The forest canopy was thick and dense, and the black leaves allowed very little sunlight through. While the dim light wasn’t such a big issue, not being able to see the top of the spire through the forest canopy immediately proved to be a problem.

  It felt like they were walking around in circles, though Alaric was sure they weren’t. Luna and Sol guided them towards the source of the spiders’ scent, but finding a path they could traverse was a little more challenging. The further they went into the forest, the more webs blocked their way.

  Some were clearly visible, spun between a bunch of tree trunks, fully blocking their path. Some though were much more subtle. Thinner strands of spider silk stretched between tree roots and small bushes. When they tripped over them, it took a few minutes to cut the sticky thing off. Each time they braced themselves for an attack. They crawled under the webs, or jumped over them, doing their best not to touch them, and possibly let the damned creatures know where they were.

  Alaric wasn’t sure how long had passed when the spire finally entered their view, blocked by layers upon layers of spiderwebs.

  “Oh, bloody hell, I’m sick of these fucking things.” Sarah rolled her eyes. “Is there even a way through?”

  At a quick glance, the answer was no. They circled around the webbed entrance. Will we really have to cut through all that? It would take hours.

  “Over here.” Clara called out to them from the side. She was crouching by the web, pointing at a rather small gap. “It’s not going to be easy though.”

  “None of will fit through there.” Jason scowled. “Alaric might, the girls would but no way we’re sending you guys alone in there.” He glanced at Alaric. “Right?”

  “I would.” Lochlan crouched next to Clara. “I can fit through.”

  “Well, yeah, but we’re still leaving half of our fighting force out here.” Jason shook his head. “We should just cut through.”

  “The inside of the spires has been safe so far.” Sarah folded her arms. “I think we should take a look, while you guys are busy clearing a path. It’d be worse if more spiders started coming while we waited around here.”

  “If it’s dangerous, we’ll retreat.” Alaric decided. It was worth ending this quicky if all he needed to do was smash another mana core, without any more spiders to put up a fight. And Sarah was right – what if waiting just invited even more monsters?

  He crouched by the gap. It was just wide enough to let him crawl through. “Lochlan, follow after me. Ava, Sarah, you guys too, please.”

  Not touching the web at all made crawling through the narrow, small gap a lot more difficult than he anticipated. Once he was on the other side, he peeked through the open doors, then helped Lochlan by pulling him through. Ava followed them with ease, while Sarah had a lot more trouble. “I’m too old for this…” she grumbled as she stood up. Clara, Elizabeth and Victoria followed after.

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  “Right, we retreat if it’s too risky. In the meantime, you guys try and cut a path through.” Luna and Sol couldn’t fit through either, so they waited with the others, clearly distraught that they were being left behind. He felt a tinge of guilt. They looked so sad.

  Focusing his thoughts on what’s ahead, he approached the empty doorway. A dark, narrow tunnel led into the spire – a much larger structure than the ones they’d visited before. It didn’t look man-made like the Northeastern Spire, it reminded him more of the southwestern one – like a large rock jutting out of the earth. It felt like they were descending into a cavern rather than walking into a building.

  Immediately they were faced with a problem.

  “Oh for fuck’s sake…” Sarah cried out.

  The entire narrow passage was covered in spider silk. The webs extended from the ceiling the ground, leaving only small gaps for them to squeeze through.

  It was kind of expected… He still sympathized with her outcry though. He never wanted to see spiders, or spider related things ever again once this was over. “Same order,” he let them know, sheathed his sword, and started moving forward.

  At about the halfway point, he stopped for a breather. His legs, arms, and back hurt from crawling and squeezing himself in odd angles. A soft, barely audible creak startled him. His gaze darted upwards and landed on a head-sized gargoyle statue barely hanging onto its relief, mostly being held in place by gravity and spiderwebs.

  He took a couple of breaths to calm his racing heart. I thought it was a damn spider. After letting the others know as quietly as possible, he continued onwards, with Lochlan just a few steps behind him. Ava and Sarah followed from a bit farther behind.

  As he crawled out from under the last pieces of spiderweb, he breathed a sigh of relief, then turned around and helped Lochlan. Once the young man also stood up, they turned and looked around.

  I can’t see shit. It was too dark. The ceiling appeared to be vaulted, and there was a thin, waist height shape at the centre of the chamber, so he assumed it was about the same as all the others… except for the spiderwebs that were probably damn near everywhere, and that odd clicking noise that he couldn’t pinpoint.

  It echoed in the silent darkness and was already getting on his nerves.

  “How is it?” Ava’s strained voice rang.

  “Well, we’re alive, and not webbed up, so that’s something.” Lochlan mumbled and took a few steps forward.

  Torches burst into flame on the walls, suddenly drowning the chamber in crimson light. The pedestal in the centre glowed with crimson veins. They throbbed, their glow becoming stronger. Something hummed in the distance.

  “Look out!” Victoria called out from all the way back by the entrance. “Ava, Come back!”

  The earth rumbled, the ground shook violently. Cracks appeared on the obsidian surface, revealing once-buried crimson veins that glowed with immense power. They hummed, nearly drowning out the clicking noise. A loud crash behind them startled them. A small, startled scream escaped Ava’s lips, and Sarah gasped audibly.

  The gargoyle statue had fallen from its relief, dragging a host of spiderwebs along with it.

  “Fuck! We need to cut through!” Sarah motioned for her sword.

  “Let me try!” Victoria raised her hands, black fog swirling around her palms. Crimson lightning crackled and struck the webs.

  “… Alaric?” Lochlan’s low, shaky voice made him turn around and look at the young man. His face was pale as a sheet of paper, his eyes wide open. His gaze was fixed on something.

  His own chest tightened as he followed the other man’s gaze. A long, thin, jet-black stick that wasn’t there a moment ago was now next to the pedestal.