Amber Sword

The torchlight stretched along the downward passage, and the air quickly lost its moist outside breath, turning dry. Occasionally, the pine resin torch would spit a couple of sparks, landing on Barba’s witch hat, but aside from that, one could hardly hear any other sounds in the silent underground.

Of course, excluding the rustle of footsteps from the group.

Brand felt that Princess Griffine beside him was slightly nervous, understandably so. Although she was born into nobility and received various royal education to maintain calm and composure at all times, she was still a noble girl from the Royal Family, likely never having ventured into the wilderness, let alone explored deep underground in old castles. Anyone’s mind might conjure strange illusions, and the princess was no exception.

"Mr. Brand, for whom were these tunnels built?" Princess Griffine felt curious to see the mysterious underground passage in Ambeser. Almost as if wanting to rid herself of a slight unease, she asked softly.

"They should have been built by dwarves, though I’m not certain which tribe," Brand replied casually.

"They should be Rune Dwarves, my Lord," the Old Witch Barba answered from ahead.

That explains it, Brand hadn’t expected this to be another Rune Dwarf ruin. However, barely mentions this tunnel’s background, seemingly the core key lies in the undiscovered secret passage by players.

After brief conversation, the surroundings quickly returned to silence. The passage began to narrow, allowing only two people to walk side by side. Brand and Princess Griffine had to walk a bit closer. The knights also noticed the underground stairs started seeping water, and from this point forward, the artificial carvings became very vague. The stone walls were washed back to their original state by the underground water seeping from above.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, the artificial passage completely disappeared. Ahead, a cliff appeared, and a diagonal crevice cut off the passage—raising the torch revealed a smooth, mirror-like natural stone wall directly in front.

Brand gestured for Barba to extinguish the torch, then he took out a light-giving crystal. This crystal was basically one of those cheap trinkets available everywhere, emitting a rather dim light.

But it wasn’t as if Brand didn’t have better choices; it was intentional. He hadn’t forgotten that right below the cliff was the lair of the Mother Spider, using a hot light source would be walking right into her trap.

After changing the light source, Brand then cast Wind Wings spells on everyone. His Wind Wings from a level 20-plus Elemental Mage weren’t sufficient for flying, but they were adequate as a slow-fall spell, so the group slowly descended the cliff and took several minutes to reach the bottom.

Below the cliff was entirely another scenery, the knights soon discovered there was an underground river. On the riverbank, the pebble beaches were covered in a white layer of spider webs, with countless spider eggs visible beneath. One could even see fist-sized spiders crawling between the webs.

Instinctively, Brand looked up, seeing the steep cliff covered densely with black, fleshy spider-like balls, stacked layer upon layer, making his scalp tingle immediately. He couldn’t help but call out inwardly, ’Damn,’ it really was like the game scene perfectly.

Back when they ventured here, he had instinctively glanced above, resulting in a scream that directly lured out the Mother Spider, leading to a party wipe. He had once been severely reprimanded by his Senior Sister for it; recalling it still made him blush.

Yet, it was indeed disgusting, with a dense wall of insects above, appearing ready to drop on them anytime. Though he was mentally prepared, he still felt a chill down his spine.

"Everyone, listen, don’t look up," he retracted his gaze and immediately instructed.

The knights indeed followed his advice, but Princess Griffine, with her keen sense, seemed to have guessed there might be something above. Brand sensed her face turned somewhat pale, a few times she touched his hand before quickly withdrawing.

He hadn’t expected the princess to be this afraid of spiders. Had he known, perhaps he would have shown her above, and maybe Princess Griffine would have been so frightened as to cling to him. It crossed Brand’s mind with a mischievous thought, but, of course, it was just a passing thought.

"Mr. Brand, these spiders surely have some origin, don’t they?" Princess Griffine asked, pale-faced. She knew such a number of spiders couldn’t gather here for no reason; the only possibility was that here lay a Monster’s nest.

Brand nodded: "It’s said the resident here is a Mother Spider named ’Anarons.’ That Monster, even a couple of hundred years ago, had Fearsome powers, including Enlightenment Element and even Side of Truth. Legend has it, its element is ’web,’ denoting binding and connection, enabling it to control every thread here—"

"And don’t touch those webs, not a single strand," Brand reminded. He wasn’t here to farm in an instance; best not to provoke the terrifying Mother Spider unnecessarily.

Hearing him, everyone shivered in fright, but just then, Brand heard rustling sounds from one direction.

It didn’t seem like spider sounds.

"Hmm?" He froze slightly, turning to the direction involuntarily.

...

(PS: Still 4000, per usual rule the end of the month will have a burst, seeking tickets~) (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)