Tension was not good for any of them, not when they all needed each other to stay alive.... Not when they all need me. Going with how most dungeons have always been from the get go, the deeper or lower we go, the harder it becomes. It would be troubling if we all don't trust ourselves, but in this case there isn't much of a choice, we're not friends, or at the very least I'm not friends with them, so there was absolutely no need to pretend to be. But in the end these eggheads were the future of the Terran Coalition, the officers that would lead the vanguard against the elves and finally put an end to this war once and for all... If they die because of a 'well deserved' anger tantrum, it would be very bad for us all, especially the thousands of lives their very existence and presence on the battlefield would save.... But mostly bad for me, cause no amount of explanation would get me out of the colossal trouble I'd find myself in.

"So you have a miracle now. What is it?" Kaixuan asked, as he moved a bit closer to me, the only other person willing to do so, not all worried by my animosity.... Or it could just be he has an extremely thick skin, either way, my miracle is not information I want to be forthcoming about, at least not here, and not in front of them.

"That's classified Kaixuan, you'll know all about it once it's been catalogued and registered by the coalition. You'll have all juicy details then, but for now we have to get out of here."

The moment I said that there was a loud clang, and the sound of gears shifting and grating against each other was heard again. We all paused, looking around expecting an attack from any angle.

"Back to Back!" Andrej ordered as everyone fell into formation myself included with their weapons at the ready. Unfortunately, I've lost all my firearms... Again, and the two elven short swords in my hands were all I had for my defense, my battle tool was still on my back, and if I have to be honest I'm regretting not using the cores of the spiders on it. They were still on me though, but at the very least I would have a suitable weapon to fight with.

"The Doors!" Malkova called out in alarm as we all shifted our focus, immediately discovering that the doors that dotted both sides of the hallways were disappearing, leaving behind a smooth metallic wall.

"Were those all Illusions all this time?" Ricardo asked, as he held his assault rifle tightly, his eyes peeled as darkness seemed to gather at his feet.

"Nope, none of those doors were illusions, the magic is weird, but I can sense it enough to know that it is more like the doors were summons, and they have been unsummoned. Laurent our resident wizard and expert in illusions spoke up, besides as far as trickery is concerned, no one was better at that than the bloody chosen of the god of mischief.

I didn't say anything, honestly there wasn't anything to say as the gears continued to shift until all of the doors had vanished. With each second that passed more grating than the last, we all worried about our lives or if we were going to survive. I turned to look at the other end of the hallway, looking over the head of the others, and just in time too as suddenly the lights went off, and the floor beneath our feet vanished.

Our screams rent the darkness as we fell down, we couldn't see, which shouldn't be possible, especially in my case since I had night vision.... Or at least some kind of vision that can help with the whole seeing at night situation. But this was a blackness unlike any other, it almost seemed to hijack my visual senses, preventing me from seeing anything... Kind of like that old school rpg status effect [Blindness]... Oh!

"Aurora!"

The light was blinding, rapidly jumping from one location to the other, highlighting the outline of all eleven of us, and the extremely wide shaft we had fallen down into. The shaft could not have been 30 meters across, with how hard we were falling I couldn't really tell its exact length in circumference, and I wasn't close enough to the walls to put the spider limbs/legs to good use. I looked down, and immediately got a face full of water, hitting it hard enough that it left a bloody taste in my mouth.

The pain was annoying, but it didn't last long, however if I felt this much damage with how high my stats were, then the others were probably in a far worse state than me. And then the lights came on, right above an island in the center of the lake we just fell in, in what looked to be a cavern. I ignored everything else and dived, the first person I came across was Andrej, his arms were crooked, but a quick light Heal got him to his feet as I pointed in the direction of Salma, who was actually unconscious and sinking fast. He ignored me and moved to the left, heading in the direction of his sister who was slowly making her way up and out of the water. Amina floated past me, a shocked look on her face as she stared at Andrej's retreating figure.

[Light Heal]

I threw the heal at her without a second thought and dove, with a stronger body I covered much more speed than before. Grabbing Salma, whilst noticing the small bubble of air that escaped her mouth. I gave a small prayer of thanks as I healed her, and then looked up, noticing that Andrej and Malkova were already out of the lake. So I didn't stand on ceremony and used [Aurora] again.

The lake lit up in a myriad of colors as the others got the bare minimum of healing, required for them to get out of the lake and save themselves from drowning. Laurent on the other hand was just as unconscious as Salma, and healing him wasn't the same as waking him up. I swam in his direction, still holding on to Salma, hoping that both their physiques were now strong enough to withstand a few minutes without air.

I noticed Kaixuan coming down to help, but I shook my head and instead threw Salma up towards him, her lithe form streaking through the waters as he grabbed her, and let the rest of her momentum from my throw carry them up and out of the lake. I grabbed Laurent, and that's when I saw it, all eight eyes glowing red in my direction as a notification unlike any other popped up above her head.

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[Cymerian Arachne Brood Mother [Guardian of DurkenHolm] Dungeon Boss: Physique: 400/ Movement: 400/ Magic: 500/ Slot 1: Dark Beam/ Slot 2: Poison Fog/ Slot 3: Soul Shriek/ Slot 4: Spawn Broodlings/ Slot 5: Sin Skill: Gluttony (F-)// A creature so ancient and powerful that she was assigned a post by the dwarves of DurkenHolm to lead the vanguard of their invasion Dungeon-Crafts. However, the craft crashed and the unfamiliar mana of the planet has twisted her directives and mind! She heard the madness of the FORSAKEN.]

I got a hold of Laurent and pointed my hands in her direction [Wind Blast] we both blasted out of the water as I threw a quick heal at the unconscious French man. But my escape wasn't nearly fast enough.

We both blasted out of the water at high speeds, and following right behind us was a beam of massive black and red energy that blasted upwards, slamming into the roof of the cavern, the shaft which we came down in completely gone, almost as if it never existed in the first place. Laurent and I landed hard on the shore of the island, the landing being enough to jolt the wizard awake, as a loud roar filled the entire cavern, causing vibrations and shakes, but nothing else as the cavern much like the rest of the dungeon was made of metal and not rock.

"Samson! Your Body!" Laurent screamed out, as he turned to the others and yelled for help. I didn't know why he was being so panicked, I was fine, just a little dizzy is all. They all gathered around me, including that fucking coward and his sister Malkova, it was just that the wide eyed look they were given me, made me push the issue of them running away and ignoring the others when they obviously could have helped. Either way I still looked down, and felt my heart grow cold... Or rather I felt the distinct lack of it.

The entire left side of my body was gone, from the base of my neck to my head, that was all that remained of Samson Michaels. Which should explain the dizziness, excluding my entrails hanging out of my body, I've probably lost all the blood in my body, and that was when the pain hit me.

"Heal Yourself Sam! Come on! We need you damn it!" Malkova yelled, as she looked frantically at her deformed arm, all up to her very deformed and broken neck.... Ahhh no wonder.

"Heal me! Come on heal me now! If you're going to die, then at least be bloody fucking useful!" She got a fist in her face courtesy of Amina, as she fell back wide eyed, while her brother hurriedly stood in front of her to defend her. But I didn't notice anything else, I tried to use my heal spell, but I couldn't think or speak, all I could see was just the darkness....and then nothing.

[Resilience has ranked up to D- +15 to Physique]

1

[Aurora has Leveled up to 2! +5 to Magic]

2

[Class Cleric Has Leveled up to 2! +5 to Magic, +1% to all Cleric/ Holy Spells and Skills]

3

[Miracle Bonus: +7 to all Stats]

I opened my eyes with a gasp, right underneath the giant spider that was hiding in the Lake. It was like being under a plane, with each step it took causing tremors in the earth. I could see the others running towards the tree line of the island, whilst turning around and laying some suppressive fire on the Arachne. I felt totally fine, just a little bruised, I mean I just died and it was completely unlike the first time where it seemed as if one moment I was dying and the next I'm in heaven... This time I felt it. But I was fine..., I'm okay, we just need to kill this spider, and maybe get me some clothes. Somehow, whether by luck or just providence, my battle tool and the small pack I had all my cores inside of were intact. The spider limbs on the other hand was in shambles, with half of it missing and the other half not responding to my commands no matter how hard I tried. It's quite unfortunate, I could have done a lot of great things with it. But either way, there was no time to talk or play, we needed to bring this thing down, and just bullets, skills, spells and simple weapons won't be enough.

[Absorb Cymerian Spider Cyborg Core into Battle Tool (Unnamed)]

There was no time to waste, I needed an edge against this spider, and what I have with me just wasn't enough the alternative of using the cores themselves as explosives did not sit well with me. If I had grenades though, that would have been perfect. The core and the battle tool seemed to meld, with the battle tool turning into a liquid like form, that swallowed the core. This core belonged to an elite creature, so in one way or the other it should be able to give the battle tool a new form or skill. And I'm hoping I'm lucky enough to have an extra slot for a different sort of weapon, enough to have a variation later. The grey liquid mess in front of me, wiggled before reforming into a gauntlet, with a white diamond spider right in the middle of it.

This wasn't what I was expecting, but I'm hoping it's going to be enough, I've foolishly avoided using the cores in the name of getting something better, but there was no time for something better. My life was on the fucking line, and so too were the others.

BATTLE TOOL (UNAMED)

LEVEL

2 (0%)

SERIES:

Mechanical/Biological/ Magical

GRADE:

D+

BASE MONSTERS:

(I) Spiders

FORM SLOTS:

1/3

FORM I:

Cymerian

TYPE:

Gauntlet️

Slot 1: Steel Silk Manipulation:

Rank 1/5

Slot 2: Biomechanical E.M.P Discharge Conduit:

Rank 1/7

The first skill could probably be useless to me at the moment, but the second was something I've never seen before, but would probably help in bringing this thing down. The steel silk skill was an active skill, the EMP on the other hand was a passive that augmented every other strike or skill utilized with the gauntlet. I'll take an in depth look at it later, but for now, there's a fight to be won.

I raised my hand towards one of the legs of the giant spider, watching the streaks of red and purple on it as she pulsed with light. It wasn't moving, and water was still dripping off her body, none the less it was preparing to use a skill, probably the same one that it had used in Killing me. I paused, unable to help the shudder that went through my body at the thought of my death, but be that as it may, it was time to take a stand, and take a shot.

[Lion Strike]