"What are you doing, master ?"

Shortly after leaving the camp, Maximilian stopped near the giant spiders bodies, taking a moment to examined them, scanning the monsters. The curiosity of the panda-girl made him smile.

"I'm learning, Lin-Lin."

"Learning? What are you learning ?"

"A lot actually."

Taking out a knife, Maximilian opened the creature abdomen, letting his inside getting out.

Anatomy knowledge: spider: skill acquired.

Once again, like it had with the lizard, a new skill concerning the spiders anatomy , this time, appeared and Maximilian maximised it. Immediately, all information about them came to his mind, the fact that some of them had edible parts, the ones who were poisonous, other just really ugly...and so big you could believe they came straight out of a horror movie.

"Come Lin-Lin, let me show you."

Approaching her master, the panda-girl looked warily at the dead monster.

"Don't be afraid Lin-Lin, this is just a pile of flesh now. Use this opportunity to learn about your future enemies."

"What is there to learn master?"

"For example..."

Maximilian stood and came next to one of the smaller spiders, small compared to the giant one, but still half the size of a grown man, brown with green zebra pattern on all her body.

"This one is the kind who spit poison, the same kind that nearly killed Milne yesterday. Remember this, the one with bright zebra colours are generally smaller than the others, but they can spit poison. On the other hand..."

Maximilian put his foot on the bigger one, one of the tarantula looking one, more than two feet high at the most, with legs measuring a few meters each, with creamy white eyes.

"This one is some of the biggest you can come across, look at her eyes, what do you see?"

Coming closer, the panda-girl took the time to look at the dead monster's eyes.

"They...they look like the eyes of a blind person, I remember an old slave who was blind, he had the same colour in his eyes."

"Very good Lin-Lin. You are right, this big one here, like all of her kind, is blind."

Lin-Lin thought for a bit, arm crossed.

"But...it can't be master, how could they pursue our group yesterday if they can't see?"

Maximilian smiled, appreciating the quick thinking of the panda-girl.

"You're gonna understand, close your eyes."

"My eyes, master?"

"yep, trust me, you'll understand."

"O...okay..."

Doing as told, the panda-girl closed her eyes, waiting.

"Now I want you to point at me, I'm going to move and I want you to follow me with your finger."

"But master...I can't see you."

"Neither could she, try."

She pointed straight at him, his voice giving away his position.

"Good, now I'm going to move, but without talking."

Doing so, he stepped away from the spider's corpse, making sure his steps were loud enough at first. Lin-Lin hesitated a bit but managed to point at him anyway.

"Good, how did you find where I was?"

"The sound you made master, first your voice, then the sound of your steps."

"Very well, now I'm going to show you how to not be tracked down by one of those... try to find me again."

She pointed straight at him at first, using his voice as a signal once again. This time, Maximilian moved without a sound, his steps light on the ground. He walked around Lin-Lin, still pointing where he was before. He stood just behind her, waiting a bit. After a few minutes, Lin-Lin seemed worried to not hear him move.

"Master? Are you not going to move?"

"I already did."

"KYYYYAH!!"

She screamed as she turned around, her eyes wide opened, looking at him.

"When? How?"

"I've been standing behind you for a few minutes now."

"But I didn't hear you move, not a sound, how did you do it?"

"By being calm, taking one step after another, and that's it. Do you understand Lin-Lin?"

She nodded in agreement.

"If I don't make any noise, they can't hear me."

"Even better, when you don't move, they can't feel you."

"Master?"

"They cannot see, so they use sounds wave to localise their prey. When you speak, scream, run or even walk, you make noises, a lot of noises, vibration. If you don't move, breath slowly and calmly, they don't know you're there."

"But master, what about the others, the smaller ones?"

"Very good question. Those have a better vision and will see you. I think that's why they hunt together, the small ones force the prey to move, and by doing so, reveal their position to the big ones. They are quite intelligent, don't you think."

"They are horrible."

"One can go with the other you know. Never underestimate the monsters you encounter Lin-Lin, even if they look like simple being, they have learned to hunt, and how to be terrifyingly good at it. Will you remember that, Lin-Lin?"

"I will, master. Thank you for taking the time to teach me."

She bowed to him, thankful.

Teaching skill acquired.

*I suspect this one would come...and I'm glad it did.*

Maximising the new skill, it would make his teaching and explanations the easiest to understand for the ones he taught to.

*If I'm going to teach things to her, better be good at it.*

"Another thing, how are you at fighting Lin-Lin?"

"Fighting, master?"

"Yes, sword, spear, hammer, barehand, fighting, how good are you at it?"

He looked at her fidgeting a bit.

"Lin-Lin is a slave, master. Slaves aren't allowed to wear weapons..."

"You still didn't answer my question."

Taking something out of the havenbag he threw it at her.

"Catch."

By reflex, Lin-Lin caught the shaft in her hands. Looking at what she had received, she saw a spear.

Quite long compared to the panda-girl's height of little more than 5 feet (1m50), the shaft was 8 feet long (2m40), made of black wood as strong as metal, but lighter. On the end of the spear was a pointed head, straight, made in a shining silver grey metal. A weapon simple in the design but of a very good quality.

"Those monsters are big, and their legs are long, use this to defend yourself against them."

"But master...it's forbidden for a slave to..."

Maximilian raised a hand, making her stop talking.

"Lin-Lin, I don't care what's forbidden or not, I don't want you to be killed by them. As long as I'm concerned, you won't be hurt, but I cannot say how things are going to take place, and I want to be sure you're able to defend yourself. You are a beastkind, am I right? Semi-human, semi-animal, something like that?"

"Indeed master, why?"

"I have the feeling you're far stronger than what you let known. Here..."

Maximilian pointed at the space between the spiders lowest and biggest eyes.

"You thrust and pierce here, don't be afraid, the blade of your weapon is good enough to pass through."

"I...I don't know if I can."

"Don't be afraid Lin-Lin, see this as a training. You should be glad, not everyone has the chance to train on monster's body before meeting the true thing."

"But still..."

"Still..."

"It's forbidden, what if a soldier saw me handling this? You could be in trouble master."

Maximilian smiled, the kind heart of the panda-girl touching him.

*The one she's worried about is me, not her...truelly a kind one.*

"It's alright Lin-Lin, you don't have to worry about me, I'll be fine, and you will be too. Think about it, there's no one here but you and me, who could give us trouble?"

"I...guess you're right, but once we're out, I should give it back to you."

"We'll see then. For now, how about piercing this thing's head?"

She nodded in agreement, convincing herself.

"Okay, I'll do it"

Taking momentum, she took a few steps and thrust forward, easily passing through the monster's head, making the body twitched. Lin-Lin took a quick step back as the monster's body moved, letting her spear in the body.

"It moved!"

"Of course, it did, you put a spear through his brain...and you let go of your weapon, that's not good, Lin-Lin..."

Hearing Maximilian, she looked down, clearly worried.

"I'm sorry master, I was scared and didn't think."

"It's alright, it was just a mistake. Don't be afraid to make some, as long as you learn from them, it is fine to make some mistakes. I think you should take back your weapon, don't you think?"

"Yes, of course Master."

She put her hands back on the staff and pull back with force, taking out the pointed head in a tearing sound, made by the beast "skull" as it let the weapon go out.

"Yuck, green blood..."

"Indeed, that is not pretty looking. Okay Lin-Lin, we are going to advance, I want you to do what you just did with all the spider bodies we will come across, can you do that?"

"Yes, master."

They advanced like that calmly, Lin-Lin training herself, aiming where Maximilian had told her to, while Maximilian took the parts he could while waiting for her.

*there's not a lot to salvage from them, not a lot of meat...the poison glands could be useful for alchemy, let's take them. And the eyes are good ingredients too, okay okay.*

"Master, I'm done."

"Looking at her work, Maximilian nodded in agreement."

"Very good, do you get the idea of the force you need to pass through?"

"I think so master, but..."

"Yes?"

"Why must I aim between those eyes? Isn't there another way to kill them?"

"Oh yes, there are, quite a lot actually. But it would be harder for you to do so. Piercing the brain is the easiest way for you to proceed right now."

"Really? What are the other way?"

"Well, for example, you can use magic to burn them, crush them, that kind of thing. With sword, you can also cut their legs, arrows can also do the trick..."

"Oh...so there really are a lot of ways to do it."

"Indeed."

While discussing, they were advancing and climbing the stairs the group took in the other direction the night before. Each step they took echoed on the stone walls. carefully, they had to avoid stepping on bones here and there.

"Charming..."

"We are nearly there master."

"I guessed so, we have a welcoming friend waiting for us..."

"Hm? What do you mean master?"

"Stop walking and take a look around."

Doing as told, Lin-Lin stopped and took a moment to look around, the feeble light emitted by the stones lanterns not helping a lot.

"I don't see anything strange master."

"Here, let me help you a bit..."

Closing his hand an instant, he opened it again, letting a small fireball fly away slowly, going before them in the stairs and illuminating them from ground to ceiling, ceiling on wich was silently waiting a brown spider, as big as Lin-Lin, without any movements of any sorts. Discovering what was up there, Lin-Lin took some steps back, getting behind Maximilian.

"W...when did it get there?"

"It was already there before we arrived. Spiders are fearsome hunters, capable of waiting a long time for a prey to pass and the time to attack."

Scanning it, Maximilian discovered the spider was level 17. Deadly for the panda-girl, insignificant for him.

*Small prey for me, on the other hand, this could be a good way for Lin-Lin to...*

"Okay, I think this could be a good way to see if you get the handling of the spear right."

She looked at him, horrified.

"Master? You don't mean...you want me to...?"

"Yep, kill the spider...do not worry, I'll help. Concentrate on killing it and I'll protect you. This test is for you to see one of them in movement, so you won't be paralysed by fear later."

"But master...I'm not strong enough to defeat such a monster."

"And what would happen when you will face one of those later, unprepared?"

"I...don't know..."

"Stop worrying, start fighting."

With that said, Maximilian threw a stone at the spider, strong enough to made her fall, but nothing more. The hideous thing fell on her back, her legs vividly moving in the air. In an instant, she was back on her legs and started advancing in their direction. Lin-Lin didn't move from behind Maximilian who stood there, waiting.

"It's yours to kill, Lin-Lin."

"I'm...I'm scared, master."

"That's a good thing."

"Master?"

Just as the spider was coming at him, Maximilian kicked it away, making it rolled a few meters up the stairs.

"Being scared is the first step on the brave road. First, you have to be scared..."

Maximilian turned to faced her while the spider was getting up again, reaching, he put one hand behind her back and slightly pushed her forward, smiling at her.

"Then you can face you fear and win."

Getting his mouth near her ears, he whispered.

"Don't worry, I'm here with you."

His inspiring skill must have made something, because he saw Lin-Lin straightening herself, readying her weapon.

"Yes, master."

She advanced a bit, taking a fighting stance like he had shown her before. Maximilian was ready to intervene when necessary, creating small rocks with earth magic, making them float a few centimetres above his hand.

*You can do it Lin-Lin...*

As soon as the spider was in reach distance, Lin-Lin thrust. She aimed where it needed to go but the monster was quick and evaded the panda-girl's attack. Seeing the monster readying for an attack with one of her front leg, Maximilian parrying it with a stone he magically threw at the member, knocking it back and destabilising the monster. It went on for several minutes, Lin-Lin attacking, the monster evading, and Maximilian protecting the panda-girl from any attack.

*It's good this one doesn't seem very bright, she hasn't realised her attacks wouldn't work.*

Once again, Lin-Lin thrust, but this time, the spider wasn't able to evade the hit and receive the spear between the eyes, immediately stopping all movements, falling on the ground, dead in an instant. It twitched a bit, but nothing more. Panting a bit, Lin-Lin looked at Maximilian, a big smile on her face.

"I...I did it master!"

Maximilian laughed a bit, coming near her and patting her head.

"Good, Lin-Lin, you did very well...oh, and I see you were rewarded for it."

"What do you mean, master?"

"You gain a level Lin-Lin, that's great."

"Oh! You're right, I did gain a level...waouh, it's been long since I gain a level."

She bowed to him.

"And it's thanks to you master, thank you."

"But you were the one fighting Lin-Lin, I only provide a bit of support, nothing more. Now I'm going to teach you something else."

"Master?"

Putting a knee on the ground, he signalled her to do the same, coming near the monster's corpse. He took out a knife he gave to her.

"Your kill, your loot. You are going to take what can be taken from this monster, so we can use it later."

She looked at the knife then at the monster, hesitating.

"But Master, I...I have never done anything like this. What if I do wrong and spoil any good parts?"

"It's only one spider, I have the feeling we will face a lot more before tonight. Follow my indications, take your time, and if you make a mistake..."

"...I'll learn from it."

"Very good."

For the next half hour, Maximilian took the time to show Lin-Lin how to rightly salvage parts from spider monster, explaining to her the little difference between the kind she just killed and those with poison. As it was her first time, it wasn't perfect, but she managed to collect almost everything without failing, losing only two eyes and a bit of monster meat in te process. When she was done, she sighed in relief, happy with herself. They put what she salvaged in the havenbag, ready for later use. She was giving back the knife to Maximilian, but he made a gesture signifying her to keep it.

"It's yours now, use it well, take care of it, and it will hep salvage almost any parts of any monster you defeat. Here."

He gave her a tissue.

"Don't let blood on your blade, it's not a good idea."

"Yes master, thank you for this gift."

"And thank you for your hard work. Now, let's go on our way."

She put her new knife on her belt, the tissue around it.

Continuing the stairs climbing, Maximilian thought about something.

"Do you know how many of those monsters there are up there?"

"No, master. A lot, that's for sure. Lady Arca and Alariel themselves told us to flee because there was too many of them...Master, how are we going to escape them with only two of us?"

He scratched his chin, thinking a bit.

"What about the place? Is it more like a big open space or small room after small room?"

"Actually, all this level is one big room."

"Realy? Only one room for all this level?"

"Yes, Master. Apart from giants pillar of stone to keep the ceiling from falling down, there doesn't seem to be anything there...apart the monster of course."

Maximilian kept silent for a bit, thinking, then said.

"I could kill them all, but I want you to fight a bit, it will make you stronger...I have an idea. I'm going in first to take care of all the little one, those that can spit poison, so you won't be in danger with that. The others, I'm gonna block with ice, so you can take them on one by one,is it alright for you?"

"All of them? But, master...there so many of them..."

"Don't worry Lin-Lin...you know what? Trust me on this one, tonight when we camp, I'm going to show you something, you'll understand why you don't have to fear for my safety."

She kept silent for a bit, before nodding in agreement.

"Alright master, but...."

"Yes?"

"Could you...stay near me? They still scare me, the spiders..."

Maximilian looked at her then laughed a bit.

"I love your honesty, my dear Lin-Lin. Don't worry, I'll never be far."

As they came near the destroyed door, Maximilian signed her to keep ready.

"Why aren't they there?"

"They are there Lin-Lin...remember the one before, spiders are inclined to ambush their victim. Look, a little gift for our hosts."

With fire and earth magic, Maximilian made a ball of stone appeared. The ball was like a tangle of stone wire, with holes everywhere, and empty. Inside the ball, he made a fireball appeared, then gave that to Lin-Lin who looked at it curiously.

"It's...pulsating, like a heart."

"Indeed, remember the other thing about the spiders I told you about?"

"They...some cannot see well and they use sound to know where you are."

"And the others will be intrigued by this little ball of light rolling around in their lair. Do you know what monster do with something they don't know?"

"They...attack it?"

Maximilian clapped his hand.

"Good answer, you earn the right to give them the gift."

She looked horrified at the idea.

"You...you want me to go in there alone?"

"What? No, not at all. Just throw the ball, that's all. And do it with strength so you make a lot of them come out of their hiding places."

"Oh...allright."

Doing as told, Lin-Lin put her strength in it and threw the ball in the next room. It landed and started to roll. In an instant, from dark spaces all around came spiders of all size and colours. Speaking low, Lin-Lin asked.

"What do we do now master?"

"Now? I'm waiting for your signal."

"My signal, master?"

"Yes, when you think the maximum of those monsters are near the gift, tell me so and ...well, you'll see."

"But...why me master? Are you not more...?"

"No, I'm waiting for your signal, I trust you'll do well, as always."

She nodded and looked at the disturbing scene that was all those spiders walking around, the bigger one slowly coming from farther away, at least that was what she could see with the bit of light emitted by the stones lantern and the ball she just threw.

"I think it's quite a lot already. If we wait more, I think some are going to go back."

"Good observation. Once again, wait for a bit while I take care of them, you'll fight after me."

"Master...please be careful."

"I will. Now...it's time to fight. FIRE BOMB!"

With that said, Maximilian clapped his hands one time. The pulsations from the stone ball started to get more and more powerful and quick, before literally exploding, obliterating thirty or so of the smaller spider, taking half of a bigger one in the process, she let a shrilling sound escaped her mouth before falling down, dead.

*Oops, I took one of Lin-Lin prey by accident, oh well.*

Maximilian stepped inside the room, smile on his face.

"HELLOOOO EVERYONE, WHO'S READY TO DIE ?"

His shout echoed in the gigantic room. First, silence, then, from all around him came the sound of thousands legs on stones, as hundreds of those eight legs monsters came for him, ready to pierce, spit and devoured him.

"Let's make some light first."

From his palm came dozen of little fireball, flying around and bringing light into the room, revealing the horror of this army of monsters coming from everywhere.

*Yuck, gosh they're ugly. Good thing I've got the cool head skill, or else...*

Not waiting for an instant, Maximilian lifted his hands, pointing his palm at the monsters.

*Chance, the big ones are at the back, this should be easy...*

"Fire circle."

Around him, a wall of fire appeared. The first smaller spider in reach tried to jump on him, only to be reduced to dust by the flame. touching the fire wall, he concentrated a bit, visualising what he wanted his spell to do.

"FIRE WAVE!"

The fire wall expanded and, like projected, seemed to charge at the monsters.

Some spiders could have understood their imminent demise, but they were simply too slow to turned around and fleeing in time as the unstoppable wall of magic fire annihilated the wave of smaller spiders who were coming for Maximilian.

*This take care of the small on...hey!*

By reflex, Maximilian evaded a poison spit from the colourful poisonous spider who had the intelligence to stay away from him.

*Smarter...but not enough*

Maximilian raised a palm, facing the ceiling. He looked around, scanning to see how many of the poisonous spider there still was after his fire spell.

*Nearly a hundred...not so many if you compare to the total number there was.*

"ICE ARROWS!"

Hundreds of ice arrows appeared and, liked shooted from a bow, came flying at the spitting spiders, who finished transpierced by them. After that, not counting some smaller that fled farther in the room, there was only the bigger one, all bigger than Maximilian. He didn't attack them immediately, calling Lin-Lin first.

"The small ones are dead, you can come out now."

.......................................................................................................................................................

Lin-Lin was worried for her master. Until now, he had been very kind and generous to her, he had taken the time to teach her how to kill those spider, how to salvage their good parts, he was smiling at her and was patient when she asked something. But now he was telling her he was going to face the spiders all by himself?

*It is not possible, he is going to die. I...I don't want him to die, but as a slave, I cannot tell him to not do it...and he seems so confident.*

She couldn't object to him. She had thrown this magic ball when he asked her to and had open her eyes wide when she saw the result.

* What a chance, with this many gone, we should be able to...oh goddess...*

As her master had made the little fireball flew away, revealing so many more of those monster, she had hide behind the remnants of the door, terrified.

*So many...my master is going to die...I'm going to be alone again.*

She couldn't suppress a single tear at the thought of being alone in this place, but also, surprising herself, at the idea of seeing her new master die.

*I...I must help him. Even if I'm not strong enough, I have to help him somehow, at least a little.*

Grasping the staff of her new spear, she closed her eyes a few seconds, gathering her courage, before getting out from behind the door, ready to go die with her new master...only to stop right in her track, paralysed by what she was seeing.

*Death...fire and death*

This was all she could think about as she saw the flames destroying the monsters, leaving behind nothing more than little pieces of corpse and dust.

After that, she saw her Master evading spitting attack as if it was nothing, lifting a hand in the air, and making hundreds of arrows shining like crystal rained on the pitiful creatures who had the foolishness to attacked him.

*He...he is not normal...*

It was as if, for the first time, she truly realised the distance between her master's power and hers, she felt like a little child looking at a dragon. A part of her wanted to run away, to hide from him. But another part of her wanted to come closer to him, and as his blue and gold eyes looked at her once again, it was the second part she chose to listen to.

...........................................................................................................................................................

"Master. Are you alright?"

"Yes, of course, this took a bit of mana, but It's getting back already, don't worry."

"But, all those monster, how have you...how did you do that?"

"Magic, Lin-Lin. If you use it correctly and with care, magic can be a great allied. But enough about me, It is now your turn to fight."

As he pointed at what she was supposed to kill, she couldn't suppress a little scream of horror, a good dozen of gigantic eight leg tarantula looking monster slowly walking in their direction.

"You want me to kill...those? But they are at least three time my heigh!"

"Indeed, but you are a hundred times more valourous. Remember..."

He put a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her.

"I'm here to help you."

"I..."

She looked at him, then at the monsters approaching and nodded, resolution back in her eyes.

*I was ready to die for him a few minutes ago, fighting alongside master will be fine...I will be fine*

"I'll do it, Master. You can count on me."

"And you on me, my dear Lin-Lin."

Straightening himself, he turned his look at the future panda-girl's victim.

"Let's kill some monster, shall we?"