NOVEL WEB 42 - How Big Can It Get
Chapter 42: How Big Can It Get
There is a reason this dungeon is called Arachnid Warrens besides the huge number of spiders. Over the next two days after I decided that not every creepy crawly spider on the planet needed to die we wandered around the various tunnels and repeated our basic tactic of build base, set landmines, use sniper rifle to make spiders attack each other and then retreat. It worked quite well and when we needed to rest I just sealed off a room made from stone with my Earth magic and we rested. The problem was that I did not start marking the tunnels we had visited until after I realized we had entered a cave we had already dealt with. I do not know how long it is going to take to finish this warren of tunnels.
I am definitely glad for my unlimited inventory though. I had refilled it with everything I could think of before we left on our little expedition. I had enough resources to live for up to 6 months including food for the dragons before I would even need to consider living off the land. That is important, because even though I intellectually know I could probably eat and survive on spider flesh I really do not want too. The time it is going to take to clear this dungeon keeps rising in my estimation as we keep finding new caves.
It has been two weeks now. I am overdue to be back in the kingdom by at least one week and I am not certain how much more of this I can take. Both myself and my dragons are going a little stir crazy. Every day we wake up eat some breakfast and start the exploration again. I have cleared several different large caverns completely of spiders, but each cave has at least ten tunnels leading from it and some of those tunnels have splits also. Every time we get to a new cavern it takes a solid 5-6 hours to prepare and execute our by now normal routine of killing a majority of the spiders. If I enter the same cavern three times I decided I should clear it out completely, because I would rather just take care of it once instead of having to move slow and pick my way to a new tunnel entrance.
The dragonlings and I have completely cleared 12 caverns, partially cleared over 20 others and have explored on the order of 200 + tunnels. Each time becomes more and more monotonous. The good news is our method of clearing has become more streamlined and if we ever find the end of this dungeon the experience rewards should be amazing. Yesterday saw us returning to the very first cavern. My group bunked down and today we are exploring 1 of only 2 tunnels we have not been down yet. I hope we finally find the end boss so we can leave soon.
I still haven’t had much luck with the maze of tunnels and caverns in the Arachnid Warrens. It has been another week and a half and still no end in sight. I feel that we are at least making progress because I have not seen the first few caverns in over 3 days. I think we may have finally stumbled into the end area of the dungeon. Up ahead I see another opening with the tell tale glow of a large cavern. How many times have I seen this now, it is getting so repetitive. Suddenly Bruce growls and pulls on my pants leg. I was kind of wandering forward without paying attention. I need to be more careful, just because we have been doing fine so far is no reason to get complacent.
Something is different. All of my dragonlings are growling and acting a little scared as we approach this new opening. They have not done this for any of the other dozens if not hundreds of tunnel entrances we have approached. Maybe they smell or hear something that I cannot. I better get refocused and make sure everything is prepared. I signal the kids to stay and I work my way forward with more caution than I have shown in weeks probably. As I quietly peer through the opening I see a cavern that is different from all the others.
Glowing Mushrooms still present, check. Giant metal door at the other end of the cavern, that’s new. Spider the size of Godzilla guarding the door, check. Wait, what? I think my brain just snapped. I slowly and as quiet as possible retreat from the entrance. I signal my dragons and we retreat down the tunnel. No wonder the little guys were acting different. A spider that size should never exist, ever, for any reason. Ok quick review, end of dungeon found, probably, giant horrible arachnid that could squish me just by walking, definitely, ideas on what to do, not a single one.
I need to think about this and just being close to this thing is freaking me out. I decide that my little crew and I will retreat to the last cavern and finish clearing it out so we have a safe base from which to operate and figure out a plan to kill Spiderzilla. Another 4 hours of what is now mindless battle has calmed me down. If I can kill spiders the size of deer I can kill something larger. I just need a bigger weapon. Hmm, I wonder if I could create one.
I quickly pull the stone up from the cavern floor into my overnight defensive walls and call in the dragonlings. I need to think about this idea and let it stew in my head overnight. I am already 2 + weeks overdue so another night is not going to make a difference. I would rather do this right and survive than rush and die. When I wake up in the morning and finish all of my needed business I decide that creating a bigger weapon maybe my only hope at this point. If I had a group of level 100 or better people, then we probably could overwhelm even that giant spider through teamwork. However, my levels and the levels of my dragons will not increase until the dungeon is cleared. This means if I was to fight this thing head on it could focus on me and that would lead to a quick and messy death.
Alright, to be safe the new weapon needs to be a long distance one. Even if was able to create a godly sword of spider smiting I do not want to get close enough to that thing to use it. So that means some type of modified cannon or ballista. Or what if I combined the two. The problem with making larger cannons has always been that by the time the ammunition gets large enough to hold a bunch of magic inscriptions that would make it extremely deadly the size of the cannon ball and barrel becomes ridiculous. However, I only have to use this thing once (I hope) and if I am careful and quiet I could install it in the tunnel and line it up for a shot without Spiderzilla even knowing.
So a giant air cannon/rail gun thing. I will call it the spiderzooka. I know the magic inscriptions for pierce, explosion, and all of the elements. If I make the ammunition a metallic ballista bolt of a size that I can barely lift than I would be able to fit an amazing amount of power up inscriptions on it. I could basically turn it into multiple weapons on one ballista arrow. The arrowhead will contain the pierce inscriptions at full power to make sure it penetrates into Spiderzilla and every foot after that will be dedicated to explosion and each of the four elements, that way when it enters the spiders body the spider will have to deal with simultaneous explosion, fire, ice, earth spike, and lightning damage. The overall length of the bolt would be just under six feet and made of the hardest metal I possess, an alloy of steel and titanium.
To be on the safe side I should probably throw a strengthen inscription in between some of the damage ones to make sure it stays in one piece. The actual cannon to shoot it out of can be up to 10 meters long before I would have trouble moving it enough to hit such a giant target. I can carve air enchantments, repulsion, and attraction enchantments along the entire length allowing it to reach an unprecedented speed when it leaves the barrel of the cannon. I better make 3 bolts just in case one doesn’t kill it or I miss. I can aim, fire, and then run back down the tunnel safely because the Spiderzilla is just too big to follow into the tunnel. Other than the time it will take this should be easier than I first thought.
I spend the next 5 days in a frenzy of creation. I use my Earth magic to repurpose dozens of weapons and loose material in my inventory into the new spiderzooka. Finally I am finished with my creation. It may not be the prettiest weapon I have ever created, but it will definitely be the deadliest. Over the next 3 hours I slowly transport the pieces into the tunnel and align it to fire at Spiderzilla who is being super cooperative and staying in one place just in front of the giant metal doors. Since that unholy abomination is not moving I am able to line my shot up with its head. Whether I can kill it or not with one shot, I should at least be able to damage its vision and senses.
I have the dragon kids retreat all the way back to the last cavern where I have been working the past five days just to be safe. I then charge my first ballista bolt with a 1,000 mana in each of the six sections, of runes plus another 1,000 mana into the strengthen inscriptions. 7,000 mana down the tubes in less than 30 seconds. I still have 3,500 left which should be more than enough to charge and fire the cannon. One last quick check, yep still lined up, I cross my fingers and dump 3,000 mana into the activation inscription on the cannon and sprint back down the tunnel without even looking. I would rather be safe than watch and have something go wrong. As I am running I hear an amazing range of sounds coming from behind me. I hear a roar, what sounds like rain, metal striking metal, explosions, the whoosh of fire, and the crackle of lightning and ice.
When I reach the cavern where my dragonlings are I slow down and debate on how long I should wait to go and check out what happened. Before I even decide that I need to take a moment and congratulate myself for actually pulling off one of my ideas and staying conscious. My past history of blowing myself up during or just after one of my plans made me a little jumpy, but I finally finished one without injury to myself. Oh my goodness I hope I did not just call down a horrible jinx on myself. I better wait an entire hour now just to be safe.
The hour has passed and I have not heard any sounds from the tunnel in over half an hour. The first half hour after the shot I heard several roaring sounds (who even knew that spiders could roar), same clumping sounds (maybe the spider walking), that weird dripping sound (no idea on this one), and even a mysterious sizzling sound that lasted about 5 minutes. I do admit that after the hearing the sizzle I got hungry for bacon and the dragonlings and I had an early lunch. However, since the hour has passed I need to get back to work.
I gather up the kids and give them one of my famous dad speeches. “Alright daddy has to go check on the unholy spawn of Satan in the form of a spider. If this is the last time I see you I want you to know you have been the best set of dragons a father could ask for. I need you all to stay here and wait for me to return. If I do not come back in an hour than I just want you to know that I love you and I hope you grow up to be big strong dragons that can eventually take revenge on Spiderzilla for my untimely death.” Appropriate speech delivered I turn towards the tunnel and start to work my way down to the end cave.
As I approach the end of the tunnel I notice a few things of changed. First off is the smell, it smells extremely acrid almost like vinegar. Second I see rubble and holes in floor and ceiling. That was probably from the spider thrashing about. Finally, I see a large pit where my spiderzooka used to be that is full of an ominous bubbling sickly green colored liquid. My entire cannon is gone and in its place is that goo, just what the heck? Oh crap, I back up a couple of steps, that must be acid. That freaking ginormous spider not only has size but can spit acid. I call shenanigans.
Unfortunately calling shenanigans does nothing and I am going to have to deal with the current situation. That sizzling sound I heard must have been the acid dissolving my cannon. I really hope the spider is almost dead because it ruined the masterpiece that I worked on for days. How rude is that. I skirt the acid pool and cautiously approach the exit. I have to be careful here there is a lot of rubble, almost as if something large and strong had clawed or stabbed the area in frustration. That brings my morale up a little bit. At the very least I frustrated it. When I reach the entrance I glance out and see the largest dull yellow eyeball I have ever seen. I won’t lie, I peed myself in fear just a little.