Chương 17: Guiding light

The arcspider slammed into his shield with the weight of a cannonball. Rayne groaned, and this close to it, he was able to get a good look at it. Dread filled him as he stared at the multiple crimson eyes of the spider. It let out a shriek, a sticky black substance flowing out of its mandibles, and raised its hairy black legs to puncture through his shield. Rayne didn't give it a chance, rolling just as the spider attacked. Its legs only touched the wall as he stood up and slashed at it with his sword.

The arcspider turned just in time to block it with the claws at the end of its legs before lunging at him. He panicked for a second before pushing it back with his shield. Chitin cracked as the arcspider smashed into the wall. Rayne took the opportunity and thrust his sword into its eyes. It let out a painful cry, black blood flowing out of the wound, but before it could flail around, he twisted his sword and smashed the spider with his legs. Bran had been right.

Despite looking like the residents of hell, they were weak. Unfortunately, they had the power in numbers. His surroundings were a mix of red and black. The sound of click-clacks filled the tunnels as he saw more than two dozen of them circling his party. God knows how many were still hiding in the ceiling.

"Form up! Put your shields forward and make use of the space. Don't let them web you or poison you." Bran's voice came out of his right. Rayne turned his head to look at them, but something flashed in the corner of his vision. He stepped back on instinct, missing a shot of web that flashed by in front of his eyes. He looked to his left and saw the arcspider that had shot it. Without giving it any time to do it again, he gripped his sword and charged at it.

It shrieked, claws coming at him, but it wasn't as fast when Rayne had time to react. It slipped past him and he slashed at its chitin. The sword bounced back, but he managed to smash it to the wall. His sword came down at its head. It shuddered as it went down. Black ichor sprayed on his helmet as notifications rang at the back of his mind. Rayne had no time to relax as a scream rang out in the corner.

"Fuck! Help me!" That was Kesh. He turned to see an arcspider on its back, trying to sink its fangs into his neck. He struggled to get it off, but the monster's weight was too much. Rayne sprinted towards him, dropping his sword briefly to take out one of the daggers he carried. He sent it slicing through the air and it hit the spider right in its back. It shrieked its ugly cry and that moment was enough for Kesh to slip out.

Before the arcspider could chase him, Rayne picked up the sword and stepped in, his blade slicing clean through the legs before he rammed it against the ground with his shield and skewered its thorax. More blood sprayed out in a similar fashion.

"Shit!" Rayne hissed, turning towards Kesh, who looked as if he couldn't believe he was alive.

"Are you okay? Did it bite you?"

"No," said Kesh, his face pale.

"I'm okay." Before Rayne could offer a reply, he turned just in time to parry another arcspider's lunge, its chitin grinding against steel as it shrieked. He rushed at it with his shield and it flew through the air. Kesh picked up his blade then and thrust his sword through the arcspider's eyes. They matched eyes for a moment, and Rayne gave him a nod before moving to kill another one of the damn monsters. All around him, the sound of steel meeting chitin bounced off the cavern walls.

Black ichor filled the floor and more and more spiders pounced on them from above. Bran stood in the very back, using a short sword to fend off the spiders while others moved to ram them into the walls before killing them off. He saw Heins and Nate working together in a formation while John hacked at them in the centre. It was a bloodshed, but Rayne could see them losing focus. There were just too many of them. Rayne's instincts screamed as he pushed himself against the wall.

The ceiling broke right above him as an arcspider dropped on the ground, unmoving as if confused where he was. He didn't give it any time as he hacked at its legs. He sliced through two of them and the arcspider lost its balance. He took the opportunity to step forward and plunge his sword into its head, one of their most vulnerable parts. Its life was over in a matter of seconds. But suddenly, he heard the familiar crunch of the ceiling breaking again and this time, his instincts were a second late.

A weight settled on his shoulder as the arcspider shrieked right in his ears. Rayne panicked, feeling death inches away from him, and slammed his body into the wall. His attempt worked as he felt the arcspider loosen itself off him. He turned around just in time for his shield to catch the claw and got pushed back a step. A shudder went through his body as he looked at the crimson orb-like eyes of the arcspider. Bran's voice echoed just then.

"We need to run! There's just too many of these hairy bastards. Move back and run." Rayne saw more arcspiders break out of the ceiling just then. They seemed endless. Had they chanced upon a nest? He didn't know, but Bran was right. They needed to fall back. He screamed just as the arcspider sent out a stream of web at him. It bounced off his shield and he crushed its head with a kick. Without looking to see if it was dead, Rayne turned. Nate, Kesh and John were already fleeing deeper into the tunnel.

He saw Bran helping Heins, who was limping and had blood all over his legs while holding the glowstone in another. Marco was nowhere in sight, probably having fled already. But as he backed up, another arcspider lunged for his leg, managing to grab it in its claws. He stumbled, falling to the ground as the monster jumped at him. Before it could bite him, Rayne put his shield up.

"Rayne!" Bran's voice came out from the side. He glanced at him, spotting a deep cut on his shoulder that he hadn't seen before and shouted, "Go! I will follow you all." The arcspider shrieked again, putting more strength into its attack, and out of nowhere, the wood cracked, splinters flying as his shield broke. Luckily, one of them hit it in the eye and he took that opportunity to plunge his sword deep into its skull.

It shrieked, flailing its body, and Rayne took the opportunity to slip away and stand up before taking a look around the cavern. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The swarm of arcspiders was endless. More shapes poured in every second—bigger spiders now, their legs thicker, their eyes gleaming red. One let out a screeching cry, echoed by the rest like a war cry. He saw the light of the glowstone and the sound of footsteps fading away.

Knowing he had to move, he turned and ran. More shrieks echoed around him and he saw two spiders lunge at him from both directions. He ducked under one of them and threw his broken shield at the second one. It hit and it crashed to the ground. Notifications rang in his mind. He ignored them and moved deeper into the tunnel, but the light faded faster than he could keep up. Were they moving in another direction? Before he could think further, he felt something sticky wrap around his legs and went down on the ground.

His eyes widened and he glanced back to see an arcspider shrieking and crawling towards him in a run. Rayne tore away at the webbing with his sword and tried to pick himself up, but it was already upon him. Its mandibles dripped with poison as it tried to bite him. Without a shield, Rayne needed to be more careful, both of the poison and the webbing. He hacked at its legs as it tried to jump at him, but the arcspider rolled just in time to avoid it.

Rayne followed it with a kick and the spider shrieked as it slammed into the wall. More shrieking and crawling sounds came from his left.

"Fuck!" he cursed. The light of the glowstone had completely faded away, and he only saw the crimson light coming from the arcspider's eyes. Rage and adrenaline filled him up as he looked at the damn arcspider. His sword came at it in an overhead swing. It tried to dodge, but he kicked it in place and stabbed its head. Blood sputtered out and he saw the light in the arcspider's eyes dimming until it finally went down. Notification rang in Rayne's mind, but he had no time to look at them.

He gave one last look at the passage where he could see more crimson eyes form into existence and bolted. He ran to the other side, hoping to come across the light of the glowstone again. But he never found it. It was as if his party had disappeared. Or he had taken the wrong route somewhere. It was possible. The cavern was massive, and if there had been more paths, he hadn't noticed. He couldn't with the darkness around him.

He simply kept running away from the spiders until he couldn't hear the click-clack of their mandibles. And once he couldn't, Rayne finally stopped. He pressed his back against the rough cave wall, his breath ragged, chest rising and falling like a drumbeat in the silence. There was no light. Just the steady hum of his heart pounding in his ears as the gravity of the situation hit him. He was alone. He had been lost. He clenched his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering.

Panic and dread filled his heart, and his fingers tightened around his sword hilt, cold sweat sliding down his neck. He couldn't trace back his steps to the entrance... The arcspiders were waiting for him, and there were too many for him to smash through them. He would be caught and eaten alive. The only thing he could do was to move forward, find Bran and the others or the way out of this underground maze. But how? When he couldn't even see where he was.

"Think. There should be something," he muttered.

"A way out of this fucked up situation." Nothing clicked in his mind for a minute. Fighting a troll seemed easier than this, then it clicked. His status screen. The notifications buzzing at the back of his mind. He immediately focused on them and suddenly, a dim light filled the cavern. You have slain Arcspiders x 8. You have gained adequate experience. You have levelled up. Level 17 reached. +2 points gained in Strength. +2 points gained in Endurance. +2 points gained in Agility.

That wasn't the end of the notifications. Skill Stealer Activated. +1 point in Endurance. +1 point in Vitality. He had gained another level off the arcspiders. It was disappointing to see no new skills. He had accepted how tough it was to get them, but it still felt disappointing. If nothing else, the arcspiders certainly had some sort of night vision to see in the dark, and he would have loved to get that. It would have helped massively in the cave, but the notifications were doing a fine job too.

He hadn't given it much attention, but they had a dim glow to them, and that was enough for him to make his path forward. With a thought, he dismissed the notifications, and opened up the first page of his status screen.

Status (1/3) Name - Rayne Frayser (Human) Age - 21 Class - Soldier Rank - Common Soldier (Forsaken), Valeria Kingdom Level - 17 Trait - Noblesse Health - 78% Mana - 98% Stamina - 65% Stats Strength - 34 Vitality - 15 Endurance - 33 Agility - 32 Arcane - 10 He had grown quite a bit compared to the first time he had seen his status. At least in the physical stats. His Arcane stat had never grown, and he had gotten no point in it from monsters, and even Bran had told him not to worry about it.

Normal soldiers didn't make use of it. Shaking his head, he focused on his survival. Although the status screen lit up the cavern enough for him to traverse, it still took a large part of his vision. He wondered if he could move it and tried to shove it to the side. To his surprise, it worked as his vision cleared. The light of it illuminated his surroundings, but it didn't take any space in front of his eyes. That was perfect. Not wanting to stay in one position for long, he started moving again.

He took each step with caution and kept his eyes in front, noting down every detail. The more he moved, the narrower the cave seemed to become. He spotted jagged rocks and hanging roots. There were even webs on the ceiling, but no arcspiders jumped down. The silence pressed down on him like a heavy blanket. He perked his ears up for any sound of his party but had no success. He just heard a faint trickle of water and growling noises from time to time. Yet, the only monster he encountered was a swarm of giant bats.

They rushed at him from above, fangs bared, but Rayne had been ready. He ducked and sliced upward, carving through one of them. It fell with a painful growl, and maybe the other bats took it as a warning sign. All of them fled away deeper into the cave before he could do anything else. It was the easiest battle he had in the cave, and after inspecting the giant bat's body for a while, he moved along. He encountered a few intersections in the next two hours and used Bran's teaching to know which way to go.

The cave monsters left behind a lot of signs, and he ignored any signs he depicted were from the arcspiders. Instead, he followed the marks of large troll footsteps. They had been here to look for the warlord, so following the trolls seemed like a good way to reunite with his party. Part of it had also been because he wanted to get his hands on the regeneration skill, and being alone seemed to be perfect for it. As he had levelled to 17, he doubted any single troll would be too much trouble.

If there were more, he wouldn't engage. Rayne soon got his wish, as suddenly, a wet tearing sound echoed through the cave. He halted, wondering what it was before spotting a pair of troll footmarks all around him. He immediately realised he was close to one. The tunnel widened as he followed the sound and marks. He saw more moss clinging to the walls here and even blood spots on the ground. He didn't stop to inspect them as the noise got louder. Finally, he saw it.

As the tunnel opened up into a wide chamber, Rayne froze, his eyes widening. The glow of his status screen covered half of the chamber, and in the middle of it, a hulking figure of a troll sat. It looked a bit bigger than the one he had killed, but that didn't surprise him. What did was the carcass the monster was in the process of ripping apart. A human corpse. The wet noises had been that—as it ate raw flesh. Blood drooled from its jaw, and as Rayne's eyes looked around, he spotted something.

A piece of chainmail armour. The same set that everyone in his party had worn. The troll was eating one of his comrades. As the realisation of that hit him, the troll suddenly raised its head. Their eyes met.

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