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Down the Deep Blue Hole
Volume 1 Chapter 19: Famous last words

Volume 1 Chapter 19: Famous last words

Okay..... This is a problem. I mean, leaving aside the juicy bonda- errrrrr... Ca-calm down? I have no intention of... er...um...any of that sort. Yes! That! So... would you please don't hold my Queen at needlepoint? This is unfair, dirty! Using hostages is dirty! 

*Ahem* Back to our origninal business. Right now, we are in a little bit of a dealock with the spiders. I mean, it is to be expected. No sane huma-dungeon would throw everything it has at the enemy in the fist 'room', they would wait till the enemy reaches closer to the core and hammer them into oblivion. Dungeon instinct, don't bother asking. No idea why but it exists. So, as I was saying, we are in a deadlock. True, we have the arial advantage but that is as far as it goes. The silken traps laid by the spiders are... sticky, to say the least. My larvae where almost incapacitated by that, since the entire floor is laid with thin strands of silk. I guess even the most primitive of spiders are still smart huh. That said, I wonder if they have a Queen. I mean, spiders are not insects, so this is actually a rather special dungeon. An arachnid dungeon should be quite rare, if I remember my "lectures" correctly, thanks to a certain friendly lust-obssesed dungeon. 

The spiders were leagues harder than before, so much so that without proper set-up my larvae will get stomped so hard that they would literally poof out of existence. So, instead I simply took a advisor position and got my parasigot to scout. The tiny strands of web do not do as well when the target is tiny as well. We are careful, with plenty of backup. There is also the fact that the Quest has updated. 

Save The Companion!

Description Your dungeon companion has met some trouble when approaching your dungeon! An unknown entity has somehow trapped your companion! Please hurry and save your companion, if not, you will never meet her forever. Time Limit 1 hour Reward You will claim your companion as your own. The rest, will be to your own devices. Completion Condition Save your Companion at all costs! Difficulty D+++ Remarks The Time Limit will no longer apply if the entity is engaged in battle.

I have more time, which is good. The not so good part? I have zero idea on what to do. Like seriously. If you thought ants were tough, there's spiders. Then there are the spiders. A boss mob I guess. There is this one particular spider which proves to be veeery sneaky with it. I can't really see its actual appearance, due to all the fighting going on, but I can give a quick rundown. The usual semi-hairy legs of the spider, black in appearance. No need for colouration down in this black cavern anyways. Nice sharp downward facing mandibles that put a bee's stinger to shame. Eight glistening eyes, you know, the usual. The curious thing is that there are little strands of silk attached to the back legs of the spider, stretching on to who knows where. I mean, I have my own educated guess, but I won't really know until I actually see it in action. It's most probably communication, though if it is one-way or two-way I still don't know. Need to be careful about this...

"That spider there, careful."(me)

"Hm? Ah, that one. Sure. By the way, do you have any ideas? I have some but they require a lot of death, for both sides. Knowing honey's personality that is a scenario I would like to avoid."(bee)

"Well, that's going to be fairly troublesome in itself. Spiders are capable fighters in their own territory. Especially in a semi-enclosed space like this. I would suggest retreat and bait, to lure them out of this place. I have some more time, as long as the spiders are kept distracted."(me"

"Nope. That won't work."(bee)

"Eh? How?"(me)

"This is a Dungeon Battle. I have yet to explain the full details of it, but a more primitive dungeon would view conquered territory as hostile as default. There is absolutely no way they would send monsters into the previous cavern."(bee)

"..."(me)

"We'll have to stand off here."(bee)

My plan will not work? This dungeon will not allow the plan made by the grand me to work? Oh, I see... Hehehehe. If that is how you want to play your game, I will play it with you. Commence Operation Screw The Spider Dungeon! Or Operation OSTSD! No wait... operation got said twice. Um, I mean, Commence Operation STSD! The mighty plan will prevail.

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"I've been wanting to ask this for a while, darling, but what exactly are we doing?"(bee)

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"The wonderful plan made by me! If the dungeon does not want to go to the other room, there is no need to. Simply drag them as close as possible and make the room theirs! Then it is their room! Genius me!"(me)

"So, how exactly is picking up dead spiders and placing them in the cave going to help with it?"(bee)

"Ehh? That's how it works right? When you dungeon monsters are in the area, that are is considered yours. It's that right?"(me)

"It's live monsters, idiot darling. Not dead."(bee)

"Oh, oops..."(me)

*bonk*

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---3rd Person POV---

And so, the 3 dungeons fought. On the side of the larval dungeon, the dungeon master has opted to help ing the battle logistics wise, trying to draw out the battle into one of attrition. Makes a lot of sense, seeing that he does have a sustainable supply of food. The dungeon master has turned the previous cavern of the spider dungeon into something like an outpost, an emergency hospital and a food storage all-in-one. All the fighters, who are mainly bees, fought in half hour rotations. The dungeon master made sure that the spiders had no rest and were always against fresh 'troops'. Unfortunately, some of the weaker and less experienced bees fell prey to the spiders' deadly jaws, only a quater of them made it back only to die a horrific death as they were slowly dissolved by the spiders' venom. Even the weakest of spider venom packs enough punch to kill a small bee. That being said, it will only be time when the spider dungeon runs out of combat capable spiders. A plentiful food supply, non-exhausted monsters ready for battle and an almost endless amount of eggs still waiting to hatch(bee side), there is little to no way the spiders can win. It was just a matter of compatibility. The bees' strong bite can tear off any limb of the spider, coupled with their height advantage and their last resort stinger, the spiders are up against a tough opponent. 

Spiders were, in the end, ambush hunters. So when they were unable to ambush, they were pretty much useless. How did the bees know their position? The parasigot. Aided by the larval dungeon master, the parasigot had a whale of time sowing chaos deep in the enemy lines. The boss spider(tentative) remained untouched, but any other was free game. When a spider lunging at an exposed back of an ally, it would suddenly drop dead. The parasigot's new skill worked in a strange way. It feels it had not fully utilised its whole kit, but it appears that it would only be able to use the current skill for now. The skill was called [Leech], and had gained another skill in the midst of the battle called [phlebotomize]. The two skills worked in tandem to create shirveled corpses of spiders throughout the dungeon, wreaking havoc. It was hard to spot and even harder to catch, and once it did get caught it would immediately turn and fight back to add one more shriveled spider to its name. It was brimming with vitality, its few wounds healing fast. Using the blood of the enemies, it healed and strengthened itself, causing it to take more lives, and use those lives to power-up itself even further. Truly a parasite, benefiting at the expense of its host. 

The bulk of the larval and bee forces were congregated at the entrance, relying on waves to mow down the enemy. Once or twice, it appeared as if a bee was lagging behind, and the greedy spiders leaped for the kill. Not. It was a bait, and the co-working parasigot and other nearby bees(including the supposedly weak one) closed in to take a very juicy free kill. Thereafter, the spider dungeon learned to ignore those lagging bees, fearing more similar ambushes. A smart choice, just that it wasn't a good one. The larval dungeon master knew that, and pushed it to his advantage, allowing the bees to stay longer in the fight, sending more bees and sometimes even some of his own larvae into the mix. The slowly retreating, and actually exhausted, monsters were completely ignored as new troops moved in to fill their place. Slowly, and surely, the spider dungeon was losing. The momentum of battle could not be stopped, every opening, every mistake was capitalised by the larval dungeon master. This panicked the spider dungeon, causing it to make even more mistakes. In the back, the boss spider was desperately tugging at the silk strings attached to its back legs. 

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Push to win!!! We have the lead!! Just a bit further aaaaand, secured! One tightly trussed up Dungeon Companion secured! I'll check the details on the blue boxes later. 

"One last wave, yeah?"(me)

"Anything you say, darling~"(bee)

"This thing is in the bag! This is so easy! N-"

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You know what they say, don't celebrate early and trigger flags. Now, we can only stare at the very bloodied corpses of our front line bees. 

"Gigiiiiii!"(unknown)

What was it called? Yeah famous last words. Because my last words are really going to be the last of me. This spider had backup, alright, through another hidden flap. 

Goblins