The ground directly in the path of the giant spider charging toward them from out of the trees suddenly became a rge patch of twitching vines. Ophelia’s [poisonous entangling vines] a spell that she relied on to control the battlefield for them. The spider charged through the vines and immediately became ensnared. The thorns with paralyzing toxins in them probably wouldn’t penetrate the spider’s exoskeleton, but the vines themselves would stop the spider short.

  Several of its hairy legs were wrapped up in vines as Elodie leapt forward. It spit a glob of acid that passed directly in front of her before nding near the backline where Ophelia and Victoria stood with a hissing sizzle. She didn’t have time to check on them to make sure they were ok, she had to trust that they’d managed to dodge in time.

  And she did trust that. This team was extremely competent, and it had been simple for Elodie to slide her way into their tank role. She was aware that she was more offensively focused than their usual tank, but it seemed to work out really well regardless.

  Her shield crashed into the spider’s face, knocking it back and causing another leg to become entangled. While it was reeling from the blow, Devlyn slipped forward on swift feet and directed a surgical ssh between ptes of chitin on the spider with her curved dao sword. Her parrying dagger held behind her for now. On the other side of Elodie, Farrah waded in with much heavier steps as she delivered punishing blows with her metal gauntlets that left long cracks running through the spider’s exoskeleton. Greenish blood wept from both sets of attacks.

  Both women were very powerful in their own ways and it was a true pleasure to work with them. Elodie had really enjoyed working with all four of them if she was honest. Something about working with skilled people that knew what they were doing just made her job easier and honestly more fun. Their skill made her seem more competent than she might otherwise be. And if she wasn’t mistaken, all four of them had been slyly flirting with her all day. Which was an ego boost all of its own.

  Elodie kept the spider’s attention on her by delivering heavy blows to its leg joints, leaving twitching stumps behind and greenish ichor dripping onto the ground. She made sure to target legs that weren’t already trapped first. No need to accidentally free the monster.

  The spider twitched and tried to turn to follow her, which allowed Devlyn and Farrah to deliver more precise and directed attacks that quickly finished the spider. It colpsed on the ground with a thud at the same time a small distinct bell chiming sounded behind them.

  That was the sound that Ophelia’s barrier spell made when it was struck. Sure enough, turning around there were two more spiders that were still attached to the trees they’d descended from by thick pieces of webbing. They were positioned on opposite sides of the party, necessitating a split in the frontline.

  Thankfully, Elodie had a skill for that. She cast her [arms of Kanaloa] skill on the spider furthest from her. A small tear in reality occurred beneath the spider and a long, bright red tentacle reached out from it. Its underside was covered in pale pink, cupped suckers that helped grip the spider and hold it in pce while squeezing and cracking its chitin armor.

  Elodie had been slightly distracted the first time she’d called forth that skill. She couldn’t help but be a little turned on by the sight of the slippery tentacles sliding and probing across its victim. The idea of them sliding along her skin and probing some of her depths, some of those suckers attaching themselves to her sensitive areas, left her face heated and her core clenching.

  Lex had been right. Elodie really was a bit of a pervert. Not that she’d ever try the tentacles out on herself of course. She didn’t have anywhere private enough right now. There were probably other reasons she shouldn’t let her tentacled friend plunder her depths, but she was too busy to think of them right now. There were giant, hairy spiders to kill after all.

  While her skill held that spider in pce for someone to take care of, Elodie sped off in the other direction. The second spider was reorienting itself from having stumbled when it hit the barrier spell and bounced off. Elodie didn’t give it a chance. She rushed forward and sshed through several of its eyes before her shield smmed into its face and sent the spider reeling backward again.

  Over her shoulder Elodie saw a fsh of blue light. It looked like Ophelia had cast her [slow] spell on the spider already grappled by Elodie’s tentacles. That meant that Farrah had headed in that direction, so Devlyn should be somewhere behind Elodie right now. It hadn’t taken long to figure out that if the frontline got split like this that Farrah tended to leave the protection offered by Elodie’s tanking. With her reach only as long as her arms and legs, she wasn’t as easily able to dance out of danger, so Ophelia helped level the pying field.

  To make up for having fewer allies herself, Elodie decided to buff Devlyn. This was only her second time activating the skill. A warm pink glow surrounded Devlyn as Elodie activated her [empower] skill. Devlyn sped up a little and her swinging sword moved with more power than before. If Devlyn had moved with the fluid grace of a dancer before, now she moved with the explosive speed and grace of a panther pouncing.

  Elodie needed to be careful though. She was already running low on lustful energy. Maybe during her shift on watch tonight she could create some more with herself. She’d gained small amounts from some of the flirting she’d done. Not all of her flirting earned her any though, and she hadn’t yet figured out what the difference was. Thankfully, the need to use [empower] hadn’t been that great so far. That could change though, and she didn’t look forward to expining why she suddenly couldn’t perform one of her skills.

  The spider shed out with a long front leg and Elodie wasn’t able to get out of the way fast enough. It struck her in the side, and she could almost hear her ribs cracking from the blow as she stumbled out of reach. The spider rushed at her while she was off bance. Elodie pulled her shield up in front of her and took the weight of the spider as it collided with her. The short leg-like appendages around its mouth reached over the top of the shield trying to rip it from her arm.

  Right as she was beginning to worry, a warm green glow surrounded her. Victoria had cast one of her healing spells on Elodie. Strength flowed back through her limbs as she felt some of her stamina return. She thrust her sword under her shield into the spider’s unprotected belly. It reared back with a high pitched shriek and backed away from her in time to take a serious ssh between its head and abdomen ptes of chitin from Devlyn. It was seriously leaking fluids all over the ground now.

  Elodie stayed in front of the spider, sshing at its face in an attempt to keep the spider’s attention. Devlyn leapt and flew through the fight, striking from the sides and behind. It wasn’t long before there was nothing but a heaving body slumped on the ground, bleeding green ichor all over the forest floor.

  Elodie stepped forward and delivered the killing blow with a decisive strike of her own broadsword. The corpse at her feet twitched for a moment then went still. Elodie took a look around the area to find Devlyn off to her side. Both of them were breathing heavily from the exertion. Across the clearing Farrah was bent over at the waist as she tried to slow her own breathing. The spider she had faced off against barely more than a bloody smear on the ground.

  Elodie walked back to the center to check on Ophelia and Victoria. Both seemed to be in good shape. When she looked over Farrah was bouncing on her toes, boasting about her part in the fight to Devlyn who was busy rolling her eyes. Everything seemed to be in order.

  A few minutes ter Devlyn, Farrah, and Elodie had pulled out long, thin knives in order to butcher the monsters in front of them. Devlyn focused on cutting through the center of each spider. She shoved her hand inside the incision she made in the first spider. After a few moments of fishing around she pulled out a small cracked orb that fit comfortably in her hand. That had never even stood a chance of developing into a core.

  They’d been in the dungeon for the better part of the day at this point. It had taken several hours to fight their way to the third level. Fortunately the lower level cores and ingredients they harvested from monster bodies could all be sold to various vendors for extra money on top of the reward for completing their mission. During one of their first encounters on the third level they’d managed to harvest a third level monster core. They wouldn’t even consider looking for a spot to camp and rest for the day before they found a second.

  While Devlyn looked for cores, Farrah showed Elodie how to harvest the acid and venom gnds from the spiders. It was grisly work. She was soon covered in sticky green blood to her elbows. The money they’d earn from these would more than make up for it though.

  Fortunately Victoria had managed to learn a mass cleaning spell. It took the worst of the grit and grime from their bodies and clothes. Anything that was left over would have to wait until they exited the dungeon tomorrow unless they found a water source close to wherever they bedded down tonight.

  “Ha ha! Got it!” Devlyn cried out holding a glowing monster core up in her hand. There were several loud whoops from the rest of the party.

  “Damn. Kid must be a good luck charm. Figured we’d need to spend a few more hours before we came across number two,” Farrah said.

  Devlyn gave Elodie a wink, “Maybe she should get a reward for being so helpful.” Elodie swallowed nervously. Wonder what they would consider a proper reward? She imagined the four women and herself entwined together on a rge bed, and her face heated.

  “But, we’re already paying her,” Victoria argued.

  The other three looked at Victoria and broke into giggling ughter. They obviously knew something that she didn’t. Victoria looked around at the others like they’d all suddenly gone crazy.

  Elodie did her best to ignore the teasing. She figured that was all it was. No one had been serious in their flirting, and no one was serious about “rewarding” her for bringing the party good luck. She sighed before turning back to the task at hand. There were two more spiders and plenty of parts for them to harvest before they left the area.

  It didn’t take long for all five of them to completely harvest the monster corpses. From there they set out to find a decent camping spot. The dungeon tended to duplicate the time from outside the dungeon, so nightfall would be in a few hours, which gave them plenty of time to find and set up camp.

  They walked through the forest for a little while. The dungeon was quiet around them. She guessed that the spiders had kept many of the other monsters at bay in the area. Before they got too far the sound of rushing water could be heard in the distance.

  The party quickly changed course and headed toward it. Finding a water source to camp near was another lucky break for the group. They’d maybe be able to bathe in it, but at the very least they could refill canteens and she could soak her tired feet.

  They found a rge creek and followed it upriver looking for a good spot to settle down for the night. Eventually they came to a clearing not too far away from their water source, but not so close they’d need to worry.

  Ophelia and Victoria began measuring off the outside of a rge circle that would encompass the entire camp. There was a pretty standard ward that could be created by most any mage that warded the area against monsters. The group would still set a watch though, because it did not ward against other delvers. And there were plenty of stories of parties being found robbed with their throats all slit in their sleep. People were dangerous.

  Once the perimeter of the circle had been established and cleared, five rods were brought out. Everyone in the party took one and stood equally distant around the circle. Ophelia would cast the ward, and each person would wet their rod with a drop of blood before driving it into the ground. The blood acted as a binding agent to tie each person to the ward and its protections.

  When it came time, Elodie pricked her thumb with a small knife and smeared it across the top of the rod. Then she crouched down and began hammering it into the ground with a small mallet Farrah had handed her with the rod.

  Everyone rexed when that was done. They’d be safe inside the wards for the next ten hours, or until someone removed a rod.

  Elodie peeled off her armor and followed Victoria down to the stream. She pulled her boots off before dangling her tired feet into the water. It was too cold and fast moving for anyone to take a bath in unfortunately. Victoria filled everyone’s canteens and then joined her on the bank.

  Victoria took off her own boots and slipped her feet into the water with a content sigh. “This is nice.”

  “Mmmm,” Elodie agreed.

  “We don’t get to camp in such nice spots very often. So don’t go thinking this is the norm. We’ve had an abundance of good fortune today.”

  “I know. I figured this wasn’t normally how things went based on how excited everyone was when we found it.”

  “Ok,” they both drifted into silence.

  Elodie knew this was a temporary thing they were doing, but she still felt compelled to say something. “I’ve really enjoyed delving with all of you. It felt so easy to slip into my role and we all seem to mesh really well.”

  Victoria turned to look at her, a shy smile on her face. “You’ve done a really amazing job and we appreciate it. It’s a shame you can’t delve with us all the time, you fit in really well. But you won’t mind if we check up on you now and then would you? All of us really like you,” she brushed her hand down Elodie’s arm. A slow blush colored her face before she looked away.

  Elodie bumped shoulders with the diminutive vulpyn woman beside her. “I’d like that. I really like all of you too.”

  “Come on. We better head back before they think we’re…” Victoria trailed off and her blush deepened. She let out a quiet squeak before she scrambled up and shoved her feet in her boots. “Hurry up,” she called over her shoulder as she hopped around with one boot on her foot.

  Elodie couldn’t help but ugh, which just seemed to fluster the poor woman even more. She helped Victoria grab up all the canteens and carry them back to camp.

  When they got back to camp, Victoria hurried to the others who seemed to tease her quietly while Elodie walked up more slowly. They were all huddled around a small campfire. Over the fire was a small pot they were tossing in chunks of dried and salted meats to soften up along with a few root vegetables. Elodie had offered to share some of her meals from the market with the group, but they’d politely declined.

  “You’ll be on watch with me tonight. We have second shift,” Devlyn leaned over and told Elodie. She gave her a saucy wink and the entire group aside from Victoria chuckled. Victoria just looked around at the others confused.

  Elodie couldn’t help but be a little excited by the prospect. Several hours alone with the beautiful drow woman teasing her and flirting with her. She couldn’t wait.