Chapter 15: Spider Nest

Alice, Fedora and Solol set off together on a journey to find Sophie, however, even with the Bracelet in hand, all they could see were multiple mana clouds throughout the region.

Then all they would need to do was just find Sophie's cloud, what could go wrong?

<3 hours later>

"They're getting close!" Alice shouts, as a group of wolves chase her and Solol through the cave corridors.

Even almost out of breath, he complains loudly, "I told you to turn left in the tunnel!"

"When we followed your intuition, we almost died! Twice!" The wolves' barking echoes through the cave, further irritating the player. "Why the heck are wolves here anyway?!"

"Look ahead! A light!"

The two run to the end of the tunnel, and Alice immediately spins, launching a [Wind Scrapper] at the top of the tunnel. The cut destroys the entrance, dropping debris on top of the pack.

[Experience: 17/400]

Solol falls to his knees out of breath, and then he crawls dramatically, "I'm going to die... I need... Water...!"

"That's why the other stats are important. Try putting points into something other than Magic."

"No way. Thanks to that new patch, I burn 99% of my mana on just reviving those things. I'm going to need at least 500 to have some kind of fun here!" he crosses his arms, regretting his choices, "Necromancer sucks! I thought I could be like those badass edgy protagonists that summon an overpowering army that can solo a whole universe."

"Dude chill, you're only level 9."

"Still sucks, I have the right to complain." He yells to the skies, hoping an Admin will hear him, "HEY! I want to change classes!"

<...>

[Alice LvL. 8]

[HP: 90/90]

[Stamina: 100/100]

[Mana: 50/50]

[Class: Swordswoman]

[Strength: 11]

[Defense: 9]

[Stamina: 11]

[Speed: 13]

[Intelligence: 1]

[Magic: 1]

[Luck: 1]

<...>

[Solol LvL. 9]

[HP: 50/50]

[Stamina: 50/50]

[Mana: 200/200]

[Class: Mage]

[Path: Necromancer]

[Strength: 1]

[Defense: 1]

[Stamina: 1]

[Speed: 1]

[Intelligence: 11]

[Magic: 31]

[Luck: 7]

<...>

"Ok, due to technical problems, we can't go back, so the only way is forward..."

With his arms crossed, he answers sarcastically, "Really? I thought you were going to use mind power to move the debris out of the way. Not like it would change anything anyway, we've been walking in circles for hours."

Fedora nods, "Glob."

"I know, but we're still alive. And as soon as we find Sophie, it shouldn't be hard to find an exit—" she freezes as she feels she stepped on something sticky.

Unaware, Solol complains indignantly, "Wait, are we still after that elf?!?!", he stands in front of Alice, "I thought you had given up like, 2 hours ago!"

She lifts her foot, and sees a piece of web stuck to the sole of her shoe. The floor was infested with destroyed webs and spider remains. "Nope...", she turns around and tries to leave futilely.

"Hello??? Did you forget about the improvised wall YOU created?"

The swordsman tries to find an alternate path, removing some debris in the hope that there would be a hole for her to pass through.

During these 3 hours of exploration, Alice rejected every path that had the possibility of having spiders nearby. Already tired of this, Solol turns Alice around and grumbles furiously: "DUDE! Enough of this, there's no way we can go back now. And if your friend is there? Are you going to chicken out? Because I'm sick of this damned cave!"

Alice takes a deep breath. "Fine...", she moves forward with slow steps. Trying to fill her head with positive thoughts, like the possibility of Sophie being on that path. Surrounded by spiders. Hairy. With 8 eyes. And fangs that can easily pierce her body. She grits her teeth, "... Totally fine..."

The trio moves on, to Alice's dismay, the amount of spider remnants only increases with every meter they follow.

Until she stops, "I'm feeling something on my back..."

"Oh no! It's a spider!"

Alice screams and tries to throw her arms back to try to get the thing off her back. Falling and rolling on the floor—meanwhile, Solol is almost out of breath from laughing—then, she feels she's grabbed something: just a bit of web that fell on her.

The player falls to his knees crying with laughter, while she observes him with a look so full of hatred, it seems like she's trying to burn him alive with the power of her mind.

Fedora observes the situation with his expressionless eyes, "Glob."

Alice slowly gets up, still with the look of fury fixed on Solol. "Let's continue, before I decide to use you as bait."

Solol, still laughing, wipes a tear from the corner of his eye. "Sorry, sorry, it won't happen again."

The trio proceeds, silence dominates the entire environment, except for the occasional noise of Solol trying to suppress laughter.

A few minutes pass, and the path seems to have no end. To break the silence, Alice asks, "So, what did you come here to do?"

"To make a badass zombie army, what else?"

"But why specifically here?"

"Oh, you mean the cave... Well... I tripped and fell into a hole. Twice."

Alice laughs lightly, "Really?"

"Yeah! That's why I want to go back! I was in the middle of my grinding! But what about you? Why did you two come here?"

"We came here looking for healing stone. You know, the ones you use to make potions. Speaking of which, we haven't found any until now. Weird, right?"

"Oh, but they don't spawn here."

Alice suddenly stops, and slowly turns around, "What?"

"Yeah. As some players don't have much experience in cave exploration, the devs didn't want to make the tutorial 'too difficult' and placed these stones in small chests in the Lazuli Forest. At least they still care about Quality of Life."

She holds Solol by the shoulders firmly and shakes him frustrated and furious. "ARE YOU TELLING ME WE CAME HERE FOR NOTHING?!?!"

"Yes?" whispers the player, afraid of the swordsman's reaction. But to his relief, she lets him go.

Alice puts her hands on her face and grumbles frustrated, they wouldn't even have had to enter the cave in the first place. "GOD... FUCKING..." she punches the wall, with so much force that her hand sinks into it, "... DAMMIT!"

[HP: 89/90]

Seeing his companion upset, he approaches to try to console her, but gives up, and insists that they move on. "Are you done? Let's go."

<...>

After a few more minutes of silent march through the web-filled maze of tunnels, they finally find a fork. "I'm seeing... Dozens, no, hundreds of living beings in that direction." Alice dictates pointing to the left—using the bracelet to see the mana clouds—trying to hide how tired and frustrated she is.

"Does any of those seem to be your friend?"

"I don't know."

"Well, extra EXP is never bad.", says the Necromancer marching cheerfully to the left.

Alice hesitates, but after a moment, she sighs and follows Solol. The two quickly find a light at the end of the tunnel, leading them to a view different from anything they have seen so far.

A gigantic natural tower inside the cave, with several holes used by spiders to move around the environment. In the same place there are also several stone bridges at different 'floors' of the chamber. The entire environment is illuminated by thousands of Auracrysolis stored at the top of the tower with webs around them.

They were about halfway up the tower, and could see that the bottom of the chamber was a circular base covered with web and bones.

"So that's why these damn things can emerge from anywhere. They have a 20-story shortcut."

"And now we can use it to go anywhere we want in the cave... All thanks to the...", a sound interrupts Alice, it's a spider falling. Its repulsive appearance makes her swallow her words. "Forget it, they are still disgusting."

The creature emits an aggressive noise, indicating its bloodlust. And then Solol shoots at it.

[Bullets: 5/6]

"Dang, headshot!"

Even with its head in pieces, the spider rises as an Undead instantaneously.

[Reaper Bullet]

[Description: Bullets created by Necromancers that allow all those killed by it to be turned into undead slaves instantly.]

Alice fights the urge to vomit, "Sick..."

"Girl, you have a Slime in your hair."

"At least Fedora is cute!"

Suddenly, Alice feels a terrifying pressure among the mana clouds. She can't identify the origin, she just knows it's close.

"So this is your excuse for killing my children?" echoes the calm voice above the two.

Solol is pushed by the player, who uses the momentum to throw herself back. And between the two falls the Arachne, piercing the ground with its sharp and now blood-covered paws. He turns to the swordsman, smiling as if he had found a national treasure.

"I remember your..." he smiles, while drooling venom.

BANG!

[Bullets: 4/6]

The Arache's head goes a little forward, and a small line of smoke emerges from his neck. He turns to Solol, showing that his shot was completely ineffective on him—at the same time he shows his burned back to Alice.

"You corrupted my child." he slaps the player's face with the minimum of his strength, but enough to throw him off the bridge and make him fall on another platform two floors below.

Alice tries to throw a [Wind Scrapper] at the opponent, but with a simple spin of his sharp paws, the blade gives way. "Not again!" she mutters frustrated.

"My turn.", and using one of his paws, he throws a [Wind Scrapper]—even more powerful—at the player.

To save herself, she throws herself back, making the cut pass straight through her. But the Arachne advances trying to pierce her with his sharp steps. Alice rolls to the side, falling off the bridge—but holding on with one hand to the edge.

The monster wastes no time and tries to pierce the human's hand. To avoid damage, she lets go, falling on the bridge just below her.

"Hey, that's my skill!" yells the player, trying to hide her fear after losing her weapon.

Using his spider paws, he attaches himself to the underside of the bridge above Alice. And using 4 paws, he makes dozens of [Wind Scrappers] with movements that look like a spider creating a web.

Even surprised, she still has agility to run from the constant attacks, and advances towards the tunnel at the end of the bridge. But already foreseeing this, the Arachne changes the target to the entrance, destroying the escape plan.

The exit collapses, along with Alice's hopes of escape. Even if by some miracle she can perform a [Perfect Block], it would be impossible to reflect all the cuts at once.

...

And then, Solol emerges being propelled upwards—with the undead spider on his back creating a web, making him hang in a pendulum—and hitting a kick in the Arachne's face. "NECRO KICK!"

The spontaneous blow is ineffective, and only serves to confuse the enemy for half a second. He grabs Solol's leg, furious with the fact that his child has turned into an Undead. "You... Disgusting Meat Bag... You shall suffer a fate that will make you—"

Interrupting the speech, Alice throws a [Wind Scrapper] aiming at the Arachne's back—even with the broken sword, she is still able to use the skill, but its size and reach is drastically reduced—a burning pain dominates the creature's mind, releasing Solol.

[Stamina: 85/100]

"That damned elf...!" growls the Arachne.

Alice's eyes widen in disbelief, "What did you say...?"