"Like I said, kid," Grog said, his voice echoing in the sudden silence. "Heroes work for their pay."
Ren stared at the scroll in Grog's hand. The wax seal was red—the color of danger. The color of blood.
"Grog," Ren said, his hand drifting to his sword. "Put the scroll away."
"Sorry, Hero," Grog smirked, stepping backward toward the narrow tunnel entrance. "But the Guild has quotas. And spider silk is worth more than a few dead teenagers."
Grog reached into his belt pouch with his free hand. He didn't pull out a weapon. He pulled out a glass vial filled with a thick, purple liquid.
He smashed it at Ren's feet.
CRASH.
The smell was instant and overpowering. It didn't smell like poison. It smelled like musk. Like rotten flowers and raw meat. It was a Pheromone Bomb.
"Aggro bait," Grog explained, unfurling the scroll. "Now you smell like a rival Queen invading her territory. She won't stop until you're paste."
"Run!" Itsuki screamed. "Get to the tunnel!"
Too late.
Grog ripped the scroll in half.
Magic Tier 4: [Wall of Force].
A translucent, shimmering barrier of pure kinetic energy slammed into place across the tunnel mouth, sealing the exit. Grog was on the other side, safe in the tunnel. He lit a fresh cigar, the flame illuminating his cruel grin through the magical glass.
"Give her hell, kids," Grog laughed, his voice muffled by the barrier. "I'll come back for the crystals when the screaming stops."
Then, the ground shook.
Behind them, the massive, suspended shape in the center of the web stirred. The pheromones hit her.
The Arachne Broodmother opened her eyes.
They weren't spider eyes. The human torso—the pale, corpse-like woman—lifted her head. Her eyes were milky white, blind and weeping black ichor. Her mouth opened, unhinging like a snake.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEECH!
The sound was physical. It slammed into them like a shockwave.
Ren fell to his knees, clapping his hands over his ears. Rika screamed, curling into a ball.
"Daigo!" Ren yelled over the ringing in his ears. "Front!"
"I got it!" Daigo roared. The Vanguard scrambled to his feet, slamming his dented tower shield into the ground.
The Broodmother descended. She didn't use webs. She just let gravity take her. She dropped fifty feet, landing with a ground-shaking BOOM right in front of them.
She was colossal. Her spider legs were thick as tree trunks, armored in jagged black chitin. The human torso towered twenty feet above them, flailing wildly.
She lunged at Daigo.
"Iron Skin!" Daigo screamed, his body turning metallic grey. He braced for impact.
But this wasn't a Worg.
The Broodmother didn't bite. She swung one massive, armored leg like a golf club.
CRUNCH.
"Ghhhk!" Daigo made a sound like a deflating tire.
The impact crumpled his tower shield like tin foil. The force lifted the 200-pound boy off the ground and launched him across the cavern. He flew thirty feet, smashing into a cluster of crystal eggs with a sickening crack.
"Daigo!" Ren screamed.
Daigo didn't move. He lay in a pile of blue goo, his shield bent in half over his arm.
"Magic!" Ren ordered, looking back. "Itsuki! Hit her eyes!"
Itsuki was already casting. The Sage looked terrified, but his hands were steady. He thrust his staff forward.
"Wind Blade! Max Output!"
Three crescents of compressed air slashed through the room, aiming for the pale woman's torso.
CLACK. CLACK. CLACK.
Useless.
Before the magic could hit her skin, the Broodmother raised two of her front legs, crossing them like a shield. The wind blades hit the black chitin and shattered harmlessly.
"Magic Resistance," Itsuki whispered, taking a step back. "Her armor... it's immune to Tier 1 spells. We can't hurt her."
The Broodmother hissed, turning her blind, weeping face toward Ren. She could smell the pheromones on him. She wanted him dead.
Ren gripped his sword. His hands were sweating. Daigo is down. Magic doesn't work. Rika is freezing up.
[PASSIVE SKILL: DIVINE GUIDANCE]
The world turned grey. The Golden Lines appeared.
They flashed chaotically, struggling to find a path. Then, one line stabilized.
Weak Point Detected: Abdominal Linkage. Soft Tissue.
Ren saw it. The point where the human waist merged into the spider body. It was fleshy. Unarmored.
But it was fifteen feet in the air.
"Rika!" Ren yelled, not looking at her. "I need a distraction! Draw her legs apart!"
"I can't!" Rika sobbed, pressing herself against the force wall. "Ren, look at her! She's a monster!"
"We're going to die if you don't!" Ren screamed. "Rika, move!"
Maybe it was the pheromones. Maybe it was the fear of death. But Rika moved.
"Fuck you!" Rika shrieked at the spider. She sprinted to the left, throwing a dagger. It bounced off the spider's leg, but it got her attention.
The Broodmother hissed and turned slightly toward Rika. Her legs spread.
The Opening.
"Now!" Ren roared.
He didn't have Daigo to throw him. He had to improvise. He ran at the spider, jumping onto one of the lower crystal clusters, using it as a ramp.
He launched himself into the air.
Golden Path: Confirmed.
Time slowed. Ren was mid-air, sword raised. He was going to plunge the blade right into her soft waist.
I got you, Ren thought, a savage grin twisting his face.
But the System didn't account for one thing: Intelligence.
The pale woman on top of the spider looked down. She smiled. A row of razor-sharp shark teeth flashed in the blue light.
She didn't dodge. She shot a web.
THWIP.
A thick, sticky strand of white silk exploded from her mouth. It hit Ren mid-air, wrapping around his chest and arms like a straightjacket.
"What—?"
Ren's momentum died instantly. He was yanked out of the air.
SLAM.
The Broodmother whipped her head, smashing Ren into the stone floor.
"Gah!" Ren coughed blood. His ribs felt like they were on fire. He was pinned. The web was glued to the floor, trapping his arms against his sides. He couldn't move his sword. He couldn't move his legs.
He was a fly.
The Broodmother loomed over him. The human torso leaned down, drool dripping onto Ren's face. It burned his skin like acid.
"No..." Ren wheezed, struggling against the webs. "Get... off..."
The spider raised one of its massive front legs. The tip wasn't a foot. It was a spear—a jagged, black spike of obsidian-hard chitin, aimed directly at Ren's heart.
Ren stared at the spike.
He saw his death. It wasn't glorious. It wasn't heroic. He was going to be skewered in a dark cave, smelling of perfume and rot, while a mercenary laughed at him from behind a glass wall.
I don't want to die, Ren thought. The fear was cold and absolute.
He thought of his mom. He thought of Rika screaming. He thought of Sora, alone in the mud.
I promised them. I promised we'd go home.
Ren screamed, thrashing against the silk, straining every muscle until he felt something tear.
"MOVE!"
But the System remained silent. No miracle occurred. No golden light saved him.
The leg came down.
It moved faster than sound. A black blur of death descending from the darkness.
Ren's eyes went wide. He watched the point of the spike fill his vision.
CRUNCH.
The sound was sickening. It was wet and heavy—the sound of meat and bone being pulverized against solid rock.
A shockwave of dust and debris exploded outward from the impact site, obscuring everything.
"REN!" Rika screamed, her voice tearing her throat raw.
The dust hung in the air, thick and choking.
For a long, agonizing moment, there was silence.
The Broodmother didn't move. She kept her leg pinned to the ground, buried deep in the stone floor. Slowly, a dark, crimson liquid began to pool around the black chitin spike, spreading out across the white webbing.
Rika fell to her knees. Itsuki lowered his staff, his face draining of all color.
The Hero wasn't moving.