The monumental door with a faded-out drawing was in front of Hera while the rest of the Naga gathered around her. Looking at the structure, she could see the set of double doors carved in the side of the reddish valley. There was also a weird black smudge in the center of it all. After a closer look, she could also see some odd markings on the edges.
"Crap… I can't see a spider in that… Can you, Hera?" Darni asked. He realized that the dungeon was stopping him from seeing the full picture.
"Why did you ask her first?" Casks crossed her arms. Hera stared at the Blue Naga, not believing what she was seeing. Even if the Empress was somewhat dense, she could tell when someone was acting jealous.
"No. I just figured that you guys couldn't see it either," Darni quickly explained. Even if he knew he was just part of a dungeon, it seems like he didn't want to be at odds with his love.
Hera stepped to the side, as did Rris, Asher, and Naph. No one wanted to be between the fighting couple. At the same time, the explorer tried to figure out what the image actually was. She took a picture of the door with her tablet and started drawing over it. After about half a dozen tries, she still couldn't make something that looked right. When connecting all the points in the wall, she would have to make one of the spider legs stay in a very odd and unnatural position.
"Say, what did the spider look like?" Rris asked.
"There were a bunch of them, and they looked like spiders. I don't know how else to describe them, 8 legs and a bunch of eyes," Hera sighed.
"You are an Explorer, right?" Hera nodded to Rris' question, "Do you have the hunter role?"
"I do. Why?"
"Can't you open the catalog so we can see the monster?"
Hera looked a bit confused, "Can I?" She opened the window for the hunter catalog and looked up for the spiders in the room. Since she was in the Wailing Valley herself, it was easy to look for those monsters. She found an entry describing the spiders, but there weren't any pictures of them. Reading through it, there was a lot of information. Their behaviors, habitat, special traits, drops, locations, and at the end, there was a part marked as 'Anatomy.' When touching that option, the screen changed, and now there was a 3D model of the spider. She could move around, spin, and even make it move, "I never realized I could do that," Hera smiled. In truth, she never looked over all the information that would appear in the hunter catalog since what she wanted was always easy to see.
She spent the next 10 minutes changing the position and motion of the spider but to no avail. There wasn't a way for all the parts of the drawing to match with this one. One of the markings would always be in the wrong spot. It was as if the spider had a missing leg. Thinking that maybe it wasn't a spider in one of the other creatures in the room, Hera pressed the back button and returned to the text-filled database. Just to ensure she wasn't missing anything else, she took a moment to read through everything in this window. It took her a couple minutes just because she was paying very close attention, and she noticed one more function that she had never tried. At the bottom of the window was a box that she could check that read 'mark habitats.' Out of curiosity, she touched that one, but nothing happened. Going by logic and what she knew about the role, this should show up on her map, and that was the next thing she opened. As she expected, the map of the room was now different. Some large red areas were marking where the spiders should be living. The sites weren't moving, and Hera imagined that this wasn't taking into account any potential scavenger groups or spiders that went out for any reason.
"Did you find something?" Rris asked when he noticed Hera's smile.
"Oh, not yet. It's not the spider I was thinking of. Give me a moment," Hera quickly went back to her search and put the scarabs to match the drawing, but it still didn't work. The rolly-pollies were also a no-go. Although they had many more legs, maybe there would be a position that would match.
Before she could change the screen, Nimbus appeared behind her, "Empress, how about this one? 'Jeweled Hunter.''
Hera frowned, staring at the Sentinel with an annoyed expression. She had told him again and again not to call her Empress and that she preferred to be addressed as Hera, but her titled blade still insisted on calling her by the title. Still, she looked over to the entry Nimbus mentioned. The Jeweled Hunter was that unique spider she met the first time she came to this place. Unlike the rest of the spiders, this one had longer legs that could fold more, almost like arms with multiple elbows. When looking at it from the side and triggering the 'web shot' ability, where the spider would twist its body so its butt would be under it to shoot a web at her target, it was a perfect match to the faded drawing in the wall since one of its arms would snap around and match two of the markings completing the whole picture. As soon as she overlaid the 3D model with the markings on the door, a notification appeared in front of her.
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You have found the hidden quest inside the Eternal Bond Dungeon
You have opened the den of spiders by showing the correct image to the sealed door.
Assist the Naga in their task to eliminate the spiders.
Rewards: Access to the Eternal Bond Hard mode
Sacred Naga Relic - Replica
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"That is... A lot. I mean, what is a Sacred Naga Relic?" Hera spoke out loud, surprised that something that sounded so important could be a reward for a dungeon. Even if it was just a replica.
"Those are items that were either created for a priest or an Emperor or created by them. Why do you ask?" Asher asked.
"Oh, sorry, it's just something that popped in my head. Could it be anything that was made by a priest? Like if they made a chamber pot, would that also be a Sacred Naga Relic?" Hera turned to the yellow Naga.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"I guess. It depends on who created it. If there was a reason for that and other things. But usually, they are a weapon, armor, or accessories. A few items of note are…." Before Asher could continue, the drawing of the Jeweled Hunter appeared on the wall, and the door started to open.
"Stop bickering, you two. We need to get ready!" Rris turned to Darni and Casks, who were still arguing about the Naga hero's preferences. At the same time, a rumbling started coming from behind the doors, as if numerous creatures were coming.
With that command, the Naga warriors sprung into action. Everyone was ready to attack whatever was coming from the nest. The doors opened slowly, the tension building up, and Hera was already surrounded by her entire court with Nimbus by her side, "I got your back," the Empress smiled.
"And I got yours," Nimbus replied with the same warm smile.
"What about me?" Daskka gasped from Hera's neck.
Hera chuckled and glanced at Casks, who was no longer side-eyeing her, "I guess we know who you get your jealousy from."
"Hey!" Daskka protested but a sound coming from the path ahead made it clear that it wasn't time for playing around.
When the door was completely open, Hera could see that this was actually a tunnel that would spiral upwards. It didn't take long for her to recognize this area. It was the same tunnel she had to use to come down to this level of the Wailing Valley, but a raw version without all the padding and construction made by the Naga so long ago. A memory flashed through her mind. One that she really hoped she was wrong about. Still, she decided to intervene.
Using her stone wall spell, she started narrowing the passage. That way, if this really would be another horde of monsters like it was the first time she passed through this place, they wouldn't be overwhelmed by it.
"What are you doing?" Darni asked.
"The last time I passed through a place like this, I had to face a horde of monsters. Hundreds upon hundreds, I'm not sure if that's going to be the case here, but I'm not willing to take the chance," Hera replied as she continued to drag some of the walls of the opening closer together. Doing that took a lot of mana, and she wasn't proficient with the spell for such large structures.
However, the rest of the group understood what she meant, and they did the same thing to help. Every single Naga had one way or another to build something, and together they managed to create a secondary layer of protection between them and the corridor. With that ready, each Naga warrior used a different buff that affected the entire party. Asher cast a few spells to increase everyone's attributes, Casks grabbed a spear out of nowhere and started rattling her tail, which didn't actually have a rattle, but nothing seemed to change. Rris sharpened his curved swords on one another, causing all the group's weapons to glow slightly, including Hera's court. Naph yelled, and, with a roar, a massive forge appeared behind her. As the flames ignited, the ground started to glow, but Hera didn't feel any change in the temperature. Lastly, Darni clapped his hands and spread out to the sides. A multicolor streak of light hit everyone, and a notification appeared in front of Hera.
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All your attacks will deal 50% extra damage from all the elements below:
Fire, ice, nature, poison, strength, illusion, gold, earth, and memory.
Total extra damage = 450%
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"Holy crap. This is awesome," Hera gasped. She felt almost twice as strong after all the buffs.
"Perks of a legacy," Darni smiled but quickly frowned, "They are coming!"
Just as he said those words, A wave of spiders came out of the opening they had created. They looked somewhat like the ones that Hera knew, but these were hairier and a bit smaller than she was used to. These were about the size of a large dog, while the ones she faced before were bigger than she was. As they started getting close to the group, the glowing floor instantly ignited some of them. The rest were still clearly being injured, but they managed to not catch on fire. Getting even closer made them all slow down as they got in range of Casks rattle.
"Hold," Rris told the group while the spiders got closer, "Hold…Hold…NOW!"
The moment he yelled, all the Naga jumped forward in perfect synchrony. It was almost like Hera was watching the opening of a cartoon where the heroes attacked together. Not wanting to be left behind, the Empress jumped into the fray, brandishing her glaive along with Nimbus and the rest of the court. Because of the [Army of One] skill, she knew her legacy was also affected by all the buffs on her. Even better, Darni's buff seemed to be multiplicative with her own. Meaning that the 50% increase would only be applied after taking into account any other increases she already had. What she expected to be a hard battle became a power trip. A taste of what she could be like in the future if she got strong enough. The spiders melted like butter when meeting her weapons. Even a kick was more than enough to send them flying towards the wall, turning the creatures into a splatter of guts and blood. While Core, Lurize, Ooze, Beam, Nimbus, Daskka, and even Scythe took care of the monsters who were getting closer, with Armory still being the strategist, Hera took a moment to watch the Naga fighting.
Rris was using the Naga style, weaving around the hordes of spiders and leaving only corpses in his wake. His body would never be facing the same direction for more than a second, and it was almost like he had eyes on the back of his head. He was able to kill the spiders behind him without even turning around. A swing of his sword was wide enough to split them in half. Asher was a mage through and through. When the combat started, he jumped forward, but instead of landing, he kept going up and was now flying above the battlefield, raining down spells on the hordes of spiders. The yellow Naga was a master of elements. Fire, lightning, ice, poison, mist, and even spells belonging to the break and shatter elements were being tossed at rapid speeds. But instead of focusing on the main force of this army, he was making sure that none of the spiders could run away or flank them from the sides.
Naph was an interesting mix between a mage and a fighter, despite actually being a crafter. The red Naga was wielding a heavy two-handed hammer, and every time she would strike a monster, there was a chance that the forge she created behind them would flare up, causing more of the spiders to burn. When that didn't happen, her attacks would repeat even after her weapon was no longer there. It was almost like an afterimage of her strike that could repeat not just once but several times. Casks was a researcher, but from watching her fight, no one would ever think of that. With her spear, she was almost flying above the battlefields, not by magic but by pure strength. She could glide by moving her body in a specific way and pierce her enemies from above. Occasionally, the blue Naga would have to stick her spear on the ground and use it as a platform to jump up again, but it seemed like she wouldn't touch the floor again until the fight was over.
Darni was the last one that Hera focused on. The Naga hero was a sight to behold. He was a controller, someone who focused on buffs and debuffs. Because of that, his fighting style was very unique. He could use his claws and tail to push enemies away if needed. However, his strength came when he was using his legacy. He could grab a monster, enchant it to explode, and toss it in the middle of the horde. Touch the ground and create a small rock in front of him that becomes an immovable object, make the air surrounding his body so violent that it would rip apart anything that got close, enchant his eyes so that anything that looks straight out it would be struck by lightning. What made him so scary wasn't exactly the strength that he was showing. But the countless possibilities that seemed to be on his mind. Hera never saw the Naga Hero making the same move more than once, even if it was a very successful attack.
About 10 minutes after the fight began, all the spiders were dead, and the notification about the reward appeared.
"Hey, System? What the hell do you mean about that?!" Hera gasped. She couldn't believe what she was reading.