Zone 3: The Nest Entrance

  Amari scrambled out of the fissure, dragging his pack behind him.

  The air in the main cavern was thick with smoke and the sharp, metallic stink of burnt magic. The bat swarm was gone, driven off by Caelum’s excessive use of aerial spells.

  The squad was a mess.

  Miller was on his knees, dry-heaving. His mana pool was dangerously low. Sara was healing a nasty cut on Jace’s cheek.

  Caelum stood in the center of the carnage, his chest heaving. His platinum armor was scuffed, and his hair was wild. He looked manic.

  "Porter!" Caelum shouted, spotting Amari emerging from the smoke. "Where were you? I called for a mana recharge!"

  Amari dusted off his vest. He tapped the lead-lined bottom of his pack where the Star-Moss and beetle meat were safely hidden.

  "I took cover, Your Highness," Amari said flatly. "I’m a Porter. I don’t fight swarms."

  "Coward," Caelum spat. "Typical F-Class trash. While you hid in a hole, I secured the perimeter."

  From the shadows, Niko materialized. He didn't look at Amari. He looked at the Prince.

  "The swarm was a diversion," Niko said calmly. "They were fleeing something larger."

  Caelum ignored him. He pointed his staff at a massive tunnel opening at the far end of the cavern. It was covered in thick, translucent webbing that pulsed with a faint violet light.

  [SYSTEM WARNING]

  [BOSS ROOM AHEAD: THE HIVE]

  [ENTITY: DEEP-STALKER MATRIARCH]

  [RECOMMENDED LEVEL: 40]

  "There," Caelum breathed. The exhaustion vanished from his face, replaced by a hungry, desperate greed. "The Nest."

  "Sire," Jace said, stepping forward. The big Tank sounded worried. "We’re at 40% mana. Miller is empty. We should rest. Set up a perimeter and regen."

  "Rest?" Caelum laughed, but it sounded brittle. "If we rest, the Raid Timer ticks down. My father is watching the logs, Jace. If we take too long, the Royal Court will say I struggled."

  Caelum turned to the webbed tunnel.

  "We go in now. We crush the Matriarch. We leave as legends."

  Amari narrowed his eyes. He looked at the webbing covering the entrance.

  It wasn't normal silk. It was shivering, reacting to the ambient mana in the air.

  He doesn't see it, Amari realized. He's so focused on the prize, he isn't reading the terrain.

  "Wait," Amari said.

  The squad froze. The Porter never spoke out of turn.

  "What did you say?" Caelum hissed.

  "Look at the webs," Amari said, pointing to the pulsing strands. "They're twitching. They aren't just a barrier. They're Mana Siphons. They eat magic to harden the silk."

  Amari looked Caelum in the eye.

  "If you cast fire or lightning in there, the webs will absorb the energy and reinforce the Matriarch's armor. You'll be buffing the boss, not hurting it."

  Silence stretched.

  Miller looked at the webs. "He... he might be right, Caelum. The mana density near the silk is practically zero. It's a vacuum."

  Caelum’s face turned red. He marched up to Amari, the tip of his staff glowing dangerously.

  "You think you know magic, Glitch?" Caelum whispered. "You have zero mana. You are a biological dead end. Do not presume to lecture a Royal Mage on elemental interactions."

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Caelum turned to the squad.

  "Formation! Tank in front. Healer mid. I will take the rear and charge the Solar Lance. We burn the nest down."

  Jace hesitated. He looked at Amari, then at the hungry webs, then at his Prince.

  "Jace!" Caelum barked. "Move!"

  Jace sighed. He lowered his visor. "Yes, Your Highness."

  Jace raised his shield and slashed through the outer webbing.

  The squad marched in.

  The Hive

  The room was a nightmare of geometry. Walls, floor, and ceiling were coated in layers of grey silk. In the center, suspended above a pit of bones, hung the Matriarch.

  She was massive. An arachnid nightmare the size of a bus. Her carapace was obsidian black, mirrored and slick. Eight legs tipped with scythe-like claws twitched as she sensed the vibrations.

  As the squad entered, eight red eyes flared to life.

  SCREEEEEEE!

  The scream hit them like a physical wave.

  [BOSS ENGAGED]

  [ESCAPE: BLOCKED]

  Thick webs slammed down behind them, sealing the exit.

  "Now!" Caelum screamed.

  Miller swallowed. "The Porter said the webs siphon mana—"

  "I don't take tactical advice from luggage!" Caelum snapped. "Solar Lance!"

  He channeled everything he had left. A beam of concentrated sunlight erupted from his staff, aiming straight for the Matriarch's face.

  It was a kill-shot.

  Except Amari was right.

  The moment the beam hit the air inside the nest, the webs on the walls inhaled.

  ZRRRT.

  The Solar Lance didn't hit the spider. The light bent, curving away from the monster and arcing into the silk lining the room.

  The room glowed violet. The Matriarch chittered, her carapace glowing with the absorbed energy. She grew larger. Her armor hardened, turning from black to an invincible purple crystal.

  "What?" Caelum gasped. "My... my mana... it fed her!"

  The Matriarch dropped from the ceiling. She moved faster than anything that size should move.

  She didn't bite. She lashed out with a foreleg like a spear.

  "Jace! Block!" Miller screamed.

  Jace was already moving. He planted his feet, activated his [Skill: Iron Fortress], and raised his tower shield.

  CLANG.

  The impact was deafening.

  Jace didn't buckle. He was a good Tank. He absorbed the blow, his boots sliding back three feet, carving grooves into the stone floor beneath the silk.

  "I have aggro!" Jace grunted, his voice strained. "Hit her now!"

  "I can't!" Miller yelled. "My spells are fizzling! The webs are eating everything!"

  "Niko!" Caelum shrieked. "Do something!"

  Niko was already moving. He Shadow-Stepped beneath the spider, slashing at a joint.

  Ting.

  His dagger bounced off. The armor was super-charged by Caelum's magic.

  "Armor is impenetrable," Niko reported calmly from the shadows. "We buffed her. We cannot cut this."

  The Matriarch raised two legs for a crush attack. [Boss Skill: Guillotine Slam].

  "Jace, move!" Amari shouted from the back. "Your shield can't take a double strike!"

  "If I move, she eats the Prince!" Jace yelled back, sweat pouring down his face. "I've got you, Your Highness!"

  Jace looked back at Caelum.

  "Cast something!" Jace pleaded. "Physical magic! Rock! Ice! Anything solid!"

  Caelum stood frozen. His staff was shaking. His mana was gone, eaten by the room. He wasn't a Prince anymore. He was just a terrified boy in expensive armor.

  The Matriarch slammed down.

  CRACK.

  The scythe-legs hit Jace’s shield.

  The first strike cracked the shield. The second, super-charged by the stolen mana, blew it apart.

  The force of the blow threw Jace across the room. He hit a webbed pillar with a sickening thud. He slid to the floor.

  He tried to push himself up. His arm bent wrong. He screamed and collapsed.

  "Jace!" Sara screamed.

  The Matriarch turned her gaze toward the rest of the squad.

  She looked at Caelum. Mandibles clicked, dripping with venom.

  The Prince scrambled backward, tripping over his own cape. He fell on his ass, scrambling like a crab.

  "Stay back!" Caelum squealed. "I am... I am the heir to the Sky Throne!"

  The Matriarch lunged.

  Amari stood by the sealed door. He felt the familiar coldness settle in his chest.

  The squad was broken. The Tank was down. The Prince was useless.

  Amari looked at Niko in the shadows. Niko looked back, waiting.

  I can let them die, Amari thought. It would be easy. The System would blame the dungeon.

  He looked at Jace’s broken body. The boy who had held the line to save a coward.

  Amari sighed. He unbuckled the straps of his 400-pound pack.

  THUD.

  The heavy pack hit the floor, cracking the stone. The straps fell away like chains.

  Amari rolled his shoulders. The weight was gone. He felt light. Terrifyingly fast.

  "Niko," Amari said, his voice cutting through the panic. "Distract the eyes."

  Amari stepped forward, cracking his knuckles.

  "I'll take the aggro."