Day 14, 8:00 AM
I give the same speech as last time before we descend to the fourteenth floor. I hesitate, but I still put my one available attribute point into physique, to better spot the webs. The kids’ safety is important. Besides, I would’ve eventually invested a point there anyway.
I lead the way and reach the fourteenth floor. Ten percent increase in my eyesight, or twenty-six percent of an average human’s, makes for a huge difference. The threads, which were nearly invisible the first time, now refract light even from the middle of the clearing, giving me ample time to prepare. Plus, there’s another change. I might be imagining it, but the kids’ footsteps against the stone stairway echo louder, their sound clearer.
Heightened senses will be useful for my own progress. I’m already strong and agile enough, better perception and a sturdier body might just be worth the investment.
The kids step onto the grass behind me, and I move forward. Once I’m a step away from the web, I repeat my experiment with the leaf as well as my warnings. They are met with scorn, but these static webs are their ticket out of here.
I snap the thread and spider in short order before clearing the path forward. Unlike last time, I don’t insist on stepping forward whenever we notice the webs. We’ll cycle through the order two times before Lucy leads the way into a spider’s domain. Then, if she manages not to get hurt, Fred is the one to enter a spider domain right after her.
The little critters live in pairs, their homes close, but not overlapping.
Minutes pass, a centipede attacks Lucy, the giant land lobster Fred hates so much, but they love him rushes towards us and dies, then I swat away a tarantula, no longer hiding my skill with the staff. The kids are too unfamiliar with combat techniques to notice it anyway.
Lucy handles another lobster, and Fred is overjoyed to have finally gotten a mantis. Like last time, he handles it without injury. I tsk inwardly. Had he suffered a slash against the mantis last time, I wouldn’t have been in this mess. Now, redo is red and I’m risking another cycle of deaths.
I smash a centipede to pieces to vent some anger, and finally, it’s Lucy’s turn to fight the orb-weaver. She advances carefully, looking left and right for anything out of place. A rustle, she stops, but it’s only the wind. Another increase in dungeon difficulty. It makes noises, movement, harmless objects which resemble monsters, and generally feels like it’s out to get you the further you delve down.
I spot the web. More importantly, I spot the orb-weaver, lurking twelve feet off the ground in the branches. I make no overt movements, nothing to give the kids a clue. But I do keep my eyes on the spider above our heads. Its razor-tentacles move excitedly when it notices us, I guess it’s something akin to salivating when you see a tasty meal, but it stays put.
Lucy freezes a foot before the strand at hip height. For a moment, I think I gave myself away, since I was ready to snatch her back, but she then whacks the thread with her club. The web shakes, but doesn’t snap.
I can’t help tilting my head up a bit. The orb-weaver is on the move, its limbs dancing to move a strand of web to its frontmost legs. Fortunately, it doesn’t go after Gila. Lucy is oblivious of the danger, focused on snapping the thread.
It occurs to me I could let the falling orb-weaver slash her, but I dare not risk it.
The spider jumps, a glistening thread connecting its butt with a branch above, another stretched between its forelegs. It hears my staff whirling, but it’s too late. My staff smashes into it like a cannonball, breaking its body as Battlefield Mastery sends it flying into a strung thread. Spider chunks rain like confetti above the bushes, and Lucy takes a startled step back.
“I think we should head back,” I say as she bumps into me.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
She looks up at me, unwillingness and fear mixing in her eyes.
“But she didn’t suffer an injury!” Fred protests. “I know you protected her, but that’s how things work on a team, right? We look out for each other.”
That’s one of the reasons I dislike Fred. Lucy is terrified, still coping with the fact that she could have died just now, but he’s only thinking about his own ass. I glance at Gila. Her lips are pressed tight. She wants to continue, she doesn’t have enough money yet, but she still has some empathy, and she’s aware she’s the one who benefitted the most out of the dungeon.
“I can continue.” Lucy stutters, and I sigh. I guess we won’t get out without spilling blood.
I motion ahead. “Fine. Fred, take the lead.”
The moment of realization as his eyes turn wide is another reason I want to slap him. He’s fine risking Lucy, but won’t risk his own ass. His hesitation lasts but a lightning’s flash, and he takes the lead, hitting the thread half a dozen times before it snaps.
He carefully handles another, then another, and then we’re out of the spider’s domain. Tension leaves his shoulders, and he’s once again searching for danger in the bushes.
A nearly invisible thread awaits five steps ahead, just below his shoulder height. Four, three, two. He doesn’t see it. The problem is, I don’t see the orb-weaver either.
The chest part of Fred’s waxed coat presses against the thread; he still hasn’t noticed it. The cloth gives, and the strand bites into flesh. I pull the annoying, dumb kid back before he bisects himself.
The orb-weaver whistles above me, and my staff whirls through the air, splattering it as blood seeps out of Fred’s cut. Normal cloth would’ve absorbed it, but these clothes repel blood much like they do water.
“Now you’re leaving.” The finality in my voice leaves no room for argument. “Gila, you can have my share of the loot, that should be enough for you to become a tailor without ever returning to the dungeon.”
Gila’s doing her hardest not to jump with joy, her eyes beaming. Meanwhile, Fred is the opposite, a broken man, pressing his hand against the cut, looking at blood seeping between his fingers in disbelief.
Lucy is somewhere in the middle, caught between the relief of leaving the place where she could’ve died, and regret that she didn’t level as much as she could have.
“Lucy.” She’s a talent worth nurturing, then it hits me. Her physique is lower than Fred’s, yet she saw the threads, but he missed them.
Perception isn’t just physique. It probably has something to do with mental abilities as well.
Lucy looks at me, and I offer a reassuring smile.
How do I say this without sounding like a freak?
“I will probably travel a lot. If you want, I can take you with me.”
Her scared, confused face brightens.
“You will have to earn your own brea—kfast and meals in general. But I can make sure you’re safe on your travels, if you don’t mind going where I’m going and getting left behind when I’m in the dungeon.”
The girl blushes and lowers her gaze. Understandable, she must think I’m asking her to travel with me for a suspicious type of companionship when in truth, I think she might make an excellent lieutenant if I ever form an organization of sorts. And helping the young fulfill their dreams when it costs me nothing is in part its own reward.
“You can’t!” Fred shouts. “Lucy, this is what he was after all along! He just wants to get into your—”
“Fred,” I interrupt him. “Think carefully about what you’re about to say. I just saved your life when I didn’t have to. I want all of you to make it, to make your dreams come true, because I want to make it too.”
That’s kind of lying. I don’t give a rat’s ass about his dumb dream, and I don’t even know what my dream is, except that it involves being alive, happy, and with a clear conscience.
“Gila will go to Tallrock, open a shop and probably never hear from me again, and Lucy wants to travel. Tell me, how else can I help her?”
Fred stares at me. He’s angry, resorting to a coping mechanism to escape his fear. He opens his mouth to say something, but Lucy doesn’t let him.
“It’s fine Fred. Griff is a gentleman.” She looks at me as she speaks the word, as if to check whether she’s using it correctly. “I have faith he won’t do anything bad to me.”
“I won’t. You have my word.”
She nods with a smile. “I believe you. Do we leave now, or are you planning on delving deeper.”
Lucy is sharp. That might be why I think she would make an excellent employee. People with keen minds and positive personalities can achieve a lot in life, especially with good mentorship.
“I’ll go deeper, at least to the thirtieth floor, but if I see I can manage it, I’ll delve all the way to forty.”
Fred looks at me as if I’ve just killed his family.
I can understand childish jealousy, but I really want to slap him. In fact, if I was a couple of centuries younger, I might have even killed him to prevent future problems. Just in case.