The Tower in the Shadows

Myma was watching the group she was exploring the Dungeon with. The first and second floors were cleared and they were standing on the stairwell on the third floor. They were preparing for the fight on this floor. She knew that boars were coming next and they were ready. The fight would be challenging, but she was confident they would clear the floor.

She was less confident about the next. Modus was a high Iron grade, with his magical gear pushing him to low Copper. His lifeguards were also high Iron with their gear, but what she had heard on the next floor was close to copper grade.

The sound of a hard, sharp impact on flesh drew her attention. The slave was on the floor with a red welt on her face. There was a copper wine goblet on the floor with spilled wine. She was quickly scrambling to pick up the goblet.

"Foolish slave! I said the rich red vinty!" Modus was angry. Myma knew why and she had to calm him down. He had not found the violence he sought and his now water-logged boots were making him angrier. He was standing with his helmet off again. She sighed and walked towards Modus. The slave was putting the goblet back into her pack.

"Master Modus, we need to stay focused." Her tone was calm and soothing. She did not need him making rash decisions. He glared at her but said nothing. She was no slave or servant, answering only to his father.

"This place is frustrating! There is no challenge!"

"We are about to enter the last floor, which will be more dangerous and will test you more." She would have to stop him from going further. He was not ready to fight what was down there. She could see him eyeing the stairs down. He nodded at her words. She turned to his guards and began issuing orders.

"The boars on this floor will be harder to fight, but we will attack them from multiple sides and kill them quickly." The lifeguards listened to her instructions and would obey. They had magic lanterns hanging from their belts, producing light but not bright enough to blind them.

She turned to find Modus looking down the stairs. What was that?

It was brief, but she thought she saw a flash of light further down the stairs reflected off the wall. This put her instantly on alert for danger. She realised he was vulnerable to Mental magic without his helmet's enchantments but saw no indication of magic in use.

"We will ignore this floor and go further down." Modus spoke, focused on the stairs.

"Master Modus, that would be a waste as this floor has been the most profitable for those who have cleared it." Myma could not afford to have him go on a glory hunt. His pride and arrogance had got him sent here in the first place.

"No. We go deeper. There, I will find my challenge and more profitable rewards." He had not even turned to look at her while speaking. "Guards to me!"

Myma could not overrule his orders as lifeguards were sworn to their owner's command over everyone else's.

"Master Modus, let us clear the floor here first, then progress. Think about the glory in clearing a Dungeon in its entirety." She had to appeal to his ego if she wanted him to listen to her.

That stopped him for a moment, but he shook his head and pointed his sword, which he had drawn at the stairs going down. She was starting to panic inside but kept her demeanour calm. He put his helmet back on as his guards walked down the stairs ahead of them.

She sighed and followed with her bow ready just behind the slave girl shadowing Modus. Things could become very dangerous.

## ## ## ## ##

"Well done, Puck! You got him good with your lure. Now, get to the tunnels and hide. Queen, are you ready?"

Puck needed no more encouragement and vanished.

"I am Bhaldor. Do you still wish me to follow your instructions?"

"Yes. I think they will make it to you, but bloody and battered. Do exactly what I instructed."

"Understood."

## ## ## ## ##

The cave was covered in soft, glowing blue moss and spider webs.

She was concerned that Modus was not ready. The rumours were that the spiders were numerous and dangerous. A Copper grade team got battered exploring this floor. Modus was at least acting smarter now, arranging them into a good formation to move through the floor.

"Myma, what sort of spiders are we going to encounter in this cave?" He asked her.

"There are three types across the floor. All with shadow affinity. From what I have learned, they favour ambushing."

"Poisonous?"

"No."

He did not answer but looked around the cave. The moss was creating a soft blue light and their harsher lanterns flooded the light. They could extinguish them, but that would only help the spiders. Modus was at least aware of this and had not ordered it. They both had noted the door on the opposite wall. The Dungeon always used them as an exit from the boss room.

Myma tried picking out the spiders, but the cave webbing and clashing light sources prevented her from seeing anything.

"Forward!" His barked order broke the silence and brought everyone into motion.

The lifeguards were set up in an arrowhead formation ahead of Modus, with Myma just behind with the slave. She had an arrow notched in her bow and was looking for a target. Where were the spiders hiding?

They came at them fast and low. They were skittering across the cave floor.

Myma lifted her bow and released the arrow. It flew true, hitting one of the spiders. The lifeguards were already positioning themselves for the fight.

The spiders jumped as they drew close. Colliding with the lifeguards, they were knocked back by the warriors bracing behind their shields. Modus and the other guard followed the spiders, attacking them. They were soon joined by the other two.

The spiders did not last long.

"Myma, I am not impressed so far." Modus was not even breathing hard after the fight.

"This is only the start of the floor, Master Modus."

They collected the reward and moved on. They all soon had webbing sticking to them. Modus cursed loudly.

They were attacked again in the following two rooms. These rooms were different from the cave, with rafters above them that allowed the spiders another angle of attack. They found this out with a lifeguard being jumped from above. He was wounded, but his armour prevented a more severe injury.

"Useless slave! What sort of lifeguard are you? I will not waste a valuable tonic on you." Modus was yelling at the injured man, whose eyes were downcast.

"A thousand apologies, oh great one." He was repeating like a mantra as Modus yelled at him. Myma was getting frustrated with Modus more than usual. She knew he was not going to last in Ostrul society if he kept this up. She did not want to be near him when the God of Death came to collect him. The next room was long and maybe larger. She needed the guard in complete fighting form.

"Master Modus, the floor still has dangers. We need to have everyone at their best." He spins to look at her.

"You promised me a challenge! These spiders are nothing!" He spat at her. What she could see of his face was red.

"We have not yet reached the floor boss, young Master." She was sighing internally but remained calm outwardly.

"It's the start of the floor! We have not reached the floor, boss! Excuse, woman, I want my challenge!" His anger was not rising but on full display. There were few who could reason with him like this.

He stomped from the room, advancing towards the next. Myma cursed, this time chasing after him with the lifeguards. He entered the larger room and began hacking through the webbing.

"Master Modus! We need to stay together!" Myma was getting afraid now. Her fears were soon to become reality.

Eight spiders attacked them from different directions. As they were spread out, they could not mount an organised defence. Myma was soon engaged by a spider, forcing her to use her blades to protect herself. The fight was fast and brutal.

She blocked and countered. The spider lashed out and was constantly moving. Her enchanted blades made the difference. They tore through the spider's armoured body, killing it and finally allowing her to get a sense of the fight.

One lifeguard and four spiders were down. Modus and the remaining guards were all engaged. The webbing was working against them, causing the fighters to get tangled and slowing them down. She rushed to Modus.

As she got close, he killed the second spider attacking him. He looked at her and she saw the furious light of his battle lust in his eyes. Ignoring her, he leapt into the next fight against the spiders attacking the lifeguards.

A moment of calm came to her. In it, she realised she would have her means of escape ready. Modus was going to kill himself at this rate.

The fight lasted a few more minutes as Modus and the two lifeguards killed the remaining spiders. Myma recovered her bow from the floor as Modus approached her.

"Now that was a fight!" He was happy now that he had what he called an actual fight. She looked at the others. Modus was unharmed. The remaining guards were both sporting injuries.

"The lifeguards need healing." She had to point this out as he was still wrapped up in the thrill of the fight.

"Oh. Them. Slave!" He motioned to the burden slave cowering in the doorway to the room. "Bring the basic healing supplies." He waved his hand to the guards.

He turned and investigated the reward for the fight, not paying more attention. Myma was different from most, but he was now threatening her survival and she needed to be ready.

The guards were given bandages and salves to help with the injuries. They had to stop to allow them to be applied correctly. Modus was getting more restless as the time dragged on. The fallen guard's equipment was recovered and stored in the burden slaves' dimensional storage pack.

Eventually, they got moving again. The next room had two slightly different spiders that were a bit more of a challenge. They, too, died and they continued into another cave. Myma looked around and knew it was the boss room for the floor.

Modus was also aware of this as he advanced with the guards flanking him and Myma just behind. The burden slave behind her shivering in fear. The cave was like the first, covered with webbing and blue moss. They were all looking around, asking the same question in their minds.

Where was the boss?

They were all tense, waiting for the fight to start. It occurred to her too late to look up.

A large black shape dropped from a dark patch on the ceiling. The boss was a giant spider and fell upon them.

Modus was impaled by one of its legs through his right leg in his thigh as it hit the ground. His scale mail coat was ripped cleanly through. He screamed in pain and dropped his sword as he grabbed his wounded leg and he fell onto one knee. Blood was flowing freely.

His lifeguards reacted as soon as they could, as did she, but the spider was faster.

The boss sang/cried strangely, and her instincts warned her of danger. A swarm of spiderlings erupted from a clump of webbing behind a guard to attack him. A leg blocked the other guard's attacks and he was attacked by strange tentacles of shadow that came from the ground.

Myma was a copper-grade Adventurer who had seen over a decade and a half of fighting. She knew a massacre was unfolding when she saw one.

Time to go!

She turned and beat a hasty retreat from the room, heading down the corridor to the door that exited into the first cave and the stairs back to the surface.

## ## ## ## ##

The "Rogue Hotty" was getting out of the fight. I watched her as she fled the room.

"Strangely, I am not surprised."

The fight was turning against my visitors fast. The arrogant bastard leading them was wounded badly and his guards engaged too much to help him. The woman carrying the fascinating bag was hanging back, terrified of the fight before her.

The guard tangled with [Shadow Arms] was further inconvenienced with a leg swipe that he blocked but knocked him into a large clump of webbing that immobilised him until he got free. The other was fighting the spiderling swarm crawling over him but was winning slowly.

The arrogant one had come somewhat to his senses and was trying to get to his sword. Queen was aware of this and pierced his throat with her leg. I was unsure if she aimed for it, but the effect was undeniable. The leg was impaled in his throat and he was coughing a great deal of blood from his mouth. His eyes were wide with surprise and fear.

"Don't think he is coming back from that one."

The essence rush followed soon after. Queen pulled her legs from the body with some effort. The guard with the spiderlings had killed enough to realise the bastard was dead. At the sight of the body, he let out a cry and attacked Queen with an almost berserk fury. This was the opposite of what I had seen of them through the Dungeon.

Queen defended herself but suffered a few hits wounding her. She created more tentacles using [Shadow Arms] to make an opening. Distracted long enough, the guard was open, and she leapt forward, driving her legs through his body and biting hard down on his neck.

The guard screamed in pain as he died—blood pumping from multiple wounds. Another rush hit me.

"Damn, that's good!"

The last guard had untangled himself from the webbing as Queen pulled herself from her last kill.

At the sight of the bastard's body, he, too, went berserk. Queen was ready and counter-charged him using her [Charge] skill. Her three bars of health, stamina and mana above her were draining.

This distance was short, but the impact was loud and decisive.

The guard was knocked over and Queen savaged him to death. Three in rapid succession. I could get used to that!

"That went better than I thought."

Looking over the aftermath, I noted the last thing to be done.

"Remember, do not kill that one."

"I remember Bhaldor. Remove the leather strap around her neck and take the pack from her if I can. If she attacks, I can kill."

"That's right."

I watched as Queen approached the now collapsed girl. She was in her early twenties, as far as I could tell. She was thin and mistreated. She was shaking in pure terror.

She was manoeuvred into a sitting position. Queen was able to remove the pack from her and then, after a few attempts, the leather strap still did not come off.

The girl was crying and her nose was running with snot. But she was looking now confused and blinking rapidly.

"Apologies Bhaldor. I am unable to remove the strap without hurting the prey."

I had the answer!

"Where's Larry?"

The rogue was nearly out of the Dungeon, and Larry was soon able to come down. He entered the boss room through the door left open by the fleeing rogue.

"Larry cut that strap off her neck."

I sent him images of what I wanted and he got to work. It was not quick, but it came off. When it did, a translucent chain appeared around her neck, snapped and disappeared. The air where it had been twisted and distorted for a second then returned to normal.

"Eh?"

That was not expected! I waited several seconds but nothing else happened.

"The pouch on the belt of that kill. Take it off him and give it to her."

Again, Larry went into action. The pouch was where the bastard had stored all the coins gained during the Dungeon run. This was put into her hands. She looked down at it, still bewildered.

"Time for her to go."

Larry went behind her as Queen stood her up. Larry then snarled and chased her out of the Dungeon.

I returned my attention to the Queen's room when she was gone.

"Looting time!"