Cautiously, the boy inspected his surroundings to confirm the spider was truly gone. Successfully verifying that, Red slowly got out of the alcove and started to sneak down the tunnel. Only after the youth walked a hundred steps away from his previous location did he decide to stop and collect himself.

With a thud, he sat down on the cold rock floor. He was alive. Barely.

There was no sense of victory in his mind, only dread. It consumed him from the pit of his stomach after coming so close to death once more. He knew that if there wasn't a hole to hide in or if he was one step slower, it would have been his end. Perhaps the youth should be celebrating, but the longer he had to rely on his luck the more powerless he felt.

'How did Viran do it?'

Red now had first-hand experience in trying to dodge these monsters. The conclusion was simple - he couldn't do it. If the webs hadn't stopped the spider's charge for a few seconds then the boy would have most certainly died. And yet, not only did Viran make it to this point, he even managed to get past their nest and find the river branch.

Perhaps the man was extremely good at sneaking, or maybe he could just kill everything that tried to stop him, it didn't matter. It was still something far beyond the youth's capabilities. Not to mention, that there was no guarantee success here would inevitably lead to escaping the mines. The old soldier wasn't sure the river went to the surface either, and what if even worse things than these spiders awaited him ahead?

Red had shown determination in front of Viran and the blob, saying that he would persevere no matter what, even if death was the ultimate end. However, only this far into the journey did the boy seem to understand the weight of his words.

'I wonder how I sounded to them...'

In retrospect, it was laughable for someone as weak and as insignificant as him to be making these grand claims. Still, could the youth turn back now? Or better yet, would he turn back if he was given the opportunity? He asked himself that question many times during his journey, yet never had it held so much power as it did at this moment.

No matter what happened, though, when Red searched deep within himself the answer remained the same.

'I have to keep going.'

The boy stood up and continued moving towards the spiders' nest.

...

The tunnels split even more after that chamber, and Red had to once again scout the way ahead. He found multiple chambers and passageways with the same holes in the ceiling, but the boy didn't waste his time checking to see if spiders lived there. At no point had he come across a room with those pits that weren't occupied by the monsters, so Red decided to spare himself the trouble of blindly throwing rocks to verify their existence.

As he was walking through the tunnels, though, the boy noticed something that caught his attention.

An object reflected the green light from the moonstones in a pillar farther ahead. It was camouflaged very well, but he had learned how to spot things hidden in plain sight over the last few days. It was something big, or so he thought. The mass shimmered at the sound of a human's approach, though, and Red had the opportunity to study what he was seeing clearly.

It was an insect.

'No, that's not right.'

It was more than one insect. A lot of them.

It took a second for the youth to identify what exactly the creatures were. A group of meter-long round insects, like the ones he had found in the pond room, were all gathered by the dozens around a large stone pillar. Their black glossy carapaces blended seamlessly with their surroundings and the monsters barely moved at all.

Red was immediately put on guard. Although he had met these creatures before and they hadn't attacked him, never had he seen so many of them gathered in one place. The boy didn't dare to try his luck. Going back to his reliable method, Red picked up a small rock from the ground and threw it towards the pile of beasts.

It struck one of the insects head-on.

The monster immediately shrieked in panic, and like wildfire, its alarm spread to the rest of the group. With surprising speed, the creatures started to disperse through every which way of the tunnel, and some even began to head in Red's direction.

The boy had little time to react before a few of them were already in front of him. He stepped out of the way, but the monsters didn't seem interested in his presence. In fact, they actively avoided him. Dashing towards a certain section of the tunnel, the creatures abruptly disappeared into the rock surface and out of sight.

The youth was confused, but looking around he noticed that the rest of the insects had already vanished in a similar manner, leaving the passage completely empty. Perplexed, Red walked towards one of the areas the monsters had disappeared into and looked around carefully.

He was surprised to find a small hole was located on the rock surface, very well hidden. It was just about big enough for the creatures' flat bodies to fit into. When he tried examining the inside with a moonstone, the boy was unable to see the end. Curiously, the boy started to examine the rest of the tunnel.

Sure enough, similarly sized holes were located all around the area, with Red managing to find at least five. The stone pillar that they were previously attached to was full of some green-colored moss. The monsters had probably been feeding on it before being so rudely interrupted by the youth's presence.

The boy scratched his chin, thinking about this discovery.

After passing the chamber where he had met the spiders the first time, Red hadn't seen any other type of monster hanging around. This had made the youth question how the arachnids kept themselves fed. Now, it seemed, a possible answer was presented to him.

Over the next hour, the youth explored the rest of the tunnels in this section of the caves. He found more of these creatures, as well as their burrows, but nowhere near as much as there seemed to be close to the stone pillar. They were extremely skittish and ran away as soon as Red approached or made any sudden noises. At the very least, though, he didn't need to worry about being attacked by them.

However, seeing their presence had made the boy's mind wander with possibilities. He still needed to cross more spider chambers and didn't feel like he would be as lucky this time around.

'Maybe I could use them...'

Red wasn't sure if this line of thought would pay off, but it was still something worth exploring.

...

The youth tried to test some ideas in his mind. First, he sneaked around the creatures' nests and waited for them to emerge again. It took a few hours of mind-numbing observation, but one of the monsters came wandering out of their burrow and examining the area around it. After a few minutes, it returned to its lair again.

Soon enough, though, more creatures started to emerge in larger numbers. Not only from that hole, but from the surrounding ones too. After half an hour, they gathered around the pillar again, and the same scene Red had witnessed earlier reappeared.

Analyzing the situation, the boy guessed that the first insect to come out was some kind of scout, checking to see if the threat had disappeared. After examining the area and seeing no predators, the monster must have returned to the nest to tell the rest of its siblings, who in turn came out to feed on the moss again.

What confused the boy, though, was the fact that the creatures started to reemerge from all the holes in the vicinity and not only the one the scout had appeared. Did this mean they were interconnected under the ground? As more ideas floated in his mind, Red decided to test his hypothesis.

He had counted the number of insects as they appeared - 32 of them, exactly. Then, the youth once more startled the group into escaping, and they once more disappeared into their burrows. When they were finally all gone, Red began to work.

Picking up rocks of varying sizes, he started to plug in one of the holes until it was tightly shut. He double-checked it multiple times to make sure the insects wouldn't be able to push it open. After being satisfied with the results, Red once again hid further away and waited.

Another few hours of silent waiting passed, but the youth didn't seem to mind the monotony. One of the small insects came out at that point and the same scene repeated. It returned to its nest and shortly after the whole group was out in full feasting upon the moss once more.

At one point the youth saw some rocks shaking in the hole he had blocked, but the movement soon stopped. As the beasts came out, Red counted them slowly in his mind until the final one was outside of its burrow.

32 insects in total.

Red was pleased. He didn't need the number to be exact, but for what he had planned the more insects the better. Alarming the monsters and making them retreat again, he started to work.

...

The youth silently waited behind the cover of some rocks. He had blocked all holes but one of them. In addition, Red also scouted the tunnel thoroughly, making sure there was nowhere the insects could go but forward. It was tiring work, but nothing compared to what he had gone through over the last few days.

Finally, the creatures started to pour out of the one remaining hole, the one furthest from the stone pillar as the boy had planned. Counting their numbers, he noticed there were less than 32 of them this time around. Thankfully, it was probably still enough for what he had in mind.

After they gathered in their bunches and started to feed again, Red sneaked forward towards the last open entrance to their burrow. Slowly, the boy plugged it with some stones he had put aside, completely blocking any passage in or out of the burrow.

His task accomplished, he moved back, getting ready to put the next part of his plan into motion. The youth still wasn't sure how well this would turn out. The tunnel was pretty wide, and realistically the insects could probably just run around him in the other direction. He hoped to put on a menacing image to prevent this from happening.

Finishing his preparations, Red came out of hiding and exploded into action.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The boy bellowed at the top of his lungs.

He flailed his cleaver wildly in the air while trying to spread his limbs and make his figure appear as big as possible. Or at least, as big as a 10-year-old kid could be.

The effect was almost immediate. The insects scrambled and tried to run back into their holes. Unfortunately for them, however, there was no getting inside their burrows anymore.

The monsters panicked, scrambling around and checking every entrance to no avail. It was at that point Red started to run in their direction.

"AAAAAHHH!"

The boy didn't stop screaming, swinging his weapon at the closest creature in range. He hit it, cleaving into its carapace as the insect shrieked in pain. All its siblings panicked and started to run for their lives in the opposite direction.

They were all moving exactly where Red wanted them to go.

Towards a chamber full of spiders.