When Magnus’ group crossed from the narrow tunnel into the relatively expansive confines of the main nest, only silence awaited - an oppressive almost suffocating silence. The whole room was blanketed by deep darkness except for a pool of bubbling bright green liquid in what Magnus could only guess was the middle of the room. He could feel their eyes staring at him from the darkness. Shaking away the fear threatening to swallow him whole again, he instead focused on the situation at hand. While the gaze of the spiders watching them from the shadows felt disturbing, something even more sinister hung around in the stale air. It didn’t take long for him to figure out what was wrong. The mana in the air was green. Looking back, it felt quite obvious how the mana in the air slowly changed from blue to green but with how much Magnus was focused on the threat of a spider jumping at them from the shadows it was hard to notice such a subtle thing. The mana in the air apparently ticked off [Danger Sense] and a quiet hum settled down in his Mind. While a useful Skill, [Danger Sense] proved unreliable a few times already. Either way, Magnus couldn’t really complain as it was an uncommon Skill after all. Nevertheless, he would have to find the time how it works soon or it wouldn’t be long until some quirk of the Skill killed him.
The Ents didn’t seem to have any obvious issues with the mana in the air being the way it was, so the sentinels moved forward in a semicircular formation with the mages protected behind them. Magnus dutifully took his place in the front of the formation. He was after all probably the strongest member of this party and if not the strongest at least the toughest. It was on him to take the brunt of the enemy’s attack. With everyone in position, they waited for the inevitable attack. They decided on this course of action after realizing they had no way to know how big the nest actually was. If it looked like the spiders would overwhelm them, they would retreat into the narrow tunnel where they wouldn’t get surrounded by the furious spiders. Without question, the spiders would come and pursue the Ents until one side was completely dead. The spiders weren’t that cunning with the corruption most likely melting their brains into mush and turning them rabid.
So, considering that, they waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Even after standing in front of the tunnel for a good half an hour, not even one spider came. Did Magnus underestimate their intelligence? No that couldn’t be. Even the spiders on the surface, away from the worst of the corruption lacked their sense of self-preservation. What was going on? Was the mana in the air toxic for them? Were they waiting to strike when his whole party was weakened by the putrid air? Magnus sighed and started looking around for any signs of the spiders. If what he thought about the mana in the air was right, they didn’t have unlimited time just to stand around, waiting for the fight to come to them. This was the moment he cursed the lack of light the most. If he had anything except for the omnipresent subtle glow of the green mana to light up the cavern his range of vision would increase at least by half if not more. Judging it to be safe for the time considering the lack of any attacks, he stepped out of the formation. The sentinels gave him what he interpreted as a quizzical look but they nonetheless moved to pluck the hole in the middle left by his departure. Magnus was reluctant to leave the relative safety of his group due to the threat of an attack coming from the darkness out of any direction but despite that, he still approached the wall closest to the tunnel to examine it. When he found nothing unusual about it, he continued to walk alongside, ready to dodge any possible attacks coming his way.
A few meters away the texture of the wall changed. The wall previously just rough ordinary stone was now covered with a white silky substance – spiderwebs. Magnus shivered from just imagining the sheer number of spiders that were needed to create so much silk. It covered all of the surface he could see except for the space near the tunnel. Maybe to make it so that anyone who wanted to get close to the web would have to enter the nest itself. Examining the spiderweb closer, Magnus could make out something weird a little higher up on the wall. Numerous, what seemed like cocoons or eggs were stuck to the white wall. Curiously, all of them seemed to have already opened. Or maybe destroyed. Frankly, Magnus had no idea if they were supposed to look that smashed after the spider finished cooking inside them.
His curiosity satisfied, Magnus slipped back into formation and motioned for the Ents to move. The three remaining sentinels and Magnus were in the front while the squishy mages marched behind them, ready to cast their spells at any time. Something was going on here and just standing around in the probably poisonous air would change nothing. In fact, it would only hinder them. He couldn’t hinge everything on [Greater Poison Resistance] or the notion that the Ents were immune to the poisonous mana. It felt like something more than just poison. Something more vile, unnatural. That’s why they had to dispose of the Broodmother and retreat as fast as they could. That’s why he decided to move closer to the only interesting thing in the cave. That thing being the pool of green liquid in the center. The closer Magnus got to the green pond the harder breathing was until every breath felt like inhaling fire. More and more poison flooded into his lungs with each breath he took. Thankfully, [Greater Poison Resistance] prevented most of the poison from taking root but he could feel some of the more stubborn parts settle down into his lungs where they would probably get absorbed along with the oxygen into his blood. Hopefully, his raw Stats would take care of that. Even the Ents visibly looked more ragged, their usually vibrant eye flames flickered and their lively brown bark looked almost blackened in some places. Not healthy looking at all. It would be best if they took care of it sooner than later.
As they neared the edge of the pool, his ears picked up the sound of something being torn from above. In that moment [Danger Sense] changed its focus from the mana in the air to something up above. Deciding not to ignore the now screaming warnings [Danger Sense] Magnus yelled out and jumped away. The Ents scrambled. Sadly, one of the lower-level sentinels in the middle wasn’t fast enough in its dodge and it got crushed by a giant something. After a few moments, as soon as Magnus realized what that object was, he went on high alert. An enormous spider with a swollen abdomen lay unmoving in front of him, black veins snaked all along its body. That was the Broodmother. It was undeniably dead, probably killed by the same thing that destroyed the eggs. Even the tide of spiders earlier was a sign. They weren’t there to kill Magnus and his group. No not at all. The spiders were running away. But from what?
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
It didn’t take long for Magnus’ question to get answered as the light from the glowing pool illuminated a slowly descending spider right above it. Not hesitating to use the Skills at his disposal, he used [Identify].
[Corrupted Royal Guard – Level 15] – Tier 0
Upon seeing the new threat, a new notification got beamed into his brain.
[Quest Updated]
[Fighting the Corruption III]
Defeat the Corrupted Royal Guard.
Reward: Uncommon Body
It was a shame that the reward didn’t seem to be better on the surface. Hopefully, it would be at least a little bit better considering that the Broodmother was Level 12 last time Magnus saw it and this thing was Level 15. He was starting to contemplate running away and leaving the Ents as bait but as far as he knew he had no actual way to leave this dungeon and it would be only a matter of time before he had to confront the Royal Guard. It would be smarter to make his stand here with unwavering allies next to him. With his mind made up another problem quickly revealed itself. How exactly would he defeat a spider the size of a van? Magnus wasn’t a powerhouse when it came to attacking, though he was yet to find the limit of his upgraded [Devastating Blow]. The spider was still impossibly descending from the ceiling on a strand of silk that it should have been too heavy for when Magnus turned around to look at the Ents. He was getting quite acquainted with the Ents and so he knew that they understood his language to at least some degree. How they did that considering they probably came from another planet Magnus had no idea. It was probably the System at work again. Nevertheless, this time the System’s doing wasn’t actually something to lament about so he explained his plan to them. While explaining it, he inwardly sobbed as the role of bait again fell onto him as the most resilient out of the group. Hopefully, the spider wouldn’t be any smarter than the rest of its former brethren.
The Royal Guard started climbing down from the silk strand in front of the pool. First, its front pair of legs met the ground then its second and third, and at last its rear legs. Every time one of them touched the ground, Magnus could feel subtle tremors reverberate through his body. When it was finally, on the ground with all its legs, Magnus examined the terrifying spider carefully. Its frame was absolutely packed with muscles, ready to lunge any time. The venom on its fangs looked to be nothing to scoff at either considering the black veins bulging on the Broodmother’s lifeless body. Magnus hoped that the Broodmother wasn’t very resistant to poison when it was alive because that would mean that his own resistance would be useless against that venom.
He saw the mages slowly back away and the one remaining sentinel along with Caridus surround the spider from the sides. To be frank, the normal sentinel wouldn’t probably be very useful in this fight. It was doubtful if it could even do more than just minor damage to the giant spider. Maybe, it would surprise him but he wouldn’t be getting his hopes up. As for Caridus, he was confident that he could disable at least a few of its legs along with the mages. Hopefully, it will stumble under its weight if it loses control of its legs. Magnus’ role was that of the tank (or as pessimistic people might call it – the bait).
The spider, overcome with blind rage lunged faster than Magnus thought possible for a beast of such size. [Danger Sense] was just a bit too slow to warn him in time but Magnus was no slouch even without relying on the Skill. Dodging right he pushed his body to the limit as he activated [Devastating Blow] at the highest level he could bear and let out a punch aiming for the spider’s head. Unfortunately, the spider didn’t care about getting hit as it spun its alien head right for him probably hoping to make him fall to the ground. Magnus tried activating [Toughen] but found a mental block in his way. There was no time for this. He had no idea if he could even move just from the collision with so much mass. At the last moment before impact, the mental block gave away and Magnus activated his defensive Skill.
[Toughen is now Level 5]
Even with the Skill active, he could hear cracks as he flew onto his back at least three meters away. If this was before the Integration his insides would be pulverized and his back broken. Now it was just a few cracks in what was probably his ribs. Lying on the ground, he looked a bit at his newly upgraded armor. All things said it held up quite well against such momentum, with only a few cracks that were visibly mending themselves. Standing up as fast as he could he smiled at the damage he managed to inflict before he suffered the collision. Blue blood streaked down the spider’s ugly face and two of its eyes didn’t look so good. It was just standing in place probably shaking off the hit. He hit it pretty hard after all. The Ents sensing a good moment to strike did just that. Caridus used some kind of flashy Skill and managed to completely sever one of the spider’s legs. The two mages did just as instructed and combined their spells to send out a wave of thorns that enveloped three legs on the spider’s right side. Unfortunately, before the last sentinel could even get in range the Royal Guard shook itself out of its stupor and whipped out with one of its powerful legs. The sentinel slower than even Magnus caught the leg right in the face and snapped like a dead tree. It wouldn’t recover from that.
The spider, blind with rage, pushed through the painful thorns binding its legs and charged toward the vulnerable mages. The two mages scrambled to different sides the spider was forced to choose one direction to charge in. The weaker mage shot out a hastily prepared spear at the spider. Predictably, the spider changed its direction to charge toward the mage leaving Curt completely unhurt. Only two of the Ents were left, both of them empowered and angry. It was time to end the fight.