After discussing Sallia’s plan, the four of us agreed that it had enough merit to be worth trying. None of us were sure if it would work, but we didn’t have any better options. We only had two worlds left, and we needed to grow stronger. Even if going deeper into this building was risky, not going deeper into the building was also risky. It was a question of whether we preferred to take a risk now, or end up in an unsalvageable situation later.

The first thing we did was hand Anise’s soundmaker bombs over to Felix, along with a few pieces of scrap metal we found in the room. Felix lengthened the fuses for the soundmakers, and also made a bunch of backup grenades for an emergency. Thanks to the factory, the work was much faster, only requiring five minutes to produce everything. Then, we crept back into the hallway, carrying the half-dead spider with us. I had noticed that the spider was still thrashing and squirming. A human captive would have given up by now - after all, we had been cutting the creature’s legs off for hours. Surely the creature must have realized what would happen when it regrew its legs? Why was it still struggling? I knew the creature wasn’t dumb. The chilling intelligence of its brethren had already made me realize how smart they were.

Was it just struggling because of its instincts? Did it have some sort of mental compulsion to guard the building, which it would never break? Or did it have a plan?

That idea chilled me as I thought about it. In some of the books Anise and I had shared with each other last world, there had been plenty of prisoners who followed a 'useless' routine. Once they lulled their captors into a false sense of security. Those were just stories, but that didn't mean it was impossible for it to happen in real life. I resolved to keep a closer eye on the spider.

said Sallia.

I said.

Sallia, Anise, and Felix frowned in thought, before they nodded.

Now that my friends were alert, we continued with our plan. Felix started lighting the soundmakers, before handing them to me. After that, I teleported each soundmaker into one of the hallways we hadn’t explored yet, especially the ones blocked by doors. I made sure to teleport them right next to the ground, so that the clattering of the soundmakers wouldn't make any noise. I just hoped the building's soundproofing was good enough to prevent them from hearing my singing. We didn't want to fight any empowered spiders, after all.

In total, we hit six hallways, before we decided the other areas were too risky. We would come back and hit them next time, when we had deal with the first wave. Then, we crept out of the facility. I felt tense the entire way, half-expecting something to go wrong. Our group kept an eye on our surroundings.

The problem didn't come from outside. Instead, right as we passed the hallway, I realized that our prisoner's vital signs had started to fade away. It's regeneration had sped up, but somehow, its candle of life was on the edge of dissipation. I blinked in shock, as I realized what the creature was doing. Every time it healed itself, it must take from its own life force. Every time it regrew its legs, it got closer to death. Worse, the creature had been waiting for the right time to die. It had probably planned to kill itself right as we entered another fight with a monster. That would have alerted the other spiders in the building, and gotten us swarmed. However, once we started retreating, it realized its previous plan was failing.

I wasn't sure if my guess was correct, but there was no time to waste. I couldn't let the spider die before we were out of this building. I started slamming healing magic into the damn thing. For a moment, I couldn’t help but laugh at the sheer absurdity of the situation. One of our enemies was trying to kill itself right in front of me, and I was desperately keeping it alive.

Luckily, my healing was good enough to keep its candle of life from going out. However, the accursed creature was eating into my essence reserves. We would need to change our plan a bit. If this thing kept trying to die, the other spiders would do the same.

But first, we needed to put more distance between us and the Fair. My friends and I dashed away from the area, making sure to get as much ground between us and the Fair as possible.

I was broken out of our sprint when my clone died. I didn’t see what had killed it, but I knew that something had beheaded it.

I said. I stared at our arachnid captive.

said Felix, as he hopped into an empty house. We followed him in, as Felix started to barricade the door.

Before Felix could finish his thought, I felt… something stir in the center of the spatial fair. I felt something try to look at us, its gaze dripping ice and hate as it tried to lock onto our very souls. I felt a flash of pure terror as I realized that we had still underestimated the building. Somehow, despite our precautions, the major defender of the building had noticed us. Deaths weren't the only thing that could alert the biggest threat in the building. The soundmakers had awakened the beast.

As I froze in horror, I felt a pulse of essence from Felix's body. A moment later, the chilling gaze disappeared, as it felt like our group had been surrounded in a bubble of broken space.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

he asked.

I tried not to shiver in fear, as I realized what had happened. Not only had our soundmakers alerted the enemy to our presence, but somehow, it had nearly killed us from inside of the fair. I didn't think it knew our location, but we had almost died.

I said.

said Felix.

A moment later, I blinked, as a new System notification appeared.

Slaughter: Assist in killing a Wanderer of Lost Silence for the first time.

Influence: Contributed to the defense of the Market by an [extremely negligible] amount.

Achievement +100, Achievement +1.00

My Achievement increased from 2,704.95 to 2,805.95. I dismissed the notification, and frowned. Where had this notification come from?

A moment later, I realized our captive was no longer alive. Sallia had bisected it.

she said.

I said.

Our group stewed in silence for a few seconds, as I processed what had just happened. Our plan had failed. We had nearly died.

said Anise.

said Sallia with a grimace.

I felt a mixture of frustration and anxiety well up in my heart. I also agreed. Our plan to steal from the building was not going to work out.

I had been so hopeful. If we could hit the Achievement storage for this building, we could have grown far, far more powerful. I could have increased my base stats to crazy levels, then used those stats to perform better in our next world, making it easier to evolve Abilities. That would have also helped get Ability evolutions, making us stronger next world.

But now, we had to change our plans. I wasn’t sure if we would grow strong enough to survive without the other supplies in the building, but we had no choice. I just hoped that what we had gotten already was enough.

Just as I was wallowing in my frustration, I realized we had underestimated the danger we were in. The enemy was doing more than long-distance attacks.

A huge swarm of spiders exited the spatial fair. A few of them looked like they had activated their temporary boost, moving almost too fast for my eyes to track. However, others of them looked… slow. It took me a moment to realize that the little monsters hadn’t sent out a few spiders this time, or only the ones who were empowered.

There were eighty of the damn things. Three of them were fast, while the other seventy-something looked like they were in their normal state.

Luckily, we had expected some kind of response. We had moved as far away from the area as we could. Even though we had only moved thirty minutes away, the Market was very densely packed. We were so far away that I could barely see the enemy. Originally, we had planned to hide out for several minutes, before going back and killing the spiders who had the buffs stripped off. Now, our caution might save our lives.

However, I started to get nervous.

We hadn’t expected this level of response. The spiders were organized this time. They looked like soldiers in the military. Last time, they had missed us, but would that happen again?

I frowned.

My frown deepened as I watched the progress of the little monsters through soul-sight. The spiders were leaving nothing to chance this time. They were checking every single building in the street, one after another. Every time they finished searching a building, they used their magic to claw apart the insides of the building. It looked like they were checking for hidden shelters or lucky survivors. They were determined to find us at all costs. Worse, just like the first group of spiders, they seemed to have some idea where we were, even if they only had a vague direction.

Was it right to leave and run? However, the spiders reacted to sound. They might notice us if we ran down the streets. I shared everything I saw with my friends, who started debating whether it was correct to run or to stay put. After a bit of chattering, we decided to stay put. The spiders only had twenty minutes of their strengthening before they slowed down. Even if we decided to run, it was better to wait until their boost wore off first. We might even be able to hit them with some sort of trap if we got lucky, and gave Felix time to set up.

Minutes ticked by, as the spiders searched one building after another. However, their methodical searching also made them slow. I started to relax, as I realized that the first wave of spiders should have their buff fall off soon. The rest of the horde was still a threat, but perhaps it was a manageable one.

Then, I noticed something that chilled my heart.

Right as the first group of spiders started to have their buffs fall off, they moved over to a few other spiders at the edge of the group. The other spiders moved away, making sure that they were just out of earshot. A few moments later, some of the spiders did a few things that I couldn't quite track with my soul-sight. A few moments later, the new group of spiders near the edge of the group started moving as quickly as the other empowered spiders. I finally realized what the group was doing.

They were controlling the use of their 'buffs'. Anytime one group of spiders was about to lose their boost, they activated another group. With about three spiders ‘boosted’ at a time, and around eighty total spiders… we were in for a very long hiding session, if we wanted to wait this out.

As I told the others what I had seen, I heard the others start to curse over the communication bracelets.

The enemy might not have developed a precise countermeasure for us, but they were prepared for a long, careful hunt. Making a break for it might not save us, but staying put was a death sentence. If we wanted to live, we had to find a way to break the deadlock, preferably without alerting the horde. We needed a solution, and we needed one fast.