When he pierced the heads of the spiders, he could feel dense bone between the chitinous exoskeleton and the soft tissues of the brain. In those brief moment before his knife slipped in the crack where the skull formed, he was open to an attack. Every wound he'd taken to thin out the arachnid ranks were caused by ignorance. They had thought these creatures were merely giant spiders. The hilt of his knife tapped the top of the spider's head and gooey brains sprayed over his hand. He took a step and felt an invisible sticky string touch him. Immense force pulled him from his feet akin to a fishing line. He'd been hooked and above him was a dark crevasse. In the dark fangs bounced off his blood shield. Corrosive liquid splashed him. Nero could feel it wear down his blood shield while he regained his bearings. Already, he'd survived two more attempts to end him. He flipped his knife around and held it firm. The fangs came down again. Red liquid filled his mind even in the pitch black of the cavern. The spider released him confident it had taken his life. Nero's hand stretched out and grabbed ahold of the spider's head. Cold venom filled his veins with a thick pain and a buzz akin to three glasses of wine. The knife flashed forward hungry for its next meal. He preferred his wine red.

Lives Stolen 5/5

Nero HP 5/21.82

Without the spider holding him he slipped out of the cavern and fell to the ground. The life stored from his kills slowly flowed into him fixing what was broken. Each life seemed capable of healing his maximum HP. Each life stored was worth his maximum HP.

He impacted the ground hard. The blood shield proved worthless against gravity or it was still down from the corrosive acid.

Lives Stolen 4/5

Nero HP 21.82

Nero shook his head driving away the dizzying venom and fell back to the cold hard ground. The energy from the knife flowed into him when his HP hit 0. He'd gotten lucky on his last few kills. Sara Lee was also helpful with her healing skill.

"Are you alright?" Sara Lee shouted cupping his ear. A soft golden glow covered her body and she pulled a fang out of his chest. His blood leaked out in a steady stream until his wound lazily knit together. The fabric of his shirt thirsted after his blood soaking it in while new life filled him.

"I'm going to get athletes foot if we don't take a break soon." Jack muttered while stabbing another spider with an impromptu spear. A spider's leg, two fangs fused together, and spider silk crafted a spear. That was the soldier's skill crafting. He could make weapons from the parts of monsters and making the spider spear increased the skill quickly.

"I agree let's take a break." Sara Lee said. Nero stood to his feet on traitorous legs. Every step threatened to toss him back on the ground. He turned to where he fell. Not a drop of blood remained, his death cloths soaked it all up.

"Nero you have the knife could you give me a hand?" Jack asked. He felt too tired to argue so nodded his head.

Monster parts didn't drop. He slid his knife between joints and cut while Jack twisted the joint breaking and snapping it with the ease of a red lobster diner. On the cusp of lvl3 they'd taken a break.

At the end of the cavern was a light. They'd followed it because there was no other goal in sight. Now that they were closer, he could see other end points. Only these alcoves were dark. Everything had quieted down after they formed the spear head. As the head of the spear their party made the pace. If they stopped, the spear stopped.

While they rested Nero looked through his phone. He checked his drops and found skill dice dropped by the spiders. He also had 2D6 attribute dice pending from his last level up. The light at the end of the tunnel was far away and he couldn't predict what lay beyond it. How long would it be before the cannibal knight behind them hunted again?

The skill dice from the spiders had little spiders instead of dots. After killing over 20 spiders he only had 7 to show for it. Instead of stacking 7 it stacked six then the next die made its own stack. A sickly green ready flashed over the stack of 6. He didn't hesitate to click on it.

Full stack: 5D6 + 1D2

Roll: (5 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3) x 2

Four of a kind + (40 x 3)

250

Rare Skill Acquired: Poison Needles I lvl1 – Conjure and fire poison needles in a straight line once conjured needles are directed by a line of sight.

SATK = 1 x skill lvl x INT

Poison DMG = SATK/10s VS SDEF & Poison Resistance

Cost 1MP/needle.

INT 1.1

SATK 5.1

SATK 5.1561

Alright, he had magic. The second he gained the skill, knowledge of how to use the skill filled his mind. He heard the instructions with the clarity of a song stuck in his head. It wasn't quite muscle memory it was a blueprint he couldn't unsee. The second it appeared something clicked into place. In order to make full use of the skill he needed to feed stat points into his intelligence. It was the most direct path to power in the short term. Only was it really?

"What are the chances poison skills aren't effective against poison monsters?" Nero asked.

"Well if I were a betting man, I'd say they are shit against poison types. Unless the light up ahead isn't some kind of spider boss, you'd be an idiot to invest in poison." Francis said.

"The spider spears deal poison damage but I haven't seen any effect on the spiders. Its better to kill with a clean thrust anyway." Jack said.

"Well the light ahead might be a giant bug zapper." Sara Lee said.

"My poison skill might do something to that knight." Nero said.

"I wouldn't bet on it." Francis said.

"If this is the dream than he's from the nightmare. He could have killed us all if he wanted to." Francis said. Nero watched Francis strike overhead and fell a spider halfway down its web. The impact caved in its head. The arachnid wiggled for a few minutes before settling down.

Level Up

HP 21.82 +10

MP 30.1 +20

ATK 20.806 +1

DEF 19.392 +1

SATK 4.04 +4

SDEF 3.03 +2

SPD 4.04 +3

ACC 3.03 +1

FORTUNE 2.02

Nero hit roll and received a 2 and a 6 for a total of 8.

He invested three points in vitality but put the rest in intelligence. There was a shifty look in Francis's eyes. The man who thought this place was a dream wasn't trustworthy. No one was. It was better to plan for an eventual betrayal from his allies.

HP 33.63

MP 50.5

ATK 41.809

DEF 39.693

SATK 13.8991

SDEF 5.05

SPD 7.07

ACC 4.04

FORTUNE 2.02

"We've leveled up." Sara Lee shouted.

Nero looked up with narrowed eyes until he noticed his skin. A crimson sheen covered his body from his death clothes. It spread across his body linking up. That didn't mean he was any more protected than he'd been before. He needed only to look at the spider corpse to verify that. At first, he thought its head had been crushed. That wasn't it. Francis's skill allowed him to bypass defenses. The power behind the blow had warped the spider's head. Either force palm allowed the user to bypass defenses or Francis had some other ability that allowed him to. Perhaps it was something to do with the drug overdose.

He needed to distract them from himself. His thoughts fell to the knight another mystery that he didn't like. It was one he had questions for. First, he needed to voice his concerns.

"I don't think the knight was ever human. We should prepare to fight intelligent mobs who will use diplomacy and traps against us." Nero announced.

"Well that's well and good but we need to get out of this tunnel before we can think about a new threat." Jack said.

"I agree with Nero we should have a plan." Sara Lee said. Jack raised an eyebrow in surprise but shrugged.

"What can we do about it? If they're as smart as we are then the light is an ambush. Not to mention the knight. If we turn back, he'll cut us down. We're stuck between a rabid dog and a hungry tiger. I doubt the wizard will let us out." Francis said. Nero could always count on Francis to descent.

"I think we should turn left away from the light and into one of the dark tunnels. There are more spiders that way but its nothing we can't handle." Nero said and turned his eyes to the stragglers behind them. The spiders were nothing they couldn't handle.

Together they stared at the ceiling above. It was filled with holes akin to a beehive or the pours of a massive spider. The path along to the light at the end had less holes than the path towards the shadows. The path illuminated had the width of a football field. The less light the more spiders. In the light the threads could be seen but in the dark that slight advantage would be gone. The spiders had cost them nearly a tenth of their number. The wizard had certainly collected a lot of them.

Nero looked back at the huddled mass of women and grown men. He saw Leeroy Brown approach with two of the larger men in the group. They had taken the edge of the spear tip formation. He saw a few of their number missing. In the shadows he saw one of the spiders slip down its web.

Nero raised his hand and a purple disk appeared. Tiny needles packed with poison fired off and he moved. That was the biggest advantage to the skill he'd learned. When it was cast it fired autonomously and he was free to move. The needles flew and he dashed across the distance. Once they struck the spider it fell from its web. His screen flashed but there wasn't a need to look at it. He knew the initial damage to the spider was 1HP per needle. It had completely resisted the poison. He spent 15MP to fire 15 tiny needles across 20yards.

The needles only needed to strike for the spider to fall. Nero heard an animalistic shriek while he raced across the stone ground. Old spider webs and husks of former prey littered the ground. Leeroy had already moved out of the way giving Nero freedom with Life Taker. The knife pointed forward and he placed his left hand on the handle. It's what he needed the knife guided his hand. Past Leeroy he made it to the arachnid and stabbed it midfall.

A red swirl flowed up the knife into his hands. He felt refreshed after the skill. A tap with his heel twisted his body, moved his hips, and sliced through the spider's body leaking guts across the ground. He took a step back narrowly dodging the spider's fanged lunge. The monster's guts covered the ground with green bile while it struggled in its death throws.

Poison Needle I lvl5

INT 6.5

SATK 42.065

Nero flipped his knife in hand and stabbed it home in the monster's head.

"They're tough little bastards. The only way to kill them is with a head blow." Nero flipped the knife in his hand again.

Up above the eyes of countless spiders doted the ceiling. No matter how many they killed it didn't make a difference. Every step came with a cost. How long before there were only a few of them left?

"We have a problem. Not all of them are lazy." Leeroy said.

"Hey that was cool and everything, but we need to discuss how we're going to go forward." Sara Lee said.

"Expand on what you meant by not all of them are lazy." Jack ordered. Nero turned letting his red cape flutter in the wind.

"Hey man, I thought that was really anime." Francis assured.

Nero shook his head. He wanted a proof of concept. The spiders were too poison resistant for poison magic to be effective. It could also be that they had very similar venoms. As he recalled spiders weren't always resistant to their own venoms. Spiders of the same species often cannibalized one another. It could be an evolutionary quirk of these spiders in general. Poison wasn't the way to go in this place.

He could see a lack of food causing rampant cannibalism. Those spiders that survived might have been the most poison resistant and they passed that trait on to each other. It also stands to reason those that survived should have the most dangerous poison to surpass poison resistance. That or they rely on their massive fangs to kill their prey.

After his initial use of the poison needle it leveled quickly. Did that have something to do with what he targeted? Would a poison skill level faster against a poison resistant foe? Would it have still leveled if he hadn't killed it? Could he level it even more by finishing off an enemy with it?

Each thought flew through his mind faster than the other on his walk back to their impromptu camp. Sweat beaded down his face. Nero took a step and tapped a petrified bone. His eyes widened and he fell. He checked his health, but it was full. His regeneration skill hadn't leveled the entire time due to his knife life taker and Sara Lee's healing buff. He struggled back to his feet. His health bar was fine what was going on?

"You're a fool Jack they're bleeding us out there. Every few yards cost us good men. If we take a dark path, they'll kill us all. We should stay on the lit path." Leeroy yelled.

"We could always split the party. Our little party will go into the dark and the rest of you can take the beaten path." Francis said with a chuckle.

"Go ahead, go out into the dark with no one to guard your flank or back." Nero stepped up and saw a green flashing update on his phone.

Exhaustion 60%

Debuff: Winded -30% speed

Nero glared at the update for a minute. It proved they hadn't become inexhaustible super soldiers. They didn't have the gamer body and couldn't hide wounds after damage. By the shouting match gamer mind was out.

"We have a threat at our back that can strike at any moment. Yes, some will die but we all should be dead." Jack yelled.

"It seems they have us boxed in like sheep to the slaughter. We sure are bleating loudly." Francis said with a chuckle.

It also meant they had a time limit. They were a little more than three quarters through the cavern and most likely had a boss to look forward to at the end. They'd need to rest soon or pass out.

"So, the whole dark area is covered in trap door spiders." Nero said. He didn't know about the rest of them, but he felt tired. After that last kill even walking felt tiring. That little show off must have been the last of his stamina.

He wanted to suggest they make a camp, but the light seemed dimmer than it had been before. It could have been to force them to hurry. Whoever put the light there may be a malevolent boss that exhausted its prey with this tactic.

"Yes, it is all a trap. Only where the light touches is safe." Leeroy said. Nero nodded and took a step towards the light.

"Then there isn't anything to discuss. We're moving tell the rest of the group to follow or fend for themselves." Before his eyes the light dimmed again. "Shit," Nero cursed under his breath.

"Oh wow, you let out a dirty word should I get the teacher." Francis asked.

"Have you noticed it yet?" Nero asked.

"The light is dimming. Once it's gone, we will be at the mercy of the arachnids and this drug fueled dream will be at an end." Francis said.

"For you maybe but I plan to survive to the end." He looked back to the long line of people. Some listened to Reverend Julius decry the world around him as hell. They stayed in the middle of the group while other kept the line from the occasional ground spider. "Not everyone is going to make it before the light goes. I'm going to save those that I can." Nero said.

Francis gave him a strange look. "Don't act like you care. A snake recognizes his own." Francis said.

"Those are the words of a trick. Try to avoid the friendly fire." Nero said before turning his back on Francis. His left hand was ready to cast poison needle at a moment's notice.

"You don't care about any of them or anyone do you. Do you even care about yourself or is this a distraction?" Nero eye's widened when he felt his own hand checking his throat. His grip hardened around Life Taker's hilt.

"His name was Robert Paulson." Nero said and turned to see Francis's expression. His mouth was open wide enough to let flies in.

He held up his knife. A red sheen covered the surface. It was hungry to take lives. Bits of crimson cracked open the steel filling in the blade. Life Taker was becoming something different with ever kill. The handle had curved, and the blade had lengthened. Even his clothes had changed. His cape felt like a part of him more connected flesh than fabric.

"Lets get to the light." Nero said.

"Maybe Reverend Julius is right, and this is hell." Francis said. Nero stopped; he couldn't afford to lose Francis's abilities at the moment.

"It could also be a drug fueled delusion, the last lights in a dying brain, or this is our life now. We won't know until we reach the end."

They raced across the ground killing every spider in their path. The light continued to dim even when they reached the stone steps leading out of the massive cavern. They climbed the stairs were no spiders nested. It seemed that in the light they had hope. In the light they could have a safe room.

Across the long dais was a single light with a slow-moving shutter. Upon the stage Nero turned using the light to see the cavern in full. With the light to aid him he could see many entrances to the dungeon some leading into the dark with only one with light. Had the wizard chosen this entrance because he knew the light would be there or was it luck.

"Truth is to be shown all the things you never wanted to know." Sara Lee said. She pointed her alive skinned finger at movement in the distance.

He saw another door open this one in the dark. Nero heard screams and soon silence.

"This was a suicide mission from the start. We are no more valuable than the troops in a video game. If I were a betting man, I'd say the boss room was next. The light will last a few more hours take a nap, I'll wake you." Sara Lee said.

He laid against a wall and closed his eyes. They snapped open to a shake by Sara Lee.

Exhaustion 20%

The light was dimming, and everyone was on the dais. They passed through to the boss room. A manticore with the long golden paws of a lioness, the tail of a scorpion, and the emaciated body of a human looked down at them. It was perched atop a broken pillar and held a spear akin to Jack's in its hand. Only the spear was more refined. Hanging on its end where the naked skulls of three humans.

"I've grown tired of bugs." He was still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes when the manticore spoke. Knife in his right hand he prepared a plan. The spear wouldn't allow him to get in close, but he had a ranged weapon. He wasn't willing to go at this like a berserker yet.

He dashed to the right summoning poison needles with his left hand. She dodged by leaping off the pillar. Nero set the next five to fire where she landed and set two more sets of five to fire where he thought she'd go.

Instead of making the jump she focused only on him. Her spear glowed blue and sparked with electricity. Still this wasn't anything to worry about. His blood shield would tank most of this damage. Even if it hit him he'd barely take any damage.

Nero had seen Jack wield the spear before. It was a good weapon, but it was limited to stabbing attacks. With Francis at his back all he had to do was trick the feline into leaping at him. Francis would hit it with force palms while its midair. The lioness would be stunned, and Nero could get in for a stab to its vitals. It leapt and something was wrong.

Where was the air movement? He didn't feel Francis's presence behind him. Nero didn't feel the air movement that accompanied force palms.

He felt the spear rip into his chest. On reflex he raised his left hand. Poison needles fired into her chest before she lifted him on her spear. Nero was more shocked the petrified spider leg could hold him up than the betrayal. The pain was immense but nothing he hadn't felt dozens of times when fighting the spiders. Only this time he wasn't healing. No golden light covered him to heal his wounds. A second betrayal then. That or he turned his head to see spiders had flooded the area.

Nero cursed himself. He'd been too focused on the boss to notice. The stinger on the boss's tail raised before smashing into his left shoulder. That side went numb immediately. He felt the last of his blood shield shatter and the weapons sunk deeper. It took time for the blood shield to reform. Either her tail had piercing damage or corrosive acid.

Stolen lives 3/5

His eyes widened when it finally hit him this could be it. After so many near misses he'd die because his party was too distracted by the boss. Well of course the others were outside to lower the number of casualties. It was Jack's idea. They didn't need a bunch of people ruining their team synergy. Nero personally thought it was an aversion to sharing xp and any drops.

No, he had to focus on the fight. His eyes narrowed to fight his fading vision. The stinger was still inside the hook and soft spot under the stinger. His hand moved forward piercing the soft flesh of her poison sac with his knife. She shrieked and yanked the stinger back. Blood and poison spurted from the wound in a red and puss yellow mix.

"I'll make you suffer. I'll kill you friends and make you watch." The manticore yelled before throwing him off the spear. Her health bar must have been thick. He felt his wounds beginning to knit together. Despite the brief flash of worry the wound missed his spine. His blood shield had tanked most of it barely four inches of spear entered his body.

Stolen Lives 2/5

Nero HP 32.73

He checked and it was a clean stab. The wound was already mostly closed. Then he checked where the scorpion tail got him. It hurt but the numbing sensation had mostly faded. The wound was barely a pinprick. Ok maybe he'd freaked out over nothing after all.

Going after the manticore would only repeat the last situation. He couldn't survive it a second time. Nero looked around unable to spot the manticore. That wasn't a good sign. If he wanted to win then he needed his party.

Nero aimed for each spider and fired poison needles at them. Normally this attack would only do 1 damage out of 13 but he'd leveled it four times since then.

Poison DMG to Spider 30/10s

The needles shot from point a to point b. They were quick and almost invisible. He fired two into each spider for good measure. Over ten seconds he'd deal 60 health points worth of damage. Spiders had only 20 health.

After killing 8 spiders, he felt a spear slam into his back. That was ok. He felt it dig through his blood shield just before golden light covered his body. The spear at most could wipe out 70HP with a single blow. The owner was too stupid to aim for the head. It easily took two stolen lives.

Nero HP 28.19/32.73

While his wound healed his attacker twisted the weapon. This time he felt the rush of force palms and heard the wet flop of Jack's boots.

The notification flashed on his phone. The pain filled his vison with crimson red before threatening to take his vision away completely. He yelled into the dirty ground unable to bear it anymore. That was when they rushed the boss. She must have heard the music.

"Wait, I was once like all of you before I was trapped here. Spare my life and I'll help you. Let me teach you about the lower floors. I'll release your friend." The second the spear was out of his back Nero turned.

Stolen Lives 0/5

Nero HP 5.5/32.73

Nero's eyes twitched while he struggled to his feet. His regeneration and the golden light worked in tandem closing his wound with the cost of exhaustion.

"See I've spared your friend. You can trust me." All he saw was another lying woman who'd never repent to her dying breath.

He leapt onto the Manticore's torse and stabbed his knife into her chest. Blood exploded outward while Nero dragged his knife blade between her rips. He pushed it up and higher slicing everything he could.

He placed his palm over her face and unleashed all the poison needles he had left. Then he slit her throat for good measure. It happened fast too fast in his opinion. There was never time to make them suffer properly. He felt her place a hand on his knee. Her body was a bloody mess. A river of blood flowed down.

"Please," She called. Nero took a step back as her life flowed out.

"Why did you do that she would have told us about the lower floors?" Sara Lee screamed. Nero turned to look at the rest of his group. Francis met his eyes before he smiled.

"Yea, Nero why did you stab her we could have learned so much." Jack just shook his head. Francis at least was back to being Francis and Sara Lee their healer was pissed not that he needed healing anymore.

Level Up

Nero level 4

HP 44.84 MP 80.08

ATK 42.539 DEF 41.713

SATK 90.95 SDEF 7.07

SPD 8.08 ACC 5.05

FORTUNE 3.03

"She was too powerful. We couldn't afford to let her live among us." Nero said.

"Then what about us are we too powerful to live in society again." Jack asked. Nero turned to the red door with a one carved into it. His eyes widened.

He looked up at the sky to see more spiders up above. Nero opened his mouth and laughed at it all.

"What's so funny?" Sara Lee asked.

"This isn't the first floor it's the entrance. If this was just the entrance, then what do you think the first floor will be like." Nero twisted hand up and poison needle summoned.

"Wait don't shoot this one is mine." Leeroy called. Slowly, he lowered his hand.

"This is the skill I rolled after killing the spiders. I can controll them. I think we can use the monsters in this dungeon against each other. We can save human lives by using the monsters. I think we should farm this place and set up a camp before moving on."

"I say we vote on it. Do we go forward with turning this dungeon entrance into a base camp or do we hand move on like nomads?" Francis said.

"I'll ask the other group leaders to collect the votes of the people." Leeroy said.

"No," Nero said.

"We have too many women some of them young girls. If we move them into more dangerous floors they'll only die. A base camp is the best we can do."

"Shouldn't we at least let them vote?" Sara Lee asked. Nero looked to the rest of the group. Sara Lee stepped back to Jack. Francis smiled with a foxy grin and narrowed eyes.