FSE

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Muni cleared the thick jungle vegetation in front of him with one casual swing of his sword and looked back at Gigacks. 'Are you really sure it's this way? To me it looks like we're only going deeper into nothing but stifling heat.'

Gigacks gazed as blankly at the feline demon as a skeleton could with empty eye sockets.

Muni sighed and moved forward again, cutting a path through the untouched undergrowth. 'There'd better be an inn with plenty of cool ale available where we're going.'

Elyta picked one of the flowers with a mixture of light blue and pink shades from a vine, and carefully smelled it. She knew she recognised it as the main ingredient for a perfume with both intoxicating scent and toxic properties, and picked a few more flowers for later use. 'Do you have any idea what we're looking for?' she asked Tarrence when he stopped and pulled his water flask from his belt.

Tarrence took a sip from the flask. 'We'll know it when we see it.'

The succubus scoffed at the reply. 'I don't know is also an answer. Might as well say we're looking for anything that isn't a plant, tree dweller, or annoying insect.'

'How about something made from stone?' said Muni as he halted his temporary jungle gardening.

He pulled a thick tangle of vines from the weathered statue of a skeleton, the top of its skull at his shoulder height. Tarrence stepped closer and examined the figure holding a spider in front of him. 'We're on the right path. Move on.'

Muni turned to Gigacks. 'You could've said we were going to visit relatives of yours.' he said, then went on chopping at anything in front of him.

It didn't take long before they noticed remains of an ancient flagstone road scattered between the vegetation, and the sight of an overgrown stone wall between the trees ahead. They passed through an opening in a wall three times their height, and which at one time could have been closed with the two stone doors lying on the ground just inside. Visible parts between the greenery covering them showed that they were decorated with depictions of warriors wielding swords, shields, spears, clubs, and bows, seemingly ready for the fight of their lifetime.

They looked over the wide building inside the wall with square towers on the roof, a facade of pillars, and stone steps leading up to an open entrance. Elyta thought it must surely have been very exciting to be here when there were still people around who knew a thing or two about keeping the jungle out. 'I take it this is it then.'

Tarrence glanced at Gigacks, who returned a brief nod. 'I certainly wasn't expecting we'd find the artefact in a withered wooden shed.' he said, and walked through the courtyard reclaimed by the jungle, to the entrance and the shadows beyond.

The demon party looked into the darkness for a moment to become used to the sparse light entering through narrow windows near the ceiling, filtered by the greenery covering half of them. Before them lay a small hall with several entrances to passageways, each flanked by statues of warriors and animals like snakes, great apes, and big cats.

'Preservation magic.' said Gigacks.

Tarrence nodded. 'As dirty and old this place may be, there's no sign of invasion or damage by the roots of plants or the weather.'

Elyta fingered her bow. 'Hostiles?'

'Unknown, but count on it.' said Tarrence. 'There's no indication of where any of this leads to, so we'll just take the passage in front of us.'

They lit the small torches they found in an open chest, and moved carefully through the passage with scenes of hunting, fighting, feasting, and sex carved into the walls. Muni gestured at one of a succubus being taken by three men. 'Hey Elyta, looks like you'd feel right at home during those times.'

'Why? Did they entertain people by cutting down beasts who run their mouths?'

Muni growled softly. 'I'll show you what I can do with yours.'

Gigacks grabbed Tarrence's shoulder. 'Something's up.'

'Silence, you two.' said the canine to Elyte and Muni, and they watched the lich move carefully forward while examining the wall with his skeletal fingertips.

He tested both walls and the floor, mumbled, and drew a magic rune in the air. A line of gently glowing magic runes appeared, circling the floor, walls, and ceiling. Tarrence moved next to Gigacks. 'A trap.' he said, and glanced at the others. 'There's more to this place than it seems. Proceed with caution.'

A quick counter spell dissolved the rune trap and everyone moved on, their senses at full alert.

***

Muni grumbled as he examined the wall at the end of a passage. 'Another end more dead than our skeletal friend here.'

Elyte sighed, and folded her arms as she leaned back against the side wall. 'Are we going to spend all our time exploring this maze, or are we going to take drastic measures and simply level this entire place or blast through everything in a straight line?'

Tarrence fingered his dagger. 'I highly doubt this place can be destroyed, but even if it could, it would only lead to taking more time to search the rubble for the artefact anyway.' He looked around and stared thoughtfully at the wall carvings. 'I might have found something though.'

'What?' asked Muni.

'We'll see.' said Tarrence, and went back down the passage to the last junction they came from.

There, he examined each of the four passages they could take, then pointed to one. 'This one.' he said, and entered it cautiously.

After detecting and disabling a trapdoor leading down a pit with many painfully looking pointy sticks, he stopped at another dead end. Muni chuckled. 'Well done, you found another wasted effort.'

Tarrence knocked on the stone. 'On the contrary. This only confirms my hunch.' he said, and stepped confidently back down the passage.

At the junction, he gestured at the two they had taken and the one they came from originally. 'Those three lack something the remaining one has.'

The others took another look at all of them, until Elyta chuckled. 'I think I see what you mean.'

Muni looked puzzled at her. 'What? I see no difference.'

She pointed at a small spider carved inconspicuously close to one of the corners. 'The others don't have this.'

Muni looked closer. 'But there are more spiders carved all over the place.'

'Not at the corners.' she said and turned to Tarrence. 'I suppose you're thinking the same about the way back.' She tapped on the carving of a small snake.

Muni shook his head. 'That's not the only carved at the corner.'

She smirked. 'Exactly. The way back does not have one.'

Tarrence ran his fingers across the carving of the spider. 'I began to notice this at the third junction we took. I suspect it was made by the builders of this maze to help them navigate it.' He gestured at the passage marked by the spider. 'Let's go.'

***

The large, domed hall they entered at the end of the route through the maze was lit through narrow windows at the top, set inside a smaller dome. Several vines grew through them and a bird fled outside through one. A circle of pillars supported the dome and in the middle stood a round platform raised on thick columns with a short, thick pillar in the middle.

Muni gazed left and right. 'That's probably where the artefact is. Let's take it and leave this place quickly. I'm tired of going around this maze.'

Tarrence took his shoulder. 'Wait. I don't trust this place.'

Muni squinted as he scanned the hall again. 'I don't see anything.'

Tarrence sniffed the air. 'Exactly. I would have expected debris or vegetation or a couple of animals scurrying around here since this is open to the outside. The floor is relatively clean.'

The others put their hands on their weapons. 'You think someone's here?' asked Elyta.

Tarrence frowned. 'Not someone. More like something.'

Another bird perched in a window, chirped cheerfully, and flew down to the floor. It pecked around as it moved while the party observed it in case it might provide a clue as to what might dwell in the hall.

Part of the floor close to the bird sprang open and a man sized spider snatched the bird from underneath the camouflaged trapdoor.

The blood from the onlookers froze as they watched the black and grey spider wrap the bird into the threads it held between two front legs. 'Fuck!' hissed Muni as he tightly gripped his sword. 'I hate spiders.'

Elyta had her bow and an arrow in hand before she even realised it. 'Okay, it stopped being fun now.' she said and quivered her wings to relieve some of her tension.

Tarrence pondered a couple of strategies and the chance of killing the spider or escaping without any damage to himself. 'Any volunteers to fight it while I retrieve the artefact?'

Muni scoffed. 'You can play bait by yourself.'

Elyta traced the carving of a warrior fighting a spider. 'I doubt this thing can be defeated so easily. I suspect this maze was made to test the worthiness of warriors. They had to survive the maze and kill the spider, then survive the trip back through the maze. I haven't seen any depictions of a winner though, only fighting and killing.'

Gigacks tapped on a carving of a warrior slamming his large hammer on a spider. 'It likely has a really tough exoskeleton.'

'So we need something massive to crush it, or trap it somehow.' said Elyta.

'Like that trap with the crushing ceiling we passed.' said Muni.

Tarrence nodded. 'Indeed. Someone has to lure the spider and trigger the trap while that thing is underneath it.'

'We'll need someone really fast and crazy enough to pull that off.' said Muni, then noticed the others staring at him. He put up his hands at once. 'Oh no! I'm fast and I can be crazy, but I'm not mental!'

'You're the only one who can do it.' said Elyta while she slid one hand along the back of his neck, and leaned a little closer to him with her chest pushed forward. 'And Gigacks could give you a couple of boosts.'

Muni's gaze jumped to her cleavage involuntarily and looked up quickly. 'Still way too risky to put my life on the line.'

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed her firm chest against one while she smiled at him. 'I think it's worth a special reward from me this time. You have been talking about not minding a little attention from me before.'

He hesitated but his animal instincts below the waist overcame those above it. He looked at Gigacks. 'I want every boost you have for this.'

Gigacks gave him a nod.

'Good. That's settled then.' said Tarrence and pulled Muni to the entrance to the hall. 'You remember the way back to the trap?'

'First a right, then a left.'

Tarrence squeezed his shoulder. 'Good. Give me your pack and everything to lighten your load, so you can move faster.'

Muni unloaded anything he could spare and held up his sword. 'I'm not going without this though.'

'I think it's best you take it with you. You can cut the threads the spider uses to catch you.'

Second thoughts filled the feline demon's head, but a look at Elyta's curvature drowned them out with visions of what he'd do with it. He took a deep breath. 'All right, let's do this.'

With his eyes fixed on the location of the trapdoor, Muni moved silently and cautiously towards it in a curved path to the side, so he'd only have to turn sideways to run straight to the passage. At a little distance he stopped to confirm if he was really ready to take on the concealed monster, and take a moment to slow down his racing heart. The tingle through his body and the lightness of it confirmed the boosts from Gigacks were active, and he held his sword with the tip down and the edge of the blade towards the trap door to slice the trap threads the spider used. 'I hate spiders.' he muttered. 'I really hate them.'

He stepped closer again, this time without trying to be silent so as to deliberately alert the spider to his presence and lure it out of its lair. The closer he came to the trapdoor, the longer he waited to take the next step.

The spider burst from the floor without warning and pushed the mesh of sticky threads stretched between its front legs at its prey.

Muni yelped in shock but thanks to one of the lich's magical boosts, he saw the monster coming slower than in reality. His boosted reflexes kicked in and he swung his sword upwards in time to cut the spider's threads in two.

The spider pulled back as it usually did, just before it realised it hadn't actually caught the next meal. It watched the prey in front of it and its surroundings, then jumped at the prey again when it thought it was safe to come out.

Muni didn't hesitate and bolted towards the passage. He glanced over his shoulder with both relief that the plan seemed to work and the dread of being chased by that hideous and lethal monster.

The spider was fast but for the time being, Muni was elated that he was faster. He ran through the passage fast enough to stay ahead, but not too fast to lose the spider. The echoes of the spider's legs tapping on the floor and scraping against the walls were eerily clear thanks to his improved senses, as well as the sound of his own breathing and wildly pounding heart.

He took the passage to the right at the first junction. When he didn't hear the sounds of the spider running after him, he slowed down first, then stopped to look back. The silence gave him the chills but he saw nothing as far as he could see in the part of the passage lit by his torch, even while his vision was enhanced by Gigacks's spell. Unsure of whether the spider had given up or not, he returned to the junction cautiously.

The faint reflection in the spider's eight eyes startled him as it rushed towards him again in the distance. 'Fuck!' he snarled as he spun around and bolted.

He was glad to see the next junction, grasped the corner to turn a sharp left, and cursed inwardly because he had to slow down to let the spider gain on him again. Its noises became louder while his nerves acted up more because his instinct urged him to run as fast as he could, but he had to decrease the distance for the trap to work.

He didn't bother looking back when it sounded like the spider was right on his tail. 'Where's the damned trap!?' he hissed just before he noticed the vertical grooves in the walls up ahead. 'Gigacks, if I die because you didn't boost me enough, I'm going to haunt you until you're more insane than you are now.' He deliberately stepped on the tile engraved with the symbol of a sun.

The heavy thud of a giant stone hitting the floor mixed in with the sickening crack of a crushed shell and wet sounds of squished organs and other soft tissues.

Muni panted hard as he held up the tip of his tail. 'Still all there.' he said, and slumped down on the floor against the wall.

***

A hidden mechanism reset the trap after a while and Muni scrunched up his nose at the bitter and acidic stench of the spider remains plastered all over the passage. 'I'm not cleaning that up.' he muttered while he traversed the mess by tip-toeing on clear spots on the floor.

Elyta raised an eyebrow when Muni rejoined the others. 'I take it you were fast enough to outrun spider and trap.'

He leaned against the wall while the exhaustion of spending more than his usual energy trickled through his body. 'Yeah, but don't expect me to outrun a turtle right now.'

She chuckled. 'That's the downside to boosts. It'll cost you all your energy.'

He smirked at her. 'I'll make sure I regain my energy soon since you owe me that special reward.'

'Oh, don't worry.' she said and leaned closer. 'You won't have to do a thing for that.'

He smiled wide, then looked up puzzled when she stroked the top of his head. 'What's this?'

She gave him the sweetest smile. 'Your reward of course.'

'What? That's it? I expected something more substantial.'

She wiggled on one of his ears and leaned back. 'You never said what you wanted.' she said in a husky voice, and moved along the passage way towards the large hall.

Tarrence smirked lightly. 'She has traps of her own.' he said, and followed her.

They used caution and watched the floor closely in case there were other trapdoors with possible spiders on their way to the platform, and were glad to reach the top of the stone stairs at one corner. Tarrence examined the platform, and moved towards the pillar in the middle.

It had an opening in the side and the artefact they'd been looking for lay inside. 'Seems they used it as the trophy for the warrior who could make it here, or as proof to show he did.'

Gigacks took the piece, turned it over, and nodded. 'It's good.' he said as he put it in the bag with the other pieces. The entire platform shook and he held on to the pillar to steady himself.

'What the fuck's happening?' said Elyta as she planted her feet down firmly.

'Oh shit!' growled Muni as he pointed at giant black and brown spider legs protruding from underneath the platform, each segment of one as long as his height.

'They couldn't stick to just one of those eight-legged freaks.' said Elyta while she readied her bow. 'They had to add another supersized one.'

The larger version of the earlier spider crawled out from underneath the platform and felt its way around with the tips of its legs. Tarrence turned to the others. 'We only have one chance to defeat it. Aim for its eyes.' he said, and threw one of his daggers at one of them on the back of the spider's head.

It hissed loud and sharp in pain, and lashed out at the four intruders with two legs.

They all dodged and jumped away from the monster, and commenced the attack. Elyta ran to the side and shot an arrow at one eye when she had a clear shot.

The spider reared up at the arrow piercing the eye at the side, and Gigacks took the opportunity to shoot a shard of ice at another eye. Tarrence jumped from the platform and ran towards the circle of pillars, taking another eye out with a fast throw of another dagger. 'Don't let up!'

The spider hissed and trashed around do hard with its legs, it cracked and tore down one of the platform's supporting columns. The corner broke off and Muni barely jumped to safety. He didn't wait to run to the other side of the platform with Elyta and Gigacks when the spider climbed fast on top of it.

Elyta jumped and spun around on her way down, and shot another eye before landing on the floor and running for cover towards the pillars. Tarrence rounded the outside of the circle. 'Muni! It's blind at the back! Stab it in the neck!'

Muni hid behind the centre column and groaned. 'As If I haven't had my fill of spiders today.'

Gigacks launched a pile of rubble from the platform with a spell against the spider's head, then jumped down from the platform. The spider jumped after him and halted when it saw two other targets moving at the sides. Muni shut down his mind consciously and jumped from the platform as well towards the spider.

It hissed in agony at the sword stabbed into its neck with all of Muni's weight behind it.

He held on tight while the spider trashed around, until it finally sagged lifeless onto the floor with a last faint hiss. Tired, he yanked out his sword, slid down the side of the body, and hurried away from the corpse. 'Now I really never ever want to see another one of those things in my life.'

Gigacks pointed behind him at the swarm of spiders half their size crawling out from underneath the platform. 'I suggest you run and don't look back.'