The portal to the human world flickered with faint light, casting eerie shadows across the stone walls of my lair. I could feel it the connection between my dungeon and the world I once called home. I had been a hunter once, but now I was the one doing the hunting.

  I watched from the shadows as the first group of adventurers entered. There were four of them, all young and inexperienced. Their equipment was basic: worn-out armor, rusty swords, and weak magic trinkets. They fit perfectly into the level range I had set between levels 5 and 10. The highest among them couldn’t have been more than level 8, and their nervous energy was palpable. They had no idea what they were walking into.

  “Is this really a dungeon?” one of them asked, a lanky boy gripping his sword tightly.

  “Yeah, the guild sent us here,” another replied, a girl holding a wooden staff. “It’s a low-level dungeon, so don’t worry. We’ll just clear it and get our rewards.”

  I smirked from the darkness above, perched high in the cavern ceiling. They were confident, unaware that this dungeon wasn’t like any other. I controlled every inch of it, every trap, every monster. The moment they stepped through that portal, they were already in my web.

  I watched silently as they moved further into the dungeon, oblivious to the subtle threads of my web they were disturbing. Spiders of varying sizes skittered through the shadows, stalking them, waiting for my signal. My lair had become a living trap, a maze of tunnels and chambers designed to confuse, isolate, and devour.

  As they wandered deeper, I sent my minions after them, but not in full force. I needed to observe how they reacted, how they fought. Small, skittering spiders darted out from the cracks in the walls, causing the adventurers to jump back in surprise.

  “Spiders! I hate spiders!” one of them shouted, swinging his sword wildly at the ground.

  The first wave of spiders was weak—mere distractions to gauge their strength. The adventurers easily crushed the small ones, slicing through the hordes with little effort. But as they grew more comfortable, I sensed their guard lowering.

  “Is that it?” the girl with the staff asked, panting from the effort. “This dungeon’s not so bad.”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Keep moving. We’ve got to reach the core if we want to clear it,” the leader, a stocky warrior, said. He led them through a narrow tunnel, his eyes focused on the path ahead.

  Perfect.

  They activated the traps. Threads of webbing, invisible to their eyes, tightened around them. One by one, they stumbled, their feet catching on the sticky strands. Panic set in as they realized they were surrounded.

  The air grew tense, and the spiders emerged again this time larger, deadlier. My minions descended from the ceiling, their fangs gleaming in the dim light, ready to strike. The adventurers fought back, slashing wildly at the creatures, but the webs slowed them down, trapping their movements. For every spider they killed, two more took its place.

  The girl with the staff tried to cast a spell, but I sent a thick web shooting toward her, binding her hands and silencing her magic. She fell to the ground, helpless as my spiders crawled over her, their venomous fangs sinking into her skin.

  The stocky warrior roared in frustration, hacking at the webs, but it was useless. The more they struggled, the more entangled they became. Fear clouded their movements, and soon, they were too overwhelmed to fight back.

  I watched with satisfaction as my minions drained the life from them, one by one. Their screams echoed through the dungeon, but no one was coming to save them. This was my domain, and they were nothing but food.

  When the last adventurer fell silent, I descended from my perch. My large, black form crept across the floor as I examined the bodies. My fangs twitched with anticipation. Consuming these adventurers would fuel my growth even further, and their cores though small would be enough to satisfy my hunger for now.

  I devoured them, savoring the rush of power that surged through me. My body trembled as I absorbed their strength, feeling my form shift slightly, my limbs growing more powerful, my senses sharpening even further.

  It was just the beginning.

  I could feel the dungeon itself responding to my growth, the dark energy that filled this place pulsing in rhythm with my heart. The more I devoured, the stronger I became. And as the dungeon’s ruler, I had more control than ever before.

  I turned my attention back to the portal. Soon, more would come. Word of the new dungeon would spread among adventurers, drawing them in like moths to a flame. They would enter, thinking they could conquer me, but I would devour them all. With every adventurer that fell, my dungeon would grow more dangerous, more lethal. And with each core I consumed, I would ascend further toward my ultimate goal revenge.

  But I wasn’t just waiting for weaklings. No, I had plans. The ability to control which levels could enter my dungeon was a powerful tool, and I intended to use it wisely. For now, I would keep the dungeon accessible to lower-level adventurers, but as I grew stronger, I would raise the stakes. Eventually, the high-level hunters the ones who betrayed me would hear of this place. They would come.

  And when they did, I would be ready.

  The humans would fear the day they stepped into the Spider King’s Lair.