The party moved fast. As they did so, it felt as if every step echoing through the cursed crimson halls was a countdown to their own collapse.
The enormous chamber they’d entered seemed to stretch on forever.
Luna stomped her feet against the ground as another gamer girl rage moment was about to spill over again.
"That fucking spider-cunt... I’ll electrocute her sac-flaps..." she muttered venomously, swatting aside a strand of thick webbing. "First, she talks as if she were Miss Perfect, then transforms into a hideous monster before releasing her freak babies on our food?!"
"Bestie," Nyx interrupted gently, "I think we got the point."
At the same time, Aria swallowed and moved closer to Kaiden. "H-How long do you think we’ve got? Before the curse gets us..."
Kaiden opened his mouth, but someone else beat him to it.
Bastet. "The better question is: how do we stop that heart from being used again? If she activates it mid-fight again, none of us will be able to swing a weapon properly, let alone cast magic."
"Right... We need to come up with a counter," Kaiden agreed. But doing so was easier said than done.
Minutes passed.
The further they ventured into the chamber, the more distorted the architecture became. Fleshy webbing now covered the whole walls, stretching from broken pillars to arches.
And then... the sounds began.
*Skrrrt.*
*Click. Chitter.*
From the crevices. From behind ruined statues. From the hollowed-out mouths of crumbled vampire reliefs.
Spiders.
Hundreds of them.
But not just spiders.
Some had far too many legs. Others had faces, human ones, stretched over carapaces. Others skittered upside-down on the ceiling, dripping acid from their mouths. One was the size of a home and even had wings.
The team moved instantly.
Jack joined Kaiden on the right with his shield raised defensively. Leon, pale but still standing, locked in on the left flank.
Behind them, Aria began summoning radiant moonlight. Bastet’s hands were filled with solar glyphs. Vaelira extended her fingers in a fluid, commanding motion, and three puppets blinked into existence.
Then came the enemy.
The first to lurch from the shadows was a grotesque monster with four legs. Its body pulsed with translucent fluid, exposing hundreds of egg sacs inside.
[Broodspitter Matron – Level 26]
A second skittered across the ceiling, thin and wiry, but its speed was terrifying. Its limbs were razored and elongated, and its jaw split three ways, revealing a tongue that drooled acid.
[Weaver of the Crownless Nest – Level 27]
Two more burst out of the walls on either side. These were twins, connected at the abdomen with fused spinal columns. Their faces were disturbingly serene, akin to that of sleeping children, even as they screeched.
[Twins of Unmaking – Level 28]
More followed.
A hulking beast with a horse-sized thorax and blood-red mandibles charged forward, dragging a lance made from bone through the ground behind it.
[Knight-Caste Gluttonspawn – Level 29]
Dozens of smaller variants emerged behind them. Creepers. Skitters. Hatchlings with centipede fangs and bat wings. A whole vanguard of grotesque horrors was born in the Countess’s nightmare garden.
"Were all these creatures made by the boss monster?! It’s the boss monster room!" Sasha spat while reaching for five arrows at once.
"You’re right... It shouldn’t be like this. Most boss rooms feature only a single monster and perhaps its retainers, who act as secondary bosses. But these..."
"The bitch is a lazy coward who hides away from any sort of a challenge," Luna sighed with an immense deal of irritation. "There’s no use analyzing the situation. I bet she’ll be easy to kill once we defeat all of her minions. Consider this to be a part of the boss battle."
Kaiden dashed forward first, meeting the Twin monster with a leaping swing of his greatsword. Jack roared beside him, slamming his shield into a lunging hatchling. Leon deflected a spear leg with his blade, gritting his teeth as his cursed veins flared.
Behind them, the barrage of projectiles began.
The floor turned into a war zone.
Screeches and spellfire filled the chamber.
Vaelira’s threads danced through the air, and dozens of puppet sigils bloomed around her, each one birthing a new creation: lithe warriors, towering beasts stitched from spectral sinew, and armored constructs.
[Summon Marionette Army: Echo Battalion]
[Arcane Curtain: Layered Command Grid]
The chamber was overcome with her summoned might. Her new puppets clashed with the advancing horrors, slowing the tide. Glowing blade-puppets did their best to combat the Broodmother’s spawn. A horned titan construct met the Knight-Caste Gluttonspawn in a thunderous charge.
But it soon became clear that even the might of an A-tier combatant wasn’t enough.
More monsters crawled out of their holes.
Even with her battlefield control, they were being overwhelmed.
A spider broke through the puppet wall. One of the bat-winged hatchlings slammed into Jack from the side, making him lose balance for a moment. Sasha cried out as acid splashed near, almost hitting her. Leon was already bleeding in three places. Kaiden’s wrath-infused swing cleaved a monster in half, but even he could see it.
The numbers weren’t thinning.
In fact, they were increasing at a rapid pace.
That was when a blinding ray materialized.
Golden and wrathful.
Bastet raised both her arms to the sky as glyphs carved themselves into the air around her.
"I refuse to be killed by a horde of hideous undead!"
A sun-shaped crest formed beneath her feet, expanding like wildfire.
"Master. My... friends." She struggled to call the Valkyries as such, but did so anyway. Once the word left her lips, it felt perfectly fitting. "Cover your eyes."
Bastet cast the spell she considered her ultimate.
"[Desert Queen’s Dominion]!"
A radiant wave burst outward.
The entire battlefield lit up with golden sunlight as heat shimmered in deadly waves. The webbed walls hissed. The air boiled.
A radiant dome of solar energy now encased the team as the cursed dungeon was momentarily repelled by her divine light. Their mana began rejuvenating. Their minds cleared.
The enemies screamed.