Chapter 27: Infiltration

 

[SKILL LEVEL UP!]

[Minion Synchronization LvL 8!]

Minion Synchronization: LvL 8

Synchronize your senses with a loyal minion to take control of the target for the duration of Eight Minutes. Duration scales with skill level, effectiveness scales with bond. COOLDOWN[12 HOURS]

 

*Suck* *Suck* *Suck* *Suck*

Once more, the familiar level up notification hit my screen as I sat in the jaws of the Matriarch.

Roughly two months had passed since my captivity began and in those two months, something had occurred that I hadn’t accounted for.

I was tasty.

*Suck* *Suck* *Suck* *Suck*

TOO TASTY!

Through these past months, the spider matriarch had been sucking on my body during every second of the day! It had become so bad that during my routine squeaks, I could see the spider queen herself was significantly withered, the once hulking mass of chitin and bug meat now but a hollowed and starving shell of her once menacing stature!

Apparently I was addictive, and any attempt from the other spiders to feed or offer up food to the queen was met with disdain with the matriarch even laser eyeing one of her yellow-eyed commanders!

So now a new plan was in play, my patience rewarded.

One to capitalize on the Matriarch’s weakened mind and addiction that was my rubber body…

Wow that sounds incredibly lewd.

*Suck* *Suck* *Suck* *Suck*

In any case, exploiting an enemy’s weakness is warfare 101! I just needed to pick my moment. From my constant scans of the surroundings, the egg chamber was roughly thirty meters wide, and a hundred meters tall, enough to accommodate the gigantic spider.

However the tunnels that led out of the chamber actually connected to a single corridor that led back to the rest of the lower catacombs and sewers.

A potential killzone.

My initial tactic in combating the bug menace had been a success. At least until the heavier spiders showed up, introducing a problem that my army had which was a severe lack of magical firepower.

Thankfully, I had the remedy.

And it lay in Hector's class and the gemstones coating the walls.

There were two ways out of this mess.

Either I dominated the phase spider and by some grace it wrestled me from the jaws of its maker and teleported me out.

Or the Queen was slayed during an all out assault.

*Suck* *Suck* *Suck* *Suck*

Of course, I also factored in dominating the phase spider during the ensuing chaos but I'd rather not leave my soldiers to die and be pursued by endless bugs.

So the Queen had to die. I was unsure if I could dominate her even in her current state. So rather than be at the mercy of the massive bug and her army if I failed, I would even the playing field.

And it started with Hector.

[Minion Synchronization Available!]

*Suck* *Suck* *Suck* *Suck*

It was time.

I reached out, my consciousness supplanted in my skeleton once more.

Hector’s bones shifted, the skeleton shivering like a well oiled engine, no creaks in its joints thanks to the slime coating parts of his skeletal frame.

Eight minutes.

In and out.

That's how much time I have to infiltrate and retrieve a gemstone.

The thing to note about all undead, is that they were all pretty unnoticeable thanks to their undead trait. With no life force to speak of, undead were able to go about virtually invisible unless in large quantities. The one thing setting most undead back from their potential as ruthless and effective killers being that they were all bloodthirsty, unfocused, sluggish. At least the lower tier ones were.

But take away those negatives?

A scary thought. A recipe for a nightmare.

One that I would now become.

After one last system check, I piloted Hector's now naked body and was off, not wasting a single second as I trespassed into the Spider Monarch’s domain.

Activating Hector's newfound conceal ability, I combined every element of stealth I had at my disposal to intrude unseen.

My body was now light, and the area around me warped, my skeletal form almost appearing wavy even to myself, like a distortion caused by a gust of wind. Perceivable but at the same time not.

Moving rapidly, visions of my time as a hero plagued my mind. More specifically, visions of me and Hector. Not the skeleton but my companion of old.

Memories of the perverted master assassin, the days we would sneak into bars, steal money from nobles, and infiltrate into the woman's sauna.

Of course the infiltrations were me always attempting to stop him, which would result in a cat and mouse chase with both of us being caught and beaten up by Chloe and…

Hmm. An odd sensation, a name just out of reach but on the tip of my metaphorical tongue.

I dispelled my thoughts, continuing with the mission, each step filled with purpose and avoiding the webs that would alert my captives.

Seven minutes left.

I crept quickly, but silently. The slime on my naked bones muffling any sound caused by my swift movements.

Six minutes left.

Damn, the pathway took longer than I thought. Then again, it had been two months since I had last been carried through these cavern halls as a prisoner.

Now I was a delver, a thief in the abyss entering into enemy territory to pilfer from my enemy’s coffers.

Just like old times.

“Screk?”

Suddenly I stopped, my body locked mid-pose as a spider shifted, looking in my direction.

Crap.

Thanks to Hector’s acquired soulvision, I could see the energies of the spiders in the dark, allowing me to avoid the bulk of the monsters either scurrying or idling about with the concealment skills I possess making me invisible.

Yet… This tarauntal was staring at me, it was a red-eyed one, a tier two spider. Had I tripped a web? Had I accidentally triggered a trap I wasn’t aware of? Or did it see through my skills?

No, of course not. Thankfully Trap Finding registered the webs as a type of trap, alerting me if I triggered one. Still, it was staring at me. Almost as if aware that I was there in the dark.

A moment passed, then another. Each second fading by another one wasted.

As deep as I was, if it spotted me and alerted the others…

I held my metaphorical breath, a staring contest ensuing between me and the small spider that held me captive.

Then it moved, scurrying away.

I pushed forward. Nearly there, my skeletal eyes picking up the massive core of the spider matriarch sequestered at the far end of the corridor.

Taking care to avoid the webbing at the entrance, I glided through, bypassing the hundreds of blind taratuals that scurried about with my vision momentarily settling on my rubber body held captive.

Tsk! Every fiber of my soul wanted to stab the monstrosity, to be cleaned, to be free! TO ENACT VENGEANCE FOR COVERING ME IN ICK!

But that wasn’t my objective.

Five minutes left, I acted quickly, heading towards the glowing gem piles and crystals, confident in my ability to remain unseen and avoid the hundreds of spiders scurrying about.

*Suck* *Suck* *Suck* *Suck*

In the chamber, I reached down, grabbing several small glowing crystals, pocketing them into a pouch crafted from the fabrics looted from various coffins littering the catacombs.

Four minutes left.

I turned to leave, observing the Matriach’s champions that consisted of the phase spider and the Knight, both unmoving despite my intrusion.

Then my undead gaze spotted the piles of dungeon cores. The beady hearts of defeated dungeons that were all held captive by the Queen enraptured with my taste.

A risk.

I know.

But… What if I could fashion a weapon from one? Dungeon Cores were highly prized artifacts after all, and made for great conductors of magical energy. If I had a monster capable of using one…

The decision made, I shifted, stepping lightly, walking behind the large blue phase spider that stood oblivious to my presence. I was so close, too close. The furry hairs and encrusted gems on the arachnid visible to my eyes.

Ick.

I reached out, grabbing one of the cores as I inwardly cringed. I could hear the matriarch’s sucking, the subtle *Suck* *Suck* *Suck* *Suck* repeating over and over again.

Ugh!

I grabbed hold of a core, the little sphere of energy pulsing for a moment as it reacted to my touch.

Suddenly! An intrusion! The core attempting to dominate Hector! To remove my will!

I could feel the dungeon core’s mind, no words or feel of intelligence but rather something cold and unfeeling, like a gush of ice cold water smashing against my face over and over again. Each splash of mind juice attempting to breach my defenses.

If I were just a monster, I would undoubtedly have lost Hector, yet, I possessed something it did not. Something it couldn't replicate.

Human will.

And I would not lose to some two-bit defeated dungeon-core.

I grabbed the core fully, a visible shine of light occurring as its advances were rebuffed.

YES!

*Suck* *Suck* *Suck* *Suc-*

Suddenly the cavern rumbled, a sudden silence coating the entire chamber.

NO!

The matriarch shifted, every spider that had been spidering now stopping dead in their tracks to focus on one thing.

The intruder.

Me.

Ah, Quack.

A/N

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Link takes you to chapter 28!

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/85034/the-hiro-is-a-rubber-duck-a-dungeon-core-adventure/chapter/1604570/chapter-28-phase-1