Enemies approaching: [Scarab Congregation, LVL 40]

The hallway stretched out before them, endless and jagged, carved from sandstone with walls adorned by cryptic hieroglyphs. The faint chittering of scarabs echoed ominously, underscored by the frantic shuffle of Ethan, Tara, Fauna, and Klax as they dashed down the corridor.

The Scarab Congregation—the maddened swarm of crawling insects that hunted the unwary—was never far behind, and as the party hurried down the hall they began to feel the sting of their pincers against their skin.

"Keep moving!" Ethan commanded, his voice taut with urgency. He was bringing up the rear, using the mass of his body to keep them off the team while they surged forward – a singular, voracious intelligence driving them.

Ethan struck out with his blades, sweeping through whole swathes of the descending, nibbling mouths. He saw legions of scarab corpses fall, paralyzed and poisoned in equal measure, their little exoskeletons frying away. But no matter how many he fried, a thousand more simply took their places.

[Scarab Congregation HP: 485]

Shit, I’m barely putting a dent in them…

Tara, her feline ears pinned flat against her skull, sprinted beside him, her steps almost soundless despite the chaos. She hissed under her breath, swinging her blade in quick arcs to fend off the creeping insects that had started to dart from the cracks in the walls. Fauna, ever calm despite her rabbit-like features and the panic dancing in her eyes, was bleeding from her arm but kept running, her staff held defensively behind her.

“Varla Parthax!”

The party felt a rush of speed lift them off their feet, propelling them away from the horde as the followed them. Fauna’s spell of haste was potent, but she shouted over her pale shoulders that it wouldn’t last long.

"I hate bugs," Klax grumbled from their front, his hulking form crushing any unfortunate scarabs that crossed his path. His normally unflappable demeanor was fraying, though Ethan could tell that the wolf-like hybrid was pleased to be back in the thick of combat instead of being interrogated by Tara.

"They’re everywhere!" Fauna shouted, swiping at the countless insects. The swarm seemed endless, pouring from the gaps between the stone, shimmering in the dim light as their hard, black bodies reflected the glow from Fauna’s flickering light.

Ahead, the hallway split into two paths—an immediate choice that could mean life or death. Ethan cursed under his breath, the urgency of their situation tightening his chest. The walls, slick with moisture, seemed to close in on them. The scarab wave smashed into him, nipping at his every orifice, each bite not damaging him directly – but doing something much more insidious.

Host: [Rachneros, the Pale Lord]

STR: -2

STR: -2

STR: -2

They’re weakening me…Ethan thought with a start. “Tara! Which way?” he then shouted over the noise, his eyes darting between the two paths. Time was running out. Tara paused, her eyes narrowing as she focused. Her innate senses as a cat-woman hybrid helped her gauge the subtle shifts in the air.

“Left!” she snapped, her gaze unwavering. Without hesitation, Ethan led the charge, the group veering left into a narrower corridor. The noise of the scarabs amplified here, their legs clicking ominously against the stone floor. Ethan could feel their bodies crawling over his boots, every step becoming a maddening experience as they snapped at his ankles.

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“We’re going in circles,” Fauna panted, clutching her bleeding arm. “The walls—they shift. It’s a maze.”

“Dammit,” Ethan spat, realizing the truth of her words. The labyrinth was alive. A trap not just of scarabs, but of shifting stone, designed to confuse and corner. They were being funneled, led deeper into the Scarab Congregation’s nest.

He tried a [Roar] that managed to stun an entire section of the horde. Yet, even against the sheer power of his enhanced voice borrowed from the Troll of Glenbelm, more scarabs simply poured from the lairs to re-join with the Congregation.

Tara hissed as a clutch of scarabs latched onto her leg. She swung her dagger down and crushed them, but the acid splattered, burning her fur and drawing a sharp breath of pain from her. Klax’s heavy breathing was growing louder, the strain of constant battle and the swarm's bites beginning to wear on him.

"We can't keep this up," Klax growled, a touch of desperation creeping into his voice. "Too many. We need to break out."

Ethan’s mind raced, his thoughts turbulent. The maze was unyielding, and every path led to more scarabs, more bites. If they didn’t escape soon, they’d be overwhelmed. He grimaced as another hundred scarab mandibles sunk into his arm, drawing blood the green blood of his host.

Then he remembered something – a little trick they’d pulled off in the Festering Den. The thought hit him like a flash of lightning. It was risky, but it might just be their way out.

Don’t tell me: you’re going to try something suicidal again?

Ain’t that what I do best, Sys? There’s only one way we’re taking this thing down, and it’s by taking them all down at once.

“Fauna!” he then shouted. “I need you to light me up!”

The rabbitgirl looked up at him as her staff struck out to shear through another clump of scarabs seeking to snuff out her light. “O-ok!”

“The hell you planning, now?” Tara asked, equally preoccupied as her limbs began to fail her – her strength, too, being sapped away by the relentless attacks of their buggy assailants.

“Whatever it is, why don’t we trust him?” Klax replied. “After all, he’s the Archon. He’ll make the right decision when the time comes.”

Tara’s feline eyes flashed to the wolf, knowing there was a hidden meaning behind those words…

“Alright!” Ethan shouted back, the power in his muscles all but dying away by this point. “Everyone, hang on tight!”

“To WHAT!?”

Ethan smiled as he felt Fauna’s Infernal Cloak run up his body.

“To my shiny spider booty, of course.”

[Wing Buffet]

In the space of the next second, with the Scarabs all but ready to break through Ethan’s failing strength, his back legs flapped like a pair of faux wings and sent a fiery wave through the hallway, knocking back the entire black wave of his enemies and sending Fauna’s flame traveling through the miasma of snapping mandibles to burn the insides of every scarab and their reinforcements. The shockwave produced was stronger than even Ethan would have thought, however, and with his strength totally sapped his legs couldn’t plan themselves into the sandstone floor to keep their balance. He went flying back, his teammates clutching to him for dear life, as they smashed through the first wall they made impact with and went tumbling into the dark void of the Twisted Sepulcher's third floor.

“WHAT WAS THAT YOU SAID ABOUT MAKING THE RIGHT DECISION?!” Tara screamed in the dark.

“I DIDN’T SAY IT WOULD BE THE BEST ONE! ONLY THAT IT WAS RIGHT!”

“FUCK YOU, TOO, KLAX!”

When then they felt the soft tickle of a cloud comforting them, their eyes flew towards the ground that was quickly approaching. Slowly, they began to float, Ethan the Archon basically becoming nothing but a balloon floating in the total darkness of their surroundings.

And when they finally touched down on the crunchy floor of the Sepulcher's last layer, they all rolled away and breathed a sigh of relief.

“See?” Klax chuckled. “Told…told you.”

“All I’m thinking is that Fauna’s spells have been pretty reliable recently. Where’s the crazy bad luck of our little Windglance?”

Just then, a powerful, squelching roar erupted from Tara’s posterior – the noise ripping through the air and echoing off the void that surrounded them.

“Um…” Fauna whispered. “Sorry…that’s a…common side effect that can sometimes, uh, happen after the Fleetfoot spell.”

The entire party contemplated what they’d just heard.

“Huh,” Tara finally said. “There it is.”

A few seconds of silence went by, accompanied by darkness and the sounds of crying scarabs as they burned high above them.

Then: a chuckle from Klax.

A snotty scoff from Tara.

And a little giggle from Fauna that soon became a belly laugh.

Before long, the entire party was doubled over, including their spidery Archon himself.

“E-Ethan must think we’re a bunch of fools,” Fauna said, wiping a tear from her eye. “He’s probably regretting every encounter he’s had with us.”

“Well,” Ethan laughed back. “You did throw a chicken at old Artorious. Not gonna lie, it wasn’t the most competent first impression.”

“But it did save your life, Mr Ethan.”

“Hey, I had it under control!”

“Now, that’s a lie worthy of the true Archon,” Tara chuckled as she jumped to her feet and helped her comrades up. “I’m thinking we’re gonna need some restoring before we head on, huh?”

Klax smiled to see the team in good spirits – something shared with Ethan as they locked eyes.

“Think you’ve got some restorative magic left in you, Faun?”

The Hopla sniggered, “I think I can whip up something. If you’re willing to put up with a possible explosion?”

Ethan saw the stat screen of Sys appear just before he answered her:

Enemy: [Scarab Congregation] Slain!

Spirit Cores: +100

Current Spirit Cores: 575

“Honestly?” Ethan said. “There’s nothing in life that couldn’t be improved from an explosion or two…”