Garett and the antiheroes stood back to back, watching carefully for any more spiderlings.
However, despite the fact that they heard so many death cries and laughs of victory from above, none came.
It seemed that things were getting quieter and quieter as time passed.
"What the fuck! Isn't something gonna happen!? I'm about to pass out while were sitting here holding our breath like this!!", Samantha shouted.
Trevor's eyes were darting back and forth. He was using his skill [Track enemies] to obtain the locations of the enemies so he could pick them off if they came near, but none came.
The party sat like this for a few minutes before Trevor spoke up.
"There are no more enemies within 50 meters of us"
"Should we exit the crater and see what the situation is up top?", Garett questioned.
"Under normal circumstances I would say that we should exercise a bit more caution, but it's likely that there are no monsters nearby who pose a threat to us right now. On top of that, Ashley keeps on gaining intelligence like its nobody's business..."
Ashley let out a crackling laugh, and the four slowly shuffled over to the edge of the crater, and began to climb up.
"Geez... even if these outfits look horrible it still doesn't sit well with me to be getting them dirty like this...", Samantha complained as she climbed up the ash-covered crater.
"You always seem to be worrying about the most trivial and unnecessary things, woman."
"Be quiet."
"Haha."
The four finally reached the top.
When they climbed out, they saw a group of spiderlings that were much larger than before.
They were about 10 times the size that they were when Garett and the antiheroes had originally fought the ones that flooded into the crater, and Garett used his [Tactical Analysis] ability once more on these grown creatures.
[Cleansed Baby Spiders] (Lvl 5)
Attack: 5-10 (Melee)
Physical Defense: 5
Magical Defense: 4
HP: 20/20
MP: 0/0
Special skills: Spin silk, Spit venom (Ranged poison attack, 3-10 damage over time)
The spiderlings up here were not only larger, but significantly stronger that the ones before.
Had these stronger ones overtaken the weaker ones? Or perhaps...
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"They're evolving", Trevor noted.
[Player Trevor: Perception roll: 10]
Trevor grabbed a handful of arrows from his quiver. It looked at first like a kid trying to hold as many sticks as he could fit in his hand, pointing in all directions, but with some skilled flicks Trevor aligned the arrows perfectly into a row and notched all ten of the arrows, holding the bow horizontally with the arrows all angled slightly differently.
There were around 100 of these larger spiders, and they were consuming the corpses of others. Not only this, but they would attack each other once in a while.
"You know... there are two things that I hate more than anything.", Trevor began to rant as he held the arrows notched and took aim at a clearing of the spiders. There were enough in the area so that even if he didn't target them specifically that he would hit most shots.
"The first is when I am unable to truthfully make the statement that I am better than others. There is nothing that pains me more than having to admit that I am in second place."
Trevor let go of the arrows.
[Player Trevor has used Arrow Volley. MP: 55/60]
[Dexterity Roll: 12. 7 Damage per shot]
The ten arrows bombarded three of the spiders in the area, killing off all of them with a spray of yellow guts and horrible squealing.
"The second thing is when optimists say things like 'you can do it'. 'Try your best'. 'If you give it your all then surely you will succeed'. No. Success isn't something so easily obtained. Just because one puts in effort does not mean that they will succeed. Effort is necessary for success, but putting in effort does not guarantee one to be successful. There is another factor in play."
Trevor polished off his bow as he reached for another handful of arrows.
"So what should I do? How many times have I been in this predicament? The answer is simple. Just don't allow yourself to ever be in a situation where others feel the need to encourage you. Show no weakness, and show no mercy. Show everyone that there is no need to be optimistic. Show them that even by the most pessimistic view, that you are the best."
Trevor grinned.
His eyes thinned, and he looked at the spiders in the distance with killing intent, as he fired off another volley of arrows.
More squeals, and more deaths. The spiders were beginning to take notice of the antiheroes at this point.
[Player Trevor: MP: 50/60]
"Is that so?", Ashley said, as she gave Trevor a condescending look. "Then I'll take your advice. However never forget that there can only be room for one person at the top. I can't have anyone else looking down on me... heh heh heh...."
Ashley seemed to drool a little as she got into position to fight.
Trevor flashed a bitter smile at Ashley. He understood that there was a single factor that prevented even the hardest of workers from becoming the best.
Ashley then conjured up fireballs in both hands.
She launched enormous fireballs, one after another in a spiraling motion. They flew in all directions, completely destroying the landscape all around them, spiders, terrain, and all. In total, there ended up being 60 fireballs, each of a radius of 6 meters. The entire cave was shaken by the tremendous amount of firepower, and the very earth above shook with fear.
[Player Ashley has used a new spell: Fireball storm(Lvl 1). Cost: 30 MP. Creates a storm of [Intelligence Roll] number of fireballs, doing [Intelligence roll] Damage each, in random directions. Not to be used in areas with allies]
[Intelligence Roll: 60]
[Intelligence Roll: 19]
[Player Ashley: Remaining MP: 100/130]
Trevor was not the only one who had dropped his jaw. Garett, Samantha, and Trevor all stood completely stunned at Ashley's power.
"This girl is insane", they all thought.
She was laughing.
She was laughing too much.
She was enjoying this wayyyyy too much.
She looked back at the three of them, with not even a hint of grace or sweetness in her eyes. If it was not the antiheroes she was looking at, they would likely have been so scared that they would have shit themselves.
Her hair was standing on end as it waved back and forth. Was her mana doing this? It looked like she was touching one of those electricity mushroom things.
"You know... there is one factor... one single factor that determines whether the hard work of people yields fruit... I'm sure you all know what this is... right? Heh heh... HA HA..... HAAHAAAHAAA!!!!"
"The thing that determines whether you succeed is simple. Talent. Talent... that which we are born with, that which we have no control over... that which has been determined all our lives from the moment we were born... in other words... LUCK!"