There was a stark difference between the dungeon they entered and the other two they'd found so far.

Where monsters packed the others, this one seemed barren. The tunnels were dark and winding, with just as many diverging paths, but nothing sentient occupying them.

They weren’t in the dungeon long before Honeypot doubled back to meet them.

“There’s a trap ahead. Pitfall. Covered in webs. Amateur workmanship. A child could have done better.”

“Webs?” Arika asked, obvious hesitance in her voice

“Yeah. Webs.”

“Spider webs?”

“What other kind of webs are there? Yes, spider webs. An enormous spider from the looks of it...” A mischievous look crossed Honeypot’s face as a thought hit him. “Don’t tell me… are you scared of spiders, Arika?”

“I would have to be a fool to admit I feared something to a sadistic prick like you, but I will say this: if you see a spider, I would recommend getting far, far away from it. Like, very far. As soon as possible. Because I am likely to burn it and this fucking dungeon to the ground.”

Orion couldn’t help but smile at Arika’s declaration. He appreciated her passion, despite the fact that it was a passion to burn something alive. He also wasn’t a fan of the idea of giant spiders running around, so he was glad to have a Fire Mage on hand to go scorched-earth on the place if necessary.

“Lead the way, Honeypot,” Orion said before turning to his party. “Let’s be extra careful now that we know there are traps.”

Honeypot led the way further down into the depths.

Before long, he signaled for them to stop. Orion looked around, but even with his perfect vision, he couldn’t see anything that indicated a pitfall trap at first. After a moment longer, however, he saw a faint depression in the ground in a roughly circular shape. In small sections along the edge of the trap, there were spots of what looked like web that the surrounding dirt wasn’t properly concealing.

Honeypot shook his head in dismay and gestured down at the depression in the ground.

“Would you just look at this bullshit? It’s honestly insulting, isn’t it?”

“What is?” Shadow asked.

“Yeah, I see nothing either,” Arika said.

Orion knelt down in front of Honeypot and pointed at the trap.

“There’s a slight dip right here, almost across the entire width of the tunnel. You can see bits of web showing here, here, and here.” He pointed at the exposed sections of web. “I might not have noticed it either if it weren’t for you pointing it out, Honeypot.”

Arika and Shadow joined Orion in kneeling down in front of the trap.

Arika frowned. “Huh. There is…”

Shadow bent down and held his torch closer to the trap to see.

“You two are freaks.” He looked between Orion and Honeypot. “I’m glad we’re in the same party.”

“Wait… don’t move.” Orion felt his body stiffen.

Something caught his attention as he inspected the edge of the trap. Along the left side where the edge of the trap was closest to the wall, there was a slight glint, like refracted light bouncing off a small shard of glass. He edged closer, leaning down to inspect the source of the anomaly.

There was a single strand of web connecting the edge of the trap to the wall. He leaned in closer and followed the web with his eyes, careful not to touch the trap as he inched along the side. The web ran as far as he could see, leading further down into the tunnel.

Honeypot must have also noticed the web, because when Orion turned back, he could see the Priest following the trail of it with his eyes. The other two were just looking confused and ready for a fight.

“There’s a web connecting from this trap further into the dungeon,” Orion said. “If we’d tripped it, the monsters in the dungeon would have learned of our presence. Let’s stay together in here. I don’t want anyone getting caught in a trap without the rest of us there to help.”

“I don’t get it,” Shadow said. “Where are the things to hit?”

“My guess is that all the monsters in this dungeon will be in the last room, with numerous traps between here and there.” Orion shrugged. “I could be wrong, however, and we could just get ambushed at any point. We’ll have to be extremely careful of the traps, considering even one of these webs could alert the entire dungeon.”

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Arika looked as though she might be sick, but even she was willing to go deeper in and closer to what would likely be a spider boss. The party continued on past the trap and further into the dungeon. Honeypot led the charge, with Orion following, then Arika, and Shadow taking up the rear.

As they explored, there were just as many dead-ends and winding paths as the mole-infested dungeon from earlier, with the added spice of having possibly deadly traps sprinkled liberally throughout the labyrinth.

There were more of the pitfall traps, along with strong, thicker-looking webs that seemed like trip wires that would activate something doubtless nefarious. Countless thin webs were sprinkled around that would send vibrations deep into the depths.

Now that Honeypot knew what to look for, he spotted most of the webs crossing the path ahead, only having to be stopped a few times by Orion as he pointed out unseen strings of the thin variety glinting in his vision.

Orion had hoped they could follow the webs back to the boss’ room, but the design seemed rather sophisticated for the work of monsters; the sprawling strands of web were too chaotic to make out a pattern. Lacking a better option, they mapped out the dungeon, meticulously removing possible paths to the end by process of elimination.

After what felt like hours of searching, they reached a passage that was covered in webs, causing Orion to suspect they’d found the path to the boss. A thick blanket of the sticky substance almost completely covered the walls and roof of the tunnel. The floor wasn’t as bad, but there were countless webs darting back and forth, clearly intending to make it impossible for any intruders to pass without tripping one of the alerting strands.

Careful not to step on any of the webs, Orion crept forward. He scanned the floor ahead of him and thought he could see a viable path through the maze of webbing. He carefully stepped back and positioned himself so his team could hear him.

“I think there might be a path through, but it’s possible one of us steps on the web and sets off the alarm. If we touch or break a web, I think our best bet is to charge into the room and use whatever surprise we have left to our advantage. Does anyone else have another idea?”

He looked to his friends, hoping someone had a better plan than charging in and praying for the best, but they met him with silence. He had a backup plan if the circumstances demanded, but he wouldn’t share it with them just yet—they would likely just try to talk him out of it.

Heading back to the front of the line, Orion slowly began plotting his way through the maze of webs before him. Step-by-step, inch-by-inch, he crept his way further into the tunnel. Sometimes he had to step sideways, other times he had to walk only on the balls of his feet to ensure he didn’t trigger anything.

Orion glanced back occasionally, each time witnessing his party follow his and each-other’s steps with precision. Honeypot looked at ease. Arika looked a little tense, but otherwise moved with careful composure through the obstacle. Shadow was struggling.

His arms were waving out to his sides as he tried to keep his balance. He made stiff movements, his size and stature working against him. Despite the awkwardness of his progress, he’d yet to make a mistake with his footing.

Shadow may be a giant, but he’s not a stumbling fool.

Casting his vision forward once more, Orion continued his precarious path. He felt as though he’d passed the trickiest section of the tunnel, as there seemed to be more-and-more space for him to use. He picked up the pace a little, still being careful but unable to hold back the building anticipation of overcoming this obstacle.

A smile crossed his face as he saw the path clear ahead of him, and he pushed on. A few steps later, he’d made his way through the stretch and was happily standing on the web-free patch of dirt. Casting his eyes around, he couldn’t see beyond a pronounced bend in the path, so waited.

Relaxing a little, he turned to look at the rest of his party as they made their way through the mess—just in time to see Shadow’s hand sever a thin web.

Shadow must have felt the resistance of the web snap because he froze, the color bleeding out of his face. His eyes locked onto the web hanging limply from the roof, having lost tension where his metal gauntlet severed its anchor to the floor.

Before Orion could react, Shadow was sprinting down the tunnel with zero care for any of the webbing in his path. He’d clearly activated his Silent Speed ability because he was moving at a pace the rest of the party couldn’t hope to match, his suit of metal armor suspiciously quiet despite the movement speed its wearer possessed.

The rest of the party was moving as soon as their addled minds could catch up with Shadow’s actions, and they ran in his wake.

Shadow disappeared out of sight around the corner, and they sprinted as fast as they could to catch up. Any semblance of care completely forgotten, they tore through countless webs and trampled even more in their passing.

As they rounded the bend and caught sight of Shadow again, they were met with a terrifying sight.