Chapter 40: Interlude: Acromantula Raid Dungeon

Harry looked over the 200 goblins that had practically begged to be included in the Raid Dungeon. They hadn't had a large scale battle in hundreds of years and they needed to prove to themselves that they still had their skills. A few of them were a bit young and more than a few had grey hair. Harry went to each of them and thanked them for volunteering as he cast repelling charms and deflection charms on their armor and shields.

Luckily, 50 of them were experienced crossbowmen and Harry cast Piercing curses on their arrows and attached Rune Plates he had invented to reinforce the crossbow and doubled the strength and damage. The low guttural growls that the goblins gave him as he went along to enchant their blades with Slashing and Knockback curses, made Harry thankful that he knew it wasn't directed at him.

The goblins were psyching themselves up for the upcoming battle against a very numerous foe.

“Remember, they are ambush predators. They'll drop from the webs above your heads, they'll leap from cover, and they can even be hiding under fake leaf cover on the ground.” Harry advised them and the goblins clanged their swords against their shields. “If they stampede, we have to either move out of their way or turtle up.”

“We never retreat. We will turtle and attack from the cover of our shields.” Director Grindstone said and all of the goblins growled in agreement.

Harry smiled and nodded. “I expected nothing less from the Nation.” He said and knelt. “Everyone grab on to someone.”

They all shuffled together and grasped the forearm of their fellows and the two closest to Harry grabbed his arms. He let his magic flow out over them and apparated with a very loud crack that shook the bank. They reappeared in the setup area for the dungeon.

“Scouts! Draw in the enemy!” Director Grindstone ordered. “Reserve! Spread out! Main force! Prepare for battle!”

The goblins split up as appropriate and 6 scout goblins slunk off into the darkened forest as the 50 crossbowmen took up higher ground positions and covered the main fighting force.

Barely ten minutes later, the 6 scouts ran through the underbrush and dove between the legs of the main force.

“There are about 30 of the enemy approaching, three feet wide.” The first scout reported to Director Grindstone and the scouts slid out the side of the main force and assumed a flanking position with the reserve force.

Almost as soon as they heard the skittering and clacking of mandibles, the large group of Acromantulas stormed into the area and all 50 crossbowmen fired, as did Harry with Piercing curses. Nearly half of the spiders squealed in pain as they had multiple eyes destroyed and changed directions. That took them right into the scouts and the reserved force, just as the remaining unhurt spiders slammed into the main fighting force.

Two goblins died when five of the spiders leapt over the turtled shields and landed in the middle of the main force. The spiders were quickly cut down and then the fight focused on the forward assault. Each spider leg that tried to crawl over the turtled shields was cut off and the crossbows were fired again and again.

The scouts and reserved force had an easier time of it, because their foes were half-blind. They were done before the main force and flanked the remaining Acromantulas that the main force were fighting. With the spiders easily outnumbered and distracted, the main force moved forward and cut them down.

“Anyone bitten or scratched?” Harry asked and they all replied in the negative. He looked at Director Grindstone. “We've lost two brave warriors already and we're just getting started. I suspect the spiders are going to only get bigger from here on out.”

“All the easier for our blades to cut them down!” Director Grindstone shouted and the goblins cheered.

Harry put a hand on his shoulder. “I'll go with the scouts this time to see what we're really up against.”

“Insane wizard.” The goblins said and clanged their swords against their shields once.

Harry met the scouts at the front of the main force and they slipped into the underbrush. He managed to get an accurate count of the enemy and retreated after gathering a ton of Acromantula silk.

After two more prepared ambushes, the goblins only lost one member from a spider sacrificing itself to impale him with its mandibles. They all thought it was dead and it had used its last two remaining limbs to push off of the ground and fell upon the unfortunate goblin, his neck punctured.

“All goblins will strike the head and brain of each spider, dead or not.” Director Grindstone ordered and all of the goblins grunted acknowledgement.

*

Every half hour for the next four hours, they retreated to a cleared safe area and rested for twenty minutes. Healing potions and antivenom potions were liberally applied, even if no one was actually bitten. The goblins were slowly losing more of their brethren as the size and difficulty of the enemies increased and their spirit actually rose instead of losing hope.

They hadn't had such an exhilarating fight since the basilisk. Harry had almost laughed when they said that and thought back to the fierce and coordinated attacks he had witnessed... from both sides. The goblins really were happy that they had the opportunity to test themselves against such a strong force, and in some cases a superior force.

The short skirmishes were both brutal and efficient. The tide of victory could have gone in either direction, if it had just been the goblins against the spiders. It wasn't. A severely boosted Harry was on the side of the goblins and he had used up nearly a third of his free points as he raised all of his stats to 200 just before activating the Raid Dungeon.

The unlocked bonuses for reaching 100 in each stat were eye opening. He had revealed a Stamina stat that he didn't know he had and an Experience stat that showed him how much he needed to gain another level. Of course, be boosted his Stamina to 100 and the bonus it gave was to never let Harry get tired, no matter how much he exercised. When it reached 200, Harry no longer had to sleep.

The Strength bonus at 100 had reduced his Health Points regeneration from minutes to seconds. At 200, he was granted a lifting capacity of 100x his own weight, which meant there was nothing reasonable that he couldn't lift. How much does that empty bus weigh? 10,000 pounds? No problem!

The Vitality bonus at 100 made him immune to most common diseases and poisons. At 200, he was immune to all diseases and poisons. His Agility at 100 gave him the reflexes of a cheetah. At 200 (with moving 3mph per point), he could move his hands faster than the normal human eye could see and he could run 10 miles in only a minute.

In all honestly, it was as ridiculous as having his Inventory range at 100 feet and still expanding. Harry wouldn't give any of it up, though. He knew that he was only going to get faster and stronger as he levelled up, and he had only used all of Voldemort's extra points and some of his own. He still had over 1,000 points he had acquired from Albus Dumbledore's mind.

With his Intelligence and Wisdom at 200 each, Harry no longer had to pick up a book to absorb the information. Just walking within 30 feet of it gave him the option to take the information. That was a phenomenal power to have and he promised himself that he would take a day or three during the summer to visit the London Library.

Harry was still stuck with his Luck at 10, though. The prophecy lock sucked and all he could do was wait around and hope that Voldemort somehow made his way back within reach and he could harvest the last bit of soul and end the threat for good. Just the thought of getting his final stat unlocked and levelled up, made Harry eager to get it over with.

“Break's over!” The head goblin said and everyone stood.

“Is everyone well fed?” Harry asked and they all said they were. “This last area is going to be the most dangerous. According to the information I have discovered, there are 400 car-sized Acromantula and then we have a minor boss before we have to face the main boss, an old Acromantula named Aragog.”

“A NAMED CREATURE!” The goblins yelled and clanged their swords on their shields like applause.

“It will be a great honor for whichever goblin deals the death blow.” Director Grindstone said and the goblins cheered.

“That reminds me. What did you do with the basilisk head?” Harry asked him.

“We mounted it at the entrance to the high security vaults. The Thief's Downfall spews out of its mouth.” The director said with a grin.

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“HA! That's appropriate.” Harry said and clapped him on the shoulder. “I'll set up some barriers and protections as quickly as I can. The less we are caught out in the open, the better.”

“We will rely on you, Insane Wizard!” The goblins around them said as one and they all laughed.

“Yes, I'm the insane one.” Harry said and laughed, too. “Good luck, brave warriors!”

“RAHHH!” The goblins responded.

Harry raised his wand and shot off golden sparks before he faded away. He had defensive work to do and traps and things to set for the final battle. Just like the goblins, he knew it was going to be a glorious fight. Some of them would be lost and he would do his best to mitigate as many as he could. People died in battle and sometimes there was nothing that could be done except to fight on and hope they didn't die for nothing.

*

The main nest of the Acromantulas had its inhabitants all in a tizzy. They knew someone was invading their home and the enemy was both ruthless and efficient. None of the children they had sent out had returned, no matter how many were sent out. Now they barely had 400 left of their 2,200 to defend the King and Queen and the spiders were nervous.

As they chittered among themselves and discussed the best way to defend against the final assault, none of them noticed the slowly raised walls, the partially hidden bunkers, and the removal of a lot of their interconnected webbing between the outlying trees. It cut off any escape from above and reduced their own options of dropping down on their enemy.

It also stopped them from stampeding or charging in a massive wave, which reduced them almost to individual fighters. That was not going to turn out well for the Acromantulas.

*

The goblins barely suppressed their giddiness as they silently approached the defensive positions that were right outside the main nest area and fully prepared for them to occupy. Despite the goblins being outnumbered with their battered 155 against the Acromantula's 400 giant car-sized defenders, they were as eager as ever to face such a fearsome force with just their blades, cunning, and tenacity.

When they were all in position, they waited for the signal to start the battle. It was going to be an obvious one that even the spiders wouldn't fail to notice.

There was a sudden blast of wind and all of the webbing high in the trees around the nest disappeared. Accromantulas of all sizes, from the tiny inch wide babies to a dozen of the car-sized ones, all screeched in fright as they dropped a hundred feet to the ground and splattered all over the gathered spider troops.

“NOOO!” A deep male and female voice yelled as one and the sound filled the web-created grotto they called home.

“FIRE!” Director Grindstone shouted and 50 crossbow bolts peppered the shaken Acromantulas and a hundred normal arrows soon followed and stuck into the spiders all over. There were also ten piercing curses that hit them from directly above.

“ATTACK!” The male voice commanded and the Acromantulas tried to. The problem was, they couldn't see any of their attackers that were hidden in their defensive positions. The spiders scrambled around and didn't know what to do.

“AGAIN!” Director Grindstone yelled and the ranged attack was repeated.

The spiders were hit from three sides and from above and didn't know where to go to attack the enemy that were about to overrun their home.

“Go forward!” The female shouted and the Acromantulas that were still alive turned as one and faced out from the grotto before they scrambled over their dead brothers and sisters and tried to rush forward.

This was exactly what the goblins had been prepared for, because a huge pit trap opened up and twenty spiders died on wooden spikes as the others surged over them. The goblins leapt out of their protected areas and swarmed over the now out of position spiders and sliced at their legs and bodies.

It was a massacre.

After only fifteen minutes of fighting, the goblins were completely victorious and had only lost a few of their own from stumbling Acromantulas that fought until they couldn't move anymore.

“Come out, come out, come out.” The goblins chanted as they gathered around each other and approached the web grotto.

“I will kill you all for killing my children!” The small female Acromantula exclaimed as she rushed out of the funnel web and leapt.

The goblins didn't flinch as the spider that was the size of a compact car soared through the air towards them. Director Grindstone stood defiantly at the front of the goblins as the giant spider dropped down and readied her fangs to spear him... then she slammed against the invisible magical shield.

It crushed part of her face and her two front legs, because of her own momentum, and she slid to the ground and moaned in pain. The shield disappeared and Director Grindstone's sword pierced her upper set of eyes and he tore it to the left. Every other blade then repeated the action and the female's head was little more than mush when they were done.

There was a rumbling growl from the funnel web and none of the goblins moved from their positions as an Acromantula the size of a bus slowly crawled out of his home. His eyes didn't move and looked smoky instead of the solid black of normal spider eyes.

“It's blind!” One of the goblins exclaimed and the rest cheered.

“I can still hear you and I can still fight.” Aragog said and rose until he was at his full height.

“Insane Wizard! Insane Wizard! Insane Wizard!” The goblins chanted.

Suddenly, there wasn't any sound at all within the grotto.

Aragog dropped slightly and readied for an attack. “What happened? I cannot hear your breathing.”

“You won't hear them attacking, either.” Harry said from far above him as he hovered there on his broom.

Aragog yelled in pain as his legs were quickly chopped off and then he was swarmed by every single goblin. He couldn't use his massive bulk against his attackers with his legs removed and dropped his head down and waited for the final blow. He had lived a very long and pampered life, thanks to his friend Hagrid, and the only thing he regretted was that he had no one to carry on the family.

“Don't worry, Aragog. I've saved a mated pair of your children.” Harry said as he easily read Aragog's thoughts. “I will tell them of their brave father and mother and how they fought to the bitter end in an epic battle that will be told for generations, by both the goblins and your progeny.”

“Thank you, Insane Wizard.” Aragog said, his voice full of gratitude, just before Ragnok climbed onto his back and plunged his sword into the giant spider's brain.

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