In the end, Magnus and his Ent allies decided to wait at least half a day to see if the Broodmother would come out of her cave. Figuring out that eight Ents were a little bit overkill for what was basically just a lookout, so he decided to send half of them including Caridus the spearman for a little hunt. Thinning out the numbers of the spiders still roaming through the forest would only do them good when fighting the Broodmother. Every one spider dead meant fewer spiders that could flank them and possibly lose them the battle. They wouldn’t even have to worry so much about engaging the Broodmother with half their force missing because of the mental link between all Ents facilitated by Cardys. The Ents on the hunt would immediately know of any fights Magnus’ group would get into.
An hour in, just after Magnus was starting to lose patience, his ears caught something. With no wind or birds and only a few insects chirping even the most minute sounds could be heard clearly. A clacking rhythmic pitter-patter of dozens of spider legs reverberated from the cave entrance. Magnus immediately narrowed and he quickly laid down while motioning for the other Ents to do the same. Soon after, one guard spider surrounded by about ten spiders [Identify] let Magnus know that the guard spider was Level 6 while all of the smaller spiders were only Level 3 at most, with most of them Level 1. The spiders moved as one skittering over to the sheer cliff face and started climbing. Magnus wouldn’t let an opportunity like that slip by. Carefully and as silently as possible he crouched over to where the spiders would finish their climb. The Ents moved with him. Being one with the forest made their steps unbelievably quiet, even more so than Magnus’ with his [Stealth]. It wasn’t only once on this excursion that he was surprised by an Ent suddenly sneaking up to him.
Magnus was planning to stab at the smaller spiders while they were climbing and possibly letting them fall to the ground below. As for the bigger one, he couldn’t let it do the same, he had use for it yet. He didn’t have to wait long before the first of the spiders started putting one of its disgusting legs over the cliff edge. That same moment, he struck. The spider unable to defend itself in the unfortunate position it was in had its vulnerable leg cut off. All at once, as if a shot was fired from a gun the rest of the spiders started desperately climbing. He would have shat his pants if he was alone, but luckily, he wasn’t. The Ents, even more single-minded than the spiders started attacking. The two mages, including Curt II, started diligently preparing some spells. The three sentinels had it harder than Magnus considering their lack of weapons and thus range, but nonetheless, they worked like a well-oiled machine. While the spiders had the advantage in quantity, the Ents were individually a lot more powerful. Thankfully, the spiders were just stupid animals and so they weren’t even aware of tactical retreats. The smaller spiders fell one by one as Magnus viciously cut off all their legs and the sentinels pulled the spiders up and let the mages skewer them with spells. When the slower but bigger guard spider finally put one of its legs over the edge, Magnus stepped back and motioned for the Ents to stay back. He wanted to test himself and besides they still had a few stragglers to take care of.
Standing face to face with the angry spider made Magnus shiver a bit. Was this a good idea? It wouldn’t go like last time when he ambushed the spider while it was fighting. Looking into its cold beady eyes didn’t really reassure Magnus in any way. The spider charged, its fangs dripping with poison and poised to strike. Its size belied the speed of the charge but with an early warning from [Danger Sense], he dodged left and slashed for its eyes. Taking a deep breath, he steadied his shaking legs and looked back into the terrifying eyes of a predator which looked a little less scary while hissing in pain from having a quarter of its eyes gouged out. In the end, the fear of death won over the fear of the spider. It wasn’t like he could even lose. Curt II had a spear aimed right at the spider, but Magnus pushed that thought away. He likely wouldn’t have a helpful posse of Ents by his side at all times, after all. For now, it was only him and the spider. His goal for the fight would be to defeat the spider without any advantages he didn’t innately possess, like the gaping cliff right behind the spider. Passive Skills he couldn’t turn off as far as he knew so he would have to do with them. As for active Skills. He would try to restrict them as much as he could. If he became over-reliant on them and something forced him to forgo them in a fight completely meant he would be in deep shit so to say. While his raw technique wasn’t the worst in his opinion, honing it could only do him good. The fact that he wasn’t the best he could be irked him. Also, he had a new piece of equipment he should get used to. The [Living Breastplate] was exceptionally light for armor as far as he could tell, but he should get used to it in a relatively controlled environment. Now, that didn’t mean he would just let himself get hit on purpose. Far from it in fact. He was hoping for a skill meant for dodging. There was a skill for running and sneaking, so why not dodging? However, if he failed and let himself get hit, it meant he would know what he had to work with in terms of how much protection the breastplate afforded.
As for his plan in this fight. Magnus wouldn’t go on the offensive if he wasn’t sure, it would win him the fight. His Stat allocation really wasn’t meant for an aggressive approach. And it wasn’t like the spider was very smart either so that only played into his cards. In theory, he could keep dodging its charges and getting weaker hits in until it dropped from exhaustion. There wasn’t any way it could last longer than Magnus with his Endurance. Hopefully, it didn’t have much in the way of active Skills. The spider charged again with its incredible power. With how much Strength it looked to possess Magnus hoped it meant that it skimped more on its Endurance. This time, Magnus jumped to his right, twisting so he had a clear way to disable two more of its eyes. The arachnid’s eyes proved to be the easiest target due to the thick armor plates covering the rest of its body. He could try to target the small gaps in the armor, but why bother? Targeting the soft eyes not only made sure he did any damage, but also lessened the spider’s field of vision. If he could disable all of its eyes this fight would prove easier than he thought. Magnus slashed out with his knife as the wind rushed around him. Two more eyes out of the equation. Targeting the rest of the eyes would be risky due to their more frontal position. Better not to take the risk and just tire it out.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The spider with four of its eight eyes gouged out only managed to hold for a few more charges until it stumbled and Magnus pounced at it like a rabid dog. Using the spider’s impaired vision to his advantage, he stabbed into the soft flesh around its eyes with all his Strength, albeit without [Devastating Blow]. He made sure not to angle the stab downwards so the precious payload that was in big part the reason he even bothered with the fight wouldn’t pop. The precise stab must have hit the spider’s brain perfectly because it didn’t even manage a hiss of pain as it died. Curt II dissipated the spell he still held in his hand and gave him a thumbs up. All in all, this wasn’t a very hard opponent but Magnus imagined the fight would go a lot differently if there were more of the spiders or if the spider managed to get momentum. With the fight finished, he brandished his knife and got to work.
Only a few minutes later he was now sitting back in the shade of a tree holding a particularly filled venom sac. What was he planning to do with it? Magnus brought up the quest.
[Fighting the Corruption II]
Level the Skill [Poison Resistance] to Level 10
It was finally time to complete the quest that was sitting in his Status for a few days. Steeling his resolve, he brought the knife up to the sac and punctured a small hole into it. Then, he chugged it, hoping that the taste wouldn’t kick in as long as he was drinking it. Not really planning to kill himself right now Magnus stopped when around a third of the liquid was left. The venom was barely stronger than what the small spiders had. Guess the guard spiders must really only be physical powerhouses preferring Strength over everything else. Though the strength of its venom wouldn’t really matter if it was fighting in a big group with ten of the smaller spiders harrying their opponent, slowly poisoning them. Nevertheless, even with the venom being weaker than expected, Magnus still laid on the ground groaning from the sheer amount of the liquid he must have consumed. Voluntarily poisoning himself wasn’t comfortable unexpectedly. Twenty minutes later, after he was done with lying on the ground and clutching his stomach the venom was all gone from his system. [Poison Resistance] had yet to reach Level 10 but he could feel a certain fullness when he focused on the Skill. It would take a last push to get over the edge. He got an idea but sighed.
Taking off his breastplate he looked at the nastiest wound. It looked so much better already. Hopefully, he wouldn’t reverse that too much. Lying onto his back, he carefully brought the venom sac above the wound and poured. Venom wasn’t made for ingestion after all but injection. Not letting his smaller wounds left out, he made sure to shower them with the putrid liquid as well. The dark green venom pooled in his wounds but he could feel his body slowly absorb it. Throwing away the now empty venom sac he prepared for the wave of pain. It never came. Instead, two notifications sounded out in his head. The first:
[Poison Resistance is now Level 10]
[Poison Resistance has reached max Level]
[Commencing Skill Upgrade]
Contrary to his previous experience, this Skill changed almost instantly. The changes in his Soul were very minor, unlike the more complex upgrade to [Devastating Blow].
[Uncommon Skill gained – Greater Poison Resistance]
Negative effects from toxins are greatly weakened. Simple toxins now have almost no effect.
No exciting changes with that one sadly but at least he wouldn’t need to suffer the poison in his veins now. The Skill itself or maybe the upgrade seemed to have completely erased it from his Body. That out of the way he opened the second notification.
[Quest Completed]
[Fighting the Corruption II]
Level the Skill [Poison Resistance] to Level 10
[Awarding Rewards]
5 Endurance gained
[Quest Received]
[Fighting the Corruption III - Part 1]
Defeat the Broodmother.
Reward: Uncommon Body
Now, what the hell was a Body? If he wasn’t set on already clearing out the dungeon then he sure as hell would be now. The fact that he now had 22 Endurance under his belt didn’t hurt either. Putting on his breastplate made him immediately feel safer and the breastplate seemed happier too. Why did it feel happy and more importantly how did he know? Was it really alive? If so then he would feel really bad if he let it get hurt in his place. Hopefully, it wouldn’t mind. Finally ready, Magnus stopped stalling and motioned the Ents to start moving. They descended. Climbing down the cliff wall proved far easier for him than last time with his increased Strength. The Ents’ machine-like efficiency was also not something to scoff at. Luckily, by the time they were halfway down, the other half of their group arrive. Having the whole gang here made Magnus feel even more confident. The mama spider had nothing on them now.
While waiting for the other half to descend Magnus pondered over the plan. At first, he wanted to act as bait a lure the spiders into the narrow cave mouth where their numbers would be culled by the mages. That wasn’t a bad idea but it hinged on him outrunning the spiders and that was too high of a risk due to the unknown number of high-Level spiders in the cave. No, a much better idea would be to create a living wall made out of him and the sentinels while the mages stood behind them, nice and protected. The wall could then advance that way, while slowly dealing with the threats as they came at them. Thankfully, the Ents weren’t stupid and got his plan immediately. They formed a living wall and plunged into the darkness.