The Spider Queen was even more horrifying up close. Her spider body was the size of a carriage, covered in chitinous plates that gleamed with unnatural iridescence. Where a spider's head should have been, a human torso rose from the thorax, pale, elongated, with arms that ended in claws like curved swords.
Her face had once been beautiful, but years of transformation had given her features an alien cast. Compound eyes reflected the firelight behind us, and when she spoke, her voice carried the authority of absolute predation.
"You dare burn my children?" she hissed, raising herself on her hind legs to tower above us. "You dare destroy what I have built?"
"We dare a lot more than that," I replied, raising my Kobold Fang Dagger. The weapon looked pitifully small against the Queen's massive form.
"Your ichor can cure us," Kira added, hefting her warhammer. "We'll take it by force if necessary."
The Queen's laughter was like breaking glass mixed with chittering insect sounds. "Take it? Child, you cannot even reach me."
She gestured with one clawed hand, and suddenly the chamber floor around us erupted with smaller spiders, not the ones we'd been fighting, but tiny creatures no larger than coins. They swarmed toward us in a living carpet of legs and fangs.
"The babies!" Morrigan warned, slashing at the approaching wave with her curved blade.
But there were too many. For every spider we killed, ten more took its place. They covered our boots, our legs, seeking any gap in our armor. Each bite was tiny but venomous, designed to weaken prey through accumulated damage.
"I can't fight all of them!" Kira shouted, her hammer crushing dozens with each swing but barely making a dent in their numbers.
"The fire!" I pointed to the burning web debris scattered around us from the collapsed network. "Grab the burning silk!"
Without hesitation, I snatched up a length of burning webbing, using it like an improvised torch to sweep at the swarming spiders. The creatures recoiled from the flames with shrieks of pain and terror, their coordinated assault breaking apart.
Kira caught on immediately, grabbing a larger piece of burning silk and wielding it like a flaming banner. "Much better than trying to crush them one by one!"
Morrigan used her curved blade to lift burning debris, creating a barrier of fire between us and the endless swarm. "They really don't like the flames!"
The Queen watched our improvised defense with those alien compound eyes, her expression shifting from amusement to annoyance. "Clever. But fire will not save you from me."
The Queen reared back, preparing to strike with those massive clawed arms. Behind us, the chamber continued to burn, filling the air with smoke and the screams of dying spiders.
"Spread out!" I shouted. "Don't give her a single target!"
We scattered just as the Queen's first claw came down, gouging deep furrows in the stone where we'd been standing. Kira rolled left, her hammer already swinging toward one of the Queen's legs. The blow connected with a satisfying crunch, dark ichor spurting from the impact point.
The Queen shrieked, a sound like tearing metal mixed with human agony. Her human torso twisted toward Kira, claws slashing downward with inhuman speed.
Kira barely managed to get her hammer up in time, the claws scraping against the weapon's metal head with a shower of sparks. The force of the blow sent her skidding backward across the stone floor.
"Behind you!" Morrigan warned, her curved blade finding the gap between chitinous plates on the Queen's rear leg. The bleeding effect from her blade's enchantment began immediately, more ichor pooling on the chamber floor.
I circled around to the Queen's blind spot, my Kobold Fang Dagger ready. My threat assessment skill was highlighting weak points in her armor: joints where the chitin was thinner, gaps where human flesh met spider carapace.
The Queen's attention was focused on Kira and Morrigan, giving me the opening I needed. I lunged forward, driving my dagger deep into the joint where her human torso connected to her spider body.
The bleeding enchantment activated with devastating effect. Dark ichor poured from the wound, and the Queen's shriek reached a pitch that made my ears ring.
But instead of weakening her, the wound seemed to enrage her further. She spun with impossible speed, her massive bulk moving like liquid death. One of her legs caught me in the chest, sending me flying across the chamber.
I hit the wall hard, my reinforced armor absorbing most of the impact but leaving me gasping for breath. The transformation venom in my blood chose that moment to surge, sending waves of pain through my body as whatever was growing inside me fed on the stress and injury.
From across the chamber, I could hear Kira and Morrigan still fighting. The Queen's attention had returned to them, her claws and legs working in deadly coordination as she pressed her attack.
"Jin!" Kira called out, barely dodging another swipe. "Any time you want to rejoin the fight!"
I fumbled for the health potion in my pack, my hands shaking from the combination of impact trauma and transformation sickness. The small glass vial felt impossibly heavy, but I managed to pull the cork and down the shimmering red liquid in one gulp.
The effect was immediate. The pain in my chest faded, and the burning sensation from the spider venom receded slightly. More importantly, my head cleared enough to think strategically again.
While Kira and Morrigan kept the Queen distracted, I had a moment to consider our options. The Queen was massive, heavily armored, and fighting in her own lair. But she was also bleeding from multiple wounds, and the fire spreading through her web network was clearly affecting her.
I reached into my pocket, feeling for the familiar warmth of the receipt. If there was ever a time to spend points on something that could save our lives, this was it.
"Open Shop," I whispered, keeping my voice low enough that the sounds of battle would mask it.