Seeds of Discordia

Roman and Liam raced over to Artem and Blair. Liam gripped a part of the webbing that was wrapped tightly around her and tried to tear it apart. No matter how hard he pulled the webbing didn’t tear or budge. He went to grab one of his curved throwing daggers, but as soon as he tried to run it against the string, he felt his Danger Sense flare back up.

He and Roman jumped out of the way of a couple of clumps of webbing that soared over the spot where they once stood. Liam turned his gaze in the direction of where the attacks came from to see six Orb Weaver Trapper Toxos standing not too far away from them. These spiders weren’t the size of rats like their lower leveled versions. From what he could tell they were about hip or chest level. Each were level eighteen.

Liam stared at them as they stood there waiting. Waiting for what, Liam didn’t know. He slowly and cautiously moved his foot forward. As he did this he noticed each creature fixate on him causing him to stop moving. He understood what they were doing. They were waiting for them to make a move.

“Roman,” Liam started. “Don’t move a muscle. They are waiting for us to move so they can attack.”

“Are you serious?” Roman asked as he glared at the creatures. “What are we supposed to do then?”

“Do you have any levels in any bladed weapons?” Liam asked.

“You know I’m trying to…,” Roman was starting to say.

“I know what you are trying to do,” Liam interrupted. “I’m asking if before you decided to go down that path if you got any levels in anything other than fist or unarmed Weapon Skills. Even a single level would be fine.”

Roman remained silent for a few moments as he thought about it. “I do have a couple of levels in Throwing Weapons, but why are you asking?”

“That should work…hopefully,” Liam said before explaining, “They are wary of us moving. Once either of us do they will attack. I have a half-baked plan, but it requires one of us to act like a decoy and the other to try and cut them free.”

“Then I should be the decoy since you have levels in bladed weapons,” Roman suggested.

“No,” Liam argued. “While you have speed and agility you don’t have a continuous movement ability with a really low cooldown. Unless you did get one that I don’t know of?”

“I do have a Utility type movement skill, but the cooldown is half a minute. I haven’t gotten it to level ten yet,” Roman informed.

“Yeah?” Liam said with some surprise in his voice.

“Yeah. I’ll show it to you later,” Roman replied.

“Sweet,” Liam said before getting back on track. “Anyways, here is the plan. I am going to run to my left and try to gather their attention on me. I’ll leave you one of my throwing daggers to use. Do not move until their focus is completely on me. Okay?”

“Yeah,” Roman answered as he licked his lips.

“Okay. I’ll move in three…two…one,” Liam counted down. As soon as he said one he started running to his left. At the same time he threw his throwing dagger as close as he could get it to Roman.

All eyes of the Orb Weaver Trapper Toxos followed Liam’s body. A couple shot out thick strings of webbings from the mouths, which confused Liam. He was so use to spiders on Earth that seeing them shoot webs from their mouth was a strange sight to see.

He was able to out run both as he picked up some speed and curved to the right, making the giant spiders turn their bodies to look away from Roman and the others. He threw a couple of his Throwing Daggers at each of them. Majority had bounced right off their back ends and legs while a couple scratched the top of their heads as they ran across them. They each let out a terrifying screech before moving their legs in an angry fashion. As soon as they were fully facing away from them, Liam changed his direction and ran straight for them.

All six spiders opened their mandibles and jaws and spewed another line of spider webs. Instead of trying to dodge them, Liam activated his Shadow Step allowing the webbings to fly through a puff of dark smoke.

Liam reappeared behind the Orb Weaver Trapper Toxo that was closest to him. Both of his Shadow Moon Blades gripped in his hands in a reverse grip. He spun his body as hard as he could and tried to drive the weapons into the abdomen just to be rebuffed. It had felt like he was trying to strike solid metal.

Liam clicked his tongue while Shadow Stepping away from this creature before two sharp blade like legs pierced into him from another Orb Weaver Trapper Toxo. He reappeared in front of a different one, sheathed his two blades and pulled out one of his Bone Crafted swords. He went to attack the head of this monster; however his sword was parried as it moved its left leg in to block. The sword instead ran along the side of its face, cutting the edge of one of its beady black eyes.

Liam used Shadow Step once more to appear at the side of another. This time, instead of attacking the head, he activated his Cleave ability and focused on the joint where its leg and body was at. He went to attack it, but as he did so he felt he wasn’t going to get to it in time as it moved. Instead he aimed for the joint that had part of the leg that curved downwards. His sword found purchased as it sliced through the joint, cutting that part of the leg off.

The Orb Weaver Trapper Toxo let out a painful hiss as blood started to slightly pool out of the wound. Liam smiled and was about to Shadow Step once more, but before he could activate it he felt his Danger Sense flare up a bit on his back right before a sharp pain stabbed into him.

One of the spider creatures behind him had stabbed one of their front legs into his back around his left shoulder blade. Thankfully for him it didn’t pierce too deep. He activated his Shadow Step and disappeared before it could strike again.

The moment he reappeared not too far away from the pack of spiders he took a look to at his parameters to make sure he wasn’t inflicted with anything. He didn’t see anything saying he was poisoned or left with a Disease Debuff, which let him release a sigh of relief. The pain caused by the strike wasn’t too much, but it was able to take out fifty of his health points from his current eight hundred and thirteen. Not a lot, but if these creatures trapped him and attacked all at once it wouldn’t take long before they killed him.

“Alright, time to see how resistant you are to other poisons,” Liam stated as he placed his sword away and replaced it with several small vials full of a powdery substance. He Shadow Stepped away from his position and reappeared in front of one of the creatures on the side. Before the monster could react he threw one of the small vials as hard as he could right at the monster’s eyes. The moment it shattered he used Shadow Step again to land in front of another that had its mouth wide open. He tossed another vial into its mouth.

He Shadow Stepped a couple more times tossing these vials at either their eyes or right into their mouths before jumping away from the monsters. He received a few notifications telling him that the Poisoned Powder he used had either worked in poisoning them or failed due to some resistance they had.

He grew a grin as he closed those notifications. Even if it didn’t work on a couple of them they were still affected but the dust covering their eyes, semi blinding them. Each of the monsters let out angry screeches as some of them moved about trying to clear the dust off their faces while the others were choking on the substance lodged down their throats.

Liam pulled his sword back out and went back in. As he popped in and out between each creature either appearing in front, the back, or on either side, Liam tried his best to cleave their legs off. He was successful with a two of the Orb Weaver Trapper Toxos, but failed as the others either parried his strikes or moved their legs out of the way right in time.

He tried this a few times. After getting into a pattern and groove he felt confident in trying to attacking their faces. As he reappeared in front of one of them, and noticed it was still trying to get the powder off of its face, he thrust his word forward. However, as he did this a sharp leg from one of the closest Orb Weaver Trapper Toxos suddenly reached out and ran across his right bicep, creating a nice long gash.

Liam retracted his arm back, not going through with his strike and jump backwards to dodge a strike from another. The moment his legs touched the ground though, three globs of webbings shot out and trapped his feet down where he stood.

Liam cursed as he looked down and tried to yank his feet free. No matter how hard he tried he wasn’t able to break free. He lifted his head back up and scowled at the monsters who were now rushing right for him. He brought the sword up and readied himself to attack the first spider creature that approached him.

One of the Orb Weaver Trapper Toxos, this one with a missing back leg, arrived within striking distance. It lifted its right leg up into the air and was ready to pierce it right through him like it was going to skewer meat, but before it could an orb of water suddenly collided into the side of its abdomen. One second later a streak of lightning flashed right in front of Liam. However, instead of lightning crashing into the spot where the water orb hit, Roman’s out stretched arm and fist punched it. Sparks of lightning had crackled around him before spreading over the monster. His fist had struck so hard it punctured right through the hardened shell.

The rest of the Orb Weaver Trapper Toxo’s body had turned to the right after absorbing the impact allowing Artem to bring his mace right down onto the creature’s face. Liam then saw Blair appear by the next Orb Weaver Trapper Toxo’s side, her body low to the ground then twisted and spun to her left side bringing her hardened stone scales axe up. The impact of the weapon colliding into the target had caused the monster’s side to lift up and flip over right and crash into the spider creature on the other side. She then jumped up while bringing her weapon over her head. As her body started to fall, she channeled her mana into her weapon to smooth it out and sharpen the bladed parts before striking down vertically.

Roman pulled his fist out of the abdomen of the monster and then turned to face another creature that was now skittering angerly at him while chanting, “O Earth, strong and deadly. Shift and form anew. Bring pain to my enemies as you show them your pointed Anger. Stone Pike!”

 The ground rumbled right in front of the monster as it ran. It had tried to stop as it realized what was going on but failed as a massive stone spike shot up and pierced right through the bottom of its abdomen. While the spell did not kill it, it did skewer it into the air. The monster tried to use its legs to free itself, but once more failed as Roman chanted his Wave of Ignition and cooked the spider creature alive.

Liam noticed the Last two were changing tactics and were starting to run away to gain some distance. Artem, in front of him, looked like he had things in order as he kept slamming his mace down over and over on top of the monster’s head. Liam then used his sword to cut himself free. It was hard at first, but once he created a slit the rest was easy to cut.

He looked at one of the spiders and started chanting, “Hidden within the dark, I call upon you to bind my target. Grasp them with the tendrils you possess. Remind them why they should fear their own Shadow. Grasp of the Shadows!”

The familiar shadowy tendrils stopped the monster dead in its tracks as they wrapped around the remaining legs and the body, rooting it in place. After that Liam ran right for the other Orb Weaver Trapper Toxo. As he caught up to the monster he noticed it had slowed down and swiftly turned around. A glob of webbing shot out of its mouth right for his chest. Instead of hitting a solid mass of flesh, Liam’s body exploded into a body of black smoke.

The Orb Weaver Trapper Toxo looked around for its target, understanding what he was doing now after seeing it so many times. It couldn’t find him. It looked left, right, turned around, but still didn’t see him. When it finally look up, the one area it didn’t think Liam would be, it was too late. The sharp blade of his scythe dug right into the head and pierced its brain. Liam pulled the weapon out, slicing through the small skull and opened a giant wound, allowing blood to pour out.

After killing it, Liam turned to look at the other Orb Weaver Trapper Toxo he had ensnared, but felt relief as he saw Artem, Blair, and Roman take it out. Liam breathed heavily as he watched the monster fall to the ground dead. He winced as the pain from his gash and the wound on his back reminded him they were there. He pulled out a Minor Health Potion and drank it. He gagged at the nasty taste but felt the pian from the wounds start to disappear. He looked at his bicep and saw it had closed. The area was an angry pink color showing that there once was a wound there, but still needed time to finish healing.

Artem, Blair, and Roman jogged over to him, a little worried after seeing him get sliced across the bicep. Artem looked the wound over to make sure there wasn’t anything wrong with it, but Liam waved him off.

“I’m fine,” Liam stated then with a grin added, “Twas nothing but a flesh wound.”

The three gave him a confused and concerned look as he chuckled a bit.

He waved it off as he muttered, “Never mind, you wouldn’t get it. Great job on the back up though.” He then looked at Roman and asked, “Was that the movement ability you mentioned?”

Roman nodded as he replied, “Yeah it’s called Static Flash. I can only move in a straight line and can’t turn myself once I use it. I also can’t use it in multiple successions yet. Also I need a running start before I activate it. However, once I do use it I create a trail of lighting that follows after me and collides into whatever I slam into. Or punch. Not going to lie that was the first time I tried to punch something while using the move. I am glad I didn’t break my arm or hand.”

Blair placed a hand over her face as she shook it while Artem and Liam just stared at him as he let out a short chuckle. As much as Liam thought the move was amazing, he also thought that Roman was an idiot for trying something out like that without knowing if he would hurt himself in the process. He then grimaced as he realized he wasn’t one to talk.

Liam listened as the three talked and replenished their health, mana, and stamina. As he listened something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. It was the Soul Orbs of the monsters they had killed. Usually they floated right above the corpses, but these ones were slowly inching away from the bodies. They were slowly moving towards a certain direction. That direction was the hill with all the webbings covering the holes that riddled the side.

Liam’s brows furrowed as he saw that. He moved away from the group and towards the cluster of Soul Orbs not too far away. He wanted to make sure they were moving in the direction he was seeing. His three companions noticed him move away and were puzzled.

“Everything alright?” Blair asked.

“I’m not sure,” Liam replied as he confirmed the direction they were slowly moving. He deactivated his Mana Sight and activated his Phantom Sight to see if what he was thinking was on the right course. To his surprise, he was able to see a faint ghastly green color emanated from the biggest hole on the hill not too far away, closer to the ground.

“What the hell,” Liam quietly whispered as he stared at it. As he continued to stare at it he noticed really thin ghastly green lines flash in and out, connecting to each Soul Orb that was around them. he wasn’t sure if the reason why the materials were moving slow, or even moving at all, was because of these lines and how thin they were. Not wanting to let them get away, he summoned his Spectral Lantern and harvested them before they could get away.

“What was that about?” Roman asked, a little concern etched into his voice.

“The Soul Orbs…,” Liam started as he looked at them. He noticed the confused look on their faces and realized they didn’t really know about them nor what his new class could do. “Do you remember the things that the Hubristic Arisen Lich tried to use to fill that magic circle back on the sixth floor in the Tutorial Area?”

“Yeah. Those creepy orbs that were floating above our heads,” Roman stated.

“Yeah,” Liam nodded. “Well, after my class evolved I’ve been able to see them. I can collect them with my Spectral Lantern.” Liam, still holding the item even after it finished harvesting the Soul Orbs, showed them it. “They are like another resource I can use to replenish my Spirit Pool and a new Craft I recently got.”

“Of course you got another Craft,” Roman teased.

“Not right now,” Liam said with a flat look. “Anyways, thanks to my new class I can see the Soul Orbs that appear after we kill a monster. Not only can I see these things, I recently got an ability called Phantom Sight that allows me to see Phantoms, Spectral, or any other Spirit type creatures. Having a Spirit Pool and a Spirit type class also gave me an extra effect with the ability that allows me to see other spirit type abilities being used.”

“Okay,” Roman said, a little confused, “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, I noticed the Soul Orbs were slowly moving,” Liam continued to explain. “They aren’t supposed to move unless someone is collecting them or using some type of an ability to move them.”

Blair narrowed her eyes as she started piecing things together. “Are you saying there’s something out there using spirit type abilities to collect the Soul Orbs?”

“I saw Spirit Mana being used to pull the Soul Orbs in that direction,” Liam stated as he pointed towards the hill.

“What can do that?” Artem asked.

“Don’t know,” Liam shrugged. “However, with my, and yours, recent experience…There are two types of things that can do that.”

Roman and Artem tried to think about what he meant. It was Blair who voiced what Liam was thinking.

“You think it could be a Necromancer or a Lich?” Blair asked.

Liam nodded.

“Are you serious?” Roman groaned. “What the hell is one of those doing here? I thought this was a poisonous spider dungeon?”

“We don’t know for certain if it is one of those,” Liam stated. “And we won’t know until we get there.”

Before anyone could say anything else, loud painful roared filled the air, causing them to turn in the direction they came from. In the distance they could see six Diseased Cave Trolls appear from a few more holes on the ground.

“Let’s focus on what’s before us now. We’ll worry about that problem when we get there,” Blair stated. “It’s no use worrying about it when it’s not in front of us.”

“Alright,” Roman groaned before stretching. “I can do that for now.”

Liam shook his head. He stared off into the distance where the hill was. It was growing the more they proceeded further into the dungeon. The more the waves passed the closer they were getting. He then looked at the current creatures they were about to face. He knew Blair was right and they had to focus on what was in front of them, however…the fact that there could be a Necromancer, or a Lich created a knot in his stomach. Their last encounter with either of the two were not pleasant. They were still underprepared to fight one. He just hoped he was wrong, and it was something else entirely.