Random Portals

The Spider Queen let out a terrifying screech as she ripped off another one of the abomination’s limbs.

“Still find her attractive?”

Steven turned to regard the Wisp. “It’s not that I find her attractive, per se. it’s just her human form is, well, its very pleasing to the eyes is all.”

Silvia sighed! “Yep, you’re going to become spider shit one of these days.”

“You know, your personalty has changed a lot in the short time we have known each other.”

“Well thank you Steven, I appreciate that.” Silvia said, as her light brightened.

Steven just rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the fight. There was now black smoke coming from the abomination’s stumps.

“What’s going on?”

“Apparently, your pet arachnid has the ability to stop or slow regeneration. If I remember correctly, that smoke will burst into flames and began eating the abomination from the inside out, keeping it from regenerating.”

Despite the abomination missing three of its six arms and only having one tentacle left, it was still fighting ferociously.

“These dungeon monsters seem too strong to be on the sixth floor.”

“They are not just normal mobs, but mini boss monsters. On the eighth floor, they will be just scattered about as normal mobs.” Silvia explained.

Steven’s eyes widened. There would be no way in hell he could even stand a chance if it wasn’t for his inventory ability. “Are all dungeons this powerful?”

“Sorin is the weakest of all the Domain Holders, though not by a lot. However, three of the Domain Holders are on a completely different level and have multiple domains.”

“Yeah, fuck all that. I’m never going in another dungeon after we get out of this one!”

The Spider Queen ripped the head from the abomination as black smoke appeared to keep it from regenerating, however the massive creature wasn’t done and still fought on, as if missing its head was only a minor inconvenience. Suddenly, Nev stopped attacking and jumped back as the abomination burst into black flames. It began rolling around in agony, trying to put out the flames, but it was no use as the black flames continued to burn from its severed appendages. Nev then changed back to her human form and walked over towards them, paying no mind to the abomination franticly rolling around on the ground behind her.

“Master Odling, I wish to apologize for my actions the last couple of days. I feel much better now, although the heart of this foe will only sustain me for a short time. I suggest you finish this abomination so we can go to the next floor.”

Steven hadn’t even seen her eat the creature’s heart, though Nev did have oily black blood running down her chin, and her normally white teeth were covered in the black blood. And somehow, he still found her attractive.

Steven shook his head, “i-it’s fine Nev, I’m sorry I don’t have any food you can eat in my inventory, we will have to make sure to keep some food in my inventory for you when we are out of this dungeon.”

“I thought you couldn’t store living things in you inventory?” Nev asked.

“Oh… uh, well I can’t. We will just have to figure something out.”

“Steven, you should kill that abomination before it dies, and you don’t get any of the essence.” Silvia said.

“Right!” Steven turned to the abomination still thrashing on the ground. He found it irritating that he couldn’t see its health bar unless he did damage to it, but it was what it was. Steven pulled out his lightning spear, not wanting to get close to the creature.

“Master,” Nev said in a pouty tone, taking Steven completely off guard.

“Uh, what is it?”

“I wanted to watch you kill it in your spider form. Please... My flames won’t harm you.” Nev said.

Steven sighed internally, “okay. Fine.”

Steven changed to his spider form. He didn’t want to kill it like this, but Nev had been acting strange without food, and he wanted to keep the massive spider happy. There would be nothing he could do if she decided to eat him. He charged forwards hoping to kill the disgusting creature by stabbing it with his legs. Unfortunately, his legs barely penetrated the abomination, although it was enough to make its health bar appear. It was a ten percent health.

Steven used his all his weight the next time he stabbed the creature and his leg went in a good eight inches deep. He did this again and again, the abomination barely seemed to even register him even though it was taking off at least a percent of its health each time, however, its health quickly shot back to ten percent. Suddenly, the abomination back handed him with its one remaining arm. His spider form barely registered the hit. Steven, on the other hand, was becoming frustrated at not being able to kill the headless creature. Not to mention the audacity of the creature. It dared to strike him. He was a king! His vision started turning red, and he began ripping into the creature with his mandibles. He could sense the source that was regenerating the undead monstrosity. He began ripping away flesh to get to that power source.

The next thing Steven realized, he was lying on his back, shaking slightly.

“Master! You were amazing!”

Steven looked up at the Nev, she was looking at him with what Steven could only describe as pride and excitement. Silvia also floated next to him, although he got the sense of disgust from her.

“Did you really have to eat its heart?” Silvia said.

“Its heart? What do you mean, Nev already ate its heart?” Steven said as he got to his feet. There was an odd grimy taste in his mouth.

“I left a heart for you in case you were hungry too Master.” Nev said, beaming at him.

Steven whipped at his mouth and, sure enough, oily black blood was on his hand. Steven then gagged, and then gagged some more till he puked up a bit of black junk, although he was sure that wasn’t even a fraction of it. He wanted to yell at Nev, but it’s not like she forced him to do anything. He just needed to get his spider form under control. Once he finished rinsing his mouth out the best he could, he got back to sending the wisps to inventory. The entire time Nev stared at him as if Steven was her high school crush, or at least that’s the impression he got.

“Okay Silvia, give us a rundown on the seventh floor before we go.”

As soon as the abomination was defeated, the dungeon floor had stopped shifting about and a glowing blue light appeared in a doorway at the back of the room.

“Okay,” Silvia started in her lecturing tone, “do you remember the skeletal knight you and Evesakia fought?”

“Who is Evesakia?” Nev asked.

“How can you two pronounce her name so easily?”

“Who is she?” Nev asked again.

“It’s Steven’s attractive female Naga friend. She is absolutely obsessed with him. She even nursed him back from the brink of death on the second floor.” Silvia said in a smug tone.

“What!” Nev said.

“Eve is not obsessed with me!”

“You have already given her a pet name like me?” Nev asked.

“Pet name?” Steven asked, only to be completely ignored.

“Oh yes,” Silvia said as her light brightened, “Miss Evesakia and Steven have spent a lot of time together.”

“Silvia, can it!”

“I thought you just arrived in this world?” Nev asked.

“I did. The Naga were the ones that took me in, well, kidnapped me.”

“They did what! I’ll kill them all!”

“No! It’s not like that! It was just a misunderstanding. They were nice to me.”

“Did you mate with this Evesakia?”

“No.”

“Are you going to?” Nev asked, eyes narrowed.

“I don’t plan on it.”

“That’s not a no!” Nev hissed.

Steven noticed Silvia’s light flickering, and he glared at her.

“If you want to mate, then I’m here. You shouldn’t mate with a reptile, anyway!”

“But I should mate with an arachnid, and then be eaten.”

“You are also an arachnid now! And I can’t eat you. It’s in our contract.”

Steven sighed. “Okay, I’m done talking about this now.”

“But master…”

“Quiet! We are done with this,” Steven rubbed at his temples. “I could really use a smoke right now.”

Silvia’s light flashed, “I sorry to bring it up but I don’t think…”

“Shush, I’m not going to. I would if I didn’t lose half my mana regeneration, but that’s not an option right now. Alright, we need to get moving. What were you saying about the skeletal knight?”

Silvia immediately went back into lecture mode. “There will be seven of them, all several levels higher than the one you faced, each with their own unique party. They all must be defeated before you can move on to the next floor. Although we can just take the hidden path, but it is likely we will run into a couple of them. The floor its self makes a large circle and there is not much in the form of cover unlike the other floors.”

“What makes it difficult,” Nev cut in, “Is when you have a knight in front of you and one behind you, and then the archer Knight starts shooting you from behind and other Skeletal Knights attacking your front.”

Steven sighed. “Do you think we can handle it?”

“Yes, I believe so if we get attacked from the front and back, I can take one side and you and my remaining drones can hold them off till I get there, but you could take them in your King form.” Nev said.

“He is quite capable of dealing with a knight and his party in that form, but he could possibly run out of mana.” Silvia said, flying up next to the Spider Queens face.

“Master,” Nev said, swatting at the ball of light, “is more than capable of dealing with those skeletons.”

“Well, I don’t…” Silvia started.

“Oh, calm down, you two! Are you ready? We still have three floors left and we don’t have any food!”

“Sorry Master Odling, I just don’t like how the Wisp disrespects you.”

“I’m not disrespecting him. I’m trying to keep him alive!”

“I guess this means you’re ready.” Steven said as he headed towards the barrier.

Nev quickly caught up and walked next to him as Silvia flew behind.

Sirus had entered the fifth floor with a small party. He knew how dangerous the never ending slew of Wisps could be. He had barely escaped this floor when he took it on years back. But to his surprise, there wasn’t a single wisp anywhere to be found. He had even sent a few scouts out, but they found nothing.

“This… This is not possible…” Sirus said.

He quickly turned to go back to the fourth floor so he could tell them this floor had also been cleared. Sirus had never seen anything like this. They had only encountered a couple of zombies and nothing else. It was as If Steven had gone around and killed every single thing before proceeding to the next floor. Well, it was more like he sent the Spider Queen. Shaking his head in disbelief, he went back to the fourth floor and informed them it was clear.

Goskia gave him a questioning look but didn’t comment. Before long, all the half Naga were on the fifth floor looking around in amazement, most had never entered the dungeon. Especially all the younglings and crafters. Out of the three hundred and thirty-seven remaining only around sixty were warriors, and he had left a dozen of them to wait at the entrance for when the princesses sent the others into the dungeon. At least Sirus hoped there would be others. Many fled once they heard of the humans pretending to be the elders. They didn’t trust anyone, but who could blame them? Sirus shook his head to clear it and they moved on towards the boss room. He really hoped they were still on this floor. The sixth floor would be a nightmare, and he didn’t want to lose his people.

Sirus and the strongest he could find entered the boss room. It, too, was completely empty. He remembered the countless wisps in this room and the way they used the roots to hold you in place, while other wisps would explode in your face.

“It’s probably best they cleared this floor. If we are lucky, then they cleared all the abominations of the next floor as well.”

“Sir, shall I inform Elder Goskia? It is safe.” A young warrior asked.

“Yes.” Sirus said.

Most had begun to refer to Goskia as an Elder, he was a retired Elder after all. If not for him, everyone here would have died or became a slave to the Humans and Elves. Not only that, he had food and supplies in bags of holding enough to feed the entire village. Sirus wondered if he had been expecting something like this. Whatever the case, if not for the food, they would have had a much harder time traveling through this dungeon the last couple days. At first everyone had been afraid, but now most were relaxed as to them the dungeon seemed perfectly safe.

Once everyone was in the fifth floor boss room, Sirus explained the next floor like he had each time before.

“The next floor is dangerous. It is a maze full of traps and undead abominations. It is likely that some of you won’t make it. I must stress that you all are on alert. I will…”

“Thats what you said about the fifth floor, but it is completely safe.” Someone shouted from the crowd.

“If anything, it’s quite beautiful here.” Another Naga spoke up.

“We were always told the dungeon was a dangerous place and the dungeon monsters respawned.”

Sirus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was not a people person. But a warrior; he didn’t understand why Goskia and Elder Vasuki were having him lead.

He was about to tell them that whoever thought they could traverse the dungeon to go on a head. But Goskia spoke up, “Times are changing, and the dungeon is acting strangely, the dungeon monsters have been coming out of the dungeon, we must look to the strongest for guidance, if any think they can traverse this dungeon better than Captain Sirus, than you are welcome to form a party and go ahead. But be warned, the Spider Queen is who we seek.”

That shut everyone up, everyone was aware of how powerful Captain Sirus was, and no one wanted to confront the Spider Queen her self. Though a few asked the obvious questions.

“What if the Queen refuses to let us stay in her city?”

“Why did we all have to enter the dungeon?”

Sirus turned to Goskia, before he just turned and began towards the sixth floor with his party.

As soon as he entered the sixth floor, the warriors with him began complaining about how disrespectful their clansmen were being, but Sirus quickly put a stop to that.

“They are scared, confused and have been driven from their homes. Many have family that were killed, captured or fled in other directions. We must not let their complaints bother us.”

Sirus said this not only for his men but to remind himself as well.

They quickly got to work scouting, though they stayed in a group to not be separated from the dungeon shifting. It quickly came apparent that this floor had already been completed as each tunnel led to the same place and they eventually found themselves staring at the seventh floor entrance.

“Captain!”

Sirus turned to see the warrior he sent to inform Goskia it was safe.

“It won’t allow me to exit this floor. These words keep appearing each time I try!” the warrior said between breaths.

Sirus’s eyes bulged. “Tell me exactly what these words said!”

Once the young warrior explained they couldn’t leave the Dungeon till only one Domain Holder remained, Sirus turned to one of the Spider-Kin that hadn’t spoken since they entered.

“What is going on?”

“I am unsure we have never encountered anything like this. I have a scout going to confirm this as we speak.”

Sirus narrowed his eyes at the Spider-kin. “How about you go to the next floor and start scouting?”

“My orders were to lead you to the Queen.”

Steven had run into two knights so far. Nev had dealt with them both, but she didn’t come out unscathed. She said she was fine, but it was obvious she was hurt; she didn’t have any health potions as she had used the last one on him and she wasn't rapidly healing like she normally did.

“We need to rest,” Steven said.

“There is no place to rest on this floor.” Silvia said.

“Master Odling, I appreciate your concern, but I will be fine.”

“You’re still bleeding, even while in human form! I thought your regeneration would have healed that by now.”

“She needs substance,” Silvia said. “From a living source, it’s what separates monsters from the enlightened races.”

“I also need food from a living source. I don’t understand what you mean?” Steven said.

“She needs to eat living flesh or of something that was killed recently, like humans. For example, it is the Spider-kins favorite source of food, which is why her drones look so much like humans.”

Steven turned to the Spider Queen, who just lowered her head.

“The Wisp is right. That’s why your food does nothing for me. If I don’t consume my prey within twenty minutes of killing it, then there is no point for me to even eat it.”

“Ha! You finally admit it!” Silvia said.

“Now is not the time Silvia, if Nev falls we fall,” Steven turned to the Spider Queen, “I’ll deal with the next knight while you rest.”

“But master!”

“You heard me. That’s an order. If it looks like I’m going to lose, then you can step in.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Silvia said.

“We don’t have much of an option. How far to the hidden path?”

“We have only made it halfway.” Silvia said.

“And how many knights are in between us and the path?”

“Two at the moment. Although there is one coming from behind us.”

“Damit, should we take it out first?”

“If we do, it is likely the other two groups will attack us from the front. They are much closer.” Silvia said.

“I’ll take my remaining drones and take the two knights in the front and you can watch our back in case that knight comes up from behind us,” Nev said.

“There are only what, five drones left.” Steven wasn’t sure when he started thinking of the drones as pawns to be sacrificed, but he didn’t have time to ponder on his morality at the moment. Besides, they were more than happy to throw themselves away to protect the Queen, and even him now...

Steven’s eyes lit up. “What about the wisps?”

Silvia’s light dimmed. “I’m sorry, but they refuse to fight anyone aside from their chosen target.”

“If we don’t make it past this floor, then they won’t ever get the chance!”

“I’ll try to convince them, but don’t expect many to help, if any. We are lucky these accepted the job of being your light source. You know they die when they attack.” Silvia said before flying into Steven’s chest and vanishing.

“I’m so ready to get out of this damned dungeon,” Steven sighed. “Just the two of us now.”

“Just the two of us is all I ever wanted, Master.” Nev said as she stepped closer and kissed him on the cheek.