Random Portals

As Steven was walking away, the Queen spoke up. “Those drones are now your guards. Don’t worry, they have high stealth. They won’t get in your way.”

Steven took a second look at the pale-looking Spider-kin. They looked mostly human aside from the six eyes on their face and pale skin, but maybe he could learn something from them. He would love to learn a way to improve his stealth. His next upgrade to stealth had to be good.

“As long as they are near you, I’ll know if you're in danger and I can come protect you. After I’m done talking with miss Silviaburlaxatrix here, I’ll fetch us that oath binder.”

“I’ll be going with you to make sure you don’t do something fishy.” Silvia said.

“Fantastic! I would love nothing more than for Master Odling to trust me even more.”

”What! That’s not at all what I meant,” Silvia’s light fluttered, “what I meant was you can’t be trusted, you are a monster for crying out loud! I don’t understand how you seduced Steven into accepting you, but I will get to the bottom of this!”

Steven heard the pair arguing as he walked away. Nevateb, or Nev as he thought of her, seemed loyal, but he was concerned that she was going to eat him when she reached level ninety-nine. But that was a problem for another day. It’s either get eaten now or when they were on the same level. Right now he just needed to survive this dungeon besides his biggest windfall of essence was almost over. The creatures were getting too strong to die to fall damage and spikes. He had an idea for the Spider-kin, but this would likely be the last floor he could utilize the pit traps.

He just hoped it would be easy. He had a lot of ghouls and would like to get started on the fourth floor in the morning. Steven jumped through the illusion wall and turned to wait on the Spider-kin. To his horror, the first drone stepped through the illusionary wall and fell straight into the pit trap, dying on impact.

Steven was staring wide eyed at the scurried Spider-kin at the bottom of the pit trap. Face pale, Steven slowly turned to the remaining Spider-kin that managed to jump the trap. He hadn’t even known the name of that Spider-kin. And this was completely his fault. He didn’t think to warn them. The Queen was going to be absolutely pissed. As Steven inspected the remaining Spider-kin, he realized he didn’t even seem bothered.

“I’m sorry about your colleague.” Steven said.

“Oh, that was just my drone brother. It’s no big deal. Mother will send us another shortly.”

Steven’s mouth fell open. “Uhh. Well. Doesn’t it bother you?”

“Not at all. I will have a new drone brother within minutes.”

“Oh. Well, can I ask the name of your fallen brother?”

“Of course Master Odling, his name was Four sixty three the fifth.”

Steven just stared blankly at the Spider-kin. “I see. Any way, I need your help with a task. Do you have a weapon?” With a name like that, maybe it wasn’t a big deal.

“No, I apologize. All I have is my hands though I can use web magic and i have a poisonous bite.”

“Hmmm. Well, poison isn’t all that great to use against the undead. So try this,” Steven said as he pulled out a basic sword.

“Master Odling! Is… Is this sword truly for me?”

“Uh, yes,” Steven said with a raised eyebrow. “What I need you to do is stab the ghoul and then step away so I can kick it into the pit.”

“Yes Master Odling at once!” The Spider-kin then began wildly looking around in every direction while awkwardly holding the sword at the ready.

Steven sighed. “What’s your name?”

“My name is three eighty nine the fifth! Sir.”

“Okay, well, from now on, your name is Kevin.” Before Steven had the chance to get any further, the newly named Kevin fell to his knees.

“Thank you so much, master Odli… No, King Odling.” Kevin looked as though he had tears in his six eyes as he spoke.

“King?” Steven asked in confusion. “Ahh, never mind that now. Okay, listen up Kevin. I need you to stand right here.” Steven walked over to the edge of the pit. Pulled out a ghoul and then promptly stabbed it in the back. Steven was just fixing to kick it in to the pit when Kevin tackled it into the pit while screaming. “For the King!”

+101

“Right! Drones are complete idiots.” Steven mumbled while looking down in the pit at Kevin.

The overly enthusiastic Kevin was now dead, scurried through by multiple spikes and had what looked to be a wide grin on his face. “I shouldn’t of named him, I shouldn’t have named him,” Steven said while shaking his head, “and there went a perfectly good sword.”

Steven pulled out his water pipe and took a couple of hits of the stuff Nev gave him. He felt it almost instantly. It was almost like clarity, or, more accurately, single-mindedness.

With both of his guards now dead, he may as well start the grind. He was hoping to use the guards to stab the ghouls while he kicked them in the pit, but it didn’t seem like he was going to get to be lazy. He wondered if all drones were going to be like this, the Spider-kin, or drone with that elf adventuring team seemed quite capable. He absently wondered what they were doing.

Stab, kick.

+99

Stab, kick.

+104

Steven thought it would be nice to form an adventuring team, though he would have to stay clear of the Domain dungeons. He didn’t want to get trapped like this again.

Stab, Kick

+102

Stabbing and kicking. Stabbing and kicking, Steven got in the zone he forgot about the dead guards, about being trapped in the dungeon, and just lost himself in the methodical process of murdering the undead and gaining essence.

Eventually, his mind wondered to the Queen. He really should find the best way to deal with her. He didn’t want to be eaten, but he needed the help of the spiders, especially if the Naga wasn’t going to give him much support because the humans. Which raised the question why weren’t the Spider-kin helping with that fight? This was their home too. Right?

Stabbing and kicking. Over and over, it was a nuisance, but it was a safe way to gain essence. He was getting around one hundred for each undead. He still had roughy thirty to go and had killed around seventy at this point he was looking forward to leveling up. Though he feared this would be one of the last times he could kill the enemies by dropping them in the pit. The creatures would no doubt continue to get stronger, and the Wisp had told him to not even try to go to the fourth floor without being level twenty. Stab, kick, stab, kick. He was in the middle of kicking a ghoul into the pit when heard a voice behind him.

“Master Odling. We have returned.”

Steven turned to see the spider Queen carrying a terrified looking bald human man wearing brown robes, followed by a pink wisp. Steven just shook his head at the absurdity of his life now.

“Kneel while in the presence of Master Odling!” The human cowered in fear as Nevateb spoke.

“Ye- yes, yo-ur your majesty. At once!” The man basically slammed his head to the dungeon floor, trying to bow before Steven.

“Uh? Who is this?” Steven asked. “There is no need for the bowing!”

“Yes. Your majesty.” Silvia said in a mocking tone, “please explain to Master why you have so many humans chained up in your house.”

“With all due respect, Master Odling. I had these humans before I became your servant. If you wish, I will release all the humans I have in shackles. Just know if I do, there will be several half Naga’s killed. They are at war with one another at the moment.”

“Wait, a second hold up! The war is only with the half Naga and humans. Not with the Spider-kin?”

“That is correct, Master. I trade with the humans quite often. Well, my daughters do. I normally stay out of their affairs. These humans were only held prisoner because they violated one of my laws or were trying to do harm to the half Naga in one of my cities.

“Cities as in plural?” Steven asked, eyes wide.

“Yes Master, I am, and therefore you are in control of all the Spider-kin cities in these lands. I’m kind of a big deal.” Nev said with a sweet, innocent voice.

“Okay. I’m going to need the both of you to explain to me what is exactly going on with the humans and Naga, also about the cities.” Steven turned to the man with his face still on the dungeon floor, “I want to talk with you as well. I have questions and if you lie to me I’ll have Queen Nevateb here eat you alive one piece at a time. How does that sound?”

“Oh, Master, you are too kind!” Nev said, in an entirely to enthusiastic voice.

It took less than an hour for Steven to figure out what exactly was going on. It turned out the humans wanted access to the Dungeon. And they also hated half Naga for some reason. When he asked the human, he just said the half Naga are considered abominations. As for why they didn’t bother the Spider-kin. Well, the best Steven could tell was the humans were simply just scared of a war with Nevateb. A level seventy anything was nearly unheard of in this part of the world. Nevateb pointed out she would not be at max level if it wasn’t for her great grandmother helping her kill her mother and take the throne. Steven regretted asking about that when the Queen began to describe in detail how she ate her mother, followed by all her sisters and finally her great grandmother.

Once they were done talking and Silvia finished explaining why making an oath binding contract with the spider Queen was such a bad idea, Steven stood up.

“I’ve made my decision. Kenneth was it?”

“Y-yes my lord. Pl-please spare my life. I have a wife and children.”

“Yeah, I heard you the first time.” Steven said. He wasn’t sure if he had turned cruel since coming here, but it was the human’s fault for trying to take something that wasn’t theirs, so he had little pity for him. “What are the consequences if someone breaks the oath?”

“You can’t possibly be considering this! It’s a death sentence!”

“Silvia, I understand your concern. And I appreciate it. I truly do. But I have to think about my immediate survival.” the Wisp’s color turned a bit lighter. “I’ve considered your advice and my situation. And I feel it’s best to do this. You said yourself it was unlikely for me to get past level seventy. Also, I’m trapped in this dungeon and I’m struggling. I can’t even deal with the boss in my inventory.”

The Wisp said nothing further and the spider Queen just smiled seductively at Steven. Though he could tell her interest was peeked when he mentioned the boss in his inventory.

“I asked a question, human!” Had he really just called that person a human? He was also human. Wasn’t he? Was he the bad guy here?

“L-lord Odling. Who ever breaks the oath will have divine judgment come down upon them. I-I’m sorry, that’s all I know. I’ve never heard of anyone breaking an oath.” Kenneth stammered out.

“Depending on the God,” Silvia began, “the punishment will vary. Most of the time, they just take half the levels of the one who broke the oath. Which will kill most as their own shards devour them from the inside out.”

“Well, that’s a lot to unpack. But we can talk about that at a different time. Kenneth. Begin the oath binding.”

“Yes. At once! Lord Odling.”

“I knew you would make the correct choice!” Nev said, while giving Steven a quick hug.

“You’re really clingy for a Queen, you know that!” Steven said to the spider Queen who was right in his face at this point.

“Only for you Master Odling,” Nevateb sniffed the air around Steven, “have you been smoking the plant I gave you?”

“I have. Thanks for that. It seems to help me focus. Speaking of which, we should pay attention to this oath.” Steven said.

Kenneth, the oath binding priest, was beginning to glow with a bright white light as he chanted something. Steven couldn’t make heads or tails of what the priest was saying. The next moment, light shot upwards and started to form odd symbols above the priest. Once that was done, the same symbols floating above the priest appeared beneath the priest. That’s when the priest started to struggle to even stand.

To Steven, it looked as though the priest was under an intense weight. As the priest’s knees began to buckle within the circle, the symbols made of white light started to dim.

“I’ll finish the oath. The human can do nothing more he is too weak for an oath such as this.” Silvia said.

“Wait, you can do the oath?” Steven asked.

“Of course I can, I’m a Wisp. I Just didn’t want you to make an oath with a monster, but if it must be done, I’ll do it properly.”

Silvia then flew into the circle of light and the symbols took on a blinding white light. The priest stumbled out of the circle and a moment later, Steven received a prompt.

Do you swear to not dismiss Nevateb as your vassal untill you reach level one hundred, on the condition she remains a loyal servant Yes/No?

Glancing over at Nevateb, he realized she must be reading over a prompt as well. Though hers must have had been much longer than his. Most likely explaining what a loyal servant consisted of. He would like to know what that meant exactly, but at least he didn’t have to worry about getting eaten till he was level one hundred. He accepted and then just waited for the spider Queen to accept.

A couple minutes later, the symbols turned in to a rope made of the same pure white light and shot into both Steven and the spider Queen’s chest. Lifting them both up and pulling them into one another. Then the light went out, and they both fell crashing to the ground. Well, Steven crashed, the spider Queen gracefully landed on her feet and promptly helped Steven up.

“I am truly happy that you accepted, Master.”

“I’m glad you feel that way. I saw nothing about you eating me in the notification. Did you change your mind?”

“Not at all Master Odling,” Nevateb said cheerfully, “I plan to devour you as soon as you release me as your servant, or when I reach level one hundred,” the spider Queen then kissed him on the cheek, “now Is there anything you wish for me to do, anything at all Master?”

“Actually, yes, I would like you to not eat me.”

“Oh, Master, you are too funny!” Nev giggled in such an innocent manner. It was mind-boggling to think she was really a massive spider hell bent on eating him.

“Fine! Could you at least round up all the ghouls left on this floor and bring them to me alive?”

“Yes Master Odling at once.”

“What do you want to do with the human?” Silvia asked after Nevateb left.

“You’re not upset with me?” Steven asked.

“Oh, I am! But what’s done is done.” Silvia said.

Steven looked at the human who was trying to make himself as small as possible. “Send him back to his cell. I’ll deal with the prisoners once I get out of here.”

“Well, you heard him get with it,” Silvia said to some Spider-kin guards. Her light quickly faded when the guards didn’t listen. “Uggg! I just wanted to command someone for a change instead of being commanded all the time.”

Steven sighed. “Do as she says.” The Drones Immediately began escorting the prisoner away. For some reason, Silvia went with them, but Steven really didn’t care. He was going to finish killing all the ghouls he had and begin leveling.

Walking back to the edge, he pulled out a ghoul and stabbed it. But before he could kick it in the pit, a drone popped out of nowhere and tackled it into the pit. While screaming. “For the King!” Sighing, Steven looked around. And seen three other drones he hadn’t noticed before.

He was fixing to go over to speak with them, but before that, he pulled out the water pipe. This was just too much. He couldn’t have them killing themselves for no reason.

“Okay, listen up, you lot. Do not jump in the pit! There are plenty of other ways to kill the ghouls than sacrificing yourself. I am more than capable of kicking the ghoul into the pit myself. What I’m trying to do is level up so I can get stronger.”

To Steven’s surprise, one of the Spider-kin stepped forwards. “I pledge my life to you my King. How may I be of service?”

“First off, what’s with calling me King?”

“Please forgive us master, we did not mean too…”

“I’m back,” Nevateb said while dragging a couple dozen ghouls tied up in a dark purple web. “here you are Master. I have drones bringing the others.”

“That was fast! Fantastic job. Now have the drones stab them once and line them up at the edge of the pit so I can kick them in for the essence.”

It didn’t take long for the drones to have the ghouls standing at the edge of the pits. Even though the ghouls were bound by web, they still were jerking around and a couple of the drones fell in the pit with the ghouls. Steven had the drones back away from the edge till he was ready for them. That too was difficult as the ghouls weren’t going to cooperate and the drones weren’t any good at man handling the ghouls, as they were roughly the same strength. After losing a couple more drones, Steven told them to all just back up.

He then went around sending the web bound undead to inventory. It was just easier for him to deal with killing them. Once he was done sending the undead to inventory, Nevateb asked him what sort of power he was using. It took him a while to explain it. As she became extremely interested when he mentioned it was a blessing. In the meantime, Steven continued killing the undead. For the first time, he realized how calm the ghouls were when he first pulled them out of inventory. If it wasn’t for that, he doubted he would be able to deal with them so easily. Although if he gave the ghouls the time, they would turn around and try to attack him. But it didn’t take long to stab and kick. He would have not noticed this if he hadn’t seen how the ghouls reacted when the drones were holding them. They must be disorientated from being pulled from his inventory.

When Steven got down to the ones wrapped in spider web, he quickly realized something was off when he only got a fraction of the essence.

“Is something wrong, Master Odling?”

Steven glanced to Nevateb. “Something is. Hold on.” Pulling out another bound ghoul, he stabbed it then kicked it over the edge. Again, he only received roughly half the normal essence.

“Must be because you bound them.” Steven muttered. Focusing on his essence counter, it slowly came into view.

Essence 14369.

“Ehh, it doesn’t matter. I already have a good chunk of essence. I’m fixing to begin leveling after I turn the rest of these undead into essence, and I don’t want to be bothered while I’m leveling.”

“Yes Master Odling.”

Stab, kick.

Since when had he become so demanding?

Stab, kick.

It must be all this master and lord stuff getting to him. But how could it go to his head so quickly?

Stab, kick.

Could it be from smoking?

Stab, kick.

No, that didn’t seem right. He was just being efficient. Being more assertive was good. Right?

Stab kick.

It didn’t take much longer till Steven finished off the remaining ghouls in his inventory. The last few he had to just kill them as they quit dying on impact due to the large number of undead in the pits.