Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 2) - Chapter 73 - Spider Queen

Xavier peered into the final chamber of the Tower of Champion’s ninth floor, looking up at the floor boss.

“This seems easy enough,” he muttered. He looked away from the chamber and at the others. “All right. Time to head back and refresh this floor.” He smiled. “We’re almost there. Almost to the tenth floor!”

Siobhan had a frown on her face. “Something feels too easy about this.”

“Too easy?” Justin scratched at his nose. “Of course it’s easy. How could it be hard with this powerhouse on our team.” He nodded at Xavier.

Siobhan shook her head. “I’m not talking about the monsters, I’m talking about the dungeon. The walls don’t shift and change like on the second floor. There’s no one to protect... I just feel like there’s something morehere.”

Howard ran a hand through his beard, a look of contemplation lining his face. “Maybe it just feels like it should be harder than it is? The sooner we refresh this floor, the sooner we get back to Earth. And that’s something I very much want.”

“That’s something I want too,” Xavier said. “But I don’t think we should ignore what Siobhan is feeling.” He stepped over to her. “What do you think we should do?”

Siobhan gestured toward the chamber. “I think you should step in there. I have a feeling some kind of trap will activate, and if it does, better to be aware of it now, rather than on your final clear. And, if the floor boss attacks—”

“If?” Xavier raised an eyebrow at her.

Siobhan smirked. “Okay, when the floor boss attacks, it’s not like it will be able to do any damage toward you.”

“What kind of trap are you expecting?” Howard asked.

“I don’t know.” Siobhan shrugged. “That’s why I think he should do this. If I’m wrong, we’ve only spent another minute or so here. No harm done.”

Xavier saw the wisdom in her words, even if he didn’t think there was anything to worry about. He already had his plan for this floor—sprint and teleport through every inch of the dungeon, killing the spiders as fast as he could until he reached the final chamber, then dispose of the floor boss. It wasn’t a particularly sophisticated plan, but it didn’t need to be when he was E Grade on a floor for low-end F Grades.

He wouldn’t be able to clear the ninth floor as fast as he’d cleared many of the other floors, but he’d be able to clear it fast enough, he hoped, to get the number one record that he was after.

Still, as she said, there was no harm in stepping over that threshold and seeing if this floor had any tricks up its sleeve.

He laid a hand on Siobhan’s shoulder. “You and the others stay in this hall.” He glanced up at the spider. “I’m sure you’d be able to take on this thing as a team.” He’d scanned the floor boss and found it to be called a Spider Queen—no surprise there. “But I don’t want you guys taking any unnecessary risks.

The trio glanced at each other, but none of them argued.

Xavier deposited Charon’s Scythe into his Storage Ring. He didn’t want to kill this thing out or pure muscle memory. He could imagine what was about to happen next. The massive spider dropping straight to the ground, attacking him head on, its pincers trying to grab at him—or its forelegs snapping down to try and puncture his chest.

Or maybe it will shoot its web at me, try and wrap me up in a cacoon before eating me…

That thought made him shudder.

Siobhan was right, the floor boss shouldn’t be able to cause him any damage at all. Still, he couldn’t help but feel a littletrepidation. Back before the System, when he’d been nothing more than an average human, he’d… been afraid of spiders.

It was a completely irrational fear. He’d even researched the different common spiders that he sometimes encountered in his tiny apartment, to ensure that none of them were venomous.

They were basically harmless. Could do nothing more to him than a small bite, which might sting and make him a bit itchy.

Yet still, he’d felt an unwarranted fear of them.

Looking up at the Spider Queen he knew couldn’t harm him, he felt a shadow of that same irrational fear—even more irrational now, he supposed, after all the monstrous beasts he’d faced.

At least this spider won’t be able to hide from me.

The instant Xavier stepped over the threshold, a screeching, booming voice sounded from above. It had a sort of high-pitched, cackling-crone quality to it.

“You dare enter my domain, foolish human!” The Spider Queen’s entire body shuddered, making the intricate web it hid inside of vibrate. A purple glow suddenly suffused the web, as though a spell were about to be cast.

“Of course the giant spider can talk,” Xavier muttered. “And of course it sounds like some lame movie villain, because why wouldn’t it?” He couldn’t help but be reminded of the Rat King.

The irrational fear he’d been feeling evaporated. He chuckled to himself with a shake of his head.

“Silence!” The Spider Queen’s voice boomed. “You have made a grave mistake, human!”

The stone beneath him shifted. His feet sunk into it, like they’d done before, in a different hallway. He could certainly see how this might strike fear into a normal party, but he couldn’t get over how ridiculous this situation felt.

If this is the extent of the trap...

Siobhan’s voice sounded within his mind through their bonded Communication Stones. [Should I teleport you out of there?]

[No. Let’s wait a little while. I’ve got a feeling this insect has something up one of its many sleeves. Not that it has sleeves...]

Siobhan didn’t reply with words. Instead, he felt a telepathic confirmation—like a mind-nod.

The stone around him didn’t become solid again until he’d sunk down to his waist. Looking down at the stone, he wondered if he could simply break out of it using the power of his Strength alone.

I bet if I really needed to, Charon’s Scythe could cut through it.

He saw no point in testing this theory, however. When he came here on his final clear, the Spider Queen wouldn’t even have time to trap him in the stone. And even if it did, he could kill it with ease trapped down here.

The Spider Queen’s screeching voice boomed once more. “I summon all my children to meeeee!”

The web glowed ever more brightly, until the entire room was bathed in purple light.

Then... nothing happened. When no spiders appeared, the Spider Queen released a mournful screeching wail. “You killed my babies! I will have my revenge!” Then flung itself down at Xavier.

Xavier smiled as the spider fell. [Time to go,] he communicated to Siobhan.

A white light enveloped him, and he was back in the hall.

Justin peeked his head into the chamber then took a few steps back as the spider slammed into the ground. “Run back to the exit?” he said, looking askance at the beast.

Xavier grinned. “I’ll be right behind you.”

~

When they returned to the Staging Room, Xavier rubbed his hands together. “Siobhan, you’re a genius.”

Siobhan tilted her head to the side. “I am?” She blinked. “I mean yes, of course I am.” The woman nodded sagely.

Xavier chuckled. “This floor?” He jutted his thumb behind him at the door. “It’s going to go way faster than I first thought.”

Siobhan still looked a little confused.

“Didn’t you hear what the Spider Queen said?” Xavier figured they would have caught on to his plan instantly, especially Siobhan, but none of them looked like they knew what he was talking about.

“There must have been some kind of noise-cancelling spell on the chamber,” Howard said. “We didn’t hear a word.”

“After you stepped inside of the chamber, a thin webbing blocked the doorway.” Justin rested a hand on the hilt of his sword. “I didn’t try, but I got the feeling it wouldn’t be easy to cut through.”

“Huh,” Xavier said. “I didn’t notice that.”

“The webbing disappeared after I teleported you out,” Siobhan replied.

Xavier nodded. “I can see how that room could be quite an effective trap. I’m glad you were able to teleport me out. Though I probably would have been able to break through the webbing.” Despite his words, he felt a little doubtful about that for some reason.

“So... what did it say?” Justin asked.

“It said it would summon all its children to it, but when it tried, none of them came.”

“All its children?” Siobhan’s eyes lit up. “It was going to summon every remaining living spider from within the dungeon straight to it. But we killed them all, which means, when you go there next—”

“I can sprint straight to the final chamber, wait for the Spider Queen to summon all the other beasts, then kill them all at once, making for a much faster clear.”

“Hmm,” Howard said. “We walked past that chamber a few times before we finally cleared the whole dungeon. I can imagine other Champions entering it before they cleared the other enemies. They’d be in for a shock.”

“It’ll be a while before any of the other parties reach this floor, but we’ll make sure to let them know.” Xavier had spent quite a bit of coin getting his information network in place. He was finding he was glad for it. Though he didn’t plan to make another visit to the tavern until he was ready to clear the tenth floor.

He frowned. Something in his mind—an insight?—nudged him toward going sooner than that.

All right, he thought to himself. I’ll go after I clear the ninth floor, before stepping onto the tenth.

He got a feeling there would be something different about the tenth floor. He’d learnt to trust these kinds of feelings.

“Well.” Howard stepped over to the door. “What are we waiting for?” The man smiled, but it was strained, and Xavier couldn’t help but feel his impatience.

He recalled the chat they’d had on the floor as they’d stalked through the dungeon’s halls, when Howard had said he couldn’t imagine being in Xavier’s position, the weight of the entire planet Earth on his shoulders.

In a weird way, Xavier couldn’t imagine what Howard was going through. He had the weight of his family. His kids. His wife. Two people he clearly loved more than anything.

People were dying back on Earth. Hell, they were dying in the tower. And while Xavier cared about every single loss—his mother maybe being among them—it was the protection of the Earth as a whole he was most concerned with.

Howard? He had only two people on his mind. If they died, it didn’t matter how well the world as a whole faired; he would have failed.

Xavier squeezed the man’s shoulder as he stepped up to the door. “I’ll get you back to them. Real soon.”

The former cop gave a sharp nod, his face impassive. He didn’t say a word as they headed onto the tower floor.

Almost there, Xavier thought, readying himself for a fast clear.