Chapter 121: Chapter 117: Breaking and Entering

The trip through the tunnels started pretty well. They had to fight a bit more than Regina expected, but on the flip side, they also traveled faster.

Gwen’s ‘Bard of Battle’ Class really shone in this situation. She used a song that seemed to have mana woven through it in a strange way to buff the group. It increased their speed and stamina, making it much easier to run quickly through the tunnels, even for the magic users with lower physical stats among them. Regina had already decided to leave any Swarm Drones behind, as they wouldn’t have been able to keep up, but the rest managed pretty well. It helped that all of them were at least at the second Tier by now, although Via and Ira had only Evolved recently.

Janis occasionally used her Haste Spell to help, as it didn’t clash with Gwen’s bard buff too badly. Via and Ira kept most of their magic in reserve to provide healing whenever someone needed it. Although, with their levels, the fighting wasn’t very hard, so there wasn’t too much need for that.

Both Via and Ira actually leveled up once, fairly quickly after they started traveling. They had both chosen the same Class, Drone Assistant. She wasn’t entirely clear how it would develop their ability with magic, but considering how much she had trained with them, Regina wasn’t too worried.

They only started running into trouble a few hours in, when they had already covered at least a dozen kilometers. More likely at least twenty. It was a bit hard to judge distances down here, without any real landmarks to go by. Even the maps that the Delvers had weren’t very exact about that sort of thing.

“How should we proceed?” Gwen asked, glancing at the group.

Regina tugged on her mandible. They were facing two potential ways forward: continuing along their current path, a larger tunnel which seemed to divert to the left later, or a smaller, narrower tunnel going to the right.

“Ada, your impression?” she asked.

“It’s hard to be sure, my Queen,” Ada answered. She was frowning slightly, clearly thinking hard. “But I would recommend going to the right.”

“Are you sure?” one of the other Delvers, a man called Geoff, asked. Judging by his equipment and Class, Dark Daggers, he was a rogue type. He sounded skeptical. “We need to head primarily eastward, and the tunnel we have been using is following that direction.”

“But if we keep following it, we’ll end up going more towards the northeast, even though we need to go southeast,” Ada replied patiently. “I would at least check it out. We can always double back if we find that it gets blocked or veers off in a different direction. This path also looks to be heading upwards, closer to the surface again, so it will be easier to get out if necessary.”

Regina frowned slightly. She didn’t like the idea of doubling back. Then again, they had fought the last monsters a while ago and could move pretty quickly, so they wouldn’t lose a lot of time trying it. And if this tunnel was blocked or changed direction after they had already traveled for a while, they should be able to get another one that took them closer to their goal. There were a lot of tunnels and pathways down here, far more than she’d thought. Monsters like the Tunnelers had been living here for a long time, though.

After a while, Max quietly sidled up next to her. “Are we even sure we can get into the place if we reach it?” he asked in a low voice.

Regina looked at him and shrugged. “Of course not. But I’m getting the feeling there’s more to all this. I’d be very surprised if there wasn’t some connection. And the complex is bound to have at least one back entrance, considering.”

Neither of them specified that they were talking about Galatea’s home or even mentioned Galatea, since they didn’t want to risk the Delvers overhearing anything, but that wasn’t necessary.

“Careful,” Ada said quietly, cutting off their conversation. She’d been walking in front, followed by Owin and Tim, though they all slowed down now.

Regina quickly took a glimpse through her eyes, then hopped to Tim’s to get confirmation. It didn’t take her long to realize why they had stopped.

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The tunnel opened up into a chasm. She faintly heard rushing water below, though judging by the echoes and the qualities of the sound, at least most of it was probably an underground stream going through the rock, rather than open to the air. There might also be another underground lake. At the moment, though, she was more concerned with the silky webs covering the tunnel, the gap, and seemingly even the inside of the chasm. The area was downright packed with the stuff.

“Great,” Gwen sighed. “A giant spider nest. Just what I wanted to see here.”

“I don’t see any giant spider,” Owin pointed out.

“Come on, Owin.” She shot him a look. “How often have we run into something like this? You know what it means.”

“No, I mean, I don’t see any giant spiders here, do you? Disregarding the fact that this doesn’t seem to be their preferred arrangement for a lair, you’d expect there to be at least one.”

Regina frowned. She hadn’t run into giant spiders before, and she was not happy, although not surprised, to find out that they were a thing. “Maybe they’re just hiding down there?” she suggested. “They wouldn’t make for very good ambush predators if prey could see them lurking, after all.”

Max cleared his throat. “And what exactly makes this a good ambush? The obvious webs?”

Regina shot him a look and rolled her eyes, but she had to admit that he had a point.

“Many animals living underground would not be able to see, or have very bad eyesight, at least,” Janis said. “Although something like this can still be avoided by echolocation abilities, too.”

“Well, there’s no point standing around here,” Owin said, hefting his shield. Then he started moving forward.

Janis, Max and Via made sure the webs wouldn’t touch anyone, using fire magic and an axe, while Regina stayed in the middle of the group. They quickly reached the edge of the tunnel and the crevice. It was actually larger than it had seemed, big enough that several people could descend at once.

“Is that a dead spider down there?” Janis asked, bending forward to look down.

Ada grabbed the back of her coat. “It looks like it. I wouldn’t assume it’s the only one, though.”

“Quiet.” Regina raised a hand.

Fortunately, they all fell silent. That allowed her to hear the rustling and chittering. Judging by their reactions, even the Delvers heard something.

Owin materialized his barrier again, just in time for the first giant spider to bounce off it. Another squeezed itself from a crack in the ceiling above the crevice, which had been almost completely hidden by the contours of the uneven stone. Several more crawled up from below, spread out on various sides.

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