Fenrir

The Arachnae shriek before rushing forwards to attack, slicing apart monster after monster as they make their way towards Ashina.

I guess that they can tell that she is the strongest monster in the area.

Meanwhile, the Arachnus stands back with its creepy eyes staring unmoving at Ashina while occasionally impaling any monster that wanders too close to it with its massive legs.

"Is it really just going to sit back and watch the Arachnae fight Ashina?" I mutter in bewilderment.

"It's possible that it's doing the same thing that the Arachnae were doing before and is waiting to judge her abilities before attacking. Either that or it just doesn't see her as a threat," Dawn says as we watch the Arachnae finally break through the waves of monsters and attack Ashina.

Ashina blocks one of their legs with her sword before twisting and grabbing another leg with her bare hand.

The Arachnae both let out shrieks as her flames slowly devour their chitin before they both jerk their legs away from her and jump backwards.

My monsters begin to rush towards the spiders as they shift their attention between them and Ashina with caution that wasn't there before.

I guess they didn't expect to find something that was physically stronger than them in my dungeon.

Ashina leaps forward and swings her sword at one of the Arachnae's faces, catching it by surprise as it frantically raises a leg to block it with their claw.

The Arachnae is only barely weaker than Ashina as she slowly pushes its claw closer and closer towards its body.

"Her flames are really doing a number on them," Dawn mutters as we watch Ashina's black flames slowly spread through and devour the Arachnae's leg and claw.

The Arachnae strikes at Ashina in a frenzy with its other legs as its claw begins to break down, only for her to catch one of them as another stabs straight into her shoulder.

Ashina grunts in pain before finally cutting through the spider's weakened claw just as the other Arachnae reaches them through the monsters and bites into her side, partially melting her flesh as its acidic venom begins to do its work.

Ashina howls in pain just as her sword cuts through the remnants of the spider's leg and straight into its face, killing it in an instant.

This isn't looking good...

She still has to deal with the queen after this!

I take a moment to glance at the queen and find her standing in the exact same place without moving.

Why is she still doing nothing?

My question is answered quickly as a strange, green mist begins to flow out of her mouth and falls to the floor before spreading out around her.

What is...

The monsters closest to the queen begin to grow sluggish before they suddenly collapse to the ground.

Please don't tell me that's...

"She can use magic?!" Dawn shouts while frantically floating back and forth in front of my core.

Shit...

All of my monsters except for my mana infused ones begin to collapse to the ground as the poisonous mist reaches them.

Okay, that's just unfair.

I turn my attention back to Ashina and find her with her fist buried in the other Arachnae's eyes.

That at least leaves the queen without any more help, but Ashina isn't in good enough condition right now to even attempt fighting her alone.

I search through my fifth floor to find any more monsters, only to realize that I had already sent all of this floor's monsters to the battle.

Shit, this isn't good!

Ashina slowly struggles to her feet with a large hole in her side, and several stab wounds located throughout her body.

Is it really going to end like this?!

"Dawn, please teleport to the entrance and leave the-"

A loud crash echoes throughout the fifth floor, interrupting me before I can finish telling her to escape my dungeon and try to find a new dungeon.

Dawn ignores my words as we both turn to find a large crater right in front of the hole leading towards the spider's nest.

In the middle of said crater is one of the intruders from the arrogant guy's party.

If I remember correctly, he was a level 6 archer who could only barely hit a monster a few meters away with his bow.

What is he...

A wave of power flows off of him like nothing I have ever seen before.

The Arachnus turns around to look at him as her movements turn stiff in what appears to be terror.

Throughout this entire time, ever since she entered my dungeon, she has been trampling through everything as if my monsters were just bugs in her eyes, but now she is terrified of a level 6 archer?

What is going on here?

Wait a second...

'Identify.'

Name: Bishur Nokar

Race: Human

EXP Level: ?

Cultivation Level: ?

Mana: ?/?

"That guy was hiding his cultivation from everyone?!" I shout in surprise as he slowly stands up and looks at the spider queen.

I glance at the fourth floor and find the rest of the intruders sitting around amidst the spider corpses chatting.

"Who would have thought that Bishur was actually a Knight..." The only female member of their party says as she looks towards the hole down to the fifth floor.

I vaguely notice Dawn floating down to land on my core in relief as I listen to their conversation.

The arrogant leader looks irritated as he says, "My mother introduced us and said that I had to let him join my party if I wanted to be a mercenary."

Jake looks at Arthur and says, "It makes sense if you really think about it. Of course your mother wouldn't let you go off into dungeons without some sort of protection. Not with how overprotective she is."

Arthur sighs and actually agrees with him for a first, "That's true."

I turn my attention back to the fifth floor as the Knight looks up at the ceiling and says, "I originally wasn't going to blow my cover, but I decided that it was required after sensing this Arachnus down here."

Wait, is he talking to me?

"After all," he continues speaking, "I am hoping that you will reach Tier 2 one day so that I can finally start leveling again."

Yeah, he is definitely talking to me.

As soon as he finishes speaking, he raises his bow and draws it, terrifying the queen even further as she realizes that he is about to shoot.

The queen tries to move but fails miserably as the Knight creates an arrow of pure fire and sends it flying straight at the Arachnus.

The arrow explodes the second it hits the queen, completely obliterating her in the process while the Knight casually puts his bow back over his shoulder.

He then jumps straight up through the hole to the fourth floor.

Dawn and I stare numbly at the crater left behind by the arrow's explosion while the Knight leaves with the other intruders.

A few seconds later, a golden orb appears in the center of the crater before heading towards my core.

The instant the orb enters my core, a loud noise echoes through my dungeon as I get a notification.

System Notification:

Congratulations!

You have reached EXP Level 7!

"Well, that..." I mutter as we continue to stare at the crater.

"Was unexpected to say the least," Dawn finishes for me, finally breaking out of her shock.

I should go ahead and start cleaning all of this up.

One hour later

I finally finish cleaning up the messes left behind by the battle when Dawn suddenly turns black.

Um, if I remember correctly, that was the color for anger...

Did I do something wrong?

"Fenrir," Dawn calmly states, "I was a little preoccupied at the time, but if I am not mistaken, you tried to tell me to leave you behind, didn't you?"

Oh.

That's what she meant.

I spawn in an arachnid and point it out to Dawn, "Hey, look at this! We have new monsters to use in the dungeon!"

My obvious attempt at changing the subject fails miserably as Dawn says, "Don't you dare ever suggest that again. Do I make myself clear?"

She didn't even look at the thing!

I guess I can't distract her from this.

"Yes, mam," I answer her.

Her color changes back to her normal blue soon after hearing my answer.

"That was a little too close for comfort though," Dawn says with a slight tremble to her words as she stares at the arachnid I had summoned.

I watch the spider move around for a few minutes before I mutter, "Yeah."