Artificial Gate Massacre III

Guilt.

"I passed them and I knew they would be killed. I should have warned them."

Fear. 

"The smell of blood. This is completely different from killing the minotaur."

Panic.

"What should I do? What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?"

I silenced my emotions.

I'm the author. I already knew this was going to happen.

Why should I feel anything about some words on the page?

My racing heart slowed down.

Bringing the group's attention back to me, I calmly spoke. "I suspect sabotage."

"Sabotage?" Saffron shakily asked.

"See the cut on the guard's neck? That's too clean for any monster that could be found in an F rank Gate," I explained while pointing at the corpse's bleeding throat.

"That looks like he was killed with a dagger," Lucas morbidly examined, both disgusted and afraid. "There aren't any signs that the guard fought back-- he was taken by surprise."

"The killer must be nearby," whispered Saffron. She gripped her axe so tightly that the handle creaked.

"Possibly," I replied. "When we're moving around, I'll take the vanguard and you'll cover Lucas and Perseus' backs to make sure we don't get ambushed."

The others quickly agreed, naturally deferring under my concise and calm orders.

"That s-still d-doesn't e-explain what th-the shaking was," whispered Perseus. His stuttering had gotten worse after seeing the dead body. Although I felt bad, there wasn't much that I could do to comfort him.

Nobody could respond.

We began moving back towards the entrance that we had originally entered.

I already knew what was going to happen.

That was why I was able to deflect the drider's sharp leg that stabbed out of the darkness.

An incredibly sharp and sturdy spider leg passed only millimeters from my face. The force from the stab caused me to stumble backwards, but my efforts gave Perseus enough time to use the basic [Light] spell.

My mana-enhanced eyes quickly adjusted to the change in brightness.

The drider was an incredibly vicious monster that could wield weapons with their upper human torso and had incredible speed due to their lower spider body. They had venomous bites that were almost guaranteed to be lethal unless someone received medical care immediately.

The drider hissed at the light, revealing sharp teeth that did not fit inside a normal human's skull.

With skittering footsteps, the monster quickly approached.

"Saffron! Protect Perseus!"

The orange-haired girl positioned herself in front of the mage. Meanwhile, Perseus' low chanting filled the cave corridor-- we had already done this several times throughout the Gate and the purple-haired boy had become more comfortable with enhancement magic.

[Strength: F++ → D]

[Endurance: F++ → D]

[Dexterity: G+ → F++]

[Agility: F+ → D-]

[Mana: E- → E+]

Blue lines criss-crossed over my body and glowed softly.

My eyes could suddenly track the drider's attacks with much more ease.

The sharp point at the end of the drider's leg pierced through the air, but my blade swung upwards and parried the deadly stab. The half-arachnid, half-human hissed in surprise when it realized that its opponent had suddenly grown much stronger.

"Saffron! Lucas!"

The twang of Lucas' bowstring echoed. An arrow flew over my shoulder and straight into the drider's eye, causing the monster to screech horribly in pain.

Saffron stepped around me and swung her heavy axe, which crashed into the monster's lower body. 

I could hear the natural armor that covered the spider legs crunch under the momentum of her strike.

Green blood began trickling from the monster's wounds.

Thankfully, I blocked the first attack, I thought to myself.

The fight would've been completely different without my blocking the first strike.

The pierce would've instantly incapacitated even someone with plated armor. After killing the first person, the drider would've bitten the next fighter and they would instantly collapse from the poison.

Typically, each team only had two frontliners. The other two team members would be ranged supporters who would quickly perish without strong defense.

Things could have gone much worse.

My blade parried another attack, the leg stab only scraping against my side. The sharp point easily tore through my synthetic light armor. Blood trickled onto the stone floor.

The drider screeched as another arrow pierced its shoulder. Saffron cleaved one of the spider legs off.

Then, everything went wrong.

The eight eyes on the drider's human face suddenly glowed red. Bloody symbols appeared across the monster's chest that glowed with eerie light.

I had expected this. The drider would become much stronger.

Then the drider's leg slammed me into the wall.

"Ack--"

I had barely been able to get my longsword between the blow and my body, but the impact still threw me.

The wall cracked under the force from my collision. Blood flew out from my mouth as I felt my ribs break.

Soon, the other three were quickly defeated. Dust rained from the ceiling as the drider threw them against walls and the floor with violent force that easily cracked stone.

Mustering my energy, I managed to pull myself onto my feet.

The reinforcement from Perseus' enhancement magic had saved me. Other than broken ribs, my arms and legs only stung from the shock. None were broken.

My eyes shook as I saw Lucas, Saffron, and Perseus sprawled on the ground.

The drider snapped around to look at me, realizing that I was still alive.

I had already slid between the legs by the time it had started moving, dashing away as fast as I could.

The drider, overwhelmed by bloodlust rather than hunger, chased after me.

Thankfully the drider didn't keep attacking the others but…

Why do monsters find me so attractive?!

Although the drider was much faster than me, especially since I wasn't being enhanced by Perseus, common sense dictated that the drider would easily catch and kill me.

However, the tunnels twisted and turned. They weren't one straight line.

Behind me, I heard the drider slam into the stone walls and slow down. 

Demonic screeching chased my heels as I dashed for my life and my companions' lives.

My destination?

The spider nest.