Chương 122: Penicillium - Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-One After the challenges we faced on the previous floor, I really expected the spiders on this last one to be a difficult fight. Something akin to the golems we'd faced already, or the bigger hordes of goblins. Instead... it wasn't? We charged into the room, and I barely had time to take it in before we turned towards a tunnel to our left and ran in. Phillipe placed his lantern down by the entrance and Tyro put his down a little further in, then we turned and faced the entrance of the tunnel.

My heart was beating hummingbird-fast in my chest and I expected to feel that hard smack of something furry and many-limbed landing on me at any moment. It didn't happen though. The corridor we ran into was narrow enough so that I could probably touch both walls with a foot and an arm if I really stretched. The walls were all interlocked bricks, and I noticed a splash on the floor as we ran in, but didn't have time to investigate.

I turned with the others and faced the entrance, ready for the scurrying enemy to come and try to get us, and they did. Or one of them did, in any case. A single spider, about as big around as my torso, crawled along the wall. It was moving at a walking pace, quick, but not as fast as I'd imagined and feared. Its colouration matched the wall exactly, brown and grey with a few thin white lines across its entire body that perfectly mimicked the web-covered walls.

If it was standing perfectly still in the unlit room, then I might never have noticed it. But the room wasn't unlit, and at the moment the spider was glowing. The pulses of life essence travelled through its body, from the core to the tips of its many hairy legs, each beat reminding me of a heart's. The glow wasn't strong but it was enough to make the beast stand out sharply against its surroundings. Phillipe smashed his hammer into the spider and it died with a squelch.

"Keep an eye above, they can walk on ceilings," he said. The ceiling was arched, low enough on the sides that Phillipe would probably brush his head against it, but I doubted he could touch the centre with his arm fully extended above him. The extra reach given to him by his hammer made it all moot though. More spiders came, but where I expected a flood, all we had to face was a trickle. First one, then two, then a solo again.

Some tried to move in fast, others crawled in so slowly that their movement would have been almost impossible to notice, but none of it mattered. We had, for the moment, a hard counter, and the spiders didn't seem to have the brains to figure out a way around that.

Knowing that the core room was next, I decided to keep most of my mana in reserve, though I still splashed some [Blight] onto any of the spiders that got too close or that collapsed onto the ground but still had some of that telltale lifeforce glow to them. It was a way to ensure that they were really dead without having to walk over and risk getting bit. After the first dozen minutes, the tide of spiders slowed.

"Just the smarter ones left," Phillipe said as he eyed the room. It was a dark place, with huge cocoons dangling from the ceiling and a floor covered in refuse and the small carcasses of rats and what I suspected were goblins. Actual goblins... or did the dungeon just spawn in decorations for ambience? A lot about these dungeons didn't make sense. The decor, the... theming of the place. That had to be deliberate to some degree or another.

"Looks like it," I said. I could see some glowing within the room, but it was exceptionally hard to see. Almost like catching a reflection in a smudged window. It seemed as if my mushroom's life-sensing was either weak, had a limited range, or was quick to fade after eating.

"Those mushrooms were pretty useful," Tyro said.

"But I can't feel my toes."

"We'll get some healing mushrooms into you on the way up," I said.

"It should mitigate any damage you might have taken."

"Thanks," he said.

"No problem. So... are we moving on?" I asked with a gesture behind us. Phillipe nodded.

"We are. Can you block the end of this passage with one of your mushrooms? It'll keep them from following us." Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"I'm not sure if they'll be susceptible, but I guess there's no harm in trying." We backed off and I tossed a poisonous mushroom by the entrance, creating a thin fog of spores that the spiders would need to break through in order to get to us. When that was done, we continued down the tunnel, Tyro taking the lead while Phillipe stayed behind. There weren't any traps, though the ground was covered by a deepening puddle. The tunnel turned, then turned again, and then we were in the core room.

There was no mistaking what it was. A large round room, with brick walls and a layer of still water across the entire floor. In the room's centre was a raised dais made of more stone, but this was smoothed and polished. The only thing atop it was an altar.

"Where's the core?" I asked.

"That's it," Phillipe said as he stepped in behind me.

"Wow," Tyro said as he looked around. The room was relatively dark, lit only by the lanterns we'd brought with us.

"I expected... more," he said. Phillipe chuckled.

"Go touch the altar. It should be enough to gain you a better class, though... we'll put that off until we're back on the surface, right?

"Right," Tyro agreed. He was going to have to relearn a whole host of skills, but... I imagined that gaining a rarer class might well make that worthwhile, and he was still a teenager besides, he had time. I watched him walk onto the dais, then tap the altar. Nothing seemed to happen.

"Ginger?" Phillipe asked.

"Oh? Right," I said. My time to shine. Only... I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, now that I was here. A gut feeling had guided me this far, but it seemed as though this was where it stopped being useful. I wiped my face, then took a deep breath. Might as well try a few simple things. I walked past Tyro who was returning to the entrance and stepped onto the raised platform with the altar. It really was just that. A block of carved stone, without mark or blemish and raised to about hip-height.

All it was missing was some cloth and a few candles and it would be the perfect altar for some strange occult ritual in a Hollywood B-movie. I reached out and touched it. There was a faint tingle that raced up my arm and into my chest... then nothing. Well, that couldn't be it. Frowning, I took a small step back and inspected the altar closer. Still nothing. Something was itching at me, though. I knew I had to... do something here. The ritual of Sporemageddon felt like it called me here, so... well, here I was.

What did it want now? What did a ritual even call for? Candles and sacrifices? I wasn't going to cut my palm atop that rock. But... prayer might be an option. With a huff, I pulled off the blanket I'd wrapped around myself and set it down, then I got to my knees and folded my hands before me. I probably looked like a moron. Closing my eyes, I took a few deep breaths and tried to clear my mind. This was for Feronie, wasn't it? So the least she could do was drop me a hint!

The air snapped, and I found myself locking up, limbs unable to move, body going cold, and breath caught in my lungs. It lasted all of a moment before I felt a presence. Warm and kind and holding a knife behind its back. It touched me, and I felt that warmth spread through me.

"Well done, little one." The whisper was so quiet I could have imagined it. It felt like the last exhalation of a dying person, but it was followed by a deep, strong intake of breath that wasn't my own and then I had to grit my teeth and squeeze my eyes shut as I was inundated with raw, powerful magic. It felt, for a moment, like I was a fish in a jar being shown the entirety of the ocean.

There was just so much, so much depth and life and action and violence and I couldn't possibly even begin to fathom the complexity of it all. And the moment passed. My eyes shot open and I noticed that presence fading. The room was no different than before... but something fundamental had changed.

"What was that?" Tyro asked. I got to my feet, shaky and a little wobble-y.

"I guess we're going to have to find out," I said.