A dismal tension hung in the air.
From the most fearful and weakest slaves to the bravest and strongest guards, everyone remained silent in front of the scene that must be unfolding behind that door.
Their eyes were fixed, unconsciously unblinking from sheer dread, and their paralyzed bodies felt light shivers as they heard the insane laughter of the supervisor before his inevitable death.
The one responsible for previously closing the door, a mere slave like any other, was practically out of his mind, lost within a world of his own creation.
In a fear-driven impulse caused by the spiders and rage from seeing his companion being killed in vain, within a few seconds, an ironic situation unfolded where, for the first time in those mines, a slave held control over the life of a supervisor.
Huff... Huff... Did I... Did I kill him? Did I kill... a supervisor? He questioned himself, still in disbelief, breathing heavily, his back still against the steel door.
Hearing the laughter from outside, which grew louder and louder before slowly fading, a mix of fear and horror filled most people's minds, heightening their fear of going mad in the same way.
A few, however, managed to remain composed even in that situation. These were people who cared little about what had just happened, focusing solely on their own survival and what to do next.
As expected, one of these people was Velka, who, of course, had his attention drawn to the bizarre situation but had his mind elsewhere.
Thus, while most remained frozen, staring at the door, he calmly walked over and sat on the floor against one of the walls, tossing his long purple hair back, since he had lost his hair tie during the escape, and sighing in relief for having avoided the same fate as those two men.
Sigh... In the end, I survived, but... Where are we now? I don't remember seeing this room before. He thought, looking around with his usual emotionless gaze.
After the initial shock finally passed and tense silence filled the large room, suddenly, drawing everyone's attention, one of the supervisors walked through the crowd with fervor, heading toward the slave who had closed the door.
"You!!" With a genuinely angry expression, a vein visibly throbbing on his forehead, he grabbed the still-dazed slave by the collar of his shirt. "Who the fuck do you think you are to kill a supervisor like that?! Do you think that just because we're all trapped here together, you filthy, inferior slaves can treat us however you want?!"
Those words snapped the slave out of his daze, and unexpectedly, he retorted, slightly intimidating the supervisor.
"Hm? Shut the fuck up!!" He forcefully grabbed the supervisor's hand and removed it from his shirt, staring directly into his eyes with ferocity.
"Are you blind or something?! Didn't you see what your buddy just did?! He killed a slave for absolutely no reason because, in the end, both of them died the same way!! Do you seriously think you should be acting like this in this situation?! Fuck, who cares about ranks right now?!"
"How dare you..." The supervisor, his eyes hidden in shadow, whispered with great anger in his heart before releasing all his rage at once. "...You miserable worm!!"
Catching the slave off guard, the supervisor landed a punch with all his strength on the slave's face, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground.
"You son of a bitch..."
Still on the ground, the slave retaliated by pulling the supervisor's leg, making him fall as well, and thus a fight broke out between the two.
"Hmph, that miserable slave..." One of the supervisors commented with disgust.
"Huh? Miserable? He's right! You're the real monsters here, not the spiders!!" Retorted a nearby slave.
At that moment, while the two fought on the ground, a wave of arguments erupted between the two groups. Then, when the guards finally decided to act, preparing to draw their swords against the slaves, Galen, the leader of the mercenaries, with a simple nod of his head, stopped his subordinates.
"What the fuck are you doing, Galen?!"
"For heaven's sake... Everyone, silence!!!"
Immediately, a mysterious and invisible aura was released from Galen, causing everyone to fall silent and freeze before the unknown pressure emanating from him.
Hm... So, that's the presence of a bronze-ranked spiritualist... This gives me some ideas. Maybe if I take advantage of this danger, this crisis could become an opportunity...
A subtle smile appeared on Velka's face as he, almost invisible, remained a mere observer, watching the scene unfold before him.
"Who here is the most experienced supervisor?"
Among the crowd, a hand was raised, and then, walking slowly to stand before Galen, an old, hunched man dressed in a long, dark robe, weathered and bluish with age, introduced himself.
"I was one of the first supervisors sent here. What would you like to know, Galen?"
"Do you have any information about where we are, old man?"
The old supervisor slowly looked around the area under his long, white eyebrows, as did most of the people, who had been so absorbed in the earlier events that they hadn't stopped to notice where exactly they were.
Hmmm... Really... What the fuck is this place? That thought echoed in most people's minds.
A vast room, both in width and height, cubic in shape, and unlike the exterior, its surfaces were smooth and perfectly flat, the only dirt present being a few large spider webs in the corners.
However, what truly caught everyone's attention in that room wasn't its enormous size, which differed greatly from other areas within the Black Spiders Cave dungeon, no! It was something even stranger: the mysterious and peculiar statues within, five enormous statues standing side by side.
Apart from the central statue, the others easily reached about four meters in height, perhaps more, depicting a blend of female guards and spiders, holding long spears and wearing helmets and armor.
The central statue, however, which was more than twice the height of the others, also had a part-female, part-spider appearance but was even more monstrous, with a face terrifying to most due to its eyes and expression. She wore queenly attire and a crown upon her head.
That central spider drew much attention, especially from Velka, who not only felt a strange energy emanating from it but also a peculiar connection that was hard to describe in mere words.
What the hell is this spider queen... His curiosity and interest were piqued.
That place was undoubtedly a mystery because even someone like Velka, who had been a slave in that dungeon for over a decade, had never seen a room like it in his entire life.
"Sir Galen, I regret to inform you that I have no information about this room... In fact, this is the first time I've seen it." The old man spoke elegantly and respectfully to the mercenary leader, who scanned the area once more before sharing his thoughts.
"Damn... Looks like what I suspected might be true..."
Everyone's attention was drawn to those words, wondering what he meant, as he displayed a worried and tense expression, one he hadn't shown even while fleeing from the wave of spiders.
Sigh... Fuck! This mess keeps getting worse and worse...
"Apparently, we are witnessing the merging of two dungeons. That's why all these unexpected things have been happening... This means that unless we're lucky and the dungeon we've fused with is low-ranked, we might all die in here before we even reach the boss."