“Ideas?” Max asked as he watched the spiders forming at the edge of the woods.

“That big one has to be the floor boss or a rare spawn,” Tanila replied. “Maybe like that…”

She didn’t finish, but everyone glanced at Batrire, who was scowling at them.

“I’m fine, ya bastards!” she cursed. “Focus on that thing.”

Six spiders, all like the three they had fought earlier, were guarding a spider that had to be at least fifteen feet tall. The spider was white everywhere except the massive red lines that ran down the center of both the top and bottom of its body.

“I got a horrible idea, but maybe it can even up the odds from the start.”

“Yer not going to use that skill, are ya?”

Max shook his head. “I’m going to use Haste and Stealth. I think I can get behind it and then backstab it. I’d guess it's going to have some way to see me if I stay over here and –”

Max stopped talking as the group of seven began to move toward them. Six black spiders all flanked the white one, creating a bubble of protection.

“Ogre nuts!” Max cursed as he activated Stealth. “Be ready!”

Max vanished and took off to the right, moving faster while Stealthed than running.

“I’ll blow everything I got!” Tanila shouted as he took off running.

“Damn idiot,” Fowl grumbled, “always trying to show off.”

Skirting around the spiders, Max stayed as far away as possible, making his way toward the white one's rear. They weren’t running or charging at his friends like the others, which scared him.

I hope this thing doesn’t spew venom like that scorpion.

As he approached the boss, preparing to come up behind it, the six black spiders moved quickly to different spots, and the white spider vanished.

Crap! It can stealth!

Forging ahead to where the boss had just been, Max tried to sense where it was with Sonar. Time was running out on his Haste and Stealth. If that spider got the drop on them, people would die.

Glancing at the six spiders' positions, Max noticed a large space between them as they made their way toward his group. Going as fast as Stealth would allow him to, with the Haste ability active, Max saw the timer counting down from ten seconds.

At seven, his sonar picked up the shape he was hoping for. At the edge of his ability to sense was the white spider crouching and moving toward Fowl.

With no time left to waste, Max went in for an attack.

[ Power Strike ]

Coming out of stealth, Max’s halberd ripped through the air as he planted his feet just under the boss's backside, which was taller than him even while crouched. His halberd moved in a chopping motion, and the green glow surrounding the blade ripped through the bottom of the spider’s abdomen, his weapon sliced from spinneret to mid-section bringing the white spider out of stealth. It shrieked and tried to jump away, but its body caved in on itself partially, reducing its ability to move.

The back half of its body fell on Max, covering him in gore as the exoskeleton enveloped him.

Its shriek caused the other spiders to turn and race toward their fallen leader.

Holy…

Unable to finish his thought, Max started hacking from inside the creature's body, trying to get out of it so he could breathe. His halberd jabbed repeatedly, but his position, combined with the body pressing down on him, made it difficult.

Desperately wanting to breathe, Max started casting his area of effect fire spell. His weapon poked through the top of the creature's abdomen, and his fire spell erupted as he prepared to try to cut through it more.

Max recalled how his spell had reacted when he cast it inside the skeleton.

The difference was now extremely noticeable, as the back half of the spider's body exploded, flames rushing out all around him. Since the last time he had used this spell, he had gained over thirty points in intelligence, more than doubling it.

The spider roared in agony as flames covered its front half while its back half was vaporized almost completely.

The three black spiders that had gotten close were also caught in the blast. Flames covered their legs and bodies, burning their skin.

Gasping for air, Max saw the white spider struggling to move. With only a small portion of its front section left, the two attached legs seemed unable to move. Its massive fangs opened and closed but could not reach him.

Taking his weapon, Max drove the tip into the spider’s head above its eyes and heard it scream.

It stopped shuddering, and a cool shock hit his system.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

[ 2 Dexterity consumed ]

Smiling, Max turned, his eyes locked onto one of the guards that was flittering about, flames still covering its torso and head.

“Time to die, you eight-legged freak!” Max shouted.

“How do I get stuck harvesting this stuff?” Fowl asked, groaning as he waited for Max to finish hacking the fangs off of the white spider.

“You got plate armor, Mr. I can’t be bit,” teased Batrire. “Time to show us how special you are.”

Fowl groaned as Tanila stood next to Max.

“You look tired,” Max said. “Finally decided to show your real strength?”

“I didn’t have a choice once all six of them went after you. Again, casting that spell when surrounded by spiders is a good way to get in trouble.”

Max laughed and then slammed his weapon down, severing the last fang from what remained of the white spider's body.

“As I mentioned before, having a twenty-five or so intelligence versus almost sixty created a bit of difference in power.”

Batrire groaned, and Tanila smirked.

“Yeah, he loves to flaunt the stat, doesn’t he?” Batrire asked.

“Imagine what he would do with an intelligence stat like mine,” Tanila teased. “Oh look, I’m the mighty warrior with a hundred intelligence.”

Max turned and cocked his head sideways at Tanila.

“Your intelligence is one hundred?”

Her cheeks reddened, and Batrire started to laugh.

“Hah, serves ya right,” Fowl declared. “Teasing us boys and sharing yer stats.”

“Uh… yeah, with items, I’m a little over a hundred,” Tanila admitted.

“Quiet ya two,” Batrire interrupted.

More noises came from the woods, and Max spun to stare in the direction Batrire was pointing.

“Do you feel that?”

Max nodded, realizing what had gotten Batrire’s attention.

“The dirt is vibrating.”

“Arrrgggggg,” groaned Fowl. “Yer telling me something bigger than this white bastard is coming?”

Everyone faced the direction of the noise. They could see the trees swaying slightly, with a few crashing down. Something was making a path through the trees that were on fire, it appeared to be in a hurry and heading in their direction.

“We’ve bloody burned down a fourth or more of this forest, and now this?” Fowl continued.

“Power Strike is down, as is Haste,” Max said as he began to back away from the spider corpses surrounding them.

“A little less than fifty percent of my mana,” Tanila said.

“I’m good. None of ya all really got hurt, and Seth kept himself topped up by killing them.”

They all stepped back to where the circle of weapons was and kept an eye on the trees that were getting knocked over as something came at them.

“Gods, I don’t want to die,” Fowl muttered. “Is it too much to ask, Ockrim?”

“We don’t even know what it is.”

“Aye, my love, but it's big enough to shake the ground and knock down trees. I mean, look at the ground move!” Fowl exclaimed.

Max knew Fowl was right, and having used his Power Strike skill, the cooldown was going to hurt.

We may need to try to find a fifth member.

“What are the odds of taunt working on whatever this is?” Max asked as he saw a massive flaming shape approaching through the trees.

“Maybe five seconds? But I don’t want to do that. If I do–”

“No choice, use all your skills,” Max interrupted.

“Holy dwarf balls,” Tanila cursed, beating Fowl, who had started to open his mouth.

Stepping out of the trees was a twenty-two-foot spider that was currently on fire. Whatever color it had been was hard to determine because its entire body was consumed by the flames. It didn’t look to be in the greatest condition, yet one hit from its leg or the massive four-foot-long fangs would most likely kill any of them.

“Someone else wear plate,” Fowl muttered.

“Ok, it's injured and doesn’t look to be very fast. Fowl you tank and Tanila you–”

The massive spider’s eyes focused on them as Max spoke, and it glowed green.

One moment, it was at the edge of the trees, fifty yards away. The next, it had leaped into the air and was coming right at them.

“Run!” Max shouted when the spider leaped for them.

Max didn’t wait. He grabbed Tanila and put her over his shoulder as he ran as fast as he could from where the spider was going to land.

As it came crashing down, he leaped into the air, his mind guessing what would happen when the spider landed.

The ground erupted from the force of its impact, rock, and dirt vibrating, almost creating a miniature earthquake.

Being in the air prevented Max from falling, and when he landed he quickly dropped Tanila with no real grace and spun, preparing for the creature behind him.

Ten yards away was the spider, legs burning and its fangs locked on Fowl.

Behind Fowl, on the ground and struggling to get up, was Batrire. They had not gotten far enough away, and the impact had done its job.

Max knew Fowl had used his Armored Warrior skill.

“LIGHT IT UP!” Max shouted as he ran toward a flaming leg.

As Max moved, he cast his area of affect ice spell. Not sure how fast this thing was, he wanted any help he could get.

Reaching the creature, Max swung his weapon with everything he had. His arms vibrated from the blow so much they hurt, and the weapon stopped, not able to make more than a scratch on the heavily armored leg.

Stunned for a second, Max saw his ice spell go off and watched as an ice spear raced toward the spider’s eyes.

Spotting the spell with one of its five eyes, it raised a leg and blocked it.

A noise came from its mouth as the spider lifted Fowl off the ground with its fangs.

“Help!” Fowl shouted, his voice strained, as Max heard the sound of metal being crushed together.

“FOWL!” Batrire yelled, panic in her voice as she cast a heal while finally getting to her feet.

Max’s mind slowed down as the shouts and other sounds assaulted his ears. His friend was caught in a bite that would soon crush him, and getting him out of that wasn’t going to be possible if Max couldn’t even scratch the spider's leg.

Tanila’s spell hadn’t done a thing either.

It wasn’t full power, but even then…

Laughter filled his head as Max realized only one option was left, and it would play all of his trump cards.

Putting his hand against the spider, he used his new ability before casting his area of affect fire spell again.

[ Festering Touch ]

The spot his hand was on made an awful noise and smelled horrible, but Max didn’t wait. There was no time, and he had to act.

[ Evasion ]

[ Berserker ]

His vision shifted as he gazed at the leg before him, already drawing back his halberd.

It went red, but not as dark as it had always been before.