TAKE ON ME [Survival LITRPG Apocalypse]

"Focus, everyone!" Tess threw down one of the 'plays' they'd used outside.

It worked well, but many of the Spiders were small enough to sneak past Tom's defensive line.

Chloe's Mom was bitten on the leg. She gave an angry roar and transformed into Kate the Bear. She systematically squished the Spiders beneath her giant paws, as though playing whack-a-mole.

The Waves grew more difficult as they progressed. No matter their size and level, all the Spiders moved with impressive speed, and left trails of perilous webbing in their wake. For the first time in Chloe's memory, Amber seemed reluctant to use her acrobatic moves; she eyed the webs warily and moved with caution.

Chloe worked hard to step up her game. She used her physiological and psychological abilities to halt several of the large Spiders at once.

Chloe's Mom and Dad were able to tank most of the Spiders, and Finn ran around the battleground patching people up.

Bo and Loo did not use any spells, as per Tess's orders.

[Wave 6 of 10]

The skittering of countless clawed feet echoed through the chamber, accompanied by the piercing howls of a horde of Wolf Spiders. Chloe's heart pounded as a large wave of arachnids emerged from the sconces of webbing overlooking them. It was scary as hell.

She squeezed her eyes shut and activated her [Mental Bastion] spell.

The clinging Dungeon walls disappeared, replaced by Chloe's old bedroom with walls made of woven straw. She could feel her physical body still standing in the Dungeon while she examined her inner refuge. She took a slow breath and placed her palms on the reinforced mental wall, which pulsed with magic. Since the Headless Dungeon, Chloe had retreated to this room every time someone made a mean comment, got scared, or whenever she grew tired of sitting on the fringes of their community. With each visit, Chloe had poured more mana into the walls, and they were now sturdy. In here, she could breathe. And think.

A wispy dash of movement caught Chloe's eye. She approached one of the small windows she had left uncovered and peered out. Outside lay a void of swirling shadows: an ocean of black. Distant wails and malicious whispers rose from the darkness; out there, her own fears and doubts had physical form. Her [Mental Bastion] was a powerful shield, pushing her fears outside the walls where they could not reach her. However, their screams still scratched at her mind.

Chloe drew a steadying breath, and envisioned the straw room dissolving around her. She felt a lurching sensation, and then her eyes opened onto the Dungeon's grim dirt walls with their patchwork of silver webs. Her hands tightened on her Staff.

A trio of massive Level 5 Wolf Spiders crept around the corner, their eyes gleaming with malevolent hunger. They charged straight for Chloe's father. Tom met them head-on, his Shield held high.

"There's a swarm!" Amber shouted, pointing with a Dagger at the dozens of rodent-sized Wolf Spiders still flowing out of the cracks in the walls and floor. The yapping and snarling were deafening.

Hana thrust her Staff forward, and a sphere of green and yellow energy pulsed above her, washing the cavern in a sickly illumination. The tide of Spiders shrieked, their advance faltering as they cringed away from the magnified [Radon Light].

"Chloe, take the big one on the left!" Tess yelled over the howling battle. "Richard, Hana, focus on the swarm! Everyone else, keep to the normal battle plan!"

Chloe cast [Fear] at the large Spider—one of the trio that was targeting her father. In her mind's eye, Chloe could see the creature's greatest terror; the sight of its fellow Spiders being crushed beneath her father's armored boots. It was a sad thought, but she focused on the grisly image, and drove it deep into the forefront of the Wolf Spider's primitive brain. Its eyes widened, and it let out a keening wail. It stumbled away from its companions.

[Paranoia] triggered and the [Fear] spell duplicated and leaped from the first large Spider to a second. It began to spin in frenzied circles, its fangs gnashing at unseen foes. Both monsters' movements became erratic, their hearts hammering faster and faster as [Tachycardia] was activated.

"Good job!" Tom shouted. He crashed his Flail down onto the third Level 5 Spider. Kate the Bear raked it, and her claws left deep rents in its body. It collapsed, its legs twitching.

Hana's [Contagion] spell spread her [Infection] and [Sickness] spells through the smaller Wolf Spiders. Streams of fire from Richard's outthrust hands turned clusters of them to drifting ash. The stench of scorched hair and chitin filled Chloe's nose. Tess and Amber danced through the remainder, their blades finding eyes and joints.

Wave 6 was dead.

Chloe sagged against a dirt pillar, breathing hard.

Wave 7 boiled out of the darkness; another trio of giant Spiders, propelled forward by a larger swarm of Level 1 Wolf Spiders.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

She gritted her teeth, and gathered her power.

Chloe and the others cast their spells again and again through Waves 7, 8, and 9, until the walls ran with ichor and the floor was carpeted in twitching limbs. Chloe's brain was becoming mushy, and her mana was running out.

Chloe's heart seized as Wave 10 surged toward them. They were led by the usual trio, but the swarm behind them was huge; a nightmarish flood of snapping jaws, hairy limbs, and dripping fangs.

Panic clawed at Chloe's throat. What if they didn't have enough damage, or enough mana, to kill all the Spiders? What if they broke through her Mom and Dad's frontline? What if they just kept coming until—

No.

She summoned [Mental Bastion].

The transition was jarring; her consciousness was ripped from the clamor of the burrow to the deceptive calm of her inner sanctum.

A massive Spider, made of fear—easily twice the size of the ones they'd been fighting—hurled itself at her window, its canine mandibles biting at the straw. Chloe flinched back, her breath catching as its brown eyes fixed on her. This wasn't a psychic attack from a monster, but her own fears manifesting.

"You're not real," she whispered, her fingers curling into fists. "You. Are. Not. Real."

The Spider's abdomen pulsed. Its eight spindly legs flexed, and then began tearing at the walls of her room.

Pressure mounted behind Chloe's eyes.

She looked past the Wolf Spider to the golden outline of her comrades out in the void. There was her father, and a huge bear, and Amber all shrouded in dark webs that dragged at their limbs. All of them were facing their own internal and external battles as they fought on in the material world.

A renewed assault on the walls of her [Mental Bastion] snapped her back to the present. Chloe glared at the Spider beyond the window, its bulging eyes alive with malice.

"All right, jerk face," she muttered, reaching for the latch. "Let's do this."

The window flew open.

The Spider lunged.

Chloe, her heart in her throat, mentally grabbed the Spider by the scruff of the neck. She poured all her willpower into her mental attack as she shook and pulled at the spider. She threw it back out into the void, where it dissolved into a puff of smoke.

With a clearer head Chloe opened her eyes back to the Dungeon.

A piercing shriek cut through the din. Two Wolf Spiders leaped from the ceiling and landed directly on Loo. They latched onto her with vicious bites, and Loo thrashed and screamed.

Amber moved like lightning. Her Daggers flashed as she sliced the Spiders off her little sister. But the damage was done. Loo had been in the middle of summoning a [Mana Brook], and the spell shattered.

Chloe gasped as a wave of nausea twisted her guts. Her mana drained out of her body, and she dropped to one knee. Her head throbbed. She was dimly aware of the others crying out in distress.

Only her parents—too far ahead in the melee—and Bo—guarding the rear—seemed unaffected.

"I can't see my [Battle Map]!" Tess's panicked voice rose above the chaos.

"Game over, man!" Richard wailed. "We're gonna fucking die!"

Through blurred vision, Chloe saw her father facing down two of the larger Spiders. Her mother grappled with a third. They stomped and struck at the smaller ones swarming their feet, but it was a losing battle. The tide of creatures pushed forward.

Chloe's mind raced. She had barely enough mana for one spell. Casting [Fear] on another Spider wouldn't accomplish nothing.

Think, think!

But fear clawed at her, a suffocating weight. Around her, the others teetered on the brink of panic, their terror feeding her own. They were falling apart.

No.

Chloe forced herself to her feet, her jaw clenched.

A wild-eyed Tess slashed through the horde. Loo huddled on the ground, sobbing and clutching her wounds. Finn had a hand on Loo's shoulder, but didn't look able to heal her. Hana, Richard, and Amber fought with the desperate strength of the doomed.

We need a plan. Tess makes plans.

Chloe took a deep breath, and reached for the frayed tether of her mana.

Enough for one spell.

She closed her eyes and re-activated [Mental Bastion] with the last dregs of mana.

The cacophony of battle fell away, replaced by the snarls of her own fears battering the walls. But within those walls, her mind was clear. For the moment.

Chloe crossed to the window and flung it open, heedless of the Spider that lunged for her throat. She mentally caught it by the neck, and it squirmed against her. Her willpower ripped it to pieces.

Chloe looked out into the seething darkness, to the golden outlines of her companions. Each one was mired in a net of terrors; dragging them down, clouding their minds, and sapping their will to fight.

I know what to do.

She flung her mind out through the open window.

Chloe seized the shadowy fears clinging to Tess and yanked, hard. They came away with a shriek, and turned on Chloe's walls in a frenzy. She gritted her teeth as they slammed and tore into the straw. Chloe held fast, and poured her will into the structure. The walls held. She reached out and tore the fears into smokey nothingness.

Slowly, Tess straightened. The light of determination rekindled in her eyes.

Again and again, Chloe plucked the strands of terror from her friends and family, enduring each fresh assault.

Chloe sagged against the window frame. Her refuge creaked around her, the walls ragged and thin.

Chloe let the spell fall away.

The Dungeon snapped back into focus: the stench of blood and ichor; the skittering of countless legs; the screams of her companions.

Something had changed.

Tess was barking orders, her voice cracking like a whip above the din. "Formation! Back-to-back! Collapse on me! Turtle up! Tom, Kate, and I hold the flanks!"

The group fought to reach each other through the barking swarm.

"Loo!" Tess called. "We need your [Mana Spring]! Amber, guard her! Mom, Richard, full offensive the second your mana's back! Dad buff us!"

They pushed together into a tight knot of bristling weapons. Chloe sagged in the group's center. Her head pounded, and she fought to stay conscious.

Bo's voice rose through the cave, belting out [Push It to the Limit by Paul Engemann]. The music thrummed through the air and infused her with a bead of energy.

Chloe forced her head up and wiped sweat and blood from her face.

Her father slammed his Shield into the horde, his armor splattered with fleshy lumps. Her mother was at his side: a roaring ball of fury.

Loo hadn't moved. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her entire body trembled.

Chloe plunged into her mental realm once more. The straw walls buckled inward, barely held together by threads.

She moved to the disintegrating window and searched for the warm golden glow that was her sister.

There!

A small, terrified figure, drowning in a cocoon of fear.

Chloe reached out and grasped the first layer of nightmares. They clung to Loo, and Chloe screamed with the effort of tearing them away.

Loo's greatest fear: failing her family when they needed her most. A manifestation of Loo tried to summon the [Mana Spring] again and again, but it fizzled out each time.

Chloe snarled, and tore at the visions with renewed frenzy. "C'mon, Loo! You can do this!"

Her mental fortress was hammered by the fears she yanked away from her sister. She was buried beneath an avalanche of straw and terror. Yet she hardly felt it; her whole being was focused on her sister.

With a final wrenching effort, Chloe cast the nightmares back into the hungry void.

Chloe drifted into darkness. Then something pulled her back. A familiar warm tingle; the sensation of mana flowing into her from Loo's [Mana Spring].

Chloe opened her eyes.

The battle raged on around her.

Hana's [Radon Light] held back the nearest stream of Spiders. Richard's [Flame Wall] flared to life, the hungry flames devouring the arachnids.

Chloe took a deep breath as her mana reserves replenished and her brain cleared. She threw [Fear] at one of the larger Spiders, and watched with grim satisfaction as it thrashed and howled, and stomped on its own kind.

The biggest Spiders pressed upon her father and mother. Chloe gritted her teeth, aimed her [Migraine] spell, and slammed it into the largest Spider's head. It yowled: a high, keening wail of pure agony.

She shot [Intracranial Hypertension] at a second Spider. It convulsed, and its eyes bulged from their sockets as the pressure within its skull reached unbearable levels.

Her parents seized the opening and tore into the remaining enemies. Gore sprayed across the Dungeon walls and dripped from the webs.

It was over. The last Spider crumpled onto its back, its twitching legs curled toward the ceiling.

They were all standing. All breathing. Battered and bloodied, but alive.

"Holy shit," said Bo.