12 The Wrath of the White Spiders!

Upon climbing the hill beyond the healer's house into the mountainous regions of where Alby Dungeon resided, Axel looked beyond at the crossroads ahead. The path to the left lead to Sidhe Sneachta, a snowy field with dozens of snowman. The entrance to the area was blocked off by a teleportation rock that resembled a Moongate. An ancient wizard had put a seal to this mysterious snowfield as to protect the dwellers of Erinn from the dangers that existed there. If one transversed beyond the numerous snowman, there was another teleportation gate awaiting them, and one had to be a minimum of Level 10 to enter. Most non-combatant humans were around the average of Level 1 or 2, and people that were able to advance past Level 3 were usually adventurers or powerful fighters.

To the right, was Alby Dungeon. It was situated at the top of the hill, where there was a cave that served as the entrance. As Max and Axel entered the cave, a dimly lit space came into their line of vision. There was a Goddess Statue kneeling down with a sword in hand in the middle of the cave and below it was a square platform other known as the altar where you would offer items in order to enter the dungeon.

"This is it." Max said as he walked over to the platform, ready to enter the dungeon. Axel followed along, and the next moment, Max dropped a small red gem on the altar. and both of them suddenly were transported to the depths of the dungeon.

Alby dungeon was a subterranean maze that consisted of rooms that resembled the prisons of old medieval castles. Being the easiest dungeon to clear in the game, it would be also a similar clearing difficulty in this world as well.

Axel followed Max down the stairway to enter the start of the dungeon. Upon descending, he only saw total darkness and whispered to his master,

"Why is it so dark in here? I thought most dungeons had torches on the walls?"

"Are you joking right now? How could dungeons have torches on the walls ready for you? This isn't a castle after all." Max chuckled he quickly lit a torch with fire while continuing to walk down.

This was a large change that Axel overlooked. He had come unprepared to the dungeon, where he assumed that torches would be present in all the rooms inside. Indeed, he would have been in deep trouble if he had entered Alby dungeon on his own, as no one could fight effectively in the dark.

When they finally reached the bottom of the stairway, they saw another Goddess Statue positioned in the middle of a room. Max then turned to Axel and said,

"This is a Goddess Statue that serves a guidepost for the start of a dungeon. It's also the only safe zone inside the dungeon, and an area where we can retreat to if needed."

"Yes Master!" Axel whispered with a slight nod. This was also very different from how Goddess Statues worked in the original game of Mabinogi. The statues in the game served as a save point in which players could respawn to upon death in the dungeon. This meant going all the way back to beginning, but it was also a way that players in the early phases of Mabinogi could clear dungeons successfully despite the odds against them.

As they passed the safe zone and stepped inside a room. Max threw the torch in the middle of the room, and saw a treasure chest in the middle. This felt nostalgic for Axel who had been playing the game for years. In the current phases of the the game of Mabinogi, it was already in the Generation 22 storyline, and players rarely went to do dungeons. Most of the methods for acquiring experience points for leveling focused more on entering the Shadow Realm and helping out in Avalon with Baltane Missions. For dungeons inside the current game were far too low level and easy for players to gain any levels from, and were not worth doing at all.

Before Axel could move to open the chest, Max stopped him by pressing his hands on his shoulder.

"Wait until I give you the signal to open the chest. The spawns in the dungeons are always random, and it can be fatal for a beginner like you if you don't prepare your stance before opening the chest."

What Max said was essentially correct. In the early phases of the game, if one didn't prepare themselves before activating a chest to summon spawns, they would be in a world of pain after. For mages, they would stand near the chest to charge their spells before opening, warriors would use the 'Defense' skill, and Archers would quickly go to the corner of a room to avoid any aggro from coming their way after the chest was opened.

Axel nodded, and then Max stepped back and gave him a okay signal with his fingers by giving him a thumbs up. Upon opening the chest to the first room, all the dungeon paths from one room to another were blocked off by a stone wall. This was the condition of opening a chest as well. These walls would not lift up until all the enemies in the room were eliminated. In the open, 4 White Spiders spawned throughout the room. Max who was obviously too strong for the dungeon stood to the side and leaned on the walls of the dungeon, intimidating the White Spiders that had just spawned. None of them dared to go near him, but when they turned their direction to Axel, it was as if they had found a prey to play with. All 4 of the White Spiders quickly raced near where Axel had opened the chest and commenced their attack.

For now, Axel could only run away from them in desperation. No matter how strong he had become, 4 of one of the weakest monsters in the game could still pose a threat to him if he was ganged up on. In a hurry, he pulled out his dagger from his inventory bag and took a corner of the room opposite from where Max was idling. He took a defensive stance like the time he battled the black wolf. All 4 White Spiders lunged their legs on Axel, which landed on the dagger blade and also some parts of Axel's thighs. There had been too many attacks coming at him, and he could only block about half of the incoming hits. He felt his constitution slowly wearing out, which suggested his health points were slowly on the decline.

Seeing his student struggling in battle, Max stopped leaning on the wall and drew his broadsword and yelled,

"Looks like you're not ready to handle mobbing just yet! Let me give you a hand."

Axel then cursed to himself, "If I was only a bit stronger...."