This is great.

As disgusting as hacking through hundreds of spider eggs might have been, James would have done it a million times for the experience points he was getting.

Of course, being [Embryos], they gave very little compared to the fully grown versions, but the numbers added up. After a couple hundred broken eggs, he had already gotten three whole levels!

It was enough to be worth a dungeon run all by itself. Since thousands more remained, he could very well see getting all the way to level thirty just from this room.

“We really struck gold, haven’t we?” Lauren cheered, even as she tried to get some of the nondescript muck that clung to her gloves.

They had all given up using knives soon after they began, resorting to fists and, in Daniel’s case, his shield. It was just a numbers game, after all, and they needed to be as efficient as possible before they got found out by the boss monster.

“It’s not like we are being greedy either. Think of the mess that would have happened if all these eggs hatched.” Maria agreed, her fist buried into another embryo.

Taking it out, she ignited a small flame, quickly burning off anything sticking to her.

“It’s so not fair you can do that. Ugh.” Ezekiel groused. Being the least physically oriented of the group, he was also the one suffering the most from a lack of stamina, but at least he could use his buffs to make up for some of it.

“Keep going, guys. The sooner we finish here, the sooner we’ll get to kill the Boss and be done with this place.” Being the only one not to use his bare hands, it was easy for Daniel to say.

Half an hour later, they took a break. Having achieved another two levels for their efforts, they wanted to at least add the stat points to make continuing with the massacre easier.

Status.

STATUS WINDOW

Name

James Summers

Age

19

Awakening

1st

Talent

Thakinesis

Title

Level

29

MP

125/145

STR

20

VIT

14

AGI

14

SENSE

20

MIND

13

STAT POINTS

0

Even after bracing, the surge of power still took James by surprise. Fourteen stat points all together were quite the number, after all, and he was forced to the ground, twitching as if he had been electrocuted for the first time since that time he added to his attributes in his room.

His mind expanded as it was forced to understand more, to process more data. His body flexed and changed, muscles tightening and growing with new strength. His organs contracted with the energy and returned to doing their job more efficiently, pumping blood faster and bringing more oxygen to his cells.

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All in all, James received the most significant bump in power ever in his life, all because he had been lucky enough to find a spider hatchery.

He picked himself up slowly, testing his body with great care.

His hands effortlessly flexed with enough strength to powder the eggshells he grabbed, whereas before he had to push himself. His eyesight, which had been good enough to almost see in the dark before, now revealed the hatching chamber in all its monstrous glory. He could smell the blood, the dirt, the humidity in the air, like never before.

Walking up to a particularly large cluster of eggs, he punched forward, his arm easily clearing its whole length, killing five Embryos in one shot.

“Oh, yeah.” He whispered to himself with a satisfied smile. He had crossed the midway point of rank-H with absurd speed, considering the average time was four months.

He turned around, having felt Lauren try to sneak up on him, and found her pouting. “It’s not fun if you keep putting points in SENSE.”

He chuckled, noticing how silent her steps had become. With great AGI, augmented by her skills, the girl was becoming a right terror, and it wouldn’t be long before she’d be a ghost on the battlefield, flitting between enemies and delivering lethal blows without being noticed.

“This place is amazing.” He said, looking at the still intact hundreds of eggs. It would truly have been a disaster if the dungeon had been left fallow, but James could only be grateful that the Golden Sun Guild’s prospector had not gone deep enough to find the hatchery, otherwise they would have no doubt hogged it all for themselves.

Well, it wouldn’t have been worth much to them, but their subsidiaries would have loved it.

“Can you believe what they were sitting on?” Ezekiel asked after he was done with his own twitching. Just the increased mana alone was a game changer for him, since his healing spells were so expensive. It would allow him to contribute to the fights much more, rather than keeping in reserve in case someone got hurt.

“If we could find a couple more dungeons like this, we’d get to G-rank in no time.” Daniel joked. His already powerful physique had gotten even more impressive. Some fat still covered his muscles, but it only made him look more robust, and his forearms were as big as Maria’s legs.

“Yeah, maybe there are more in the other dungeons we got from the Golden Sun.” The redhead laughingly agreed. Since her build was mostly based upon her firepower, her body didn’t change much, but she moved more fluidly now, her increased AGI important to let her dodge melee fighters.

“Alright, guys.” James interrupted “Enough rest, let’s get this done and go find the Boss.”

As much as he would have liked to extend their pause, he was already getting worried. Such good things didn’t normally come without a caveat, and the dungeon’s strongest creature’s absence was making him suspicious.

This is the perfect spot for it to rest. We should be around the central point of the spiders’ territory, so I don’t get how it’s not here yet. It’s not like we have been particularly quiet.

With hundreds more eggs to go, even with their increased stats, they would have to work for at least another thirty minutes, probably more before they were done, and he really wanted to get this job over with.

Unfortunately, just as he was about to restart the grind, he felt his fears be realized.

A massive creature, much larger than the Crocodile Boss had been, was scuttling closer to them with great speed.

“The Boss is coming!” He yelled, abandoning the cluster of eggs to make for the chamber's center, where they quickly regrouped.

Daniel raised his shield, which was glowing brightly with his skill. The light it gave off, coupled with their torches and newly enhanced SENSE, was enough for James to finally see the creature he was sensing.

A dozen feet in height and twenty in length made his nightmares materialize. The Boss spider was as big as an elephant, and its fangs clicked with enough strength to shear one in half.

Its eyes, unlike the dumb, almost mechanical look its subordinates had, shone with malicious intelligence.

As soon as it fully entered the chamber, it let out a screech, seeing the mess they had made of the eggs.

The sound was powerful enough to make them all wince and cover their ears, even though no skill had been used. Without wasting time, the Boss charged, and they were in a battle for their lives.

Thanks to his increased stats, James’ Thakinetic Empowerment granted him even more power, so he took it upon himself to try and act as bait, leaving the rest of the group behind.

He charged right back at it, and was met with one massive leg, its wickedly sharp tip rushing to spear him through.

Its speed was such that he was forced to abort his run, instead rolling away from it, and then again to the left, when another leg punched into the ground just a few inches next to him.

Meanwhile, the spider’s maw descended on Daniel, clamping on his shield with the strength of a hydraulic press. There was little the Tank could do to avoid getting it ripped away from his hands, and with a swift motion, the shield was thrown aside, clanging against the wall of trees that made up the chamber. The boss spider then turned its many eyes on Maria and Lauren, lunging towards them with its massive fangs bared.

Lauren, swift and agile as she was, managed to dodge just in time, rolling away from the monstrous arachnid. Maria, on the other hand, was not so lucky. She unleashed a torrent of flames at the creature's face, which made it shriek in pain, but she couldn’t avoid its momentum.

It crashed into her, sending her flying off into the sticky webs with enough strength to crack the branch she landed on. She screamed but managed to keep her cool enough not to fully light up.

Had she done so, they would have gotten trapped in a flaming hell with the spider, and she was not yet good enough to control that amount of fire.

Ezekiel acted quickly, his healing spells flying through the air to envelop Maria in a warm, glowing light. The healing energy quickly mended her wounds as she managed to push her skill enough to prevent the spread of the fires, burning off only the webs sticking to her and thus breaking free, leaving behind only the scorched scent of burned spider web.

The team was now in full defensive mode, their earlier success with the eggs forgotten. The monstrous spider moved with a frightening agility that belied its size. Like deadly spears, its legs stabbed at them from all angles, forcing them to be constantly on the move.

Daniel, now unarmed, went to grapple with the creature’s legs, trying to divert its attention and give the others an opening to attack. His strength was enough that he managed to maintain his hold on the limb he had grabbed, and James’ constant attacks held its attention, keeping it away from running the Tank through.

James, realizing they needed to coordinate better, shouted over the din, "Ez, lower its AGI! Maria, focus your attacks on its eyes! Daniel, hang on while Lauren finds your shield!"

As they followed his orders, James found an opening after a fireball made the monster turn around to protect its eyes. He rushed in, his empowered fists slamming into one of the spider's massive legs, sending cracks sprawling across its exoskeleton. The creature reeled, allowing him to press the attack. His enhanced STR was enough that even a monster of this power felt the weight of his hits, and since this wasn’t the kind of situation in which he could justify holding back, he prepared to unleash as much mana as he could in a replica of his final move against the starfish.

It was a gamble, he knew, but he could see the writing on the wall. If he allowed the fight to go on much longer, they’d lose. The spider was simply too strong, too fast and too resilient.

It has to have reached G-rank. Fuck, I knew this would happen. It was really too good to be true.

“Found it!” Lauren yelled, throwing the shield like a frisbee to Daniel, who jumped off the monster’s leg to catch it. He did so just in time, because that very same leg tried to skewer him soon after, though it couldn’t penetrate the D-rank equipment.

Taking advantage of the spider’s distraction, James ran forward, using a rock as a springboard to jump. He soared through the air, his enhanced STR allowing him to easily reach the top of the creature’s body. The moment he touched down on it, he punched.

I don’t have the right balance, and there is no leverage, but this attack doesn’t need any of that. Eat this, bitch.