I returned to the spider, noting the locations of various gas traps and pitfalls at the entrance. They were subtle and flush with the chitin wall, but not perfect. For the gas traps, there was a small metal cylinder that caught light, giving it the appearance of a gun barrel inlaid into the wall. The triggering mechanism for the pitfalls was a small square protrusion that emerged no more than a millimeter from the floor.

Compared to the first floor lobby of the adaptive dungeon, they were sloppy. I felt confident I would have spotted them, even without If I was with the group, I’d probably suspect something the moment we were tunneled into a tight area, especially considering how it was the last floor of the dungeon.

I wasn’t certain if Nick would catch on, considering the aggressive pace he was taking. But that wouldn’t matter now.

“What took you?” The Matriarch snapped as I returned to the chamber. She looked more than worse for wear, and though it was hard to gauge emotion on her upside-down visage, the scuttling back and forth was a dead giveaway, no matter how many legs she had. “This is a disaster.”

I shrugged. “A craftsman is only as good as his tools. You didn’t give me much to work with.”

“Such feedback would be welcome if it did one smidgen of good.” Her elongated neck drifted over in my direction, inspecting the spider on my neck, and moved further away. “If you intend to switch sides at the last moment—”

“The spider will kill me. Even if you’re dead, I’m certain.” I rolled my eyes. “Now that we’ve got the pointless paranoia out of the way, I’m really hoping to hear something useful about those cards of yours.”

“Cards?” The matriarch used her front legs to clean her mouth in what I assumed was a nervous tick, in a motion that was profoundly more disturbing given her human head.

“… You said you had cards left to play.”

“Ah. Of course.”

The matriarch pointed to the doorway. “While there are mundane, system approved traps within the entryway, I’ve been modifying and storing my own venom for quite some time. Once they approach the second door, it will flood the hall. They will die in seconds without an antidote, if not faster.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Your venom’s that strong?”

“Indeed. We need only wait until—” She was interrupted by the sound of metal striking stone, impacting the wall to the left of the doorway. A single building stone came loose from the top, tumbling down and landing in the inch of putrid water with a splat. “Bollocks.”

The entire room shook with the sound of an explosion, as more and more cracks and holes formed. I could vaguely hear Nick swearing like his life depended on it, profanity emitting in a rhythm as he struck at the wall, over and over.

Unsurprisingly, the Matriarch was shaking. I reached out and placed a hand against her carapace. She started at my touch, her head swiveling to look at me.

“I didn’t come all this way and find a fellow acolyte of the Allfather by chance, only to lose her now. You weren’t the only one with a few cards left.” I kept my voice low, calming. “I’ve planted the idea in their minds that I might be glamoured. As long as you use me as a shield, they should pull their strikes.” I stepped in front of her body, standing parallel to her head.

The constant barrage against the wall continued. It would crumble any second now.

I felt her long neck press against my left side, returning the gesture I’d given her just moments before. Her eyes crinkled. “From the stories of the Ordinators, I did not expect to meet one so noble. We will give the Allfather of Chaos much glory on this day.”

With a determined air, I withdrew my crossbow from my inventory and faced the ever crumbling wall. “Keep your head down. Let's show these simpletons what we’re made of.”

The wall exploded. Nick came barreling through like the Kool-Aid man from hell, a terrifyingly fierce expression on his face. As soon as he saw me, the anger faded, though his armor still glowed gold. “Hey Matt. Thank fuck you’re alive.” He pointed his sword towards the Matriarch as Sae and Jinny filed in behind him, though he was still watching me. “Listen. I know you’re not yourself at the moment, but I swear I’m going to get you out of this.”

”Now!” I signaled Audrey. There was a subtle breeze as her vine struck out and audibly snapped like a whip, carving through the spider on my neck. A single heated line of pain set my heart racing, as I thought it bit before it died, then realized the knife had over-penetrated.

I reached out and looped my left arm around the Matriarch’s neck to stabilize her head, and brought my crossbow to bear with my right, pressing the tip of the bolt into the base of the spider’s jaw.

The Matriarch didn’t even have time to look surprised before I pulled the trigger.

There was a sickening squelch as the bolt tore through her mouth, parting tendons and flesh in a splatter of dark blood. An awkward moment followed where no one moved, the boss chamber quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

“Or… you could get yourself out of it… that works too,” Nick said.

An ear-shattering screech broke the hush as the matriarch tore her head free of my grasp, two of her legs slamming hard into my back and side, sending me flying. Air streamed past my ears as I flew, barely managing to mentally toggle the on before I landed, rolling several times and sending up sprays of floor liquid before I came to a stop.

I’d known it wouldn’t be a kill shot. Even if I had shot the Matriarch directly in the head, I doubted a critical hit from a single bolt would kill a boss-level monster.

Targeting her jaw instead served two purposes: preventing her from directly injecting the disturbingly lethal poison she bragged about, and silencing her.

The downside was how incredibly pissed she was.

I struggled to rise, a sudden, agonizing pain shooting through my side like an electric shock, coursing all the way through to my upper back, cutting my legs out from under me.

Ruptured kidney?

Unfortunately, the monster’s mobility was unhindered. She rose to her full height, her long legs extending toward the ceiling like black skeletal fingers, and stomped down on me. My armor stopped the blunt points of her legs from penetrating, but little of the force.

Stars exploded behind my eyes as I felt my ribs crack, my guts heaving reflexively as I tried not to pass out. My head went fuzzy, and the world grew hazy around me, the widened visual of shrinking.

The Matriarch rose again, not even bothering to pay attention to anything else, and drove a single leg towards my neck.

My body ignored any attempt to move as my addled mind landed on one desperate thought, one thing I could be confident of. No matter what happened, Nick would take care of my family if I died here.

I closed my eyes.

Strong arms grabbed beneath my armpits and hauled me to the side, just as the leg sliced through the brackish water where I’d been lying. Nick ran full speed into the matriarch with his shield held high and lunged forward at the last moment, impacting hard enough that the impact nearly flipped her over.

The matriarch skittered away, hissing gutturally through her broken mouth as Jinny followed close behind Nick, wand flicking over and over as glowing crystal fragments slammed into the Matriarch.

Talia darted perilously between her many legs, teeth and claws ripping into her soft underbelly.

I looked up. Sae was panting as she dragged me, ringlets of dark hair hanging in front of her determined expression as she grunted.

“Never letting you live this down.” Sae said.

“Figured.”

As Sae dragged me, I foggily drew a bolt from my inventory and loaded my crossbow. The Matriarch’s head was out—with as much as it was moving, I was unlikely to hit a target like that on a good day. The alabaster base of her neck was a far better target.

I fired a shot, watching in annoyance as it missed the neck and bounced off her massive abdomen. A small reflection caught my eye, cutting through the malaise that possessed my mind.

“Drag me to the right,” I commanded.

“The hell? This isn’t Lyft—“

“Just do it, Sae!” Something in my voice must have communicated that I wasn’t exactly angling for a better view because Sae relented, moving me in the direction I instructed.

A well-timed kick from the Matriarch sent Talia flying. The spider—clearly tired of dealing with Nick, looped her prehensile neck around him, her open mouth landing on Nick’s shoulder. Jinny reacted quickly, already reorienting her wand to point it at the monster’s head, but I doubted she’d be able to get the spell off in time. It was impossible to say whether the matriarch could clamp down hard enough to break his armor. Better to not take any chances.

I reached out a hand and called back to me.

There was a loud tearing as the silver blade sliced through chitin, like it was nothing, traveling the length of the monster’s body only to emerge from the front, zipping directly towards me. It slapped into my hand, viscous with guts and dark blood.

The monster screamed, her body curling in on itself as she staggered towards the doorway and collapsed.

Nick stood over her, sword at the ready. But he was hesitating.

It only took a second to realize why. Even if the rest of the matriarch was monstrous, her face was definitely human.

Finally, he spoke, “You tried to turn a teammate against us. Most people would kill you for that. Hell, I’m tempted to kill you for that.” He leaned down. “But let’s take things down a notch. End the trial now, with us as the victors, and I’ll leave you be.”

Finish her, you idiot.

I chugged a health potion and felt my body respond far too slowly. The matriarch stayed still, save for a single leg that unfurled, struggling to reach the door. It was obvious what the monster intended. If she could get the door open and activate the venom trap, she was likely to catch both Nick and Jinny in the backsplash.

Calling out a warning would probably just distract him at the worst possible moment.

Out of options, I reached out to Nick with There was far more resistance than expected, but I somehow made it through, sending Nick an image of the spider opening the door, and a wave of venom washing over us, tagging the image with urgency.

With my other hand, I activated focusing the spell on the edge of his sword.

Nick whipped around, the reaction absurdly fast. As the tip of the spider’s leg reached the door-handle, Nick dropped his shield and two-handed his sword, shouting obscenities as he brought it down in a mighty strike.