Arc 2 Chapter 23:  Mine Your Manners II

It was still night time when Delgar and Akira finally cleared all but one of the branches in the last tunnel.

They had been unsuccessful at finding any Aorium ore so far. There was an abundance of iron and copper ore which was nice but not exactly what they were looking for.

“This is our last chance to find some Aorium,” said Akira as he readied his shield and walked forward entering the last unexplored part of the mine.

Delgar was for once following behind Akira carrying the lantern in one hand and his large warhammer in the other.

As they walked down the dimly lit passageway the ground began to slowly slope downwards taking them deeper underground. After ten minutes of walking a dim light could be seen in the distance.

“What could that be? Do you know Delgar?” asked Akira.

“It means we’re lucky! The Aorium ore gives off a dim glow often lighting up the area where there is a decent amount of the ore. Judging from the amount of light coming from up ahead I think we’ve hit the mother load,” said Delgar excitedly. He closed the shutters of the lamp in order not to alert any of the [Spotted Spiders] that might be ahead of them.

When they reached the end of the tunnel it opened up into a large cavernous room. Akira was stunned by the amount of Aorium ore in the room. There were small piles of it everywhere just lying on the floor as well as some still on the wall waiting to be mined.

Then Akira noticed a large presence of the [Spotted Spiders] gathered around the piles of Aorium. It looked like they had been gathering the ore for some reason.

‘No wonder the rest of the mine was empty,’ thought Akira.

There were a small number of [Spotted Spiders] near a small sea of white spider eggs which were being moved around and taking care of.

Delgar cursed in a low voice beside Akira after seeing a large number of spiders and their eggs all blocking their way to the Aorium.

“Looks like we have to take care of the rest of these blasted spiders before we can safely get to the Aorium ore. On the bright side of things it looks like there’s no boss here to fight,” said Akira.

“Which do you want to take care of first the spiders near the piles of ore or the eggs?” asked Delgar.

“Let’s take care of the ones by the ore first. That way we can take care of the eggs fast with no interruptions. Hopefully, when we are finished with this the mine will be free of the [Spotted Spiders] presence and be allowed to reopen,” said Akira.

“Alright let’s**** them so hard that they won’t know what killed them,” said Delgar readying his war hammer.

With no place to hide in the large room, it was decided not to try and sneak up on them and just rush the enemy. They both looked at each other for a sec and gave a slight nod, signaling they were ready, both ran out into the cavernous room at top speed heading towards the swarm of [Spotted Spiders] near the Aorium.

They were both noticed by the [Spotted Spiders] before they were even halfway across the cave.

One after another the spiders started to make a low hissing sound alerting others near them.

Soon the whole cave was filled will the sound of the spiders hissing. The hissing abruptly stopped and just as fast as it had begun when one of the [Spotted Spiders] jumped towards Delgar and Akira.

Tens, no maybe a hundred of the [Spotted Spiders] started to quickly follow after the first, running and jumping with their hairy legs towards the intruders.

“Let’s do this!” shouted Akira as he ran forward to meet the oncoming flow of enemies with Delgar beside him.

Akira slammed into the wave of [Spotted Spiders] and began slicing, stabbing, and bashing all who appeared before him.

Akira made sure to check on Delgar every few seconds to make sure he wasn’t in danger. There was was no need to worry after seeing the blood splatter every time Delgar swung his hammer letting out a mixed thud and squishing sound.

Reassured that Delgar could take care of himself, Akira refocused on the enemies in front of him that had started to amass into a large group.

“Sword Slash!”

Ding!

Skill Level Up: Sword Slash (Beginner: Lvl 3 | 3.00%)

Akira cheered in his heart and continued to fight. After ten minutes of intense battling and decreasing the [Spotted Spiders] down by nearly half of the original number, Akira felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise alerting him to danger coming from behind.

Without thinking he jumped to the left and rolled a few times towards the direction Delgar was fighting.

Just after dodging, the area he had been standing just a moment ago was covered with multiple white shards that looked to be made out of a spider web. Some of the [Spotted Spiders] that had been surrounding Akira had been killed instantly by the attack.

He hurriedly stood up and looked behind him.

A spider at least for or five times bigger than the other [Spotted Spiders] they had been fighting the whole night, was slowly descending from the ceiling on a thick rope of spider thread.

Spotted Spider Queen Lvl 14

“Delgar! I think we have a big problem!” shouted Akira, causing Delgar to glance in the direction Akira was looking.

Delgar cursed a few times while slamming his hammer into a group of spiders near him sending blood and spider parts flying everywhere.

“Can you stall that big one while I take care of the smaller ones?” asked Delgar.

“I’ll try, but I’m not sure how long I can last against that thing,” shouted Akira before running towards the large spider that had just landed on the ground.

Before Akira could move any closer the [Spotted Spider Queen] spat out another wave of sharp projectiles from its mouth forcing him to dodge to the right.

He slowly inched his way closer, keeping the [Spotted Spider Queen] attention on him, all the while focusing on dodging the projectiles that were sent towards him.

As he neared the [Spotted Spider Queen] dodging the projectiles became much harder due to having less time to react. He was forced to block a few of the shards with his shield when he was unable to dodge one of the attacks.

The force of the shards hitting his shield almost made him fall backward. Luckily the shield did its job and stopped the shards but it had been greatly damaged.

After successfully blocked the shards a few more times the spider stopped shooting them and rushed forward to use a physical attack against Akira.

As it neared Akira he could see it’s size more accurately Its height only reached his stomach but its width was just as wide as it was tall.

Bracing himself Akira skillfully blocked the onslaught of attacks from [Spotted Spider Queens] razor-sharp front legs as they continued to stab at him.

His shield was taking a real beating, the attacks were making it look like Swiss cheese. One of the attacks that punctured through the shield also sliced into his arm piercing the hauberk. Luckily it did not fully pierce the gambeson.

Using his sword he stabbed back at the spider but to his dismay the sword only caused a white line to appear on is hard carapace as it bounced off.

The wooden shield finally gave out and completely shattered into splintered fragments after a few more rounds of blocking attacks from the [Spotted Spider Queen].

Throwing the remaining pieces at the spider’s small face he jumped backward trying to create distance between him and the [Spotted Spider Queen].

‘Damn it! I should have made sure to have a backup shield just in case,’ though Akira.

“Delgar are you finished yet? My shield just broke I don’t know how much longer I can dodge its attacks,” asked Akira with a shout.

“Almost finished! Just a few more to go!” replied Delgar.

The [Spotted Spider Queen] continued to charge after Akira swinging its two pinpoint sharp front legs. Akira dodged to the left but was a little slow and was hit in the side and sent rolling away from the [Spotted Spider Queen].

The attack had pierced both layers of his armor and caused a small wound to start leaking blood.

Grimacing from the wound he hurriedly leaped back onto his feet and started to try and keep some distance from the [Spotted Spider Queen].

Ding!

New stat created! Gained from the experience of blocking many dangerous attacks and receiving numerous wounds. Toughness: measures how much damage you can resist. This stat receives points from receiving damage while in combat.

Akira didn’t know whether to laugh or cry earning such a skill because he was getting beat up. The fact hadn’t changed that the [Spotted Spider Queen] still needed to be defeated. He was hurriedly trying to think of a way he could defeat it without letting Delgar know he was a werewolf.

Taking a risk he decided to use 100 of his mana to activate the skill [Call of the Wolf Pack].

Immediately after using the skill a howl sounded from near his feet, a large black wolf leaped out of his shadow and landed near Akira scanning the area for enemies.

After inspecting the shadow wolf Akira could see its name and Lvl [Nox Lvl 1].

“Nox Attack that [Spotted Spider Queen]!” Akira ordered while pointing towards the [Spotted Spider Queen] that was chasing him.

‘Oi, what a worthless master I have been bonded with. To be running from a bug how shameful,’ said a growling voice in Akira’s head.

“Holy crap you can talk!” said Akira shocked.

‘Great he’s an idiot too! Of course, I can speak with you telepathically. Why are you running around in this weak form and not transforming? Judging by your power you could at least fend off the bug chasing you,’ said Nox.

“You’re also running away from it! Plus I’m not alone, there’s someone else here fighting with me,” said Akira as he continued to run.

‘So what! Are you going to be so shy that you get yourself killed? Transform you idiot and defeat this bug so I can return to my nap.’ growled Nox.

Akira grumbled to himself “I can’t tell who’s the master here.”

After a few more seconds of thinking, he decided to stop running and transform in order to take on the boss.

In a split second his body began to transform his muscles bulging and his height growing slightly along with a tail sprouting from his lower back. Dark black fur covered his entire body. His teeth and fingernails turning into deadly weapons.

With a snarl, Akira leaped forward and stabbed his sword at the [Spotted Spider Queen]. Bright yellow sparks shone as his sword skidded off its body. There was a small crack in the hard carapace where his attack had first landed.

Seeing that Akira let out a satisfied grunt.

‘Yawn,’ said Nox, as he also began his attack on the [Spotted Spider Queen] ramming into its side biting its legs, causing the [Spotted Spider Queen] to be enraged and split its attention between the two.

A short time later after attacking the [Spotted Spider Queen] multiple times and receiving a few blows as well. Akira heard the roar of Delgar before seeing the small dwarf charging towards the [Spotted Spider Queen] from behind, sending his warhammer to slam into one of its eight legs with enough power to crippling the leg.

With the three of them attacking they were able to slowly damaged the [Spotted Spider Queen]. Its movements keep slowing down every time Delgar managed to land a blow onto one of its legs.

Akira continued to attack the one spot he had priced through the thick carapace causing green blood to continuously flow out of the wound along with the pained screeches of the [Spotted Spider Queen].

After the fifth leg was crippled, Delgar with the help of Nox attacked the side of the [Spotted Spider Queen] causing it to lose its balance and roll over onto its back.

Taking this chance Akira leaped into the air and landed on the lightly armored belly of the [Spotted Spider Queen].

Grabbing his sword with both hands he raised his sword over his head and brought it down with all his might piercing into the underbelly all the way to the hilt of the sword.

Quickly pulling his sword out he continued to attack while the spider jerked and screeched in pain trying to remove Akira and get off its back.

Delgar’s used his warhammer and repeatedly bashed the [Spotted Spider Queens] head.

its movements began to slow down until Akira stabbed his sword deep into the underbelly one last time and it ceased to struggle.

Ding!

You have defeated Spotted Spider Queen. +10 Fame You have leveled up! Current level is now 11.

New title received! Fame +5 One who runs from spiders: It is said that great warriors have great power and few weaknesses. It seems your weakness is spiders.

Quest ‘Clear Aorium mine’ has been completed. Aorium Mine will not be destroyed. You have leveled up! Current level is now 12.

Akira felt slightly annoyed after reading the new title.

“Finally its dead,” said Delgar with a sigh.

“I think so,” said in a gravelly voiced Akira as he hopped off the body of the [Spotted Spider Queen].

A few seconds later the body of all the spiders in the room began to disappear turning into a blizzard of light particles before scattering and disappearing.

“Huh never seen that happen before. So uh… you’re a werewolf huh? Makes sense now that a think about it, with all your weirdness,” said Delgar looking over Akira and Nox.

Akira quickly ended his transformations and reverted back to his normal human form.

“Sorry I kept it a secret but there are too many people out there searching for me and I didn’t want anyone to know lest it might bring them trouble or give someone the chance to inform the ones looking for me,” said Akira worried that Delgar’s attitude might change now he knew that he was a werewolf.

“HAHAHA, don’t worry about it. I know what it is like. You may not know this but we dwarves are not humans either but we are not entirely part of the demon race either. The only reason we have not been hunted down like the rest of the demon race is the demigods and humans through history have forced us to make things that they are unable to. Some of our ancestors were forced by the demigods to create weapons and armor with our secret runes during the first great war. It has not been a nice relationship but at least they only threaten us and don’t actually attack. You don’t have to worry most dwarfs are very friendly to every demon race that hasn’t lost their minds,” said Delgar with a chuckle.

“That’s good to know,” said Akira letting out a sigh his worries quickly fading.

“No need to think about all that gloomy stuff we’re rich! Look at all this Aorium ore! I better look around and see If I can get something to haul it all back to the handcar,” said Delgar as he ran off to search the large cavernous room.

‘If you don’t need my help any more let me go back and sleep,’ said Nox.

Akira was shocked to see that Nox had already leveled up to Lvl 3 from just the split XP from killing the Lvl 14 boss.

Akira canceled the skill Allowing Nox to jump back into Akira’s shadow and disappear.

Scanning the ground where the [Spotted Spider Queens] body had been Akira saw that there were a few items laying on the ground quickly walked over and picked them up.

There was a blue magic stone, 1 gold coin, and an odd-looking dark brown soft metallic ore. It was extremely warm to the touch but was slowly growing colder and harder.

‘What is this?’ thought Akira.

Ding!

Puminium ore: A rare type of ore, you don’t want to know more about it trust me.

“That’s a weird description, guess it fits this odd metal,” said Akira.