"You take the small ones, I take the big ones, okay?" Scarlett said to Ron. She could take the bigger ones.
"Okay, don't die," Ron said to Scarlett. He didn't really have the confidence or strength to stand up to the 10 metre gigantic spider.
It seemed everyone was at a standoff waiting for someone to make the first move. On one side were 2 humans on the other side 18 spiders ranging from small to gigantic. Ron took the moment to concentrate and so did Scarlett. Suddenly Scarlett pushed hard off the ground and smashed into one of the bigger spiders, killing it instantly.
This was the trigger for the beginning of the fight. Ron quickly rushed at the green tuft spiders killing one with one swipe of his whip, while jumping back to avoid 4 venom shots. The black spiders also rushed and jumped at Ron who quickly ran away to avoid them and lashed his whip out when they got close. It was going to be a kiting game for him and the spiders.
Scarlett quickly rushed towards the other big spider wanting to kill it before it could gang up on Ron as well, he already had to deal with the 15 other spiders no need to add more pressure on there. Halfway to the big spider the mother spider suddenly shot a massive stream of venom her way, she was forced to dodge which caused the mother to stand in between her and the big spider.
"Tch" Scarlett clicked her tongue. She couldn't kill the other spider. It seems like the mother spider has the capabilities of the offspring and upscaled it to 11.
Ron was busy running around and kiting the spiders while dodging random volleys of venom, it was tiring work however from the initial 10 black spiders and 5 green tuft spiders only 7 black spiders and 4 green tuft spiders were left. It only took one flick of his whip but getting the chance was a different story.
Just as Ron was getting a handle on it a big shadow was suddenly cast over him, it was the other big one that Scarlett would handle. Ron didn't have the time to think what this meant for Scarlett as he leapt out of the way. Venom sprays were now over him as he laid on the floor they had caught him off guard.
Ron used all his might to push him off the floor and roll to the other side, *tsss* a burning pain assaulted his left arm as it was still caught by the venom. Ron now was on a timer and things looked really bad.
Meanwhile at Scarlett's side she was busy fighting the mother spider, the mother spider was extremely tough and quite agile to boot so it wasn't a simple one punch match. Scarlett smiled a little. This was a rare chance to get serious and fight something close to her level.
Training could only keep her from getting too rusty, real combat like this was the way to improve. It was also the reason Ron was progressing so quickly as he did, he kept fighting enemies close to his strength or even over his strength.
*huu* Scarlett exhaled a little and got a lot more serious, a formless pressure was blasted from her body, the mother spider also blasted some pressure of her own. It seems like even monsters are able to do this. The two were finally getting serious.
Ron looked worse for wear; his left arm was limp and burned and venom was slowly creeping up to the rest of his body. He had cut off circulation to his arm with a quick tourniquet. Ron lashed out with the whip and killed another green tuft spider, there were now 5 black spiders, 3 green tuft spiders and the big spider left. But Ron was running out of time; he needed something drastic or else he would be exhausted and killed.
He remembered what Scarlett told him about the kindling stage, his body should've gone through a transformation yet he didn't feel all that different. No that was incorrect he did feel off, like something was missing it was a feeling he had been having since entering the kindling stage.
Scarlett mentioned before even children could do things he couldn't do, what did this mean? Were the children of her world just superhuman? No, it meant they had something he didn't have. What could it be? It was the kindling stage. They could lift hundreds of kilos with ease yet Ron still had trouble with 60 kilos. How was that possible?
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Epiphany struck Ron like a wildfire. He was missing the true power of the kindling stage and suddenly he was brought back to the white void where the flame and stars were. If the flame was the kindling then what were the stars? Ron tried to move the stars but all of them were unmoving except for one. The lone lit star.
The lit star came close to Ron, he could feel the star in his hands. The raw power that was in this star was immense. He could hear the thumping of the flame almost as if calling out to him. He moved to the flame and placed the star inside the flame, the flame took on a bright light and became bigger and bigger. As that was happening Ron was cast back into reality.
All this went down in just an instant for the spiders but Ron saw the whole process. Soon his body began heating up like a hot current was suddenly unleashed from a dam. He could feel power exploding in his body. The true power of the kindling stage was now unleashed.
The spiders were taken aback by the sudden change. It felt like Ron was suddenly a dozen times stronger even though he was gravely wounded. It made no sense. Ron latched the whip around a small tree, the burning effect took place and quickly a black mark was around the tree. Ron gave it a hard pull and the tree broke off from the burned ring. The tree flew towards Ron who caught it with both arms.
Ron could use his left arm again for the time being, as Ron held the tree the spiders rushed in. Ron held the tree and swung forward with all his might the moment the spiders got close. All 5 spiders were flung away and died when they hit the ground. Ron then threw the tree and hit the remaining 3 green tuft spiders, squashing them all. The only one left now was the big spider.
Ron felt like he was unbeatable but he also knew this would only be temporary power up as his body was literally creaking from the strain he needed to move quickly in order to kill the last big spider.
Scarlett and the mother spider suddenly looked to the side to see the transformation Ron had undergone. Scarlett smiled ('looks like he figured it out') Ron was smarter than he looked and it's why Scarlett didn't tell him how to use the power of the kindling stage.
('I can't be outdone by him now') Scarlett thought as she activated her own kindling stage power however it was evidently much more pure and stronger than Ron's. The mother spider focused back to Scarlett and jumped at her wanting to skewer her with its legs.
She looked at the incoming leg and just stood still, just when the leg was about to skewer he she pushed her arms out and caught the leg. Scarlett grit her teeth from the impact as cracks formed on the ground at the same time. Scarlett suddenly lifted up the spider and smashed it on the ground.
The mother spider, not one to be outdone, sprayed a stream of venom at Scarlett as it laid on the ground. Scarlett let go of the leg and dodged out of the way afterwards she ran at the spider and kicked it hard causing a massive explosion at its side with green blood flying everywhere.
Another leg swiped at Scarlett who blocked it with both her arms before being sent flying. Her arms stung a little but ran right at it again to punch it in a different spot. This continued for a while showing that Scarlett was still a level above the spider.
Over at Ron's fight he felt the change over at Scarlett's side like needles pricking his body. He was breathing hard like his lungs were on fire. He had to finish this before he got exhausted. He rushed at the big spider with his whip in hand, if he went for the slow route he would die so he needed to be quick and strong.
The big spider hissed at Ron and once Ron was close enough it swiped its leg at him wanting to bat him away. Ron ducked under the leg and wrapped the whip around the body of the spider, burning it while it was wrapped. Suddenly Ron gave a hard tug on the rope and lifted the spider into the air and flung it into the trees as hard as he could.
*Crash* The spider crashed through multiple trees before stopping against a big rock. THe spider stumbled a little before rolling on its back dead. *huff* *huff* Ron was breathing heavily and could feel the power from the star fading inside his body. The star was flung from the fire and reset into the air a little less lit than before but still more lit than the other stars.
Scarlett finished up the mother spider which had multiple holes all over its body and walked towards Ron who looked at him with a little bit of worry on her face, she had gotten relatively unharmed the same could not be said about Ron.
Ron coughed some blood meanwhile his left arm was a gruesome colour of black and purple with the purple colour invading his chest and slowly inching towards his heart. Ron finally had a chance to look at the message and he guessed what it would be.
"CONGRATULATION YOU HAVE GAINED THE ACHIEVEMENT NAMED 'SPIDER HIVE' FOR FINDING A SMALL SPIDER HIVE. YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED 1,500 WISH POINTS. CURRENT WISH POINTS 1,500".
Strangely enough he didn't get points for exterminating a small spider hive. Was it because Scarlett took out the mother spider all by herself? Which meant that finding a random extremely strong stray summon couldn't farm points for him. But Goblin Slayer killed the paladin and Ron did get points. Was it because he had damaged the goblin paladin or was it because Goblin Slayer was his summon and contracted to him?
After exiting combat the wish store was open once more and Ron had no choice but to make a wish to heal himself completely. He had no antidote to the spider venom that was raging inside his body and he would love to keep his left arm intact. It cost Ron 150 wish points for the full heal which he gladly accepted.
A light shone on Ron's body and he saw the purple and black colour disappearing from his left arm, his hands and any hidden or old injuries were also fully restored. Even his scar tissue healed up completely as if it was never there to begin with. Ron didn't know how to feel about that one.
"Pretty handy to just be able to wish to heal your body, although you've lost your 'manly' scars" Scarlett commented at the changes once they were done.
"Yeah yeah, laugh it up" Ron just admitted defeat about his scars.
"So what do we do now? Will we continue on?" Scarlett asked. Wounds may heal but fatigue is another story and Ron looked pretty tired after entering the kindling state.
"I want to check something real quick, do you remember where the mother spider came from?" Ron asked Scarlett who fought the mother spider and thought she would remember it better than him.
"Sure, don't know why you want to go there but follow me" Scarlett said as she walked away. Ron had a hunch and if it was true he may be in for a nice surprise.