Realization struck at once. The Spider Matriarch’s song had hypnotized me, pulling me into a foggy stupor. There was no debuff on my status screen, and no other indication that it had happened, but I could still feel the effects.
Gertrude had vanished into the throng, and there was no telling how long I’d been enraptured by the strange lullaby. It had been long enough.
Too long.
I fluttered away from the line of dance-drunk spiders, doing my best to clear my head. I still felt the longing deep within me, even after distancing myself. The song was powerful. The desire to return to memories of better days plagued me despite my efforts.
That feeling was a lie. The spider’s song couldn’t give my brother back. It couldn’t make me unsee the things I’d seen since the day he’d been taken from me.
No. He hadn’t been taken.
I hadn’t allowed myself to come to grips with that. Ellis hadn’t been taken from me. He had volunteered, the same as I had. The same as countless others who had come before us. All of this to make some coin or to keep the world safe, sometimes both, and no one even knew.
Truth be told, I hadn’t heard of a single Diver who had challenged the jukebox against their will. That didn’t mean it was impossible, or that they didn’t exist. I’d just never heard of anyone being forced to dive. Even if there were one or two, the rest of us were volunteers.
Ellis hadn’t been forced, and neither had I, but that fact changed nothing about my current circumstances. The only thing that mattered now was finding a way to escape this place alive. To do that, I needed to figure out the puzzle in front of me. Untangling my mind could wait.
I exhaled a determined breath and then flew above the dancing spiders to get a better look.
Large bubbles of milk littered the grotto floor, just as Gertrude had described. They were spherical in shape but were not of one uniform size. All the drops, regardless of how big or small, caught the filtered light of the fireflies up above, then amplified that light around the grotto.
I had seen them earlier, but the magic of the song made me forget. Even now, the draw to succumb to my memories was far too strong. I’d have to act quickly before those eerie notes ensnared my mind once more.
Retrieving one of the large acorn caps, I flew toward the nearest drop. Filling the cap was easy, as was placing the new item into my inventory.
Quest Update! You have collected Milk of the Spider - 1 of 5.
I pulled out another of the large saucers and drained the rest of the shimmery white liquid before storing it, too, into my inventory. None of the nearby spiders seemed to mind.
Three more caps to go and I didn’t have a single moment to lose. There was another, smaller drop nearby. I quickly fluttered over and filled the next saucer.
Quest Update! You have collected Milk of the Spider - 3 of 5.
A Hatchling skittered over and drained the rest of the drop before I could so much as protest. Then it rushed back to join its brothers and sisters in the dance.
With all the drops of milk in this area drained by the smallest of the gigantic spiders, filling the final two saucers would be a little more tricky. The only other sources of the milk that I could see were the ones nearest the inner ring. Inside that ring writhed the much larger Juvenile Spiderlings. Those were the grumpy older siblings that Gertrude had warned me about.
I hovered in the air for a moment, flapping my wings as I mentally weighed the puzzle before me. It seemed I had two options. The first, and easiest, was that I could take my chances and wait until the Matriarch placed new drops of milk for her children. The second, and more difficult option, involved risking the aggro of the bigger Spiderlings by approaching their inner ring.
While the first of the two felt preferable, both options came with clear advantages and disadvantages.
The fact that I wanted to wait it out wasn’t startling. The reason why was. It took me a full minute to finally admit it to myself.
I wanted to give myself to the enchantment of the music. I wanted to live in those moments again. I wanted to let go. I wanted to go back to the time before the Divebar and relive those memories with Ellis, not just as memories, but to experience all of it. Again and again. The lure of the song was enticing. Too enticing. The song was like a drug. It promised much, but I already knew that the cost was far too steep.
That was precisely why waiting for the drops of milk to be replenished was a really, really bad idea.
I paused for a moment to steel my nerves, then flew higher and scanned the grotto. The inner ring drew my gaze. If the Spider Hatchlings were about the size of a horse, the Juveniles were easily twice that. They were closer to the size of their towering mother than that of their younger siblings.
Instead of flying directly toward the next drop, I considered the available options. There were three drops close to my current location, and another two in the other direction that were just a bit further away. The further drops were situated a ways away from the inner circle, and well into the outer ring of dancing Hatchlings.
That second location was the safer choice and the best option if I wanted to try to avoid aggro. While it was possible for the dungeon cores to lie, I had a feeling that Gertrude’s warning shouldn’t be ignored. The Juveniles were dangerous, and if that was true, then their mother was probably downright deadly.
My mind was set. Caution was the only strategy that made sense. I headed toward the distant milk drops, ignoring the excited cries that urged me to rejoin the dance as I went.
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Quest Update! You have collected Milk of the Spider - 4 of 5.
With the fourth acorn cap secured, I retrieved the fifth and final cap from my inventory. The milky liquid poured into the saucer, filling it to the brim. Before I could store the haul, I watched in shocked horror as both the cap and the milk fell to the ground.
My vision flashed red and my HP plummeted by about twenty-five percent.
Agony radiated through my left leg. It was dull at first, slightly pinching, then the pain grew sharper. I tasted copper in my mouth and looked down to find a gleaming ebon-black spear lancing from the back of my calf and out near my shin.
An unnatural fire seared its way through each and every nerve in my body. I had a nasty bleed effect in my status bar. I didn’t understand. There were no enemies here. Nothing except for…
Then realization struck.
I hadn’t been stabbed by a spear. The weapon was one of the thin, razor sharp legs of a Juvenile Spiderling. My eyes darted to the spiders thrashing around us on one side and then to the cowering Hatchlings on the other. The circle and ring had shifted around me, but I’d been too preoccupied to notice.
The Spiderling pressed downward, sending a new wave of pain burning through me. It pressed harder, toppling me forward while pinning my leg to the webbed ground from behind.
I turned as best as I could. I wanted to look into the face of the creature that had attacked me. My eyes locked onto the dripping fangs. They were nearly two feet long. They raked the air, dribbling out green venom like twin hypodermics that couldn’t hold a seal.
Then I met the spider’s gaze. Eight coal-black eyes glared down at me, the depths of which were fathomless. The dark orbs seemed to suck in the surrounding light.
The Spiderling began to chitter in a language I couldn’t understand. Though the words were unintelligible, the meaning was clear.
My warm welcome had come to a bitter and untimely end.
You Inspect the Juvenile Spiderling.
Level 29.
Leopold — Older brother to Gertrude.
HP 1,500 / 1,500.
Warning! This mob is affected by Frenzy.
Attack speed is greatly enhanced.
My body sprang into action before my mind had a chance to catch up. I gripped the arachnid’s leg at the point just above where it had punctured my calf, then I allowed my magic to flow. Glowing leaves swirled in the air around the gleaming black chitin.
You cast Azande’s Grasp on Leopold, the Juvenile Spiderling.
Critical hit! Leopold takes 250 HP Fae damage.
Azande’s Grasp tightens.
Azande’s Grasp inflicts Breakage.
Twin screams split the air as the magic finished the job. One was mine. The other belonged to Leopold.
The enormous spider lurched backward. His sharpened claw remained embedded in my calf, but the rest of his leg shot backward. Green goo dripped from the now-severed appendage. It mixed with the blood seeping from my wound, sending a new wave of pain from head to toe.
I grasped the hardened outer shell of the broken leg and, careful not to tear my hands on the smaller spikes, pulled the claw back out the way it had gone in. Then I tucked the menacing spike into my inventory and found myself suddenly very thankful that the spikes that lined the spiders’ hardened exoskeletons faced forward instead of back.
Leopold chittered at me in what appeared to be a mix of furious anger and confused agony.
“You’ve never had someone fight back before, have you?” I asked my now-raging foe. “Well, if it was a fight you were looking for, it looks like you found it.”
The harpsichord went quiet.
The Juvenile Spiderling bared his fangs and hissed, dancing forward with amazing speed.
This time was different. This time, I was ready for his attack.
You cast Darkened Shroud.
The surrounding area has been blanketed in a veil of shadow.
Critical Strike chance is improved by 100% while attacking within the shroud.
Leopold slashed down with his other front leg. The uninjured black claw sank deep into the floor’s webbing where I had been standing only seconds before. He let out another shriek of rage when he discovered he’d missed his mark.
Fluttering mere feet above his head, I equipped both chakrams and performed my headfirst spinning dive attack before he had a chance to react.
You use Wheel of the Wisps.
Your attacks have been strengthened by Darkened Shroud.
Critical Strike! Leopold takes 248 HP + 18 Fae Damage.
Critical Strike! Leopold takes 230 HP + 16 Fae Damage.
Critical Strike! Leopold takes 246 HP + 18 Fae Damage.
The large spider roared, thrashing his legs in every direction. Bits of blood and gore-spattered webbing flew into the air, nearly entangling me as I did my best to dodge the haphazard attack.
Leopold uses Vortex Slash.
Leopold misses his attack.
The disorienting fog began to fade, slowly revealing the massive form of Leopold leering down at me. His fangs glistened. They twitched. He prepared to strike.
It was eerily quiet in the Spiders’ Grotto.
Leopold lunged, his fangs prepared for the strike.
He was too slow.
I used Wheel of the Wisps again, narrowly avoiding the dripping fangs while corkscrewing through his abdomen. Gore splashed on the webbing below and his lifeless corpse slumped forward.
Congratulations! You have killed the Juvenile Spiderling.
Leopold has died.
You gain 1,275 Experience Points.
“You killed Leopold,” a small, frightened but familiar voice gasped from beside me.
It was Gertrude. I hadn’t sensed her approach. She sounded conflicted, both sad and relieved all at once.
“Leopold wasn’t very nice, it’s true,” she went on. “Even so, you shouldn’t have killed him. I’m afraid Mother will be terribly angry.”
The music had stopped at some point during the fight. I now knew why.
The huddled mass of baby spiders parted as the Spider Matriarch descended the mound of piled bones. Her dagger-like legs plunged into the ancient debris, shattering the ancient remains of previous kills into jagged fragments. Chitin and bone tumbled in every direction.
The young Spiderling backed away, leaving me to stand alone beneath the icy glare of eight enormous black eyes.
The grief-stricken Matriarch let out an earsplitting screech. Her front legs clawed at the air and her fangs began to twitch. She dashed forward, closing the distance that remained before I could react.
The Spider Matriarch uses Delirium Fang.
You’ve been hit! You take 900 HP Poison Damage.
Warning! You are losing consciousness.