Dungeon Bound Read online

  The pair stuck to a narrow path winding between large stone structures and the many stalagmites, taking care to conceal their approach. They kept a watchful eye out for a potential ambush. For several nerve-wracking moments, they continued to sneak across. The whole time Gabriel expected something horrible to jump out and attack them.

  Instead, they reached the sticky white mess without incident, and he gawked at the sheer volume of webbing.

  I really don’t want to meet whatever spiders can produce that much silk.

  Unable to guess at the silk’s source, he focused on watching their surroundings as the gorgon bent low and examined the still sticky mass.

  “Shouldn’t it have dried up already? It looks like they abandoned this place a while ago,” he whispered when she stood up.

  Shaking her head, she turned to him. “No, this is recent, which I find very concerning.”

  “Because of the salamanders?”

  “Yes, the matriarch would never have allowed any arachnids on her floor. So something hostile must have driven her tribe out. Or slain them.” Sthuza clenched her fists.

  “Well, we should probably explore for a little while longer. See if we can discover more about what’s happened,” Gabriel said. While his sense of self-preservation was screaming to leave, he didn’t want to leave without getting the fascinating woman some measure of closure.

  She smiled back weakly. “Thank you, Master. It means a lot to me that you are willing to support me in this.”

  “Hey, you’re my Prime-bonded, right?”

  That drew a light laugh from her, and they both smiled for a moment.

  He gestured for her to take the lead. “Lead on. I’ll follow close behind.”

  She smirked but did as instructed. They took a circuitous route along the desolate caves, occasionally stopping to look for clues or inspect anything suspicious.

  Gabriel took the time to check on his shield spells and faltered when he noticed that both spells combined had barely even dented his mana pool after ten minutes of full defense.

  I think Sthuza’s right. My pool grew substantially. If I spent a quarter of this monstrous pool on a single spell, that devastating blast makes more sense. Though, that also means I’ve improved at harnessing mana.

  Sthuza jerked up, drawing him from his thoughts. He glanced around again.

  “Sssomething isss watching usss, Massster!” she hissed, all of her head-snakes writhing and lashing about.

  The sinister aura blanketing him made it easy to accept her declaration as truth, so he dove inward and reactivated Magesight. This time he spotted their stalker.

  Hanging from the ceiling.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Surprise ruined, the figure sighed and dropped the hundred or so feet to land on the hard stone just ahead of the wary pair.

  “Greetings, Dungeon Master,” the spider woman said in a sultry purr.

  Her presence feels more hostile than Sthuza’s ever did. Like she wants to crush me.

  Gabriel swallowed against the fear rising in response to the monster’s threatening aura. “Uh, hello.”

  Nice intro there, idiot.

  “It was very nice of you to drop in and join us,” she continued as her six glowing red eyes tracked up and down his body.

  “To be honest, I was expecting to find salamanders living here,” he said.

  She shook her head as though saddened. Coal-black hair shifted and danced about her alabaster skin, and she crossed her humanoid arms underneath the largest pair of breasts he’d ever seen. A black silken wrap bound her chest, straining to contain her ample bosom.

  He let his eyes track lower and suppressed a shudder as he took in her massive arachnid lower half. Eight thick spider legs, each ending in a sharp claw, supported an abdomen larger than a draft horse. All of it covered in shiny black chitin.

  “They met their demise recently.” She cast him a lust-filled glance that sent a shiver down his spine. “Fortunately for you, my sisters and I are more than happy to take care of all of your needs.”

  I can’t tell if she wants to have sex with me or eat me. The vibe she’s putting off is totally different from Sthuza’s. Plus, I know I’m going to have nightmares about that hideous combination.

  “Thanks, but we need to be going,” he said, drawing an agreeing nod from his bonded.

  The arachne’s smile vanished. Three smaller arachne descended from the ceiling. The tips of their claws clicking against the hard obsidian ground was unnerving.

  “That’s unfortunate,” the larger one spat, her voice losing any luster and now sounding more like nails on a chalkboard.

  Gabriel flinched back at the sinister tone to the monstrous woman’s words.

  Sthuza placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder as she stepped in closer to him. Her head so close he felt several of her head-snakes gently brush against him, she whispered, “Arachne are one of the few species where the females are far more aggressive than males.”

  “You kill pack! You not get the male!” A deep, gravelly voice growled.

  “You dare challenge me, mongrel? Come out here! I will skin you like the rest of your filthy kin,” the arachne screamed, her voice painful to Gabriel’s ears.

  “Cindra kill you! Avenge pack. Then Cindra gets the master,” the bellowing voice growled.

  This time he was able to place the voice’s origin and turned quick enough to spot a massive hound barreling straight at him. He froze up at the sight of the bulky gray-and-blue monster rushing him, barely noticing the blue lava dripping from its fanged maw.

  At the last second, the muscular beast crouched low. It leapt over him and Sthuza, continuing its charge toward the screeching spider woman.

  Shaking off his shock, Gabriel watched the canine monster slam into the even larger arachne.

  His bonded released his shoulder and took a few steps back. “As much as I am loath to cooperate with that furry mutt, I believe we should assist this Cindra with slaying that arachne before she kills the dog and resumes her plan to make you a sex slave.”

  He shot Sthuza a glance and saw that she was already retrieving an ornate shortbow from a too-small pouch on her belt. Her attention was solely on the trio of arachne, now rushing toward the brawling duo. Dozens of head-snakes writhed and hissed as they glared at the hostile monsters.

  “I will delay those three. You help the flea-bearer with the big one,” Sthuza said, nocking an arrow and letting it fly at the closest of the approaching trio.

  “Cindra not carry fleas!” the huge hound growled before darting in again and chomping down on one of the other monster’s chitin-covered legs.

  “Why are hellhounds always simpleminded?” the gorgon grumbled.

  Not wasting another second, Gabriel sprinted to back up Cindra. He rushed a shield spell to give the furry beast some protection. Uncertain of how it would fare against the wicked black blades the large arachne wielded, he hoped it would be enough.

  I’m not even going to try blasting her with them in so close together. Don’t want to risk hitting the second friendly monster I’ve encountered. Friendly fire while it’s trying to protect me won’t make a good impression.

  Figuring he was near enough, without being too close, Gabriel pulled at his mana pool. Heart pounding, he forced the extra power into his still activating spell circle. The ethereal disk of glyphs brightened until he had to look away from the glow, but he smiled as he felt the spell complete, latching onto Cindra’s presence within the Weave.

  Releasing the spell, and feeling a noticeable chunk of his mana go with it, he immediately launched into a speed buff.

  He concentrated on tracing the most efficient glyphs, afraid of burning through his pool too fast. At the same time, he reached out through the Weave and tied the spell’s effects to both Cindra and Sthuza, then anchored a tendril to himself.

  Think like an adventurer, not an army mage. Speed is paramount in combat. Buff everyone but yourself, and the enemy is going to focus on you
quick.

  He channeled the mana needed to fuel the spell construct. Meanwhile, his worry grew as he watched the huge hellhound struggle to inflict any meaningful wounds on the durable and agile arachne.

  Damn, she can move fast. Must be the eight legs.

  He winced in sympathy as one of the sharp blades carved a bloody blue stripe along Cindra’s muscular flank.

  The large canine staggered back and howled in pain, but shook itself and charged at its opponent again, wide jaws snapping at the elusive prey.

  Gabriel’s whole body shivered when his haste enchantment activated. Still locked in close combat, the gray-and-blue hound shuddered at the same time then darted forward like a bolt of lightning.

  Even with the enhanced speed, Cindra wasn’t able to land a crippling blow. Still, as he watched, glowing claws raked along the chitinous abdomen of the enormous creature.

  That drew an ear-piercing shriek from the arachnid monstrosity. The insectoid woman whirled about in an instant and lashed out at the retreating hellhound.

  Cindra ducked low, narrowly avoiding the backswing of the slender sword, but failed to dodge the arachne’s spear-like leg.

  The hairy limb clipped the hound’s front paws, and Cindra went down hard, muzzle grinding against the scuffed obsidian floor.

  “Hey, ugly, over here!” Gabriel called out, trying to distract the stalking monster. “If you want me, you’ll have to prove your strong enough!”

  Her head snapped around. Six malevolent red eyes glared at him. “You will learn your place, fool!” she snarled, lethal fangs protruding several inches out of her mouth.

  Yeah, Sthuza’s fangs are sort of cute, but those are terrifying. Plus, that looks like poison dripping from them. I’ve got zero interest in kissing this bitch.

  He flashed the enraged monster his cockiest grin, then ignored her to channel his attention into another spell.

  If I remember my classes correctly, arachne have high resistance to magic, so there’s no point wasting mana trying to blast through her defenses. And it’s not like I’ve had a lot of practice with attack spells anyway.

  Reviewing and then discarding most of the glyph combinations he had more experience with, he focused on the sword that Sthuza had given him.

  My charging into melee will probably piss her off, but I don’t want to risk hitting the hellhound or wasting my mana.

  Nodding to himself, he reached deep inside, tapped into his mana pool. Then he began channeling his stored energy into a series of glyphs he’d never had reason to use before.

  It would be really nice if I could tell how much mana—

  Almost startling him into dropping the spiraling spell, a flash of green and black materialized before his eyes.

  Ooh, a mana gauge? Mana bar? Whatever. That could be useful. Most mages would kill to have one.

  His face burst into a crazed grin as he bumped up the mana invested in his spell. Gabriel studied the Interface for a second, watching as it decreased slightly before closing the siphon and redoubling his effort in shaping the glyphs.

  Not sure what the scale is in the grand scheme of things, but it’s nice to have a means of measuring. It should at least help with understanding some of the changes to my magic.

  He looked up from the stabilizing spell circle just in time to see the arachne looming over him, preparing to strike.

  Exhaling, he cast the spell, his arm tingling as power raced through his body and discharged into the silvery blade, causing it to glow a sinister red.

  A split second later and he’d have lost an arm. Instead, his magically enhanced speed allowed him to interpose his sword, and he staggered, his knees buckling under the weight of the blow.

  Damn! She’s strong!

  Gabriel shook his head, black hair whipping about and rolled to his left, trying to avoid the follow-up strike. Her other blade swished right behind him, parting the air and sending a shiver down his spine.

  That was too close.

  He kipped-up to his feet, surprising himself, but half-remembered training from his youth kicked in, and he brought his sword up before he got his eyes back on the spider woman.

  “You should just surrender and accept this like a good male!” she spat, the baleful glow of her eyes darkening as she slowly circled around him.

  Instead of replying, he lunged toward her and jabbed the tip of his sword at her humanoid torso.

  She parried, then countered with a swift strike that carved straight through his spell barrier, his coat, and deep into his left arm.

  Biting his lip against the burning pain, Gabriel retreated, careful to avoid tripping himself. He met her gaze again and swallowed at the hateful face staring down at him.

  Might not have been the brightest idea to attack her. Could have let the canine distract her and run away instead.

  He wrapped his left hand around the hilt, blood running down his arm, and raised his sword defensively.

  She advanced on him, both swords weaving in an elaborate display of skill and contempt for the threat he posed.

  A quick glance over his shoulder warned that he was nearing the wall, and he shifted to his right, trying to work around her, but she sidestepped and cut off his escape.

  Twin swords lashed out, and he blocked them. Her incredible strength left his arms numb.

  “You no take him!” the hellhound growled.

  Six red eyes widened in shock, and the massive monster spun around on chitinous legs. But not in time to avoid catching the half-ton canine’s lunge with her torso instead of her armored carapace.

  Blue-white flames glowed as Cindra latched onto the large woman and sank sharp claws into her tender flesh.

  Twin blades slashed viciously at the exposed flanks of the fiery beast, but Cindra kept clawing at the pale skin, soaking both monsters in a blending of bright-blue and dark-red blood.

  Gabriel saw the opening and seized it, swinging his sword with both hands and slashed through one of the thick rear legs with supernatural ease.

  The ease with which his glowing blade carved through armored chitin left him unprepared for the deluge of ichor that sprayed out. Or the wild flailing of spider limbs that accompanied the mutilated monster’s pained wails.

  Taking the powerful blow dead center, he flew backward, shield spell flaring brightly as he slammed into the dark stone wall.

  He gasped, the impact blasting the air from his lungs, but quickly rolled over and rushed back to his feet. Just as he stood, a guttural roar nearly deafened him, and the room brightened.

  Then the screaming began in earnest.

  Looking over, he blinked at the sight of the dueling monsters. The hellhound was exhaling a gout of blue-white fire point-blank into the arachne’s face. Despite the horrific attack, the spider monster twisted its blade. The gray-furred beast howled in pain as the curved sword carved deeper.

  Leaning away from the canine’s furious breath attack, the larger monster used several spider legs to shove the hound away. Despite her struggling, Cindra’s claws remained buried in the soft flesh of the screaming arachne. She kept pushing, forcing the hellhound back. The move shredded her own body, but the raven-haired spider woman finally threw the hellhound away.

  “This isn’t over!” she snarled.

  Gabriel blanched in horror as the arachne turned to him, revealing seared flesh peeling away from her skull on the left side of her face. Red blood ran down her pale torso to blend with the thick ichor painting chitinous plates.

  In the stunned silence that followed, she screamed something he couldn’t understand and sprinted down the tunnel, disappearing around the corner.

  With the closest threat fleeing, he turned back to check on Sthuza. His heart leapt into his throat when he remembered that she had intercepted three more of the terrifying monsters.

  He let out a relieved sigh when he spotted the elegant gorgon slipping a curved sword into one of the small pouches belted at her waist. Apparently, she’d had to drop her bow, and he watched as
she picked it up and stowed it in the same pouch.

  Head-snakes thrashed, hissing furiously, as she muttered something under her breath and then went about straightening her elegant, but torn, dress. One of her snakes noticed him, then twisted and jabbed her cheek with its snout. She looked up and flashed him a smile before her eyes narrowed as she spotted his bloody arm.

  “Damn, you furry mutt! You could have at leassst ssshielded him with your oversized body!” she hissed, then glanced around, not seeing the hellhound.

  “He’s over there,” Gabriel said, pointing across the room to where the gray-and-blue monster had landed.

  He sheathed his sword and used his newly freed hand to stem the flow of blood as he staggered over to the badly mauled monster that had rushed to his aid. “And he did save me.”

  “She, Master. And she did a terrible job of it. If I had known how weak she was, I would have shifted and finished those filthy vermin before you could get involved.” Her voice trailed off, and she continued to mutter. “Those stupid bugs ruined my dress too. I held back from shifting to protect it since you liked it so much.”

  He blinked at her.

  Don’t think she realizes I could hear that. Let’s just… pretend we didn’t.

  “He’s a she?” Gabriel parroted, glancing at the wounded monster struggling to breathe.

  Sthuza nodded, kneeling to inspect the free-flowing wounds covering the hellhound’s flanks. “A male wouldn’t have been interested in saving you. Or picking a fight with that powerful of an arachne.”

  “Will she be okay?”

  Sthuza didn’t look up, too busy cataloging Cindra’s various injuries. But several head-snakes met his gaze and then swayed side to side.

  “Is there anything we can do to heal her?”

  Sthuza finally looked up. “She is dying. But if you truly wish to save her, I believe you could heal her with your magic, though I warn you it will not be easy or efficient,” the gorgon said, her face grim.

  “I want to do it. Cindra didn’t have to help, and without her, that could have gone a lot worse.”