The weary Adventurers allowed themselves three hours of rest before entering the spider Dungeon. Even with their increased Attributes, their bodies and minds needed a brief repose. Lamuril's clock rang two in the morning when he shook Nero awake. Maria and Bruce growled, threatening bodily harm to the much higher-level elf coachman but didn't attack. Nero woke up and called Altia. From there they ate a quick meal, prepared their gear and Altia took a whole stack of [Antidote] potions. Nero was locked into his [Monster Tamer] Class unless he wanted to dismiss one of the badgers. He needed his wife's input on what to do. Altia was adamant.

"Why are you worrying about that? None of them... none of you... none of us will die! I'm here, your potion delivery contraption!" She bragged with confidence. "Way better than some dry gourds and reed straws, right? Right? Right!"

Nero felt a chill down his spine. It seemed his innocuous project had hurt his wife more than he believed possible. He did what he could. Shut himself off and see if he could find a build for his [Monster Tamer] Class. He found the Skills but not the grades he wanted. It would be a shame to tarnish a blue build with some junk whites. Worse yet, they had the cards but they were with Serena.

"Okay, let's delve. Badger one, badger two, you protect Altia. If there's no monster around, pick up the crystals and cards and give them to her. We have twelve hours to clear this Dungeon. Let's go!"

They entered the portal.

Entering "Spider's Nest" - rank-II Dungeon.

They felt the cold oppressive temperate forest around them. A light fog with the few rays of sun filtering through the tall trees in the forest created a curtain of light. Everywhere they looked, the tall pines covered the ground with discarded sticks. The usual sounds of birds, insects, and small game were absent. Nero looked around, remembering what he read about the Dungeon.

The most important thing was to have lots and lots of [Antidote]. All the monsters had venom and all of them liked to bite.

The forest was the Dungeon, and the whole Dungeon was the forest. There was no distinction between zones and the monsters usually came in mixed types. It had four types of monsters, all of them arachnids. The hairy jumpers, spiders that didn't weave webs but nested with the others, ready to jump down on unsuspecting targets. The web trappers, capable of spitting balls of webbing that exploded on contact, binding the prey to the ground or surrounding environment. The trapdoor lurker, that hid under the forest floor and attacked from behind. And finally, the arachnomancers, a type of spider with a person's torso sticking up from the spider's head. Capable of using magic spells, these were the most dangerous but also the only kind that had a hard time hiding.

Finally, the spider matriarch, a mixture of giant black widow and elf, a spell caster and capable of calling all the spiders in the Dungeon to her aid during the combat. She by herself wasn't too dangerous, but in most cases, there was always some spiders that the Adventurers missed.

This Dungeon also had another set of special characteristics. The monsters were all physically weak and easy to kill and they didn't respawn. There was a finite amount of monsters, and once these were all dead, the boss would fight alone. It was time-consuming but doable. Not in a half-day though. They would have to move slowly, meticulously clearing the Dungeon and taking care to avoid ambushes.

That's when Nero decided to do this differently.

"Altia, how much Essence we have?"

She didn't bother to open her crystal pouch. "Enough for whatever crazy idea you just had."

Nero felt hurt. "What do you mean? How can you know I had a great idea?"

"Trust me, I just do. Your face is an open book for me, husband."

Nero channeled his inner Byron and let his wife have her way.

"Okay. I'm recalling Maria."

He fiddled with his Arbitrium and selected to retrieve a pet, then Maria. He touched the female badger with his Arbitrium and she glowed, lost shape and entered the device's screen. Her pattern was stored in the device, much like the Classes and Skills. To resummon her, a lot of Essence, thousands, would need to be supplied to create her body again. Even more, because she was a combat pet.

Nero couldn't have more than one pet without his [Monster Tamer] Class. He swapped Classes back to his earth mage build. Then he unsheathed his sword and cut a tree near the base, making it fall away from him. And another, another, until fifteen minutes later he had a clearing around him. He moved the stone from under the ground and used it to scoop the organic matter away from the clearing, pushing the twigs, leaves, pinecones to the sides and creating a slab of stone covering the ground. One hour and he was done.

Nero changed to his [Fireball] mage build and summoned three sets of flames, having them float ten yards around him. Altia recovered his mana and he charged a fireball. She finally noticed what he wanted to do, but not before he shot a fireball deep into the forest. They saw the glare of the spell exploding far away through the mist and heard the roar of the flames.

"Nero, are you setting the forest on fire? With us in the middle?"

Altia was shifting between angry and flustered. Nero decided to be a hundred percent honest.

"Yes, I am setting the forest on fire. We'll be perfectly safe here. The fire won't reach us in this slab of stone."

"And what about the smoke? Are you sure this thing will stop burning in eleven hours?"

Nero felt mana returning from whatever he'd killed. Four points. "I don't know? How long does a tree trunk take to burn?"

She laughed, sniffled, then sobbed. "Are you asking me?" She shouted.

"Look, I heard about it being done. A strong enough fire mage can do it."

The Dungeon shook as the sound several trees fell down one after another rang in the distance. Nero received more mana.

"I'm getting mana from kills. I don't know why but the spiders that are dying to the fire count as my kills."

Altia was about to talk back when her device lit up.

"I got a point of Endurance. Look, let's do as you say. Burn a side of the Dungeon and we'll see what happens. People do say the air in a Dungeon never goes stale."

She pointed at the slab of stone. "You could've at least made a place to sit."

Nero tossed two fireballs to the left and right of where he shot the first one. They exploded and he got more mana from some kills. He took off his backpack.

"There's nothing breakable in there. Sit down on it."

After a few minutes, he saw the haze of monsters approaching. A bunch of spiders running away from the fires. He tossed his flames, one on each when they entered the limit of his range. The smaller spiders, the jumpers and trappers died on impact. The lurkers and arachnomancers got a second flame and burned to death from the DoT.

The glow of the forest fire spread through the treetops faster than the forest floor. The dry leaves and tangled webs were excellent fuel. The orange glow filtering through the mist spread to the sides and then behind them. The scent of smoke reached their noses. All the while Nero kept summoning flames and leaving them on standby. More and more mana returned to him. To avoid losing mana for being capped, he kept summoning more flames.

These went away regularly as some waves of spiders found their way to the clearing they were at and were promptly burned off with the flames. The fire spread through the kindling on the forest floor. Before it could reach Nero, he sent a flame resting the ground at the furthest range and tossed a fireball at that point. The spell burned the dry sticks on the ground and killed a few lurkers hidden there. The fog and smoke were messing with Nero's goggles.

Despite the heavy smell of smoke and burnt wood, the air never got bad enough to even induce coughing. The fires were approaching them, but Nero was confident his clearing would keep the heat from reaching them.

"You were right, Altia. The air is not going stale and the smoke is not choking us."

She stood up, showing a frown across her face. Then she shouted at him. "I don't like it. It doesn't feel right," Something caught her attention and she pointed. "Monsters, seven o'clock!"

Another wave of spiders approached. Nero started another fireball while Altia pelted the front spiders with her magic arrows. Bruce growled but never left the woman's side. Ten seconds later, the fireball crashed down a hundred feet from them. It expanded and flared over a third of the stone slab, buffeting them with hot wind. The tongues of flame from the explosion went off and the burnt wood and a few surviving spiders kept charging. Nero tossed his flames on these and with Altia's support, the wave ended without any spider reaching them. The trees outside their clearing were burning in their entirety just like the ground, the smoke rising and vanishing high above. Nero could still see the rays of sun filtering through the smoke now that the temperature dispelled the mist.

Nero could see the cards the spiders dropped wilting away in the fire. A heavy weight set in his heart. He was destroying their loot! That gave him another idea. He just had to burn the surroundings before the spiders reached them! He torched his surroundings, sending another seven fireballs around him at equal intervals. Then he sat down next to Altia, because near the ground the smoke was thinner. Altia was petting Bruce.

"Look, I'm sorry I shouted," She said. "I know you are doing this to keep us safe. The poison is dangerous even if we have a whole stack of [Antidote]."

That was a good reason, but not Nero's main motivations. In fact, he just wanted to clear the Dungeon faster and reach the boss without scores of spiders left behind. That wasn't his idea of fun.

They waited for another hour and the smoke cleared. A rain of black and gray ashes fell around them. Nero stopped receiving mana from kills for quite some time already, and he felt safe to swap to his utility build and clean everyone.

"I think we should scout around now," Altia suggested as she got back on her feet. "See if any loot survived your pyromaniacal onslaught."

Nero looked around. He could see the light from a few Essence crystals but these were the ones that weren't buried in ashes. The whole dungeon changed. Now only the straight blackened trunks stood, without leaves, few branches, and most importantly, no webs.

They walked around, crushing the ashes and a few sticks that didn't burn entirely underneath their boots. Bruce picked several crystals for them and a few cards. Very few and none worthy of note. They found no monsters and after an hour walking around, they reached a tall cliff with a slope in the middle that led to another forested area, this part of the Dungeon still untouched by the flames.

"I guess this way to the boss," Nero mused.

"No, really?" Altia mocked as she scanned the web covered treetops. "What gave you that impression? Was it the fact the fire didn't burn there or was it... Nero, what are you doing?"

He was casting a fireball.

The bead of fire flew up and into the webs. Then it did as told, and exploded.

"My Children!" A shriek of a female voice came from the burning copse. "Who dares murder my children!"

The scorched form of the matriarch appeared at the top of the slope. She was hideous. A giant hairy - not hairy anymore - spider with a woman's torso coming up. But the flesh was twisted and burnt, her breasts sagging and swaying. Her elongated arms ended in sharp talons extending several inches from the fingertips. On her face, chelicera decorated her enlarged mouth along with sharp teeth, dripping green ichor. She had two huge bulging eyes and six other smaller ones, and no ear or nose. Or hair. Whether she was bald or it had burnt away, remained to be seen.

Altia shot a magic arrow at her, cutting the carapace but not doing much damage. Nero flung all of his flames at her, buffeting the spider matriarch with even more flaming debuffs. Then the spider monster charged down the slope, her whole body on fire.

Nero wanted to swap Classes but there was no time for that. He drew his sword and readied his shield to block her charge. Altia kept firing her magic arrows and Bruce growled and squeaked.

"Altia, watch our backs. We might've missed some spiders," Nero warned and just like that the matriarch was on him.

She had another set of spider jaws at the bottom. Nero swung his sword down at the spider's face, bursting a few eyes in the process. The matriarch extended her arms and brought both sets of claws to bear on Nero's shoulders, intending to grasp him and bite his head off.

Nero thought he really should've spared the time to swap Classes. He dodged one of the claws and the other scratched his right shoulder, cutting flesh. Nero moved back and two more magic arrows slammed into one of the bouncy breasts, penetrating deeply.

"Her people side is unarmored!" Altia shouted. "No spiders coming."

"Understood!" Nero replied as he dodged and weaved his sword threateningly in front of the matriarch. The flames kept burning the boss' body. "Badger two, watch for smaller spiders. screech if you see any!"

It was hard to get in melee range to strike the matriarch. She had too many striking appendages, both high, low, and halfway. The lanky arms were too long. Her eight legs also gave her excellent stability and mobility. Nero tried to circle around but she was able to keep up easily. She also quickly moved away from the path of the sawing sword. He took some wounds but Altia was quick with her potions.

"Altia, hold her for a moment!" Nero called. "Bruce, climb her rear legs and bite the back."

If there were any spiders left to join the fight, it would have joined already. Altia switched with Nero, using the reach of her staff to keep the boss at bay, giving ground to help her defense. Nero disengaged and swapped to [Warrior].

Just in time. The Matriarch was about to bite Altia. Nero burned three points of stamina and executed his defensive combo. The shield bash hit the matriarch's face, stunning her. Nero noticed the flames had died down, the damage over time effect expired. Bruce was savaging the matriarch's spidery back with his claws.

He swung his sword at her midriff, just below the ribs. It cut her soft flesh like it was made of paper. She screamed in pain and her viscera fell from her people side's abdomen. Nero allowed himself a moment to cheer. The boss was defeated. The arms fell at her sides, the facial muscles went limp.

He was mistaken. The spider part recovered from the stun and bit his leg, injecting one of the most painful venoms in existence. Nero fell down, completely frozen in pain, a single moan escaped his lips.

The green mist of the pulverized antidote fell over him, restoring a bit of stamina, mana, and health. It was enough to alleviate the effects and he regained his senses and motion but not to outright neutralize the venom. The spider jumped over the prone Adventurer, intending of taking his life at least. Nero triggered [Stoneskin] and met her attack head-on, thrusting his sword into the middle of the fiddling pedipalps, shredding the buccal opening and driving deep into the spider's cephalothorax. He got bitten by the chelicerae and another dose of venom entered his stream. The boss glowed and started to dissolve.

Altia used three doses of [Antidote] and two [Healing Potion] on Nero right after that. He closed his eyes and let his body fall back, his head hitting the ashes.

It was over.

He opened his eyes and removed the [Dungeon Clock] from his pouch. Nine hours and a few minutes.

They did it. Then he remembered the orders he gave the badger. "Bruce, don't pick up the loot!"

The badger froze standing up, a large Essence crystal in his paws. He twisted his head and dropped the cristal, raising his front paws to show there was nothing in them.

Nero's arm still hurt even though the venom was gone and the wound, healed. He sat up and looked at the pile of ashes. There were three cards, all of them face down. He collected all of them and turned them around, excited. Two of them were [Egress]. The last one, however, had yellow borders and green background.

[Venomancer] - yellow Class - Tier II. Requires level 50. Vigor +40. Agility +30. Dexterity +30. Reason +40. Willpower +30.

+10 Vigor

+4 Agility

+3 Dexterity

+10 Reason

+5 Willpower

"Only those willing to die to toxins can wield true poison."

Special: All your attacks, offensive Skills, and spells also deal poison damage. Effects based on (Vigor + Willpower). Poison from this ability lasts for Dexterity seconds.

Special: Add double your Vigor to resist poison debuffs. These effects on you last half as long.

Special: Your poisons deal half the damage, but last three times longer.

The black card that should've dropped, didn't.