“Fuck!”
James stood up and the bridge shook violently. The others clutched the ropes. James pushed past Wes and started sprinting. He looked up to where he knew where the frost giants waited. They had large snowballs ready to throw at him and the others. James screamed.
“What do you want?” James yelled at the giants in place of the dungeon. “Why am I here? Why me?”
James sidestepped the first attack from the frost giants. He took out his bow and prepared his lightning arrow.
“I am tired. I feel like I need to sleep even though when I died I returned to normal. I want out of here!”
James released his arrow, and it struck one of the frost giants. The lightning bounced between the nearest two in turn. James dropped to his knees cold and exhausted. He continued to kneel and did not look up as a snow-packed boulder hit him.
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James awoke with a jolt. His heartbeat raced as he looked around at the same scene for the third time.
“Are you ok?” asked Naomi concern written all over her face.
“It's nothing. I’m not a fan of blacking out in dungeons is all. Ian has left for the exit?”
“Yeah, he and Derek left a minute before you woke up. We’ve been waiting for you.”
“Then we better catch up with them.”
James skipped most discussions along the way to the exit in place of talking with all the novices once they were gathered together. The journey through the skeletal floor continued as it had in the past until James saw the boss fighting Ian and Derek. With an arrow, James blew off a chunk of the boss’s armor and Ian finished off the boss with a cut bisecting it.
“Everyone gather around.” James ignored Ian’s glares after he interrupted the boss battle. “We have a problem.”
Everyone’s ears perked up at that announcement.
‘That got their attention.’ James thought.
“The dungeon is not operating normally. I don’t know why that is, but you can see for yourself.” James pointed to the single portal waiting for them. “There is a single portal waiting for us. Not two as should be expected. That means a few things. First is that we will have to travel further into the dungeon than expected. I would prefer to leave now but that won’t happen. Secondly, because we are going further we will have to be careful with our resources. We may need them on lower floors so we should be careful about when we use them. Lastly, because the dungeon has changed I don’t know when we can be let out. I hope I will do so on floor 25.”
James dangled that last bit of information for Ian to latch onto and for his own hopes. If he could get Ian to cooperate better then things would go smoother and maybe they could get to the 25th floor and leave this never-ending trap.
“Any burning questions?”
“How will we be able to get out of here?” Wes asked.
“By going through this delve carefully. Being more careful than usual and not taking any unnecessary risks. Follow my instructions and we will be able to get out of here in one piece. That I can promise you.”
James could see on their faces that they were a bit worried, but they still held trust in him. He noticed that at least Derek and Ian seemed excited to delve deeper into the dungeon.
James stepped through the exit portal trying to calm his nerves in preparation for the floor to come. His memories of dying alongside the other novices were fresh in his mind.
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The novices followed his lead as they traversed through the minotaur maze. An occasional foe ran into them in pairs or by themselves. Each of them had their lives ended in short succession. By the time they reached the minotaur boss, they had cleared the floor without using any potions.
The boss followed a similar pattern of movements to start with and James stepped in to break them up and force the minotaur back. Each of his attacks was quick and sometimes small but there were many. With his knives, he continued his barrage.
Wes and Naomi were on the sidelines as Ian and Derek fought close up as well. The smell of burning hair filled the room as the minotaur’s fur continued to burn after being lit on fire. Wes hacked at the minotaur when it got distracted and the wounds grew until the minotaur’s armor and then body gave in. With a roar, the bloodied minotaur collapsed.
James and the novices stepped through the portal to the 19th floor once again.
“On this floor, we will be facing spider monsters with the upper bodies of humans. Lean on your practice of sparring with others and the movements necessary to fight and win should come naturally. We will want to tilt the scales in our favor. If we can prepare a trap for the spiders then we can deal a quick blow to their forces and take them out quickly and without wasting the resources we have.”
James sent each of them off to get the different pieces of the traps he had made before and it in turn went by faster. He pointed them directly to where they needed to go which gave him time to gather some new things. James also watched Ian when he could. The kid was slow with his tasks but did the job.
The 21st floor was cold, and he needed a way to generate more heat. The easiest option and the one he ultimately chose was to cut up some of the swamp branches and use them as torches. He currently only had one in his bag which he planned to use soon, and the rest would be used on the 21st and 22nd floors.
As James cut the wood up and got the driest pieces the others prepared the other traps. When he saw that they were almost done he put his finished works in his bag and then helped the novices carry the traps to the cave. Once they set up the traps James brought out the collection of enchanted items.
“If we are going to go any deeper you will want to have these.”
Naomi took the agility ring. Derek took the necklace of strength. Ian looked at the items longingly but didn’t put up a fight right there because the spiders had entered their section of the tunnel.
Ian guided the toxic smoke towards the spiders and their irritated cries rang out and echoed through the cave walls. The spiders broke into a charge and focused their attention on James and the others who stood indirectly behind the trap. This again caused them pain as the secondary trap triggered at their feet. The trap killed their momentum as they tried to stomp the burning pile of leaves.
Derek jumped in invigorated by the new source of power. He chopped off some of the legs of the spider while Wes stepped in and took hits for them. James focused on taking out the weakened spiders around Wes. His mind still thought of Wes’s shield each time the spiders tried to strike with their spears.
James pelted the first spider with arrows striking its chest repeatedly as Derek removed its limbs. Its death came soon after.
Ian was focused on the second of the two front-lining spider monsters. It was now badly burnt and was swinging wildly now that its eyesight was all but gone. Ian led it crashing into a third spider and Naomi finished it off with a clean shot in the head. Ian’s output of attacks increased as he got closer to the spider. Soon he was standing right next to it with fire wrapping around his body as a defense.
“Get up here and help me with this spider. It is almost dead,” said Ian.
Derek dared to get closer by stayed away from Ian’s side and his outpouring of heat. With a few helpful stabs the second spider died. Derek stepped forward to take on the third spider. It was getting back up as he attacked. The spider stabbed forward with its spear and Derek ducked under it moments before it would have reached its head.
As Derek, Ian and Naomi took on the third spider James and Wes took on the remaining one. Wes’s body flooded with the power of his skills almost all active and overlapping one another. He kept his shield planted on the ground and its rage was focused solely on him. This let James focus on the spider’s weak points.
James first took out two of its legs. This reduced its attacking power because it could no longer use its front two legs to propel its body forward with the attacks. Next, he went for the spider’s arms as they battered Wes’s shield repeatedly.
While dealing with his spider James watched the others fight from one eye. Derek and Naomi were adjusting to their new level of power quickly as they fought. Each time they thought they couldn’t quite do something the enchanted items gave them that extra boost. Naomi dodged blows a second faster. Derek cut into the spider’s carapace and armor an inch deeper.
James finished off the spider with a shot to its heart once its armor had been sufficiently broken apart. Its body was filled with arrows as it collapsed.
Wes and himself turned to assist the others. The final living spider was slowing and had little armor left. They had sustained a few cuts while dealing with it, but they didn’t need immediate healing just yet. Together the five of them attacked the spider from three sides and it could no longer keep up.
With the last spider down, they headed towards the spider queen.