“This place is rather creepy,” noted Mel-Ivas as they walked into the large earthen structure – one that looked a lot more like a termite mound or ant nest rather than anything to do with spiders – where Esperanza detected the [Queen] of the swarm. Her comment was rather warranted, as there were remains of various animals scattered all over the place, probably remains of what the [Queen] ate.
While Esperanza could detect a lifeform’s approximate position with her [Soul Sense], it did not exactly come with a mini-map or the likes, so she would only know its general distance and direction. Instead, Legisvula and Dali – both of whom had skills that allowed them to perceive their surrounding area better, in Dali’s case even through walls – were in charge of leading the way, with Esperanza giving them the general direction to head towards.
It was dark inside the earthen structure, as there were no windows and light could not penetrate the thick earthen walls. Fortunately, other than a couple of the human members, the rest of the party had some way to see or otherwise find their way in the dark, so it was not too big of an issue. Their way through the structure was unimpeded, but then again the group had pretty much slaughtered every single arachnoid in the central region by then.
They still find themselves hitting dead ends and having to retrace their paths from time to time as the earthen structure was quite labyrinthine in construction. Several times they found themselves in chambers full of eggs, hundreds of the slimy, off-white, ovoid eggs the size of a human torso lining up every surface of the chamber.
Apparently the [Arachnoid Queen] was not only aware of the danger approaching her nest, but was also busily laying eggs to make up for the losses incurred from the group’s slaughter.
That attempt of hers came to nothing, however, as the group destroyed every [Arachnoid Egg] they encountered on their way. The eggs themselves were very low in level, from single digits to the teens, and gave them negligible experience, but it was worth the effort in order to nip potential future problems in the bud.
According to Ani, slaughtering massive amounts of low-level opponents like that might even count for a feat or two, as one of her warriors that had been on pest extermination duty in his second tier had gotten his current class thanks to a similar feat. The [Slayer of Countless Lives] was not as powerful as his fearsome class name suggests, but his skillset does make him a perfect candidate for fighting one against a thousand as long as the thousand was notably weaker than him in power.
For that reason, the cleanup of the egg chambers was mostly left to the Progenies and the few warriors under Ani who were still in their third tier.
In a couple of the chambers deeper inside the structure, the eggs were apparently just about to hatch, as they entered only to find themselves face to face with hundreds of low-level arachnoids that had clearly hatched out of their eggs only recently. There was slightly more resistance there, but for the third-tier progenies, slaughtering the late first-tier arachnoid hatchlings were little different than killing them while they were still within their eggs.
If anything, it was easier, as the eggs wouldn’t charge at them on their own.
Despite the ease of the slaughter, the egg chambers still left the progenies disgusted, since the work would leave them soaked head to toe with arachnoid guts and ichor. Neither the organs nor the ichor hurt them in any way, but it was still unpleasant to be covered with the slimy, disgusting bits regardless, not to mention that sometimes they splattered straight against one’s face and sometimes got into their mouths.
Fortunately Ani could conjure some water for them to clean up with for minimal effort on her part after they were done.
As the group proceeded deeper into the arachnoid lair, they felt that the air became more humid, and a stench of rotting carrion started to grow stronger in the air. They quickly found the reason for the latter, as the carcass of several animals – all of which looked half-eaten – were strewn haphazardly in the corridors, but had no idea why the humidity and the temperature kept increasing.
They only found the reason when they finally entered a large chamber on the bottom level – the entrance to the lair was on the top, connected to the massive web that spanned the central section of the forest – of the lair, which was probably partially if not entirely underground. There they found the [Queen], or rather, what she had turned herself into.
A [Gestation Pod of the Sovereign Lv75] was not an [Arachnoid Queen] any longer, after all.
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The arachnoid queen had somehow turned her lower body into what seemed like a massive, fleshy cocoon, with only her upper torso – which stuck out from the bloated mass – allowing the group to recognize the creature for what she was. Even the upper body was bloated and misshapen, as if the flesh within had grown beyond what the exoskeleton was able to confine and broke out in many places.
As for the bloated, pulsating mass of ichor-covered flesh that her lower body became, it was such a sight that made everybody in the group want to look away. The queen’s lower body had turned into a cocoon-like object that was at least three meters tall and half as wide and thick. It pulsated at a steady rhythm, but was clearly unaware of its surroundings.
For that matter, what remained of the queen’s upper body was listless and unreactive even when the group barged into her chambers, its multifaceted eyes blankly staring into the distance. Needless to say, it was a sight that most of the group found both eerie and disgusting to the extreme. Their course of action was clear, though. Since the [Gestation Pod of the Sovereign Lv75] was before them, then it was likely the dungeon’s boss. There was nothing left for them to do other than to kill it.
Naturally, both Esperanza and Ani had an inkling that the queen likely underwent such a drastic metamorphosis and ate so many animals to gather energy so she could create a stronger variant to deal with them and take its place as the leader of the swarm. Neither of them wanted to wait until the creature within had matured completely and came out on its own.
Instead, they mercilessly cut and stabbed at the cocoon together with the rest of the group, their intent to snuff the threat at the cradle obvious.
Even though the [Gestation Pod of the Sovereign Lv75] gave no resistance to the group’s onslaught, they were surprised to find that the flesh that formed the cocoon was hideously tough, and their efforts barely cut into it. Those that used spears and managed to stab deeper found that their attacks hit a hard object inside the cocoon and couldn’t go further.
Just as they made some headway and chunks of flesh started falling off from the cocoon-like structure, it suddenly burst from the inside. Something flew out from the cocoon and struck both Val-Kas’j and Resitia, who were in its way. The strike sent Val-Kas’j – who managed to barely block it – stumbling backwards for a couple of steps, while Resitia fell on her back with a deep wound on her left shoulder.
The thing that leapt out from the cocoon itself landed on the wall across the chamber, standing horizontally on it as its clawed feet – all eight of them – clamped tightly to the earthen wall. At a glance it looked a lot like the other arachnoids the party had already faced, if somewhat different in appearance. Instead of a bulbous spider-like lower body, the arachnoid instead had its eight slender legs connected directly to its waist, and was otherwise quite humanoid in shape.
A single glance at its name – [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign (Prematurely hatched) Lvl 78] – told that group just how dangerous the creature was, however.
Other than its eight slender legs – each of which ended in four claws arranged in cardinal directions – the creature’s arms were still wrapped around its body, stuck in place by some sort of membrane. With some effort, the creature strained and ruptured said membrane, then unfurled its six arms almost like a butterfly unfurling its wings.
Instead of any kind of beauty, however, the six arms the creature had only inspired dread. The lowest two ended in scythe blades, not unlike those of a praying mantis, which were very similar to the blades that many of the Progenies had harvested from higher level arachnoids and used as material for their weapons.
The middle two arms had pincers like a crab, ones large enough to shear a person directly in half with ease. The way the pincers made a clicking noise as they snapped against each other also made some of the Progenies nervous even as they carefully watched the high leveled creature. It was the highest level creature they had ever seen, one not far from the mythical fifth tier.
As for the uppermost pair of arms, they ended in three-fingered hands tipped with wicked claws. The creature looked at the group before it menacingly with its eight multi-faceted eyes. Its mandibles opened wide, revealing a second and third set within that also opened before it made a hissing noise at them, ichor dripping from its mouth opening. Its six arms were splayed around it in a threatening gesture.
Without needing any prompt, the group gathered as one. Ani and her warriors stood at the front, forming a defensive wall in front of the progenies. Val-Kas’j had gotten back to his feet and stood right behind their lines together with Tiesya and Nalihimatu, while the rest stood further back. Mel-Ivas was healing Resitia’s shoulder still, while Esperanza, Legisvula, Dali, and Gordy were off to the sides, trying to flank the creature.
All of them knew that the creature before them would be a difficult fight just from its level alone. In fact, if they had not forced it out of its cocoon prematurely and allowed it to truly mature, the group was uncertain if they could even beat it. Either way, given how fast the creature moved, none of them felt that they would even be allowed to run away if they wanted to.
The beast was clearly faster than them, after all.
Ani stood at the forefront of the group, her bone spear – Esperanza thought it resembled a large whaling harpoon more than a spear – pointed towards the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] ahead of them. She looked more serious than any of them had seen before. Fortunately, by that time, most of the group’s buffs that they used the most had finished its cooldown, so the group wasted no time to re-cast them one after another.
Esperanza also made use of [A Lending of Power] to strengthen the others, while she shifted her arms into long, tenebrous limbs tipped with bone blades, other than one that held her dagger. A mere thought allowed her to clad each of her weapons in [Soul Armament], furthering their deadliness, though from her [Soul Sight], she could tell that the creature before them would be much harder to take down that way compared to its brethren.
In her [Soul Sight], a large and powerful soul – larger than any soul she had seen so far, be they a person’s or a monster’s – shone bright in the center of its body. It bore no telltale marking that would indicate its affiliation to any of the gods, and instead felt more like it was at one with nature. As if it was just a part of the whole.
None of that mattered much to the group, however, as before long, the creature hissed once more before it bent its eight legs and flexed them in a sudden burst of speed. It used the wall as a platform to propel itself towards the group, its limbs spread like a blooming flower, yet one that promised nothing other than death to those that witnessed its bloom.