The star showed itself and we continued towards the town called Penrith.

We were following a road that Ivona said would lead us to the town when we encountered a man walking slowly in the same direction in front of us.

He had an injury around his left leg, he didn't really do a good job bandaging it. It is noticeably loose.

„He looks like he needs some help,“ I said, thinking the others noticed his leg also.

Vincent thought about it, but when he was about to say something, Ivona words came first.

„Hey! You over there! Do you need some help!“ She called out.

Jeez, at least let us decide first.

The man turned around and faced us. He was bald but had a full boxed beard that was cut short. He had full of straps around him with small pouches, and two axes around his waist. He also had a backpack on him.

„Oh, hi!" He said with a happy smile and walked up to us.

„Uh, yes I do need some assistance.“

„Do you know how to bandage correctly?“ Ivona asked and pointed towards his leg.

He looked down and inspected his leg.

„Well of course, but it kinda got loose.“

„Did you just notice your leg now?“ I asked.

„Eh, maybe?“

Oh my god.

„Here let me see it.“

Ivona pulled out a bandage and replaced the old one.

„So what happened to you?“ I asked.

He had a hesitant look for a moment.

„First of all, my name is Fiete Dariel,“ he said, and we all introduced ourselves.

„And second, are you guys artifact hunters?“

We all nodded.

„And third, are you all trustworthy?“

We all nodded again.

He is hiding something, I can tell.

„Hey, Ethan, maybe we should not trust people so easily,“ Vincent said quietly.

„Yeah, I was thinking the same. It might bite us in the ass later, just like what happened with me when some asshole took all the artifacts for themselves.“

Vincent ignored my obvious comment about him.

Fiete looked around, then back at us.

„You all seem like good folks. So I think it should be safe telling you this.“

He gestured us to come closer. Like he didn't want others to overhear.

„I found an underground dungeon that should hold an artifact," Fiete said quietly.

Ivona and I looked surprised.

An artifact? Why would he give that up to strangers?

„And well, you see, I have gone there a few times but only left with scars.“

I see where this is going.

„If you folks would help me, I will give you all the treasure, but not the main price,“ he said with a smile.

„How much of the treasure is there?“ Vincent asked.

„Enough to buy your own mansion.“

I would guess a mansion would cost a lot around here.

„And you're sure you don't want some of it?“

„Yeah, it's fine, I don't care about it except for the artifact itself.“

It might be good to have some gold when we enter towns and cities. Right now we are penniless.

Ivona and I agreed, but Vincent still looked suspicious about him. But eventually, he agreed.

„Alright then! Follow me and we will be rich!“ Fiete said enthusiastically.

----------

While we were walking, we asked what kind of dangers we might find. Fiete told us that there were spiders.

Big spiders, huh? I get scared of small ones due to them always reminding me of Nanos. But bigger ones? I guess I am fine with that, except if they turn small and start to evolve metal parts in their bodies.

He also told us about traps that lie down there, he has encountered some of them, but there were others to look out for that he did not know about.

There was one thing that I haven't checked on the shield's screen. It was the first button with the shield icon. Might as well check what's on there while going to the area Fiete mentioned.

I opened it up and the front part of my shield started changing, the metal itself started to come loose and moved in strange ways.

I started getting nervous until finally, it turned into what looked like the framework of the shield. And beneath that were different color patterns, and there was a black line at the orange color. The color might resemble the shield's energy.

I moved the black bar, or more like the slider, towards the color purple, then the shield's energy started to change color.

This is pretty neat.

The others around me noticed it but didn't say anything about it.

So I can change its colors. What about this framework of the shield?

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I moved some of the frameworks in different directions, and the shield itself started slowly following the pattern I made.

I can also change its shape?

I thought about it but decided I didn't want to do that. Because I am not a good artist, I would just ruin the whole thing.

I slowly changed the frame back and the purple color to orange, so it would match with my orange cloak, and then I turned this weird holographic thing off. Then the framework started becoming one with the shield again.

It creeped me out because I am sure the framework was the Nanos.

I tried to find out if I could change the screen's color to something new, but I didn't find anything. The screen was white and bright as hell, or more like bright as heaven.

----------

„There it is, the entrance to the artifact dungeon,“ Fiete said and pointed towards it.

The entrance was in the forest, with so many trees around it would have been hard to find the place.

There was a stairway going down in the ground, and it was dark inside.

We picked up torches of the walls but didn't lit them because I had a program called Light Energy, that would light up the area.

It's pretty good in this situation.

We all took our weapons out, I placed my shield on the left arm and a sword on my right. That would be better when handling weapons.

We started moving down, Fiete was in the lead.

I still felt doubt about Fiete, but he was telling the truth about the dungeon.

We entered the first room, but there was nothing around. He showed us some of the traps around. A pressure pad on the ground that would shoot arrows from the walls, or it might open up a pitfall and we would fall to our doom.

We finally, after many empty rooms and corridors, found a closed door that would have spiders inside.

„Here is the last place I have been, there are a few big of these monsters, but four of us could easily handle them,“ Fiete said and readied his axes.

The door opened and just like what Fiete said, there were big spiders around.

They saw us going in, and started hissing at us aggressively, but didn't attack.

Then one of them made a move, but Ivona's arrow hit it and pierced its skull and it fell down.

Then many of the spiders moved at us, I counted at least 10 spiders.

„Watch out for the webs! You will get stuck in them easily!“

A spider came at me and I blocked his teeth with my shield. The shield reacted by brightening itself and blinding the creature.

The program Light Energy had a passive effect when someone would attack it, it would react by trying to blind the enemy. But I should not move the front part towards my team, they could get blinded if they were close.

When the spider tried covering its eyes, I decapitated it with my sword.

Yeah, that's much better. Having the weapon in my right hand instead the left has greatly increased my accuracy.

Vincent backed off from a spider attack, and managed to slice some of the legs, then finished it off without difficulty.

Fiete looked like a berserker and ran towards two of them, he threw one of his axes and perfectly hit the head of one of them. It didn't go down, but Fiete jumped at it and made his ax go deeper, then it fell.

Then he immediately spun towards the next spider and ran towards it. But he got caught by the ground that had webs and fell down, even though he was the one to warn us about them, his blood was rushing so he likely didn't think about the webs.

Ivona noticed and quickly shot an arrow towards the spider just before it was about to pounce at him.

He cut himself free and thanked her.

The battle continued on. Ducking and weaving, blinding and slicing, aiming and shooting.

Then just like that, the battle was over. It was really quick, but it felt like I was fighting for some time. Spiders laid across the floor, and we sustained no injuries.

„Good job guys. Only a few more rooms until we find the treasure,“ Fiete said while panting.

„How do you know there are only a few left?“ Ivona asked.

„I have a hunch.“

„. . . .“

We were about to leave the room when I noticed Vincent, looking intently at one of the spiders.

„Let's go, Vincent!“ I called him out.

He turned his head towards me, then back, then back at us again and followed us.

----------

We cleared room after room, corridor after corridor, managed to avoid many traps, until we finally found a double door.

„This must be it, in dungeons that have a double door mostly always means that this must be the last room,“ Fiete explained.

„Well, then what are we waiting for?“ I said and opened up the door.

Behind the door was not the thing I was expecting to find.

„Oh, shit,“ I heard from everyone.

In the middle of the giant room, was a much bigger spider. At least four times bigger than the last we fought against. There were also eggs around, big ones.

„There is a corridor behind that big thing! We should just skip fighting it and head towards it!“ Fiete shouted out.

„Alright! I will blind it while we go!“

Then we ran. I was closest to the spider, blinding it with my shield and dodging its attacks.

I think this spider must be a broodmother, a queen of the dungeon.

There were other smaller spiders around, but they didn't interfere. Maybe the broodmother wanted to fight alone? Bad choice.

Ivona shot a few arrows at it, but they didn't seem to do much.

Fiete and Vincent managed to go in the corridor. But when Ivona and I were about to enter, a hidden stone gate closed off the corridor, splitting us into two groups.

„NO!“ I yelled.

Ivona and I turned around to face the broodmother.

„What now?“ I asked.

We saw that the double door we came through was getting webbed by spiders, trapping us in here.

„I guess we have to fight.“

Oh great. This is just awesome, not really though.

The broodmother screeched at us and was about to attack.

„Program! Expand artifact!“ I quickly yelled out.

The shield's energy rose and became larger, protecting me completely from the front.

I learned while we were going to Penrith that I could call out a program and it would activate. It was much faster than looking down at the screen and trying to find it then select it.

The broodmother tried biting me with its fangs, but when it collided with the shield, it was blinded by it.

I fell back a bit, but the broodmother walked back in pain, covering its eyes. I think the Light Energy was much more effective when it was combined with the expanded shield.

Ivona aimed towards one of its legs.

„Program! Scatter arrow!“ She yelled out and fired a zettra made arrow.

The arrow glowed and when it was about to collide with a leg, it exploded into smaller pieces and severed it.

The broodmother screeched in pain and fell down a bit, but got back up quickly.

So that is what those arrows can do. Does she always need one of those arrows to use a program? Then she would need to make many of those if she wants to use a powerful shot.

The broodmother came at me with one of its legs. I blocked it, but its strength made me soar backward.

I hit a wall and groaned in pain. The shield energy and the screen was gone.

Crap, I'm out of energy. I should have taken in more from the stone. I think Vincent has a few zettra stones from the camp, but he isn't here right now.

The shield is useless right now, all I have is a sword.

Ivona shot two more zettra arrows and severed two more legs. Now the broodmother has only five legs remaining. It has four on the left side, and one on the right. It won't be able to hold its balance.

I thought this would have been much harder, but she can without difficulty, win this.

The broodmother made its last screech when Ivona fired multiple normal arrows in its head.

It twitched for a bit, then it stopped.

„Good job,“ I said and coughed.

She noticed my shield and took out a zettra stone from her backpack.

„Here take this.“

„You have one?“

„Of course, though I was going to use it for my crossbow, but it looks like you need it more than me.“

I hesitated. But then took the stone and let the Nanos gather the materials. I shuddered. I must deal with this every time I charge up my shield, great.

„So what now? How are we going to open up that gate?“ I asked.

„I think we can't, Vincent and Fiete have to find a different way out.“

Then it is all up to them.

„let's wait outside, this place is giving me the creeps.“

When we started to move out, we noticed that there were still a few spiders around, but they didn't move towards us, they only looked at us with anger.

We cut out the webs from the door and went on our way.