Random Portals

Steven glanced at the pale-skinned spider Queen as they walked. It was hard to believe that this gorgeous, innocent-looking woman was actually a massive spider that ate humans as a snack.

"Is everything okay, Master?”

“Thats what I should be asking you. Are you going to be able to continue like this?”

“Of course, Master Odling. It will take much more than a few enchanted arrows to keep me down.”

Nev had been hit by three enchanted arrows from the skeletal knight with a crossbow. One in the chest, leg and shoulder, Steven was surprised that it could even penetrate her armor, though if she had food, it would have already regenerated by now.

The two Knights and their parties worked in tandem, the Spear Knight and his group were in the front while the Cross bow Knight and his group were behind them shooting. Between Steven’s spider form and Nev, the Knights didn’t stand a chance. Especially since all Steven had to do was touch them, though he did still need to deal with them, eventually. Before Silvia went into his inventory, she said there was another knight coming up from behind them. Though they haven’t seen it yet.

Nev told him that the Shield Knight working with the Archer or Mage Knights was the hardest to deal with. Nev herself had made it to the eighth floor boss before leaving. It was an abomination, and those creatures healed ridiculously fast. The thought made Steven’s mouth taste grimy.

It wasn’t long before one of the drones came back, reporting they had seen two skeletal knights and their parties up ahead. The sword Knight and the axe Knight.

“Master, please allow me to charge in first, to take the bulk of the damage, then you can come in and send them away while they are distracted.”

“Nev, try to not get hurt. I need you, okay?”

Nev smiled widely. “Of course you need me Master, we are to rule this entire world together!”

Steven just rolled his eyes. He had no plans to rule this world. He was about to ask if that was before or after she planned to eat him, but decided now wasn’t the time. There was still a knight behind them and now two more in front they needed to deal with.

The Spider Queen changed forms and was fixing to charge when she turned to stare in the direction they came from.

“What is it?”

“Drones…They just entered this floor.”

However, they didn’t get the chance to ponder on this as the Knights were nearly upon them.

The Spider Queen charged toward the Knights, her four remaining drones behind her. One remaining drone was watching their back and was meant to inform them if a Skeletal Knight was approaching from the back.

Steven looked in the direction of the floor entrance, but seen nothing. They were nearly halfway around the circle at this point, and it was likely whatever drones were coming in would die before they made it to aid them. He quickly turned his attention to the immediate threat.

Nev crashed into the Knight and its party, scattering them about. They quickly started to surround her. Steven took off towards the fight in a jog. All he had to do was just touch one of the skeletal knights, and this fight would be as good as over. The issue was touching the Knight its self and not its armor. Which was Nev’s job to tear off some of their armor. She was tired and sore, she barely looked to be winning. Only two of the four drones were still standing, and it didn’t look like they would be standing for long. If only they had more drones.

Suddenly, Steven remembered his ring of summons and immediately activated it.

Unfortunately, the being that came from the portal was a dog sized squirrel, and not even a large dog. The squirrel then charged the Knights immediately. As it ran, Steven noticed ice on the dungeon floor in each place it stepped. He didn’t have time to ponder on this, as he had to help Nev.

Pulling out his Lightning Speer he chucked it at the axe Knight that was just fixing to hack at one of Nev’s back legs. His spear hit the knight and lightning sparked to several of its minions, stunning them. However, the axe had enough momentum, and the knight continued with its swing, although with much less force and accuracy. It still nearly chopped the Spider Queen’s leg off. Nev didn’t pay any attention to her leg nearly getting chopped off. With some of the pressure off her, she was able to shoot the still twitching Axe Knight with her webs.

Steven knew this wouldn’t hold the Knight for long but it would buy her a little time to start on the sword knight. All the Axe Knight’s minions ran to the Knight and began hacking at the web. That’s when the squirrel made its move, jumping on the heads of the axe minions. Steven had hoped it would put them out of commission, but it only froze them for a few more seconds. Which was enough time for Steven to call his spear back while running over and attacking the bound Axe Knights helmet. He was hoping to knock it loose so he could send it to inventory. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and he had to back off or get surrounded by the axe minions. Though he was able to send a couple of minions to inventory. Steven was just fixing to change into his spider form when an arrow slammed into his back, knocking him to the ground. His health bar dipping to nearly half from that single shot. Looking around, he noticed the Skeletal Knight Silvia warned them about.

His summon immediately turned and charged at them. He saw a few arrows shoot at the squirrel but missed. Not wanting to waste this opportunity, he changed to his Spider form and began sending the axe minions to inventory. The axe knight was still bound by Nev’s webs, so Steven turned to the archer Knight. Luckily, it was just a single knight and the Shield Knight wasn’t there too. But this was still not ideal with Nev hurt and only a couple of drones remaining. Even if they made it through this, they would be hurt. The ice squirrel was creating chaos and doing much better than he first thought, but it wouldn’t last much longer.

Steven’s back ached. If not for his Amulet the arrow would have been stuck in him. Now that he was in his spider form, he could fight on equal footing, at least till his mana ran out. Steven charged in at the archers while they were preoccupied with the squirrel. However, the Knight its self turned to face Steven releasing an arrow almost instantly, all he could do was move slightly to keep it from slamming into his face, instead the arrow hit his abdomen, causing Steven to involuntary let out a high pitch screech which did nothing to the undead but caused the ice squirrel to freeze up momentarily. At the same time, several arrows impacted the squirrel, causing it to vanish. Steven took this time to force his body to move around and spray webbing all over the archers. He missed the Knight completely, and it was already taking aim at him again.

This time, the arrow was glowing a bright red. As it released, the arrow split into three, all three slammed into Steven, exploding on impact. His spider King ability to triggered and he was transformed back to his human form with a single hit point. Steven lay there on the dungeon floor, slightly trembling. Nothing but a single hit point and a just a tad over a hundred mana. He tried to stand only for the knight to release another arrow at him.

Time slowed, and Steven could hear Nev screeching in anger while still in combat. The arrow stopped before it impacted him and fell exactly ten feet away. Steven’s vision began to darken. “Dammit, not like this! I don’t want to die.”

If only if he had mana and health potions, this fight would have been completely different.

As soon as Sirus entered the seventh floor, he heard a battle taking place in the distance. Immediately, the drones took off toward the noise. Sirus took off after them, his warriors right behind him.

He had not expected Steven to make it this far, even with the Spider Queen’s help. Even so, the Knights on this floor were no joke. He had nearly died with a strong team. Though he had gained another shard since then.

It took Sirus longer than he would have liked to reach the fighting. When he finally made it, he saw the Spider Queen fighting off two skeletal knights and their minions. She was fighting them like a wounded and cornered beast. He didn’t understand why she was staying in a single spot. The drones immediately jumped into action. That’s when he noticed Steven’s unconscious form beneath the Queen.

“Fan out. Use range attacks to draw the Knight’s attention. I need to get to Steven!”

Before Sirus finished speaking, the drones were already throwing themselves at the Knights and their minions.

Sirus and his party froze, most the drones died immediately by the Sword Knight.

He knew his inexperienced warriors were no match for the knights, but if they could help Steven and regroup with the Queen, they would be able to take on the knights.

He wasn’t sure if he should risk trying to help Steven, but the way the Queen fought to save him, he knew he needed to get to him first.

“You heard me! Get to it!”

Sirus’s warriors began throwing spells, daggers, and potions.

Sirus then erected a bone barrier between the Knight, shooting arrows and his men, then another between the archer and Steven while making a mad dash towards him. He could tell Steven was in bad shape, but he wasn’t sure if he should give the Queen a health potion first. Which caused him to pause momentarily when he reached them.

The Spider Queen snarled down at him. “Are you going to heal my master or will I have you as a snack?”

Every fiber in Sirus’s body told him to get away from the spider. The look in her eyes was of a feral beast.

Sirus quickly pulled himself together and took a health potion from his pouch of holding and poured it down Steven’s throat. He then pulled the arrows out and poured some healing potion over those wounds as well.

“Do you have more health potions?”

Sirus looked up at the Queen. He knew they were less than fifteen levels apart, but he felt small and weak in her presence, but he couldn’t let it show.

“Yes,” Sirus pulled out a health potion and gave it to the Queen. “I need to get back to my warriors!”

“Its to late, though you made the correct choice.”

Sirus turned to see another knight he hadn’t noticed. “The Axe Knight!” This was the very knight that had nearly killed him before. How could he had not noticed a third knight!

His men had done a fantastic job of getting the Knight’s attention. Only two were still standing. Sirus used his most mana intensive ability. A bone cage formed around the Axe Knight as spikes began to impale the Knight at a rapid speed. At the same time, Sirus fell to one knee, panting.

The Sword knight was still near his two remaining warriors. He couldn’t let them die! Downing a mana potion, he stood up, ready to charge at the Sword Knight, but stooped as it was wrapped up in webs.

“The fallen are now mine.” The Spider Queen said.

Sirus didn’t have time to understand what the Queen was talking about as his bone wall shattered from an enchanted arrow. The Archer Knight was already taking aim at him. He was barely able to move away in time as the arrow slammed into the ground behind him. The next instant, the ground exploded and he went flying. Sirus hit the ground and rolled to his feet. He sent several bone spikes at the Archer Knight while taking in the battlefield.

His entire team was dead aside from two wounded warriors who were trying to fight off some sword minions that were trying to free the Sword Knight from the webs. The Archer Knight was now targeting the Queen who was holding Steven in her arms as she crawled across the ceiling, throwing out webs. He was confused as to why she wasn’t killing the Knights but instead was trying to capture them. He quickly turned his attention back to his men and rushed to aid them. Throwing a few bone spikes at the minions fighting his warriors, he rushed to them to help.

“Head back to the entrance!” Sirus said once he reached them, “No point in throwing your lives away!”

The two remaining warriors did as he asked and headed back towards the entrance, as Sirus erected a bone wall. Arrows began slamming into it, but these weren’t form the knight and didn’t hardly damage his wall. When he was finally able to deal with the axe and sword minions, he looked to see the Archer Knight was also bound by webs now, though he had no idea where the Queen and Steven had gone.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning slammed into his chest. Once staggered back to his feet, his eyes widened in fear. Two more knights were coming, the Shield Knight and the Mage Knight. He had never faced the Mage Knight, but the shield knight was his bane. Sirus quickly moved behind one of his bone walls as ice spells flew at him along with a massive fireball spell that completely destroyed his first bone wall. Sirus rolled behind the second bone wall, then created two more. He wasn’t sure what to do, run was the only thing that came to mind. He turned to do just that when he saw the Queen. His eyes widened in disbelief and fear when he saw what she was doing.

She looked right into his eyes but didn’t stop eating his dead warriors. More explosions from the mages, but Sirus couldn’t make himself turn away. A few naked drones ran towards the wall and began shooting webs at the mages. Sirus knew that wouldn’t do any good other than maybe buy some time. Though he assumed that’s what they were meant to do. Sirus forced himself to look away and shot some bone spikes at the slowly approaching mage knights. Another one of his walls crumbled. He wanted to shout at the Queen and tell her this was no time to have a snack but held his tongue, afraid he would be next. A shiver went down his spine as he heard the Queen’s voice.

“Create more walls. I need more time.”

Sirus took a deep breath, and he did as the Queen asked. He hated to see his warriors bodies being treated in such a manor, but now wasn’t the time to confront her. Sirus had his entire remaining clan depending on him; he had to survive.

He heard one of his warriors cry out, and he turned to see the Queen chewing on him. He went to open his mouth but closed it. This was his fault. He had ordered them to fight and had thought all of them dead aside from the ones he sent away. There was nothing to be done for the warrior now.

She would not go unpunished for this. He would get his revenge. Sirus created several more bone walls, at the cost of a good portion of his mana.

“They are coming. I can’t do any damage do to the shield knight.”

“My mana is slowly recovering now. I need just a bit more time.” The Queen said.

That’s right, she was a monster. She had to eat to recover her mana? “I suppose their lives were not in vain.” Sirus mumbled as he sent out several bone spikes. This time, he sent the spikes from above. He was able to take down one of the shield minions, although most of his spikes were blocked by some sort of invisible barrier. At the same time, two more of his walls were destroyed by a massive fireball. He created more bone walls. He was definitely going to have potion sickness after this battle. Pulling out another mana potion, he downed it.

“Captain!” Sirus heard a muffled sound from behind him and he whirled around to see several naked drones dragging something. He didn’t understand why the drones were naked, but the thought quickly passed as he saw it was the two warriors he sent away.

His eyes widened when he realized the Queen meant to eat them alive. “Absolutely not!” Sirus shouted as he darted towards them.

“You plan to stop me!” The Queen said in a menacing voice.

“I cannot allow this!” Sirus said.

“Hmm, how bout I just eat the wounded one, and we compromise since you are a friend of my Master.”

“No!”

Several drones turned to Sirus.

His eyes widened. He didn’t remember there being so many drones, and why were none of them clothed? He saw nearly a dozen more guarding something in the back. Pushing those thoughts aside, he spoke up.

“Please, let’s just deal with the Knights.”

“And why should I allow these weaklings to live? They would be better as flesh to create more drones and supply me mana.”

Sirus shuttered slightly. “These are all the warriors my clan has left. I need them.”

The Queen narrowed her eyes. “If this is the case, then why are they in the dungeon? And not with your clan. Better yet, what are you doing here? Aren’t your people in war with the humans and elves?”

Several explosions and bone rubble exploded from behind Sirus and he turned to see a dozen drones throwing webs at the Knights from behind one of his remaining walls.

“Now is not the time to explain this. But my entire reaming clan is in this dungeon. Your daughter sent us all into the dungeon.”

“I see. That little brat sent you all in here. She must be planning something. I’m sure you have already figured out you can’t leave now that you have passed the fifth floor,” the spider Queen smiled wickedly. “I will allow your warriors to live. But know that if it comes down to starving or letting your clan survive, then there is really no choice in the matter. Though, I will allow you to choose those who get eaten first. I prefer strong males, but as you are a friend of my Master, I’ll allow the kindness of choosing.”

Sirus took an involuntary step back, unsure how to respond.