Chapter 215: Canyon Dungeon Part 17

It didn't take long for Joshua's premonition to come true when while entering another section of the long hallway the group realized that the hall was gradually getting taller. The smoothness of the walls didn't change at all so they would still have to be on high alert when it came to trap doors, but the fact that the ceiling was getting higher and starting to match the wideness of the hallway was not a good thing for the group. They only had two main advantages going for them against the spiders thus far outside of their sheer number advantage.

The first one was the fact that both Joshua and Tank could sense where the trapdoors were which allowed the group to avoid getting surprised by the trap doors. This was key to forcing the spiders out in the open into a combat that fit their group far more than trying to struggle against the spiders hold while being dragged into a trap door. The second advantage they had going for them was the fact that the hall wasn't big enough for the spiders to use their quick movements to their advantage. They couldn't leap around and cling to the ceiling to avoid the mages bombardment of spells or the close range fighters trying to cut off their legs.

The fact that the ceiling was raising up to the point where it was almost as high as the dome room where they had to face off against the bat and beetle boss was going to negate the second advantage of the group. The next thing Joshua noticed that was going to make things tougher for them was the fact that this time around when he sensed killing intent coming from up ahead it wasn't just from one source, but instead came from two separate spiders. Having two spiders with the advantage of having space to move around was going to change the fight completely.

'Alright guys there are two of the spiders up ahead so we have to be careful. Tank, Cinder, I'm expecting you both to help out in this fight ahead.' Both Cinder and Tank nodded in response to his words before going back to their lackadaisical postures so that the spiders wouldn't find anything off with their approach. 'Lilly go ahead and bring out Flutter instead of Jade for this fight. We're all going to need a boost to do as much damage as possible. I'll just have to use aura hardening to up my defenses at the start of the fight.'

Lilly quietly put Jade into her soul realm while having Flutter appear and stay right behind her. She wouldn't have Flutter use her boost ability until the fighting started so that they wouldn't end up scaring off the spiders. Joshua nodded once everything was in place before moving ahead towards where he could sense the two spiders waiting for his approach. He didn't make any sudden movements or let on that he already knew where they were and that seemed to be good enough for both of the spiders.

The moment that Joshua stepped in between the two trapdoors they both shot open as a pair of legs was attacking Joshua from two different directions. One pair was from alongside the wall and had shot from Joshua's left while the other pair had actually came out from the floor in front of Joshua as it shot out and prepared to tear through Joshua's stomach. The moment the spiders took action Joshua did as well. His aura flared up and he instantly went into the aura hardening state. Light created a shield around Joshua that cracked when the first pair of legs smashed into it then shattered when the second one did. The momentum from the attacks however had been slowed down enough for Joshua to take action and avoid the strikes.

Joshua then stabbed one of the large legs through with his scale blade the legs thickness was about five feet so his scale blade was just able to go all the way through before stabbing into the ground and pin the leg in place. Joshua then grabbed the leg of the other spider and slung it over his shoulder while heaving the giant spider out of its trapdoor. With one spider completely out and the other pinned the rest of the group started to make their way over. Cinder was the first one to arrive as she let out a loud shriek and bit into the pinned down leg before dragging the rest of the spider out of its trapdoor. Amber sealed both trapdoors shut and now everything was out and open for the fight.

The spider that Cinder had a hold of ripped its leg from Cinder's grip, but the poison that Cinder had injected into the spider while biting onto its leg was already taking action. Its movements would slowly become more sluggish as its body became numb, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be able to fight back which it immediately proved by knocking Cinder back with a strike from one of its long front legs. The blow was so fast that Cinder was barely able to block in time, but the force still sent her stumbling backwards. This is where the size difference between the two came into play and put Cinder at a bit of a disadvantage. Luckily Cinder wasn't on her own as Tank came slamming into the Spider and knocking it off to the side.

Joshua turned his attention to the other spider since he knew that both Cinder and Tank working together would have no trouble taking down one of the spiders. Luckily Joshua had remembered to rip out his scale blade from the spider's leg before Cinder had dragged it away. The other spider however was completely uninjured and was looking towards the group warily after noticing that its exit had been closed off by Amber. It screamed before striking towards Joshua since he was the closest and the one it remembered tossing it out of its trap door. Joshua blocked the strike before twisting from the force of the blow and sending an energy slash in the direction of the giant creature. He made sure to aim for the leg that was close so that it wouldn't miss and smiled when the slash cut deep and splashed some blood on the floor.

The rest of the group started bombarding the spider with several attacks as well, but this time around the spider was able to jump out of the way of all the spells as it clung to the ceiling and shrieked down towards Joshua. He knew that they were going to have to figure out a way to pin the spider down if they wanted to kill it otherwise it would just continue to weave its way around their spells and attack Joshua from time to time. That's when Joshua noticed that the spider followed a basic pattern in its movements. The spider would always jump to avoid spells so that its body wouldn't get effected by the impact of nearby explosions, but when it came to the attacks of the close range fighters it would just slightly move its legs out of the way of their strikes.

The creature clearly knew that it had the ability to avoid any attacks from the group since it was so much faster for the most part, but that was the key to the fight in Joshua's eyes. Because it followed such a simple pattern Joshua knew that he was going to be able to use that to his advantage. He simply pulled up his scale blade once more as he was forced to block another strike from the spider. He used the mental link to contact someone in the group so that he could put his idea into action.

"Madalyn do you think your poison will make this creature sluggish like Cinder's did for the other spider?' Joshua asked as he avoided another strike while leaving a deep cut on the spider's leg making sure it kept its full attention on him.

'Certainly, hell I could even make a poison that'll make it vomit blood in minutes if that's what you need. The problem is whenever I get close it moves its legs out of the way to quickly for me to get in a good attack.' Madalyn said sounding annoyed by how the battle was going. She was probably the member in the group with the highest straight up speed yet she couldn't keep up with the movements of the spider and it was getting on her nerves. Since it wasn't attacking her either she couldn't use the opportunity of blocking a strike to damage it like Joshua was doing.

'Well if I pin this thing down for a moment do you think you can poison it?' Joshua asked and she nodded in response. 'Then get ready I'm going in as soon as the spider leaves an opening.' Joshua said as he fended off another attack. The spider noticed another barrage of spells coming its way so it leaped up towards the ceiling once more, but that was just what Joshua was waiting for. Joshua concentrated his aura into his feet to strengthen them even more before leaping from the ground leaving cracks in the floor below. His leap was timed perfectly ahead of when the spider jumped to avoid the spells, but the spider was much quicker and reached the ceiling first.

Before the momentum from leaping left his body Joshua blinked closer to the ceiling since he knew he wouldn't be able to reach it otherwise without losing all of his momentum. He ended up directly next to one of the spiders larger front legs and concentrated his aura into the arm that was holding the scale blade before slamming it with all his strength into the creature's leg. The force of the strike slammed so deep into the leg that it skewered it to the ceiling causing the giant spider to screech in pain. It tried to pull its leg free, but Joshua's scale blade was plunged in deep. He pulled himself up on to the leg hanging upside down as he looked down towards Madalyn to see if she would take the opening he had given her.

Madalyn grinned at the scene of the spider trying to pull free from Joshua and leapt up into the air as well to get closer to the spider. When she reached the top of her jump she through three small throwing knives that easily dug into the furry skin of the spider before she fell back down to the ground. Joshua quickly noticed a fume coming out of where the poisoned knives had stabbed into the spider's body and smiled knowing that Madalyn had done her job better than expected. He could already see the spider's erratic movements slowing down after a few seconds.

Knowing that he'd be better off taking this creature out on the ground before it could squash him with its other legs while he didn't have much movement capability, Joshua gripped the handle of his scale blade tightly before twisting and pulling it to one side leaving a large gash in the spider's leg. He then stomped his leg with an infused aura blast to break the leg from where the gash was while also dislodging his scale blade and falling to the ground below. The giant spider fell from the ceiling then crashed into the floor below and thrashed on the ground in pain. The group took that as a chance to bombard the creature with several spells to do as much damage as possible.

The spider sensed the danger coming for it and tried to jump out of the way, but it was no longer fast enough to avoid all of the spells. Some landed leaving large burns on its body and breaking off parts of the spider's exoskeleton and leaving several wounds on its body. The damage only made the poison spread even faster throughout its blood slowing it down even more. This gave the close range fighters a chance to get in close and tear into the creatures large legs. They slowly tore the creature apart and felt the surge of experience flow into them. Not too soon after they felt another surge of experience and turned to see that Cinder and Tank had finished off their spider as well.

Cinder had got on to the creatures back and tore into it while Tank had it pinned down and unable to avoid their assault. They finished it off quickly after that and everyone was ready to move on to see what this path had left to deal with.