As we talked yesterday, I was shown a map of the dungeon.
The staircase to the nineteenth floor is pretty far from here, but since I know it’s two turns away from here, I keep going without hesitation.
And when I reach the place, there’s no staircase.
Hey, why?
Did I make a wrong turn?
That map only showed two forks. And I remember it well, so I don’t think I made a mistake.
Let’s just go back and try a different path.
I turn around feeling dejected, and see nothing.
Yes, the exit is gone too.
I feel like something’s watching me from above, and I feel like it’s the same thing as yesterday.
But I didn’t feel a chill down my spine like I do now.
I look up, and sure enough, it’s the same sight.
The difference is that this time, the bigger giant spider is eating its children.
So the opposite.
The bigger giant spider comes down, and despite it looking heavy, there’s surprisingly little impact. No dust or anything.
It stretches its sharp front legs towards me to stab me, and I block them by swinging my greatsword, but it keeps doing it almost like it’s playing around.
I’m trying to cut them down, but sparks keep flying, and I don’t see a scratch on them.
I pull back to compose myself, but it shoots string. It hits me head on and sews me to the wall.
I’m in trouble all of a sudden, and I shoot earth bullets at the giant spider. But it doesn’t even need to dodge, because the bullets bounce off its skin.
It thrusts its head towards me to eat me, not cautious at all because I’m immobilized. It’s the mark of something that’s confident in its superiority.
I activate Physical Strengthening to rip the string, get on its head, and grab it as hard as I can with the talons from my boots. I secure myself footing by stabbing its eyes, and swing my greatsword at its neck to cut it.
But a dull sound echoes. There’s a small dent, but it didn’t come off.
The giant spider sweeps its head with its legs to fling me away, like it’s wiping dirt from it.
I block with my shield, but it cracks. One more will break it.
I use Physical Strengthening again, and attack it head on. Magic won’t cut it, and it will shoot string again if I stray too far.
I’m a good target if I don’t move, so I have to keep moving and bring the fight close to it.
As I get close, it jumps high in the air and sticks to the ceiling.
Then it spits string to cover the whole floor, like a dragnet.
I infuse the greatsword of fortitude with magic energy, and swing a projectile slash towards the string. It vanishes before it reaches the giant spider, but does a good job slashing the string.
I thought it was shelved, and here I am using it soon after.
The giant spider stays on the ceiling, and shoots more string. But this time it’s aiming at me.
I assume it decided its previous plan wouldn’t work.
I run around to dodge, but I can’t attack it up there. Magic isn’t strong enough, and the greatsword’s projectile slashes won’t reach it.
I need to get up there.
I stretch the talons from my boots, grab the wall, and run.
I wasn’t sure if it would work, but humans can do amazing things if they put their heart into them.
I run towards the giant spider, and it starts spitting string faster. I can tell it’s panicking.
I dodge and dodge as I run, and when I reach the ceiling, I jump towards the giant spider.
The giant spider sees a good opportunity, and shoots string in rapid succession, but I use the other ability of the divine bird boots, kicking the air.
I turn from a straight line, and kick the air again towards the giant spider.
I’m taking you down. I vow it to myself.
I can feel the greatsword of fortitude getting stronger.
I swing it, cut down one of its front legs, and stab its stomach.
It takes damage, so it falls from the ceiling.
The impact throws me off the ceiling too, but I never take my eyes off it.
With one of its legs gone, the monster is now visibly angry. I’m not just prey anymore, I’m an enemy that needs to be killed.
◇ ◇ ◇
Yep.
I almost died there.
And my two million yen equipment is in tatters.
After that, the giant spider’s movements changed, becoming faster and more ferocious.
It used its whole body to attack, not just its legs and string. I didn’t back down from it, but as we both got more hurt, the situation was getting bad.
I somehow managed to win, but I can’t raise my arms, my left leg is bent in a way that it shouldn’t, and my whole body is bleeding.
There’s not a part of my body that’s okay, except for my head.
I tried as hard as I could to protect my head, but I feel like being too conscious of that made me get hurt more.
Next time, I might get a helmet or a kabuto helmet.
As before, I drink a potion and cast Healing Magic. But I can’t forget to straighten my broken leg before that. This might be unnecessary, but I don’t want it healing in a weird position, so I bear the pain.
After healing myself, I collect materials.
I know about the string sac, but I feel like the body of a giant spider this big might be worth something too.
My reluctance to be wasteful kicks in, so I keep putting stuff in my Storage Space. I don’t know its limit, but it feels like I’m still not close to it.
I also pick up a glass ball, and see it disappear in my hand.
This is one of those skill orbs I heard about yesterday. Come to think of it, I did get more skills every time I picked up one of these.
After collecting everything, I sit down to recover my stamina and magic energy.
The day has just begun, and I’m already in tatters. But even if I go back now, I need to recover first.
As I take my time resting, I feel like the place where I am changes.
I cautiously pick up my greatsword, and see two parties enter through the entrance that wasn’t there before.
I look around, not understanding what’s going on, and see the staircase to the nineteenth floor.
I feel like I was tricked by a fox, and raise my hand to say hello to the students.
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Haruto Tanaka (24)
Level: 15
Skills: Earth Magic, Trace, Healing Magic, Spatial Grasp, Toughness, Magic Energy Control, Physical Strengthening, Poison Resistance, Storage Space, See Through, Parallel Thinking, Sewing
Equipment: Agility bracelet, greatsword of fortitude, divine bird boots
Status: Fat (All abilities boosted)
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