“Oh, that is just great,” Adam groaned.
“It’s coming!” Titania warned before she began singing again
She was correct; the [barbarian plant] was indeed coming after him. It moved quite fast for a creature with no legs and only roots to propel it forward.
Adam gave a ferocious grin as the adrenaline in his body began pumping through him, heightening his perception and reflexes. His [Blood Sacrifice] skill had deactivated and was cooling down, but he neither noticed nor cared.
Most people would have probably tried to run away when confronted with such a terrifying sight, but Adam ran forward. He dodged left and right to avoid the incoming vine whips. One struck the ground on his left, and Adam used [slash] to hack into the vine. Not only did he do -3,500 damage despite not having [Blood Sacrifice] active, but the vine was severed.
The [barbarian plant] released an odd squeal that made him think it was in pain. It stumbled backward on its roots, but then it unleashed another noise that sounded vaguely like a roar and attacked with the remaining five vines. Since it seemed these vines could be hacked off, Adam made sure to attack each one before attacking the main body.
-3,500; -3,500; -3,500; -3,500; MISS; MISS; MISS; -3,500!
All five remaining vines were severed seconds before the cooldown time for [Blood Sacrifice] ended. Adam didn’t bother re-activating it, however, as there was no need to anymore. He flew forward with his spear tightly gripped in both hands. With the creature’s vines gone, it no longer had anything to attack him with.
MISS; MISS; MISS; -2,277; -2,277!
Adam was relentless. He constantly activated [slash] over and over as he attacked the now helpless enemy. The [barbarian plant’s] health was finally reduced to zero. Adam sighed as the plant monster flopped onto the ground and began spasming as its body turned dried and shriveled like a vegetable that had been left to rot in the sun. An unusually foul stench filled the air. It was like the smell of manure mixed with gasoline. Adam had no choice but to move back in order to avoid the stench.
Ding!
[You have defeated the 1-star enemy [barbarian plant]! Items dropped: x2 [fusion heart leaves] and 2,200 gold coins. +15,000 experience points! +1,500 ability points!]
While the experience points weren't enough for either him or his fairy companion to level up, Titania used the ability points she gained to level all of her currently available skills up to level 3. She also leveled [Song of Vigor] to level 4 because it was more useful than all her other songs. This increased the effect of her buff from 220% to 260%. That was a pretty massive increase. Adam hoped her skill would at least increase to 300% before maxing out.
They continued traveling deeper into the Forest of Gloom and encountered two more of those [barbarian plants]. Neither of them had been a 1-star enemy, but they were both at level 20, so while Adam and Titania gained more experience points, they did not gain any ability points.
Ding!
[Congratulations! Titania has leveled up. She is now at level 12! +200 HP! +2,200 MP! +10 SP!]
“How is it that you have reached level 12 before me,” Adam grumbled.
“I am a fairy. It is only natural that I would level up faster than you,” Titania stated as if her words were fact… though it wasn’t like he could deny what she said. She had been at level 1 when they met, and he had been at level 9. Now she was at level 12, and he was still at level 11.
That seemed pretty unfair if you asked him.
Because it was so dark and there was no status screen that let him see what time it was, Adam did not know how long they had been inside of this forest. They kept walking, and walking, and walking, and Adam eventually discovered something that looked like a cave, but the cavern entrance was made out of vines. It looked like the mouth of another plant monster, but one that was at least twenty times bigger than a fully grown man.
“I guess we should head down?” asked Adam.
“I suppose so,” Titania mumbled. “Though we will want to be cautious. There’s no telling what lurks in those depths.”
Adam didn’t disagree with her, and so while Titania flew by his side, he took his first steps into this strange cavern.
Like the entrance, the inside seemed to be a tunnel made entirely of vines. Adam couldn’t tell if this was underground because all he saw were green vines. He cast his torch along the walls and grimaced when the vines squirmed as though they were alive and disdained light. That did not leave him with a pleasant feeling and made him think more than ever that this was just a gigantic mouth and he was walking inside to be eaten.
Nothing seemed to happen, however, and so they traveled deeper into the cavern, until the vines became covered in thick webs.
Casting his torch across the passage, Adam saw hundreds of small spiders scurrying across the floor, walls, and ceiling. His lips became a thin line. He didn’t hate spiders, but he certainly didn’t like them either.
Titania curled her lips in distaste. “Disgusting creatures.”
“Not fond of spiders?” asked Adam as he used the torch to burn the surrounding webs. The heat from the fire made him take several steps back.
“I loathe spiders,” Titania stated firmly. “There is a clan of spider demons who once served a being known as the Demon Lord. The Spider Demon Clan is ruled by the Spider Queen, one of the thirteen Lords of Chaos. About five thousand years ago, the Demon Lord and the Lords of Chaos brought death and destruction to the land. If it was not for the four goddess working together, things could have ended very badly for this world. Of course,” she added in a smaller voice, “even with the four goddesses combining their strength, the goddess’s chosen hero was still forced to sacrifice his life to kill the Demon Lord.”
So there was even more stuff that happened thousands of years ago? A Demon Lord? That was a pretty standard game concept as far as he was concerned. From what he understood, most fantasy games had something like a Demon Lord, which would be the final boss of the game. It sounded like this one had already been killed.
They continued traveling deeper into the cave. Adam burned every spider web they ran across. A few larger than usual spiders would leap out at him. They were called [baby man-eating spider] and were only at level 5. Adam was able to kill them with a single [slash] of his spear.
“Are the Lords of Chaos still alive? What can you tell me about them?” asked Adam.
“The thirteen Lords of Chaos were the generals of the Demon Lord’s army,” Titania said. “There is the Spider Queen, Balroth the Destroyer, the Frost Giant, the King of Serpents, the Black Dragon, the Primal Beast, the War Demon, the Sky Demon, the Manticore, the Undead King, the Headless Horseman, the King of Despair, and Nightmare. Among the thirteen, Balroth, Nightmare, the Primal Beast, and the Manticore did not belong to any race and always fought alone. The others are all leaders of a demon clan. Nightmare is the most mysterious of the Lords of Chaos because no one actually knows what he looks like.”
Adam listened attentively to Titania speak. He didn’t think this information would be useful right now, but perhaps later, he would be forced to fight against these Lords of Chaos to complete a quest. Knowing this could help him later on down the line.
He didn’t say anything else, and not just because he had nothing to say. Adam stopped walking as the sound of scuttling reached his ears. Titania had also stopped and was straining her ears to listen.
“Something is coming,” she whispered.
He nodded and gripped his spear in one hand and the torch in his other. “Get ready.”
Adam stilled his breathing and concentrated hard. The scuttling was getting louder, a clacklackclackclack sound like dozens of feet treading over a hard surface. The louder it got, the further Adam sank into a still calm. He could not afford to let himself panic no matter how creepy the situation seemed.
A large shadow burst into the passage, slamming into the wall as it charged toward him on eight spindly legs. Its dark body was covered in hair. It had no hands or arms,
but it did have an ugly face with nearly a dozen compound eyes, large mandibles, and a bulbous body with a spinneret near the end. It was at least three times larger than Adam.
In other words, it was a giant spider.
Name: Man Eating Spider
Description: a member of the Spider Demon Clan, this monster hates the Races of Light. It follows the orders of the Spider Queen.
Class: 2-star
Lvl: 20
35,000/35,000
MP: 3,000/3,000
Strength: +1,000
Constitution: +500
Dexterity: +200
Intelligence: +50
Speed: +50
Skills:
Bite: The man eating spider uses its sharp mandibles to bite down on the flesh of its enemies
150% damage
25% chance of causing poisoned effect
MP Cost: 150
Cooldown Time: 0 Seconds
Poison Acid: The man eating spider shoots an acidic venom from its mouth
Damage = Strength + 25% acidic damage
25% chance of causing poison status effect
MP Cost: 250
Cooldown time: 30 seconds
Web Shot: Fires spider webs from its spinneret
If hit or stepped on after release, the web will entrap enemy for at least 30 seconds
MP Cost: 360
Cooldown Time: 20 seconds
Dark Entrapment: When an enemy has been trapped in its web, it casts an illusion over them that smothers their body in darkness and makes them lose all sensations in their extremities
50% chance of causing fear status effect.
MP Cost: 300
Cooldown time: 10 seconds
A 2-star enemy. And it looked like this one was quite powerful, according to Titania’s [scan].
Adam leapt back as the [man eating spider] raced toward him, though he only did so to generate some kinetic force. He slammed his left foot against the ground and thrust his spear forward. He put his whole body into his attack. A loud roar of anguish erupted from the [man eating spider] as his double attack punched two holes through its body.
-1,104; -2,208!
Not only did both attacks land, but one of his attacks had been a critical hit to boot. Of course, it sucked that he hadn’t activated [Blood Sacrifice] yet. This monster hadn’t given him enough time.
Without further prompting, Adam activated [Blood Sacrifice] and Titania began singing her usual song. The [Song of Vigor] invigorated Adam and made him feel many times stronger. This further made him wonder how these skills worked. Not only did he do more damage, but he felt physically stronger than he was when she wasn’t singing.
-5,382; MISS; -5,382; MISS; MISS!
When Adam’s attacks dealt the [man eating spider] massive damage, the creature scuttled backward as though it had finally realized what kind of threat he was. Adam grinned and shot forward. There was no way he could let this creature go now that it had offered itself to him as a sacrifice. He needed more experience points.
-5,382; MISS; MISS; -5,382; MISS!
Adam had already shaved away nearly a third of its health. As the fight continued, they found themselves inside of what looked like a massive cylindrical room with several dozen floors beneath him. There were many catwalks in this room, all of them naturally formed by rocks that traveled down to reach the next level. Adam and the [man eating spider] were on the topmost catwalk.
-5,382; MISS!
Adam once again used [thrust] twice in rapid succession, though he wasn’t quite sure how. Either way, his attacks nearly killed the creature. He only needed one more good hit.
The [man eating spider] released a loud squeal as it continued scuttling back, firing several webs at Adam, who used his insane reflexes to dodge each and every web. He danced across the catwalk like a rabbit hopping to and fro. After closing the distance from the retreating spider once more, he thrust his spar out one last time.
-5,382!
His spear penetrated the monster’s skull, breaking through flesh and bone as he dealt the final bit of damage needed to kill it. The [man eating spider] slumped to the ground, its legs twitching sporadically several times before going still.
Ding!
[You defeated the 2-star enemy [man eating spider]! Items dropped: x5 [low-grade health potions], x5 [low-grade mana potions], and 4,000 gold coins! +20,000 experience points! +2,000 ability points!]
Adam released a weary sigh as the adrenaline left his system. It was a bit weird that he could feel the adrenaline pumping through this fake avatar body, but he did remember what the fairy, Lim, had said when he was making his character. This game sent his “spirit” into the virtual world in order to better simulate reality. Perhaps this incredible realism was the result of his spirit experiencing everything instead of just his mind.
It was something for the more philosophical to consider.
“Adam…” Titania said, a tremor in her voice. “Do not look now, but I believe we are surrounded.”
The moment Adam heard her words, he looked up and noticed what she had noticed. Eyes. There were hundreds of eyes surrounding them on all sides. Disgusting compound eyes all staring at them. These eyes were attached to the bodies of giant spiders, some of which were smaller than the [man eating spider] he had just fought, and some of which were many times larger. Some spiders hung from webs. Others were on the catwalks. There were far too many for him to count, but he guessed there were at least a couple hundred.
Every spider was between level 20 and level 30.
Fuck.
The Fox Yokai
Spiders were everywhere. They had already covered the entrance, so he could no longer leave the way he had come. Looking around revealed no less than three hundred [man eating spiders].
“Titania,” Adam said in a calm, collected voice.
“Yes?” Titania asked. She didn’t sound as calm, but she was a fairy who had been alive for a couple thousand years. Something like being surrounded by a horde of [man eating spiders] more than 10 levels above her wouldn’t be enough to make her panic.
“I need you to hold onto me as tightly as you can. Also, please cast [Song of Valor].”
“Okay.”
Titania quickly landed on his head and grabbed a handful of his hair with her tiny hands. Once she was certain she had a good grip on him, she began singing [Song of Valor], which was a quick and upbeat tune.
Adam couldn’t really explain how he felt as she sang. It was odd, like his body was suddenly thicker, more durable, like his skin had become harder, his muscles denser, and his body sturdier. This feeling was like a massive wellspring of energy was rushing through him, filling the gaps in his strength to increase his Physical and Magical Defense.
“All right.” Adam took a deep breath. “Here we go.”
The monsters this far down were called [man eating spider], and all of them were at level 20 or above, which meant they were not creatures that Adam could fight against. He could easily beat them if he was fighting one-on-one. However, he could not fight against a horde of them.
He almost cursed himself for taking this quest.
The first spider on the catwalk rushed up to him and lashed out with its front spider legs, but Adam leapt into the air and landed on its back. This [man eating spider] was bigger than the one he had killed. He ran across its back and leapt off after reaching its spinneret end. His knees jarred as he landed on the hard ground, but he bent them and rolled forward, which also allowed him to avoid being struck by the second spider that slammed mandibles first into the ground behind him. The two spiders tried to turn around and come after him, but their bodies were too big and they ended up crashing into each other.
Adam kept running. He didn’t just run linearly, but raced across each catwalk in a zigzag pattern that allowed him to avoid the webs being shot at him from above. He leapt down to the catwalks below him when he could. Sometimes he would use the spiders as a springboard, while other times he would rely o
n the strength of Titania’s song. With the [Song of Valor] boosting his Physical Defense stat to +957, even the +1,100 Strength of the attacking monsters could only deal -132 damage at most. His goal was to travel as far down this place as he could.
“What are we doing?!” shrieked Titania as he once more became airborne after leaping off another catwalk. “Why are we going down?!”
The wind rushed around Adam and buffeted his hair. He was only a few meters from the next catwalk, but a massive spider appeared where he was about to land. It raised its head, revealing ugly compound eyes, massive mandibles, and a hideous mouth. It looked like it was getting ready to spit acid at him.
“Outta my way!”
Adam roared as he spun the spear in his hand, slammed it over the top of the [man eating spider’s] head, and used the resulting force to flip himself over the monster. The spider squealed in pain as he landed on its back and ran across it. It tried to buck him off, but Adam had already leapt and landed on the catwalk.
“We’re going down because it will be easier to run than fight with enemies at our backs,” Adam said, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth. His breath came in ragged gasps. “If we go up, it will be slower. Those blasted spiders can surround us and attack whenever they want! Besides! Didn’t you see? The spiders have already blocked off the exit!”
Titania couldn’t deny the truth in his words, so she conceded his point and remained silent, clutching his hair so hard it hurt.
Adam’s chest felt tight as he leapt off another catwalk and landed on the next catwalk with bone jarring force. It hurt. A -10 damage sign appeared over his head. However, he knew he couldn’t stop now.
Two more [man eating spiders] appeared before him, one on either side of the catwalk. Meanwhile, a number of them were descending from the levels above on the webs they released from their spinnerets.
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