POV: Anna

There are the stairs upwards, we can finally leave the lava cave behind us! No more nearly sweating to death with all my fur!

"Come on, Geoffrey, I wanna get out of this sauna! Let's hurry!"

He nods, "Yeah, sure."

"Hmm...? What's wrong? You seem kinda absent-minded."

He collects himself, "Do I? Ah, it's nothing, I'm just worried about the others. We've seen nothing of them in quite a while and... I got this strange feeling..."

Hmmm...

"Nah, they'll be fine. We just have to get moving and we'll find them soon. They can't be too far away!"

He shrugs it off, "If you say so."

The stairs are shorter than the last ones, uhh, whatever.

At the end of the stairs, I see... Oh, come on, not this place again, "Why are we back in the stupid spider cave..."

Geoffrey scratches his head, "No idea, but we didn't find any other routes we could've taken. I guess it is just a different cave."

I sigh, "I already hate this place..."

Out of alternatives, we travel further into the spider cave and fight a couple of spider monsters every now and then. But so far there are no branching paths.

After a while, we finally find a junction. To the left are more narrow web-covered corridors. To the right... nope, nope, not dealing with that shit. Again I see a big room that contains a spider cocoon and hundreds of spiders guarding it or alternatively, crawling into the cocoon. No thanks.

"I, uh, vote we take the other direction. I don't want to deal with that many creepy crawlies."

Geoffrey agrees, "Yeah, I agree. Even if we didn't have to worry about them fighting back I doubt we have enough SP between us both to beat all of them. And we have no safe zones to retreat to either. So left path it is. Come, but be quiet."

I nod, "Uh-huh."

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POV: Dan

I see the cat girl and the gruff man walking away from the cocoon.

Uh, guys? I think you forgot something. Or rather someone.

...and I extra brought you back here so you wouldn't miss your friend again. So much for me trying to be a good friend...

But what else can I do to reunite them? As it is, I've way overestimated their chances and just ending the game not even ten percent in would be a total letdown...

While I think about what I should now do with the captive girl, a fish-legged mummy approaches me.

"Uh, buddy? You're in the wrong place. This is the spider-only place, uh, I think."

Not sure, ever since that furry-eared girl shouted at me, I doubt what I know...

Growl

"No, no, it's fine. You can just go back to your area. Now, shoo."

He wobbles on, heading toward the collection of spiders.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Why is he...? His area is in the other direction.

Oh, he wants to tell his friends hello first, gotcha!

Munch Munch

Uh, why does he chomp on the spider friends now? That's rude! You don't eat your friends!

He has already killed two spiders and is nibbling on a third, "Hey, stop that!"

I slap the mummy away with my mouths.

You've inflicted 12292 damage to Ț̸͆ê̵͙ḋ̷̻ and defeated it.

The mummy flies through the air and lands a good bit away from us, melting into the ground once it does. Where there was a web-covered floor before is now a mummy-shaped hole of a green-black flickering mass.

What is that?

I walk over to it to inspect it closer.

I feel drawn in, it looks... fascinating. I try to touch it but suddenly I'm overcome by intense pain.

You've taken 1 damage.

Status effect was resisted.

You've taken 1 damage.

Status effect was resisted.

Status effect was not applicable.

You've taken 0 damage.

You've taken 65535 damage.

Status effect was not applicable.

Status effect was resisted.

Status effect is on vacation.

You've taken 65535 damage.

Unknown status effect was applied but not implemented.

Reflexively, I step back.

What does any of that mean? ...eh, who cares. It just tickles a bit.

I turn my attention back to the spiders. They've continued as if nothing happened, good.

Wait, where's the half-eaten one?

Ah, there it is, found it! ...why is it now two-headed and covered in purple-green polka dots?

And why does it rip the cocoon apart?

"Stop that you dumb spider! You'll hurt the captive!"

I snap at it with my appendages.

You've inflicted 12417 damage to M̶̤̒à̷̖g̵̩̀ṳ̶̓ś̶͜ ̵̬͒Ṣ̸̅p̷̩̒ï̷̦d̷̑͜ē̴̲r̶̗̓ and defeated it.

What is with everyone today...

The cocoon is damaged beyond repair and the strangely colored elf girl spills out.

Great... She still looks bad, the dark-black skin color can only be a bad sign...

Maybe I should kill her so she can recover for next week? But... I don't wanna win yet and the blood elf would probably not want to play with me again if I exploit her sickness... what to do, what to do...

I gesture to some of the spiders, "Can you guys web her up again so she can recover?"

The spiders gather around me, salute and then hustle around, doing as I asked them to. They are certainly better friends to the elf than the cat and her gramps. Maybe she'll agree to stay with us once she's recovered?

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POV: Lucia

Maria and Elly distract the remaining boss monster, the one called Fact Checker, and Chloe sneaks behind its back. I cast another Fire Spell and throw it at Chloe to amplify her attack with [Enchant Weapon].

Chloe receives my spell and swings her weapon at the boss, probably scoring a critical hit, but nevertheless taking down the second member of the duo boss fight.

I've still no idea what made it different from its brother Thought Police, they were identical in every aspect. Both wore ugly blue shirts, sported creepy grins and wielded strange boards with letters printed on them as weapons. At least they are dead now.

Maria breathes a sigh of relief, "I'm glad that's over."

"See, Chloe? That wasn't too hard now, was it?"

Chloe sighs, "I still think we should've gone with my strategy. Would've been much less risky."

"I don't see what your problem is. Everything went according to plan."

She argues, "But it was a bad one. Maria almost died while holding the first boss's attention."

"So what? She would be back in a week again."

She tries to correct me, "We can't risk that-"

Elly goes between us, "Girls, you're both pretty, but can we PLEASE focus on the problem at hand? We still have a massive dungeon ahead of us and there's no sign of the rest of our team."

"Yeah, yeah", I click my tongue, "Doesn't change the fact that I outrank her as the Lord's wife."

Chloe doesn't let that one go by, "That doesn't mean you have any relevant experience out here in the field. This is only your second proper dungeon visit, I've been doing this for years, Lucia!"

"So what? This isn't as hard as you make it sound."

Maria knocks me on the head, "Don't be stupid, Lucia. This is not a game. You want to get out of here alive, don't you? Then please leave the planning to the expert."

Why's everyone always against me...

But I have to admit that Chloe has more experience than me in this.

Why do I always feel like I have to antagonize her?

...because she deserves it. Just... not now.

"Urgh, fine. Chloe can lead from now on... just... don't show me up again in front of Jared", otherwise I'll revoke your living license, Chloe.

Chloe is surplused, "Again? What do you think I've done?"

I scoff, "Don't play dumb, you know exactly what you've done."

With that said, I walk towards the exit.

Chloe shouts after me, "Hey, wait! We're not done yet!"