkling and Royal aura. Grants a mystical and protective ward around the wearer.

This was a little too much, wasn’t it? I felt like it would draw too much attention and others would try to dissolve it like last time! The Caretaker waved me off with three left limbs and pointed to another one pulling up a cart. Oh, there was way too much! Clothes Identifier went wild, pointing out a multitude of incredibly beautiful dresses that were apparently crafted for me. Perhaps I could sell them to get money for my Alchemy Skill? I acquiesced.

“Can I get a black one of these, at least?”

After a few of them were taken back to my room via the Darkness Portal, it was finally time to speak to the System Goddess Geer’Sha, who was originally dormant in the room next to Ariadne’s boss room. I could sense her call to me and as I approached the room the cold stone I felt beneath my feet turned to soft and luscious grass. The doors opened and before I could do or say anything a pair of vines snatched me up!