Nether Feast - Chapter 12

After a few days, I left and headed to the closest seventh realm dungeon. Serena was contacting the academy she spoke of to get me a special admission. It wouldn’t take long, so I’d use the time I had wisely.

I traveled in the simple garb of a young adventurer. Even though my pants and tunic were high quality, I didn’t wear any armor or high-end gear, so I received little attention. Most of my time traveling wasn’t on the roads anyway. I couldn’t fly like some mages, but I didn’t need to. I leaped through the world with as much freedom as any creature of the air.

The sky began to grow dark with cloud cover as I neared the Meremor Dungeon. I heard distant thunderclaps that echoed in an inconsistent rhythm. It was considered one of the most dangerous dungeons in the world. Only the highest-level adventurers would dare enter. Many of them spent most of their time just trying to kill enough monsters so that the overpopulation wouldn’t lead to a dungeon break.

There was a city built up around it, but a fortress. There were protective and destructive arrays ready for any creature that snuck out. There were also many high rank merchants, but they remained mobile because of the constant danger.

When I reached the gate to the fortress, I was met by two third-realm guards. They had such high realms for what seemed like such a common profession. For every low realm adventurer they turned away, they saved a life.

I arrived with my level hiding artifacts in place and handed them a letter with my sister’s seal, as well as the adventure guild’s. They didn’t bother opening the letter, and immediately granted me entrance to the fortress.

Both my sister and her husband had adventured here before. Only the highest floors had rank-eight monsters. The lowest contained rank-five. I better understood how incredible they both were.

The first thing I did was find an inn. To remain inconspicuous, Serena recommended me enter the dungeon at night. It would be past curfew when no one ever entered, but there was a light guard to look out for the suicidal and to welcome back those returning.

The entrance itself looked like the mouth of a giant skull. I darted past the guards on duty and didn’t look back. Only once I was deep into the first floor did I begin to remove my shackles. A few moments later, I was down to wearing nothing except my comfortable pair of shorts.

As I scanned the floor, I realized almost everything here was more powerful than the king of the Grayson Tower. I contemplated skipping the first few floors but thought of Clan Eorith. I had made a covenant with them. I had more than enough corpses left over from the Netherplane, but they wouldn’t last forever. I also had plenty of room in my inventory. I might as well stock up.

The Meremor Dungeon had a very specific monster-types. They were basically giant insects. It wasn’t just one kind though. Spiders were said to be the most common, but worms, beetles, grubs, locus, mantis, bees, and wasps were all to be expected. Of course, these weren’t your garden yard varieties. The smallest were a meter tall, while the largest were five to six meters. These were also high realm versions of the same insects, so their combat prowess was equal to bestial demons.

Without even asking, my brother-in-law had spoken of how tasty some of the monsters were. Fried worms could taste like seeds or nuts while grubs could taste like overly cooked steak. Locus would taste like crab and beetles like clams. Most spiders had a nutty taste, whereas the bees had a smokey flavor. The wasps could be seasoned to taste like jerky and the mantis tasted like shrimp. There were even unique flavors amongst the different species. If prepared correctly, anything I hunted could be eaten. There was still a danger to humans who ate monster meat above their rank though. Because of their realms, both Bren and Serena had been able to enjoy low to mid-realm monsters from this dungeon before.

I didn’t want to clear it out entirely, but I’d heard how dangerous the place was and the threat of monsters escaping was ever present. While I was here, I might as well thin their numbers.

The first monster I ran into was a worm as large as a giant serpent. It threatened me with an open mouth from which some type of poison escaped. I darted around it and clubbed it in the side of the neck with my fist. I placed its corpse in my inventory and moved on.

There were several spider species that were red, brown, and black, but there were far more worms, beetles, and grubs than I’d been led to believe. I systematically went from room to room, leaving breeding couples where I found them and inventorying the rest. It seemed the spiders were far more aggressive, so that explained why the others were far rarer.

There were a few groups in the dungeon, two of which were on this second level. This dungeon was only ten levels high, so I didn’t skip right past it. Most of the treasures here were natural things, so I left whatever the groups were heading toward and weaved around them. It was no small area, so they never knew I was there.

By the third floor, fifth-realm monsters were becoming more common. A few of the bees began to show themselves, and I took out half of a hive before retrieving their honey. It tasted much like normal honey, but it was impossible not to notice the rich energy flowing through it. The hive weighed a couple tons, so I took a thousand kilograms of the sweet honeycomb for myself.

The first sixth-realm monster appeared on the fifth floor. It was a mantis I’d been looking forward to trying. It was the monster Bren had praised the most for its taste. Finding one at a low enough realm for the third realm mage to eat was a true rarity though.

I was sure to be thorough with the mantises, collecting as many as I could without destroying their population. There was a resurgence of spiders on the seventh floor, but they had the wasps to contend with. Finding myself in the middle of a battle between the two monster races, I learned firsthand how dangerous they could be. I was happy with the number of bodies I’d earned by the end of the skirmish.

I ran into locusts on the eighth floor. They were all over the place and didn’t seem to have sufficient combat prowess to be there, but then I saw one move. In speed they ascended realms. I was sure to gather them by the hundreds. It only put a dent in their population.

The spiders on the ninth floor seemed to dominate the area. There were locusts there, but at a far lower number. It seemed they’d forced most of them to the floor below.

I reached the ten and final floor. Scanning it, I found not one, but three monsters near the peak of the seventh realm. I caught the odd monsters on my way to the closest boss. The first one was a giant black spider with a woman’s upper torso growing out of where its head should’ve been.

“You dare to enter this queen’s territory?” She screamed with telekinetic tones.

I didn’t answer with words but unleashed my aura to the fullest. Only when her belly hit the floor and she’d lowered her head did I reply. “I’m not here for your life, but to gather resources for my family and friends. What can you give me to encourage me to leave you in peace?”

The queen spider’s eyes were more like a cat’s than human’s. They darted around at inhuman speed. “I have many partially eaten people of your kind.”

“Are any alive?”

“A few.”

“Send them to the dungeon’s entrance in good health.”

“You don’t want to take them yourself?”

“I’m not here to save them, but to gather resources.”

Her eyes stopped on me. “Your people will reward you.”

“They have nothing I’d want. Saving them is just convenient. I still expect you to do as you suggest. As for treasures that might help in advancing realms…”

“There is something, but I need your word you won’t return to reharvest it. If you do, my life will no longer be worth living.”

He had a strange feeling about what she was about to offer. “What is it?”

“The eggs of the next generation of my offspring.”

“I am not against eating your kind, but I will not ask a mother to sacrifice her children.”

She tilted her head to the side as the antennas on her head twitched rapidly. “Then… There’s little else I can offer you. Unless you find my form attractive?”

I should’ve felt sick at the very thought, but my internal functions were too under my control. “I do not.”

“The only other option is for you wait a few generations until my daughter has grown enough to take my place. Then you can devour me.”

“I can’t make such a commitment. There are a few other eighth realm monsters on this level. I’ll leave and see if I can find what I’m looking for from them.”

“You’re leaving? I don’t understand. Do you not want my body?”

I hadn’t been around people for a century, but the many implications of what she was saying wasn’t lost on me. “I have the corpses of many seventh realm monsters in my inventory. Adding one more won’t make a difference. Farewell.”

“Wait. Allow me… to make you… something. Please weaken your aura.”

I did.

She was quick to climb up the wall to the ceiling, but instead of escaping she began spinning silk. “Is the garment you have on all that you wear, or do you dress like other humans?”

“This is what I wear in battle. I haven’t found anything that can withstand many attacks, let alone my movements.”

“Then this queen will weave for you. I must touch. Measure.” She fell from the ceiling, scurrying toward me as she landed.

The giant spider encircled me as if taking in my measurements. When she stopped behind me, I expected her to attack. I was ready to heal and respond, but instead of pain, her hands began to move. She wasn’t gentle, nor was she rough. She started by rubbing her hands over my shoulders, then down my back. They skirted up my sides before running over my chest. She was thorough and I was as uncomfortable as I’d ever been. However, I sensed no hostility.

Then her hands ran southward. Why hadn’t I expected her to go that far? There was nothing human about this creature. Thankfully, her hands didn’t linger, and she was soon done with her chore. As soon as she was, she hurried across the room and back up to the ceiling.

Within a short period of time, a few pairs of shorts, a shirt and a pair of pants were all created by the queen’s own hand. When she was done, she once again fell from the ceiling, but this time she came at a slow pace. She was drained of energy.

“This queen’s gift to you.”

I reached out slowly, finding they weren’t sticky to the touch.

Seeing my action, she said, “This is a special technique I can’t use often. It takes a great deal of mana to secrete this type of thread. These garments will be much stronger than the best human armor I’ve found. It is used by my soldiers in the time of war.”

“Thank you.”

“Try them.”

The last thing I wanted to do today was take off my clothes in front of a seventh realm spider queen, but then again, I was only in my shorts. I rubbed the material between my fingers once more before deciding to try and pull the shorts over the ones I was wearing. Placing the rest of the gear inside my inventory, I began to pull them on.

She started to make a clicking noise like she objected but didn’t say it out loud. There was enough give in the material to allow me to do as I planned, and soon I was left standing there in snug, pale-golden shorts that went halfway down my thighs.

I brought my knee to my chest to see how they moved and was pleasantly surprised. “They are a very nice fit. Thank you.”

“Why?” she asked, motioning toward the shorts I’d left on as an undergarment.

“Human’s often wear clothing in layers.”

It wasn’t really an explanation, but she accepted it without remark. “If you’re willing to bring me the head of the Mantis Overlord who rules over the northern part of this realm, I’ll make garments for you whenever you return for as long as I live.”

“You wish to make a contract with me?”

“You have already expressed no interest in breeding, so this is the best I can do to bring added protection to my colony. He has eaten thousands of my children, and his of own children—tens of thousands.”

I ignored her first comment and replied. “If I bring him to you, will you wipe out all of his kind?”

“I will leave a small number to give nutritional variety to my colony. However, never again will I allow one to reach such a high realm.”

“I can agree to this. Without such a powerful enemy, will you try to take over the rest of the dungeon? Will you leave and go into the greater world?”

“The dungeon, yes. The light of the surface does not suit my kind, so we’ll remain here.”

“Very well.” I wasn’t sure how much such garments were worth, but I assumed they were quite rare. Even if the queen didn’t keep her word, I could always come back and whittle down her numbers.

My trip to the northern part of the floor took a few minutes. I wasn’t exactly in a hurry, but I didn’t want to deal with any more monsters. These high rank ones seemed to have reached a level of sentience. They also fed off human adventurers, so I wasn’t set on being merciful. I was more worried about the monster population that adventurers depended upon for their livelihood.

No other place in the tower had a dense population of mantis. Since there was one here, I cleared the first part of a long tunnel, making sure to grab a few of the lower-level ones that Bren might be able to stomach. After that, I shot past the rest and quickly found the Mantis Overlord. He looked just like any mantis I’d ever seen except he was three meters tall, had a dark grey coloring, and a long face with human similarities. Fangs hung from either side of his mouth.

By the time he saw me, it was already too late. His body was placed in my inventory before his head hit the floor. I grabbed his head, then darted back toward the spider queen.

She seemed to be waiting for me anxiously. Her antennas were going spastic. When she saw me, she held her hands out in anticipation. I marched over and removed the body from my inventory, laying it at her feet. The head I sat beside it.

With far more speed than she’d revealed before, she lunged toward it and scooped up her meal. Surprisingly, she used her human shaped mouth to bite at its shoulder until one of its arms was removed. “Take this as additional compensation. Not even eighth realm monsters contain claws as durable as the king mantis’s blade. And please, let us partake of his flesh together.”

She handed it to me, and I took it. Blood was dripping from its shoulder. While she spun the mantis’s body into a cocoon, I did something inhuman without thinking. I took a bite of its flesh. It tasted like warm shrimp.

She made a series of clicking sounds. She must have been pleased.

“Thank you, adventurer. From this day forward, this queen will be at your service.”

“What is your name?”

“Widow Queen.” It didn’t seem like a name at all.

“I am Ailen Reaver. Farewell.”

“Farewell, Ailen Reaver.”

Before I left, I went to inspect the final seventh realm creature on the floor. It was a locus, the size of a small house. I didn’t bother killing it, but I did thin the higher realm locus in its midst.

Once outside, I wasn’t finished. I went to one other seventh realm dungeon before returning home. This one was more typical and filled with goblins, orc, ogres, and trolls. There was also more typical treasure. I loaded up on the highest floors and again, I only killed for the sake of population control. The exceptions were fifth and sixth realm trolls. Their blood had many uses for alchemy.

When I finally headed home, I’d been gone for a week. I was able to talk to Serena daily through a transmission talisman. It was something I’d never been able to afford as a young adventurer. Not even Minster Leighton had one, or he at least hadn’t had an extra one to give me. I informed my sister I was on my way.