The cavern trembled.
A shiver ran down Volk's spine as a deep, guttural chittering filled the air.
He squinted into the darkness. The smaller spiders had all fled. Their corpses littered the ground in heaps, their black ichor staining the cavern floor. The silence that followed was thick, suffocating.
Then—
THUD.
A single step.
The entire cavern shook.
Volk's eyes widened. His muscles tensed.
THUD. THUD.
Another step.
The tremors grew stronger. Dust and loose rocks rained down from the ceiling, the very walls of the cave quivering under the sheer weight of what was approaching.
From the abyssal depths of the cavern, eight massive, glowing eyes slowly blinked open.
The darkness itself seemed to breathe.
Then it moved.
Volk exhaled slowly. His fingers curled into fists, knuckles cracking like gunfire.