“That’s a big stump…” Bug comments as she looks straight up.

Max nods. “Yeah… you know, looking at everything like this, with just how big everything is, it almost feels like we have been shrunk down to the size of bugs.”

“That better not be a joke about me being short.”

“It’s not, it’s not! It’s just… there used to be this big oak tree where we grew up, the three of us… Now that was a big tree… We’d used to have sword fights with sticks and play with bugs under it, and I couldn’t help but to think what it would be like to be their size. To have these massive trees towering over us… It’s really something…”

“Huh, I never thought about that.” Comments Jakub.

Sam asks, “Were you thinking about that back then? I know you always liked to catch beetles, but I didn’t know you were thinking about weird stuff like that, Max.”

“What, it ain’t weird!? I would just imagine that I was little, running through the grass and fighting monster sized bugs. I mean, try to imagine fighting a prey mantis if it was the same size as you, or hell, BIGGER! That would be fucking scary, but would be a cool fight, no?”

“Huh… You’re right, that would be pretty cool…. Hey, Hannah, any giant mantises in this Dungeon? Those exist, right?” Sam asks as she turns and looks her way.

“Uhm… I don’t think there are any in this one. I’m pretty sure that a Dungeon to the north of here has those, I think? I wouldn’t recommend fighting one though, they are about as strong as a floor twenty monster…”

“Ahh, one day then. Should make for a fun fight!”

“Yeah, just uh… don’t let it grab you. They eat their prey alive, starting with the head…” Hannah tells her with a grimace.

Storing away her jars full of golden candies under her wings while no one is looking, Bug clears her throat and gets everyone’s attention. “Hey! Are we going to go in, or are we just going to chat out here?”

Max looks a bit embarrassed for getting distracted by childhood memories and quickly gets himself back on task.

“Right, we need to hurry. We managed to get here before the Necromancer, which is good. We haven’t even seen any Undead since reaching the tenth floor, so things are going well. Let’s take a short break before going in. Everyone, check over your gear, drink and eat, and rest up. Fifteen minutes and then we go in. Hannah, you know the drill for boss fights, just like with the boar, right?”

Hannah nods, her face looking serious. “Yes, stay by the walls of the room and move to keep close in case you need to protect me.”

Max adds, “And scream if you need us. Don’t hesitate to call for our help.”

“Got it!”

----------------------------------------

Fifteen minutes fly by as Bug works on her stretches, limbering up her body as it is the only weapon she plans on using for this fight. Yes, she could pull out any number of the many weapons that she has stored in her inventory, but that would sort of ruin the fun of her game.

While Bug is quite certain that the others have already figured out by now that she is using some kind of magic to store her items, most likely mistaking her wings as a magical cloak or something, she would still rather keep playing pretend and have them believe that she only fights using her Body magic. After all, a real Body Mage would certainly believe their own body to be better than any weapon made of something as weak as steel.

She hasn’t even resorted to using Inflict Pain or Create Poison; even when she is certain that she isn’t being watched and could probably get away with it. Because there is still that risk. The risk that they might notice and start asking questions. After all, if a Body Mage can use Soul and Nature magics, then what’s to say that they can’t use Death magic as well, that she might have actually been the Necromancer all along!?

No, if the game is to be fun, then Bug must play by the rules she has set for herself. And that is exactly what she has been doing for the past couple of days.

Even as the temptation to sell bodies, or turn them into more Undead has filled her, she has resisted. Even as her wings have itched and ached to be used in combat, she had held back to keep up the disguise, because how else is she storing her items if the cloak is actually a pair of wings? Can she use Space magic as well? No, couldn’t risk it. Not before the game is up.

And it has been lots of fun, so much fun in fact, that Bug is seriously considering this layer of the Dungeon to be her favorite so far. Not that it has much competition considering how utterly shit the first layer was, but she will just have to wait and see with the third.

Bug even managed to make her very first friend, and even learned so much about the outside world…

It was fun…

But soon, it will have to come to an end.

Most of Bug’s guilt has faded after she learned that Hannah’s fate is no longer sealed, doomed to have to fight for survival as she tries to escape from the Dungeon and Bug’s plot. Nope, instead, she will be able to use the teleporter and return to the surface where it is safer, able to quickly flee the city before Bug’s brewing plagues have a chance to spill out of the Dungeon.

Yes, Hannah will probably be very upset with Bug once she learns the truth. But, when compared to basically killing her first and only friend, making her upset is hardly a thing to be considered! And besides, Bug fully intends to try and make it up to her after she is finally free from this damnable Dungeon.

But first, she has a boss to kill.

Adorning the nearby wall is a switch, just like the first boss’s entrance. And further still, above the mighty crack that acts as the entrance to this place, there is a big shiny rock, glowing with a gentle emerald light.

I swear, one day, someday! I will steal that thing! I just have to break the Dungeon first, then it won’t matter if it is part of the walls. One day, all of the Dungeon’s treasures will be mine!

Clenching her fist with much resolve in her heart, Bug watches as Jakub presses the switch. It flashes green in confirmation, and then the threads that block the entrance begin to retract like a pair of curtains opening up the stage before an audience.

Within the massive stump is a space that could host a colosseum’s many events with room to spare. The walls are dressed in white spider silk, many different kinds of creatures wrapped up tight and adorning the walls like lumps or hanging from the ceiling on threads like morbid fruits. Many of them still wiggle and move, their occupants barely holding onto life within.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Looking around, none of the cocoons look to contain humans, but Bug doesn’t doubt that there has probably been a fair share of humans to adorn these webs over the years. After all, the Dungeon’s favorite food is humans.

Before entering, Bug looks around, observing the Boss Room further, but fails to catch sight of the owner of this room.

“Where’s the boss at?” Bug asks.

Hannah answers her by pointing up. “After the entrance is sealed, the boss enters through that hole in the ceiling.”

Looking up, Bug does find the hole in question. It is currently the only source of light filling the room aside from the open entrance, allowing the light from outside to stream in and gently fill the massive room with a low light while keeping the little crevasses in the rotting walls partially hidden by shadow.

“Hmm…”

Max calls out with his sword drawn and at the ready, “Is everyone ready to go?”

Everyone gives a nod in return. With a deep calming breath, he says, “Ok.” And then steps into the room, leading the way.

The party makes their way inside and Hannah sticks back, watching as the curtains of white silk close behind them automatically, further darkening the room as the only source of light becomes the single hole in the ceiling. And then it flickers, shadows moving across the floors and walls as long spindly limbs move searchingly across the light. With the clicking of chitinous limbs and the thuds of a great weight moving, a large black figure begins to slowly immerge from the hole, meter long mandibles clicking and chittering as toxic looking liquids oozes out and drips the floor down below like drool spilling from a hungry mouth.

For a moment, the room is cast in complete darkness as the spider climbs through the hole, the light only returning once its large rear end finally passes through. The light illuminating its body of pitch-black carapace, everyone can see the bloody-red skull painting its back with an image of promised death.

The massive beast lets go of the ceiling, descending slowly by a thick strand of spider’s silk as it rotates in the air once, showing off the entirety of its majestic body to its captivated audience.

Now, hanging before her opponents, the red mark of death showing for all to see, the Brood Mother Black Widow, final boss of the second layer and responsible for the deaths of many parties, lets out a chittering roar from her poison dripping mouth, calling for the start of the battle as the very air around her shakes with her might.

…

She is then promptly slammed into by a tiny cannon ball of blades and spikes, Bug having charged the moment the boss was close enough to the ground for her to be able to jump up and reach…

The boss, who had been about to disconnect from her line and alight to the stage, to properly start the first part of the battle, had not been expecting to get hit so violently while she was still several meters up in the air. A distance that most humans shouldn’t be able to normally jump. Even further still, because most human are usually stunned for a few moments after that first roar, giving her plenty of time to get down to the floor.

Instead, the Brood Mother is now swinging through the air, chittering in anger as her ten bladed limbs try to scratch off the little thing that is currently tearing into her massive body with little blades, skittering across her body as it dodges her blows.

…

Bug climbs across the massive spider’s body like a parasite trying to find a safe spot to feed, dodging the flailing bladed limbs as she jumps from spot to spot, slashing at the hard armor of the boss monster every chance she can get. And the armor is indeed hard. Where with the super major ants, she had been able to break through with ease and tear through their bodies, the boss’s armor is much more difficult to break through. Instead, all she can do is leave scrapping marks and jagged cracks wherever she strikes. If she had the time to continuously attack the same spot, she would be able to eventually break through, but the boss doesn’t seem so inclined as to allow her that chance.

Clicking her tongue and just wanting this damn thing to hold still, Bug looks for a way to make it stop flailing around.

Need some way to incapacitate it… Could use Inflict Pain, but no, that is against the rules… Oh, I know!

Quickly climbing up its hanging body, Bug bobs and weaves as she avoids the spider’s attacks, working her way up to the end of her massive butt.

Dodging one last hit, Bug jumps for the line that the boss hangs from, slashing out with two blades like a pair of scissors and severing it with an audible snap.

Holding onto the rear of the spider, Bug holds on tight as gravity suddenly asserts its dominance, the spider soaring though the air for some distance after getting let loose from its previous swinging motions.

Chittering like it is screaming, the massive spider crashes to the ground with enough force to shake the arena like an earthquake.

Hannah and the others trip and try to keep their balance as they witness the giant collapse, throwing massive plums of dust into the air and dirtying the white spider silk that adorns the nearest walls in dirt.

Bug gets thrown from the beast, tumbling through the air before hitting the ground and rolling hard. With a manic laugh, she scrambles back up to her feet, sprinting, practically on all fours like an animal, as she races to attack the downed and stunned spider.

Racing forward, Assassination singing in the back of Bug’s mind as it guides her blades, the spider having lost track of her and now open for a sneak attack. Bug jumps and plunges her bladed limbs into the rear of the spider, her skill telling her that the thing’s important organs are all stored here, rather than in its midsection like most creatures would be.

Her blades break through, sliding in between where two armored plates meet. Bug is rewarded with a spray of blood and a scream from the boss as her meter long blades sink in up to her elbows.

Become Weapon!

Pushing her magic into her bladed limbs, they begin to rapidly grow and expand in size within the body of the spider, ripping and cutting apart everything in their paths until they are like Zweihänder great swords in length and then further still, the wound being forced to expand, and tear open as the blades thicken and push apart the armored plates from within, spilling more of the spider’s ichor.

As the boss begins to thrash about in pain, trying to right itself back onto its bladed feet, Bug laughs like a maniac and then braces herself, crouched horizontally against the body of the spider as she starts to push against it, pulling on her bladed limbs that are now far larger than her own body.

With a squelching, ripping noise of wet fluids sucking in air, her blades start to slide out, tearing their way out and cracking the surrounding carapace as the blades are forcefully pulled from its body.

The spider screams, its chittering call ringing out through the arena as Bug's blades finally break free, sliding out with one last sickening wet squelch of ripping meat.

Bug goes flying back, propelled away as her bladed limbs slide free from the spider, covered in layers of sticky fluids and shredded bits of organs on her serrated blade’s teeth. The massive wound on the boss’s side, no longer corked up by the pair of blades, begins to pour with fluids and bits of loose organ like a waterfall broken free from a dam, splashing down to the floor below and forming a growing puddle of horrid smelling material as the giant spider thrashes in pain.

Standing there as her arms shrink back down to a more wieldy size, Bug watches as the boss bleeds out a river of gore as it slowly gets back onto its feet, its movements already starting to look slower and slower as more time passes.

“HAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! You call this a BOSS?! Dungeon, how do you hope to stop me if this is all you have!? This thing can't even begin to compare to the queen bee! Is this all you’ve got!!!???”

As if to answer her, the boss of the second layer reels back its head and gives out a call.

Hannah yells out, “That’s the cue, it’s calling for its minions!”

All around the arena, the walls start to move as many legged things begin to stir. Crawling out of the crevasses in the walls, many spiders, each one looking like a tiny version of the boss, though still nearly big enough to reach the hips of a grown man, begin to crawl their way down, completely blanketing the walls with their black and red bodies.

Hannah runs to get away from the wall, quickly getting surrounded on all sides by the adventurers as they put her between them.

“Uhm, Hannah? Is there supposed to be this many already!?”

Hannah looks around in fright at the still increasing number of spiders, turning around as she takes in every side of the room. “No! No there is not! It’s not supposed to be like this! It, it’s only supposed to be about a half a dozen or so at a time! Not, not this!”

“What do we do, Max!?” Jakup shouts as he takes a step back, tightening the formation, daggers held at the ready.

“The entrance, can we get back out that way?” Max tries to ask calmly.

Hannah just shakes her head. “No, the curtains are like any Dungeon door. They are virtually indestructible! They won’t open until the fight is over!”

“Ok, we regroup with Bug. Stick close and don’t let them reach Hannah! Bug! We need to- “ Max tries to call out, but is interrupted as the lights suddenly dim, a shadow of a large figure filling the room with more shadows, the silhouette of spindly limbs climbing down the sides of the wall like pine trees growing from the dead earth.

The adventurers look up, the blood draining from their faces as they see a set of eight massive blood-red eyes staring back down at them.

“This… this isn’t supposed to happen…” Hannah stutters out as she looks up in complete and utter fear, her legs shaking as she stares up at a second boss monster.