Arachnophobia

Arriving in front of the dungeon entrance, it's very anti-climatic. It's on the foot of Mt. Impogrimper and from the outside, it looks like an abandoned mine. But upon closer inspection, nobody could enter as there is an invisible barrier surrounding the entrance and a 100 meter perimeter.

[ahem... Jugemu Jugemu Go-Kō-no-Surikire Kaijari-suigyo no Suigyō-matsu Unrai-matsu Fūrai-matsu Kū-Neru Tokoro ni Sumu Tokoro Yaburakōji no Burakōji Paipo Paipo Paipo no Shūringan Shūringan no Gūrindai Gūrindai no Ponpokopii no Ponpokonā no Chōkyūmei no Chōsuke]

After reciting the special code to enter, we started making our way towards the dungeon in our formation. Strength and defense based builds in the front, damage and power based builds right behind them, and then magic casters in pairs of two. The magic casters are paired with who will benefit each other. For example, wind and fire to reach the enemy quicker, water and lightning to increase coverage of the lightning and so on.

And finally, the healers. Every healer is in charge of a group of 10 so that means we have 5 healers. 1 of which is in charge of 11 instead of 10. Incase of any problems that might arise from accidents, there are 15 royal guards from Destinasia and 15 elite soldiers from Gwanya.

Going into the dungeon, nothing seems to suggest that it's not a normal cave. Some dripping water, some puddles and everything a cave should have. Going deeper however, we discover a trail of tiny footprints.

With only 3 toes, little dots where the nails should be and some dabs of drool and spit near the ground, it isn't hard to guess what was just here.

Goblins.

Being 70 cm tall, they are hard to deal with since they aim for the tendons and the ligaments that keep you standing. Usually aiming for the men and then the females, they drag the females with cut ligaments back to their camp and... 'multiply'.

Goblin Slayer style.

"Shhhhh... I think I hear one nearby... swordsmen, ready yourselves, defense, armor up and mages, ready any spells for something unexpected" (Peer Training Master Jeffrey Sall)

Seeing one of the little buggers jump out of the darkness and tackle a defender really surprised me and scared the others. Take note, I'm surprised, not scared. There's a difference on how long it takes you to react.

"GWAAHHHH!! Fuck fuck fuck! Get it off!!"

"Get away!"

Yelling 'get away' to the rest of the defenders snapped them out of the shock. They all hurried to the side while watching their friends get mauled by the goblin. Thinking of which spell would work best, I decided on fyrball, the most simple spell but when practiced, can be like sniper rifle's bullet.

"Fyrball!"

Hitting the goblin head on, it shrieked and started slapping the spot where it got hit. A few seconds later, it dropped dead. While the healers were rushing to fix the ugly mug that the mauled defender had, Jeffrey Sall, our peer coach, angrily yelled at all of us.

[WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!? You see the first line of defense get tackled, mauled and you do what?!? Stand there!? Watch your friend die?! What if that goblin was a tarantula! Huh?! That boy would have been dead before you could say the word "dead"!!!]

Snapping people out of their dreamy stay in this world, they saw what they were in for. It wasn't honorable fights, duels with high-ranked demon generals, singing songs along the way or getting a harem big enough to fill a mansion. The way we are treading is a trail filled with ambushes, blood, viscera, deception, sweltering heat and freezing colds. Nothing here is teddybears and rainbows.

People might...no, will die in this journey. And to that I say... weaklings die, big deal. It's only natural. We as a race didn't make toilets and lightbulbs sitting around and twiddling our thumbs. We got here using our strength and cunningness and if you can't use your strengths, might as well hang yourself to die with your limbs intact.

This is what that goblin taught the rest of the heroes. Jeffrey just ingrained into us, to tell us what will happen if we become thumb-twiddling, lazy dawdlers. That you and your friends, will die. No harems, no saving the princess, no Easter bunny, no tooth fairy, no queen of England, nothing. Just you, yourself, maybe one or two allies that you need to watch out for when you sleep. That's it, end of story.

Unfortunately, that came at the cost of the defender's vision. Even though he was healed, one of his eyes looked dull and he claimed that when covering his regular eye, he can only see blurs. Sall then sighed with sadness and made that hero a second line of defense.

Seeing his ruined eye, everyone was more on guard. They saw what would happen if you walk through this dungeon with your swords sheathed and shields down. As they say 'first is the worst, second is the best'.

After that, every single goblin, tarantula, kobold and rabid rat was stabbed, fried, killed and stomped out to avoid any further injuries, pleasing Sall greatly. In what seems to be barely 3 hours, we already made it into the mid-section of the dungeon, as stated by some of the signs that were put up.

Comparing this to our training and practice, this is insanely more profitable. Just in the first hour of entering the dungeon, my mana capacity increased by 50, my affinity with fyr getting better and INT increasing by 1. Not bad considering how difficult it is to upgrade my INT and mana capacity.

After traveling through the dungeon that gradually widened to around 10 meters tall and 15 meters wide, we set up a little camp to take a small break and to assess the situation. 2 injured beyond healing, 1 with permanent scars on her face and 4 more with injuries that were healed. All in all, not a bad first run but, for those injured, you can see their eyes are without light.

They are now recovering from the adrenaline rush of fighting and just now realized how screwed they are. 'How will write properly without the tip of my thumb?' 'Won't it be hard living with only one eye?' All of these thoughts rushed around their heads that have calmed from the battle rush. They are now defective.

Disabled, crippled, not a full human. Whatever you want to call it. Whatever you say to them, they understand life will be 10x more difficult than regular people.

"KSSSSHHHHH!!! KEHHHH TKTKTKTKTK!!!"

"Shit! Everyone, into formation! That's a mother tarantula! The most dangerous monster we will fight yet! We shouldn't even see one at this dungeon! Go go go!" (Sall)

Hearing Sall's urgency, we all rushed to prepare our shields, swords and staffs. Seeing the tarantula, it was about 5 meters tall and 7~9 meters long. 8 hairy legs, 8 beady eyes, a sharp pincer in front of its mouth and... little babies.

Babies on the floor, babies on ceiling we just now noticed, babies on its back. Hell, there are babies on babies. An utter nightmare. One girl with arachnophobia collapsed on the ground and fainted before being rushed by the babies and carried off to the mother's web. 1 dead, 50 to go.

"GAHHHH! Run run run! Fuck!!!"

"AHHHH! Get it off get it off GET IT OFF!!!"

"Fuck fuck fuck, DRIP BUCKSHOT!"

After seeing one of our peers get killed, it became utter chaos. Yelling, screaming, cursing, some mages chanting spells to repel the babies and so on.

A Fyr Mage from Gwanya fired a powerful fyrball at the babies which destroyed a part of the cave wall. Seeing the human sized hole that appeared and what seemed to be a hidden part of the cave, people took notice. Looking back, I noticed that the babies were already covering the way we went in so people started yelling to go to the secret compartment.

"GUYS!! Follow me! I found a way out!! Follow me!"

Following the small Fyr mage, we all ran into the compartment that looked like a hallway. It could fit 2 people side-by-side and easily fit all of us. Well, what's left of us. From what I can see, from our original 51 minus that girl who fainted, we were 50 when we were fighting.

Now, I see around about 20 or so people. Luckily, all of my friend group is here. Chung-cha, Hana, Anna, and so on. Kai Aya, the gyaru with an interest in me is also here as well as Gabriela Rodriguez. Sall and 4 out of the 5 healers have died along with my other peers.

"Ughhhh... uhhhh... fuck! What are we going to do now!?!"

"Shhhhh! Shut up, you idiot! The spiders might hear!"

"Hurry, we need to go deeper into this compartment in case the spiders start crawling in here"

Going deeper into the tunnel that seems like it's descending, it starts to gradually increase in size again until it's about 5 meter tall and 6 meters wide. After walking for what seemed like hours, we reach a massive door.

Big iron knockers, old and rotted wood and some rusty iron plates. Seeing this, the group splits into two factions. One that wants to turn back and another that wants to go through the door.

"NO! What if another tarantula is there? Or worse!?"

"But, where else can we go?!? We can't wait here until the mother tarantula leaves!"

"But what if the tarantulas escape since they can't find any food?"

"The reason the tarantulas are here in the first place is because they sensed us. That means they probably sense us right now and are gradually coming here. It's either we take a risk and survive or die by spider"

After hearing the sound argument of the leader of the entering the door faction, most of the people abandoned the idea of turning back. But to be safe, we sent one of the speed types to check on the status of the entrance. Sure enough, after walking for only around 1 hour, he saw some signs of spiders.

Telling the group, the leader of the go back faction finally conceded and we decided to enter. Using Kai Aya, the plant-based mage to enter, we braced ourselves for what may lie on the other side of this door.

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(A.N) Yayyyyy, finally! We are sooo close to the betrayal scene!!! It gives me goosebumps thinking about writing the next chapter. See ya!