“You look like shit” Vaklira strolled up to me.

  “Better than the other guy”

  I took her arm as she pulled me up. I was still a little woozy from the poison. I went to the smoking corpse and activated the looting skill, netting me my first uncommon crystal.

  My energy levels were regenerating nicely, so I decided not to waste time. We started making our way through the chamber when Vaklira suddenly stopped nocking an arrow.

  I manifested a shield and braced myself. “Another guardian?”

  She scanned the room and pointed upwards with her arrow. “I’m not sure, there’s some movement up there.”

  I focused upward and noticed that one of the dangling bundles was moving.

  “Something is still alive!” I shouted excitedly.

  Vaklira’s expression turned somber. “Don’t get too excited, I’ve seen what being trapped in those webs does.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll shout down the cord, you try and catch it.”

  I nodded as she aimed and shot the arrow. It nicked the cord but held firm.

  “First time jitters?” I snickered.

  “Why don’t you do it?” she challenged.

  She shot another arrow, and the cord snapped. I jumped, activated levitation, and caught the bundle in my arms before laying it down on the ground.

  “Keep your distance, we don’t know what’s in there,” I warned.

  She nodded, keeping her bow aimed at the web sack. I manifested a small blade and began cutting the webs. Underneath, a small Drak’nir lay pale and barely breathing.

  Vaklira dropped her bow and knelt beside me, tearing at the web strands. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she choked out, “Zargrim…”

  I helped remove the webs. The little Drak’nir was missing both legs and an arm, its pale skin showing extensive signs of corruption.

  Vaklira looked at me, crying, “Please, heal him.” I knew it was futile, I tried to use energy manipulation, but error messages kept flashing. I shook my head sadly, “I’m sorry, Vaklira, I can’t.”

  She held the little child tightly, sobbing. He stirred. “Vaklira?” His voice was barely a whisper before ending in a coughing fit. The scout whispered soothingly, caressing his cheeks, “Shhh, you’re alright, everything is alright.” Soon, he began crying again.

  “It hurts so much, make it stop,” he whimpered. She looked at me pleadingly, but I shook my head.

  Quickly, she cried, “You don’t have to be in pain anymore.” She stood up and dragged me further. “We can’t save him,” she forced the words out.

  I knew she was right, but I couldn’t just accept it. “You must have a healer back in town,” I protested.

  “He’s too far gone. I have to ease his suffering.”

  “What does that even mean?!” I shouted, then immediately regretted it, this was their reality. Who was I to act like I knew anything? I was just a visitor here, trying my hand at playing the savior, but reality was far more brutal.

  I took a few deep breaths. “I’ll do it.”

  She shook her head violently. “It’s my duty.”

  “Please don’t make yourself go through that, you don’t have to carry that burden.”

  “It’s my burden to bear,” she cried loudly.

  “No, it’s not. You don’t deserve to go through that, no one does,” I pleaded.

  Gratefully, she silently nodded.

  We walked back to Zargrim. She sat beside him and gently pulled him up, hugging him. “Remember when you used to steal those sweets from Thragor?”

  He stopped crying for a moment. “Yes… I mean, no! I never did that.”

  She laughed softly. “She put them there for you, you didn’t really have to sneak around.” When he finally noticed me, his face filled with shock. “Who’s he?”

  “He’s a friend, here to make you strong again. He’ll take you somewhere you can have all the candies you can eat,” I explained.

  He looked at me excitedly, “You are? Are you coming with me, Vaklira?”

  Covering her face with her hands, she sobbed, “I’ll join you soon, we all are. Just leave some for us.” He nodded excitedly as she hugged him tightly and then nodded to me.

  I pressed the tip of my blade against the base of his skull. I hesitated, my hand was shaking, tears rolling down my face but Vaklira steadied my wrist. I took a few deep breaths, and with a swift motion, I thrust my blade.

  Zargrim took a final breath and slumped into the scout. She held him tight and sobbed, and I joined in, embracing them both. We sat there for what felt like an eternity, crying, until she gently laid him down.

  “May you find peace under the stars,” she whispered.

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  “Do you have any rituals?” I asked.

  She looked at me sadly. “We used to, but not anymore not with so much death. It doesn’t bring us peace anymore.”

  “Can you tell me about him?”

  She smiled sadly. “He was one of the few remaining children. We tried to shield them from the corruption, but Zargrim was a curious kid, always sneaking around.” She held his hand, soothing what remained of his ragged clothes. “He disappeared during the last Weaves raid, him and his parents. We found their remains; they died fighting. We assumed he was also eaten.” She pressed her forehead against his and whispered a few words, then stood and checked her bow. “Let’s keep moving.”

  “You don’t have to, take him back to town, give him a proper resting place.”

  “I can’t ask you to do that.”

  “I am asking, I can’t bear the thought of leaving him here to be eaten.”

  She fell silent for a moment, struggling with her sense of duty. “You’re a good person, Alex. I wish I could repay you for your kindness.”

  She hugged me, and I held her tightly. “You already have. Just point me in the right direction.” She drew a map on the dusty ground and laid out instructions about the path forward. Then she wrapped the little Drak’nir in her arms. “Don’t get killed!”

  I moved through the chamber, checking on the other bundles but they were still, save for a gentle swaying. I exited through the tunnel, it was straight at first, then I encountered the first fork. Following Vaklira’s instructions, I kept treading forward as the tunnel became a veritable labyrinth of twists and pitfalls. I encountered a few drones hiding in crevices until I reached the next chamber.

  This one didn’t have a carved entrance. I carefully entered, checking upwards for an ambush. The room was well lit, a huge net woven across the space, with bones and skeletal remains scattered across the ground. At the center of the net loomed a huge spider, the size of a house. It fixed its eight glowing eyes on me, its mandibles twitching and clacking.

  Matriarch Weaver (Lev ???)

  The matriarch was the prized possession of any silk farmer, selected through careful breeding using techniques perfected over millennia.

  The matriarch lifted its massive torso, and the rhythm of its clacking changed. Two guardians roped down from the ceiling, one on each side of the matriarch. They were larger than the one I’d fought, their massive legs ending in enormous, sword like blades, and their oversized mandibles looked as if they could tear through concrete.

  Elite Weaver Guarding (Lev 98)

  The strongest spiderlings are fed the most nutritious creatures and then thrown together in a pit until two emerge victorious.

  I braced myself as the two colossal guardians descended, ropes of silk slackening from the ceiling. Their arrival transformed the room into a living nightmare. The matriarch’s presence loomed behind them, a monstrous sentinel of corrupted lineage while the guardians advanced with measured, predatory grace, their massive legs promising devastation.

  I tensed, gripping my hammer and activating levitation to gain a modicum of mobility. The first guardian lunged from my left, its arm sweeping low in an attempt to cleave me in two. I sidestepped, feeling the rush of air as its blade grazed my shoulder, a searing sting radiated through my flesh. I countered with a swift swing of my hammer, aiming for the joint near its knee. The blow landed with a satisfying crunch, and for a moment, its advance faltered.

  But the second guardian was already on my right, descending like a predator from the heavens. Its mandibles snapped as it advanced, and I could almost hear the crunch of rocks in their rhythm. I twisted mid air, trying to evade a strike that would have easily pulverized me. My shield materialized just in time, absorbing the impact of a barrage of web strands it flung in a desperate counterattack. The force rattled my bones, and I staggered, blood trickling from a shallow gash on my forearm.

  The two guardians circled me with preternatural coordination, their clacking mandibles setting a grim cadence to the fight. I darted forward, hammer raised, and struck at the nearer guardian again, targeting a gap in its exoskeleton near its leg. The impact resonated through my arm, and I felt a surge of energy momentarily slow its advance. Yet, as I pivoted to face the other, its massive appendage swept in a deadly arc that forced me to drop my hammer in a scramble to avoid being decimated.

  Desperation clawed at my insides. With my Energy Manipulation skill still blocked, I had to rely on brute force and agility. I activated levitation once more, soaring upward to gain a tactical vantage, then dove downward, hammer primed. I managed to connect a punishing strike to the first guardian’s exposed flank, its chitin splintering under the force. The guardian roared, a deep, clicking bellow that sent vibrations through the chamber and staggered backward.

  Seizing the opening, I spun around and smashed my hammer into the second guardian’s mandibles. The shock was tremendous; for an instant, its massive head jerked to one side as if stunned. However, both guardians were relentless. They converged on me with renewed fury, their coordinated movements a testament to their elite breeding.

  I blocked a vicious swipe with my shield and countered with a rapid flurry of hammer strikes, each impact punctuating the rhythm of our deadly dance. The clash of my weapon against their armored hide was deafening amid the matriarch’s low, rumbling clicks. Every blow I dealt chipped away at their imposing forms, and slowly, their movements grew sluggish. Finally, with one final, desperate swing, I drove my hammer deep into the base of one guardian’s mandibles. Its massive frame shuddered violently as the system registered its defeat, leaving only one guardian still advancing , a lone obstacle between me and escape.

  Breath ragged, I prepared to face the remaining threat, knowing this battle was far from over.

  The battle raged on. Even as I battered one guardian into submission, the matriarch loomed overhead, its massive form dictating the pace of chaos. Thick strands of web shot intermittently from its swollen abdomen, lashing out like venomous whips. One such burst struck me squarely in the back, the acrid sting of poison seeping into my bloodstream. My limbs grew heavy, each movement sluggish as the toxin sapped my strength.

  The remaining guardian advanced with relentless fury, its sword like legs slicing through the air. I attempted to reposition using levitation, but the poison slowed my ascent, making every second a struggle. Meanwhile, the matriarch capitalized on my vulnerability, webs cascaded from the ceiling in sudden bursts, tangling around my shield and obscuring my vision. At one point, a silken barrage forced me to collapse to the ground, struggling to free myself before the guardian’s massive mandibles could close in.

  Desperation clawed at me as I rallied my remaining energy. I lunged, hammer raised, and slammed it hard into the guardian’s exposed flank. The impact echoed off the stone walls as hammer met chitin, momentarily staggering the beast. But the matriarch was not idle, it continued its intermittent onslaught. Each volley of web was accompanied by a low, rhythmic clicking, a predatory cadence that underscored my dire predicament.

  I pivoted quickly to block another burst with my shield, feeling the reverberations through my already weakening arms. A fresh wave of poison surged through my veins, further hindering my movements. In that excruciating moment, every strike and every block became a desperate bid for survival. Summoning the last reserves of my strength, I steeled myself to shatter the guardian’s defenses and carve a path through the matriarch’s twisted domain even if it meant risking everything.

  With a final, desperate swing, I drove my hammer deep into its core; the beast shuddered violently before collapsing in a heap of broken armor and crimson ichor. As I staggered back, barely holding onto consciousness, the last of the guardian’s labored breaths faded away, marking my hard won victory over that monstrous sentinel.

  And then, from high above in the tangled ceiling of the chamber, the matriarch stirred for real at last its eight glowing eyes flaring with an ominous, unyielding fury that promised the true fight was just beginning.