S-rank? How do these guys even manage to keep that dungeon locked up?
If this thing broke loose, hell would definitely rise from the depths.
Okamis turns to face me once again, as her lips begin moving. “To put it bluntly, return with three abdomens, and you will become recognised as a Mithril badge.”
Afterwards, we go through a quick briefing, and I walk inside the dungeon.
It seems like no ‘retrieval bracelets’ – the ones Harwel and I wore before – don’t work since the mana pressure of the dungeon is too immense, and it interferes with the conjuring.
Something along those lines, I think.
It doesn’t affect me that badly though – I can still retreat into my dungeon if I have to.
Boosting to max stats and rushing in might sound like the quick and easy way to beat this, but I have to be conservative with my mana.
Besides, it's not like the stat boost is permanent – it only lasts one or two minutes.
I’ll just fight the way I always did; warp, magic, cut.
…Wait. Cut?
Oh. Oops, I just unintentionally handicapped myself.
I gave Harwel my daggers, and I haven’t gotten the upgraded ones from Lin yet!
…It should be fine, right?
Who needs daggers?
…Me, apparently.
What monster has an ‘abdomen’? I can only really think of spiders. Are these spider monsters though?
Well, soon, I should get my answers, right?
I keep on walking for a bit.
Compared to the C-ranked dungeon with the Kemoths, I’ve already noticed one particular, looming difference.
The Kemoth dungeon was clearly being actively used, right?
There were apparent man-mad appendages scattered everywhere. Like the steel support beam and recovery potions.
But this place?
It seems untouched. Not a single sign of human (demon) interference. It seems pretty old as well.
The eerie silence could probably get snapped in half by the wind, like a thin string.
In fact, talking about strings, I think I’ve noticed a bunch of that here.
Like, overgrown cobwebs and stuff. These monsters are probably arachne's.
Actually, I take that back. Not ‘probably’ - These guys are certainly some sort of spider monster.
Why else would there be such an abundance of cobwebs?
I walkstum along the path, keeping an eye out for a sudden spider attack, when-
“Ngghh?”
Oops. I made a weird sound.But, I like, can’t move.
I’m frozen in place right now.
…
Did I really get caught by webs invisible to the naked eye?
{Omniscience}, what are you doing?
Seriously, it was off?
…
Well, at least I can now clearly see the webs, and… Whoa.
In front of me, there’s an entire barrage of invisible, sticky threads.
I shiver, imagining what would have happened if I aimlessly wandered in there.
There doesn’t seem to be any spider yet, so I quickly evaporate the webs with [Dark Magic], breaking myself free.
Whew, I sure love the disintegration effect!
As I snap the thread off, {Omniscience} warns me, telling me that a pair of spiders are heading towards my location.
Aw, really?
Battle so early?
I turn, quickly facing the spiders, and the glimpse I get is… unsettling.
Think of a big, hairy tarantula. Now increase its size till it's as big as a car.
You see that? Good – or rather, not good.
Now, imagine it having armour-like plates jutting out all over its back. A set of mesmerising fangs. And worst of all, the end of every leg is sharpened like a chisel. Sort of like having spears for feet.
Or maybe studs for soccer shoes?
As I rant on, the spiders begin hissing.
…
Why do I feel like I’ve gotten hissed at by nearly every monster I face? And why are most of them insect-looking?
…
Alright, I get that this is no time to be joking around.
I have no escape route – there's a landmine of sticky threads behind me; each one strong enough to ensnare me. And in front of me, stand two spiders – both strong enough to reach Mithril with relative ease.
Nameless Level: 5 Rank: S Class (primary): Assassin Class (secondary): Thread User Health: 5,731 Damage: 4,105 Mana: 5,214 Defence: 5,009 Speed: 5,373 Titles: [Monster Hunter], [Monster Slayer], [Monster Calamity], [Fearbinger], [Threads Expert] Skills: [Venom Lv10], [Bite Lv10], [Thread Creation], [Thread Manipulation], [Camouflage Lv10]> Nameless Level: 9 Rank: S Class (primary): Assassin Class (secondary): Poison User Health: 5,042 Damage: 5,742 Mana: 4,796 Defence: 5,310 Speed: 5,016 Titles: [Monster Hunter], [Monster Slayer], [Monster Calamity], [Fearbinger], [Venom Expert] Skills: [Venom Lv10], [Bite Lv10], [Thread Creation], [Thread Manipulation], [Strengthen Toxin Lv10]> Alright, together, these spiders are going to be pretty troublesome. Although they seem similar, I can safely say that one of the spiders is much more profound in the art of… web-weaving? While the other seems heavily poison-attack based. From what I can gauge, the web spider seems more like a support type? Like, staying at the back planting traps, while the poison – or technically, venomous spider does the direct attacking. Using {Omniscience}, I notice a slight twitch of muscles. Moreover, I foresee poison spider rushing towards me. I preemptively dodge sideways, as the spider’s sharp spear-like legs impale the ground. However, its attacks don’t end there. It rears up on two legs, using the other six to relentlessly attack me. Without any daggers, I cloak both arms in blackness, parrying each strike. The spider increases its speed, as its movements become increasingly difficult to read. Every strike leaves the air vehemently flying beyond, and the rippling air pressure makes it rather difficult to see. Forget about a breeze – the sheer air pressure would be enough to knock down an average soldier! For every shot I parry, the claws reflect off, and leave gaping holes in the walls beside me. No normal person would be able to withstand this. A single hit probably won’t do much, but if the damage accumulates, it could severely hurt even me. I barely manage to parry every hit. After all, the spider is attacking with threefold my limbs. Even blinking could prove fatal. In a mere second, the spider gets in roughly ten or so hits. I wait it out, looking for an opening to strike. Eventually, the spider lets its guard down, and without wasting a moment, I strike forwards, outstretching my hand to pierce through the spider's heart. “Huhgg?” Midair, just a few millimetres short of the spider's life, my hand freezes in place. Instinctively, I try pulling back, but my hand still stays there, unmoving. … It seems I fell into the spider's trap. I was wondering why the spider was attacking in such a rithmetic, predictable pattern – probably the only reason I managed to block or deflect every single shot. But, it seems it was actually setting up an elaborate web, naked to the normal eye. It even seemed to absorb sound waves – the reason {Omniscience} didn’t detect it. Sort of like a moth against bats? I can almost see the spider grinning smugly. Such is the power of skills. Even though it's weaker than me, it used its skills to gain a strategic upper hand. The spider strikes again. Unable to move my hand, I brace for the pain, as I rip the captured hand out of its sockets. A loud pop! Reverberates through the room, as the tendons rip from the bone. Hurriedly, I retreat backwards, barely avoiding a rain of attacks, strong enough to do serious harm. Shit… It hurts. So much. Pools of blood pour out of my exposed wrist, and the crimson sunset rains, dying the floor an ominous red. Skill [Pain Resistance Lv8] has become skill [Pain Resistance Lv9]> The pain slowly subsides, and I recover my dislocated hand with [Stockpile]. The muscles grow on one another, forming folds and creases. White bone begins climbing up the muscle, and a fleshy layer of skin covers my hand. I squeeze my hand, testing around. It looks a bit gorey, but my healed hand functions just as well as a regular one. As the poison spider leaps towards me once again, {Omniscience} picks up multiple enemies approaching me from behind. Parrying the poison spiders' new, unpredictable attack pattern is difficult enough. The sharp tendrils nick at my body, chipping off faint layers of skin. Without wasting precious time, I swivel my head backwards as fast as I can, before readjusting to face the poison spider. Behind me, the webs are… moving. They come towards me, dancing around, the whips vividly moving in an orchestrated rhythm. I glance at the web spider. Its mana seems to be decreasing rather fast – I have to somehow wait it out. No good. I’m getting flanked from both sides. Still praying the poison spiders strikes, I react too late, as a thread latches onto my leg, pinning me down onto the ground. Peering into {Omnisciences} readings, things seem like they’re taking a turn for the worst. The threads wrap around me, coiling like a cocoon. I try breaking free. Nope. Nothing. Aw man. Seriously, this is lame, huh? …I wanted to give myself a little test, but I guess I have to go all out. The poison spiders fangs slowly envelop me. Yeah, no. Not happening today. Right before its jaw slams shut, I warp away, appearing behind the web spider. It seems to recoil in surprise, all eight of its eyes wide with fear. However, I use that delayed response to my advantage. Adding a layer of abyss onto a finger, I jam it into the spiders underbelly. It writhes in pain, frantically rolling on the floor, trying to shake me off. With my finger embedded inside the spider, I use it as a stepping stone, jamming my entire hand inside. Neon green blood spurts all over the room, and my face sours in disgust as some of the bitter blood gets into my mouth. Seriously, that spider blood tastes… abominable! If anyone made spider blood soup, I’d sue them on the spot! Well, my hand is comfortably inside, so I loosen the mana coating, and slip my hand back out. So, what now? Both the dark and abyssal magic are inside the spider's stomach. Time for one of my favourite move, I guess. “Boom.” Aaah, I’ll never get tired saying that line, even if it makes me sound like a shonen protagonist! As you could guess, the magic runes explode without a stable spell, and the shards of death fly out of the spider. The web spider spasms briefly, before flopping onto the floor, very, very dead. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Alongside the web spider, the threads that were thrashing around violently before also come to a stop, as they harmlessly flop onto the ground. I haul the web spider into my inventory. Looking up, I find the poison spider, staring at its fallen comrade, and back at, a primal fear etched onto its face. The arachne scurries away as fast as it can. Really? Why does this trait also run in monsters? You know, the one where someone acts all stuck-up and superior, but the second they realise they’re outclassed, they make a cowardly run for it. I thought it was just for intelligent creatures, but I guess not… Wait… these spiders have high stats, including mana. Which means they’re actually… smarter than the average human? Sure, brain surface area and other natural, racial traits play a large role in intelligence, but stats are undeniably also a major player. …In a sense, are these guys smarter than an average Joe? I mean – the other adventurers during the Silver badge test were all… a bit on the dumb side. Was that actually to do with their low stats? For example, Doug certainly doesn’t behave or act like a noble - I get the feeling he was a commonfolk before he got appointed as [Demon Lord]. Yet, he’s certainly smarter than, say, that Kester or Geoffrey the farmer guy. Though, that’s besides the point. What I’m trying to say is that fake-cocky guys who are actually cowards piss me off. At least face me like a man! So… yeah. Sorry, spider, but you aren’t going to make it out alive. If it’s a physical fight you want’ I’ll give you a physical fight. Pouring some mana into [Empowerment], I sprint as fast as I can. Every step I take literally leaves metre-wide imprints on the earthy ground, and loud sonic booms ensue. Yeesh, the system limit is so overpowered. In no time, I reach – or rather, fumble and skid past the spider. Guess I was going too fast? However, I’ve blocked its only escape path. The buff ends in literally seven more seconds, so I should stop messing around. Welp, sayonara, Spooder. With a flash of my fingers, I jam my fingers into the spider’s head – each one destroying the confining membrane of an eye. I follow up with an abyssal bullet, and it evaporates the spider, along with the wall behind it. And another. And another, before it finally stops. Oops. That was over-excessive. I probably just opened up a bunch of shortcuts. But, look. In my defence, the walls were pretty weak. If the spider rammed a wall, it would also probably shatter. I lug the second corpse into my inventory. All basic attributes increased Level-up proficiency acquired Skill points acquired Combat points acquired 50% of max health recovered.> Oh? I haven’t heard a level-up notification for so long! It sounds so familiar, yet distant… The level-up was rather unexpected, but my luck increases, at least. There. 130 into my luck stat. Yeesh, that 3 digit number is a huge outlier! To be honest, I’m a bit let down. I tried challenging myself to beat the spiders with minimal skill usage, but I ended up falling back onto my skills to dominate. Like I said before, skills are the most effective way to bridge between a large stat-gap. So, I wanted to test my own abilities, and see how well I’d fare without using that many skills. I mean, as soon as I got serious, the tables didn’t just turn – no, the entire wave flipped backwards and became a tsunami! Man, I sure love skills. Having ten skill slots – double the usual amount of five– feels sort of like cheating. Only sort of like cheating though. If you want to see a real cheater, go look at Lin! Seriously, negating all debuffs is a HUGE cheat! Lin is basically like a better version of… what was that [Heroes] name again? … Oh, right. Lin is basically an improved model of Ray! With [Empowerment] and {Egocentric}, Lin essentially has an infinite number of [Acceptance] and [Second Wind] combos! The only really limiting factor is that if Lin’s stats are currently at 9,999, he can’t recover again until the buff wears off. I mean, if you’ve already reached the system limit, [Empowerment] won’t do squat, so obviously the debuff-reverse wouldn't be able to work. It’s like trying to add more ammo to a fully loaded magazine. Well, off to find the third spider, I guess? Oh, spiderrrrs? Where arrre you? I peek through every nook and cranny, but find nothing. I swear, if they’re all bunched up together and hiding in a massive swarm… Then, this’ll literally become the roach days again! If you scale the power, I suppose ‘roach days’ is actually a pretty accurate representation. Huh. If so, I might as well try baiting out a spider just like before with the roaches. Act weak and limp around like a cripple. That was the gist, I think? Well, no point fretting until I actually manage to find these spiders! The two from before must’ve gotten lost or something. I mean, I haven’t scouted even a single other one yet! I’m starting to doubt any more arachnes even exist here… Maybe the limit is two and I have to wait for them to respawn? … Nah, I don’t think that’s the case. The place I popped out seemed untouched, like it hadn’t been used in a while. If these spiders were free to roam around endlessly for a prolonged period of time, I’m sure their levels would be at least above ten. I strum along, {Omniscience} giving me a clear, 360 degrees vision. I keep on walking along until I see a sharp turn, leading to an intersection. Oh. Really, one of these again? Hmm… I wouldn’t trust. The first roach I faced was behind a sharp turn. The Supreme Kemoth was hidden past a steady turn. The Mantis also popped out from an acute bend. At this point, I’ll be surprised if there isn’t anything on the other side of the wall… Well, better safe than sorry, I guess? Time to try out this cool trick I practised. Our eyes see the light in the atmosphere, right? And, darkness can affect that light. So, what if I use [Dark Magic] to alter and manipulate the pathway of light? I don’t exact how it works – don’t question fantasy world physics. I mean, darkness shouldn’t be able to reflect ANY light at all! It should be absorbing it, not bouncing it off! Though, I guess these questionable physics work in my favour. By bending the light, I can essentially create a network, allowing me to clearly see past that wall, aaandd… … Wow. Yeah. Whoa. What was I expecting? Because, believe it or not… THERE’S A CLIFF, AND RIGHT UNDER IT, LIVE A FEW HUNDRED SPIDERS! Seriously, does Okamis have beef with me or something? I mean, sure, I can exit this dungeon whenever I want since there are no criterias for leaving, but still. How does she expect anyone to deal with that? I don’t. For sure. Oop. A few spiders are skittering up the string strung to the top of the cliff. A scout squad, maybe? Well… better get going before I get caught! As the spiders lazily crawl up the sheer drop, the string sways from side to side, making some weird groaning sound as if in complaint. I can deal with the pair, right? A quick [Appraisal] shows that they’re quite similar to the other two spiders I faced off before – a thread user, and a poison user. Maybe that was also a squad of scouts? But… what would they be scouting for? I mean, as far as I can tell, this dungeon only spawns spiders. Unless there’s some territorial dispute between two alpha siders or whatever, I don’t get the purpose of a bunch of reconnaissances. Maybe they’re looking for more human adventurers to kill? … Not that either. From what I can tell, this dungeon is off-limits unless you get Okamis’ approval. And I highly doubt that people trying out for Mithril would drop by often. So, what are these creepers looking for? Or is it that these spiders aren’t actually looking for anything in particular? I mean, if I focus with {Omniscience}, I can tell from the way their muscles twitch that they’re not actually tensed up. Yeah. I get {Omniscience} is stupid strong, but that’s beside the point. The point is, these spiders don’t seem tense at all. In fact, they seem… rather relaxed. … So they’re just taking a walk in the park or something? Really now? Geez, I got all worked up over nothing. And here, I thought I was uncovering some mystery! At least this works to my advantage, since the spiders have their guard lowered. I’ll wait for them to wander off a bit more, before I pop in and eliminate one. Although… this might actually be a rare opportunity to farm stats. These spiders are worthwhile, and give me a decent amount of stats from their soul containers. As long as I fight them in pairs and not get ganged up, all should be fine. Stalking the second pair of Kumorantulas in the shadows – both literally and metaphorically, I sneakily follow them from behind. Not Harwel stalker level - of course. I should also be able to salvage a decent number of monster parts from this, even if the abdomen gets taken by the Guild. Following the spiders till they get a safe distance from the ‘nest,’ or whatever the cliff was, I suddenly warp in front of them. The spiders click their fangs, and look at me in surprise. I gaze into the web spider's eight eyes, as it reciprocates, becoming transfixed on me. Neither of us break eye-contact. It isn’t romance, for sure – I’d rather commit seppuku than simp for a spider. As we lock into the deepest part of the other’s soul – or whatevers supposed to be happening, the poison spider rushes at me, its fangs wide open. I duck, before using the spider's momentum to pull off a deadly kick. The poison spider hisses in pain, and recoils away. … “Actually, I think I’ll have a bit of fun…” I murmur, as a lightbulb turns itself on. … Getting carried away, I do some random hand signs, stretching my shadow onto the web spider. The web spider stands still, not budging an inch. Aaahh… Now, I finally have the luxury of saying it! “Fufufu… you’re already trapped in my ninjitsu,” I taunt, slightly hiding my chuckle with a furtive hand. Whew, I sure feel like some anime protagonist now! But, the web spider suddenly shifts away, and sends multiple thread whips my way, each one cutting the air, creating a volley of whooshes what wisp around. Using my [Dark Magic], I encase each sturdily delicate thread in darkness, and erode the material. The web spider looks at me in shock, its strongest weapon having been cancelled. … Okay, I dealt with the counterattack pretty easily, but I really thought it worked! Damn it, I guess I can’t trap people in my shadow and control their movements… I really wanted to try that out though! Come on, {Omniscience}, give me an even cooler killer move! Something more bad-ass than my exploding attacks! Breaking down individual functions… Searching for alternate utilisation synergy… Ping!> And, just like that, {Omniscience} sends some sort of information pamphlet into my head. Oh, I see! That… really is something else! Okay. Alright. Here goes nothing! The poison spider, still dazed from my counter-attack, scrambles up onto its eight needle-like legs, and roars at me once again. It rears up, exposing its thick, stubby neck. Heh. Perfect. From my fingertips, I release a tiny shot – a shadow bullet. It slo~owly flies towards the poison spider. The spider evidently notices the weak attack, but bears no mind, fixating its eyes on me once again. Big mistake. Tink. The shadow bullet – one so weak that a sudden flash of light could disintegrate it - harmlessly cuts the spiders rough neck. A tiny incision. One barely noticeable, like a splinter on the finger. An attack so weak, anything could withstand it. A minuscule, painless dent. Almost nothing. Nothing. Then, SSSCCCRRTTTCCCCHHHH—TAHHH!! Like a burst balloon, the spider's head rips off. A clean, decisive cut delivered through a tiny frame – an existential window of opportunity. One with no waver. Linear. Perfect. Absolute. The ragged, diamond exoskeleton, smooth, fleshy meat and ivory, pristine bone. All cut like the grain on timber. Not one crack, one mislopped string of muscle, one fragment of the framework out of line. Plop… plop…plop.. plop. Plopplopplop – sspprrRSHSSHSHH!!! Blood. Sprays. Everywhere. A single droplet takes the lead. Followed by another. One more. Two more. Four more. Eight more, sixteen more, thirty-two more… The crimson blood, tainted with an eerie neon green splurge across the entire room. The wet, gooey substance smacks across the walls, slings onto my body, and slaps the web spider. And, all we can do is stare. Intently. Mesmerised. Not only at the animatronic blood rain, but also at the perfectly delivered cut. And – “Skkrrcchh!!” bellows the web spider, as it attempts to run away, turning its back to me and retreating as fast as it can. Aw man, I thought it was going to marvel at the beauty of this… artistic destruction with me! I mean, geez. Even I’m SUPER shocked at how things turned out. {Omniscience} wasn’t kidding about an ace. This attack is way stronger than my explosive attacks! I wouldn’t even say they exist on the same plane. This is like, on another level! The only downside is that this attack works if, and only if my opponent has no way of healing. Well, I guess I’ll fully explain after I kill off the web spider before it reports to headquarters or something? And, all my mana recovered as well! Weird, right? [Vampirism] at max level should only recover 10% of the damage, so how did I recover 100%? That’s the scariest part of the attack: it attacks individual cells. Not mass as a whole. From some slime experiments, I can already tell that recovering from [Dark Magic] is harder than other, physical-attributed magics. I guess I’ll put it this way? If I, hypothetically, burn off your arm with [Fire Magic], some healing magic can retrieve the ashes, and rebuild/restore them, before repairing your arm, as good as new. It’s a bit on the extreme end, but it's easier to recover something if the base parts are still there - even if they’re just ashes. Hmm… One moment, let me think of a better way to explain. Say, I have a glass cup, right? And, I smash it with a hammer. Although tedious, it’s easier to glue the tiny pieces together than to make a second glass from scratch. That’s basically the comparison I’m giving right now. [Dark Magic] destroys. Anything hit by it gets eaten up. No leftovers. The glass cup would literally disappear. And so, recovering a wound from scratch takes much longer than recovering a wound if… if the missing chunk of flesh was still there. But what happens if I take that to a molecular scale? Erase the cells, one by one? Yeah. Even the strongest mage probably wouldn’t fully restore the wound to its previous state. You see? This is the scale of power I’m talking about. And, I never would’ve discovered this if it weren’t for {Omniscience}! Talk about a handy skill. Someone just turned from a zero to hero! In the corner of my eye, I see the web spider scatter away. Sorry, bub, not on my watch. I shoot an abyssal bullet. The nothingness strikes the web spider right in the back, and a torrent of blood goes flying up, splattering on the ceiling and all. Yucky. Looking down, I notice that my robe is all dirty – covered in the sloppy greeny red blood. Eh. I’ll just steal- Er… I’ll just borrow another cloak from the next merchant I find. I dump both corpses into my storage system, and take a seat on the dry stone. If you can’t recover the nick dealt by the shadow bullet in time, your doom is basically guaranteed. Unfortunately, it also takes a while to cast. Maybe one or two minutes? Based on the information pamphlet – a mental one, at least – the casting time takes one or two minutes, and I can’t use any other magic in that time. The shot from before was probably just a fluke, but, damn. That really was something else! I guess, without anything else to do, I might as well explain how that clean cutter thing works. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, sit back, relax, and watch the great Rena Shinohara explain stuff! Wait… ladies and gentlemen? Uh, a bit irrelevant, but I think I might’ve discovered some societal thing. Gentlemen – whatever stereotype that falls under – let ladies first, right? So, that’s why it’s first ‘Ladies', then ‘gentlemen’! Once again, I’ve connected the dots… … Once again, I apologise for my existence. Well, before I got off topic, I was explaining how the shadow bullet trick worked, right? Let's see… how should I put it? Um… Oh! Alright, I know how to start this lecture off! Every crack or crevice must have a shadow. A sharp indentation will always cast a shadow underneath. Simple enough to understand, right? So… let’s call that Rena’s Law. What? You got a problem? Yeah, that’s what I thought. By applying… Rena’s Law, we can break this process down into several chronological steps. First, we must analyse the first step of the procedure before delving deeper into the complicated, delicate logistics. Alright, I give up. Sounding smart and professional is waay too hard! I’ll keep it nice and simple. I shot a shadow bullet, right? It made a tiny nick in the spider's skin. And, what does that indentation produce? Correct. A shadow! There. Everything’s set up. Now, I need to cast a cloak of darkness over that shadow. Back in my adventure days (although I’m technically in an adventurer’s trial right now), I found out that not only could I strengthen something with [Dark Magic], I could also tamper with it and erode it. So, I use the casted shadow to erode a second layer of cells, exposing another plaster of cells. I repeat the process, eroding the cells one by one. And in a matter of seconds, a permanent, fatal blow ensues. If it weren’t for [Vampirism], I’d probably run out of mana on the fourth or fifth layer. Thank you, [Vampirism]! I can scalpel millions of layers this way. There. That should be easy enough to understand. Really, even for me, this cellular attack is on a different calibre! An unhealable, permanent scar. Unhealable. Damn, that sure hits different! I didn’t end up becoming a ninja with shadow possession jutsu, but I came back out with something even better. Even Lin can’t withstand it! Just like {Egocentric}, this attack ignores any defensive stat. And, boy, oh boy, do I know how overpowered defence-piercing attacks are! I’ve experienced a punch from Lin firsthand, okay? That one strike nearly knocked the lights out of me! I’m having trouble not getting cocky now. A part of me just wants to jump head-first into the spider cliff, and fight while screaming ‘This is Sparta!!’ Actually, why not? I won’t directly jump in, but I’ve got this wonderful strategy planned out. Using my dungeon, I shift right above the cliff. Sticking on the ceiling through a shadow, I amass a huge blob of void. Checking my stats from the corner of my vision, I see my mana decreasing at a rapid rate. Without as much as a millisecond of delay, I release the void right before my mana goes into the red. The almost gelatinous glob free-falls, accumulating speed and velocity at an alarming rate. And, right before the glob connects, I deconstruct the spell. “Boom,” I say in a hushed tone, as I look at the damage I caused with a satisfied grin. I’ve created a fair amount of panic. The spiders – once lazing around without a care, all have their eyes shot up, looking around in a frantic manner. Sure, a few void shards aren’t enough to kill, or even severely wound any spiders, but with this many crowded together – Perfect. My mana. All recovered, thanks to [Vampirism]. Aaahh. I wonder how many rounds these critters can survive? As I continue dropping these void bombs, I look in satisfaction as my stats slowly tick up a few hundred at a time. The spiders and I might have similar stats, but our skills create this massive, overwhelming power-gap.