Black Phoenix Heir

Chapter 116: Chapter 116 — Into The Dark

Chapter 116 — Into The Dark

Victor watched Lyra jump into the hole without even looking down.

His eyes widened.

”Wait—”

She was already gone.

Victor hurried to the edge and looked down.

Nothing.

Just darkness.

She really hadn’t even looked first.

Victor sighed.

He had no choice now.

He jumped.

For roughly fifteen to twenty feet, Victor fell through complete darkness before his feet finally struck solid ground.

Boof.

He landed beside Lyra, bending his knees to absorb the impact.

Lyra didn’t even look at him.

Victor straightened and glanced around.

The passage was enormous.

The cavern was large enough for something the size of an elephant to move through without difficulty. The ceiling rose high above them, disappearing into darkness, while the walls stretched far in both directions.

The entire place felt ancient.

Purple and green spiderwebbing covered almost every surface.

Thick strands stretched from wall to wall, some hanging from the ceiling in massive curtains. Other sections had been pressed against the stone, creating layers of sticky webbing that looked almost like veins spreading across the cavern.

Every now and then, a faint glimmer of Spiritual Energy traveled through the webbing, causing sections of it to pulse softly in the darkness.

Victor took a step forward.

Squish.

He looked down.

His foot had sunk slightly into the webbing covering the floor.

The sticky material stretched before finally releasing his boot.

The webbing clung to their feet, slowing them slightly as they moved.

The deeper they went, the thicker it became.

After roughly fifteen minutes, the narrow passage finally opened.

Victor stopped.

His eyes widened.

The cavern ahead was enormous.

It was massive.

The open chamber stretched so far into the darkness that Victor couldn’t immediately see the opposite wall. Its size reminded him of a football stadium.

The cavern was filled with stone, thick webbing, and bones. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of skeletons littered the floor, some partially buried beneath the webs.

Victor slowly looked around.

At the far end of the cavern was another enormous opening.

A passage leading deeper.

Or perhaps an exit.

Victor wasn’t sure.

He paused.

Something about the bones made his instincts uneasy.

They weren’t simply remains.

They were a warning.

Whatever lives here isn’t friendly.

Victor and Lyra continued forward.

They made it roughly one-third of the way across the cavern.

Then—

ROOOOOOOAR!

The sound exploded through the chamber.

Victor’s entire body tensed.

The roar was so powerful that it seemed to shake the stone itself.

He immediately covered his ears.

Lyra did the same.

The sound continued echoing through the cavern, bouncing from wall to wall until it finally faded.

Victor slowly lowered his hands.

”That was...”

He stopped.

Something moved above them.

Victor looked up.

His expression changed.

Something enormous was descending from the darkness.

A thick mass of purple and green webbing hung from the ceiling, and attached to it was a creature.

It slowly descended toward the ground.

Until its enormous body finally touched the cavern floor.

BOOM.

Dust spread outward.

Victor stared.

For a moment, his mind struggled to process what he was seeing.

It was a spider.

But calling it a spider didn’t feel sufficient.

The creature was enormous.

It stood roughly the size of an elephant, supported by four massive legs.

Its limbs were long and disturbingly thin compared to its body, yet each one was thick enough to crush a person beneath it.

Its chitinous body was covered in layers of dark purple and sickly green plating.

It had four mantis style arms as big as its legs.

The creature’s shell was scarred and stained with old blood.

Its enormous single eye sat in the center of its head.

The eye slowly moved between Victor and Lyra.

Then its mouth opened.

Victor’s stomach tightened.

Hundreds of teeth filled its mouth.

They were enormous.

Some were nearly the length of greatswords.

They overlapped one another in several rows, creating a nightmare of moving blades.

Two enormous pincers slowly emerged from the creature’s mouth.

They clicked together.

Clack.

Clack.

A thick, foul liquid dripped from between its teeth.

The creature lowered its head.

Its massive eye focused directly on Victor and Lyra.

Then it spoke.

”So...”

Its voice was deep and guttural.

”You are the ones that killed my precious little children.”

Victor froze.

The fact that it could speak was almost as disturbing as its appearance.

He stared at the enormous creature.

Lyra’s expression hardened.

Victor could feel the energy radiating from it.

It was overwhelming.

Peak Body Tempering.

No.

Victor narrowed his eyes.

Almost Beast Soldier.

He nearly did a double take.

The creature was standing directly on the boundary.

One step away from becoming a Beast Soldier.

Its strength was vastly greater than that of the Cyclops Spiders they had fought inside the crypt.

The creature’s eye narrowed.

”You will pay...”

Its pincers slowly extended from its mouth.

”...for killing my sweet babies.”

ROOOOOOOAR!

Another roar shook the cavern.

The creature opened its mouth wider.

Purple and green energy began gathering between its pincers.

Victor’s expression changed.

He knew what was coming.

The energy condensed into a massive blob.

The same poisonous substance the smaller Cyclops Spiders had used.

Except this one was several times larger.

Victor didn’t hesitate.

”Flash Step!”

His body vanished.

He reappeared roughly thirty feet away.

Lyra disappeared at nearly the same moment, emerging from his shadow.

The creature fired.

BOOOOOOM!

The enormous blob slammed into the ground behind them.

It spread across the passage they had entered through, completely sealing it.

The stone beneath it began sizzling.

Victor stared at the destroyed passage.

There was nowhere to run.

He slowly looked toward Lyra.

She looked back at him.

Both understood the situation immediately.

The only path forward was through this monster.

Victor took a breath.

Then he smiled.

”You ready for round two?”

Lyra didn’t answer.

She simply drew her blades.

Victor sighed.

”Right.”

He pulled out his new sword and tightened his grip on it.

”Let’s do this.”

The Cyclops Spider Mother lowered its enormous body.

Its single eye locked onto them.

And the battle began.