We finally made it outside, stumbling into the cool night air. I could see clearly, the trees swaying in the breeze, a faint mist rolling low across the ground.

But the moment of relief didn’t last.

Behind us, a deep, guttural screech split the air, so sharp it made my ears ring. The sound was unmistakable, it was her. The Brood mother.

Her scream was deafening, thick with rage and pain, and it was followed by the heavy, thunderous rhythm of her footsteps. The ground shuddered beneath us, the vibrations growing stronger with each step of hers.

She was coming in fast.

Fennel's ears perked up, his tail lashing behind him as he spun around. "Why are we stopping?!" he said, a hint of panic in his voice. "She's coming! We have to keep moving!"

Kael didn’t need to be told twice. He nodded quickly, already backing away. “He’s right. We’re not done yet. Let’s go!”

Grizmar, still breathing heavily but already steadying himself, grunted. “Move. Now. She’s coming straight for us.”

We decided to keep running. We bolted into the forest.

The ground shook harder with every passing second, each tremor more violent than the last. As we ran, I couldn’t help but steal a quick glance over my shoulder, wondering if the queen had managed to escape. That’s when it happened.

The Queen burst from the cave with a force that made the very trees around us tremble. Her grotesque, massive body crashed through the cavern entrance, sending shards of rock flying in all directions. Flames clung to her entire body. The fire illuminated her in a horrifying light, each flare revealing every monstrous detail of hers.

Her charred exoskeleton was cracked and blistered, the fire eating away at it without mercy. Smoke poured from her massive frame, rising in choking clouds. Her crimson eyes darted wildly, dulled by pain and panic.

Her guttural screeches tore through the forest. Her mandibles clicked wildly as she thrashed and rolled across the ground, desperate to extinguish the flames consuming her. But her massive size worked against her. No matter how much she rolled around, parts of her remained untouched by her frantic efforts, still burning, still spreading, as the fire reclaimed the areas she managed to put off.

"She's not chasing us," Kael panted, slowing his pace to glance back at the grotesque scene unfolding behind us.

We all slowed down, even though we knew it was wiser to keep going. But it was impossible to look away.

The Queen wasn’t chasing us like we’d feared. Instead, she was clawing and trashing at the ground, completely lost in her own torment.

Her legs curling inward in a spasm-like motion. Her massive body convulsed as the flames spread further, across the intricate patterns of her abdomen and up the jagged spines along her back.

"She's dying," Grizmar muttered.

The screeches grew weaker, faltering into guttural groans as her strength began to fade.

The Queen made one last, desperate effort to rise, her massive body heaving halfway off the ground. Her legs trembled violently under the strain, the flames still eating away at her abdomen and thorax.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

With a sharp, broken screech, she crashed back down, slamming into the earth with a heavy thud that sent ripples through the forest around us.

Her legs twitched weakly, jerking like broken wires, before slowing to a stop as the fire finally began to fade. Cracks split open in her blackened shell, showing the charred, oozing flesh underneath. The air was heavy and hard to breathe, filled with the stench of burnt shell and foul smoke.

And then, she stopped moving. Her massive body went limp, her legs curling in like a dead insect. A faint hiss of steam rose from what was left of her, and just like that, the terrifying presence she once had vanished into silence.

We stood there, frozen, staring at the unexpected sight before us. The Queen of the Arachnid Weblands, the monster that ruled this floor, was dead.

A chime echoed softly in my head, breaking the stunned silence.

You've Defeated The BroodMother! EXP + 100

Congratulations! You've reached level 8! +3 Mental!

I stared blankly at the notification. For a second, my mind struggled to process it. I actually… killed the Boss? Like this?

The others were still transfixed, watching the charred remains of the Brood Mother. Her body lay sprawled across the clearing like the carcass of a beast too large to comprehend.

How the hell was this enough to kill her? I thought, still unable to believe it. I wasn’t planning on killing her at all. In fact, my original plan had been far more cautious from the very start. That was it.

I quickly tried to rationalize what had just happened. The Brood Mother, while not physically dangerous by herself, was still an overwhelming force because of her unique ability: her endless brood. She didn’t need to be the strongest in a fight because her real strength came from sheer numbers. Armies of spiders. Swarms that could consume entire groups of adventurers.

And yet every creature had a weakness. That was the key—her weakness was fire.

A spider’s greatest strength, its web, was also its greatest vulnerability. The fire we’d unleashed inside the cave had turned her own home against her. It spread fast, consuming her nest and the webs in it. Add to that the Scarleaf I’d thrown in. Those toxic leaves mixed with the smoke had likely poisoned her lungs, weakening her even further.

I never planned it to go this way, it was an act of desperation, an improvisation on the fly, but it worked.

Then Fennel broke it.

“What the… Leon!” he shouted, spinning around to face me. “What did you do?!”

I blinked, still processing everything myself. “Uh…” I started, scrambling for words. “I… set her on fire?”

Kael’s expression wasn’t much different, though he was calmer about it. “You didn’t just set her on fire,” he said, shaking his head. “You burned her alive with half her brood inside the cave.”

I ignored their voices for a moment as another thought crossed my mind. I opened my notification log, scrolling quickly through the messages i had ignored during my escape.

[Congratulations! You’ve reached Level 6! +2 Mental +1 Physical!]

[Congratulations! You’ve reached Level 7! +1 Mental +2 Physical!

In a single escape, I’d gone from Level 5 to Level 8. I had gained three levels. The spiders I’d taken out with the fire had been enough to level me up twice and the final blow against the Brood Mother had pushed me straight into Level 8.

My stats had jumped significantly: +6 Mental and +3 Physical spread across those three levels.

“What now?” Fennel asked.

Grizmar let out a heavy sigh and eyed the Queen’s corpse. “Let’s grab her crystallized heart, maybe it’s an awakened variant. Then let’s get out of here. No telling if any stragglers got away."

Kael nodded quickly, already moving to follow. “Grizmar’s right. The rest of the brood might still be swarming outside the cave and heading this way. Leon, grab her crystallized heart, quickly. Depending on its color and size, it should at least fetch a few credits.”

I blinked at him, startled by the sudden responsibility thrown my way. “Wait, me? Are you sure?”

Kael shot me a look. “You’re the one who technically burned her alive. Think of it as claiming your prize.”

Fennel let out a snort, standing off to the side with Tasha still cradled in his arms. “Yeah, Leon. Big hero moment. Go pull out her crystallized heart and lets get out of here."

I let out a long exhale, looking back at the massive corpse of the Queen sprawled across the clearing.

I swallowed down the lump in my throat and approached the Brood Mother’s corpse.

"I'll be right back."