The tunnel was dark, illuminated only by the group's magical fireball, but they could see light ahead. Celica thought that these rooms must be lit using some odd magic. There were many odd magical things in this passage, not least the shrinking magic. Who would ever find an application for such a strange thing?

Soon afterward, the group reached the chamber. It appeared to be empty, but there was another dark path ahead. Celica decided to press on, the others were waiting for her after all.
"Celica, watch out!" Palla suddenly called to her, pointing to the ceiling. Celica looked up to see a number of spiders, crawling on the ceiling. Celica wasn't particularly squeamish, but this sight was enough to make her shiver. The spiders climbed down the walls, surrounding the group.
"Oh, fantastic," Sonya sighed.
"Form a circle!" Celica instructed, "keep your eyes on them!"
The spiders were quite large, well over three inches wide. There were at least ten of them, outnumbering the small soldiers. Celica also noticed that they were unlike any other spiders she had seen, with odd, blue eyes and legs seemingly made of stone.
Celica decided to think about them later, drawing her sword. Genny was not proficient in combat, and Est's power had been diminished more than everyone else. Her strategy would have to focus on protecting them.

"Pick your target and attack!" Celica shouted. She dealt the first blow, stabbing at one of the spider's many eyes. Her attack caused the spider to recoil, perhaps in pain. Mae attacked the same spider with a fire spell, Sonya fending off another spider on the other side. Catria was doing well, the impact of her lance causing one spider to crumble to dust.
"Stay behind me, Palla!" she told her sister, attacking another enemy.
"My, how reliable. But don't think I'm completely helpless!" Palla tried a fire spell. She was able to conjure the magic, attacking an assailant.
"Scary! P-please let me know if anyone gets hurt!" Genny stuttered nervously, cowering behind Celica.
"Uh, guys? A little help?" Est asked, her lance jammed in the jaws of the spider. Catria lunged towards the spider in response, skewering it in the side.
"You're the best, Catria!" Est cheered.
The mages fired off another barrage of spells, finishing off the first wave of spiders. The remaining five kept their distance, observing the fighters. Celica felt confident about their chances, for they had turned the tables on their mysterious enemies.
"Be careful, everyone!" Celica warned, "I think they're up to something!"
The jaws of the spiders moved strangely in sync. They all regurgitated a green liquid, spraying it in the air. Celica dived to the side, evading the substance. Not all of her allies dodged quickly enough. Catria was too big to avoid the attack, the liquid hardening around her legs and rooting her to the spot. Sonya and Mae were in a similar predicament.
"Ergh, I can't move!" Mae groaned.
"Disgusting!" Sonya complained.
Three of her allies were incapacitated, and their formation was broken. Celica rushed in front of Mae, getting between her and the closest spider. She would just have to protect her friend and hope the others could do the same for Catria and Sonya. A stone leg came flying towards Catria, but the attack was interrupted when Palla intercepted with a fire attack. Est followed up, jabbing it in the side.
"Thanks Palla, Est," Catria said, still trying to pull herself free. She knew both of her sisters were reliable in battle.
The jaws of the spider facing Celica opened. It spat out a rope-like substance, ensnaring Celica's sword arm. Grimacing, she retaliated by conjuring an Excalibur spell with her free arm. The force of the impact knocked the spider back, freeing Celica. A fire spell hit the same spider, flying from over her shoulder. Celica looked back to see Mae, who winked at her.
"I can still use magic, even if I can't move!" Mae cheered.
Meanwhile another spider was moving towards Sonya. Its mouth opening, Sonya braced herself. A Nosferatu spell struck the creature, causing it to stagger back. Her unlikely savior, Genny, followed up with another.
"I-I'm here for you," Genny stuttered.
"Why, thank you," Sonya said, a genuine smile on her face.
As another spider approached, Celica thrust her sword towards it, impaling it though the jaws and killing it instantly. The two pegasus sisters dealt with the last one, and the room was quiet once again.

"That was a close one," Celica gasped, pulling Mae free from the odd substance.
"Yeah, no kidding," Mae agreed, "there better not be more of those things!"
"Celica, did you notice?" Palla asked, approaching the leader. "They were very different from normal spiders. I'm not sure they were even alive."
"You're right," Celica replied, "they seemed to be made of rock."
"Great, spider golems patrolling a miniature maze," Sonya sighed, "this adventure just keeps getting better."
"They're no problem for us! We'll just kick their butts every time!" Est cheered.
"Easy for you to say, tiny one," Palla smirked.
"Another thing has been bothering me," Celica said, "they outnumbered us, and were much larger, yet we still won."
"That's just because we're the best!" Mae cheered.
"Not just that," Celica continued, not wanting to disagree. "I'm not sure they were trying to kill us. Why spit an adhesive when they could have used acid, for example?"
"You may have a point," Palla said, "they also didn't seem to attack us in any vital areas. Killing us was maybe not their aim."
"Ugh, I think that makes them even more creepy," Mae groaned.
The rest of the group gathered round. "Are we all ready to go?" Celica asked.
Her soldiers nodded. They set off down the next corridor.
"I'm getting so much good battle experience here," Mae said, "the next time I spar with Boey I'll destroy him!"

"You heard anything?" Saber asked Boey, stepping back into the room with the statue.
"Nope, nothing yet." Boey didn't look up, scrawling on a piece of paper.
Saber saw many pages lying around the mage, filled with messy writing. "What are you up to there?" the mercenary asked.
"I'm writing down everything I observed about Palla's spells," Boey explained. "With enough knowledge, we might be able to recreate them!"
"Sure..." Saber said, not understanding. "Have fun with that."

The tiny ladies continued down the dark corridor. Celica stopped when she saw two branching paths, either side of them.
"There are two other ways for us to go," She told the group.
"Great. Why couldn't it just be a dead end? Then we could go home!" Sonya complained.
"This could all be part of one big puzzle, like the room we were in earlier," Palla suggested, "we might need people in all three passages to proceed."
"S-so we have to split up?" Genny asked.
"That seems likely," Celica said, thinking.
"Fine. How would you like us to proceed, Celica?" Mae asked.
"We should try to keep each team balanced. So two or three to each path," Celica answered.
"Yes, that makes sense," Palla agreed.
"All right, I've decided. I'll go down the middle one. Est and Genny will come with me."
"You got it!" Est squeaked.
"A-all right," Genny agreed.
"To the left, Catria and Sonya."
"Yes, Celica," Catria saluted.
"Very well," Sonya said.
"Finally Palla and Mae will go right."
"Of course. Shall we?" Palla said to Mae.
"Yeah! You can count on me, Celica!" Mae cheered.
"Please be careful, everyone. Head back if there are any problems and we'll meet here." Celica said. She was uneasy about splitting everyone up but felt there was no other way. The others mostly seemed confident, setting out down their assigned paths. Celica led the way down the middle, determined to guard Genny and Est.
Each of the three groups would face different challenges in their separate paths. Celica hoped everyone would make it through safely…