Nael crept forward, keeping low behind a jagged outcropping of rock. The sounds of battle grew louder: the desperate shouts, the skittering of chitinous legs on stone, and a high-pitched, panicked scream that was abruptly cut off.
Dup-! Dup-!
He peered around the edge of the rock. The scene was one of pure chaos.
A sturdy boy in leather armor was on the ground, clutching a bloodied arm that was already turning a sickly shade of purple, his face contorted in pain as he screamed. A girl knelt beside him, her hands glowing with a faint, watery light as she tried to cast a healing skill, her expression one of sheer terror.
'Did he get poisoned?!'
Further out, another girl was firing arrows from behind a boulder, her shots frantic and mostly pinging off the monster's thick hide. And a boy with a spear was trying to engage it in close combat, his movements clumsy and defensive, barely dodging a sweeping, barbed leg.
And the monster...
'It's the Cave Weaver Patriarch!'
Nael's eyes widened. A cold knot of disbelief tightened in his stomach. A Level 7 mini-boss. How in the world had a party of clearly unprepared graduates stumbled into this? And so early? Their luck wasn't just bad; it was catastrophically, unbelievably terrible.
But a more pressing question followed immediately...
'Why did they even pick a fight with it?'
They were hopelessly outmatched. The boy on the ground was clearly poisoned, the healer was overwhelmed, the archer was ineffective, and the spearman was purely on the defensive.
This wasn't a battle; it was a slow-motion slaughter.
Just then, a massive, sticky web shot from the Patriarch's spinnerets, slamming into the spearman's shield and pinning his arm to his side.
"Argh!"
He yelled, trying to pull free, his movements becoming even more restricted. The spider monster advanced, its multi-faceted red eyes fixed on the helpless healer and her downed patient.
'Not good!' Nael exclaimed! They weren't going to last another minute at this rate.
Nael's mind raced through the bestiary entries he'd memorized.
'Photosensitivity. Flammable webbing.'
The plan formed in an instant. It was a huge risk. It would cost him precious resources for the delve. But the alternative was to watch them die.
Gritting his teeth, he slipped his pack off his shoulders. This was no longer just about scouting. This was an opportunity. A terrible, dangerous opportunity.
But he couldn't just act without warning. Taking a deep breath, he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted over the chaos, his voice cutting through the skittering and screams.
"Hey! Do you need help?!"
The boy with the spear, still struggling against the web, glanced wildly in Nael's direction, his face a mask of pain and panic. "YES! Yes! It's too strong!"
The girl firing arrows peeked from behind her boulder, her expression desperate. "Are you crazy?! Run away! Save yourself! There's nothing you can do!"
The conflicting responses didn't change his mind. They were doomed without intervention.
'No choice then,' Nael thought, the decision solidifying. He was going to help.
He yanked open his pack, his fingers closing around the small, crucial items: a flask of oil, a rag, and his firestarter kit.
"Hey, ugly!" he yelled, springing from his hiding spot just enough to be seen. He needed its attention. The Patriarch's head swiveled, its multitude of red eyes focusing on this new disturbance.
That was all the opening Nael needed. He struck the flint. A spark flew, catching the oil-soaked rag stuffed into the flask's neck.
Swoosh!
Flame erupted.
With a grunt of effort, he hurled the makeshift Molotov at the base of the massive web that was pinning the spearman to the ground.
The flask shattered. Oil and flame splashed across the flammable webbing.
The effect was instantaneous and brilliant.
WHOOSH.
The web ignited into a roaring bonfire, the sudden, intense flash of light exploding directly in the Cave Weaver's photosensitive eyes.
The monster let out an earsplitting shriek of agony, recoiling violently. It stumbled back, its legs flailing, completely disoriented and blinded by the painful glare.
The spearman gasped as the burning web holding him turned to ash, freeing him instantly.
The sudden silence was deafening, broken only by the crackle of flames and the Patriarch's pained screeches.
'Now!'
Nael didn't waste the precious seconds of the monster's disorientation. He surged from behind the rock, quarterstaff in hand.
"Now! Attack its eyes!" he shouted, his voice sharp with command, cutting through the party's stunned hesitation. "Go for the legs!"
The archer girl, jolted into action, nocked an arrow. This time, she took a half-second to aim, letting the arrow fly at one of the spider's glowing red eyes. It struck true, sinking deep into the multifaceted orb with a sickening squelch.
"HREE-!"
The Patriarch shrieked again, a sound of pure rage and agony, thrashing wildly.
The spearman, finally free, didn't need to be told twice. Ignoring the pain in his pinned arm, he drove his weapon forward with a yell, directly at the joint of one of its spindly front legs. The spearpoint bit deep into the chitin, and a sickening crack echoed in the cavern as the leg buckled.
But the Level 7 monster was far from finished. Blinded in one eye and crippled, it lashed out with terrifying speed. A barbed leg swept out, catching the spearman across the shins.
"A-argh!" The boy cried out and tumbled to the ground with a sharp gasp of pain, his leg bleeding profusely.
Nael moved in, staff whirling.
Clang-!
He used it to parry a desperate slash from another leg, the impact jarring his arms. He saw an opening and thrust the end of his staff like a spear, aiming for the joint of the other front leg. It connected, and another crack sounded.
But the retaliation was swift. As he pulled his staff back, a barb on the spider's leg caught his forearm, slicing through his sleeve and drawing a sharp line of blood.
'Urgh!' Nael hissed in pain but held his ground.
"A-Again! Its other eyes!" he yelled at the archer.
"On it!"
Another arrow whistled through the air, striking the spider's head, though it glanced off the tough chitin. It was enough of a distraction.
The healer, seeing both boys now injured, let out a determined cry.
Abandoning her futile cleansing spell, she grabbed a rock and hurled it with all her might. It was a pathetic attack, but it somehow managed to strike the spider's wounded eye.
That final insult was too much.
"Hrr... Hr..."
The Cave Weaver Patriarch shuddered, let out a final, gurgling hiss, and collapsed onto the cavern floor in a heap of twitching legs.
Nael didn't let his guard down. All of this might be just an act.
"Once more! Now!" he shouted, his voice raw.
[Piercing Arrow!]
The archer, understanding, fired her last arrow. It struck the spider's head just as it made one final, desperate lunge at Nael.
Nael sidestepped the dying strike, putting all his weight and remaining strength into a two-handed overhead swing with his quarterstaff.
THWUMP.
The blow landed on top of the Patriarch's head with a sickening, final crunch. The creature went completely still.
"Huff... Huff..." Nael took a few steps back, taking deep breaths.
'D-Did we kill it?'
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then, a dark, shimmering blackish-purple Essence Core, far larger than any he'd seen before, materialized above its body. It hovered for a second before splitting into five distinct streams of light.
The largest stream, nearly twice the size of the others, shot straight into Nael's chest.
'W-Whoa!'
The four smaller, equal portions arced across the cavern and flowed into each of the other party members.
The sensation was immense, a wave of potent, unrefined power that was almost overwhelming.
Simultaneously, translucent blue messages flashed before everyone's eyes.
[ Cave Weaver Patriarch(Lv7) Defeated... ]