“Put a warning sign up or something!” Rayna snapped.
The spider moved lazily across the cavern, closing in with the nonchalance of a predator that knew its prey was trapped.
Rayna swore, redoubling her efforts to extract herself from the web.
Arodra nearly tripped over Rayna’s tent. It hissed, turning on the canvas and sinking its fangs into it. When the tent showed no reaction, it started attacking more viciously.
System, any ideas?
The spider was distracted. This was Rayna’s chance to attack, but she couldn’t because she was stuck to the damn wall.
Rayna tried to maneuver her staff to push herself away from the wall but she only succeeded in dropping it.
Great, there goes my weapon.
Can you open a portal to escape again?
How is that going to get me out of these webs?
Perhaps if you could make a portal that intersected with the webs on the wall, you could cut through them and fall to safety.
Even if that made sense—which it doesn’t—I would need my hands to do that.
There’s no need to be testy. I’m trying to help.
The spider managed to knock Rayna’s tent over, but it didn’t look like it did any damage to the canvas.
Unfortunately, Arodra decided that the tent was sufficiently destroyed and turned to Rayna instead.
It sauntered across the cavern, stopping a few inches away from Rayna’s face. It examined her, its mandibles clicking.
Rayna hissed and bared her teeth. It would have worked on her cat, but the spider didn’t react. What did one do to discourage a spider from attacking?
Well, usually spiders aren’t the size of a freaking hippo!
Arodra pulled back its leg and slammed it into Rayna’s stomach.
Rayna let out a whoosh of air, stars dancing in her vision. Her Health dropped nearly six hundred points. She brought it back to full, but her MP wasn’t going to last if she kept taking hits like that.
“What about your skills?” the System asked aloud.
The spider hissed and backed away, looking around as if searching for something.
Rayna frowned. “I thought I was the only one that could hear you.”
“Well… no. Technically, anything can hear me. That’s why I use notifications most of the time.”
Rayna got an idea. “Do me a favor: Yell really loud.”
The spider was already recovering from its surprise and moving in on Rayna again.
“What for?” the System asked, sounding confused.
“I need a distraction!” Rayna was frantically looking through the items in her Soul Realm, trying to find anything she could use against the monster in her current predicament.
The System didn’t answer.
Rayna gave up on her Soul Realm and turned to her skills.
A rumble of approaching feet shook the cave and Rayna’s heart dropped. She couldn’t handle two monsters at once. She couldn’t even handle one monster!
The sound grew louder and the monster let out a deafening roar.
The spider fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Rayna squeezed her eyes shut, unable to cover her ears.
Pain lanced through her head as her eardrums popped and the world went silent.
Rayna cast Basic Heal, but even after the pain subsided, her hearing didn’t return.
She pushed that information to the back of her mind. She needed to focus on the fight.
Rayna turned back to her skills. Her new skill Meatshield was useless in her current situation, but it wasn’t the only skill she had.
Rayna had almost forgotten that Rage even existed.
Rage — Enhance all stats temporarily.
Stat Increase: +10%
Duration: 1 minute
Cooldown: 10 minutes
The cool down was just as obnoxious as the other skills had been, but at this point, Rayna didn’t even care. She used Rage.
Rayna could feel the difference in her stats almost immediately. Six points in Strength wasn’t much, but she had been close to breaking the webs without the boost.
And last time she tried, she hadn’t been as desperate.
Rayna bent her legs, just managing to get her feet on the wall, and pushed as hard as she could.
The webs stretched and snapped, freeing her from the wall and sending her face first onto the stone floor.
Rayna healed the damage to her nose and grabbed her staff from where it had fallen. She turned to face Arodra.
The monster was still writhing in pain from the roar. Nothing had entered the cavern, and Rayna hoped that the other monster was just passing through.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Either way, Rayna needed to get herself out of this dungeon as soon as possible. Whatever made that sound, she wasn’t going to be able to face it; not at her level.
Rayna took the opportunity while the spider was distracted to attack, swinging her staff down at its head.
It recoiled, avoiding the attack and slapping her across the room with a foreleg.
Rayna barely managed to catch herself before she slid right back into the webs she just escaped from. Her skill expired, putting her back down to her normal stats.
That was quick.
The silence had an eerily calming effect on the battle, even as the monster barreled towards her in a charge attack.
Rayna jumped out of the way.
Why are you ignoring me?
“The damn monster roar took out my eardrums and healing didn’t fix them,” Rayna said. She could feel her mouth form the words, but she couldn’t hear them.
Senses are difficult to heal. You’ll need a stronger healing spell.
I’ll have to leave that for later. Right now—
Rayna cut off mid-thought, diving to the side to avoid another charge.
This time she turned and hit the monster on its way by, making a small wound on its hindquarters. The spider didn’t even seem to notice as it turned to smack Rayna across the floor again.
You know, HP bars would be nice. I can’t tell if my attacks are having any effect.
What are HP bars?
Rayna ducked to avoid a glob of webs that the spider spit at her face.
HP bars are visual representations of a monster or player’s Health. Rayna pictured a Health bar, figuring that the System would see it. The red part moves downward to match the percentage of HP that the monster has left.
The spider jumped into the air, aiming to land on top of Rayna. Rayna ran underneath it, managing to avoid the worst of the attack, but the shockwave created by the impact sent her flying several feet.
That is a good idea.
Rayna dropped the conversation with the System, focusing on avoiding Arodra’s attacks. She wanted to try using Rage again, but it was still on cooldown for another five minutes.
Another attack glanced off of Rayna’s side and she retreated as close to the wall as she dared.
Wait, I have another skill!
Rayna used Meatshield, bringing her Endurance up by 10%. She wasn’t attacking the monster at the moment, so the loss in Strength was a non-issue.
She used it every time the cooldown ended, keeping it at the full 30% Endurance buff. The next time she got hit by the spider, it didn’t hurt nearly as bad, and it didn’t take as much of her HP.
It theory, her hits weren’t doing as much damage either, but she was only taking a 15% damage cut in exchange for a 30% Endurance boost, so it seemed like a good trade off.
Rage finally came off cooldown and Rayna used it, taking the opportunity to get a few good hits in before it expired.
The two skills synergized much better than Rayna had anticipated. When both were active, Rayna essentially gained 40% Endurance and she only lost 5% of her damage. It was only one minute out of ten, but it was starting to pay off.
The monster was slowing down, and Rayna’s MP was refilling faster than she could use it. The Endurance boost—along with the adrenaline—also helped to take the edge off her exhaustion.
A red bar appeared above the monster’s head, startling Rayna, and she nearly missed dodging one of the jumping attacks.
She retreated, but not quickly enough, and the shockwave slammed her into the cave wall.
Rayna swore as she once again tried to extract herself from the spider’s webs.
Arodra advanced, aiming to kick Rayna in the face.
Rayna did the only thing she could think of; she opened her mouth and caught the monster’s leg with her teeth.
Arodra bucked, yanking backwards and letting out a roar that Rayna couldn’t hear. She held tight to the leg, hoping to keep the spider busy until the effects of Meatshield wore off. Rage was off cooldown, but if she used it now, she wouldn’t get enough of a buff to get out of the web.
Arodra pulled harder, ripping its own leg off in its attempt to escape Rayna’s grasp.
Rayna spit out the limb. That had worked better than she expected.
The monster retreated, limping as it favored the side with a missing leg. Rayna took the chance to look at its Health bar.
How does it still have half of its Health left?! I’ve been fighting this thing for almost an hour!
Apparently, the spider had more Endurance than Rayna thought. Even so, the red bar slowly decreased thanks to the bleeding wound on the monster’s leg.
So whittling it down will work, Rayna noted. I just need to outlast this thing.
When Meatshield finally ended, Rayna used Rage and got herself out of the web again. She grabbed her staff from the ground and immediately reactivated Meatshield. She wanted to get her Endurance back up as soon as possible.
The battle continued in a near stalemate for another half-hour. The spider couldn’t do enough damage to Rayna to kill her, but it got enough hits in to keep her on her toes.
When the spider’s Health bar was barely more than a sliver, it stopped attacking.
Rayna backed off, confused. The monster started to bounce up and down, glowing an ominous red color. Was it going to heal? Rayna had heard of two-phase monsters, but she thought that was reserved for final bosses!
The spider didn’t heal…
It exploded.
Rayna was thrown across the room, slamming into the wall with the force of a cannon. The flames burned away the webs around her, dropping her to the ground.
Even with Meatshield and Rage activated, the attack left Rayna too stunned to move. Every part of her body hurt and of her clothes, only her cloak seemed to have survived the explosion.
Your HP has dropped below 1%. It is recommended that you seek out a healer immediately.
When Rayna’s head finally stopped spinning, she managed to cast Basic Heal. It took several casts to clear the fog in her brain, and several more to bring her Health back up to full.
Even after she finished healing, Rayna couldn’t see anything.
“Oh, hell no!” she snapped. “I am not losing two senses in one fight!”
Wait. I heard that!
A notification popped up.
You used all of your Essence as a buffer to save your life. It seems to have repaired your hearing, but without the Essence, your hair is no longer glowing.
Rayna blinked. She could do that? Since when?
It seems to be a natural defense. I don’t know if you can do it on command.
Well, it still would have been nice to know…
I am extrapolating information from the situation. I didn’t know either.
“Oh.” Rayna felt around her, finding the cave wall and leaning against it. She had to decide what to do next.
She couldn’t see anything, so going through the tunnels was not an option. Could she portal out of the dungeon?
Rayna made a circle in the air with her finger. The portal opened, casting a faint glow on her surroundings.
Most of Rayna’s tent didn’t survive the explosion. Only the rune-lined canvas remained on the cavern floor. The stakes had melted into the ground and the ropes and poles had burned away completely.
Preparing to retreat if there was something worse on the other side of the portal, Rayna stuck her head into the swirling gray vortex.
The other side looked exactly the same. It wasn’t until Rayna spotted her tent that she realized it was because it was the same.
Rayna tried putting her hand through the portal, but it passed right through, coming out on the other side.
“Still broken, I guess,” Rayna muttered.
She left the portal open, using the faint light to get dressed and clean up her campsite.
Rayna tried to use her staff to set up a makeshift lean-to against the wall, draping the tent over it.
She gave up on it about the third time it fell, and instead used the tent to create a pad to sleep on.
Rayna sat down on it to check her notifications.
You have killed Arodra, the First Keeper. The dungeon is in a state of overflow. Elite and Boss monsters give increased rewards.
+50,000 Exp
+50,000 Coins
Uncommon Chest x2
Rare Chest x1
Physical rewards have been added to your Inventory.
Override: Physical rewards have been transferred to your Soul Realm. All future rewards will be transferred there as well.
The cavern is now a safe zone. No monsters will be able to enter for the next seven days or until the dungeon is cleared.
You have leveled up! You are now a Level 15.
+3 Str
+1 Dex
+3 End
+2 Vit
+1 Free Point
+1 Spell Choice
.
.
.
You have leveled up! You are now a level 18.
+3 Str
+1 Dex
+3 End
+2 Vit
+1 Free Point
Rayna’s portal closed, and when she tried to open another one, she realized she had used all of her Mana.
The portals use MP? She would have to pay more attention if she used them in the future.
With no light to see by, Rayna succumbed to exhaustion, falling asleep on the cavern floor.