When Dotty had said that a lot of tracks, not just the one from the storage room, were converging toward the same place, Monica told Sir Tristan, Heidi, and Ted to wait behind. They had no stealth, and if Dotty was right, they were about to walk very close to the spiders' nest. If worse came to worst, Monica was fairly confident that she could get Dotty on her shoulders and use the urban landscape to get away from the spiders. They might have been nimble, but in a guerrilla-like fight, there was no way they would be able to hunt down Monica.
The two stopped before a large plaza in a part of the city they had not yet explored. Monica put a finger to her lips, gesturing to Dotty to be silent, and then gently pushed on her chest, leaving her behind. She peered from a wall, and what welcomed her was a hellish landscape.
There was a gigantic hole in the ground, probably seventy to eighty feet deep. Inside, Corrupted Spider Constructs crawled everywhere. In their ranks, there were also a few of the evolved ones. There was metal everywhere, and piles of silver ore that smaller, low-level Corrupted Spider Constructs were feasting on.
Monica checked their tags.
[Corrupted Hatchling - Level 36]
Though they're not all super strong, Monica reasoned, it takes them time to level up. They must consume silver.
She craned her neck a little more, and she saw a gigantic spider in their midst, slowly weaving a hatchling out of metal. With Monica activating Mana Sense and empowering her eyes with the Golden Flame, she still couldn't fully grasp whatever she was doing, but she felt closer and closer to understanding. Now that her eyes were enhanced, she saw Mithril Thread being woven into the hatchling.
So that's how they're reproducing, Monica thought.
Monica checked the tag above the gigantic spider.
[Metallic Arachnid Matriarch - Level 135]
Monica tightened her fist. She did a quick count of the spiders and then swiftly led Dotty back up to where they'd come from.
Once they met again with the group, she started unloading her thoughts.
"If we don't have a plan, we need to get away from here," she suddenly said, surprising everyone.
Ted and Heidi, the two who had witnessed Monica's exchange with Machina, who knew the promise Machina had made about Monica's children, looked at each other warily.
"Monica, dude," Ted said. "What about your children?" He cringed when he asked, but Monica nodded.
"First, I don't know that Machina wasn't lying. Lucas said she probably wasn't, but we're not suited to fight these many monsters together, and they're not going to come out of the nest in single pairings for us to slaughter as we level up. So the only thing we can do here is to either find a great plan or get the hell out. There were seven evolved spiders in there. The matriarch is Level 135. There is no way for us to face all those evolved monsters, the matriarch, and the normal Corrupted Spider Constructs. So I give us twenty-four hours to find something. If we don't, we're out. I don't care about Machina. I don't care about leveling up immediately. You would all die. I might get trapped here. The New Gods are on the move as well, from what we know. If we can't do this, we'll just let them take care of it."
"This is probably the most reasonable thing you have said since I've met you," Sir Tristan commented, trying to keep his voice steady but not able to hide some relief from his tone.
"I'm not a fool," Monica replied. "Or at least I try not to be. This is an impossible fight. We've gotten some levels, and if I can't keep you all safe, including you, Sir Tristan, we will retreat."
Everyone nodded, in different states of relief. The moment Monica told them about the evolved spiders that were crawling all over the nest, they had wondered what kind of crazy plan would allow them to kill so many at once. It appeared that Monica wasn't crazy, and all of them, including Dotty, knew that Monica's rational choice was partly because she didn't want Dotty herself to die. Heidi suspected that Monica also cared about Ted, but she wasn't nearly as protective with Ted as she was with Dotty.
The group retreated.
* * *
Ted sat alone in one of the stone houses they'd claimed for rest. His mandolin lay in his lap. He kept replaying the fight with the Corrupted Tarantula in his mind.
He had almost died. If Dotty hadn't pushed him out of the way, that wire would have taken his head clean off. And what had he done during the fight? Just played his song, hiding behind everyone else.
Ted looked at his fingers on the mandolin strings. One song. That's all he had. Sir Tristan had killed the monster with a single strike. The knight hadn't hesitated or fumbled around. He'd just stepped up and ended the fight.
"I'm useless," Ted muttered. Without Sir Tristan, they might all be dead now. The knight's shield had protected them from those deadly wires. His sword had pierced through armor that even Monica's flames couldn't melt.
Ted strummed a few quiet notes. The Song of the Phoenix was powerful, but it wasn't enough. Monica and Heidi were getting stronger every day. They had new skills, new ways to fight.
Dotty, a teenage girl who could probably beat him blue, not only had more Skills than him, she had saved his life.
And what was he doing? He was still stuck with one song. He couldn't defend himself. He couldn't attack. He just stood back and played while others risked their lives.
He thought about the spider nest Monica and Dotty had found. What could he do against that many monsters? His song might help the others fight better, but that wouldn't matter against seven evolved spiders and a matriarch.
Ted set his mandolin aside and buried his face in his hands. They needed real power to survive this place. Power like Sir Tristan's Moonpiercing skill. Power like Monica's flames or Heidi's spells.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
He picked up his mandolin again. Maybe if he practiced more. Maybe if he tried harder to create new songs. But deep down, Ted knew it probably wouldn't matter. One song or ten songs - he'd still be the weakest member of the group.
He looked out the window at the eternal twilight of Viscera. The artificial sun cast long shadows across the street. Somewhere out there, those spiders were getting stronger. And Ted was still just a boy with a mandolin, trying not to get in everyone's way.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. He quickly wiped his eyes, not wanting anyone to see how upset he was.
"Yeah?" he called out.
“Dinner’s in a few minutes,” she said.
“Oh, ok.”
Monica went out and, soon, as he was lost in thought, Ted heard footsteps again.
"Ted?" It was Heidi’s voice. “It’s time for dinner.”
Ted stood up and grabbed his mandolin. When he opened the door, Heidi was waiting. She looked at his face and frowned.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," Ted lied. "Just thinking about songs."
* * *
Ted dragged himself to the mess hall where the others had gathered for dinner. The stone tables felt cold and unwelcoming, matching his mood perfectly. A line of petrified dwarven soldiers sat frozen at one of the far tables, forever caught in the middle of what must have been their last meal.
Monica and Sir Tristan were deep in discussion about fighting formations. The knight was moving pieces of dried meat around his plate like troops on a battlefield while Monica nodded along, occasionally suggesting adjustments. Dotty sat next to them, practicing the grip changes Sir Tristan had taught her even as she ate.
At the other end of the table, Heidi had laid out a piece of parchment beside her plate. She was scribbling furiously, working out optimal Skill combinations and Mana expenditure calculations. Ted caught fragments of her muttering: "If I open with Emberstorm Convergence, then chain into Fire Lance while Dark Phoenix Furnace is active..."
"Ted! Are you ok?" Dotty brightened when she saw him. "I was just telling everyone about that dangerous wire.”
"Yeah," Ted managed a weak smile, settling onto the stone bench. "Thanks again for that."
"The girl has good instincts," Sir Tristan commented without looking up from his meat-piece battle plan. "Those wires are deadly. Even my shield barely deflected them."
Ted picked at his dried meat in silence while the others continued their discussions. Monica and Sir Tristan moved on to debating shield wall tactics. Heidi crossed out an entire section of calculations with an irritated grunt. Dotty kept practicing her sword grip changes between bites.
"Maybe if we coordinate properly," Dotty was saying, "we might be able to-"
"It won't matter," Ted interrupted, surprising himself with the bitterness in his voice. "Seven evolved spiders plus a matriarch? We'd need an army."
An awkward silence fell over the table. Ted felt their eyes on him but couldn't bring himself to look up from his plate.
Heidi gathered up her parchments covered in calculations. She had taken extremely well to her new Class, unlike Ted.
"I need to work this out properly," she said, standing up. "I think I can get more damage output if I adjust the timing."
She strode out of the mess hall, already muttering numbers under her breath.
Ted nodded numbly and stood up as well, his food barely touched.
"I should go practice," he muttered. He walked out of the mess hall quickly, wanting to escape the suffocating feeling of uselessness.
* * *
Ted walked through the barracks after dinner. The artificial light from above made everything look dim but not dark—it dimmed at night but it still felt very disorienting to have it on all day. It messed up with you, making sleeping harder. But he hadn’t had the courage to really voice his complaints after all the gory fights they had gone through the past few days.
His footsteps echoed lonely in the barracks.
He reached the courtyard where Sir Tristan had trained Dotty. His feet carried him down random paths. He wished someone would give him an answer, a way to help the group. The barracks halls felt endless, each turn leading to another empty room, another silent corridor.
A broken shield hung on one wall. A cracked sword lay forgotten in a corner. Signs of the dwarves' last moments before they turned to stone. Ted wondered if they'd been listening to music when it happened. If some bard had been playing while their world ended.
He stared at the two Skills populating his rather sad Skill List.
Skill List
Inspect Lv. 91
Develop the ability to Inspect items.
Phoenix Song Lv. 23
A powerful song about the Avatar of the Twin Phoenix.
That was it.
That was the extent of the description.
Sure, it kept leveling up, but Ted had no real idea about the Skill specifics. He just… played. Yeah. That was it.
Not knowing what else to do wit his hands, Ted reached for his own half-broken instrument and Inspected it for the upmteenth time, perhaps hoping some answers would lay there.
*Ding*
You have successfully inspected Defected Dwarven Mandolin (Uncommon)!
Defected Dwarven Mandolin (Uncommon)
Durability: 13/100
Enhancement Slots Available: 2/7
The Defected Dwarven Mandolin Enchantments are not active due to the state of disrepair of your instrument.
Forged inside Viscera, the great Dwarven Capital, this mandolin belonged to a famous Bard. The mandolin was damaged during an ill-fated performance for the Elven King’s court and fell further apart due to the passage of time. Ever since it was damaged, it hasn’t sounded the same.
Tip: Bring it to a high-level Blacksmith in order to repair it.
"We don't have high-level Blacksmiths here," Ted muttered, then looked at one of the petrified dwarves in the barracks. "Not anymore."
He turned a few more corridors, almost losing himself in the large complex. Dwarves really liked building complex things. Then, as he turned one last corner, he suddenly found himself inside a dining hall they had not explored before. As with the rest of the building, it was well lit by crystals. When he entered, he raised his eyes above the main table.
And stopped dead in his tracks.
A massive mural covered the entire wall before him. The scene showed a Bard in the center. Ted could tell because the bearded dwarf had a mandolin, very much like his own. Around him, warriors fought shadowy figures. But what caught Ted's eye was the blood. It flowed from the Bard's hands as if he was cutting himself on the strings, and it spread on the ground to touch the feet of every fighter. Where it reached them, their feet seemed portrayed more vividly in the mural.
Ted stepped closer, squinting at the details. The blood was weird. It really felt like it was still flowing. He gently placed one finger upon the larger pool of blood. When he pulled back and looked at it, he found a red stain. He smelled it.
"This is actual blood," he muttered.
He had seen high-level artworks before, so he wasn't totally freaked out. Ted knew this was probably a work of magic, nothing else. But something about how the blood seemed to make the dwarves around the Bard more alive put him in a trance.
Things started clicking in his head as he remembered one crucial detail that everyone else had seemingly forgotten. His heart started beating faster and his eyes widened.
"I KNOW WHAT TO DO!" The words burst from him before he could stop them, his voice bouncing off stone walls that had been silent for centuries.
He turned and ran back to the group.
He knew what to do.
He had just found a way to kill off the entire nest.