“Hehehisp~” Shai laughed, striking [Arcane Shot] to kill the last of the corrupted Inix. “This is becoming really easy for some reason.”

She wondered why. It was the seventh time they were harvesting mushrooms, and yet they were nowhere near close to harvesting the whole cultivation pit. Hell, they were not even halfway there. On top of everything, they had to fight off corrupted creatures every time to harvest the mushrooms. The only consolation was that it had been growing very easy to fight off evil each time they delivered the load.

The mark and other benefits she earned played a significant role in raising her capability, but what helped the most was their teamwork. With both of them working together for several hours, the synergy of how they fought greatly boosted each other’s performance.

“Must be because I’m just too awesome,” Shai expressed with a pleased hiss, while she shot another poisoned [Arcane Shot] at her foe.

“Shai, stop playing with them,” Marvel’s not-so-pleased voice rang in her mind. “The gate would be opening at any moment now... We have to get at least a couple more sprees in that time.”

“I’m not playing,” Shai said quickly, while simultaneously finishing off the last two of her corrupted creatures. “I’ll take care of the rest of them and go begin picking the mushrooms.”

Marvel didn’t argue and flung above her to begin uprooting the mushrooms. On the other hand, Shai fended off the fatherless miscreants. She finished off most of them, while the rest were fleeing, when an earthquake hit. Thankfully, it didn’t last more than a fraction of a second.

Hmm, Dungeonquake? Shai shook her head and turned to Marvel. “What the hell was that?”

Marvel let out a familiar ‘Grrr’ to express her annoyance. “Crap, it’s already time... that was likely the gate.”

“You guys’ gate opens with an earthquake?” Shai hissed. “Why it couldn’t be just be a creaking?”

“You have already seen the gate, and it is quite big and not like any common door!” Marvel clattered her mandibles. “Quick, collect them into your intra-dimensional storage. We cannot waste any time.”

Collecting the delicacies as quickly as they could, Shai rode Marvel on the way back. The young spider didn’t hold back after the short earthquake hit. By the time they returned, it wasn’t as dark as Shai remembered, though the light was far from being anything natural. The lights were red, purple, pink and all the dark colours.

The source was obviously the very peculiar-looking gate, now glowing in all sorts of dynamic colours. Her [Golden Eyes] activated on their own as she stared down at the portal.

Shai had been half expecting something truly magical, something portal-like which would teleport them all out of this hellhole. Her imagination might have been wild, but the colours and wild amount of essence fluctuating from the gate went beyond her imagination.

Fearing that her [Golden Eyes] might divulge something deeper into the very fabric of the portal gate, and blast her mind with unconsumable insights, Shai forcefully suppressed the aspect. Her eyes returned to normal as she lowered her sight to the young spiderlings lined before the huge portal gate, jumping into it one by one. The elder spider Elegy was supervising the whole thing.

Shai deposited the load into the increasing heap of delicious mushrooms, as the cobwebs supporting stretched a little more.

“Good job,” Elegy transferred without lifting her attention off the fledglings. “Perhaps with all this, we can suffer through a couple of weeks.”

“Elegy, the gate will remain open for a couple of hours, right?” Marvel asked.

“If you’re thinking of going for another round before the gate closes,” Elegy paused, “you’ll be stretching for time. The gates will only remain open for an hour and a few more minutes.”

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“We can still go for another round,” Marvel said with conviction.

“I know you can, but I would not like to take chances,” Elegy said.

“But—”

“No buts,” the elder spider cut her off. “As I said, this is enough for a couple of weeks. We can manage something better at that time. What you have accomplished is quite amendable. Do not worry anymore. You might not remember, as you’re quite young, when you have been inside, the inner realm is full of rich essence and ingredients. Also, Mother will take care of us all.”

“Alright, Elegy,” Marvel said, sounding reluctant.

“If you want to do more,” Elegy finally spared her some more attention. “Perhaps Serenity can use your help. Go find her. She’s responsible for the other gate. Solace also left something for you and the greedy snake with Serenity.”

Shai hissed, her forked tongue salivating just at the mention of her prize.

“Something for me too?” Marvel wondered what it could be. Unfortunately, the guardian spider didn’t pay her any more attention, getting busy with her work.

Marvel carried on the same way, moving as fast as she could. Shai had no clue where the other gate was, but she did feel a little reluctant about leaving all the delicious mushrooms to those corrupt creatures.

“You know, one hour is just about enough to collect another batch of mushrooms,” Shai interjected. “And it would take even less time if we do not have to fight off the pests.”

Marvel clattered in agreement.

“Hey, since we’d be going the same way, why don’t we take a look at the cultivation pit one last time?” Shai asked. “If monsters have littered the pit in the meantime, we can easily avoid them and leave. But if there are no monsters...” She let the words hang in the air. “Even if we have enough mushrooms, I... we can always help some more.”

After a moment of silence, Marvel clattered in agreement. “I don’t see a problem with checking out the pit.” After a moment, she added, “Wait. There is another cultivation pit closer to the other gate. Let’s check that one out.”

Marvel moved for half an hour, either swinging on webs or scaling the walls to traverse the dungeon pathways. She showed no expression of tiredness until they reached the pit, only to find more than half of the field already harvested clean with no sign of corrupt creatures in the surroundings.

“There’s some isolation formation still intact here,” Shai said, peering at the periphery of the cultivation pit. It was similar to the other one they were harvesting, only a little smaller in capacity.

“Marvel,” a voice rang in their minds. “And you too, Shai. Have you already completed your part?”

Shai remained silent to let Marvel answer, while the familiar figure of a spider came out of the pit, dragging along a bountiful collection of a different variety of mushrooms in her webs. Who could have thought that the spider granny would leave the same duty to someone else after offering it to two very unreliable options?

“Yes, we have collected for seven rounds before Elegy dismissed us a moment ago,” Marvel transferred. “She said you need our help?”

“I’m almost done here too,” Serenity returned as she carried the huge load of mushrooms with mechanical ease. “Help yourself if you can collect some more. I’ll be waiting outside the gate.”

“About the fruit,” Shai interjected before the elder spider could leave. A pair of red spider eyes flashed towards her. “Forget I asked...”

“I will give it to you once we finish all this.” With that, Serenity left, carrying the huge load of delicious mushrooms.

They got to work, wasting no time. Since there were no corrupt creatures they had to fend off, it didn’t even take ten minutes to load her inventory full of mushrooms.

“Phew!” Shai hissed. “Now I don’t have to worry about suffering from hunger for some time.”

Marvel narrowed her eyes and was just about to express that the mushrooms weren’t just for her when another earthquake shook the ground, this time far more intensely than before.

“What the hell was that?” Shai screamed. “Please don’t tell me that was the indication of the gate closing off.”

“Don’t be stupid, there’s still plenty of time for the gate to stay open, and besides—” Another tremor stopped Marvel from whatever she was about to say. “What kind of web-twisting shit is going on out there? Shai, quick! Hop on!”

Shai didn’t wait ceremoniously. She lunged on top of the young spider as they moved in the direction Serenity had left a few minutes before. The paths were very twisty and labyrinth-like, but Marvel moved meticulously as though she had the whole nook and crannies memorised in her brain.

Finally, they came before a miniature form of the same portal gate—thankfully, it was still glowing in dynamic dark lights, much to their relief. The only problem was the herd of corrupt creatures littered around the place, and only one guardian fending them off from entering the gate.

Shai’s insightful eyes flashed in the direction of a very familiar golden-tailed eagle surveying above them. When Shit hit the fan…!

“Marvel,” the familiar voice of Serenity rang in their minds. “Quick, enter the gate.”