“Hello…? You alive?”

  Lucian stirred with a groan. The aching in his arm and chest were worse than the last time we woke up like this.

  “Ah, you are!”

  Lucian slowly opened his eyes. He saw a woman crouching in front of him. She smiled when he opened his eyes and stood up. She had red hair tied in a braid that rested over one shoulder and bright green eyes.

  “What happened to you? Can you even understand me?”

  “Yeah… I can. And it was the spiders. Stupid god damn spiders.” Lucian cracked his neck a little, moving his head side to side. He pushed himself up, standing after a moment.

  “Oh… Presumably the ones I saw all sliced up on the way in here?” She laughed and looked Lucian up and down.

  “Those would be them, yeah. Nasty things. Their venom just causes pain - so much I passed out.” Lucian sighed then blinked a few times, “Wait, why are you down here?”

  “Oh I was just curious about the big hole in the ground.” The girl grinned, “And yes, before you ask, I have a class. I’m a Witch.”

  “Oh, some kind of debuff caster? I'm a Spellblade.” Lucian extended his hand to her, “Lucian.”

  She smiled and took it before introducing herself, “I’m Annabelle. Call me Bella.” She paused before glancing upwards a bit, “This might be rude but… What is up with the cat ears?”

  Lucian blinked a few times, “Oh… I just woke up like that. Apparently the integration or whatever you want to call it changed my ‘race’ from human to catfolk.” Lucian grinned, “Honestly I’m a fan, it came with a stat boost and contributed to me unlocking a night vision skill.”

  Annabelle groaned, “Luckyyy. I haven’t gotten any skills other than those my class offers… Wish I had cat ears…” She pouted a little and Lucian laughed.

  “Well I have been pushing myself pretty hard. That might have something to do with it. I’m level 15, by the way.”

  Annabelle’s eyes widened a little, “Oh shit… Are you some kind of battle junkie? I’m only level 9.”

  “Yeah basically.” Lucian grinned and she laughed, “Well if you wanna level up some more you’re welcome to run the rest of the dungeon with me. Having an actual caster to watch my back would be nice.”

  “Actual caster? You said your class was Spellblade. Does that mean you don’t have many ranged options?” Annabelle raised an eyebrow.

  “I don’t really have any ranged options, actually. I could have taken some but opted for other things…” Lucian admitted, looking away.

  “Ha! Alright. I’ll do this dungeon with you, and we’ll see what happens after that I suppose.” Annabelle looked down the cavern, “Shall we go?”

  “One second…” Lucian took a look at his Spirit - it was full. “Ah… I must have been out for at least an hour. What time of day is it?”

  “Around mid morning, probably 10.”

  Lucian nodded, and felt his stomach rumble a little, “I skipped breakfast… Do you mind if we leave and get food before trying again?” He blushed a little.

  “Oh, sure! I don’t mind.” Annabelle looked back down the cavern, “I’ll be back for you!” She said to no one in particular.

  The pair began to make their way back through the dungeon, and eventually found their way back to the entrance and climbed up the stairs to the surface.

  Lucian and Annabelle walked into the convenience store and Lucian grabbed a protein bar from a shelf and sat down against the wall, peeling the wrapper off. He bit into it and started to chew.

  “I wonder if other places got hit as hard as we did. With the big jungle, and all that, I mean.” Annabelle opened a small bag of chips and popped one into her mouth.

  Lucian swallowed his bite, “Honestly, probably. We got a massive jungle and an oversized tree. There might be other biome types that spontaneously appeared across the country - across the world.” Lucian looked over at her, “Frankly all of this excites me.” He chuckled and took another bite.

  She smiled, “You’re crazy, Lucian.” She tossed another chip into her mouth, “I like that. You’re fun. What's your plan after we beat the dungeon?”

  “There are a few things I want to do. I want to go to the giant tree - my gut says there’s something interesting there. There is also a giant bird flying around that can shoot lightning, it almost killed me, I want to return the favor.”

  “Sounds fun. I’d love to tag along if you want.” She smirked, “I’ll try not to drag you down.”

  Lucian laughed and rolled his eyes, taking another bite of his protein bar.

  He finished the bar and had half of another before standing up. Annabelle had finished her chips.

  The pair headed back down into the dungeon.

  “How’s your visibility?” Lucian asked, looking back at her as they walked.

  “Not good. I don’t have magic cat eyes.” She teased.

  Lucian snickered, “Well. My sword glows so, hopefully it won’t be a huge issue.”

  Annabelle nodded, “Speaking of your sword, what can you do?”

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  “Well aside from the sword, I have a skill that lets me pierce armor, a skill that amplifies a physical attack, and one that generates a barrier based on my expended Spirit.” He paused, “I also have what effectively amounts to a dash skill, and a magic item that lets me stick to walls. You?”

  She nodded, “I’ve got a hex, it's a channeled debuff. Weakens and such. I have a ranged poison skill, and I can conjure thorny vines to entangle things.”

  Lucian nodded, “So utility and debuffs with damage over time. Sounds about right for a witch.”

  “Yeah well, for a spell blade you don’t seem to have spells. At least one of us has to live up to our class.”

  They laughed and continued on.

  The pair didn’t encounter any monsters. Perhaps they hadn’t been out of the dungeon long enough, or perhaps Lucian had just killed everything that was there.

  “Kind of eerie how empty it is now, huh?” Annabelle said as she walked behind Lucian.

  “Yeah but I can still feel… Something…” Lucian stared down the cavern. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. It was that feeling of standing in front of a challenge, and the desire to overcome it.

  Annabelle thought for a moment, “If it's a dungeon, there might be a boss.”

  Lucian nodded, “Probably. At least something stronger than the rest of the things down here.”

  As they walked deeper in, the cavern became more jagged - stalagmites and stalactites came from the floor and ceiling like jagged teeth.

  The cavern suddenly opened up into a wider chamber. Lucian put his hand up before they stepped into it. He grinned, “It's here…” His eyes wandered up the back wall of the cavern. A giant spider, bigger than a car, met his gaze with its own. It began to walk down the wall.

  “That's a big ass spider.” Lucian stepped into the room and summoned his blade with [Manifest Weapon]. The blue aura of [Spirit Barrier] began to emanate from him.

  Annabelle walked in behind him, readying herself, “It's too dark in here for me to see it from here. Get near it so I can target it…” She glanced at the glow of his weapon.

  “That's the plan.” Lucian took a step forward then launched off the ground, cutting through the air as he ran towards the spider.

  It leapt from the wall, landing on the ground and baring its fangs and let out a loud vibrating call, almost like a roar.

  “Alright big fella, let’s dance!” Lucian laughed and rushed at its front legs. He dashed under the spider and slashed his blade against its legs - but it found no purchase in the hardened exoskeleton and slid away. Lucian bolted sideways, out from under the beast, avoiding a strike from one of its legs as he did.

  Annabelle raised her right hand, and a purple glow enveloped it, forming a sigil in the air, “[Witch’s Hex]!” She focused on the spider as Lucian dashed out from under it - the glow of his weapon gave her enough light to see it. An eerie purple glow briefly enveloped the spider as her skill took hold.

  The spider hissed and began to charge Annabelle, “Hell no!” Lucian pivoted, changing direction and slashing at one of its legs with [Penetrating Strike]. His blade shone white as it cut through the air, and through the beast’s chitin, cutting halfway through its leg.

  The attack managed to piss the spider off more than the hex, so it focused its attention back on Lucian, spinning around. Lucian’s pupils dilated as he leapt backwards just in time to avoid a spray of venom erupting from the spider’s fangs, sizzling as it began to slowly eat away at the stone.

  “Oh you’re a piece of work huh?” Lucian glanced down at the puddle of acidic venom. The spider charged at him and he leapt backwards again.

  “[Tanglethorns]!” Annabelle incanted her skill, gesturing upwards with her hand. The ground beneath the spider erupted with thick vines - they coiled around its injured leg, thorns digging at its chitin.

  Lucian leapt backwards up the wall, using his ring to stick to it.

  The spider roared and after a few seconds ripped itself free - but that was all the time Lucian needed.

  Lucian leapt from the wall, bringing his sword down and activating both [Penetrating Strike] and [Slash]. His blade cut into the spider’s head, digging deep - but not deep enough.

  The spider swatted him aside with one of its legs, sending him flying. Lucian crashed against the wall of the cave and groaned. The force of the blow had been lessened by [Spirit Barrier] but not nullified completely. He used his ring to stop himself from falling from the wall.

  The spider charged him.

  “[Tanglethorns]! [Poison Bolt]!” Annabelle shot off two skills. Thorny vines wrapped around the spider’s injured leg again and a bolt of dark green energy impacted its body. The spider’s charge caused the vines to rip its half severed leg the rest of the way off. It slowed down but didn’t stop - lunging for Lucian.

  Lucian exhaled, “Gotcha.”

  Annabelle gasped as Lucian practically vanished from the wall, moving like a streak of blue light, pushing himself off of the wall with [Quickstep]. The spider crashed against the wall, its fangs digging into the stone where he had been a moment earlier and breaking against it.

  Lucian came to a stop next to her and grinned.

  “Damn you’re fast.” Annabelle remarked before she focused on the spider. She couldn’t see it without Lucian’s glow but it was still affected by her hex, so she could vaguely sense where it was.

  “You slowed it down long enough for me to think. Thanks.”

  The spider pulled itself away from the wall, fluids dripping from its broken fangs - a mixture of its venom and lifeblood sizzling against the stone where it fell. The spider let out a high pitched noise that grated their ears. Lucian grit his teeth, “This again… It’s a debuff skill!” He groaned as he felt himself weaken.

  “[Poison Bolt]!” Annabelle fired her skill off again, then once more. The bolts impacted the spider, the green light diffusing and absorbing into it.

  Lucian rolled his shoulder and adjusted his grip. He felt [Manifest Weapon] take its upkeep cost. “I have just enough Spirit for one more all out attack.” Lucian inhaled as the spider began to charge once again, “Slow it down.” He adjusted his blade, bringing it to a low position by his side, the prelude to a killer upwards slash.

  “[Tanglethorns]!” Annabelle activated her skill without hesitation. Thorns wrapped around another of its legs and Lucian acted.

  Lucian [Quickstep]ped forward, like a spear through the air, swinging his sword upwards as he moved, activating [Penetrating Strike] and [Slash] in tandem. He had made a cut into the top of the head earlier - now he was aiming for the bottom, so the blow would join the previous cut. His blade met the underside of the spider’s head, the remains of its fangs dangerously close to his arms.

  There was a spray of clear fluid as Lucian’s blade cleaved through chitin and flesh, exiting the spider’s head through the previous slash wound. He burnt 26 Spirit on that attack, and was left with 2.

  He leapt backwards as the spider crashed down to the stones, twitching violently. Lucian retreated back to Annabelle and tried to catch his breath.

  He felt her hand on his back, “Breathe.” She said softly, and he did. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He dismissed his sword and dropped to one knee.

  “Getting flung against the wall hurt.” Lucian groaned.

  Annabelle blinked and laughed, “Yeah no duh.” She strained to see through the darkness to the spider, “Did you get it?”

  Lucian nodded, “Yeah. It's dead.”

  Right on que, Lucian and Annabelle both felt the power of level ups course through them.

  “Guess it is…” She smiled and offered her hand, helping Lucian stand up, “Good job, partner.”