They found the boss arena on what Dante estimated was the third day underground, and the cavern opened up ahead of them like a massive dome coated in bioluminescent fungi that cast everything in a soft blue glow. It was the brightest space they had seen since entering Floor 3, which meant it was also the most dangerous because boss arenas always had light and the Tower wanted you to see what killed you.
"What is that?" Ravenna's voice was barely a whisper, but he heard the fear underneath it.
He followed her gaze toward the center of the cavern and felt his pulse spike at the sight of the thing hanging from the ceiling like a nightmare made flesh. Eight legs, each as thick as a tree trunk, connected to a bloated body covered in overlapping chitin plates, and where a head should have been there was just a mass of eyes, dozens of them, all glowing faintly in the darkness. It wasn't moving yet, just dormant and waiting for prey to cross into its territory before waking.
[Boss detected: The Lurker]
[Threat level: Extreme]
[Floor clear requirement: Defeat boss]
"We can't go around it," he said quietly while studying the distant exit gate on the other side of the arena. "That's the only way through."
"Then we fight it?" She gripped her staff tighter.
"We're going to have to."
They weren't alone, and from the shadows at the edges of the cavern other survivors emerged with weapons ready and fear in their eyes. Adrian's group, or what was left of them, crept into the arena at nine total where less than a third of the original number.
Adrian spotted them and moved closer, his expression grim for the first time since they had met. "You know what that thing is?"
"Floor 3 boss that has to die before anyone can proceed." He kept his eyes on the Lurker's dormant form while calculating attack angles and potential weak points. "It'll wake up the moment someone gets too close, and it's fast and strong and can shoot webs that harden like steel."
"You've seen one before?" Adrian stepped beside him and squinted at the creature.
'In the original timeline I watched it kill half my party before we brought it down, and that fight took three hours and cost us our healer.'
"Heard about it," he lied while keeping his voice flat. "Common knowledge on the upper floors."
Adrian's eyes narrowed but he didn't push the issue. "Any weaknesses?"
"The joints between its leg segments are softer than the rest, and the eyes are vulnerable but it protects them when threatened." He pointed toward the creature's underside. "Best strategy is to keep it distracted while someone goes for the underbelly."
"And you know all this from rumors." Adrian turned to look at him directly with something hard behind his eyes. "That's convenient."
"Convenient or not, it's kept me alive." He met Adrian's stare without flinching. "You want to stand here asking questions, or you want to kill the thing before it wakes up?"
Adrian held his gaze for another moment before nodding as his usual mask slipped back into place.
"Alright, I'll coordinate the main assault." He gestured toward the flanks of the arena. "You and your demon girl want to circle around?"
'I want to kill this thing as fast as possible and get the hell off this floor, but sure, we can flank.'
"Fine." He checked his knife and started moving toward the left side of the cavern.
---
The Lurker woke the moment Adrian's group crossed the invisible line marking its territory.
One second it hung lifeless from the ceiling, and the next it dropped toward them with a shriek that echoed off every surface in the cavern while its legs extended to catch the ground and propel it forward in a blur of chitin and malice. Adrian's sword caught the first leg sweep, barely, the impact driving him back several feet while his fighters scattered and tried to form a perimeter as the Lurker's eyes tracked their movements with predatory intelligence.
He was already moving, circling wide with Ravenna at his side and approaching from an angle that kept them out of its primary sight lines because the plan was simple: let Adrian's group hold attention while he found an opening to exploit. Simple plans rarely survived contact with the enemy and this particular plan fell apart in seconds when a web shot out of nowhere and caught one of Adrian's fighters, pinning her to the ground in strands that hardened almost instantly. The Lurker was on her before anyone could react, and what happened next was quick and ugly and ended with screaming.
"Focus fire on the legs!" Adrian shouted while his sword carved into one of the joints. "Don't let it isolate anyone!"
They tried and they really did, but the Lurker was fast and smart and there were too many legs and too many eyes and the casualties mounted with every passing minute until he saw his opening when the creature reared back to spit another web. The underbelly was pale and soft beneath the armored plates, exposed for just a moment before it would close again.
He launched himself forward without thinking, crossing the distance in a burst of speed that his body shouldn't have been capable of while his knife found the soft tissue and drove deep with a twist to maximize damage. The Lurker screamed and threw him off with a violent twist, one leg catching him across the chest and sending him flying into a wall as pain exploded through his body and ribs cracked, but he was already rolling to his feet because stopping meant dying.
The Lurker's attention was fixed on him now, all those dozens of eyes burning with rage and tracking his every movement while it stalked toward him on legs that trembled from the wound he had inflicted.
'Good, keep looking at me.'
"Ravenna! The eyes! Now!"
She understood what he needed without explanation, and fire bloomed in her hands brighter and stronger than before as she hurled it at the creature's face in a concentrated blast that made the Lurker recoil and thrash blindly. It wasn't enough to kill it, but it was enough to blind it and buy them the seconds they needed.
He moved while it thrashed and found another weak point and drove his knife in again and again while Adrian was there too, his sword working with suspiciously precise skill that confirmed everything he suspected about the man. The Lurker's legs gave out one by one and its screams grew weaker until finally it collapsed into a heap of twitching limbs.
[Boss defeated: The Lurker]
[Floor 3 complete]
[System points: +1500]
[Administrator attention: Level 3]
He stood over the corpse and breathed hard while blood dripped from wounds he hadn't noticed taking, and Ravenna was at his side in an instant with her hands already glowing with healing warmth.
"That was incredible," she said while pressing her palm against his cracked ribs. "You moved so fast, I couldn't even see you."
"Adrenaline." He winced as the bones started knitting back together. "It happens."
Across the cavern Adrian was watching him with eyes that had lost their usual warmth, calculating and dangerous in a way that didn't match the friendly smile still plastered on his face.
'He knows I'm more than I seem, and he's been watching and taking notes and trying to figure out what I am so he can use me, but the feeling was mutual because I've been doing the same thing since Floor 1.'
"Good fight," Adrian called out while wiping his blade clean on a dead fighter's shirt. "We made a good team in there, and I'm starting to think we could make a real run at the upper floors together."
"I work better alone." He pulled away from Ravenna's healing touch and rolled his shoulder to test the mended ribs.
Adrian watched him for a moment longer before shrugging and turning to gather what was left of his group, seven survivors out of the nine they had started with because two more had been pulled down by the Lurker before anyone could save them.
He watched Adrian organize the survivors and wondered how many more floors they could share before one of them made a move, and the answer he suspected was not many at all.