The clicking returned.
This time, it came from every direction. The ruins trembled as the flame spiders swarmed, their molten bodies skittering over blackened stone. Dozens. Hundreds. A tide of burning chitin and ember-like eyes, their fangs dripping with liquid fire.
Jaxon's symbiote pulsed with unease. "I think they're done playing."
Elias flicked a card, his amber eyes scanning the battlefield. "We need a plan. And fast."
Kade's chains uncoiled, glowing with eerie silver light. "Here's a plan: don't die."
The first spider lunged.
Jaxon reacted instantly. His symbiote lashed forward, shifting into a massive blade that cleaved through the creature's front legs. It shrieked, molten ichor spilling onto the ground, burning deep into the stone.
Another pounced from the ruins. Kade's chains snapped forward, wrapping around its throat and wrenching it mid-air. The moment it hit the ground, Elias hurled a glowing card—a spectral lance formed, piercing straight through its skull. The spider twitched once, then went still.
But for every one they struck down, ten more came crawling.
The ground beneath them pulsed with waves of heat. Silk-webbed ruins caught fire, flames racing toward the sky. The air was thick with smoke, turning the battlefield into a choking inferno.
Reed gritted his teeth. He wasn't a fighter, but he wasn't weak. Raising a hand, a golden pulse surged from his fingertips, forming a barrier. A spider lunged—it hit the shield and reeled back, legs curling as its own flames turned against it.
"Barriers won't hold forever," Reed warned.
Jaxon's eyes flicked toward a crumbling cathedral at the edge of the ruins. "We move. Now!"
They ran. Leaping over molten rubble, dodging fangs that snapped inches from their throats. Spiders chased them relentlessly, their bodies lighting the darkness like living torches.
Elias flicked another card. "Gale surge." A massive wind erupted, flinging a cluster of spiders into the burning wreckage.
They reached the cathedral. Its entrance had collapsed, but a jagged opening gaped at the base—leading underground.
"We can trap them," Kade said, already wrapping his chains around a crumbling pillar.
Reed hesitated. "And if it collapses on us?"
Jaxon shoved him forward. "Then we go deeper."
The first spider **lunged at the entrance—**Kade pulled. The stone cracked.
With a thunderous roar, the ceiling collapsed, sending a storm of rubble down upon the charging spiders. A massive cloud of dust erupted as the entrance sealed shut behind them.
Silence.
Then a new sound.
A deep click. A slow, metallic groan.
Torches flared to life along the stone walls. The ground beneath them rumbled. Symbols etched into the floor glowed with eerie blue light, pulsing like a heartbeat.
Elias exhaled. "We're in something."
Jaxon looked around. Not just a tunnel. A vault.
Ancient carvings lined the walls, depicting figures clad in regal armor, holding artifacts of power. Beneath their feet, an emblem of a phoenix wreathed in flames was carved into the stone.
Kade stepped forward, voice low. "We weren't the first to come here."
But they would find out what was left behind.