Vel’s first priority was to get Sigurd to safety, especially while the spiders were concerned with each other. However, carrying well water could not have prepared her enough for the weight of the man, leaving him groaning each time she dragged him across the mine’s stony floor.

  “Stop, stop,” Sigurd seethed out, left hand staunching a deep gut wound. He’d ripped his shirt to pieces just to stuff the wound and stop the bleeding. Vel thanked . . . well, anyone who weren’t their gods that this man had the capacity to deal with his own wounds.

  “It’s too open here, I should hide you,” Vel said, looking down the mine. The spiders were no longer there, having retreated after their battle amongst themselves.

  “You’re far enough. Any further, and you might be the one that kills me.”

  Sighing, Vel lowered Sigurd’s shoulders to the ground. Kneeling there, she looked over his form. He patched up his worst wound as well as he could, but the rest of him looked terrible. He bore bites and scratches all along his limbs, the blood probably making them look so much worse than they were.

  “Can you move your legs yet?” Vel asked.

  Sigurd shook his head, and Vel narrowed her eyes. The hand over the gut wound didn’t look to be as firm as before, giving her the inkling that he’d lost control over his arms as well. She moved alongside him, then slowly lifted his unoccupied hand, the hunter grimacing as she dropped it back down.

  “When did that happen?” she asked.

  “Not long ago,” Sigurd said. “The poison might continue to progress, and I’m not a spider expert. I don’t know what it’ll do.”

  “It could kill you?” Vel asked furrowing her brow. When Sigurd gave her a blank stare, she said, “Right . . . bad question.”

  “But time might be limited. Velmira, it might be better for you to go back the way we came━”

  “No!” Vel objected loudly, throwing a hand up to cover her mouth after she heard her own voice echo down the mine. After a long moment of staring to ensure nothing came for them, she dropped her hand, and looked back down at Sigurd’s paling face. “I'll be damned if I have to turn around now, not with Edard potentially just ahead, and avenge you if you think I'd leave you to be spider lunch.”

  “You're . . .?” Sigurd trailed, his brow furrowing and mouth opening for either a profoundly confused expression, or one of pain. It was hard to tell. “Was that supposed to be a swear━avenge?”

  “Yes, because I hate the pantheon of retribution━wasn’t going to keep giving them the honor of their own swear.”

  A smile spread across Sigurd’s face with a groan escaping past his lips. “Damn right.” His face relaxed, and he released a sigh, eyes drooping. “I don't know what you're going to be able to do, but I can't stay awake much longer.”

  “I'm getting you out of here,” Vel said, standing up. She looked over Sigurd’s form, weary about the idea of just leaving him here. So, pulling his blanket from his pack, she used that to cover his form, hoping that it would somehow deter anything from seeing him as a tasty snack. Anything with a good nose wouldn't be fooled. Means I just have to do this fast.

  Looking down the tunnel, she could vaguely make out the sound of screeching. The spiders, most likely, were still having their war. If she could continue to fuel that, maybe even make some of the black monsters turn on the big red one, she just might be able to do this.

  With a deep breath, Vel started back down the tunnel, dagger held up in front of her. Even if there weren’t any spiders left in this part of the mine, she wasn’t going to risk not having the weapon on hand. Then again, she was well aware of the weapon her nails were.

  She took the walk slowly, so much so that she’d worried more than once about Sigurd. Sparing a glance back, she could vaguely make out the slightest movement of his stomach rising and falling beneath the blanket. He’ll be alright, she thought, and Vel was going to see to that. Just hurry, she urged herself forward, and toward the end of the mine, she crouched near the ledge.

  While the blood spider was in view, its shrill, high pitched screech fueling the sounds of war that Vel couldn’t yet see. Only remnants, from this vantage point. Spiders fought along the walls, and Vel inched farther forward, daring a look at the ground far below in the basin of the webbed spider nest. She sucked in a breath at how close to her the shade spiders were, and held it.

  Gripping her dagger tighter, she pulled up the threads linking the spiders to their master.

  Snip.

  Another was freed, and with its rebellion, two others beside it snapped themselves freed.

  Snip.

  [Sever Link level 11]

  Only one escaped the master arachnid’s grasp this time, and Vel furrowed her brow. Why did some rally their kin to their freedom, and not others?

  There has to be a structure, isn’t there? Vel thought, frowning as she examined the difference between the two spiders. That task became nearly impossible when the second one was drowned and murdered in a sea of black, forcing Vel to place a hand over her mouth as she held back her gag reflex. Notably, it wasn’t as bad as before.

  Eyes flicking to the first spider she freed, its creepy eight-legged form dancing over the tops of other spiders to escape, she realized the slightest little detail. It was bigger. The difference was hard to spot, all the surrounding bulbous backs of its brethren the same, but the legs . . . No, those were different. Its two freed companions were in the process of being consumed, but they had entirely sacrificed themselves to allow for its escape. Perhaps the small ones were fodder, sort of like all the shade spiders were to protect the blood spider.

  Scanning the mass of black that made up the wall beneath Vel’s ledge, she picked out a spider that looked bigger than the rest. It was hard to tell at first, but a pattern emerged. The spiders made circles, and towards the center, they grew in size. Pulling up the threads, she found that its thread was even just a bit thicker.

  Snip.

  [Sever Link level 12]

  The thread snapped in half, and the blood spider recoiled, its scream loud as it lifted its front legs. Vel stumbled back, hand over her mouth muffling her gasp while her dagger hand steadied her against the mine’s quaking wall.

  A smaller, almost imperceptible scream pierced the blood spider’s, and while she couldn’t see the shade spiders from this angle, she saw the threads tear. A whole slew of them! One after the other, dozens freed from their master’s grasp. Then a chain reaction. Vel scuttled to the ledge, despite the sounds of hundreds of skittering legs sending shivers down her spine.

  The small battalion of shade spiders she’d freed attacked the adjacent one, the circles bleeding into each other. The battalions on its other sides were colliding into it, but they maintained a formation against their target. Within the freed circle, the smaller spiders paved a path for the largest of them, all the way to the enemy’s commander. A duel ensued, and Vel, thinking she could provide the upper hand, pulled the threads back up.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Just as she did, the forefront of her mind was slammed by a sharp pang, enough that her inner voice scrambled. The threads shimmered out of existence, Vel wincing and pulling her hand up to hold her head. Cost . . . her mind echoed, and she could see the words through the pain. Magic, as she learned, always had a cost.

  One more. If I can do just one more, she thought, the pain subsiding. The spiders, both of them, fought valiantly━if flying spider legs and thick blood could be called that━but the other battalions were quickly closing in on the one she was rooting for. One more.

  She pulled the threads up, and once more the pain struck her, like someone swinging a hammer at her forehead. Her thoughts fuzzed, and she curled her free hand into a fist, her nails stabbing into her palm. The new pain, strangely, was welcomed, helping curb the pain in her mind and freeing her long enough to snip.

  [Metal Claw level 21]

  [Sever Link level 13]

  The pain in her mind flared, and Vel gasped, holding herself up on her knees and hands. Threads tore, and the two big spiders that fought were united, turning on the others already coming to kill them. They made quick work of the job, utilizing their legions to get to the other commanders. Each time when a commander was killed, more threads snapped.

  Vel released a breath, letting the threads vanish. She leaned against the wall, watching the war rage below as she waited the pain out, hardly able to keep up with who was winning anymore. What she did know, however, was that the blood spider was seething. With one mighty strike of its front leg, it smashed a commander. Then the next.

  As her mind cleared, one thing became very apparent━she had to get the blood spider’s attention. She needed to be another aggressor, else its kin wouldn’t have a chance for their freedom, not with how quickly it could kill commanders.

  Pushing herself up, she rose all the way to her feet.

  “This better not get me killed,” she muttered, raising a hand. Palm stretched out, she stared at one of its massive beady eyes. As a fireball formed in her hand, she could see its eyes shift towards her, the madwoman she appeared to be stared back at her within those eyes. Then the fireball flew, soaring over a beady sea of black, briefly grazing past webs and lighting them, then finally smashing into the blood spider’s pincer.

  She missed the eye. Monumentally. But she didn’t miss her goal━she had its attention. If a spider could scowl, it just did, its massive pincers twitching at her. It jerked forward, shiny beads of black desperately shifting around its legs, then in a terrifying maneuver, lifted the front part of its body.

  Vel stumbled back, the monstrosity seemingly growing in size, stretching up, up, up, until its head was no longer visible. It curled its other end forward, and Vel realized far too late what it was doing; what all spiders do. She dropped to the mine’s floor, holding her arms and dagger up against the thread that flew her way.

  [Skill gained: Create Silk]

  [0.5 Magic added]

  Eyes squeezed shut, she waited.

  Why did I ever think I could fight this thing? she whimpered quietly. I’m just so small. She was insignificant, small as a fly to this thing, and all she could think about was how it would ultimately crush her. Squish. Like that. Then she’d be gone, then━

  No! She opened one eye. One determined eye, gazing up at the thick thread that had missed. It struck the mine’s ceiling, and had she still been standing, it would have hit.

  I. Am. Not insignificant! she thought, rage roaring through her, shooting from deep within her gut and all the way out into her guttural cry. She slashed at the thread with her dagger, which halted. Somehow, that idea went much smoother in her head.

  [Skill gained: Sticky Thread]

  [0.5 Magic added]

  “Seriously?” she hissed, looking at the blood spider. Its thick thread was no longer attached to its bulbous behind, and it was moving closer. Enough that Vel let go of her dagger and scrambled back. She pushed herself up to her feet, the light ahead blocked out as the spider’s full head came into view, its eight eyes trained on her.

  It screamed, Vel covering her ears as its high pitched voice reverberated through the mine. It kept going, the floor beneath her feet trembling in protest, as were her knees. They buckled, but she resisted the urge to close her eyes. Instead, facing the crimson monster head on, she yelled back. Her voice, drowned by its, didn’t stand a chance, but rage bubbled up, building on her already existing anger.

  Sacrificing one ear, Vel removed her left hand, the pain sharp in left ear. She didn’t care. No, she had an opportunity. This thing made a mistake. A huge one. Heat shifted through her body, moving from other extremities and through her torso, centering towards her hand. The fireball formed, then flew. The first missed an eye, but an immediate second hit.

  [Fireball level 35]

  The screeching grew, then died as the monster recoiled back, losing a second eye to Vel’s third fireball. She kept going, switching out hands as her right one felt icy from the sacrificed heat. Two more flames, each missing eyes as the spider moved up along the cavern well, its head leaving the opening, and replaced by the end of its thorax.

  [Fireball level 36]

  The thorax recoiled, then thrusted into the mine’s opening, Vel’s eyes widening as she saw the thread loosen from within the monster. It flew towards her like sticky death, the thread aimed well, despite the beast’s lack of eyes here.

  [Skill gained: Webshot]

  [0.5 Magic added]

  Ice crept through Vel as she released fireball after fireball towards the incoming thread. One, two, three, and it stalled, allowing a fourth, and even a fifth shot. The silk coming for her was flammable, yet endless. With a sixth shot, she felt the sticky silk make contact with her right hand. While she tried to move, somehow dodge the rest, her frigid muscles resisted.

  [Fireball level 37]

  [Fireball level 38]

  [Fireball level 39]

  It engulfed her arm, then latched onto her shoulder. Finally, the force threw her, Vel gasping. Any air that was left in her was knocked out as she slammed into the mine’s wall with a sickening crack. Pain flared from her forearm. She dropped to the ground, and sucked in a sharp breath, which was used up as she cried out.

  [Tough Hide level 36]

  The thread pulled her, dragging her across the stony earth. She looked up, seeing two massive red legs pull her closer and closer to the blood spider. It had turned around, looking at her, and was poised with a third leg to reach in and stab her; crush her.

  No! she scowled, trying to shake loose hair free from the sticky thread, only getting her cheek stuck. No! she thought, and pressed her free hand against the thread, it too getting stuck. Just one more flame, she thought, teeth chattering as the cold ensued. It nipped at her nose, her toes, and even the fingers trapped within their sticky prison. Everything sacrificed warmth, shifting it to her left hand.

  [Fireball level 40]

  The flames emerged, bursting to life over the silk. It bit at her left hand, which was spared far sooner than her other hand. Her cheek only suffered mild burns, and her loose hair singed, the rest still in its braid left alone. Fire danced over her arm, and Vel howled, the pain stinging. She desperately tried ripping her arm free. The part at her shoulder separated first, then gradually down her arm.

  Though the fire was quick it wasn’t nearly quick enough. One glance up at that poised leg, and Vel saw it thrust down towards her. She yelped, scrambling to her feet. One fireball from her right hand, and finally, it loosed. She jerked backwards, her own efforts throwing her away just as the leg stabbed down deep into the earth where she was only seconds before.

  Muscles, veins, and skin frozen, Vel set there, gasping. She stared at the massive and sharp limb that nearly had her. It pulled back, knocking against the roof of the mine. A few rocks fell, one hitting her left shoulder. It was numb; everything was numb, save for the pain that nipped across her right hand and arm.

  Move! she told herself. Something! Anything! Nothing budged. Move, damnit! Her eyes watered, the limb moving higher. Come on! Tears welled up in her eyes, the desperation seeping in. She could feel her muscles slowly regaining some semblance of heat, the once cool air in the mine now feeling hot against her skin.

  “Please!” she whispered out, even her voice having taken a hit from her use of magic.

  The limb climbed, and finally . . .

  It fell back.

  The blood spider writhed, howling. It fell. Right off the wall. She couldn’t see it, but she could see the smoke rising from it, and its shrill cry of agony caused a ringing within her ears. The fire, she realized, had traveled all the way down the silk, still attached to the blood spider’s thorax.

  Once the cries ceased, found the strength━muscles thawed━to inch on her knees towards the edge of the mine. All that was left of the blood spider was ash. It had burned away, completely eaten by the flames. Remnants of the fire stretched over the webs through the cavern, and many of the shade spiders had suffered a similar fate. The quarter of the original hoard that still remained steered clear of the flames. And her.

  None of them dared to get close to her.

  “I did it,” she sighed out, emotion spilling with it. She looked up towards the exit.

  “I. Did. It,” she repeated resolutely, hardening her teary eyed expression.

  someone decided to launch during a festival that requires an obscene amount of setup).