The sound of death rang through the cavern. It echoed off the stalactite-ridden ceiling and back onto the poor creatures who were its cursed targets. The faint blue light of the glowing fungi illuminated the source. [Dungeon Hounds].

Click had seen them before, and most of these were the Juvenile variant, so the [Spider Army Commander] was ready to relax. In fact, the miniscule raids performed by small groups of hounds was common enough to the point where the sound of their scattered howls just made the lead spider roll their eyes.

The sounds of the collective dozens, if not half a hundred screams filled every cubic inch of the cave with raw bleeding emotion. Rage, hunger, death! They had it, they felt it, they would bring it.

It took everything for Click not to lock up in place, but the spider powered through and sent a command to the others they were with.

[Command Subordinates]! Move, get back to the fortress! This is war!

While the many others who had come with the [Spider Army Commander] on the raid were themselves paralyzed by the sound, the Skill overrode whatever instincts or emotions kept them still and forced them to move.

The spiders all ran, with Click sitting on top of the largest of the group, as they entered the fortress through its side entrance that was thankfully devoid of attackers. A few straggled behind the rest of the group, carrying the two pieces of loot from the treasure hunt, and placed them next to Click as he took his spot above the fortress in a small safety net that gave a full view of the cavern ahead. Several of the smaller spiders took their place in the open space just below.

The [Spider Army Commander] surveyed the fortress’ grounds and the ensuing battle below, and… there really wasn’t much of a battle.

The [Dungeon Hounds], mostly made up of Juveniles along with few of the next stage, stood on the outskirts, slowly pawing their way forwards, apparently incredibly wary of the many traps Click had set up.

Just outside of the fortress was the [Alpha Dungeon Hound], the highly evolved variant had come out of nowhere and was barking at the others whenever they stepped too close to a whipcord or into the range of the ranged attack spiders. The Alpha even whimpered when one of the Juveniles was struck with a wad of webbing on its fur from a skillful shot.

So sensitive… Wait, is that hound directing them? [Observation], tell me everything. And I mean everything.

Wait, did I miss that detail about the name? And WHAT?! It has [Command Subordinates] too?! And why does it have so many bonuses?!

Click paled at the threat before them, but shook it off.

I’ve fought stronger. The intruders who came and destroyed our last home had big numbers just like that… though maybe not as big. But there were three of them rather than just one, and they had extra protective skin and those tools. Howl is the only one with big numbers, the rest are fodder… mostly. But that’s all they have.

The [Spider Army Commander] wracked their brain for a moment before committing to a plan. They took everything into account about the enemy army and its leader, as well as the strengths they knew the other spiders possessed.

[Command Subordinates]. Veterans, to their back! Go around the army and distract their leader! You, one [Web Spider], follow them too, but stay behind them. And all of you [Hunter Spiders], follow behind them but break off before they reach Howl.

The swarm of arachnids complied, running out the side of the fortress and through the trap-infested no man’s land. The hounds gave them a cursory glance, but didn’t act. It wasn’t hard to keep to their orders. They knew what awaited them where the spiders walked, and instead chose to continue probing the fortress’ many defenses.

The hundred or so smaller spiders broke off from the larger group and began to make their way to the [Juvenile Dungeon Hounds], but quickly froze in place several feet behind the back line of predators.

[Command Subordinates]! Stop! Do not engage with them just yet. Stay spread out in the trapped area so they don’t try to attack you either.

The tiny arachnids complied and began to distance themselves from each other.

One of the hounds, who was focused on a particularly dense grouping of spiders, let out a low growl before taking a step back. Right into the line of sight of a whipcord trap.

The tightly bound line of webbing was cut loose and slammed onto the [Juvenile Dungeon Hound], making it yowl in pain.

Howl’s attention was cut away from the approaching swarm of veterans as he let out a melancholic howl for his injured brethren.

Easily distractible, and for what? A weak and expendable soldier? Good. Click thought to themselves before issuing the next command.

Veterans, attack! You, veteran [Shadow Spider], sneak behind the Alpha and wait for further instructions before you strike.

They did just that, with Bored leading the front charge.

The [Alpha Dungeon Hound], still looking away, was caught blindsided by the charge and subsequent bite to its flank. He let out a noise that was closer to a scream than a yowl in response, but it wasn’t a sound of pain. It was rage.

Bored braced itself as Howl struck back with a paw. Another flying charge from another veteran deflected enough of the blow that it only scratched the Alpha spider.

Despite both combatants holding peerless rankings amongst their respective species, especially in Body, the fact they were different species made all the difference in their clash.

Bored took a heavy scratch across its carapace, with pieces of chitin chipping off as ichor dripped out of the gaps in its armor. Sure, the massive spider could take more hits like those, but Howl was more than ready to inflict them.

As the [Alpha Dungeon Hound] wound up to deliver another hit, Click acted. Everything was in place, and now was the time to put the plan into action.

Now! [Shadow Spider] behind the Alpha Dungeon Hound], run back to the other veterans and hand them both ends of the silk!

The stealthy arachnid quickly made its way back to the fighting group without being spotted, and let the spider that had hitched a ride on top of it hand over the results of its hard work to a pair of veterans.

The [Web Spider] with the ability to weave metal webs had jumped off the [Shadow Spider] while it was undetected and had woven a lasso around the back paw of the [Alpha Dungeon Hound]. Click had instructed it to add two ends to the lasso, such that two different groups of spiders could hold onto it.

Two pairs of large veterans grabbed onto either end and pulled as they ran backwards.

Howl, with his weight shifted to his front as part of his next attack, was swept off his feet and flew back a solid foot before slamming into the ground.

The veterans continued to pull until the rope was taught, with all three groups now in a straight line with Howl stuck in between, the lasso now digging past fur into his skin.

All according to plan.

The only reason that trick worked with the boar from earlier was because it was too busy trying to attack the treasure. Click thought to themselves. But this jerk isn’t distracted by something like that. It just wants to kill us! So the only way to hold it in place is from two angles to keep it pinned, since if there was only one side to that lasso, it would just run at whoever was holding it. Two groups means that it can’t run at either of them, let alone the other [Dungeon Hounds]. Especially because…

Click’s mandibles slowly rose into a devious facsimile of a smile.

[Command Subordinates]! Smaller spiders waiting in the trapped zone, run in and attack the army of hounds! Your goal is to push them backwards!

The hundred or so spiders jittered for a moment before running at the [Dungeon Hounds] in a dead sprint. Mandibles primed with poison, the swarm of a hundred arachnids crashed into the neat row of predators and pushed them back with their bites.

That was all the difference the trap masters of the tribe needed. [Web Spiders] snipped the lines holding the many whipcord traps in place and sent them flying into the army of attackers. [Shadow Spiders] and [Webslinger Spiders] let loose their own flurry ranged attacks, made up of both sticky wads of webbing and orbs of venom, and struck both open wounds and vulnerable orifices.

A loud series of howls erupted across the front lines, filling the entire cavern once more with the emotions of [Dungeon Hounds]. But these weren’t the cries of unbridled rage and hunger. They were just cries.

Of pain and sadness.

While every living creature who made their home on the first floor of the Dungeon, along with several monsters on the second floor who were passing by the separating tunnel, heard the howls of pain, there was one being present who heard them louder than anyone else.

Howl the [Alpha Dungeon Hound]’s ears shot up as his head quickly rose and turned towards his brethren. The metal wire tied around his leg he was gnawing against was quickly forgotten, as the pain of his fellow hounds overwrote any pain around his ankle.

Howl joined in with his brethren with the sound of his namesake, then took a deep breath while bracing himself. And then, he ran.

The [Alpha Dungeon Hound] pulled at the restrained leg, and with it, the veteran spiders hanging on to the sturdy string. It was originally a tug of war between two sides, with the force of their pulls keeping Howl stuck in place. But now the contest was between every large spider working together against Howl.

And Howl was winning.