Chapter Twenty-Seven: Spelunking

“Zaren, I swear to the gods,” Rhallani said, elbow deep in another spider, “that after this, you are going to pound me until I can’t remember my own name.”

I was cutting into one a little bigger than hers, but I chuckled. “I told you I can handle the harvesting.”

She pulled out another sac and tossed it into the nearly-full bucket with a grimace. “Nope. Not a chance. I’m going to keep cutting these disgusting sacs out, you’re going to find someone who can make the sexiest underwear known to demi-humankind, and then you’re going to fuck me in it until neither of us can move anymore.”

Serena pouted at me. “I want sexy underwear, too! And I think I deserve a reward for facing my fears!”I shook my head incredulously at Noelle. “Can you believe these two?”

She cocked her head at me, her expression as unchanged as usual. “No. They spend so much time outside of their underwear I’m unsure as to how that’s a reward.”

I barked out a laugh and Serena had the grace to blush. “It’s not my fault that Ren’s armor skill is so pervy!” she protested.

One of Noelle’s brows twitched. “Then why was it normal on me?”

Serena’s jaw dropped, and I laughed harder. “She’s got you there.”

But Noelle’s eyes drifted to me. “Unless you don’t wish to see me that way. I suppose that’s a possibility. I’m hardly as appealing to the eye as Serena.”

Now it was my turn to sputter while Serena laughed triumphantly. “Don’t sell yourself short,” Serena said.

“You’re plenty beautiful, Noelle.”

Noelle’s cheeks darkened, though whether because of the compliment or Serena using her name, I couldn’t tell. She still hadn’t gotten used to us using it, but I was pretty sure she enjoyed it. “She’s right, Noelle. And if it is affected by my subconscious, then maybe it’s because I view my relationship with Serena a bit differently than I do ours.”

Noelle’s head cocked again, and I couldn’t help but notice Rhallani shoot me a dirty glare. “I see. Ren does not like me the way he likes Serena. I understand now.” The hint of disappointment in her normally even voice was unmistakable.

“That’s not what I—” I sighed. “That isn’t a bad thing, Noelle. I view my relationship with Serena differently than the one with Rhallani, but I care about them both very much. I care about you, too.” Her head straightened, and she clutched her axe. “But if it’s all the same to you, this is a discussion I’d much rather have when we aren’t all covered in spider guts.”

Noelle looked down at the layer of green blood and guts that coated her nearly from head to toe. One of the spiders in the last bout had leapt at Rhallani from above, and she’d cut it neatly in half. She tried to wipe some off, but only succeeded in smearing it around.

She frowned, which was a lot of emotion for her. “Very well. We can discuss our relationship later, then.”

I shook my head and stood. We’d encountered two more groups of spiders, but there hadn’t been any murder holes for spiders taller than my chest. None the size of the one that had attacked us before. Serena had gained another level, though, and so had Rhallani. Both had taken attribute improving skills, Serena because the massive eight point boost to her Focus and five points to her Will were simply too good to pass up. Rhallani because she apparently didn’t have any other interesting skills available and wanted the smaller boost to her Resilience and Vitality. I was never going to complain about her being safer, so both made me happy.

Serena and I both suffered some minor injuries, but her Resilience boost and the armor I’d given her made them minimal at best. She’d still taken a mana potion, though, which meant we were down to the four on our persons and six more in reserve.

Our bucket of silk sacs had also reached fullness, but empty buckets were easy enough to stack in my storage so I had plenty more. It wasn’t long after we left the second ambush behind that our tunnel bisected another, creating a nice wide space with four entrances. Rhallani pointed out several spots with active magic, one of them being big enough for me to lay down on and have room to spare.

I raised two swords and conjured a few tendrils, this time making sure Noelle and Rhallani both received one as well. “Same as before. Piss ‘em off, let ‘em come to us.”

They nodded, and I stepped into the room.

The reaction was immediate. Valax ranging from dog-sized to standing just shorter than my chin flowed out of the other tunnels and hidden holes in the stone around us. Serena let out a small whimper, but she held her ground with her spear raised. She stood just behind me and the golem, and I got ready for the wave to hit us.

The golem still smashed them with ease, and my tendrils made short work of the small ones while I hacked at the larger ones. Serena, now that she had enough mana to safely use [Step of the Skydancer], danced above the spiders and stabbed down at them. Her spear, thanks to her other skill that helped her thrusts find weak spots, was devastating. She also darted around, keeping them from using the walls to get behind us. Noelle swung her axe in a blur, her shorter stature putting her at the perfect height to sweep aside any spiders that slipped past.

Then the webs split and another of the giants erupted from the ground. I cursed when it was followed closely by another. Rhallani sent the golem to intercept the smaller of the two while Serena and I moved to intercept the other. She used her [Step of the Skydancer] to land on its back and plunge her spear into its thorax while I lunged past its churning legs to strike at its belly. I took a few hits, but nothing serious. It bucked and heaved, but it could do nothing to dislodge Serena. I hacked a couple of its back legs off, stabbed a few holes in its fuzzy carapace, then left Serena to finish it off while I helped the golem deal with the other one.

It had latched onto the golems arm, but its fangs found nothing but stone and metal. The golem had wrapped its arm around the spider’s front limb, holding it in place long enough for me to slam my blade into the weakspot just where its thorax and abdomen met. Blood sprayed in a deluge of sickly green and the beast screeched once before collapsing.

[Level Up!]

It was hard to resist the urge to wipe off the blood on my face, but doing so would just smear the blood on my arms around. I really hated spiders. I’d yet to meet creatures that bled so spectacularly when you stabbed them. “Everyone alright?” I called.

Noelle was hacking apart the last of the small ones while Rhallani stomped one until it stopped squirming. “Fine. Just a few scratches,” she said breathlessly. Noelle nodded in agreement.

Serena slid off the other spider as gracefully as she could manage. A good amount of her hair had escaped her braid, and there were smears of green where she’d had to push it back. “Rhallani can have her week long sex binge, I just want to bathe for a about a month.” She wiped her hand on one of the few patches of my coat that wasn’t covered in grime.

I pulled out the paring knife and started to work on the biggest one. “At least the spider goop really brings out the green in your eyes,” I offered.

She stuck her tongue out at me, then immediately regretted it as she got spider blood on it. “Okay, this is officially the most disgusting day of my life.”

“So far,” I said, pointing the blade at her.

She made a rather unladylike gesture at me and walked to the hole the larger two came out of. “We’re really going down this thing? That seems… ill advised.”

“Story of my life,” I mumbled. Then, louder, “These guys need more food than the smaller ones, so hopefully their trap routes will have the fastest path to their feeding grounds.” We were getting faster, because this time it only took Rhallani and I a few minutes to part the larger spiders from their silk sacs. We had enough now that we could ignore all the smaller ones, but the ones that were bigger than both my fists together were too valuable to pass up.

After, I took a second to look at my skill options. As always, [Cursed Existence] leapt out at me. As always, I set it aside. One of my more interesting options was [Shadowbound Weapon], but it would tie me down to a single weapon until I could change which one was bound to me. I was still juggling basic weapons, and that versatility was more important than what this skill offered me currently. Another one caught my eye, though. [Release the Darkness].

Stronger in the daylight, more powerful shadows in the darkness. It was conditional, which was the only reason the stat boost was so large. Either way, I’d be a fool to turn town a twelve point swing. I took the skill, hoping it had an evolution that would make it worthy when my stats were a little more bloated further down the road. A quick check revealed that, even in the lamplight, my points were split with eight in Strength and four in Primal. I was guessing only true daylight would shift me fully into Strength.

Rhallani and I used some simple magic to try and fight the losing battle that was clearing the green off us for no other reason than to at least feel a little cleaner. Then I peeked down the murder hole big enough for me to stand in. “Too steep for the golem, so I’ll banish it for now.” I did so, then pulled out a few hundred feet of rope. “No telling how these wall crawlers tunnel, so better safe than sorry.”

I hoped they wouldn’t be smart enough to cut the rope, but there wouldn’t be much we could do if they did. I found a reasonably heavy boulder and tied the rope around it, then tossed it down the hole. “Me first, Serena, Rhallani, then Noelle. Just like normal.”

Noelle’s hum appeared at my elbow. She peered down into the dark, then turned her crimson eyes up at me. “Don’t worry. Next time I’ll lead and you can bring up the rear so you can look at their butts as much as you want.”

I was stunned into silence, but Rhallani and Serena both burst into laughter. It wasn’t long before I joined in, then I ruffled her hair. “Noelle, you continue to amaze. After all this, I’ll give you a nice long massage. Work out the knots around those wings.”

Her pupils quivered, and her fingers tightened on her axe. “Yes. Please.”

I squeezed her shoulder, then stepped down into the hole. “I can use my shadows to catch us if we fall, but try not to anyways.” They all grabbed the rope in one hand and their weapons in the other, and we all descended into the creepy giant murder hole.

It was tough going. As I’d expected, the spiders didn’t much care how horizontal their tunnels were. Not to mention the webbing was thick and sticky in places, but slick in others, and there was no way to tell which was which until it nearly sent us all tumbling. We ran into occasional patrols, but the spiders must have never considered their enemy would be crazy enough to use their tunnels like this.

Thanks to the spectacles, Rhallani was the one to discover the mana vein. It led us through the tunnel, eventually linking up with a thicker vein that went deeper into the ground. Occasionally other lines would meet up with the one we traveled on, but according to Rhallani we seemed to be on the main one. Not long after we found what I hoped to be the main path, we started running into the larger guardians. The close quarters, however, worked against them.

Only one could come at a time, which meant it was relatively easy for Serena to hold it at bay with her spear. Especially after I recreated my trick with the blightwovles and wrapped a tendril around the haft and blade, striking out when the spear buried itself in the spider’s body. We killed three more that way, earning Serena yet another level. She put her two points from level five in Focus and Will, and we continued on.

I had to tie a second rope to the first after an hour, and then another hour later we reached our destination. The good news was that we’d reached what I hoped was the feeding chamber. The bad news was that our tunnel let out on the ceiling nearly forty feet in the air. Too far to jump. I lit a length of wood on fire and dropped it along the rope to get a feel for where the floor was. The rope hung about halfway down, far enough for us to drop but not quite far enough for us to get back up easily.

“If Elisa’s alive, this is where she’ll be,” I told them. “But getting back out might prove difficult. We either try to find another way down or we risk it.”

Noelle crouched by the edge, peering down into the room. She sniffed. “Risk,” she said simply.

Rhallani bit her lip, but nodded. “We can always find another big trap tunnel and follow it to the main one.”

I looked at Serena, who had seemingly conquered the worst of her fears by this point. “Saving them has to have priority. I say we risk it.”

I nodded. “I’ll go first, then. I can use my shadows to cushion my fall, then I’ll try and catch each of you.”I wrapped my hand in shadow then gripped the rope. I slid down, my darkness protecting me from rope burn, until I reached the end of the rope. I conjured two more tendrils, bringing my total to three, and let go. I fell for a few mildly terrifying seconds, but as the light above me faded my senses enhanced. So did my Primal stat. I lashed out at the ground with my tendrils and the strike cushioned the fall enough that I didn’t break my legs.

I stayed where I was for a ten count, making sure no spiders were waiting to jump me. Then I called up softly that it was alright and I saw Serena descending with her lantern on her hip. She hit the end of the rope, swaying slightly in the cavern, then let go. She fell soundlessly, and I reached up with my tendrils to catch her. It worked better than I thought, all three responding to my orders perfectly.

I held her in my arms with a grin for a few seconds while Rhallani started shimmying down and Serena leaned forward and kissed my cheek. I set her down and repeated the move with Rhallani, who threw her arms around my neck and kissed me before I got the chance. Then Noelle started down.

She hadn’t made it far when the rope snapped.

One moment she was sliding down carefully, the next she was flailing, the rope falling alongside her. She flailed, and I heard a startled cry escape from her as she suddenly found herself plummeting. Like most winged races, she was light, which meant I could catch her easily. We all jumped back while the rope tumbled to the ground. Judging by how much of it was coiling on the ground, it was most of the rope we’d left behind. Then the end finally came, and I could tell by the neat cut that something had sliced it.

“Well, that’s a pain,” I said. I banished it to my storage and looked at Noelle, who was still in my arms. Her face showed no fear, but she clung to me tightly and trembled for several minutes. I set her down once she’d calmed and nodded to me, and we took a look around the room.

“I’m guessing not all of those are people,” Rhallani breathed.

Cocoons dotted the walls, but many of them were the wrong size. I saw some as big as horses, others small as house cats. “It’s why we haven’t heard anything about a massive Valax infestation. They must be feeding off the subterranean fauna or whatever they can find in the forests around the mountain nearby,” I told them.“Should we split up to search faster?” Serena asked.

“Fuck no,” I told her. “We stay together. If there are Valax lurking, they’ll take out anyone who strays too far from the group.”

“They’re all magical,” Rhallani noted.

“Valax cocoons can keep their prey alive for long periods while suppressing their magic. Look for any human-shaped ones that glow brighter than the others. Maybe repressing class magics costs more mana.”

She nodded and we started looking cocoon by cocoon. The room stretched much further than we could see, but I hoped that as a recent capture Elisa would be closer to the beginning of the room. We found a few hopeful bundles of web, but I stabbed through the layers with my shadow and felt around enough to know that the occupants weren’t humanoid. I felt bad for the poor creatures, but releasing wild animals in the dark wouldn’t do any of us any good.

It took us nearly forty-five minutes of searching before we finally found a person. The cocoon was halfway up the wall, so I wrapped my hands and feet in shadows and climbed the webs. I felt tugs every so often from something moving along the network, but outside the light of the lanterns on the floor I knew that the nearest spider was much further down the cavern.

I got to the cocoon and stabbed a shadow through. On the other side I felt warm, soft flesh, and a brief foray through the inside of the pod had me reasonably sure it was a woman. I conjured the rope, wrapped the cocoon, then looped it over a nearby cocoon that was three times my size. Then I used my shadows to cut it free from the wall and lower it down.

Once I’d joined it, I used my shadows to carefully cut it open. My brows rose when I peeled the cocoon back, and Serena gasped. Rhallani even let out a “holy shit” that I had to agree with. The woman inside was tall and curvaceous. Something that was hard not to notice thanks to her attire, which seemed to be little more than two sashes that went over her shoulder and met at her hips. Her breasts, which were larger than even Serena’s, were barely contained by her top. How they hadn’t spilled out of either the low cut in the center or the open sides of the robe I had no idea. Where they met they merged into a single strip of cloth that showed off every inch of her long, tanned legs that ended in knee-high boots.

Her hair was a sea of long, dark auburn hair that spilled around her. Her tanned skin was pallid, but when I gently touched a finger to her forearm it was at least warm. “This is Elisa?” Rhallani breathed.

Now that I thought about it, I realized I had no idea what Elisa actually looked like. “Not sure, I’ll check her pulse. See if she’s got venom keeping her down or if she’s just unconscious.”

Rhallani scoffed. “If you don’t, I will.”

I used one of my tendrils to flick her nose without taking my eyes off the woman in the cocoon, then I carefully reached for her neck. She let out a soft breath when I tilted her head to press my fingers to her throat. The pulse was slow, but steady. “Is she alright?” Serena asked. “Should I try to heal her?”

“Maybe, but if she’s got a hanger keeping her down it could do more harm than good.”

Rhallani’s hand slipped around my waist and stroked my length through my pants. While not fully erect, I was hard enough to be embarrassed about it. “Sure you aren’t just looking for an excuse to feel up the gorgeous, scantily clad girl?” she asked.

I arched a brow at her. “I’d offer to let you do it, but you’d enjoy it way too much.”

She batted her eyelashes at me, but made no argument. I shook my head and repositioned. “Serena can watch and make sure I don’t do anything… untoward.”

“Mhmm,” Serena agreed in a tone that wasn’t all that reassuring.

I shook my head. “Only you two could be this horny in a spider nest.”

Serena flinched. “Why’d you have to remind me about the spiders? I’d forgotten for a minute.”

It was difficult, but I resisted the urge to flick her nose as well. I started with the easy checks. There were dozens of bite marks up and down her arms and the exposed skin on her legs, but none had the coloring that might suggest they’d been particularly venomous, and I didn’t feel the thrum of any magic that might be coming from the Valax venom. After that I carefully slid my hands behind her neck, then when I was sure she didn’t have any severe injuries I lifted her head and ran my hand along her back. More bites, but not the marks I was looking for. No spiders hanging around either.

“Alright, maybe it would be better if one of you did the rest.” I’d been hoping to find the bite that put her under already, but no luck.

Serena bit her lip. “Alright, I’ll see what I can find. Help me lift her, though?”

Trying to keep my hands to her respectful areas, I slid my palms under her armpits and lifted her up carefully. Her head lolled, and she started to move. I quickly set her back down, but not before her arms sluggishly knocked mine away. We all froze.

“Don’t toush me,” She slurred. “Fucking pigsh, all of you.” Her eyes blinked open, revealing a rather alluring shade of turquoise. They looked around blearily until they fell on Serena, then me. They widened, then her hands reached up and grabbed my wrists. “Never mind. Keep going.” She pulled them down and placed my palms right on her breasts. “You can feel me up all you want, hot stuff.”

I let out a long breath. “I give up. I absolutely give up.”

Rhallani was doing her best to hold back her laughter, but it was a losing battle. The woman pushed one of my hands deeper into her breast and put the other on my chest. “I don’t know how I’m not dead, but I’m very happy about it. Care to help me sshelebrate?” she slurred.

I was doing my best not to focus on the soft flesh just under the thin cloth of her robe, but the hard nub poking into my palm was making that difficult. “Do I have your permission to check you for bites?”

Her hand slid up my chest and she trailed a finger along my jaw. “Only if you promise to be very thorough. I want those hands of yours to replace the feeling of a million fucking spiders all over me.”

I tried to make my examination quick, but the way she squirmed under my touch made things difficult. “What’s your name?” I asked her.

“Mmmh, Tiana. Yours?”

“Call me Ren.” I looked at Rhallani. “Take the others, keep looking for Elisa.”

She nodded and took Serena and Noelle while leaving a lantern for me. At the same time, Tiana lurched forward. “Elisa? I know her! She was with me. Cool girl.” She tried to push herself up, but only succeeded in falling back into the cocoon. A breast fell out, and the way her legs splayed showed me in great detail that she was not wearing underwear of any kind under her robe. “She was so scared. I was, too. I hope she’s okay. I’d feel like real shit if we got her killed.”

I took a moment to readjust myself, then I gently pulled her robe back in place. She pouted. “You’re not gonna feel me up even a little? You’re the big brave hero saving me, you know. You could at least cop a feel or two.”

For fuck’s sake, this girl was worse than Rhallani! If I were anywhere other than in a dank, disgusting spider’s nest I might take her up on it, but I was also unsure of whether she was just heavily concussed. “Let’s get you out of that cocoon, shall we?”

She fell back and pressed her palms into her eyes. “That sounds fucking great. I was really afraid the last thing I’d see was giant fucking spider eating me. You’re a way nicer sight.”

I didn’t see much way around it, so I slid an arm under her and lifted. She giggled, rubbing against me, but I managed to at least get her standing. For about two seconds, she stood maybe a little more than an inch shorter than than me. Then she swayed and practically fell into my chest.

“Ohhh shit,” she said. She pressed her front into me and jammed her eyes shut, her hands gripping tightly onto my shirt. “I’m not trying to come onto you right now, I’m just waiting for the room to stop spinning.” While she hung off me I took a look down her back. It was difficult to think pure thoughts as her back looked as good as her front, but the layers of spider bites helped. I didn’t find the one thing I’d been looking for, though. There was no sign she’d been fed on. Not by a Valax, at least. “Fuck, you’re warm,” she mumbled. “Smell like shit, though. Sorry.”

Maybe I’d missed some head trauma. It was almost like she was—

Oh shit.

Oh shit.

“Tiana, mind if I check your neck real quick?”

“Baby, you can do whatever you want to me right now as long as I can keep leaning on you.”

I took that as a yes and moved her hair aside. She groaned and nuzzled into my chest, but any and all horny thoughts were very gone. I bundled up her hair and, sure enough, I found a small violet and silver spider about the size of my fingertip latched firmly onto the back of her neck. I pried it from her skin and squished it between my fingers. Under where it had bit were rings of bruising around the bite; blue, then purple, then yellow fading to green. But no magic.

She wasn’t just a horny mess, she was a drunk horny mess. Or, at least, that’s what this bite had done to her. And that was bad. Very, very bad. “Tiana?”

“Mmm?”

“We’re going to go find my friends. Think you can walk?”

“Mmm, don’t suppose you’re willing to carry me—eep!”

The time for propriety was past. If I was right, it had passed long before we’d set foot in here. Her squeal turned into a giggle and she nuzzled into my neck. I felt her lips brushing against the bottom of my jaw, but I was already jogging for the others. Rhallani grinned at me. “You two seem close already. I like her.”

I didn’t grace that with a response. “Serena, can you switch your skill to Fortitude?”

She closed her eyes for a moment, and I felt a ripple travel through my flesh. “Done. I thought Valax venom was magical?”

“Just give it a minute.”

We all turned our gazes to Tiana, still in my arms. Her dreamy expression faded, quickly replaced with a look of abject horror. Her face turned crimson. “Please put me down,” she said in a soft voice.

I did, and she tried to put distance between us. She only made it half a step before she swayed again, and I reached out and caught her. “You can go. Leave me here. I think I’d like to die now.”

Serena frowned. “I’m confused.”

“It wasn’t Valax venom in her—in you,” I said to Tiana. “It was magisbane venom. A natural poison, not a magical one. It fucks with the nervous system, lowering inhibitions, impairing motor function, and making it impossible to access class abilities. It messes with your head so bad your brain can’t find your skills, and it essentially makes you act very drunk in the process.”

Tiana buried her face in her hands. “Oh gods. Please don’t look at me.”

I put a tentative arm around her shoulder. “It’s alright, you weren’t yourself. Let’s start over. I’m Ren, this is Serena, Noelle, and Rhallani.”

She peeked at me over her fingers. “I’m Tiana, and I’m so sorry for acting like such a complete slut.”

Not exactly starting over, but whatever. “We can worry about that later. You said you knew Elisa?”

Her eyes widened and her back straightened, which had an unfortunate (and captivating) effect on her bust. “Elisa! She was hurt! She got caught in some webbing, that asshole Camden abandoned us, then we were running and we—” She turned a shade of green and gripped my sleeve. “We have to run. There are spiders down here. Really fucking big ones. Bigger than you or me.”

“We know,” Rhallani said proudly. “We’ve killed like six now.”

I didn’t have the heart to burst her bubble and tell her they were no longer the biggest problem down here. I turned the gaping Tiana towards me. “Was she alive the last time you saw her?” She nodded, and I turned to Serena. “Your skill worked on Tiana the moment you knew she was an ally, do you think you could consider Elisa one without laying eyes on her?”

Serena’s brow furrowed, and I knew she was thinking over the intuitive aspect of her skill. “I think so. Let me try.” She closed her eyes. “I think…because she and Tiana were partied up…”

I had Rhallani lead her while we continued checking for person-sized cocoons. We searched for another five minutes before I felt a sharp spike of fear from somewhere above me. “Wait here,” I told them.

I left my lantern behind and scaled the wall as fast as I could, using my shadows to grip handholds when my arms weren’t long enough. I clambered up until I was just next to the cocoon radiating the fear. It trembled like whoever was inside was struggling, and I could hear faint screams.

I plunged a shadow inside and felt its occupant thrashing about. I wrapped it around her and pushed her to one side so I could safely stab the empty space I’d created and rip a hole in the cocoon. She cried out, in both fear and pain. It was pitch dark this far from the faint light of the lanterns, so my senses were boosted to the max. I could hear her heart hammering in her chest while she fought against the cocoon just as I could hear bone scraping on bone. Her leg was broken, and every move threatened to make it worse.

“It’s alright,” I said in as calm a tone as I could manage. “I’m here to help you.”

Her breaths came in gasps, but she reached out blindly. I leaned into her hand, still using mine to hold the cocoon open, and she grabbed hold of my shirt. She let out a sob and yanked herself forward into me, wrapping trembling arms around my back.

“Oh gods! I woke up and I couldn’t move and I—”

“It’s going to be okay, but I need you to take a breath. We’re high off the ground, and I’d rather not have you go tumbling.” Her frantic embrace turned into a death grip. “Are you Elisa?”

She stiffened. “How do you know my name?”

“Cynthia sent us, but we can talk about that on the ground, alright? Now I need you to stop moving, your leg is broken.”

She nodded into my chest and I used my shadows to cut a big enough hole in the cocoon that I could lift her out. I wrapped one of them around her leg to keep it steady and she whimpered. I reached for the base of her neck and felt another of the small violet spiders, so I killed it, too. “Hold on to me tightly, we’re going to fall for a moment.”

“We’re going to wha—aah!”

To her credit, other than her initial squeak of surprise when I let go of the wall, she made no sound as we fell back to the floor. Like before, I used the shadows to cushion the fall. I landed just at the edge of the lantern light, causing all four girls standing there to jump.

“Holy fuck you’re terrifying,” Tiana said. “In a good way, of cour—Elisa!”

Elisa uncurled from where she’d buried her face in my neck long enough to reach out. “Tiana! You’re alright!”Tiana grabbed the girl’s hand and I gently set her down. In the light, I saw that she had chin-length brown hair and eyes that were a few shades lighter than that. She was pale, though how much was from her complexion and how much was from her situation I couldn’t tell. She had a slim build and was probably around Rhallani’s height.

I nearly did a double take when I saw Tiana. It seemed Serena had healed her wounds and bites, because her skin was flawless and unblemished. I forced myself to look away from her and at Elisa’s leg and sucked in my breath. I knew it was bad when I tasted bone on the air, but her leg was well and truly fucked. It had snapped at the shin, which meant she probably needed care I couldn’t give her.

“Elisa,” I said, and her teary eyes turned to me, “I’m sorry, but I’ve got some bad news.”

“My leg,” she guessed in a wobbly voice.

I nodded and Tiana wrapped her arms around Elisa’s shoulders protectively. “We are not leaving her behind,” she snarled.

I held up a hand. “Of course not, but we need to do something about it. We’ve got a few options, and all of them hurt very, very bad.”

Elisa gulped, what little color she had fading. “You can’t just heal me?”

I shook my head. “Healing you now would fuse the bones back together wrong. You’d either have a nasty limp the rest of your life or have to have it rebroken, an expensive and very unfun experience. We can’t leave it unhealed or we’re practically inviting infection, so I need to set it.”

She still had one hand wrapped in my shirt, and it gripped me even tighter. “I don’t want to die down here,” she whispered. “Do what you have to do. I can take it.”

She was a tough girl, I’d give her that. I summoned an extra belt from my storage, folded it, then held it in front of her face. “Bite down on this. That way you don’t crack any teeth or scream too loudly.” Then I looked at the others. “Hold her down, she’s going to thrash.”

A whimper escaped Elisa’s lips, but she didn’t object when Tiana leaned her back and pushed down on her shoulders. I moved down to the leg and Serena straddled Elisa’s waist facing me, using her weight to hold down her torso. Rhallani moved next to me to hold her other leg down.

I conjured some medical supplies, slid the lantern closer, and took a breath. “Brace yourself.”

“Just focus on me, sweetie,” Tiana said, “and breathe.”

She tensed, and I grabbed her foot and pulled. She screamed into her gag and bucked, but I quickly twisted her foot so that it was facing the correct direction and used my shadows to nudge the bones back into their proper positions. Elisa screamed and thrashed the whole time, but Serena made sure the leg I was working on didn’t move.

Once I was sure it was as close to correct as I could manage, I summoned a healing potion. I dribbled it along the injury, dripping some straight onto the exposed bone, then I cast [Shadow Stitching]. Her muffled screams hit a new pitch, then she went limp. She’d passed out. A mercy. I’d learned a long time ago that my [Shadow Stitching] was more than capable of piercing bone, and it was an incredibly painful experience. Better than spending your life lame, though.

My skill knitted it closed, but I dribbled more health potion over the gash anyways. Better safe than sorry. Then I wrapped it and splinted it as tightly as I could. “Alright, I’m done.”

Serena got off Elisa’s waist. “Should I—”

“No. She needs more healing than you’re capable of right now, and we should save your mana for combat injuries. She won’t be fighting one way or another, and we need to prioritize getting out alive before comfort.”She wasn’t happy about it, but she nodded. Tiana helped me get Elisa up and Rhallani stepped forward to take one arm. Her head lolled, but when I checked her pulse it was strong. “We need to get moving. Things are worse down here than I realized.”

Nobody argued, but Rhallani looked uncertainly at the ceiling. “Our rope was cut, so we’ve gotta find a different way back.”

“Any route that gets us aboveground is fine,” I told her. I looked at Tiana. “Can you fight?”

She nodded. “Force magic. Good against groups, and I’ve got some high damaging single target spells and a versatile defense spell.”

I inclined my head. Magic artillery was just what we needed right now. “You can cast while holding Elisa?”“Not my big spell, but yeah.”

“Good. Until she wakes up, you and Rhallani carry her. Noelle, you’ve got their backs, Serena you lead them with the golem.” I dropped the golem from my storage and Tiana’s brows shot up.

Serena frowned. “What about you?”

I handed my lantern to Tiana. “I’ll scout ahead, leave marks for you to follow. I’ll be just out of the light, so I won’t be far.”

“H-hang on,” Tiana protested. “That sounds incredibly dangerous. Spiders have advantage in the dark.”

I smiled grimly. “Nothing has an advantage in the dark stronger than mine, I’m afraid.”