Fowl watched as Max took out the ogre axes and swords and then drove it before driving it into the ground in a circle around them. Two swords followed by two axes, then eight clubs with massive spikes.

“Trolls… you went and fought trolls?”

Max shrugged before driving the last one into the ground. “I couldn’t sleep. Needed to clear my head.”

“Guy goes and solos a level forty-five dungeon to clear his head,” muttered Fowl as he raised his hands. “Ockrim, I thought you liked me. Why can’t I solo that crap?”

Max chuckled as he double-checked the last club and moved to where Tanila and Batrire were waiting.

“So what’s the plan, oh fearless leader?” Batrire asked, smiling so much that Max knew it was meant to bother Fowl.

“We stand here and fight if the damn forest actually catches on fire,” Max said as he drew an ‘x’ on the ground. “Tanila and I will try to light a fire in the section where the swords are. If it spreads, that will be the first area to provide us with opponents. If nothing happens, we can try once more, but if the fire doesn’t spread after two tries, we will have to pick a path and start venturing in.”

“How are you going to light that forest on fire?” Fowl asked. “Just aim for a tree?”

Hefting his halberd in his hand, Max smiled. “Actually, I’m about to make some logs and tinder to help.”

Max began swinging his weapon, and the forest reacted when the axe slammed into the trunk of the tree he had picked.

Screeches echoed from inside, but nothing appeared that he or the others could see.

Setting up again, Max chopped out massive sections of the tree until it fell over, crashing into the ground and causing another burst of noise to rise up from the shadows of the forest.

“That went better than I expected,” Fowl stated, earning groans from the others.

“Please stop,” Batrire growled.

Max got to work, cutting through the webs connected to the tree, then hacking off limbs and branches and tossing them to Fowl.

It took over an hour, but before all was said and done, a large pile of wood taller than Max was stacked around a tree a little further into the forest.

“This feels like a dumb move, but I still like it better than the alternative,” Max stated.

Tanila nodded and raised her hand as Max mimicked her.

Grinning, Max shouted, “Let’s see if together we can catch this damn place on fire!”

Chuckling, Max grinned and said a silent prayer to whoever might be listening.

This is your damn fault. Help us to beat it…

Channeling magic he created a fireball and poured more mana into it, letting it get bigger and bigger as Tanila did the same.

She grunted and Max sent his fireball at the pile of logs, watching the ball of flame explode on the stack. Some were flung away by the force, yet they were burning as they landed on webs, and the flames spread slowly.

Tanila let hers go, the fireball twice the size of Max’s. It roared as it flew, and more logs were blown away from the impact, scattering deeper into the forest.

A few shapes were almost visible, falling back from the flaming logs, but in seconds, the pile of wood was blazing, and fire spread along the strands of web, which soon moved up the tree trunk.

“One more?” Max asked.

“No, pull back. I think this should work.”

Together, they ran back to the center of the clearing, preparing for a response they hoped would not overwhelm or kill them all.

It had taken over half an hour for their initial fire to spread, but soon, a red glow filled the floor as the forest began to burn. Smoke billowed into the night sky, and even though they knew it wasn’t a real place, Max wondered if the smoke might eventually fill everything and choke them to death.

“Those flames are really moving now,” Fowl muttered as he watched a tree crash to the ground, sending an explosion of fire and sparks.

Shrieks were coming from the forest, and Max was trying to see if anything was approaching the open area.

“Did anyone else notice a slight gain in experience?”

Max looked at Batrire, who smirking after speaking.

“Seriously?”

The dwarf nodded and shrugged. “There is Nothing else for me to do, and there is plenty of time before I refresh the buff that I give you. So I’ve been watching, and I think it's gone up twice. Nothing huge, mind you, but still.”If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Shaking his head, Max turned his attention back toward the fire, which was spreading in all directions. As far as Max could see, an entire section of the forest was engulfed.

Crashing sounds came a minute later, and Max noticed movement near the treeline.

“We got incoming!” he shouted, moving to the line he had created with weapons.

“Aye, I see 'em,” Fowl said as he fastened his helmet tighter. “Do you think they’ll actually fight?”

Another tree fell over near the section where they had seen movement, and three massive spiders, each ten feet tall, came skittering out from the woods.

Their eyes locked onto the group, and they made chittering noises before rushing toward them.

“That looks bad!” Fowl shouted. “Those can probably bite through my armor!”

Max knew Fowl was right, but he said nothing. Instead, he activated Stealth and disappeared from sight.

“No webs,” he whispered and moved slightly to the side of Fowl. “Throw a stone or something.”

Max smiled as he saw Fowl pluck a stone from his storage and throw it at the spiders racing toward them. The rock bounced harmlessly off the one he hit, but it did its job by angering the creature.

These spiders were solid black with a massive red line running from their mouth to the tips of their backs. The hair he could see now on their legs glistened with something that looked wet, and a red liquid dripped from their fangs as they ran. Five eyes were clustered next to each other on their faces, each the size of Fowl’s helmet.

Max readied himself and moved slowly toward them, wondering if they could see through stealth.

As the three raced toward Fowl, none of them appeared to react to his presence.

Grateful for this, Max got in the front of the right one and waited.

They raced toward Fowl, their thick legs punching small holes in the ground as they propelled themselves forward.

Setting his feet, Max took a deep breath and swung his halberd at the creature’s face.

The blade hit the spider’s exoskeleton, and it cracked, his blade sliding through the spider’s mouth and traveling four feet through its body before coming to a stop.

Having remembered to keep his mouth closed this time, Max endured the spattering of gore and goo that sprayed onto him as the spider’s body came to a sudden stop.

The one nearest to him hadn’t been hit by Fowl’s rock and immediately turned, making a weird screeching noise as it came at Max.

Max leaped back, yanking his weapon free.

Two legs came at him, one from each side, as the spider that decided Max should be lunch lunged forward. His sonar helped him dodge, and Max could tell he was still faster than these creatures, but not by much.

Parrying the first leg, Max ducked under the second one, turning and preparing to strike with his weapon when his sonar picked up a rush of liquid coming toward him. It was too close and too fast. Choosing to make a trade, he ducked under the spider's body, turning his back to the incoming liquid, and thrust his weapon upward into the mouth coming toward him.

The tip of his halberd went through the open mouth and into the head of the spider, piercing the soft inside and driving all the way to the brain.

As much as Max wanted to celebrate his sudden kill, the pain from the liquid that washed over him took his breath away.

Everywhere the liquid hit, it burned and felt like his skin was on fire.

He wanted to scream, but the liquid was spraying all around him, and the last thing he wanted to endure was a nose or mouthful of that.

The spider jerked momentarily, its body spasming as Max stood there in pain.

[ Regeneration ]

His body immediately began to feel better, but his health continued to go down.

Crap… I timed the kill wrong…

Running forward, Max let the spider fall to the ground behind him, taking a quick, small breath as he got clear of the corpse and the spray of liquid.

He turned and saw that Fowl’s shield and feet were also covered in the liquid web, and as Max moved, he felt the liquid web covering him tightening up/hardening.

“It’s poison! Like acid!” Max shouted as he moved toward the last spider.

“I know!” came a pained shout from Fowl. “Smells like arse too!”

Trying not to laugh, Max moved behind the spider and hacked at the joints where the four legs were attached to the body.

Having attacked from behind, the spider never saw the weapon that cleaved off three of its legs, causing it to tumble to the side.

As it fell to the ground, Max unleashed a combo attack that ended with the second strike slicing off the top half of the spider's head.

“Gods, it burns!” Fowl groaned. “Help me with this stuff on my shield.”

Max nodded and put his weapon away, grabbing the webs that had hardened and almost locked Fowl’s shield in place against the ground.

“Those are pretty nasty,” Tanila said as she moved closer. “I can burn off those webs if you want.”

Shaking his head, Max looked her in the eyes and smiled. “I’ve been burnt alive once. I’d prefer not to do that again if possible.”

Talina nodded, and Max saw a smirk as she moved back to where Batrire waited.

[ Regeneration Expired ]

Cracking his neck, Max realized he was full health, and the slight pain he still felt was mostly the web inside his chain armor.

“Batrire?”

“I’m waiting to see how long that goes on for,” she replied, knowing what Max was wondering. “It’s not a true poison. I already tried to cure that. It’s, like you said, an acid attack.”

“The burning is almost gone,” Fowl groaned as he stored his shield and used his weapon to scrape the webs off his plated boots. “It only got through the joints, but where it found skin was not fun.”

A crashing sound from the trees caught their attention, and Max spun around, looking for its source.

“It was in the fire. Those trees are all almost burnt down,” Tanila pointed out. “You can see further into the woods now.”

“And my experience bar is still going up,” Batrire added. “So something is dying.”

The trees to the right of the fire made sounds of shrieking and clattering, and Max groaned as he saw more shapes emerging from the woods that were not yet in flames.

“Holy elf tits,” Fowl cursed. “There’s, like, six of them with that thing.”

Max nodded and glanced back at Tanila and Batrire. Both looked to be concerned at the sight before them.

“Should we Focus on the larger one first?” Max asked as he turned to face the pack of spiders now heading their way.

“It’s all yours,” Fowl said as he pulled his shield back out. “We’ll need whatever god loves you to help us with this pack.”

Surprised by that statement, Max glanced at his dwarven friend but understood why he said it.

Things were about to get nasty.