Aeris winced as the rancid stench of acid and decay assaulted her senses. She held her nose in disgust as she slid down the drider’s throat, the slick, pulsating walls squeezing her deeper into the darkness. The air grew thick, oppressive, and hot, and soon her feet met the acrid sting of stomach acid.

 The burning liquid soaked through her boots, sizzling against her skin. 

She cursed under her breath and glanced down at her tattered uniform.

“Great,” she muttered, “ruined. Again.”

The gurgling around her grew louder, and the sloshing acid rose higher. 

Aeris narrowed her eyes, taking in the quivering walls around her, and with a sharp breath, she vanished Shadowstep whisking her away to a higher vantage point, leaving her perched above the acidic pool. She grimaced, scanning the grotesque chamber. 

There was no point in going wild, flailing at everything in sight it had to be precise, deliberate.

She wiped her brow, thinking through her options. 

“There’s got to be something vital in here,” she murmured, eyes darting through the darkness.

 “A heart or brain. Something squishy and breakable.”

With careful steps, Aeris moved deeper into the monstrous anatomy. 

Her eyes gleamed as she spotted something unusual fleshy door, glowing with the same golden flames that coated the drider’s body. 

She felt a tinge of satisfaction. 

“Bingo!”

She summoned a blast of freezing wind, casting Glacial Blast, and the golden fire flickered and died under the icy pressure. 

Without hesitation, she summoned her Necrotic Sickle hacking into the fleshy door blood dripping from the freshly made wounds.

 It tore open with a sickening squelch, revealing a hidden chamber. 

In the center of the muscle lined space rested a massive black heart, each beat spewing golden flames into the air.

Aeris tilted her head, a faint smirk tugging at her lips.

 “Sorry about the heartburn.”

Without further delay, she lunged forward and drove her sickle deep into the pulsing heart. 

The rot spread quickly, black veins crawling across the heart’s surface. 

It shuddered, spasmed, and decayed before her eyes. 

The drider’s anguished cries echoed through the chamber, the very walls contracting and convulsing in response.

Aeris steadied herself as the floor buckled beneath her.

 The walls closed in, the chamber collapsing as the drider’s body acknowledge the damage.

 “Shit! I'm not dying like this,” she hissed, casting Black Miasma in a desperate attempt to rot her way out. 

Her magic hissed and crackled, eating away at the flesh. With one final leap, she tore herself free, rolling out just before the chamber collasped.

She landed hard on the ground outside, breath ragged, body screaming in pain. 

Her left ankle throbbed, sending sharp jolts of agony up her leg. 

She gritted her teeth, forcing herself to focus.

The drider, Velissa, lay before her, twitching as the last remnants of life drained from her body. 

Her once-bright flames extinguished, her enormous form now still, her black eyes glazed over. Aeris watched the last death rattle escape the beast’s lips.

A chime rang in her mind, the familiar sound of the system. She exhaled heavily as the notifications blinked into view.

---

System Message

Dungeon Boss: Velissa, Weaver of Searing Flames — Slain.

Level Up!

Necromancer: LVL 13 → 29
Assassin: LVL 10 → 26

---

New Skills Acquired:
Necromancer —
• Corpse Explosion
• Languid Touch
• Spectral Swarm
• Grave Bind
• Bone Spear

Assassin —
• Viper Fang
• Silent Approach
• Sanguine Slash
• Fatal Flourish

---

New System Skill:

Raise Thrall
Skill Description: Raise the soul of your fallen foes as undead thralls, their power becoming thy own. Their loyalty to the caster is absolute.

---

Aeris collapsed to her hands and knees, utterly spent. 

The fight had drained nearly all her mana and stamina. 

But now, as she stared at Velissa’s corpse, a thought formed in her mind.

No time like the present.

She dragged herself forward, placing her hand on the fallen drider’s chest. 

The blackened flesh crackled under her touch. 

Aeris whispered the incantation, voice steady despite her pain and exhaustion.

“Raise Thrall.”

A blood curdling scream filled the room, shaking the very air as Velissa’s corpse twitched violently.

 Sickly green light burst from the decaying body, twisting and forming into a new shape.

 The light ebbed, revealing a skeletal version of Velissa, her once-glorious golden flames now burning with an eerie emerald hue. 

Her eyes, once black and lifeless, now blazed crimson  rubies.

Velissa—no, Melina, as Aeris would soon name her smiled wickedly.

 “Mistress,” she said, her voice dripping with reverence, “what is thy command?”

Aeris smirked, resting against a rock to catch her breath.

 “Melina,” she said softly. “That’s your name now.”

---

System Message
Thrall Acquisition: 

Melina, Weaver of Emerald Blight

LVL 36 — Undead Drider

---

Aeris's mana surged, revitalized by the success of her necromantic creation. 

A brilliant idea sparked in her mind, and she systematically raised the two Huntress Scurriers and the remaining Spiderlings as thralls as well. 

Their reanimated forms followed her commands, their once dead eyes now glowing with sickly green light.

“They’re disgusting,” Aeris muttered, scratching her nose, “but I guess having an undead horde has its perks.”

With her strength ebbing and a new army at her side, Aeris dismissed her thralls for the time being, sending them back into the shadows.

 She was pleased with her growth,  but as the adrenaline faded, exhaustion and prangs of pain plagued her again. 

 She’d need a few hours of respite after all that extracurricular exercision.

Staggering to her feet, she limped out of the labyrinth, her mind already churning with possibilities and thoughts of a certain girl.