A Soldier's Life

Chapter 171: Surprise Webbing

Chapter 171: Surprise Webbing

We had three unexplored corridors from the safe room, but we were following the note left by Castile. The corridor was unremarkable, just like the other dungeon levels. It was a short walk before we reached a room with large, elaborate webs crisscrossing the ceiling. The floor was stone with small patches of emerald grass that danced in the light from above. Large, bulbous, man-sized white sacs dotted the webs.

I was in disbelief. Could those cocoons contain the remains of Castile and her group? My common sense told me there was no way they would have fallen to spiders. I tensed up, realizing for the first time that maybe the Kettle of Souls was gone, and we had no way of the city before being overwhelmed by the specters. Castile could already be dead. I shook off the negative thoughts and scanned the room, looking for movement. My heart rate was elevated as I tried to figure out what we were dealing with.

The webbing indicated spiders, and I was not a fan of spiders. “Maveith, do you see anything?”

“The floor is coated in webbing. Fighting with our boots sticking to the floor will be difficult.” I glanced at the floor, and I completely missed it. Konstantin would have berated me for not accounting for everything in the environment. The silvery-green web strands were camouflaged, blending into the floor. As I studied the floor, Maveith speculated, “I count four cocoons. Maybe the spiders are in there.”

“You don’t think those are people? Castile’s group?” I wondered aloud, returning my focus to the ceiling.

Maveith seemed to consider, “No. Too small. They are smaller than legionnaire armor, only about half the length of a person.” I nodded at his assessment after studying the sacs for a while. The cocoons were forty feet in the air, near the ceiling, and the flowing lights around them created the illusion that they were bigger than they looked.

“Are we going to enter?” Maveith asked, eager for action. Or maybe he wanted to reunite with the others.

I considered our options. “Go ahead. Take a few small steps in, then step back out if anything stirs. I’ll watch from the corridor.” Maveith did not mind being used as bait and did not hesitate. He stepped into the room, taking small steps to draw out the enemy. His fourth step, just five feet from me, made a sticky-tearing sound. The cocoons vibrated above him on their suspended cables. He tried to step back but struggled as his boots resisted the sticky strands now attached to them.

Four glossy black spiders emerged from the cocoons and immediately shot threads of webbing at Maveith. The thin spider silk did not look dangerous or capable of restraining the goliath. Maveith had made it back to within a step of the corridor. His boots had dozens of sticky strands attached to them, making walking difficult. He twirled his hammer to intercept the incoming threads. The strands quickly wrapped around the hammer’s head, forming a mini cocoon, reminding me of cotton candy at a carnival.

Then, all of a sudden, Maveith grunted unhappily. “They are trying to steal my hammer, Eryk.” As Maveith pulled on the handle, the entire webbing network on the ceiling flexed, and the cocoons and spiders bobbed from his effort to keep his hammer. I stepped into the room and cut the lines attached to the hammer. My black blade severed the spider strands with ease.

“Back into the corridor,” I ordered, and we both retreated. I freed his boots from the strands dragging behind him. The four spiders repelled down to the floor, their glossy black chitinous legs tapping the ground, sounding irritated at our escape. The spiders did not approach us but seemed very agitated by our presence. “Why do you think they’re not attacking us?” I asked Maveith.

Maveith’s boots still made a sticky adhesive sound as he walked. He was also having trouble peeling the spider cocoon off the head of his hammer. “I do not know. Maybe they only have ranged attacks? They do look fragile.” He noted with some contempt.

Maveith’s observation was astute. The spiders were not large and looked fragile, with spindly legs and oversized abdomens. Their heads were small, and their fangs were barely noticeable. It seemed these spiders incapacitated their prey before moving in for the kill. There were only four spiders. I wanted to find Castile, so we needed to conquer this room. “Maveith, can you get two if we rush them? The two on the right?”

Maveith’s response was an uncharacteristic roar as he charged into the room. I guessed the spiders had angered him by trying to take his hammer, and it was time for payback. Don’t mess with a goliath’s hammer, I guess. I rushed in behind him, casting an air shield just above the ground as I did so. Maveith’s hammer slammed into the first spider.

Two spiders shot a spray of dense webbing at me. My air shield intercepted the attack, the spider silk pooling on the shield in a white mass. The spiders did not understand what was happening and moved closer to me. My black blade lashed out around the air shield, stabbing deep into one spider.

The second spider tried to flee. I lunged awkwardly as my feet stuck to the floor, and only caught three legs. It was crippled, oozing blue blood, and it struggled to get away. I looked over at Maveith, who was struggling to move his feet. The second spider had retreated toward the ceiling and was spewing webbing at him. The goliath was angry but slowed as the strands began to layer him, restricting his movement. “Maveith, use your skinning knife. Don’t get captured.”

I moved to pursue the crippled spider, stepping on an air shield to allow me to move without hindrance. The spider was slowed from blood loss, and it offered no resistance when I ended its life with my blade. Maveith had freed himself in the meantime. This had been a difficult room, and we had underestimated the threat of the spiders.

I got within range of the last suspended spider. It thought it was safe a dozen feet above us, but I used my dimensional space to but the strand it hung from. For a split second, I thought I saw surprise register on its monstrous face as it fell a dozen feet to the ground, and I quickly dispatched it with my sword as it landed. The dead spider leaked blue blood, its spinneret slowly releasing more thread.

The stone reward chest appeared, signaling we had cleared the room. Thanks to my air shields, it was not a challenge for me to traverse the sticky floor. Maveith’s small runic knife was the best tool to cut away the strands that were slowing him down. My non-runic knife quickly got gummed up, its edge becoming useless unless cleaned repeatedly. My black blade worked as well, but it was awkward. I met Maveith at the chest, which yielded only a few silver coins and a single potion.

“Wandering, eh?” the always-skeptical Konstantin noted.

I ignored his suspicion. “Are Castile and the others nearby?”

Firth answered, “Adrian, Blaze, and Castile are in the safe room. We’re gathering wood for cooking and harvesting the shadow bear.”

“What about Felix?” I inquired.

Smiles faded, and Mateo responded, “He did not make it. The first room we tried...” He trailed off, not finishing the sentence. Felix and Mateo were good friends, and they had been my roommates when I joined the company in Formica. I felt the pain of loss, a knot forming in my stomach.

Konstantin started pressing me for information, and I reported what I knew, “We saw Brutus, Kolm, Donte, Linus, Flavius, and the Scholar. We couldn’t reach them because they were on the other side of a massive earth drake. They said Cyrus, Remus, and Soren were killed by the summoner outside the dungeon entrance. They think the summoner is now wandering the dungeon with us.”

“That would explain the goblin,” Firth said. “It must be one of his scouts.” I did not correct him and gave Maveith a look to keep quiet about the goblin’s origins.

My news could have been met better. Konstantin processed what I said, looking unhappy. He looked at everything that had been harvested so far. “We need to inform Castile. Let’s focus on wood. We can always return to kill the bear again, but we need the wood to cook it.”

Mateo whined nervously, “I don’t want to fight the shadow bear again.”

Wylie patted him on the back, “At least there was a healing potion for you after the fight.”

“Was it a hard fight?” Maveith asked, interested.

Konstantin said dismissively, “It can move between shadows, and Castile’s shadow chains had no effect on it. This is our second time killing the beast. Mateo just made the mistake of having his back to a shadow.” Mateo winced at the memory.

Firth appraised us, “The meat tastes a little smoky, but it’s edible.” He was inspecting our small packs, probably thinking we did not have much food.

“Maveith, help Konstantin with the bear. Show him your new runic knife,” I said, smirking, knowing Konstantin would be jealous even if he did not show it. “We should definitely take everything we can.”

As we started working together, Mateo approached and gave me a hug, “Just wanted to make sure you’re real and not a figment of my imagination. I am sure you have a story about why you look like a fiery dragon swallowed you and then shit you out.”

It was odd talking with everyone after so long. Konstantin kept eyeing me suspiciously, trying to figure out how Maveith and I had survived for so long. Even on the first level of the dungeon, the rooms were dangerous.

Once we were finally loaded with wood and bear meat, we started off toward the safe room, where I would reunite with Castile and the others.

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