Tunnel Rat Chapter 162 (Patreon)

As the spiders surged over the improvised barricades walls of earth and rock erupted from the floor, and the magical stone grew until it touched the ceiling. Not all mages spent their time in the Tower of Spite, studying advanced dueling and battle magics. Several of the miners were Earth Mages and had been moving rock around all of their lives.

Two narrow areas were left for spiders to move through, each of them just big enough for one eight-legger. The ratkin on either side of the openings turned to attack the flanks of the arachnid next to them, surrounding their foe. The dwarves referred to this tactic as a 'murder hole', while the elves called their version 'a bouquet of spears'. The ratkin called them 'Spider Traps'. Eight ratkin could attack one monster as they came through the opening.

The brave miners in front blocked mandibles and leg spikes as best they could. The six on the sides swung their heavy mining picks at the spiders. The heavily muscled miners could send their picks deep into a rock wall, and spiders were made of much squishier stuff. Carapaces were shattered and organs pulped. Twice the picks rose and fell before both spiders were dead. The ratkin hadn't gotten off unscathed. One defender had a broken arm, and another took three steps before dying of poison. Two more spiders crawled over the dead bodies while the rest attacked the earthen wall to destroy the spell.

Clawhammer moved up to one of the next attackers and brought down his heavy forging hammer on its head. The stunned spider could only hiss as it was attacked from the sides and repeatedly smacked in the head by an angry crafter. Clawhammer caught a breath and looked to the other opening. Two more spiders were inside, and two ratkin were down on the ground, bleeding. His concern for his miners almost cost him his life. A spider had climbed the wall and come through the gap up high. Now it dropped from fifty feet up on the unsuspecting Master Crafter.

Or rather, it tried. It was like a giant, invisible hand smacked the spider back against the wall and pinned it there. Clawhammer could see the huge wound in its thorax and from the other side, green ichor was pouring. Something had punched all the way through his ambusher. With a hiss of pain, the wounded spider fell to the ground and wobbly gained its feet only to be slain by several enraged ratkin.

Clawhammer saw Tallsqueak racing across the room, fully clad in the strange bone armor that he conjured. He took a skull from his belt and tossed the glowing object through the hole in the wall. A loud explosion and the hissing of injured spiders told the rest of the story. Five of the huge spiders were dead, Tallsqueak leaped in the air as a sixth came through the hole and surprised it by putting a spikey-stick into its skull. The spider fell and Tallsqueak rode it to the ground, twisting the weapon in the wound, splattering brains, and ichor on himself. Clawhammer almost yelled at him a warning that the ichor was a minor poison, but then chuckled, remembering that Tallsqueak dueled with Cremona each night. Only Professor Arlothe might have a higher poison resistance than Tallsqueak.

It was suddenly quiet, the spiders pulling back. Then a thunderous roar began as the Iron Spider entered the fray. The heavy balls of metal fired by the Dwarven Chain Gun were rapidly destroying the earthen walls. It was only a matter of seconds before they shattered. Clawhammer didn't want to move the fight further into the cathedral cavern, but they were about to be crushed. "Back off another hundred feet. Get me some ten-foot high, triple thick walls to give us cover from that gun." The two miners with Earth Magic cast their spells, then collapsed to the ground, their mana exhausted.

The miners fell back, taking their wounded, and took cover behind the thick wall. The earth and stone walls crumbled and the remaining spiders advanced in a line, their images outlined in the remains of the smokey fire that was still burning some of the spiderlings that were pouring into the cavern. The crispy bodies of the fallen had choked off most of the fire. The huge bulk of the Iron Spider followed her brave champions forward.

Justin was on guard at the back gate. It was always a good day when he got guard duty. Justin liked his job, and liked being a guard. Nothing could be better. And he got extra cheese! The cheese had been very good lately. Master Rifkin was doing a good job. Rifkin had told him so and Justin believed him. He was staring out over the gathering fields with glassy eyes as he heard the first screams. They bothered him for some reason, but he was guarding the back gate, so he stayed at it.

Gatherers and their children were running toward him, yelling loudly. Behind them came spiders. Some of the spiders made bounding leaps, or scuttled quickly across the walls, cutting off groups of ratkin and trapping them in thick webs. Slower spiders came behind, binding the fallen into small cocoons. Justin wanted to go help, but he was guarding the back gate!

He saw Mistress Brownfur run at a spider and crush its skull with a flying kick before engaging a second. He remembered that she had been a champion claw fighter in her youth. It was fun that he got to see her fight before she...before...
Justin's head ached. He had to guard the back gate! And then something snapped in his mind and he was racing at the spiders.

"Fight me!!"

The taunt caused every spider in fifty feet to focus on Justin and attack the large guard. He looked at Brownfur and yelled. "Save who you can, but get to the Tower, we need to hold the passage and not let them into the hollow." Mistress Brownfur limped as fast as she could away from the fight, gathering children and urging them to speed.

Justin spun in a circle, burning stamin as his long halberd glowed and sliced through the advancing spiders. Three more times he yelled for them to attack him until the entirety of the army was engaged with him. As Brownfur ran through the tunnel, she looked back once, not able to see Justin as he collapsed, poisoned from many wounds. Only a huge pile of spiders could be seen.

H'Spat considered. Things were going so much better since the idiot had decided to take the scenic route through the mines. Resistance was slight and they had already captured many of the small mammals for eating. She had planned to leave as the abomination lead her forces against the ratkin and race to join the main army, but victory here was tasting sweet. She would get no acclaim if she left, but if she quickly took control of the hollow, she could claim a great victory. Wouldn't the rest of the army be jealous? And wouldn't that taste sweet? "Onward, my victorious host. Tonight, we will have a feast to celebrate our victory over the ancient enemy!"

"Inform the princess that all troops are now in position according to her plans." The small scout barely came up to the brute's knees, and the larger spider didn't like the tone she used. The annoyance made her vent some of their anger at how long this march had been. "Finally! This has taken far too long. A rush with two dozen royals would have brought the hollow to its knees, and yet we have to wait on you to scout for a full day!"

The small scout seemed unworried in the face of General T'nigit's anger. That might be because scouts were often yelled at for doing their jobs by impatient commanders. Or it might have been her high perception that let her know they weren't alone. The shadows parted as the Princess appeared beside T'nigit, her black carapace gleaming in soft light. "And you would have died and embarrassed me. Did you hear nothing I said in the war councils? Did you listen to the scouting reports at all?"

The general bent knees, but argued. "They are weak and we have created distractions, drawn off parts of their forces. A hammer blow..."

"Would have failed. Do you not remember the damage that a fully grown Cheese Fiend can do? And they have an unknown number of mages, along with reports of many warriors. Not taking the time to scout and understand these things is the mark of a fool. But don't worry, I will reward you anyway. Take the Wolfen Dragoon Company and any royal that will follow you and attack immediately. Our forces are in a position to support you, thanks to the hard work of our scouts."

T'nigit saluted and left, glad of the honor. The head scout watched her go. "It's never a bad think to clear out some of the royals now and then, that was nicely done." The princess accepted the praise of her old tutor. "Yes, I thought so. Any royal dumb enough to follow her at the head of the army is one that we don't need breeding the next generation. But either way, the hollow will be ours today."