"What should I say to him?" I looked at White, panicking.

"Just tell him you're lost." 

"What I can't do that!" I yelled.

"What do you mean you can't do it?"

"It's not something I would say."

"What does that even mean?" White exclaimed.

"I'm saying you should do it!"

"What, why?"

"Because it was your idea." 

"Fine, I'll do it," White replied.

He paused for a second, and a virtual type board appeared in front of him. Using one hand to type to some who I was assuming was Dune, I used that time to distribute the boss drops via the trade menu. Kuro insisted on taking the Emblem of the Watcher, but Atalanta also wanted it. In the end, they decided to roll for most of the loot. White only cared about the Necklace of the Stone Guardian, so I got left with the Belt of the Stone Guardian and the Stonebound Earrings for myself in the end.

White paces back and forth; his expression was shifting from little surprise to utter frustration. It appeared that White's arrangement with Dune was not going quite as planned, so the rest of the party and I could only wait in anticipation of the outcome. 

Quickly putting both items into my equip tab, I closed my interface with a quick swipe. Since the items I had just obtained required me to be level ten, I couldn't equip them just yet. I was a bit bummed by that fact, but it wouldn't be long before I hit level ten anyways, so I wasn't too worried in the end.

The dungeon entrance was just up ahead, so if we were going to be prepared for the upcoming battle, we had to rest for a little bit longer. Popping out a potion from my inventory, I drank it to replenish my health readily. Ingesting the contents down, a bitter aftertaste lingered in my mouth. I was in critical condition with low vitality to spare, so I didn't fancy waiting for my health bar to regen slowly.

"So." Kuro said, slightly agitated."What went wrong?"

White doesn't say anything, but he looks around the surrounding area, only to continue pacing back and forth.

"Is he alright?" Atalanta whispered to me, starting to take notice.

"Uh, hopefully."

"White!" Kuro exclaimed but gets ignored right after. White puts one finger on his lips, signaling that he wanted total silence. He didn't even look at Kuro, just kept intently staring at the holographic screen.

"Yeah..." Kuro sighed, "He's using too much of his brainpower right now."

"Do we wait?" I asked.

"Well, I think we have to."

The group sat around for what seemed like minutes on end. We weren't complaining since we were still beaten up from the last mini-boss encounter, but the growing anxiety and tension caused us to pace around unconsciously, the same as White was doing. I had to forcefully stop myself from moving around too much because my Stamina wouldn't replenish if I did so.

Eventually, White looked up from his holographic screen and gave us an awkward stare. He looked back and forth, switching from us onto his screen rapidly, eventually deciding it was best for all of us to group close to him. Motioning us towards him, he begins to speak slowly.

"Well, I got good news and-" White started

"Just spit it out already." Kuro interrupted, "No one cares if it's good or bad."

"The news is that Dune managed to get across the last remaining monster swarms, but he's currently stuck between a network of unknown tunnels. The problem is that he's asking me for directions to the main boss, but if we use the excuse that we're lost and he finds the boss room. He'll know we were lying."

"It's simple," Kuro stated, "We just wipe out the remaining players that are left."

"Yeah, but then we'll definitely be branded as traitors." Atalanta voiced.

"I didn't care from the start." Kuro said, "Some of them are deluded anyways."

"Hey!" Atalanta argued, "Some players are pretty good though, right, Winter?"

Atalanta looked at me, waiting for me to reply. She was looking at me like a puppy, waiting for me to come forward and talk Kuro out of it. I looked at Kuro in discontent, but she gave me a quick glare in response. Her dark demeanor was causing me to change my approach. I let out a soft and awkward sound as a result. Why was I dragged into this conversation again?

"I think we take our chances." White said, "I think we can do the boss before he finds us."

"Are you sure?" Kuro asked, "Wouldn't it be better just to kill them all?"

"What is your obsession with killing them?" Atalanta questioned.

"Well, why not?"

"The better question is, why would we?"

"Tch."

"Guys." I responded, "Er- girls. Let's listen to White's plan."

Kuro looked at me and narrowed her eyes, "If his plan doesn't work, im blaming you." 

"Wait, why me?"

"Because you're the one that suggested it."

"Wait, but isn't that a bit unfair."

"Don't care," Kuro said, crossing her arms.

I tried to voice my opinion but realized it wasn't going to go through her head regardless, so I rethought that idea immediately. On the bright side, at least we weren't going to commit actual complete genocide, so I guess that's something to be grateful for. Kuro ruffled her temples in protest, but we decided to listen to White in the end.

The boss entrance wasn't hard to find, perhaps because the opening had strange runes that were glowing brightly. I wanted to rest for a bit longer, but we needed to finish the boss hastily, so I had no chance. Walking up to the entrance, White suddenly stops. A message pops up in his peripheral vision, and with a few airs swipes, another message can be seen. This time, I could see it as well.

"So, what difficulty should we do?" White said.

"Do you even have to ask?" Kuro replied, "The hardest one."

"W-wait," Atalanta interrupted, "We can't do the hardest one, it's out of our level range."

"What do you mean 'out of our level range'?" Kuro exclaimed, "Why the hell not!"

"Atalanta might be right on this one." White said, "Chaos difficulty's usually meant for timed runs."

"What does that mean?" I chip into the conversation.

"Hard mode is already tough enough," White replied, "But Chaos difficulty is the only mode that lets you record your runs for the world to see. They appear in the leaderboards."

"Are the drops the same?"

"Somewhat, there are more drops, but the rarity tends to stay the same."

"Why can't we do the Chaos difficulty then?" Kuro interjected, "I mean, we might as well do it while we have the chance. I doubt we're going to revisit this zone after we've done it."

"Well, we might." White replied, "For quests and other stuff. We don't know that."

"We also have to finish the dungeon quickly," Atalanta also agreed, "We are short on time, after all."

"Ugh, fine..." Kuro groaned, "But you're all pussies."

White shrugged apologetically.

Upon accepted the conditions for Hard Mode and reaching the entrance, the faded runes started glowing brightly, illuminating a rock that shifted out of the way to let us pass. Upon entering the room, the stone gateway behind us began to turn slowly, closing the entrance on us and beckoning us to tread onward. 

The boss room, unlike the caverns, had a very smooth and flat floor. It was a bulky and massive dome-like structure with unknown runes embedded deep in each of the walls. It looked like a tomb or a room that was carved by an excellent craftsman, something you wouldn't have expected that was deeply embedded into the bottom of the earth. Something unnatural was afoot.

"Watch your steps," White whispered slowly, bringing a lit torch out from his inventory to better illuminate the surroundings.

He moved his hands left to right, surveying the area. What lay ahead was several cocoons with fine string silk, finely laid upon the ground floor, dormant. Upon peering closer, the whole room was holly scattered with these things! It looked like a breeding ground of sorts, maybe that's where all the spiders were coming from. The cocoons stirred, but none of them popped. The spiders were presumably in hibernation.

"Make sure not to aggro all of them." White remarked, "We don't want to get swarmed."

Atalanta nodded, nocking one of her arrows in preparation, and Kuro quickly changed her posture to reflect a more aggressive stance. White raised his hands with three fingers and signaled us to the edge of the room. One by one, we moved firmly behind him to reach the destination. We were careful to manage our footsteps, moving as quietly as possible. Upon entering the edge, White started counting down with his fingers, stabbing the torch in a nearby wall with his other hand.

Three.

Two.

One.

Swish!

A wind-biting sound emitted from behind me, and Atalanta immediately launched one of her arrows at the giant silky cocoon. The arrow exploded in a heartbeat, and several spiders swarmed out from the punctured hole of the chrysalis. This caused some of the surrounding envelopes also to break open. White looked at me suddenly, signaling what I had to do. I nodded, fully understanding what he meant. I had to protect the backline!

Lunging forward, the small swarm of spiders aggroed onto me all but quickly. I was using my shield as my primary defense, using several swings of my sword and the use of my legs to propel most of the spiders back. The few that managed to get through were dealt with by White and Kuro. Atalanta was perching in the back of the group, nocking arrow after arrow, killing as many spiders as she could see with the naked eye.

Occasionally, slightly more large spiders would appear in front of me. These spiders had a more significant health bar and defined levels than the small ones. Looking at some of them, they were level twelve, which meant that these were probably the leaders of the small groups. One of them targeted me, its beady red eyes twitching in my direction. The spider lunged at me with high speed; it's toxic fangs baring at me.

I knocked on the small spiders that were clustering around me away, focusing my attention on the bigger one. Using my shield to block the spiders' attack, the spider hissed and retreated slightly. Using that chance to counterattack, I immediately pummeled it with sword attacks and weave in my abilities to deal extended damage to the big spider.

-372
-412
-394

"Winter!" White suddenly says, noticing my position. "Don't stray too far from the group."

"Sorry." I immediately apologized, noting my footing.

Stepping back, I regrouped closer to Atalanta to provide her cover. One by one, the spiders were befalling, but one by one, more of them came. The seconds became minutes, and the minutes lasted like an eternity. Corpses, broken limbs, cracked membranes, and discolored blood dirtied the floor, but we didn't stop attacking. We couldn't stop attacking.

As the spiders were dying to decreasingly lower numbers, a loud screech reverberated across the walls, filling the room with an echo of outlandish vibrations. At first, I thought it was our teammates that made that loud noise, but it couldn't possibly be. This was probably the next phase of the dungeon!

"Spread out!" White yelled, "Prepare yourselves!"

White and Kuro dispersed to different corners of the room, aggroing some of the spiders with them. I only had one goal in mind, and it was to defend for Atalanta. Wherever she would move, I would move. Slashing through the remaining spiders on this corner of the room, I quickly changed pace and followed Atalanta as she sprinted close into the middle of the boss room.

Why is she going there of all places?

Taking out a torchlight of her own, she brightens the rest of the darkly lit stone area. We didn't know where the source of the screeching came from, but it was quite apparent as we peered directly upward. At the very ceiling of the room, a giant spider was seen slowly descending from a thick thread, making loads of unearthly sounds. Poison acid was dripping from his mouth, creating a sizzling sound as it touched the bottom floor. White, after finishing killing the small spiders in the other corners, promptly takes out his throwing knives and uses to sever the large thread.

He succeeds, and the giant arachnid tumbles down to the ground, hitting the floor with a loud thwop. With the spider disorientated, Atalanta throws the torchlight in her hands directly at the creature. It starts to burn the spider's whole body, lighting up the room even more illustriously. With his entire presence brought into view, I catch a glimpse of his name.

Not only did his name sound menacing, but his entire body also looked menacing. He was filled from the front to back with deadly black and red spots. Intricate patterns of layered colors spread around his abdomen, suggesting this spider had lethal toxins. Wrapping himself in silk, Elnar was able to extinguish the flames that were burning him. 

"Winter!" White sounded, "Drag all the small spiders to a corner so that we can focus on the large boss."

"I'm gonna need some help with that!" I reply anxiously.

"I can help!" Atalanta responded, switching her targets to the remaining small spiders.

I changed my focus and started running around the room in a circular motion. Dragging each and every one of the spiders in the room was a hard task, considering that some of them would be able to land hits in on me, but I managed to group them up by kiting some of them. I managed to position myself so my sword would pull them towards me with Tornado Slash. 

Atalanta pins the spiders to the back of some of the walls as they were chasing me, and she repeated the action forthwith. She would seldom send a rain of arrows that manage to hit all the spiders at once as well. It was a cat and mouse game, where I would encircle the room while Atalanta was decreasing their numbers with each rotation. As long as I had enough health to tank some of the mobs, it would be no problem to complete the task.

Sneaking a glance now and then at White and Kuro, they were mainly preoccupied with the main boss. Swirling around the spiders' eight-legged body, they would perform quick and seamless attacks on the spider. The spider would attack them nonstop with every joint possible. Poison spittle rained down on them, furthermore, the spider's sharp fangs would occasionally bore deep into the ground, causing rubble to fly out of nowhere.

It didn't matter though, because, throughout the whole ordeal, they got hit only once or twice. Since Assassin classes had such low HP though, their health bar was brought down to forty percent with just a well-timed slap from Elnars' pedipalps. Kuro kept attacking the boss; however, White slowly drew out of combat to drink a health potion. Upon replenishing his health, it was Kuro's turn to do the same. Alternating between attacking and replenishing health, the two players were able to chunk the boss effectively.

"Are we done here?" Atalanta asked.

"It would seem so," I replied.

The spiders that were chasing me were getting smaller and smaller in numbers, and eventually, there was a small enough group to where I could stop running and kill them off one by one. Atalanta sees me taking care of the mobs, and she changes her eyesight towards the elder spider. I do the same moments after.

White cuts off one of the spider's legs, and Atalanta accompanies up with a volley spray of arrows. The spider loses balance and tumbles to one side, giving me a chance to get closer to the mob. Kuro follows behind me, supporting my every move with a technique of her own. We were duly in complete sync, the boss unable to retaliate at all.

"Shadow's Edge,"  Kuro spoke.

I looked at her with surprise. It was the first time I had heard her say any ability.

Her arms shook, and her blade started transforming, enveloping itself in dark shadowy smoke. When the vapor cleared, her dagger's capacity grew twice the size it was previously. You would think the extra weight would slow her down, however, it looked like her quick attacks and agility did not diminish one bit. On the other hand, it seemed to have increased twofold instead.

Leaping around the boss and leaving shadow trails, every attack Kuro was dishing out would immediately critical strike, dealing double damage. White voices an audible chuckle upon seeing Kuro's change in speed, but he steels his hand in response.

"Shurrikane,"  White uttered, lifting one of his hands above his head.

He opened his hands, and an eight-starred shuriken started forming from pure umbra and darkness from his palms. The shuriken spun with renowned speed, getting faster and quicker as time marched forward. Wind tunnels formed outside the base of the star, and it grew to massive proportions. Leaning forward, White threw the massive projectile at the boss. Everyone had to move out of the way because it was just too grand to avoid.

The boss sees the projectile and tries to dodge out of the way, but it was too belated. The shuriken rammed into the side of the arachnid and knocked him back towards the edges of the dungeon wall. Despite being at the corner, the shuriken didn't stop there. The shuriken kept spinning, condemning the boss even deeper into the smoothened rock. Rooted in agony, the boss tried to forcefully free itself, only to get penetrated even farther. It screeched in pain; it's health value dropping speedily.

Kuro attacks after White's shuriken dissipated, and the unrelenting assault caused the boss to turn around sporadically. Kuro, annoyed, started cutting every one of its limbs to prevent the boss from wiggling. Elnar turned a layer of silk from his spinnerets to deflect some of the blows, but Kuro slashed through all of them like butter.

I stood in awe at the spectacle, and so did Atalanta, but we couldn't ingest the information for long. We quickly got to our senses and supported both of them once again. I didn't know how they got such cool looking moves, but it probably had to do something with their levels. Ignoring the thought from my mind, I concentrate only on decreasing the health of the boss.

We were so close to killing the boss! The sight at his health bar gave me extra confidence, and I continued to send vicious attacks towards the target. We were making good progress, and it seemed like the boss was dying without any hitches. I didn't know if fighting bosses was supposed to be this easy, but I think it was all good in-part because of a considerably coordinated team.

"Stop." 

A melodic and dangerous voice filled the atmosphere. The sudden change in pressure reverberated the inside of my skull and caused my brain to jump with searing pain. The others seem to be affected as well, immediately stopping their actions.

Looking to find the source of the noise, I am faced with a beautiful woman. Or rather, it was safe to call it a humanoid instead. She had long and dark red and black hair with deep crimson eyes. Chills ran into my spine. Her body surrounded in silk, her skin beautiful and porcelain, devoid of any scars. She turned to face me, her rear writhing in an undulant motion as a host of arachnoid legs exuded from her flesh.

"You...bandits." She spoke, her grave, and husky voice permeating the air, "Your greed always brings you to gold. But there is no gold here, only death."

Kuro locked her eyes on this new character and dashed towards the humanoids' figure, her dagger aimed directly towards the neck. She was stopped incomplete, however, as thick strands of spider silk jutted from the Spider Queen's hand to prevent Kuro from striking the imminent blow. Kuro, in an agile attempt to change her velocity, decided to use her remaining hand to separate the threads.

It would have worked, too, if more silk fibers didn't surround and enveloped her. The Spider Queen walked up to Kuro, lifting her hands and placing them below her cheek. Kuro could only grit her teeth in frustration as the strange being was examining her features.

"Begone," Elnalise spoke, using her other hand to point at the entrance. "Leave my children in peace." 

Atalanta threw an arrow at the Spider Queen in response to her words, and that gave Kuro enough time to free herself and retreat to us. White was too busy taking care of the other boss to intervene, but the situation had just turned for the worst. The giant Spider was regaining its footing, it's limbs slowly growing back, and we were faced with two bosses at once.

"Why the fuck didn't you tell us there was another boss!" Kuro shouted at White.

"Because," White said, "I didn't know either."

"Shit." Kuro replied, "I was hoping that wasn't the case."

"This is different from the beta. She didn't exist there."

"We should've done the easier dungeon mode." Kuro regretted saying.

"Well, it's a bit too late for that."

"Enough."

Several fallen spider corpses started rising from the ground in response, and the dead spiders that we had killed from earlier started spinning threads from all directions that filled the entire room. I tried to cut as much thread downs as possible, but there was no point unless the newly revitalized spiders died first.

"What do we do?" I asked White. This situation was the first time where I didn't have an answer.

"I'll handle big guy over here. Kuro and Atalanta will handle Spider lady. You get the small ones."

Enacting on White's order, we quickly shuffled into different positions. Thankfully, not every one of the spiders had revived from the dead, so it didn't take me long to manipulate them. With quick slashes and good footwork, virtually none of the spiders succeeded in affecting my health points, and the ones that did immediately regretted that decision.

Atalanta and Kuro, on the other hand, was having a tough time with the Spider Queen even though it was two against one. The threads that surrounded the map preventing Atalanta from getting any clean angles to fire her projectiles, while Kuro was getting slowly bogged down trying to maneuver around them. It also didn't help that she wasn't moving at double speed any longer.

Something didn't feel right for me, though. This boss wasn't looking to actively engage us in a fight, almost as if she was trying to avoid us. White mentioned that he didn't even know this boss existed. Could this be a change from the beta, or is it because we fought the boss in Hard Mode? What if it was something different entirely? 

"Help us, Winter!" Atalanta motioned towards me. Escaping my thoughts, I try my best to support her onslaught of attacks.

Divide and conquer. That was our method right now. I instantly charged at the Spider Queen, and the woman responded in kind. Severing my way through the silk threads that surrounded her, I try to pin her to a wall using my Shield Charge. She avoids it almost unnaturally; her speed was abnormally high. With her attention aimed at me, she raises her hand and bares her sharp nails dipped with poison. Before she could land a strike, something interrupts her.

It was Kuro! She appeared out of stealth to land a critical strike in that direction. The Spider Queen staggers backward, and Atalanta follows up with some arrow barrage attacks. I use that to my advantage to stun her, landing some clean hits on her body as a result. She stifles in pain, blood dripping from her skin. 

"Leave us alone!" She hissed loudly.

The giant Spider White was occupied on quickly switches it's aggro, and immediately rushes to protect the Queen. Surprised, White dodges out the way of his rampaging dash and follows him right after.

"You humans are always driving us further into the depths." She jeered, "There can only be so much to your greed."

"It's not money we're looking for," White said, "It's artifacts."

"These ruins are our home. If you destroy them, we will have nowhere else to reside."

"Then so be it," White replied.

We drive her further into a corner, but the giant Spider, Elnar, still manages to protect the Queen. He preventing her from being stunned by our abilities, causing her to be more vexatious than planned. Kuro suggested we switch our initiatives to the giant Spider first, but White disagrees wholeheartedly. White said that the Queen was our main priority, but something told me that both of them were completely wrong. 

It just didn't make sense. We knew there was a second boss, but the Spider Queen said that this place was just old ruins. I creased my eyebrows, thinking about how that might have connected. Maybe she didn't know. Perhaps she's under the assumption that she's the only one residing here.

The dungeon's name was called the Runic Caves, meaning that the final boss probably wouldn't be a Spider. It just wouldn't make sense to name the dungeon unless the boss was something of a similar naming scheme. The dungeon didn't specifically say you had to kill the Spider Queen, so maybe there was an option to spare her!

"Wait, stop." I said sternly, "Stop!" 

"Wha-what are you doing." White frowned, bewildered.

The rest of the group had the same reaction. This was no place to be joking around, so my claim had to be supported in reason. There was only one way to know, though, and I had to test that chance. We were in a tight spot regardless, so it wasn't a bad idea to try it anyway.

"You said that this place was a ruin." I said, "Where did you get this information?"

"Who are you talking to?" Kuro scowled.

"Me." Elnalise said solemnly, replying in my stead, "This dungeon has not been inhabited for a few hundred years. We made this place our home centuries ago."

"Maybe not something living," I persuaded her, "But what about something that isn't living. Like something inanimate."

"What of it, human?" 

"What if we're just trying to remove the other inhabitants so you can reside here peacefully?"

"How will that affect my children? Other humans will come here in the future, seeking treasure as well."

"Yes, but since they won't find anything, they'll just leave." I reply, "If you can make the secret cavern your new home, and use this floor to convince the humans the treasure was stolen or something, they'll surely leave you alone."

"Secret cavern?"

"Yes." I affirmed her, "We're just looking to get the treasure from the secret cavern. It's below this room, locked away somewhere."

"You lie."  She glared at me, her voice cutting deep.

"L-let me prove it to you," I stuttered, glaring at White. This was an excellent time to be using your Beta status to help us get out of this precarious situation! White seems to understand what my intentions were because he nods in my direction. A slight sigh of relief escapes my breath as a result.

White walks towards the middle of the room and peers around. Preparing his throwing daggers, he looks at each of the runes that enveloped the room. Cracking his joints, he quickly throws his kunai in a specific order, hitting each of the runes directly on the mark. The runes glow, one by one and below him, a stairway entrance opens up. 

The giant elder Spider grows restless in response, but with a quick wave of her hand, Elnalise calms Elnar promptly. She marches up over the stairway entrance, and her eyes dart around the exceptional spiral staircase. It appeared like she really didn't know there was another floor to the dungeon that she resided in.

"Very well, I believe you."

Kuro and Atalanta look at each other, not sure what to think of the situation. Atalanta shrugged, accepting the circumstance immediately, while Kuro was a bit more cautious. White, on the other hand, seemed more amused than anything on the events that just transpired, so he didn't say anything.

"Shall we go in?" White says.