The crowd cheered and I looked up from the book on the Order of Equinox. I was waiting behind one of the four gates that led out onto the arena floor. Through the bars I saw Raven land gracefully on the white sand as the decapitated head of a troll she’d been fighting hit the ground. A spray of blood shot up the severed neck—the troll would not be regenerating from that one.
Two of the gates began to open even before the troll’s five-meter-tall body collapsed. Something akin to the porters I had created on the biome floor walked out.
My gate began to open and Raven strode towards me basking in the cheers of the crowd. Once Vito heard about the arena, he began sending beasts he captured in Tehomal for us to fight. Kellnock was more than happy to arrange the fights since the death of the beasts would fuel the dungeon all the more.
From what I could tell, Kellnock and Vito got along quite well, and the steady stream of monsters Vito was sending up surely helped. Sometimes the monsters Vito sent were like this troll, much higher level than any of the three of us were, but weak to a particular skill set. This troll had been level 125, but it’s slow speed and dim mind made it easy pickings for someone like Raven. Vito would also sometimes send monsters that would be difficult for us to fight or would make us focus on a particular skill he wanted us to work on.
Vito kept up a steady stream of monsters, at least one for me, Maxwell, as well as Raven every day. Even without him in the dungeon with us, he was still a taskmaster. With each group of monsters came what amounted to homework for us to work on. Some of it was sent back, particularly the stuff he sent me on death magic.
It hadn’t been bad at first, but after two weeks of nonstop curated matches and study, it’d lost its charm. If it had just been fighting that would’ve been fine, it was fun enough, but his homework for me was frustrating and boring, though I could feel myself learning more about how to use my abilities.
“Well done,” I said to Raven as she entered the tunnel. “What do you think he’s got for me today?”
“Who knows?” Raven smiled. “I’m sure it will be fun either way.”
I tossed my book into my spatial storage bag and got up, offering my chair to Raven. Picking Mercy up from where it leaned against the wall, I strode out onto the sand. The gate began to close behind me immediately.
Already the porters were almost all the way out of the arena, dragging the corpse of the troll while a specialized minion smoothed the sand. There was a fair number of people now. Our constant fighting had drawn a crowd. We always did, considering the monsters we fought were unusual.
“Next we have Ezekiel the lich versus a dread wolf spider,” an announcer’s voice rang across the arena. “These ambush predators stalk the tunnels of Tehomal striking down even the strongest of opponents with their lethal venom and blinding fast attack. These masters of illusion can hide themselves with their innate dark magic and move without making a sound.”
Internally, I groaned. This one would be a pain. It would be a disadvantage since it had no good hiding places, but I doubted that would prevent its magic from concealing itself. I lowered Mercy, forming its blade into a heavy broad tip with a cross guard at the blade’s base, never taking my eyes off the opening tunnel.
If I’d not been watching, the fight would’ve been over just like that. The wolf spider lunged out of the hole using its powerful legs twice as long as I was tall. It was upon me before I had time to really react. Mercy rose just in time to block its massive fangs from slamming down on me. From their tips, poison dripped and hissed on my Thanatrith armor. Acid poison. “Fuck you, Vito,” I snarled as I shoved it back.
Immunity to poison did not mean immunity to venom all the time. Particularly when acid was involved. No doubt a bite from that thing would leave me suffering.
Surprised by my strength, the wolf spider scurried back and raised its front legs, hissing. Then another surprise hit me as a beam of magic hammered out of its eyes straight into me. It passed through the defensive barriers of my armor then splashed harmlessly against it. It was death magic.
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While completely harmless against me it did mean I couldn’t use some of my strongest attacks. I dove forward, driving Mercy at it. The thick chitin armor partially deflected my blade, allowing it to only score a shallow cut along the joints.
The wolf spider hammered down with its front legs, which turned out to be laced with quill-like hairs that stuck in my armor when they brushed against me. They didn’t seem to do much, so I ignored them and continued my attack.
I did have my eldritch magic, but I wanted to see if I could bring this down with pure melee. I doubted the festering wounds left by Mercy would be as effective against such a foe.
Clearly annoyed, the wolf spider did something I didn’t think it could. It brought its eight legs together and shoved me. The sharp tips at the end of each leg scored my armor. One managed to penetrate my stomach, and by the time I got back to my feet, the spider had vanished.
Immediately I began scanning around, reshaping Mercy. The broad headed spear was not the right weapon. I needed something that could punch through that chitin. I turned Mercy’s blade into a needlelike tip. Fortunately for me the creature used dark magic to conceal itself, and while the spell was effective enough to conceal it from me, I could still sense the magic.
It surged toward me, and at the last moment, I was able to roll out of the way just before the wolf spider slammed into the ground. Two of its legs tried to grab me, but I was already beyond its reach. I rose to my feet and threw Mercy in one fluid motion. My massive strength as a lich sent Mercy speeding across the distance in a flash.
I had aimed for the joint of its rear leg where it connected to the body and my aim was true. Mercy’s tip bit through the weak point of the armor and the power of my throw buried the shaft into the spider. Once through the outer armor, the insides provided little resistance to my blade. A spray of blood coated the sand on the other side—it had punctured clear through.
It was a good blow, though it left me unarmed against a now hurt and angry spider the size of a cow. I reached my hand out to Mercy even as the wolf spider whirled. I pulled, feeling the connection to my weapon more than I ever did before. Normally, with it being stuck like this, I would never have been able to yank it free. But even as I pulled, a force generated.
The spider hissed in pain as it surged towards me. I pulled harder. I let myself move with the building force. When the wolf spider lunged, I slid underneath its legs and spun around, coming up on the other side and grasping the shaft of Mercy where it was still outside the spider’s body.
Mercy’s blade was almost clear through the other side. I smiled and shoved the weapon farther. The blade fully came out the other side and I reshaped it. Wicked barbs grew out of the side of the blade.
Reshaping Mercy inside of something, much less another living creature, was basically impossible. But with the blade clear and free, that was a different matter.
The spider thrashed and tried to toss me off, and I almost lost my grip. A massive leg managed a glancing blow, nearly sending me flying. But my grip strength was nothing to scoff at.
Working myself around using Mercy as a lever, I planted both feet on its large body. With a roar, I yanked. The barbs caught on the chitin on the other side, and with a bit more pressure, they cracked the already weakened edges. As soon as I felt the tip fully enter inside of the wolf spider, I dropped my legs and hung by Mercy.
It screeched in pain and whipped around, the sudden force sending me flying. Briefly, the spider scrabbled at the shaft, trying to grab a hold of it, but it lacked the means to.
Enraged, knowing it was done for, it charged at me. All it wanted to do was take me with it. I reached out towards Mercy again. Instead of trying to pull it to me, I exerted control over it. I began to work the shaft outside of the spider’s body around in a circle, causing the blade to spin on the inside.
Right before it made it to me, I hit something vital, and the spider stumbled. I dove through its legs once again and came up behind it. It was wary of the move and attempted to get around to me. But it was too late. I grabbed Mercy and leveraged it in a massive arc even as I started to withdraw it.
The barbs caught on the chitin. I pointed my hand and cast a simple spell. A blast of eldritch power hammered into the damaged joint. It wasn’t enough to destroy the joint by itself, but it was already a compromised point. When I yanked Mercy once again, the joint broke.
Mercy ripped free in a stream of spider guts all tangled around the barbs. The leg was mostly detached, and the spider shuddered as putrid blood poured out of the wound. Even still, it struggled, the movements slowed and pained.
I snapped Mercy to one side, sending most of the viscera flying and reshaped it into a needle. I leapt onto its back. Looking down, its eyes stared up at me, sending a beam of death magic into me. I ignored it and buried Mercy in a spot directly between its eyes.
The blow hammered into the ground, blade driving into the sand. I leapt off, leaving the spider impaled. It wasn’t dead. But it would be soon. Its legs thrashed, and slowly they ceased.
The crowd roared in approval. I felt just a little bit like a roman gladiator as I turned and headed back for the tunnel.