Chapter 5 - Part 1

Upon arriving at the entrance of the Arachnid Dungeon, I had to identify myself to the government agents so they would let me pass. The atmosphere was calm due to the few people passing through this area. But strangely, among the few people present, I seemed to recognize two who were at the association earlier. Two men opposite each other appeared to be waiting. "They were probably monitoring the dungeon's completion or something of the sort since I had reserved it," I thought as I saw them observing me. Without further ado, I entered the portal and found myself on the other side.

The darkness was almost total if not for the few crystals of light here and there on the walls of the entrance. They illuminated just enough to indicate the direction to take to explore the dungeon. But before venturing further, I opened my interface and noticed that I had received a Golden Coupon for completing the mission of escaping the Golden Goblin Dungeon. I used the Coupon, and the roulette appeared. It spun quickly until it slowly stopped on the Miscellaneous Items section.

Surprisingly, I had won a skill expansion coupon, increasing its action radius up to 5 square kilometers. This was extremely good, in my opinion.

Activating it, my body disappeared, and my field of vision expanded, offering me a view I had not previously had. The interface was still present, now indicating that my next mission was to conquer a dungeon, as well as my inventory.

The previously dark dungeon now appeared in all its details. Built in a linear fashion, divided into three sections, the damp walls of the cave dripped with a viscous substance, a mix of spider residues and persistent humidity while giant webs, stretched between the stalactites, hung from the ceiling. The spiders, as large as horses, actively wove their complex webs and seemed to move in perfect coordination. Their eyes watched for any movement while their mandibles clicked in a chorus, creating a macabre symphony that echoed through the cave corridors.

Looking closer, I could see that the floor was littered with debris, bones, and carcasses of other creatures that had succumbed to the venomous attacks of these spiders.

Further on, towards the middle of the dungeon, suspended cocoons, containing trapped prey, hung above the ground, offering a sinister image of the fate that awaited defeat.

At the end of it, in a vast cave, the arachnid queen reigned supreme. Her imposing size and prominent abdomen distinguished her from the other spiders. Filaments of silk extended from her massive body, creating a complex network that spanned all directions of her cave.

Before me, the Arachnid Dungeon, a place where darkness reigned supreme and spiders were the queens of ambush. But today, the trap would close on them. In my inventory, I carefully selected the Nebulous Vortex, a special building designed to transform the outcome of this face-off. Positioned at the entrance of the dungeon, the vortex emerged, wrapped in an ethereal mist emitting sinister vibrations, irresistible to the nearby creatures.

The spiders, drawn to this deadly chant, converged towards their demise. Without hesitation, I erected my two chain ballista towers on either side of the vortex, placing Laméthéor, this half-shadow half-blade entity, as a sentinel between them. The moment had come to observe this NPC in action.

From my secure position, the macabre ballet unfolded before my eyes. Laméthéor, in a deadly dance, mowed down the spiders with disconcerting ease. His movements, punctuated by clever teleportations, allowed him to evade assaults while continuing his bloody harvest. The shots from the towers, methodical and merciless, pierced each touched creature, the chains that emerged imprisoning them in a grim fate. Those unfortunate enough to escape death were inexorably drawn towards the Nebulous Vortex, where they met a tearing end.

The carnage reached its climax when the Arachnid Queen herself emerged, her solemn stride contrasting with the surrounding chaos. Her carapace, a natural armor shining under the dim light, did not protect her from the arrows of the ballista towers, which mercilessly riddled her. The chains attached to them pulled her towards the vortex, despite her desperate attempts to resist.

Laméthéor, the spectral warrior, weaved with surgical precision, depriving the queen of her means of defense. The majestic spider, trapped by the chains and her own webs, became inevitably powerless against the pull of the vortex.

Her final struggle against the invisible forces led her to the heart of the vortex, where she was slowly but surely dismembered, piece by piece, until nothing remained of her once uncontested reign.

Silence fell upon the room, a mute witness to the battle that had just taken place. I then retracted my towers and recalled Laméthéor to the shadows, leaving behind the calm after the storm.