Chapter 39:

I studied the first room of the challenge as Helga, and I finished off all five of the badger cubs at once. We had progressed a lot in dealing with these simple enemies, and now we took turns so that we would actually get something out of the training. Now I understood why they were all level two or three.

The bigger ones were in the next room, which were levels four and five. We only sent Jonas and Helga to fight the ten of them.

The big boss was level ten. And then things got slightly more interesting when we stepped into the trap room.

I looked around, and little bits of information came to me. I saw which tiles were trapped and what level traps they were. The layout always changed, but this time, as I sprung the traps around me, I could move through it quickly and confidently.

Examining the walls and ceiling I made, I ensured that there was nothing—not that we'd come across anything. The room was really just a simple pattern of tiles. Honestly, it felt like a waste of time at this point, but the first time around, it was admittedly tricky.

After the 10% mark, though, things started to change. We already knew that was the case, and it seemed like the den mother was really named for the first few rooms as different types of monsters started appearing to fight us. It wasn't just overgrown mammals.

The first different one was a bunch of level seven spiders that were nearly knee height. Jonas and Bjorn had opted to spend their money on getting halberds and spears, so they took the lead in that one, keeping those disgusting creepy crawlies away from us while Astrid peppers from afar.

Helga and I stayed back. Our swords used to keep anything from getting around them, though we were more than happy to let the others do most of the work in this room, with only having to stop and heal.

Once, we managed to get to the room that we had been stuck in for the past five days in a little under three hours. I suppressed a quiver along my spine as I looked at the giant tarantula that stood nearly ten feet tall.

The level 15 tag explained why we were having so much trouble. If it was just a level 15, it would be perhaps doable. But every time we managed to do significant damage to it, it would scuttle back and let out a screech that would send a wave of small spiders running at us. I estimate those were around level five, but I couldn't confirm yet. I grumbled at not being able to tell this to my party.

Tomorrow I would tell them that I bought the identification skill. It was something I should have just done today, but maybe Loki fit me as a patron god, I would have liked to admit. My penchant for keeping secrets was starting to get worrying.

When I picked up a bunch of other magic stuff later tonight. And. Then we'll hopefully be able to figure something out here. We sat and watched the thing just sit there for several minutes as we all tried to think of a new approach we had. I split us up a bunch of different ways and had different focuses. Still, so far, nothing had worked, and dying to these things was particularly unpleasant.

I looked forward to having some more options once I had equipped myself with some real magic. That reminded me of something to focus on. I tried to feel any magic coming through the room and found that the shadowy nooks where the reinforcement spiders came from had some sort of ambient magic. They were just buzzing around. I couldn't do anything with it. As it was too far out of my range. Perhaps when they were summoned, I would have a chance to study it more.

Bjorn shifted his spear into one hand and slung his shield under his arm. It wasn't the most effective gear he had, but I talked him into it so he could act as a front-line defender and take blows on a shield. He preferred to do damage, wielding the spear two-handedly. We already had Jonas with this halberd for that. And really, we needed someone to stand between a strong opponent and the rest of us.

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Someone had to keep Astrid safe so she could do her damage. And the other three of us needed to be able to move more, and we just weren't. Even though some of us were as strong as Bjorn, no one had his constitution. His mass meant that he could stay in positions where we would never be able to. After he had gone along with this a few times, he seemed to enjoy it and was always ready to be up in the thick of things anyway.

Fanning out, we moved into the room. Bjorn in the front. Jonas and I flanked with Helga next to Astrid. Ready to dash in with her magic-enhanced speed. The second she saw an opening. Or to defend our combo healer and ranged damage dealer if the need arose. The spider reacted instantly, stretching up on its hind legs as it skittered awkwardly towards us, mouth opening and fangs hissing. I gritted my teeth and kept advancing, my sword feeling small and puny compared to. This thing. Each leg was as thick and round as my sword was wide.

The lightly furred kitten easily absorbed and then blocked my swings for the most part. The only exception was if I hit a very vulnerable joint. Sadly, most of them were above my head and out of my reach. That forced me to awkwardly jump to strike, unable to put much force behind the blow.

So unless Bjorn or Jonas managed to injure it or it was attacking, I didn't have much part I could play. It was frustrating, and I had held off getting a cheap spear the last couple of days. To circumvent this, just this problem. I might have done it if I had thought it was enough. But we were still a decent ways away from finishing this problem.

Bjorn raised a shield, caught the first bite, and deflected it off to the side while Jonas stabbed up at a connector joint. The spider hissed and swatted me aside with one of its legs as it advanced on the other two. I rolled on the ground and groaned. I didn't see how today was going to go any differently than yesterday.

***

Despite having gotten further than he ever had before in the fight, the spider was significantly wounded by the time we finally all fell. We actually finished earlier than we ever had before. Still, seeing the looks of frustration and repressed fear on Astrid and Helga's faces, I decided we all needed a break.

"I'm going to go spend some of this money," I said, hefting up my bag of 350 coins. "See if I can get some skills or spells that will help. Why don't you all either go see if you can get some of your own upgrades or relax for a bit. I think I might go find something that can help us tomorrow. I'll. Also, see if I can find anything about that specific monster."

I didn't let them know that the Giant Bird-weaver Tarantula had come up in my identity, giving me an actual place to start searching rather than just a giant spider monster. Tomorrow. I could tell them about identifying.

They all glumly nodded, and we went our separate ways with only a couple muttered goodbyes. I was still relatively optimistic.

Instead of going right to a skill bookstore to browse, I went to a shop I remembered finding right when I got here, a dusty old bookshop that had no one in it.

It took me nearly half an hour to find it, but when I walked in, it was just as I remembered it. I had a little bit of reading I wanted to do before. I would pick up spells, and judging based on the prices, I could afford a little bit of research. I walked up to the avatar manning the desk and politely cleared my throat. The thing came to life and looked at me blankly.

"I'm looking for a few particular books. Can you help me?"

The thing nodded.

"Okay, I want a primer on any arcane magic. And illusion magic along with... Do you have any information on the giant bird weaver tarantula?"

The thing nodded and tottered off to the shelves, where it moved around a rickety ladder and crawled up, pulling out a book or two before moving on. Soon, I had a stack of about 12 books on the desk in front of me. I picked up the first one, A Guide to Arcane Magic. All right. Seemed useful.

Of the books, I picked out four of them. A General Guide to Arcane Magic and a corresponding one for illusion magic. They mostly focused on what was available and strategies for employing them.

On top of those, I also picked out a bestiary that was one of the more general ones. But it did have an entry for the spider and a general book on advice for creating one's own spells and how to integrate spell book or skill book learnings into one's repertoire. The last one was interesting because it assumed a problem I hadn't even thought about. Creating one's own skills naturally fell into something you could use and understand, but it was only a coin.

I paid for the avatar and took the books to a table, where I started skimming.