Eventually I realize that I’m conscious again. It’s not like waking up, it’s more like I’ve been aware for a while, but I just now realize that I am. It's a bizarre experience. Now that I’m awake, I start to look around my new body.
The tunnels run for what is easily miles, twisting in on themselves and at points expanding into large caverns. At the deepest part is a cave much larger than any of the others, and nestled into the wall farthest from the cave’s entrance is a massive orange crystal. I shift my focus to the large gem and get a strange feeling of being watched. Anxiety flickers through me, and at the same time the glow within the crystal flashes. That’s me, then, I suppose?
I pull my view back, looking at the entire cave system. The strange view of the tunnels looks like a tangle of noodles suspended mid air. My attention is caught by something relatively near the entrance. At the same distance from the door, every tunnel has red glowing veins poking through the green paint. The red ore looks reminds me of raw iron, if raw iron gave off an ominous glow. I suppose that’s my ‘alluring’ material.
Moving closer to the entrance, I notice one sizable cave in particular. It’s close enough to the glowing portal that you could almost consider the doorway to be inside it. The large space would be perfect for a… for a forward base. I smile mentally, at the idea of people living inside me. I could easily get one of those little freaks to sneak into town and off someo-
Fucking hold up! What the hell? What am I thinking?
I let my mind go blank for a long while.
That was… upsetting. Anyways. A base camp being set up inside the dungeon would probably benefit me, it would make the inside more appealing and more people would come. More people means more chances of them dying. Which means more lifeforce. Honestly, if they set up a tavern or pub I’m likely to get some free food whenever two drunks off each other.
Trying to put the disquieting thoughts I just had out of my mind, I shift my focus to a cave past the ore zone. This spot should be good to set up a spider nest. It has good access to all the ore spots but it’s past those glowing spots, so the humans won’t have an incentive to attack the nest directly.
Before I start pumping out creatures I flick my resource list open.
Lifeforce: 233 Play Time: 4 months
Dammit. I used way more than was necessary to expand. My expansion should’ve been much smaller at first, until I could get a bigger surplus of lifeforce. Now I’m running on empty. With a jolt I realize I don’t even know how much a monster costs. If they cost more than a hundred each I’m fucked.
I focus on the cave I chose earlier and imagine a spider appearing there. As I do an idea hits me, and I change my mental image. Slowly, a large brown and fuzzy spider starts to appear out of thin air. Unlike the diagram in my system, this spider’s thorax is massive. I feel a small thrill at my idea working out.
The spider queen finally finishes forming and taps her forelegs exploratively. Her color and shape remind me of the wolf spiders back home. Actually, she probably is literally one of those wolf spiders back home.
Within a few minutes she’s explored the entirety of the large cavern. She’s easily the size of a semi truck. Her back legs rub against her rear and she starts to pull out long strands of silk. She quickly gets to work lining the space with the gossamer.
She’s going to need food! I quickly glance at my resources again, and feel a flood of relief wash over me.
Lifeforce: 133
If a queen spider is a hundred units, there’s no way the other monsters cost anywhere near that. I quickly move further down the tunnels from where Mama is building her nursery. Scanning the tunnels, I easily find some patches of vegetation. Amusement flutters in my chest as I realize that the only food available is a strange purple mushroom. That’s not the funny part, the funny part is that they only seem to grow underneath exact copies of my bed that crop up randomly in the tunnels.
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All the features in the cave system are made up of objects that were in my bedroom. Computer towers hang from the ceiling like stalactites, while copies of my desk are randomly tilted up against the walls. My bed isn’t left out, every so often a replica of my worn out bed lays collapsed against the tunnel floor, and underneath are the large mushrooms.
Time to manifest a dustie. To my delight I find it appearing much faster than Mama Silk did. Glancing at my lifeforce levels I see that each dustie only costs a single unit. Thank god, I’d be really in trouble otherwise. Over the next… what feels like an hour, I flit between tunnels, finding beds and planting the first generation of dusties. Eventually I feel confident that they’ll be able to reproduce without me.
My view shifts back to Mama’s nest, where she’s been busy. The entire cave is filled with webbing, the green walls completely buried by the off-white threads. Looking closer I see very small spiders — compared to mama, that is — running around and tending to large egg sacs. Each cocoon is the size of a person, and has at least five small spiders crawling on it. Mama, meanwhile, is going to each sac one by one and checking them over. If I didn't know any better I’d say she’s doting on them.
Just as I start to mentally relax, I feel an odd jolt. Soon after a loud bang rings through my mind. A familiar bang.
A group of people step through the front door.
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I’m not sure what Bellok is thinking. We’ve done plenty of dungeon dives, yes, but none on our own before. We’ve always had other squads with us for backup. But I keep my mouth shut anyways, remembering the last time I spoke out against the large man. My eyes run over his tall and muscular frame. I shudder.
“Well, this is a dungeon, alrite!” Bellok’s loud voice echoes in the silent tunnel. He glances around with a grim expression, his eyes flickering over the painted walls. “What a drab color.”
Our group of four walks further in, the small entrance room opening up into a large cavern. As we take our first step into the larger space a system notification pops up.
Beware, higher than average danger ahead. Consider turning back.
The looks on everyone’s faces tells me that they all got the same message. After barely three seconds Bellok continues further in. Eventually the rest of us follow.
The cavern could easily fit an entire town inside it. I wouldn’t be surprised if people do. People like Bellok would.
We walk for an hour before we reach the other side of the wide space. On the far end is a single tunnel that angles gently downward.
Toro looks back at me. “Don’t puke this time, Ella!” His face is shaped into a smirk. I just roll my eyes at his lame jab. I haven’t puked since my first delve.
We walk for another hour before we notice anything interesting. A flicker of movement appears under one of the many ruined beds that we’ve passed by. All four of us ready our weapons. After a few tense moments something crawls out from under the bed. A large and perfectly circular disk stands there, two glowing green eyes on the front looking at each of us slowly. The only visible limb it has is a long, thin tail that stiffly sticks out behind it. After looking at us for a minute the thing runs back under the bed.
Silence reigns for a moment before Urma breaks it. “So, we gonna kill it or just pass by?”
The four of us exchange glances. Eventually Bellok shrugs. “Let’s just go past, but be ready if it comes out.” We follow his plan and walk right past the bed without incident.
For the next hour every bed we pass has the little crab things creeping around under them. Occasionally one will poke its head out to look at us, but usually they just stay under the rotten mattresses. Things are quiet until we see a red glow on the wall further down the tunnel.
We cautiously approach the glowing tunnel, looking out for any danger. As we get closer I notice that the glow comes from small cracks in the green paint. Beneath is a red ore that is giving off the light.
“Gods damn. Have any of you heard of a glowing red ore?” I look to each of my squadmates in turn, but they each just shake their heads. “We should go back and report this! The payout would be huge!” My head is filled with the sweet music of gold coins clinking together.
“Nah, let's keep going.” Bellok’s gruff tone breaks my fantasy to pieces.
I look at him, dumbstruck. “Bellok, why? We got more than enough without even fighting, let's just leave.” My voice is strained, cracking in annoyance.
The brute just shakes his head. “C’mon.” Without another word he walks past the glowing metal. The two others look at me before following after the moron. Eventually I find myself dragging my feet after them.
About an hour after we left the last of the glowing ore veins behind, I decide to speak up. “Bellok, guys, we’ve found nothing else. Let’s just leave already.”
Bellok turns around, anger twisting his face. “If you want to leave, Ella, go ahead. But we’r-” The large man never finishes his words, due to the even larger mouth that clamps over his upper half.
As I stand frozen in fear, my eyes travel upwards, following my ex-leader’s corpse. Just below the ceiling a massive spider head looms. The creature’s body is so large it barely fits through the tunnel. Two large legs land in front of it, one almost hitting me. It chews on its food, letting the armor fall off as it goes. The metal hitting the floor snaps me out of my daze.
I turn and run.