Chapter 56: Chapter 56 – Maid in Abyss

Fayette saw nothing, but she heard it all. Sounds of skittering shapes, creeping along the rocky ground, getting closer. Her body ached and hurt, but she had to act—fast. My broom, is my?—she felt at her hand, then noticed the tool was still right there in her right arm, gripped tight. Shifting to a two-handed grip, she turned against the incoming tide.

She swung out blindly, trying to estimate where the sounds were coming from, but she hit nothing. Something hit her. A sharp limb pierced into her thigh, but Fayette suppressed her wince and swung down, lightning fast. Something crunched. I got one?

There were smaller ones too—swarming. She brushed at them, throwing them off, then realized it was not enough. Too many sides, even with her back against the wall. With no vision, she could not handle it all. Or could she?

Time, I need time… Fayette used [Sweep Dust], gathering crumbled bits of stone dust and grime into a swirl in front of her, then used [Spicy Cooking] to summon red-hot powder into her left hand. She almost dropped it when the spice hit the open scrapes and minor wounds in the hand, stinging like dozens of fire-ants.

Barely, Fayette managed to hold on, throwing the powder away as fast as she could. She let the [Sweep Dust] suck up it up, then quickly licked any remnants off her hand. She tasted iron and heat, blood and death-spice in some unholy combination, and felt her tongue burn. The [Maid] was starting to regret her decisions.

Still—it was working. The spiders were wary of the vortex she held and didn’t approach. From the front. Then something skittered above.

No hesitation—when she heard it, Fayette swung her broom up, released the skill, and covered the ceiling in spice. Half a heartbeat—then small forms started to fall. On top of her too. She pried one off as it fell into her hair, the size of a monstrous rat, then kicked a larger one away as it squirmed, stepping unevenly.

Red-hot dust was falling from the ceiling in a powdery rain, and when it hit the scrapes on her scalp. Fayette really started to get upset. She was burning all over, but she used [Sweep Dust] again, just a bit this time. Just enough to cast off anything floating towards her mouth—breathing it in would be bad news.

She was starting to get a sense of things. The skill—it gave off a vague impression of what it was sucking up, the dust it was affecting, and now with dust falling all over, she could almost make out the forms in the room.

Larger spiders, the size of dogs, stood among their countless smaller brethren. Despite it all, Fayette felt the feeling was familiar. She felt herself smiling. One problem solved. She pried her back off the wall sticky with webbing, then took in the forms in front.

The [Combat Maid] advanced.

Alone in the dark, fighting against a horde of unseen enemies, her broom’s metal end swinging this way and that. It had been a while since she had really been alone like this, without anyone standing by her back. With only enemies to advance against. That was why it reminded her of the manor.

Enemies were popping out of nooks and crannies, and Fayette had to rely on her [Eavesdrop] to divine where the more distant ones were approaching from. Back at the manor, it had been a desperate struggle. Monsters screeching at her, and her own harried breaths, desperately trying to hold on. Now though… the sounds of battle were different. Very distinct.

Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat…

Yeah… this really isn’t the same at all, is this? Fayette thought, sprinkling more powder into the air, then wincing as a bit landed on her bare back, revealed by torn clothes. But she had changed. Fayette was no longer a level 7 [Maid] with barely a grasp at what she was doing. A level 17 [Combat Maid] against a horde of spiders the size of hounds—it wasn’t really an even match.

Fayette finished crunching one spider under her broom, then took a step back, focusing on her proto-dust-sense. There were so many of them. As she hit one, another scurried under, brushing against her left leg. She smashed out with her broom, again feeling the crunch of thin exoskeleton under the metal of her broom. Then she felt another bite, on a different leg, and kicked it against the wall, pinning that spider in place.

For a second she felt panic—So many bites, poison? No, the other bites… I don’t feel weakened or anything. Fayette breathed a sigh of relief, then took a quick step back, smashing out with her broom. She had her eyes closed, but now she was seeing. Maybe a part of her [Maid Martial Arts] was helping too, she felt her control of the battlefield gradually growing greater and greater as she claimed territory in it, clearing away dust as she moved. The skill guided her broom down, and she nailed her last target.

Splat.

Again, Fayette forced her breathing to quiet, and searched out with her [Eavesdrop], then focused on her [Sweep Dust]. She heard no more sounds. After waiting for ten heartbeats, then thirty more, the [Maid] finally let herself slump down on her back. Her back hit shattered glass and spice, and she flinched back up. Right, lantern, spice—hells.

And no levels.

She felt just a bit disappointed at that, but she wasn’t really cleaning here, right? This area—it couldn’t be part of the mines. She was the one intruding on spider territory and making a mess of things. But still, the experience would have been nice. She had no skill points to spare. What she had—that was what she was working with.

Right, resources. Work, plan, focus. Fayette breathed in and out, slowly getting her lungs back to normal. Some of the dust and spice had gotten in, so she had to pause and cough her heart out for half a minute before she finally felt it settle. The adrenaline was starting to leave. She began running through the situation in her mind, forming a plan of action.

The spiders were first on her mind, but they weren’t really important, were they? Alright, so: betrayal, explosion, pit, spiders, yay. That about summed up the situation in five words. Fayette let out a hysterical laugh, forcing herself to straighten up. She examined her body, running fingers along fresh bug bites and wounds which burned from spice—and then felt at the tattered remains of her outfit.

Body—mostly whole. Painful as a—I don’t even know. As getting Olivia and Mireille to make a skin suit out of you, maybe. Outfit, less so. Need to get this all cleaned and mended. Step one. Get myself into shape. The plan of action—

She stopped for a moment, remembering that last moment before she had fallen down here. Mireille, Olivia, and even Marie. She included the [Lady] in the list—it felt correct. Were they alright? Had they survi—no, they had to have. Marie had her earth magic. I remember, she was using that magic, but rocks were falling all around them, and they were on that side of the cavern…

Are they trapped somewhere too?

A pang in her chest. The look Mireille had given her in that last moment… Leaving them off on a note like that felt bad. Fighting over such a stupid thing. Need to get back to them and fix all this.

Well, they could probably make their way out on their own. Or could they? Their group had been ambushed out of nowhere—was something waiting outside? Could they go out, battered and lacking her?

Fayette’s pulse calmed as a plan of action formed in her mind. First… take care of myself. Get these wounds patched up. Make sure I don’t drop dead suddenly. Then… find the rest. Or help them find me. Whatever.

She sighed, taking a few experimental steps. It ached, oh so bad, but she could manage.

“Resources… First, resources… what do I have?”

She had her uniform's remains and broom, but what else? Taking careful steps, she prodded the ground around with her broom. She heard the shards of the ruined lantern crinkle—not much use to anyone like that, then felt at the many spider corpses around her, and—

Fayette paused. No spider this one. Carefully, she felt out with her hands and touched hot blood and a rapidly cooling body. The boy. She didn’t remember his name—but she did remember what she had seen. The kid getting shredded by shards of rock. Sorry kid. Shaking her head, she mentally categorized him with the rest of the spiders.

“Emergency food supplies.”

She took a step back from him and wiped the now-bloody hand on her apron, then paused. Apron. Right. Of course.

How silly of her.

Not just any apron, but her [Apron of Holding]. She gingerly fitted her hand inside, searching for that pouch she had attached to the apron’s main pocket, and felt it enter the cool extradimensional space. It was magic—it wouldn’t break just like that.

She let out a laugh. Of course! Thanks to the bag, she was carrying all her party’s supplies, so she wasn’t low on anything at all! She had spare clothing, food, water, bedding, more food other tools, healing potions…

Fayette stopped as she realized something. Yeah, she wasn’t going to run out of things any time soon, she had all of her party’s supplies after all! All of her party’s supplies. Really. All of them. Every bit.

She thought back, trying to remember what the others had brought along. Mireille always has her sewing supplies in hand, Olivia has her kit, mostly booze. What does Marie have? Hmm, that little bag I think… Drawing supplies? Notes?

Gradually, the party’s official leader, at least on paper, was starting to realize that their policy of having her carry all their stuff just might have some drawbacks. Especially when they had just lightened up in preparation for a monster hunt.

Fayette sighed. Well, can’t help it. If they’re trapped here, I’m sure they’ll manage somehow. She could trust them. The bloodied and spiced up [Maid] reached into her [Apron of Holding], searching around.

Then took out her spare lantern. One of them

Of course, they had a spare. What were they, amateurs? Well, alright, maybe it was an amateur move to have all their supplies on one person, but it was the thought that counted. Fayette lit the lantern, and a hellscape was revealed around her.

A horde of massacred spiders, bodies black or white, limbs ripped off and shells smashed into bits. They were leaking black ichor onto the ground, and it was all covered in faintly red dust, making the whole scene seem like a picture out of hell.

Veins of thick web spread all over, covering all the walls and the floor near the edges. It seemed sort of halfway done, forming traps and snags near corners, incomplete. The webbing on the ground had been ground down into mush in the brawl, but all the webs now shared a red tinge, making them seem like cracks into molten rock. Fayette bent down to examine the spiders.

With a quick glance around, she confirmed their sizes. They were smaller than she had thought while fighting in the dark, or maybe that was just because they were now crushed and pulped into the ground, not skittering about on long legs. Their sizes ran from rats to small dogs, and Fayette felt a grim realization.

These were not the biggest of them. Nor the monster types.

The lack of fire made the latter obvious, but she had talked with the [Miners] too, in preparation for the hunt. The largest ones in these caverns could stand up to her belly button. In a way—she was looking forward to it. The panic, pain and surprise had made the situation difficult, but once she had gotten control of it, the spiders had not been much of a threat, clumsy and weak as they were. Now, if she had gotten tangled up in webs on the other hand…

She flinched, wounds still aching from spice with every beat of her heart, like hellish pitchforks prodding her to move, to act. She shook her head, looking away from the hellscape. Time to fix this whole situation.

Looking around for a proper spot, Fayette set the lantern down on top of the young boy’s shattered skull, as a sort of makeshift table. The ground was too nasty, so she wanted to keep it somewhat high up so she could work. She crouched, making sure to not lean onto the ground, then searched around in her apron for Olivia’s medical supplies, some water, and her healing potions. She still had 2 of those.

She quickly washed off her wounds with the water and felt the red-hot pain gradually recede. Then, Fayette debated drinking the potion for a moment—if the bites were poisoned at all… She shook her head. Maybe just a little sip.

Fayette drank a tiny drop, trying to monitor her body for any adverse effects. She felt none, only her wounds scabbing over a tad, and drank some more. The rest of the wounds closed. Putting the potion back, she began measuring things out.

She didn’t have all that much oil for her lantern—maybe a few days of use if she was really sparing with it? Food would not run out for a while either, and if it did—she looked at the corpses around her and nodded—she could procure more. Maybe with her rank 3 [Spicy Cooking], she could even make it taste bearable—or at least use the pain to sear all semblance of taste away.

Her own water might not cover much, but she could hear some sounds of water somewhere nearby—hopefully, it was clean. She knew there were some methods to purity it, but she really couldn’t remember them. Her healing potions—were mostly full. She had only had to drink one-third of one just now.

She felt a lot better already, having a clear picture of the situation, but she still had one important task to handle. She peeled off her tattered rags of a uniform piece by piece, lamenting its loss. This one had really gone the distance for her sake. Saints Bless [Maid Armour]. Maybe I should arrange a burial for it?

She took out a towel, wetted it, and cleaned the rest of the blood and grime off herself, then took out her spare uniform. Yes, of course, she had one, she was professional, then dressed in it quickly, [Eavesdrop] activated. No skittering.

It was a vulnerable feeling, swapping clothes in the middle of a hellscape like this, but it had to be done. Fayette really hoped the stares she thought she sensed on her bare skin were her imagination. She made record time in dressing up.

Regardless, Fayette finished, felt her [Maid Armor] solidify, then hefted the broom in her hand up. Now, for the first time—really looked at the caverns she was in. She had seen their look, but now she examined their shape. Where exactly was she?

The entrance above her had shrunk down into a tiny hole, fallen boulders blocking most of it off. Could she crawl back up? Probably not. The chamber she was in was a decent size, around twenty paces across. A craggy, uneven roof and walls, it didn’t mesh well with her orderly sensibilities. But worst of all was of course…

The webs.

So damn many spiderwebs.

Fayette had never liked clearing spider webs. They were one of those things that always crept back in. If a [Maid] neglected the proper cleaning of an area of the manor for even a few weeks, they would inevitably sprout out like mushrooms in the rain—never-ending.

She sighed and looked at the broom in her hand. The wood was battered and scratched, and the metal end had bits of sticky exoskeleton glued on. Fayette grimaced, then rubbed it against a piece of mostly-clean rock, trying to get it off. Sure, it would last a while longer—probably. But could she trust it? The wood was in truly dire straits.

If her broom broke in the middle of battle—Fayette looked around the room. Besides, it wasn’t really the proper tool for this job. She put it away, then reached into her [Apron of Holding] and took out two items. She hadn’t used them for a while, but they would suit this task well.

She held out her mop and applied a nice dose of [All Purpose Cleaner] onto it. She had a few bottles of it. Should be enough for a few days.

The [Maid] looked at the webs standing in front of her and felt good. With everything settled, she honestly had no issues at the moment. It had seemed like a desperate situation at the start, but really, she was the most fine of them all.

Fayette moved and started cleaning out a path. Forward. She faced the darkness lit only by her dim lantern, and advanced.

 

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Inside a cavern, deep down under the ground, a spider was constructing its abode. Or weaving a web—another way to look at it. Its brood was scuttling about around it, making their own expansions here and there, gradually constructing a fortress.

Against the corrupted ones.

They were tough to fight, requiring many sacrifices to bring down one, and their fortress would be ruined afterward—but it had to be done. She could produce new soldiers faster than they.

This spider was a larger, older one. In its way, maybe even a wiser one. It had fought off the corrupted ones many times, and they had less sense than it. They were a greedy sort, but this spider knew how to hunt stronger prey. Lie in wait, let the expendables perish, then move in for the kill.

Its legs gently tugged at the threads of web all around, and it could sense everything on them. Its eyes were weak, but it didn’t really need them at all. The web reached out everywhere. Until they suddenly…

Didn’t.

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Alarmed, the spider focused its senses on the direction, and could feel the connections burning up—no, melting down? It felt different. Still, it was an attack.

The spider signaled the brood, and they fell into wait, lying down in crevices and cracks, waiting for the signal to jump down and bite into whatever came. A larger one? One newly formed? The… mother?

But as it waited, no glow of searing fire emerged. Just the dim light of a lantern. And... footsteps. The spider grew excited. It knew that sound.

Prey.

Sometimes, these things wandered down, and the spider got to feast. Their flesh had something special to it and eating it had once filled the spider with vigor and a new kind of insight. But. This sort was prey—prey didn’t charge forward, it ran. One had to be fast and decisive.

The spider signaled its brood into motion, and they clumped together, closer to the entrance. Even the spider itself slowly approached, crouching down. Its shell was so aged and worn that it was indistinguishable from the rock around it. It slowly advanced, keeping its legs low, creeping nearer to the entrance.

The web of connections was still fading. The prey was wiping them out somehow, but that didn’t matter much. The spider felt it near and saw a glimpse of a small figure, a bit taller than it, but it held no great weapons. Just a stick in one, and in the other…? The spider couldn’t recognize it—it had never seen birds or the sky, so it did not know of feather dusters.

The spider gave the attack order, but the creature moved first. It held out one hand, then opened it, spice inside. The creature blew it out softly, then swept the smaller stick across in front of it, and small bits of something swirled inside the room.

Then there was pain.

Mainly along the feelers on its legs, and its ruined eyes. It trashed about for a moment, wiping whatever the thing was off, and managed to recover in a few seconds. It reached out for the web, seeking those connections.

Gone.

Its leg did not hit the web, but something that sizzled and bit.

It flinched back, blinded in sense and sight, and began scuttling away, trying to reach back to its web behind it. A trap! This was not prey, but predator!

Then something jumped on her back, and that sizzling hit it.

The spider screeched. Its shell! Its shell was melting! And as it melted, something started to pour inside! Hot and searing! The spider swung up with half of its legs, trying to impale the figure, but it managed to dodge, taking advantage of the opening. It landed down, then reached for the spider’s face with the long stick, pushing.

Pain—then everything—faded—

 

—

 

“Sheesh, that was a big one,” Fayette said, looking over the hulking figure. She wasn’t bothering to keep count on her silent crusade, she was just moving forward, looking for any path that might lead upwards. No luck on that front yet, but she had made a few acquisitions for her shiny rock collection, so it was not all a waste. And she had killed lots of spiders.

The [Maid] sighed, starting to look over her dwindling supplies when she suddenly heard it.

[32 minor pests, and 5 major pests removed, keep up the autumn cleaning!]

[Progress towards next level: 80%]

Wait, what? But this isn’t—

Fayette paused. She looked at the room around her. If she really tried to look past the webs and collapsed pieces of ceiling, and only took in the shape of it… It was a box. A very regular box.

Growing excited, she got to work. She swished this way and that, brushing off age-old layers of dust, grime, and ichor with her mop, letting the [All Purpose Cleaner] truly do its magic. She cleared out a small section, then let the cleaner sizzle into smoke as it slowly did over time, careful not to breathe it in. The [Maid] bent down, finished with her cleaning and looked over her work. At what was revealed.

Brick.

Very old and crumbly brick, sure, but brick nonetheless. Ruins? Did I stumble into some ancient fortress or whatnot? Fayette took a long moment thinking the situation over, then finally grinned. This was perfect.

Wandering around down here, the [Maid] had come to a realization. This place was vast. If she just kept moving on, she might just get too far away, and get well and truly lost. She had done well in her fights so far, though there had been some scares. If she went on… she would not always win. Especially alone.

Her best chance might just be to sit down somewhere where the others could find her and wait. But for that… she needed a base of operations down here, somewhere she could rest up and stick to, someplace recognizable and interesting enough the others would be sure to find it. And…

Maybe a place where she could earn lots and lots of experience?

She inhaled deeply, tasting the air of her temporary home, then frowned. What was that taste? Brimstone? Something reminiscent of her spice—hot. Then Fayette looked to the other side of the room, to the other entrance. Her lantern was rather dim, but that entrance was bright. In fact—brighter than the spaces right next to her, and getting brighter.

She backed away a tad and watched as slithering ropes of fire snaked out from behind a corner, followed soon by a small form. A web of fire. The spider itself was black and red, like an onyx stone with a fire core. It moved slowly, letting the web of fire do the exploring for it, like a countless mass of feelers.

A monster.

Fayette backed away. She did not want to get stuck in that. The [Maid] moved back slow and silent, creeping back towards the original entrance. Is it blind? Does it not see me? Altering her trajectory, she began shifting to the right, and the creature made no move to follow.

Slowly and quietly, Fayette reached into her apron, going for her knives. She got a set out, aimed, then began pelting the spider with knives using [Cutlery Control].

The web of fire instantly moved, searching around for the source, but it couldn’t pinpoint her. It expanded outward, writhing like a fabric bursting out of its seams, but Fayette kept up the barrage, careful and silent.

The knives bit into the spider, between the cracks in the black outer shell, getting at the core inside, and after only three, the spider exploded into a spray of black blood. Fayette blinked. She had forgotten how satisfying that felt. She sighed, then slowly walked over to the remains, and picked up a monster core that felt hot.

She really was making good progress on her pretty rock collection down here. Nodding, Fayette put it into her apron, then examined the entrance through which it had come.

She froze, then walked through to the other side, and froze again. She laughed.

It was a small room, just five paces across, but that wasn’t the thing that had filled the [Maid] with relief. Two iron doors. Both stood ajar, letting monsters move as they liked through here, and they were covered in a thick mix of web and grime, but they looked mostly intact. And they had little hooks in them, useful for barring them in from the inside with a plank or something.

Fayette settled down, then looked over her temporary home for the next while. She hated to admit it, but she was honestly enjoying all this a little. She really was pretty fine, not running low on supplies for at least a bit more. She took out her broom, mop, feather duster, and bucket, then got to work. If she was going to live down here for a while—she would damn well enjoy it.

She wondered how the others were doing, and how long it would take them to find her. I hope they’re having fun too.

 

—

 

[A good start to housecleaning!]

[Progress towards next level: 85%]

 

—

 

[A fine abode, free of pests!]

[Progress towards next level: 95%]

 

—

 

[Level up: You have reached Maid level 18! Congratulations!]

[2 Skill points gained!]

[You have gained a new skill: Dustsense!]

[Progress towards next level: 10%]

 

—

 

[A good expansion of the household!]

[Progress towards next level: 25%]

 

—

 

[Great job with the major pest removal!]

[Progress towards next level: 55%]

 

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