Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“They’re Demonic Ground Spiders!” The very moment the first spider entered the effective range of the illumination spell, Alfred recognized the type of spider they were facing.
Demonic Ground Spiders were an uncommon type of demonic beast.
This species of spider was only about as large as an adult’s palm, so its overall size was larger than a regular spider’s body, but not by an outrageous amount. Generally speaking, they were built in a way that was not that much different from a regular spider. Their anatomy was also similarly comprised of a cephalothorax and an abdomen; they had eight legs and chelicerae and pedipalps at the front of the head. Their main method of attack was to leap onto the target’s body with their incredible jumping ability and pierce the target’s body with the fangs on their chelicerae.
Demonic Ground Spiders did not have venom glands, so they were unable to inject targets with any kind of lethal venom. However, their chelicerae were able to secrete a kind of paralyzing fluid, which stripped the target creature of its ability to move. Then, while the target creature still retained all of their senses, the Demonic Ground Spider would proceed to feed on them with their sharp fangs. This method of feeding was a far cry from traditional spiders, which would inject their target with digestive fluids before sucking up the nutrients in liquid form.
Aside from these differences, the Demonic Ground Spider was also unable to produce spider silk, which meant that they were unable to use spider silk to entangle or bind their targets. However, on the exoskeleton of the Demonic Ground Spider, there was a layer of hard stone armor. It was difficult for ordinary attacks to break through this layer of stone armor, and in addition to this, the Demonic Ground Spider was considered ‘minute’ compared to other demonic beasts, had an incredible jumping ability, and frequently attacked in large packs. Thus, even if the Demonic Ground Spider was the lowest level, a level one demonic beast, if anyone was given a choice, they would be unwilling to provoke these beasts.
If he was given a choice, Alfred would much rather fight Man-faced Spiders.
Even though the anatomy of Man-faced Spiders was not in the same category as normal spiders, and they were equipped with a rudimentary intelligence, they were not classified as ‘demonic beasts’ but were still in the category of living creatures. To the inhabitants of this world, demonic beasts and living creatures were conceptually different. Even the most intelligent living creature could be easily dealt with, but the dumbest and weakest demonic creature could still be a tough opponent.
“There’s way too many of them!” Alfred said in a solemn voice. “We should retreat from here immediately!”
“That won’t be necessary,” Sean replied, shaking his head.
To the inhabitants of this world, common sense dictated that between facing a smart living creature or a slow-witted demonic beast, the logical choice was to fight the living creature. However, this was only limited to people ‘of this world’. For people like Sean, who was a player not born of this world, he was more willing to face demonic beasts because back when he played the game every type of known demonic beast had been thoroughly researched by players. Whether it was their unique traits, strengths, or weaknesses, nothing was a secret to the players.
After all, in the world of players, fighting with demonic beasts and other players was the mainstream activity. The things that protected ruins, or the guardians of places where treasure was stashed, were mostly comprised of demonic beasts or traps and puppets. It was only in extremely rare cases that players would have to fight NPC creatures.
The Demonic Ground Spider was a demonic beast, but it was still small and weak, with only the power level of a rank two.
“Don’t be fooled by their feints.” Sean pulled Cecilia over, putting her behind him. At the same time, he shifted his body slightly, swapping positions with Alfred before he could figure out what was happening. “It’s true that the Demonic Ground Spider’s stone armor is very hard, but they are ultimately just spiders, so they are limited to using the same couple of moves to attack.”
The first Demonic Ground Spider that was closest to Sean and the others finally came close enough to leap towards them in a single bound.
It was exactly as Sean remembered it. The Demonic Ground Spider’s jumping ability was just as fearsome as he recalled, and it was as though a distance of over eight meters was practically non-existent to them.
Then, after the first Demonic Ground Spider had jumped into the air, it was quickly followed by a second one, then a third, a fourth…
The field of Demonic Ground Spiders leaped up into the air, coming at them in a huge wave, akin to a huge dark cloud in the air that threatened to block out the sky. The visual impact created by the explosive acceleration the Demonic Ground Spiders could achieve with these leaping attacks, coinciding with the narrow spaces of these underground tunnels, induced an especially strong feeling of shock, enough to make one’s heart skip a beat. The densely packed dark shadow was to Alfred, who was used to witnessing dangerous life-and-death encounters first-hand, a hair-raising scene, and it was an even more terrifying sight for Cecilia.
Although she had already experienced many thrilling battles thus far with Sean, this kind of oppressive horror was a first for her.
The only one among them who was unaffected was Sean.
“Activate skill,” Sean muttered silently to himself, “Adrenal Stimulation.”
[Activating this skill requires spending 2 experience points. Do you wish to confirm activation?]
“I do.”
Without a shred of hesitation.
[Adrenal Stimulation: Through forcibly stimulating the adrenal glands to enter an excited state, all reaction speed is increased by 50%. The effect will last for 3 minutes, and after the effect is lost the user will enter into a fatigued state, reducing all abilities by 70%. Support / Rank Two / Common, Level 1/3. Experience level 1/4.]
This was a support skill that all [Physical Type] professions at rank two and above could learn. It had a very simple use, only raising the user’s reaction speed. In this context, reaction speed included nerve reflexes, dynamic vision, movement speed, strength control, and so on.
In the game, it was not hard to obtain this skill. Any players with a [Physical Type] profession at rank two would pick it up because it was a very important skill to have.
After he had activated this skill, things he had been unable to follow with his eyes at first, such as the movement patterns of the Demonic Ground Spiders, suddenly seemed to be moving in slow motion in Sean’s vision. He was now able to clearly see their movement trajectory in mid-air.
Sean did not pause for a moment as he raised his arms slightly, and the Charles’ Sword waved through the air, following Sean’s movements.
The edge of the sword swept upwards from below, slicing through the air barrier, and there was a sudden roar of wind despite the still air of their present environment.
Faced with the leaping Demonic Ground Spiders, Alfred and Cecilia could feel an oppressive fear, but the feeling they got from the awe-inspiring aura emanating from Sean’s sword was even stronger!
The blade did not cleave through the Demonic Ground Spider as one might expect.
In the instant the blade edge swept to the end of its arc, as though someone had pressed the pause button, Sean’s sword abruptly froze in mid-air. This sword had attracted the watchful eyes of Alfred and Cecilia, and when it made such a sudden stop, the two of them felt horribly nauseous.
Then, the very next second, there was a cold flash of steel.
The sword in Sean’s hand stabbed out ferociously, the tip of the sword ‘pointing’ to the spot between the Demonic Ground Spider’s cephalothorax and abdomen.
It looked like the sword had only lightly touched the spider, but the blade had already sunk in an inch deep.
The Demonic Ground Spider let out a hoarse shrill scream, and its body began to twitch violently even while it was still suspended in mid-air. The spider’s body had now completely lost its balance and came crashing to the ground in an instant. However, it did not stop there, and following the continued twitching of its body, tiny cracks began to emerge in the layer of stone covering the Demonic Ground Spider. Then, small pieces of stone fell off its body, revealing the light grey flesh under the brown, earthy stone.
This was the plight of this Demonic Ground Spider. It would not be the only one to experience this and was definitely not the first.
In the instant that the first Demonic Ground Spider dropped out of the air, the sword’s silver brilliance burst out in full force like a fierce storm under the enveloping light from the illumination spell.
The sword’s shadow was a match to that of the flying Demonic Ground Spiders.
It was a flower of death that had bloomed inside this narrow underground tunnel.
At that moment, Alfred was in a daze and seemed to see a repeat of what happened with him in the Fine Wine & Sharp Blades tavern the night before.
Sean was yet again like an immovable coral, but this time the ocean waves were not caused by his aura, but by the dark cloud of Demonic Ground Spiders in front of him. This time, however, the beating of the ocean waves did not accomplish anything. Every time there was a silvery-white flash of a sword’s silhouette, a Demonic Ground Spider would be felled from the air. They would then start to twitch and convulse, but the more vigorously they twitched, the faster the layer of rock around their bodies fell off.
It was even more incredible because the chaotic demonic force unique to demonic beasts was constantly dissipating from the light grey bodies of the Demonic Ground Spiders on the ground.
Alfred was someone with a [Physical Type] profession, so it was possible that he did not understand the implications of this phenomenon. However, for an apprentice magician like Cecilia, the signs were clear. It meant that with every strike of Sean’s sword, he was precisely destroying the Crystal Core within the body of each Demonic Ground Spider. This was the real cause of death for these Demonic Ground Spiders, and their twitching was just their death throes from having their Crystal Core shattered.
Ten seconds passed, or maybe a couple of minutes.
The silver storm that had been unleashed in the narrow tunnel finally disappeared.
Around a dozen Demonic Ground Spiders had fallen to Sean’s blade, stopped dead in their tracks, unable to do any tangible damage to the three of them.
Sean hurried to cancel the effect of the Adrenal Stimulation skill. A wave of weakness and fatigue swept over him at once, and he found himself having to rest on his sword to stay on his feet. In the instant right after that, the soreness from his right hand made him feel intense pain. During the Adrenal Stimulation, his movement speed had greatly increased, but as a trade-off, when the effect ended the damage from the muscle strain caused by intense activity would come back to bite him.
“Commander!” Alfred recovered from his shock, quickly discovered that Sean was acting strangely, and reached out to support him straight away.
“I’m alright, I just overworked myself a little,” Sean said, shaking his head. “Did you manage to see how I attacked them?… The Crystal Core of the Demonic Ground Spider is located between their cephalothorax and abdomen. If you attack that exact location, it doesn’t matter how strong or tough their stone armor is. In other words, that is their greatest weak point. Take this sword… If you don’t know how to stab them, then just grab hold of them and snap them in two!”
If one had a Strength attribute of over 30 points, one could snap a Demonic Ground Spider in two with brute force, which was a discovery made by a player who was extremely bored in the game back then. Through this method of killing the Demonic Ground Spider, the Crystal Core inside its body could also be preserved. Even though the Crystal Core was only the size of a grain of rice, if one collected a thousand pieces of it, it was equivalent to having a real level one Demonic Crystal Core.
Alfred’s Strength attribute was only at 27 points, but if he equipped the Charles’ Sword, his Strength would definitely exceed 30 points!
The only thing he needed to be worried about was Alfred’s speed, as, after all, the Demonic Ground Spiders were coming at them in waves.