Isabelle cowered as the giant spider took a step towards her. It almost seemed to sniff the air with its gargantuan fangs, which oozed a thick, green liquid. It felt like the beast was trying to discern whether she was a threat or not.
Isabelle darted back a few feet.
[Stamina 95%]
Isabelle raised her longbow and readied an arrow. No point in waiting this out, she figured. She fired up near the underside of the spider’s head.
[65 damage dealt]
[‘Giant Spider’ has been poisoned]
[Stamina 92%]
Nice. She’d managed to poison the thing. Isabelle darted further back, eager to put space between herself and this behemoth.
[Stamina 89%]
Oh no. Isabelle could see that some of the smaller spiders in the lower part of the cavern were starting to take notice of her and head her way. She could hear them screeching horribly. The giant spider stayed silent, just standing there dripping green goo on the ground.
Isabelle prepped another arrow and fired it at the giant spider’s head. She figured if she was going to have to fight this thing, she might as well do her best to take it out while it wasn’t fighting back.
[Critical hit]
[205 damage dealt]
[‘Giant Spider’ has been poisoned]
[Stamina 87%]
This seemed to wake the giant spider up. It shook its head with force, ramming its huge legs into the sides of the cavern wall. The ground shook underneath Isabelle as the giant spider let loose a deep, loud bellow. Tiny spiders shot out of its mouth, as did a thick, enormous webbing that coated Isabelle.
[-10 hp]
[Notice: You’ve been stuck in a web. Your movement speed has been decreased by 35%]
Isabelle wiggled around, kicking tons of tiny spiders off her body.
[-0.5 hp]
They were biting her!
[-0.5 hp]
This was ridiculous! Why hadn’t the system warned her about all these spiders?
[Clarification: The map did not include details on the dungeon’s contents, it only described the route needed to exit the prison through the dungeon.]
Of course. So much for accountability. Isabelle prepared to fire another arrow at the giant spider as the spiders from the pit grew closer and closer to her.
[-0.5 hp]
Isabelle aimed her arrow and fired at the giant spider’s head.
[Critical hit]
[228 damage dealt]
[‘Giant Spider’ has been poisoned]
[Stamina 84%]
[Archery increased to level 2]
The giant spider seemed generally unfazed. Great. And of course, now the pit spiders had made it up the ramp and the ledge and were only a few feet from her. The longbow wasn’t going to be much use to Isabelle now. She opened her inventory.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 19/50
Item
Traits
Map of Prison grounds
+ 0.5 carry weight
Steel Gloves
+1 str, +3 damage, +1 carry weight
Steel Dagger
+5 damage, +1 carry weight
Longbow
+3 damage, +1 carry weight
Standard Arrows (poisoned) x5
+8 damage
Steel Mace
+7 damage, +4 carry weight
Spell Tome of Minor Destroying Magic
+5 carry weight
Gold Locket
+0.5 carry weight
Idlungie x2
+0.5 carry weight
Poison Spider Venom x4
+0.5 carry weight
Poison Spider Fangs x3
+1 carry weight
Raw Garnet
n/a
Sapphire
n/a
Gold (55)
n/a
[Steel Mace equipped]
[+7 damage]
[Steel Dagger equipped]
[+5 damage]
[Stamina 89%]
[Mana 11/11]
Isabelle took a deep breath as the spiders approached.
[-0.5 hp]
The first spider lurched forward. Isabelle met it with two strikes of the steel mace and a slash of her steel dagger for good measure.
[300 damage dealt]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[Stamina 73%]
[-0.5 hp]
Another spider jumped at Isabelle. It bit her in the chest. She kicked it away and slashed at it four times with her weapons.
[-7 hp]
[295 damage dealt]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[Stamina 65%]
[-0.5 hp]
[Armed combat increased to level 6]
Isabelle was feeling kind of weak, and there were only more spiders coming. Worse, the giant spider was preparing an attack. It stomped on Isabelle with a huge, hairy leg.
[-10 hp]
Isabelle’s vision was blurring. She was overwhelmed, and getting close to fainting. Isabelle didn’t want to find out what happened when you fainted and nobody was there to revive you. She had to think quickly, but more spiders were approaching. The best Isabelle could think to do was raise her hand holding the dagger and cast the lightning spell in hopes of giving herself a second to breath.
[-0.5]
Isabelle thought ‘Cast Shoot Lightning.’
[Error: Item ‘Steel Dagger’ must be unequipped.]
Shit. So Isabelle couldn’t hold a weapon and cast a spell with the same hand. What a great time to learn that little tidbit. She focused her mind.
[Steel Dagger unequipped]
Isabelle pointed her hand at the spiders as they leapt toward her and thought ‘Cast Shoot Lightning.’
With a huge crackle of light, the spiders were knocked back and away from her.
[875 damage dealt]
[363 electrocution damage dealt]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[Mana 6/11]
[Destroy increased to level 1]
[Notice: You are no longer caught in the spider’s web]
Holy shit. That was amazing! The spell had hurt all of the spiders directly in front of Isabelle, reducing them to dead ragdolls.
Isabelle figured at this point that, having leveled up so many different abilities, she ought to be ready for a level up. Did she have time to check her XP status?
Not now. The giant spider was opening its mouth, seemingly about to spit more spiders and webbing at her. Isabelle raised her hand at it and thought ‘Cast Shoot Lightning.’
[305 damage dealt]
[205 electrocution damage dealt]
[Notice: Giant Spider is stunned]
[Mana 1/11]
Perfect! She hadn’t expected to stun the giant spider, but Isabelle was thankful, because she felt on the brink of death. Now she had to act, and act fast, before more spiders crawled up and killed her.
Isabelle turned to look at the tunnel that she’d entered the cavern from and watched the green arrow of the system swing around, pointing for her to go in the opposite direction. It was time to backtrack. Isabelle dashed forward as fash as she could, the world around her blurring as she used extra stamina.
[Stamina 60%]
[Stamina 54%]
Isabelle kept rushing back, back through the tunnel, hoping she was too fast for any of the spiders.
[Stamina 41%]
[Stamina 35%]
[Stamina 23%]
She wasn’t going to stop running until she couldn’t.
[Stamina 11%]
[Stamina 8%]
[Stamina 2%]
[Combat mode deactivated]
[Stamina 0%]
Isabelle dropped to the stone ground in a huff. She took three deep breaths, rolled over, and vomited to her side. Her vision was spinning, but she wasn’t dead. What was more, she’d managed to get more than fifty feet away from the closest spider, and combat mode had deactivated.
[Notice: You’re ready to level up]
Fuck yes. It had been a wild hunch, but Isabelle had been right. She did have enough xp to level up.
Isabelle shrugged.
[Notice: You’ve reached level 7!]
[hp restored to 29]
[Stamina restored to 100%]
[Notice: You have attribute and skill points to spend]
[Would you like to spend your points now?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
Attribute Points to Spend: 7
Hp:
29
H-Regen:
3/50sec
Mana:
11
M-Regen:
2/min
Stm:
14
S-Regen:
0.5/sec
Isabelle had to think on this one, especially now that she was using mana. She’d seen what shooting lightning could do, and that only cost five mana. Isabelle decided to go ahead and add five points to her mana, one to stm, and one to her hp. She’d have to add more to her stm next time, Isabelle noted, so that it didn’t lag behind.
Skill Points to Spend: 7
Str:
10
Int:
11
Dx:
8
Wis:
7
Const:
10
Char:
10
Hey, this time Isabelle’s const had gone up a point on its own! That was a nice surprise. Then again, how could her constituiton not improve after having to fight with a web full of spiders covering her? Isabelle decided she ought to throw four points to her wis so that hopefully she wouldn’t make another mistake like when she thought the giant spider was actually a pile of rocks. She then added two to her dx and one to her int.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
[Congratulations, you’ve finished leveling up!]
Character Status
Name:
Isabelle
Gender:
Female
Level:
7
Class:
Undefined
Race:
Human
Alignment:
Neutral-Neutral
Attributes
Hp:
30
H-Regen:
3/50sec
Mana:
16
M-Regen:
2/min
Stm:
15
S-Regen:
0.5/sec
Skill Points
Str:
10
Int:
12
Dx:
10
Wis:
11
Const:
10
Char:
10
Magic Ability Levels
Enchant:
0
Summon:
0
Heal:
0
Destroy:
1
Transmute:
0
Confuse:
0
Normal Ability Levels
Crafting:
3
Sneak:
3
Archery:
2
Lockpick:
0
Armed Combat:
5
Melee Combat:
3
Speechcraft:
2
Slight Of Hand:
0
Isabelle smiled at her character sheet. It was slowly but surely becoming a point of pride for her, instead of something of shame, like when she had first opened it and saw it full of zeroes. Still, she had a lot of magic ability levels to gain, and she still needed to work on slight of hand and lockpick, but it felt good to have her more numbers instead of less.
Now that Isabelle had recovered, it was time to go back into the spider den. Or did she? Was there some other route she could take? Hazarding a guess, Isabelle thought, ‘Check Route For Options.’
[Checking route]
[…]
[There are no other available routes at this time.]
Damn. At least Isabelle had figured out a system command on her own. Isabelle turned around to face the path ahead, seeing the system’s green compass arrow pointing her forward.
Isabelle had another idea. Maybe she could creep her way back over to the spiders and do a little bit of damage through sneak attacks instead of having to face them all at once. Considering how powerful and dangerous that giant spider was, it was probably the only option she had save running back through the tunnel every time she was about to die and hoping she’d either level up once she got far enough from the spiders or that given enough time she’d recover enough hp to go fight again.
Isabelle crouched.
[Current visibility: 0/200]
[Sneak increased to level 4]
Huh. She must’ve been on the cusp of leveling up her sneak last time she’d crouched. Isabelle was thrilled, now she had a little more ability level to work with.
Soon enough, Isabelle had crept all the way down the tunnel and was looking out into the cavern full of spiders again.
[Combat mode activated]
The giant spider was standing around, drooling green ooze. It looked sleepy, as sleepy as a spider could look at least. Isabelle peaked around and saw a couple spiders on the upper level of the cavern, and surely countless others on the level below. Isabelle looked at all of the spiders on the top level of the cavern and picked the spider that was the furthest away from all of the others. Her first target.
[Longbow equipped]
[+3 damage]
[Standard arrow (poisoned) x5 equipped]
[+8 damage]
[Current Visibility: 0/250]
Isabelle drew her arrow and pointed it at the spider. She fired.
[Sneak attack]
[Critical hit]
[350 damage dealt]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[Stamina 98%]
[Current Visibility: 0/250]
A perfect shot. Isabelle crept forward a little, looking at the second furthest away spider on the top level of the cavern. Time for another attempted kill. Isabelle drew her arrow, aimed, and fired.
[Sneak attack]
[Critical hit]
[301 damage dealt]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[Stamina 96%]
[Current Visibility: 0/250]
Excellent. There was one more spider on the top level, not counting the giant spider. Isabelle was doing her best not to worry about the giant spider, she was more than partly hoping she’d be able to sneak past it and eschew another fight completely.
Isabelle drew her arrow at the third poison spider and fired.
[Sneak attack]
[Critical hit]
[322 damage dealt]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[Stamina 94%]
[Current Visibility: 0/250]
Wow. This was some of the best work she’d done as far as stealth went. Isabelle was going to have to hang on to this longbow.
Two more arrows left. Isabelle crept forward. She was now coming outside the cover of the tunnel.
[Current Visibility: 0/250]
Great. She inched forward little by little, trying to see if she could plan a path all the way from her current level of the cavern to the far end of the lower side of the cavern, where she could see a small stone archway that doubtlessly lead somewhere. Isabelle inched further forward. She could still not see into the lower level to aim at any more spiders, so Isabelle inched again.
[Current Visibility: 25/250]
Shit. What had seen her?
[Current Visibility: 48/250]
Fuck. What was happening? Isabelle looked up and saw one of the eyes of the giant spider darting around like a sentry.
[Current Visibility: 105/250]
The giant spider moved a huge leg towards Isabelle, blocking her path back out of the cavern. She was trapped.
[Current Visibility: 180/250]
Apparently the giant spider still hadn’t fully seen her, so Isabelle decided to give shooting arrows at it a try. She drew an arrow, aimed at the giant spider’s head, and fired.
[Sneak attack]
[Critical hit]
[224 damage dealt]
[‘Giant Spider’ is poisoned]
[Stamina 98%]
[Current Visibility: 220/250]
No use in stopping now. Isabelle drew her last arrow, aimed at the giant spider’s head again, and fired.
[125 damage dealt]
[‘Giant Spider’ is poisoned]
[Stamina 95%]
Isabelle stood up and took a deep breath. The giant spider was preparing to attack, she could see it opening its awful jaws. Isabelle opened her inventory.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 19/50
Item
Traits
Map of Prison grounds
+ 0.5 carry weight
Steel Gloves
+1 str, +3 damage, +1 carry weight
Steel Dagger
+5 damage, +1 carry weight
Longbow
+3 damage, +1 carry weight
Standard Arrows (poisoned) x5
+8 damage
Steel Mace
+7 damage, +4 carry weight
Spell Tome of Minor Destroying Magic
+5 carry weight
Gold Locket
+0.5 carry weight
Idlungie x2
+0.5 carry weight
Poison Spider Venom x4
+0.5 carry weight
Poison Spider Fangs x3
+1 carry weight
Raw Garnet
n/a
Sapphire
n/a
Gold (55)
n/a
[Longbow unequipped]
[-3 damage]
[Steel Mace equipped]
[+7 damage]
[Steel Dagger equipped]
[+5 damage]
It was time to try somthing different. Isabelle hadn’t heard any of the spiders in the pit screeching, so she figured that at least for now it would be a good idea to focus on the giant spider. Isabelle dashed to the giant spider’s closest leg, fortunately evading a huge ball of web that the spider had just spit in her direction.
[Stamina 95%]
Isabelle took her weapons and slashed alternatingly at the leg four times.
[133 damage dealt]
The giant spider bellowed and groaned, shaking the cavern. It raised its leg up into the air. Blood was dripping from it, and it almost looked ready to pop right off.
[Stamina 89%]
Isabelle could hear the spiders in the pit screeching in alarm. Now the real fight would begin. Still, they hadn’t made it there yet, so Isabelle dashed to another nearby leg of the giant spider and slashed at it six times.
[Critical hit]
[298 damage dealt]
[Stamina 81%]
This leg of the giant spider absolutey exploded in a gush of blood and sinews. Isabelle spat bile out of her mouth and wiped her face off with a groan. The giant spider staggered back a little, bumping into the side of the cavern and shaking it further.
Isabelle heard a cracking and rumbling from the cavern ceiling. Hmm. Maybe she’d be able to bury these spiders under rocks and boulders after all. But Isabelle had other problems now because the medium-sized spiders had climbed up to her level of the cavern and looked ready to pounce. Of course, Isabelle had more mana now, so she wasn’t terribly concerned. She stood there and waited for the spiders to get closer, hoping that as many of them as possible would crowd together. When it looked as good as it could get, and the spiders were starting to lean down on their haunches and prepare to leap at her, Isabelle raised her left hand.
[Steel Dagger unequipped]
[-5 damage]
Isabelle thought, ‘Cast Shoot Lightning.’
[1120 damage dealt]
[853 electrocution damage dealt]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[Mana 11/16]
Half of the poison spiders exploded like big balls of pus. The other half just shattered apart and fell to the floor.
Isabelle was going to have to take magic more seriously going forward, this was seriously impressive.
Isabelle looked back over to the giant spider, which was stomping around with a limp and bleeding all over the place. If she could just take this beast down, she might finally be able to get out of this awful dungeon, and once Isabelle got out of the dungeon she could go and kill that rat bastard Oglo and get her loot back.
The giant spider leaned down to her and opened its awful jaws, roaring with a force that nearly blew Isabelle away. Suddenly, Isabelle noticed how weak the spider’s gaping jaws looked. They looked vulnerable. Isabelle raised her left hand and thought ‘Cast Shoot Lightning.’
[445 damage dealt]
[432 electrocution damage dealt]
[Mana 6/16]
The giant spider contorted and twisted and jerked around and the blast of lightning rattled through its body. But it wasn’t dead. Isabelle raised her hand again and thought ‘Cast Shoot Lightning.’
[Critical hit]
[1336 damage dealt]
[989 electrocution damage dealt]
[Mana 1/16]
The giant spider shivered and shook as the lightning crackled and rattled inside it. Then its skin bubbled up and out, and with a horrible squelch and a splatter the giant spider exploded, drowning the entire cavern in spider guts.
[‘Giant Spider’ is dead]
[Combat mode deactivated]
Isabelle stood there in shock. That had worked better than she’d expected. Way better.
[Destroy level has increased to 2]
[Notice: You’re ready to level up]
Damn right she was ready to level up. But Isabelle couldn’t revel in that joy for long. The rumbling and cracking from above had started again, this time worse. Louder.
Isabelle looked up and gasped. Isabelle watched as large cracks spread through the wall, starting at the skylight she’d noticed earlier and expanding out through the whole top of the cavern. Small pebbles and sediment were tumbling on her head now, and it looked like large bits of rubble were about to start dropping. If Isabelle wanted to do any looting and still make it out of there alive, she would have to act quickly.