We headed deeper into the cave system, through narrow and wide passages, our footsteps at moments silent and sometimes echoing. The only constant was the glowing roots dotting the roof. We’d passed several seemingly bottomless pits when we came to a larger room and I decided to stop at a particularly large hole.

  "Look at this one,” I said, nodding to the dark hole in the floor. "Nabeeh, can you give us some light?"

  She dropped in a Fireball and we all leaned in to watch the orange glow descend... and descend... and continue descending until it vanished from sight, never even revealing a bottom.

  "That's... unsettling," Eryn whispered, instinctively stepping back from the edge.

  "This is what adventure is supposed to feel like," Nabeeh said, her voice hushed but excited. "Beautiful and deadly in equal measure. Never knowing what’s around the next dune.”

  "Adventure also... cold feet. Wet socks. Monster guts in beard," Knut grunted, still peering down the pit. "Hope roots are valuable."

  “I’m not worried about the roots," Nabeeh said. "We've already got three mind gems, and five more from the reward. That's already two each!" She glanced at me. "And that's not including what..." she hesitated, then asked, "May I call him Pa?"

  I nodded, smiling at her.

  “Of course you can. We’re all family here. One way or another.”

  "Right, that. What Pa will get from the carcasses," she finished, smiling back.

  Knut grunted and continued, but before he had taken more than two steps, movement flashed above him.

  A snake, thick as my arm and long as the chain for First Steel’s portcullis, dropped from the ceiling. Its scales mimicked the patterns and colors of the glowing roots and it had been camouflaged so perfectly among the luminescent vegetation that it might as well have been invisible until it struck.

  “Cave Constrictor!” Eryn said as she raised her bow. “Yellow!”

  The snake was over fifteen feet long, and coiled itself around Knut's shoulders and neck in one fluid motion, and for a second I thought he’d stumble into the pit, but Knut stepped away, grunting as the snake tightened its grip. His mace arm was pinned to his side, and he struggled to free it as the snake's powerful muscles constricted. The creature's tail lashed out, catching me in the chest when I moved to strike, sending me stumbling backward.

  Eryn had an arrow nocked, but hesitated.

  "I can't get a clear shot!"

  "Move aside," Nabeeh commanded, positioning herself at an angle to Knut and cast Flame Breath.

  The cone of fire poured from her hands, angled to engulf the snake's head while mostly avoiding Knut. The scales on the serpent's head crackled and blackened, and after thrashing once, twice, it went limp, its coils loosening around Knut.

  The northerner shrugged off the dead snake, his beard slightly singed where it stuck out below his helmet, but he was otherwise unharmed. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck.

  "Northern snakes bigger," he said flatly, as if he hadn't just nearly been squeezed to death. He kicked the smoking remains of the snake's head. "This? Barely belt for squirrel."

  Eryn slowly let out a breath, lowering her bow, and glancing at the pit.

  “Yeah. Adventuring. Such fun. I could do without dark caverns, that’s for sure.”

  “Why didn't you warn us about that thing? Didn’t you see it?”

  "I really wanted to see Knut's reaction," Roq said. “Wasn’t it funny? His grunt when that thing dropped on him? Priceless."

  "That's not funny. He could have been killed."

  "Oh, please," Roq scoffed. "There was no way that overgrown worm could kill Knut before you three killed it. Besides, now you'll all be even more careful! I've done you a favor, really."

  I shook my head, turning my attention back to Knut.

  "You alright?"

  He nodded, already moving forward again. "Fine. Keep going."

  We continued deeper, even more alert now, checking the ceiling as much as the path ahead.

  “If someone ends up stepping into a pit because they are too busy checking the ceiling, I’m tossing you in after them.”

  “You wouldn’t dare. I’m too useful.”

  “Watch me, you little monster. Our lives come first, then your amusement.”

  The tunnel gradually widened until we emerged into an enormous chamber.

  The cavern was vast, stretching upward and outward until it could have held half the keep. But what dominated the space was a colossal root structure. This wasn’t the thin, glowing tendrils we'd seen before, but a massive central taproot made of hundreds of roots as thick as a house, plunging from the ceiling in a perfect cone before disappearing into the ground below. Countless smaller roots branched from it, creating a complex, glowing web that filled the chamber with bright light.

  We stood at the entrance, our mouths agape at the view.

  "By the blessed bloodbath," Roq whispered in my mind. "That's magnificent. Great job picking quests.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “This is the type of beauty which leaves scars if you stare too long," Eryn said.

  “Well spoken. This is where songs should start,” Nabeeh said. “Never mind bringing the roots back. We should charge for bringing minstrels, authors, and poets here. They’d leave with a lifetime of inspiration from a single look.”

  Knut whistled, the sound echoing through the chamber.

  "Pretty, even by northern standard."

  “Damn,” Roq said. “Monsters.”

  What I’d thought were growths on the root structure detached, dropping to the ground.

  "Incoming!" I said, activating my sigil.

  The Claw Sprecks, yellow monsters, landed with unnerving grace. They were dog-sized insectoid creatures with segmented bodies and yellow-striped throats. Their forelimbs ended in wickedly sharp, scythe-like appendages that clicked against the stone floor as they oriented themselves toward us.

  “Many!” Knut called out, shield already raised and him pushing us backward steadily.

  "Nabeeh, Eryn, get back!" I ordered, but Nabeeh was already casting a spell.

  "In a second," she replied. "I want to thin them out first."

  Around thirty Claw Sprecks started toward us as one, moving with unsettling speed, their bodies low to the ground, and scythes raised.

  “Too many to block in opening,” Knut said, positioning himself a ways from the entrance , banging his mace against his shield. “I tank here," he shouted. “Draw them to me. Big boom. Kill others quick!" He swiped out the Glowcap Carcass he’d brought, and with a grunt threw it as far in front of himself as he could.

  “Nabeeh, focus on our flanks! Eryn, fire an arrow on the Glowcap!” I ordered, wanting the mage not to waste mana on blowing it up.

  “Got it!” Eryn said as Nabeeh’s Flame Trap lit up beneath a Spreck, sending it tumbling into the air, burning. Eryn's arrow took down a second, piercing its head. Nabeeh followed with Immolation on a third while Eryn dropped a fourth with another well-placed shot, both women focusing on the creatures attempting to flank us, leaving those heading for Knut and the Glowcap alone.

  Then, right as the first monsters passed the carcass, Eryn’s fire arrow sank into the Glowcap, sending a burst of spores into the air, which promptly ignited. The carcass exploded, killing and wounding about ten of the Sprecks. Half a scythe limb whizzed at me, and I raised my shield just in time to block it.

  “Impressive fireworks. Seven out of ten. Good area of effect, but not filling the Glowcap with iron nails is a wasted opportunity."

  “Interesting. You want the glowcap to kill us when the nails fly off in all directions, don’t you?”

  “Eryn, Nabeeh," I said. "Into the tunnel, now."

  The girls retreated into the passage behind us, the mage casting a Fireball at an incoming monster, and killing it.

  “Ranged spells on cooldown,” Nabeeh said as I positioned myself just inside the opening, with several feet of empty room on either side of me. Knut stood a fair distance inside the chamber, feet set and shield ready, still banging mace on shield to draw the attention of the monsters that hadn’t been caught in the explosion.

  “As soon as we’ve thinned their numbers I’m coming for you!” I called.

  He glanced back at me and nodded. "Wish had new two-handed sword," he called. “Would be joy!”

  The first Claw Spreck launched itself at him, and Knut accepted the charge on his shield, bonking it on the head with his mace. The blow barely stunned it before another crashed into him, its scythes scraping against his armor with a sound like nails screeching on slate.

  He had been right. If he didn’t draw some of them away, the chance they’d push past us and slaughter the girls would be much higher. But that didn’t make it any easier to watch him face so many of them alone.

  Then the first Spreck reached me, leaping with its scythes extended like a praying mantis. I blocked it with my shield and struck its neck with Roq, killing it instantly. But another was there immediately, its forearms slamming against my helmet with a deafening clang. I activated Smash and crushed its face with a back swing.

  A third went for my leg, the tip of its weapon punching through my armor, piercing my skin. I was about to strike when an arrow pierced its head from behind me. It collapsed, twitching its limbs and then grew still.

  "Their lower backs," Roq observed as I prepared to face the next monster. "The segments don't overlap properly there. Structural weakness."

  "I'll make my own damn weak spot," I growled, swinging him at another approaching monster, spinning it around, arm broken, before cracking its skull from behind.

  "That's the spirit! We forge our own destiny, or in this case, weak spots. I fully approve!"

  I glanced at Knut. He was surrounded by five Claw Sprecks, the creatures striking at him from every side. He was holding his own, dancing around his shield as much as he moved it, catching most attacks while some glanced off his armor. I wished I had my cloak's ability ready as I struck at a monster trying to slip past me toward the girls. I hit its back as Roq had suggested, and its carapace cracked under the blow. A casual strike bashed its skull in.

  One of Eryn’s arrows zipped past me.

  “Behind!”

  I turned just in time to raise my shield against another charging Spreck, an arrow already sticking from its shoulder.

  But my feet hadn’t been set, and the impact bowled me over. I hit the ground, the monster falling on top of me, its scythes poking like a seamstress, trying to find its way past my shield to reach my throat. I heard Eryn's bow twang and Nabeeh shouting.

  "Back up, Eryn!"

  I struggled to kill the creature pinning me, but another Spreck attacked from the side, seizing my sword arm and pinning it to the ground. Its mandibles worked furiously, trying to pierce the Crackenmail and Crawler Bracers to get at my forearm.

  Suddenly, intense heat washed over me and the monsters screeched.

  “Wheeee!”

  My gear protected me from the worst of it, but it got painfully hot as Nabeeh's Flame Breath filled the tunnel. It wasn’t quite established if I could take a flame breath on and survive, but I guessed this was as good of a time as ever to at least try it out.

  I seized the opportunity, shoving the two dead monsters off me and scrambling to my feet. Another fire-damaged Spreck staggered toward me, and I crushed its head with a single blow.

  As the monster died, a surge of energy rushed through me unlike anything I'd felt before. It was like consuming a mind gem, but ten times more powerful. A wave of heat to rival that of Nabeeh’s spell filled me, washing away all fatigue. My knees went weak, and I stumbled as if drunk, barely catching myself before collapsing.

  "What in the rift's green backside was that?" Roq demanded, sounding as surprised as I felt. “Did you…evacuate your bowels or something? Like, really?”

  "I don't know, and you know I didn’t, you class cursed monster rift!”

  I steadied myself and charged the monsters surrounding Knut, killing another on my way while an arrow from Eryn flashed past me, hitting a Spreck in the leg and sending it crashing to the ground. It thrashed around on its back, stabbing out with its scythe-like arms.

  Knut was still holding out well, but he was definitely in trouble. The monsters rained blows on him from all sides, and though he kept his shield tightly against his side, shoulder tucked as he swung his mace to ward them off, the monsters had scored several hits.

  Blood seeped down his right side and his back from where the Sprecks had found or made gaps. I practically launched myself at him, barreling into one of the monsters and cracking it beneath my armor while hitting another.

  Knut kicked one toward me. I brought my hammer down, splattering it against the cavern floor while hauling myself up as Knut slammed the edge of his shield down on the last monster’s throat repeatedly until its head detached from the body.

  We stood there, wheezing for breath, surrounded by dead monsters on all sides.

  Blood trickled down Knut’s armor, and I looked down to see the same from my leg.

  "How bad is it?" I asked.

  The northerner growled, and through his helmet I saw his eyes still holding the feral gleam of battle rage, but he nodded.

  “Scratches. Nothing deep. I live."

  I patted his shoulder, and he flinched slightly but grunted in acknowledgment.

  Nabeeh and Eryn joined us, Eryn checking me for injuries before moving to Knut, correctly classifying the wound on my leg as not urgent. Nabeeh kept her eyes on the chamber, alert for any remaining threats.

  "Girls, stick close to Knut," I said. "I'm going to check out that root."