The large open room was filled with enemies once more, but they had changed compared to last time. The biggest scorpion that shouldn’t be still walked around as if it owned the place.

It probably did too.

The smaller enemies were replaced by a variety of oversized mushrooms, about the size of goblins. What was odd about the mushrooms was that they had rows of teeth in their caps and glowing dark-red eyes. They walked around on small feet that seemed to be some sort of vines that were simply cut off.

Next to the humanoid mushrooms, there were large mantises. I was glad they didn’t appear to have anything that set them apart from the ones on Earth but a mantis the size of a young adult was not the nicest thing to look at. Their eyes were creepy when they were this large and their scythes seemed like they could actually do quite a bit of damage.

I certainly didn’t want them slicing across my body.

Finally, there were some of the squirrels I’d seen very early on in the forest, the ones with two tails that looked like pine cones. The only issue was that these were the size of adult wolves and they had an addition to them in the form of a horn on their heads.

“Draco, you familiar with any of these creatures?” I asked.

“Only with the squirrels, but none I encountered were this size, they also didn’t have horns.”

“Same as me then.”

The monsters running around didn’t seem overly aggressive. We could simply hold a conversation in the doorway leading into this room and be completely safe from attacks. That did not mean I was going to let my guard down. That was not happening to me again.

“Okay, so.” I started. “I have a very eerie feeling that these mushroom thingies are poisonous. Call it a hunch, but it seems to be a recurring theme in this dungeon.”

“You have a plan?” Velariah asked.

“Give me a second, I’m observing and thinking.”

Know thy enemy.

The basics of the art of war.

I would exploit the fact that they were not aggressive and try to come up with ideas.

“Seralyn, do you see anything that can fly?” I asked.

“I’ve been looking out for them myself and I didn’t spot anything.”

“I am assuming those mantes have a nasty jump. Even when they are small, they can jump quite the distance. That’s one thing we should look out for. Second, I am the only one that is going near those mushrooms. If they are poisonous, it would be best for you to avoid them. I guess we should start with those squirrels? Seralyn, could you shoot them? Draco, Velariah, and I will hold the line here.”

“Thought you’d never ask. What if one of the other monsters comes our way?”

“Mantis, I’ll leave you to it. Mushroom, I will charge in and lead it away from you guys.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Velariah confirmed and unsheathed her weapon.

I unsheathed my blades and dropped the scabbards in the doorway. When the three of us stood ready, Seralyn fired the first shot. The shot was a masterful one, it penetrated the skull of one of the huge squirrels and instantly killed it. The other monsters in the area did not seem to react.

Seralyn’s next shot also flew true and killed another squirrel in the same way, except it drew the attention of two nearby mantises. Draco and I stood ready with our shields and it turned out my calculations were correct.

They jumped and closed the gap almost immediately. Their scythes landed on our shields and I instantly retaliated with my spear.

Their carapace was tough, but I pierced it nonetheless, killing one of the mantes by separating its head from its neck. It still walked around aimlessly for a few seconds before Velariah brought down her sword on it, removing the threat entirely.

Velariah then slashed her sword with full force at the second mantis, who was still slashing away at Draco’s shields, and removed its scythes from its body. After that, Draco simply decapitated it with his axes.

“You guys ready for more?” Seralyn asked as she had her bow drawn.

We got back in formation and Velariah gave the word.

Another squirrel was killed. It seemed they were no match for our archer. Another arrow flew and killed a squirrel. This one, however, drew the attention of a walking mushroom and mantis that were nearby. I took a few steps back and the mantis jumped at Draco.

I charged forward to the mushroom, killing a squirrel that was between me and my target with a slice of my blade to the side. I then drove my spear into the mushroom’s cap, which caused a cloud of green mist to disperse from the cap. I got some of it in my mouth by accident (and partly because I was careless).

I seemed to have some sick disregard for anything that could be poisonous, partly letting it affect me on purpose. There was, however, something I had in mind as well.

I made a slight detour, killing a squirrel by driving my spear and blades in it, before moving back to my companions.

“Hold your fire for a second,” I said as Velariah finished off the mantis.

Seralyn relaxed her drawn bow and kept her eyes on the surroundings.

I walked over to Nira and lowered myself.

“Could you check if whatever that was is poisonous?”

The harpy nodded without saying a word and put her hand on my head.

“Yeah, it’s poison, alright. Not the worst kind, but you’d need at least some potion to survive.”

“Poison. Got it,” Velariah called out, confirming she heard what Nira just told me. “Let badass spider deal with them.”

I chuckled but kept my eyes on the room. We slowly worked our way through the horde of enemies, not taking any risks. Seralyn finished off all the remaining squirrels and we dealt with three more mantes and one more mushroom humanoid as ‘collateral damage’.

“Mantis next, I’m assuming?” Seralyn called. “I don’t have too many arrows left, though.”

“Can you get through their carapace?” I asked.

“No idea,” The brunette admitted. “I’m going to use my ability on them.”

She nocked an arrow, infused it with her magic, and fired it at one of the mantises. It completely missed and landed on the ground.

“Well, fuck.” Seralyn called before quickly drawing her bow again.

She then fired another arrow which hit its mark, completely engulfing the head of the mantis in flames, causing it to slash around wildly with its scythes. It even slashed one of the mushrooms in the process which released a cloud of poisonous mist before the mantis fell down on it, setting the mushroom on fire.

“Well, that certainly makes up for that missed shot,” Velariah remarked.

“Told you I was good.” Seralyn grinned.

I couldn’t help but smile.

Soon, the archer released another shot killing another mantis after it had spent some time running around with its head burning.

This just looked nasty…

Another mantis was set on fire. One that was nearby got alerted by the arrows and jumped in Draco’s direction. While it was preparing to leap the rest of the way, I sprinted over to its side, with my blades crossed in an X-shape. Quickly drawing the blades across each other like a pair of scissors, I cut through its neck. Velariah impaled its headless body, causing it to topple over.

“Frigging bugs,” I said.

“Having a spider with us seems to work great against bugs,” Seralyn commented.

“Heh. You just gave me an idea.”

I looked at the walls behind us. “Actually, never mind. That won’t work properly here.”

“What were you planning to do?” Velariah asked.

“I was thinking of creating one of those nets here, but there’s nowhere for me to attach my thread to.”

“The doorway would be the only point, but you’re right, that’s not wide enough to catch the mantis. I assume that was your plan?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“We are doing fine as we are, though,” Draco said. “We’re almost through the giant bugs. Then it’s up to you, but it doesn’t appear that those walking mushrooms can do much besides using their poison.”

“It seems to be that way,” I said.

Seralyn killed three more mantes with her ability before she asked Draco for an energy potion.

“I’m also out of arrows. I’ll need to retrieve those after we’ve cleared the room.” Seralyn said before she chugged down the yellow liquid.

“Noted,” Velariah replied.

There was one lone mantis in the far corner of the room. There were a couple of mushrooms between the monster and me, but I was confident I could finish it on my own.

I methodically made my way over to the mantis, killing the mushrooms with my spear without drawing too much attention from the insect as I went. I had my shields in front of me in case of a leaping attack.

Another humanoid mushroom was dealt with by my spear. Only one more separated me and the mantis.

I struck the last mushroom with my spear while keeping my attention on the insect. Eventually, it seemed like it had had enough and jumped on my shields. It kept slashing away at my shields, very similar to the second opponent I fought against in the guild trials. I more or less expected this outcome, because they had shown the same pattern of attacks on Draco’s shields every time.

I thrust my front two legs forward, like spears. I impaled its lower body with them causing it to screech in pain. It was temporarily stunned from the attack and I used the opportunity to turn my blades into a pair of scissors once more and cut off its upper torso, including the scythes.

With its body split in half, it didn’t take long for it to fall to the floor.

“Nice one,” Velariah called.

I walked back to my party with green mantis blood on my front legs. I did not mind bathing, but this was getting rather ridiculous. Having to do it every day wasn’t something I was planning or hoping to do.

“That’s a fair deal of the room cleared,” I said. “Let’s start recovering arrows.”

We collected what we could and took a small break to drink some water and catch our breath.

“Any ideas on how to deal with that scorpion creature?” Draco asked while we were seated near the entrance.

I shook my head and Velariah did the same.

“Those claws don’t look healthy,” Velariah said.

“Forget the claws. Look at that stinger,” Seralyn added.

I let them talk while I had my eyes fixated upon the creature in question. Its chitin looked tough, much like my own.

It simply stood in a corner of a room and turned around every now and then, allowing me to observe its body better. I tried to come up with ideas but fell short. The only thing I could think of was to clear the entire room and then suspend a sticky net between the closest walls, without drawing its attention.

The distance I’d have to cross with my silk would be considerable but it should be doable. I could see it making me ravenous for lunch, though…

Velariah sat down next to me.

“Any ideas?” She asked.

“The most basic idea I can come up with involves entangling it in webs,” I replied. “I don’t really know if we have the ideal weapons to fight such a thing. My spear may be the best we have.”

“I was thinking we could disarm it by cutting off the stinger and its claws. They seem like we could cut them off without too many issues.” Velariah said.

“That’s not a bad idea at all. Is it just me or does this thing look a bit too tough for a low-tier dungeon?” I asked.

“Those were my thoughts as well. Maybe it’s not as strong as it seems?”

“I’m not going to underestimate something that looks strong,” I answered.

“That’s generally the best way to stay alive.” She mentioned.

“So?” Seralyn, who appeared behind Velariah, called out.

“We’re going to clear the room first,” The white-haired elf said. “After that, Elania will work on a web.”

“Alright,” Draco said as he assumed a defensive position once more. “Let’s finish what we started.”

I took position next to him and Seralyn started shooting again. The power of her inherity fueled the arrows with fire and burned away the heads of any mantis that were unfortunate enough to get hit by them.

The already thinned-out room was soon cleared of mantis. Draco and I didn’t have to spring into action.

“Your turn,” Seralyn called out to me.

“Be safe,” Velariah added.

That was sweet but slightly excessive. These humanoid mushrooms posed no threat whatsoever. With no mantis nearby that could actually pose a threat, I held my blades at my sides like a chariot and simply rushed through the room, killing any mushroom in my path.

Clouds of poisonous spores were released into the air as they died and I suggested my companions drink some anti-venom as prophylaxis. I also said it would be better for them to wait near the entrance as I worked on the threads. I preferred to keep their exposure to poison to a minimum. I didn’t quite know how fast those clouds would dissipate.

The huge scorpion still sat in the same corner it had been all this time. It didn’t care what was going on around it.

The entire room was now cleared of enemies. Corpses were scattered all throughout. Seralyn would do another round of arrow retrieval after I finished my work.

I had half expected or hoped that Arch would start talking to me, but he had been quiet so far.

I quickly got rid of the thought and focused on the task at hand.

The closest enemy that I killed near the massive scorpion would serve as a guideline for how close I could get without drawing its ire. To be on the safe side, I took a few more small steps back. I then walked to one of the walls and placed the beginning of a sticky thread on it. I then walked to the other wall while keeping the distance I had set for myself and connected the thread to the wall.

I repeated the same process until I had created a thick net of sticky threads. The process left me fairly drained and I walked back to my party asking for one of those energy potions.

I also took the opportunity to eat some of the rations we had taken with us. Draco always brought plenty of food and drink, I assume my gluttony had some influence on that. We were less than an hour away from the village so I really didn’t have to be careful with the amount I ate.

Seralyn, in the meantime, collected most, if not all, of the arrows she fired previously. Only two of them were beyond repair and needed new shafts.

I never would have thought that this would be the way archers operated. They always seemed to either have infinite ammunition or simply didn’t care about their arrows in movies…

“Looking good, Miss Elania,” Draco commented, observing my handiwork.

“Are you sure it will hold?” Nira asked, slightly worried.

“Nope,” I replied with the simplest of answers. “But I hope we can put Velariah’s plan into action. Cut off the claws and stinger while it’s ensnared. From there on out, it should be fairly simple.”

“I’m ready,” Seralyn walked up to us with her arrows replenished.

“Hum. I think you may want to withhold shooting for a while, lest you set the webs on fire.” I said.

“Fried scorpion sounds like a good way to kill it,” Seralyn replied. “But you’re right. I’ll wait until you guys have ‘disarmed’ it, so to say.”

“Thanks.”

We started to approach it. Only now did the height difference between the monster and my companions become painfully obvious. It was about the same size as me, which meant that its head was at the same height as Velariah’s. With the rest of its body, it simply towered before them.

“I’m guessing I’m dealing with its stinger,” I said clearly.

“I’ll try to hold its attention,” Draco said.

“And I’ll slice off those claws while you’re at it,” Velariah concluded the plan.

We walked up to the silken net before we realized we couldn’t really get past it without getting either Velariah or Draco stuck.

“Seralyn!” I called for the archer behind us.

“I was wondering when you’d need me.” She replied and walked up to the net.

“Just one arrow to draw its attention please, no fire,” I asked of the elf.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m not stupid.”

Seralyn walked up to the net, aimed, and let loose. The arrow ricocheted off the beast’s carapace and impacted the wall beyond it.

It did what it was supposed to do.

Its attention was instantly upon us and we took a few steps back. The beast charged forward and walked right into the trap I’d laid. Its claws got stuck, as did part of its head. It struggled against the restraints.

Draco carefully walked up to it but was met with a nasty stinger aimed at him.

Oops. I’d been an idiot once again.

Draco had no issues blocking it, despite its speed, but I should have known scorpions could sting anything that was in front of them…

“Ok, change of plans,” I said. “Stinger first.”

“It’s way too fast. How are we going to do that?” Velariah asked.

Draco transformed into his black-scaled, larger version of himself.

“Miss Elania, make another sticky thread. I have an idea.”