The spiders languidly bit into the [Dungeon Hound]’s corpse, taking the time to properly enjoy the unexpected meal. Most of them thankfully already had their fill with the previous desperate attacker, so they could afford this luxury.

Even Bored was chewing methodically, giving the food several seconds to let their acidic venom dissolve within their mouth as the resulting mash slid down their throat, blank eyes staring past the source of food into…

No wait, you’re just disappointed. Click couldn’t help but relate, and clicked their mandibles together in between bites. But for me, I’m just confused. What was wrong with those two?

According to Click and the other spiders, taste wasn’t something that was wrong.

I’ve never seen stats so low on a [Juvenile Dungeon Hound] before, can it even get that low? And those Skill levels were all one. Every single one of them! Even my earliest Skills could be leveled up plenty of times in less than a day, it’s like they never even killed anything before!

The spiders finally picked the first body clean, and moved onto the next one.

Wait, that’s exactly what that was. They never killed anything, they’re blank slates! This not only explains their physical weakness and why they went down so easily, but also their lack of battle experience. Even a hound that has been around for a while knows not to come here unless they’re absolutely desperate, and they would at least know to not do the same thing more than once if it doesn’t work the first time around.

Bored was still standing by the bones of the first meal. They looked back and forth between it and the next one, debating on whether it should join the other spiders or eat the marrow of this one in peace. The large arachnid simply wasn’t in the mood to socialize.

But how is it that these hounds, as large and seemingly well-fed as they are, haven’t gotten any kills yet? Almost everything that could count as a meal in here is a pile of ash, there’s no way any of the other hounds would have spared their hard-earned kills for those two. They would have had to do some kind of hunting. Even killing a fly would net some experience! That’s how us spiders leveled up as soon as we were born…

Click’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets as a terrible realization struck them.

[Command Subordinates]! Everyone, stop eating! Click screamed the words at the others with as much mental force they could put into it.

The other spiders immediately halted, many of them mid-bite, the strength of the Skill stopping them from even swallowing. They looked at each other with alarm at first, but then that morphed into frustration as soon as they realized there was no threat of danger attached to the command. Some were even starting to look resentful of being kept from their meals.

You, how many flies do we have in our nets? Click pointed to one of the [Webslinger Spiders] as they posed the question.

The spider in question raised five of its legs.

The other arachnids began to settle down, getting ready for a taste of the nostalgic meal.

How many of those are still alive?

Five legs still stayed raised.

The other spiders began to wiggle their mandibles, bits of venom and drool dripping from their tips.

Perfect! Release them.

All of the spiders froze. They looked at each other, and one even tried to scratch at the hairs it used to hear to see if they were working correctly before realizing that the Skill didn’t work through sound.

And let them eat the rest of our food here.

The other arachnids were no longer frustrated, or even angry. They were utterly incandescent. Limbs shook in the air, as mandibles flexed with enough force to crush a fly into paste… if their leader even would let them in the first place!

Click could see the despondent looks on the others. They’d made the mistake of ignoring the other spiders’ desires in the past, and learned how bad the consequences of that could be. At worst, [Command Subordinates] wouldn’t last as long and general disobedience would follow as soon as the Skill’s effect ended. With how few spiders there were and the level of micromanaging Click had to perform to prevent any casualties in combat, it was something Click couldn’t afford.

But at the same time, what Click was planning was also something they couldn’t afford to miss out on.

We need more flies, especially for the eggs. Click used their Skill to explain their thinking to the others. If you leave a bunch of the same kind of creature together, especially with food, they’ll lay eggs and make more of them. That’s what those other spiders did when we went on a hunting trip without them.

The spiders looked at Click, thankfully patient enough to listen without trying to fight the previous command, though not all of them were quite following along.

So if we do that with flies, they’ll lay eggs and there’ll be more of them! Take the rest of our food here, and move it to the furthest corner of the cave behind the web. Next, weave a web-like wall separating that area from the rest of the cave. Then, release the living flies inside that area, and let them mate and lay eggs. And finally?

The spiders looked at Click with a hodgepodge of confusion and blank expressions, though two of them had looks of excitement after having pieced it out for themselves.

More flies!

The spiders all jumped at that and began to run about, half of them heading for the web, and the others fighting over the half-eaten [Dungeon Hound] to drag it into place.

Do I have to do everything for you? [Command Subordinates], all of you over there move the food to the corner, you five, bring over the flies without killing or eating them, and the rest of you can weave the net.

The spiders got to work as Click oversaw them. Despite everyone’s sudden overenthusiasm, they were able to keep control and get the job done without any major hiccups.

Why did you make that web so thick? I can’t even see inside the area now, how will we know when there are flies ready to eat?

The weaver spiders looked apologetic, and began to tear down the redundant strands of silk.

Not that much! We still don’t want any flies to escape.

It didn’t take long for everything to finally be in place. The five living flies were deposited onto the [Dungeon Hound] corpse, with the webbed wall keeping them from leaving. Dirt and ashes spread over the silk reduced its stickiness to prevent the flies from accidentally being caught again, but it didn’t seem to matter too much as they preferred to stay by the food.

Click couldn’t help but feel a little bit of happiness, knowing that they’ve just secured a source of both food and levels for the soon-to-be newborn spiders.

Instincts again. Do I feel happy for the eggs or for the fact they’ll help us survive? But speaking of instincts…

Click felt a sudden urge grip them to check on the eggs again. Usually, the sensation would be somewhat weaker and only happen once or twice a day. It was much too soon for another flare-up.

It can’t hurt to take a quick look, and the instinct is really distracting. Fine then.

Click left the other spiders to their cheering and headed into the webbed structure, through the various twists and turns, and finally into the central chamber.

Inside were the eggs as Click had left them earlier today, glowing red with blurry black dots inside-

Click’s eyes went wide as they witnessed a sudden shift with some of the eggs happening right in front of them. The black specks began to coalesce into a defined sphere with small stick-like growths coming out of them. Eight of them, to be specific.

Limbs. They’re forming. Click took in slow breaths trying to keep calm, but a concerning thought intruded upon their joy. Why is this happening so quickly to only a few of the eggs, and why was my instinct triggered by it? I don’t have any kind of physical connection to them. Something else is at play.

And thus, Click did what they always did when presented with an unknown.

They found out.

[Observation]

 

Spider Egg (Level: N/A)	Name: N/A
Soul Link: N/A	Classes: N/A

Blessing	Source	Effect
Expedited Gestation	Dungeon (ꬺӪ𝕵அா ḒȈⱦ🅗ɐꞗǡ)	Unborn monsters develop at an incredibly faster rate.

 

Click wondered why they’d never done that before, but figured it was because these eggs weren’t combatants, so the System shouldn’t have any effect on them. The lead spider knew to admit when they were wrong however, and accepted that they’d learned something new today with a shrug.

Besides, it looked like this Blessing didn’t exactly apply to the eggs until now. Especially when a subsequent call to [Observation] revealed a nonexistent Blessing table for the eggs that looked the same as earlier that day.

I’ve never seen this table before, actually. The closest thing to it is the Bonus table, but that only applies to attributes and doesn’t have a “Source.” And this blessing was given by the Dungeon itself?

Click recalled something like this happening just before the intruders showed up. A “Dungeon Raid” event had occurred, a period of time where all sorts of creatures came in from the presently sealed metal door, and killing them resulted in the Dungeon itself granting additional experience points and rewards on top of the System-granted baseline.

The lead spider let their mandibles widen into a smile as they felt themselves settle down at this knowledge. It was a warm feeling, and they were quite moved by the helping hand at such a desperate hour.

However that warmth turned frigid as they saw about a third of the eggs begin to darken in color. Their cores were still black clouds, but somehow, they seemed to dissipate ever so slightly instead of further coming together like the others.

[Observation]

 

Blessing	Source	Effect
Siphoned Growth	Dungeon (ꬺӪ𝕵அா ḒȈⱦ🅗ɐꞗǡ)	Growth is temporarily halted as it is being used elsewhere.

 

What?! Click shouted in their head as they immediately got up and began to hurriedly pace around the central chamber. What do you mean growth is halted?! What gives the Dungeon the authority to do such a thing?!

It took a moment for the lead spider to settle down, and by the time they did, they’d burned through much of their anger. That rage however had just taken a new form; disappointment, concern, and hesitation. All towards the Dungeon.

I’m still grateful for the blessing, but this isn’t your web, these aren’t your eggs or your tribe. How come you get to decide what’s best for us? The lead spider clicked their mandibles together as they focused their thoughts at nothing in particular. They knew it wouldn’t do any good, but getting their thoughts out helped them focus.

And that focus led to another terrible insight.

Those two hounds from earlier, they were newborns! The Dungeon must have given them a blessing too! [Expedited Gestation] only applies to the unborn, so that must be why it didn’t show up when I used [Observation] on them. But why does it let them be born at peak physicals and before even us? How many more will they have by the time the eggs hatch?

And like a swarm, the terrible thoughts would not stop.

When the eggs that contained me and the rest of my generation hatched, the hounds all came out and attacked us together. We had a sturdy home that could keep them away back then, but nothing of the sort anymore. So if there are even more [Dungeon Hounds] being born already fully hale and no proper barrier, we might actually be wiped out.

Click put a taper to their fears and ran out of the web.

The other spiders were just winding down from their impromptu partying and looked over to their leader, suddenly feeling a chill run down their legs.

[Command Subordinates], we’re not done building today! More hounds are being born faster than spiders and the eggs will hatch soon. We need to be ready when they all come at us to eat the newborns, it’s time to build more traps! I want this entire corner covered in them!

Click looked over to the shards of bone and only partially broken [Dungeon Hound] skeleton.

And I have just the idea on how to make them stronger!