The room had a raised dais in the center with a giant stone sarcophagus atop it. The lid had been pushed off the top and lay in pieces along the side. The sarcophagus was empty. They searched the room but couldn’t find any bodies. They searched the room but didn’t find anything.

“There’s another corridor here. It’s different than the others.” Ryan said.

“One of these things is not like the others,” Striker sing-songed.

“You’re really going there?” Will asked.

“Just did.” Striker said.

“That’s just wrong.” Will complained.

“How?” Striker asked.

“It just is.” Will said.

“Stow it.” Sarge barked, “We’ve still got a job to do. Rangers, form up.”

The Rangers quickly moved into position, tanks to the front and back with the spellcasters in the center.

“What’s different about it?” Dean asked.

“It looks more natural than the rest.” Ryan said, “The walls aren’t made of stone blocks. They look like they were chiseled out of the mountain itself.”

Ryan held up his light as the others looked over his shoulder. Sure enough, the corridor looked like it had been hand carved out of the rock.

“This is not as it should be.” Shiro breathed, feeling the walls, “The dungeon should have ended at this room.”

“Well, it doesn’t,” Sarge announced, “So we keep going.”

“It was recently uncovered.” Will said. He held his torch out to one side revealing a large pile of stone blocks.

“What do we do?” Striker asked.

“This isn’t a democracy. We keep going.” Sarge growled, “Now, move out.”

Voodoo slipped passed Ryan to take point. Will followed directly behind him, followed by Blue Dog. The rest of the group followed as directed, with casters at the center, before Striker and Dean followed at the rear. They worked their way a couple hundred steps before the tunnel branched off into two different directions.

“Left or right?” Voodoo called back to the group.

“Flip a coin.” Will suggested as Sarge barked, “Pick one.”

Will fished out a gold coin from his pocket. Him and his damn coins, Striker thought.

“Heads,” Will flipped it over to show the other side, “And tails. Call it in the air.”

“Heads.” Voodoo said as Will flipped it.

Will caught it and flipped it onto the back of his hand. “Heads.”

“Which way is that?” Voodoo asked.

“Uh,” Will looked back and forth. “I don’t know.”

“That’s heads,” Blue Dog pointed down one path, “And the other tails. Flip it again.”

Will flipped the coin again, this time coming up tails. “That way,” He said.

They worked their way further down the tunnel until Dean called a halt, “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Ryan said.

“I don’t hear anything.” Striker said.

“I thought I heard something.” Dean explained. They continued another couple hundred paces before Dean called another halt. “I’m telling you, there’s something behind us.”

“We need to find a place we can defend ourselves.” Sarge barked, “We can barely move in here. Is there an opening ahead?”

“There’s one coming up.” Voodoo called over his shoulder.

“Then hurry it up, Voodoo,” Sarge called, “And get us there.”

Dean noticed a crevice in the wall beside him. “Hang on, I have an idea.”

Ben helped to hoist Dean up, who jabbed his torch into the crevice and waited to make sure it stayed. Once Dean was satisfied, he tried to equip a couple more torches, but his hand bumped into the wall before he could grab anything from his inventory. He turned sideways and tried again. He pulled out three torches and lit one from the torch on the wall.

“Alright, let’s go.” Dean said, “But warn me if you stop.”

Dean walked backwards as they started up again. He said to the others, “There it is.”

The others stopped walking and Striker turned to look back. “Uh, guys, there really is something there.”

“I told you.” Dean said.

“What is it?” Sarge demanded.

“How should I know?” Dean asked. “It’s just a pair of eyes.”

Will asked, “Did you try scanning it?”

Dean replied, “I did, but nothing came up.”

As they were talking, three more sets of red eyes appeared at the edge of the firelight.

“There’s more.” Dean said.

“How far to the next opening?” Sarge demanded.

“A hundred feet?” Voodoo said, “Maybe two.”

Dean said, “I’m going to drop off another torch on the way so we can see what’s coming.”

“Hurry it up,” Sarge said, “We need to get somewhere we can fight.”

“Just a second,” Dean replied. He looked around the tunnel until he found an opening a few feet behind him. “Move forward a couple paces.” Striker took a few steps back, forcing the others to do the same, until Dean slipped the torch into the wall. “We’re good.”

“You heard him,” Sarge said, “Move it.”

The creatures stayed where they were, just outside the first torch’s light, as the group made their way to the opening. Striker and Dean walked backwards, keeping watch on the eyes staring back at them. Striker glanced back at the others as they ducked under a large spiderweb along the entrance. He followed suit, turned back to the entrance. Once he was through the opening, he could hear the trickle of water from the other side of the cave echoing off the walls and the sickly, sweet smell of death flooded his nostrils.

To the others, he said, “Give us some more light.”

“Look, there’s some torches already on the walls.” Ryan said as he lit the nearest one.

All Striker could see was the ambient light in the room get brighter as they continued to light more torches.

“That’s a lot of spiderwebs.” Ryan said.

Not taking his eyes off the entrance, he asked, “What’s going on?”

Will came up beside him and drew his sword. All he said was, “Look up.”

Striker glanced up. He grunted in surprise. While they had only lit a small portion of the cave with torchlight, the room was lit with a faint ambient glow that was coming from some kind of crystalline clusters on the walls and ceiling. It wasn’t bright, but just enough for him to make out that the cavern was huge, with large rock pillars scattered throughout the room, disappearing into darkness.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

It was difficult to tell exactly how tall the cave was since the entire ceiling was covered in spiderwebs. He noticed a tightly woven spider sac above the entrance to the cave and took a few steps to the side to try and see what was inside it.

A dissected goblin corpse missing its eyes stared back at him. It was pretty cool, Striker thought, and would be absolutely badass if he wasn’t standing in the layer of whatever had done it. He glanced down as his feet crunched on the ground and realized he was standing on a thick layer of old bones. This place would make an amazing Necromancer house, once the pests had been cleared out.

Will said, “What is this place?”

“A graveyard.” Striker said gleefully.

“You’re happy about that?” Will asked.

“Dude, this is the perfect place for me to set up shop.” Striker explained.

“It’s a lair.” Ryan said, “A really big monster’s lair.”

“Whatever it is,” Striker said, “I’m putting my lab right here.”

Sarge asked incredulously, “What is this? The DIY network? We’re in the middle of a dungeon and you’re acting like my wife.”

“Excuse me,” Marie rounded on him, “They’re acting like who?”

“Sorry, baby,” Sarge said, “It’s just a manner of speech.”

Voodoo and Striker exchanged a silent laugh. He didn’t know the man’s voice could go that soft and sweet.

“Yeah?” She said, “Here’s another one: doghouse.”

“Yes, baby,” Sarge said, “I’m sorry, baby.” She wasn’t appeased. Sarge cleared his throat, and addressed everyone else, “Alright, uh, form up and get ready.”

They heard a loud clicking noise echo around the cavern. The smaller creatures in the tunnel immediately responded with their own noises before rushing into the torchlight. Dean scanned the first one to appear, a spider the size of a dog.

Weaver Spiderling

Level 1

Health: 20/20

“At least they’re weak.” Dean muttered.

“They’re a mob.” Striker said, “Strength in numbers.”

Striker usually liked being right. This wasn’t one of those times. Immediately after the first one appeared, a whole swarm of them started up the tunnel. Soon, the entire tunnel was a squirming mass of spiderlings charging towards them.

He watched Dean cast Warrior’s Aura on himself as Ryan started firing arrows into the cavern. Each shot killed one of the creatures, but it didn’t matter. There were too many of them.

The spiderlings reached the tunnel entrance and started pouring out in every direction. Dean and the Rangers formed a semicircle around the entrance, slashing at the spiderlings. With the way the spiderlings were swarming, each swipe killed three or four spiderlings.

Striker turned back to the cave entrance, now hidden behind the sea of monsters, and cast fireball. The spell formed a small, swirling ball of molten liquid an inch above his staff. He pointed it at the spiderlings, targeting where he thought the entrance had been, and launched it at the creatures. He started to cast another before the first even hit.

The spell hit the mass, exploding in a torrent of liquid fire, and coated a dozen creatures. They went up like a Christmas tree in January. He started to laugh maniacally as he tossed the second fireball at them. The spiderlings started popping, making the exact same sound as popcorn in the microwave, except each one resulted in a mess of bloody goo. It coated his face, and some made it into his mouth. He snapped his mouth shut, fought the urge to swallow, and almost vomited. He took several steps back, spitting as best he could with his teeth clenched.

It wasn’t enough, the mass of spiders at the entrance pushed the group further into the cavern, swarming to sides and forcing the group into a tighter formation. Two of the soldiers fell to the onslaught, buried under the spiderlings.

“Over there!” Shiro exclaimed suddenly after they’d moved a hundred more paces into the room, pointing at a pedestal in the center of the room. He ran towards it without a second thought.

Sarge grabbed Doc by the arm and pointed in Shiro’s direction, “Go with him.”

Doc ran after Shiro, yelling at him to be careful. Shiro made it to the pedestal. “It’s not here.” He started looking around the pedestal, yelling, “It has to be here somewhere.”

Doc only made it halfway to Shiro before a large shadowy figure dropped from the ceiling, picked him up, and carried him up into the cobwebs. Doc’s scream echoed through the room a second before cutting off, and a respawn icon starting glowing. The light reflected off thousands of eyes along the ceiling, and illuminated the creature just enough for Striker to scan it.

Spider Queen

Level 27

Health 2,000/2,000

“Holy shit,” Striker breathed.

“We have to find that crystal,” Sarge mumbled beside him, “before they kill us. We won’t last long against all of them.”

Ryan asked, “Why aren’t they attacking?”

“You had to ask.” Striker said, “You know you’re not supposed to ask.”

Despite being the size of a semi-truck, she moved with lightning speed. She bolted along the spiderwebs, dropped down and attacked Shiro. He died before he could scream. She landed on the ground, standing over his dead body and let out a scream. The spiderlings on the ceiling responded. They dropped from the ceiling, surrounding the group.

“Fall back!” Sarge bellowed at the top of his lungs, startling Striker. The soldiers reacted immediately, breaking from their line and running past him. Dean didn’t react in time. He was buried under the mob within seconds.

Striker ran with the others, dodging around the spiderlings as they attacked, and charged at the queen in what he knew was suicide. Sarge reached her first, leapt at her as he swung his two-handed sword in a wide arch.

He gaped at her health points and swallowed a lump rising in his throat. He saw her health flash, but didn’t see a discernable drop. Her health bar only dropped five points. The Queen attacked so fast Sarge couldn’t react. Her fang dug deep into his shoulder.

Striker charged a fireball and hurled it at her as he ran. Her health dropped ninety points and the explosion pushed her over several feet.

The Spider Queen wheeled around and sighted him. She started charging.

She was almost on top of him when he released the a second fireball. It exploded against her side and coated her back. She hissed in pain and skittered away to a nearby pillar, where she raced up the spiderwebs. The fire on her back acted as a beacon and he was able to see that she’d lost almost three hundred points of health.

The reckless charge left everyone isolated from each other, surrounded by a mob of spiderlings. He slashed at them with his staff as he tried to draw his sword with his other hand.

“Any good ideas?” Ryan called out from somewhere in the room.

“Any dumb ideas?” Will asked.

“I got one,” Striker said, “But it’s really dumb.”

“How dumb?” Will asked.

“It’ll probably kill us.” Striker said.

“We’re about to die, anyway.” Marie called, “Just do it.”

“Hold on to your butts.” Striker said as he charged another fireball. He pointed it straight at a large spiderweb sac and fired. As he suspected, the spider sac was extremely flammable because it immediately caught on fire. Within seconds, a roaring fire covered the entire ceiling. The entire room was filled with the cacophony of spiderlings screaming and popping as they died.

“That was actually a pretty good idea, Striker.” Will called.

“Wait for it.” Striker yelled back.

A web sac dislodged from the wall and exploded as it hit the ground in a loud crash, spraying the area with burning spiderweb. Another one fell a second later. Soon, the sacs were dropping all around the cavern as the individual strands floated down around them. The room filled with smoke, making it impossible to breath without choking and their eyes filled with tears obstructing their vision.

Striker dodged the falling debris, wielding his staff like a baseball bat to club away any spiderlings that attacked him. He ended up on the other side of the cavern when he spotted a large pool of water. He dove for it, hoping it would keep him from burning alive. The water was waist high by the time he reached the center of the pool and noticed something odd about the surface. He scooped up a handful and peered at the shimmering substance on the surface.

Sighing at his own stupidity, he watched as a strand of burning web landed on the surface. The oily substance caught fire, the flames racing across the surface with a roar. He took a deep breath and nearly coughed it back up as the smoke burned the back of his throat. He dove under the surface.

He looked up in time to see the fire race across the surface above him. It was kind of beautifucl, in a ‘I’m totally fucked’ sort of way. He just hoped the stuff would burn off before his breath gave out.

A faint shimmering in the muck at the bottom a few feet away caught his attention. He slowly worked his way over to it, using his hands to push himself on the bottom while being careful not to let his feet break the surface. It caused a lot of the muck to swirl up around him. He tried to push it out of the way so I could see, but it took a forever before everything settled down.

The shimmering was coming from a half-buried corpse. The water had worn away almost everything but the bones and rusted through the armor. It wore an old crown that disintegrated when Striker touched it. The same thing happened to the armor and ring it was wearing.

The shimmering was coming from something beneath it. He gingerly reached down and felt around. His hand closed on an orb the rough size of a baseball. He tried to pull it out, but his hand stuck. He released the orb and tried again, but to no avail. Fighting back the panic welling up in his chest, he closed his hand on the orb and used the other to slowly make a paddling motion just above the muck. He kept at it until he had stirred up a large murky cloud, ignoring his burning lungs and spots starting to cloud his vision, before trying again. After a second, he felt the bottom give and let his hand go with a wet plop.

The orb let off a faint glow as swirling white ribbons of light danced inside it. He quickly tried scanning it.

Description: Settlement Crystal

Rarity: Epic

The burning in his lungs was becoming unbearable at that point. He glanced back at the surface and saw that the fire had burned itself out. He stood up slowly and took a deep breath as he broke the surface. The fresh air flooding his lungs felt amazing despite burning his lungs and making him cough uncontrollably for several seconds. His vision flared bright white, blinding him. He blinked several times until his eyes could adjust, and he could read the words floating in front of him.

Game Update Downloading

2% Complete

The update hadn’t affected any of his other senses. He could still smell the smoke, feel it burning his lungs, and making him cough. He watched impatiently as the numbers slowly crept upwards. After reaching a hundred, the notification changed from downloading to loading, where the counter started over. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the update completed and his vision returned to normal. After the bright light, the room was extremely dark. He only had time to register the mass of moving shadows around him before something bit him in the shoulder. It hurt. Not the mild pain that he’d set the game at, but an agonizing, mind numbing level that tore the breath from him in a grunt of surprise. His vision cleared enough to see that he was surrounded by spiderlings just before the rest attacked him.

The only thought he had before he died, one that barely registered through the pain, was the hope that the he hoped he held onto the crystal.