“This way.” We were getting closer and closer to a large number of spiders. We had maneuvered this underground maze almost completely blind and so far no one else had fallen into a trap. “There’s something ahead.” I warned everyone.

After another thirty steps the tunnel exited into an enormous chamber. There was no way to tell how large it was in this darkness. My intuition told me that the signature of weavers dotted the distance. There was an innumerable amount of them.

Yet I didn’t panic. These didn’t feel the same as the fledgling we had encountered, and the reason came quickly. There were egg sacs littered everywhere. Cobwebs harnessed them to the floor and secured them in place.

It wasn’t just these eggs though. I could feel the presence of much stronger souls. These must have been the weavers wandering this underground maze.

The area we entered was so wide and open it was impossible to find a path. We almost lost our way completely and ended up just hugging the wall. We couldn’t even see the other side, and on just leaving this tunnel we would lose our way completely.

“Half of us need to stay here so we don’t end up lost,” I said, “once we find another exit you can walk to us around the perimeter; my fireball will always be lit.” And sensing the entire group growing uneasy, I added, “Don’t worry, there’s no weaver nearby.”

Fortunately, someone else had an ability that granted a weak light. They stayed right there in that tunnel with several companions and the rest of us started to walk around the perimeter. If we didn’t do it this way, we might make an entire circle and find ourselves directly where we started but thinking that we were at a new exit.

“Careful.” We were walking incredibly close to the egg sacs. When the light illuminated them, it was possible to see the larvae squirming inside. When we were on the complete opposite side we found an exit.

Encouragingly, the tunnel wasn’t flat to the ground but instead slanted, which suggested it eventually led to the surface. This was our way out of here. The people with me were so excited I could barely keep them from rushing up and out. “Wait for the others.” I said.

I said that, but there was suddenly a large amount of weaver’s moving into the chamber. Had we done something to alert them? I couldn’t be sure, but they were coming from every direction, at least ten of them.

“We need to go!” I didn’t hesitate to yell across the cavern now. The speed at which the monsters were returning was too fast. They would be here in a matter of moments. Hugging the outside was no longer an option.

I threw Fireball in the center of the room to light a path and realized why the weavers would be rushing here so quickly. The entire center was filled with bones, an endless pile of bones. This was where they brought their food.

They were returning here to feast. The problem was, a good portion of their meals must have escaped, and coincidentally were here already waiting for them. I had no intention of being turned to human slush and devoured.

“Just run over here!” I yelled again, sure that the far group heard the urgency in my voice. It wasn’t necessary to say that the weavers were returning. I didn’t need to spell it out for them and the opposite group were running hard.

The people at my side were already restless. I could see eyes darting around with anxiety. Any moment now weavers would enter this open eating chamber and begin a massacre. The people with me almost certainly wanted to run too, but I started to rush towards the opposite group.

It was a crazy decision, but I did it anyway. The main reason being was that Samantha and Ajax happened to be in the group that stayed. It had been my idea to split up and I felt responsible for them. The weavers were here in the darkness and already rushing towards them.

Three weavers charged at the running group with no regard for danger. They were free to move in this open space, and none of the previous sluggishness was there. Come on, faster! That’s all I could think as the monsters scurried towards their prey.

The first scream echoed out. One of the people in the very back of the group was snatched from behind and quickly pulled away. The weaver didn’t hesitate to dig its fangs into the body. Their screams stopped shortly after.

I managed to reach the others just in time. My scythe sliced out without the slightest hesitation and the blade connected with the face of a weaver. My sudden attack surprised the chasing mob. It had just been moments from snatching a tasty victim and now it was slashed across the mouth instead.

The weaver let out a painful screech and waved its front legs at its face before recovering and rushing forward again. I could see Samantha and grabbed her by the wrist immediately. I didn’t have any attachment to the rest of them. A good majority of them weren’t on my side originally anyway.

Only she had showed me kindness from the get go. There was also a peculiar feeling about her. I wasn’t some hero, this felt like a second chance at redemption. It was something I needed to do to feel better about the loss of my party.

She was surprised for only a moment before running with me. Another weaver struck out and I pushed her out of the way of the attack. A limb smashed into my back and sent me tumbling a few feet. I managed to swing out Mana Scythe in a frenzy and directly towards the face of that weaver.

This counter-attack brought me a brief moment of time and I rose to my feet and continued rushing towards the opening. Two of the weavers had stopped to eat and there was the one just behind us. But we were not safe. Unfortunately, another half-dozen or so weavers were scrabbling over the bones to get to us.

When I reached the opposite side, only Samantha, Ajax and I were still remaining. The others from the first group had been pulled into the darkness despite their desperate attempt to reach the exit.

“Go!” I yelled for the benefit of the first group. My shout was wasted. The four other members in the front group who had traversed the chamber with me were nowhere to be found. They hadn’t waited at all and had simply rushed up the shaft on their own. Bastards!

There were just us three left to fend off at least eight remaining weavers. What else could we do but flee and hope for the best? At least the large size of the monsters meant only one could rush up the shaft at a time.

We would only have one on our back, but seven more remained behind the first. “Go! Don’t look back!” I yelled. Maybe this was how Aaron had felt in his last moments? There was a weaver already dripping venom down my neck.

I turned around and slashed out Mana Scythe. The blade cut across an eye and sliced it deep. Bug juices seeped from within and the weaver screamed. A limb came out like lightning and caused Energy Shield to crack.

My arm was raised just enough to keep the weaver’s limb from slamming directly into my chest. Heavy! It was a strong hit, but not nearly as strong as that of the Slithereen King. I managed to stay standing as my feet dug into the soil beneath me.

I cast Cremation directly in between us and bought myself a brief moment of relief. The weaver was fearless of humans, but fear of fire was something that was ingrained instinctually in so many creatures of the night. It hissed in annoyance as it watched me run in the distance.

Only when there was enough space between us did I dare turn around. Glacial Spike after Glacial Spike now jutted up from the floor. I didn’t hesitate to cast non-stop until my MP was completely exhausted.

There was now a full wall of ice blocking their path. My only hope was it would last a few minutes and give some breathing room. As a result of the rapid exhaustion of MP, my thinking was foggy and my head was pounding. I pulled out a mana potion and chugged it.

I could no longer see Samantha or Ajax in the distance at all. They had heeded my advice and kept running. That was a weight off my chest, at least. I managed to run about halfway up the shaft when I heard the ice crack behind me.

It was starting to give under what I could hear was the frenzied assault of the front weaver. There was no doubt it would break through soon. My confidence that I could escape dwindled. There was hope though. I could finally see a light.

Samantha and Ajax were just outside looking down in. I could see their shadows despite the poor lighting in the Hidden Jungle. It’s not much farther! My feet pushed harder than ever before. Running on this spongy earth was not easy at all.

Although I was getting closer to the exit, I could sense the weaver closing in behind me. It was so much faster than me. I didn’t hesitate to cast another Cremation behind me and continue running. I gripped another mana potion and chugged it.

It wasn’t enough. I was maybe twenty feet from the entrance and could hear Samantha and Ajax hollering at me. But the weaver was incredibly close. Samantha started to cast a spell and a fireball appeared in her hand.

She threw it out and for a moment I had déjà vu. Not you too… The fireball passed directly by my face and hit the incoming weaver in the head just as it was about to bite down on me.

That provided me just enough respite to reach the entrance. Ajax reached down and grabbed me before pulling me out.

“Give me just five seconds!” I said. It didn’t seem like a lot, but it was a tall order.

Moving closer to the tunnel entrance, Samantha seemed up to the task and started to throw spells out like a madwomen. The weaver continuously screeched in annoyance. I started to cast.

A fiery runic circle appeared around my feet and I glowed bright red. It was Meteor Storm. I was counting in my head as I summoned the fiery magic. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Every second felt like an eternity.

I could see the weaver’s head and its limbs finally touch the surface as it began to crawl out. My timing was just right and that first meteor rained down from above. Samantha and Ajax both jumped away and towards me.

My MP was mostly exhausted and my eyes drooped. Ajax managed to support me with his shoulder. I was incredibly exhausted.

The first had hit with enough power to force the entire body of the weaver back into the shaft, its head and legs disappeared below. Another came down and this time hit the ground and caused the earth to shake.

My goal in casting the spell wasn’t to kill a weaver. That was pointless. There were still seven remaining behind it waiting to devour us. My only goal was to hinder them, and the best way to do that would be to collapse the shaft.

The third meteor landed and the ground caved in. Dirt and debris covered the weaver and encased it in earth. When the forth landed I couldn’t see any semblance of a weaver at all. They had been fully buried beneath the soil.

It wasn’t a permanent solution, but it would definitely hinder them for a long while. There must be several tons of earth trapping them below the surface.

“We need to go,” I said.

Ajax cast multiple heals on me and supported me while we started to walk. We didn’t have any destination in mind, only that we needed to get out of this forest of webs. I didn’t hesitate to drink another mana potion. This wasn’t the time to economize.

There was no guarantee we were safe. The number of weavers in this forest was unknown, especially considering how large it was. We had traversed the underground chamber for at least thirty minutes, and that was with no obstacles obstructing us.

The four people who fled before us were nowhere to be seen. I picked a direction and we started walking. One positive was that Samantha and Ajax were both in fine condition. And after the heals and several more mana potions I was feeling much better.

My back still ached where that limb had smashed into me, but I could still maneuver okay. My eyes constantly darted all around us. Up on the surface there were many more creatures of different types around us. I could sense dozens of monsters in this area around us.

None of them felt like a weaver though. The souls of the creatures nearby were much weaker and I attributed them to random wildlife.

We ended up finding out where the others were a short while later.

There was a commotion ahead and I sensed three strong souls: three weavers were engaged in battle. It was our four friends. They were barely holding on and shouted with relief to see us. I didn’t share their new-found comradeship. It seemed to me they were doomed and the three of us couldn’t turn that battle around.

“We should help them!” Samantha said.

“Absolutely not.” This was cold, but I didn’t care. There was no doubt in my mind that we wouldn’t win. And worse, if we took the aggro, there was every chance the others would run again. They had made this spot their grave and could lay in it until eaten.

“Please help!” Their tank screamed. He was covered in wounds and in places his skin had been melted by a corrosive acid. I almost wavered out of sympathy but forced myself to turn away and get some distance from the weavers.

“Let’s go.” I didn’t leave any room for discussion and started moving away from the battle as quickly as possible. The last thing we needed was a weaver trailing us because we had stuck around too long. Even facing one in the open would be a close fought battle.

We managed to run for around five minutes before the party window shrunk again, and this time it was only us three. Of the original twelve we were the only survivors. It was a bitter sweet victory.