Under the armored skin, Carter could see the mess of flesh and blood of the Minor Spider. It was hurt severely and from its screaming, Carter knew its health bar was closed to the end.
Darkness and Bloodlust never had a visible health bar to begin with. You could only know from experience or from audible and visual cues like the noise the Spider just made.
The Minor Spider became more anxious. It attacked more and in quicker succession. However, Carter could feel the force it was applying on the large shield become lighter and lighter.
This part had always been the most difficult part for a newbie to overcome. When the Minor Spider went to critical state, it would use all its strength to make as many attacks as possible. Now, if you used the same tactic as before and hoped to hurt it between attacks, you would surely be dead.
The Minor Spider's attack became too unpredictable in critical state and any attempt of counter attack would guarantee a hit to the face.
That was why, at this state, all Carter was doing was hide behind the shield and held it with all his might. If the Minor Spider moved to the side and tried to flank him, he moved the shield along with it, preventing any chance of hitting.
A cheap trick for sure but it was the best way to deal with this kind of monster early on. Especially when the player was playing a blank character like Carter right now.
Minutes passed and the Spider's attacks became slower. Its sharp legs dunked on the shield like sticks slamming on a drum, no longer providing any push back to Carter.
He stayed still, however. It was not yet time to finish this beast.
"Twenty-eight. Twenty-nine…" Carter counted every attack on the shield. "Thirty! Now!"
Carter hopped to the side and jumped at the Spider. It was now too tired and too hurt to even react to the noise he made. Carter slammed the mace onto the butt of the spear one more time, causing it to thrust even deeper into the spider.
It let out a pitiful groan but was unable to move even an inch.
Carter then grabbed a spear on the ground and thrusted it into the giant hole on its exoskeleton. The head was the only part that did not have armor covered. But it was not its critical organ. Unlike normal spiders, this type of spider could survive getting its head cut off or completely crushed.
The tip of the spear touched something that felt very squishy. That was when Carter knew he had reached his goal. He put all his body weight on the spear and ram the sharp tip even further.
The spear pierced through a soft organ and destroyed it.
All those wriggling legs of the Minor Spider lost its power and dropped to the ground, completely lifeless.
Carter let go of the spear and let it fall down with the spider. Its venom could very well be sticking to the spear. Taking it out now would pose more risk than reward.
What Carter was stabbing at was its brain, which resided in the abdomen of the spider, covered by its thick natural exoskeleton armor.
The head was a weakness, but it was not its weak point. It also served as the decoy to trick players wasting their time hurting this useless organ.
Minor Spider lost its eyes and developed a hearing sense by absorbing vibration through the exoskeleton. Its head, now the weakest part of its body, was the most obvious target. So it moved the most important part of his body into the safest place.
Carter found a dark corner to sit down first. He needed to take a breath.
Sweat covered his forehead. His entire body ached due to the short exchange. The armor he was wearing was hot and humid, extremely uncomfortable.
But inside, Carter felt alive. A big grin stuck on his face. He licked his salty lips that were covered with sweat.
Everything he had learned from the game was useful. It had no problem applying onto this world.
Carter hesitated and hated the Goddess for what she did to him. But now, that anger waned.
He had found himself again in this deep dark dungeon. The personality that he put on whenever he streamed a Darkness and Bloodlust speedrun. The sarcastic and pragmatic Wetdog72, the best speedrunner of the hardest game in the world.
Well, the hardest game was objective of course. That was only Carter's opinion.
He sat down quietly, making minimal movement to avoid creating noise and maximizing his recovery.
After fifteen minutes, he stood up and was ready to take on this world once more. Gone were the hesitation, the only thing left was the calculating mind of a speedrunner.
Carter walked around the room once more to find a usable spear. He found a slightly worse spear with a dull tip. That would be sufficient for now, the other spears were either broken or defect.
"According to the storyline, it should still be the first night for now. No big event should be taking place and all the main characters of this level should be wandering around at the moment.
But around midnight, there will be an incident that causes the herbalist to lose her hand if there is no intervention from the player. This herbalist could be very useful.
She won't die from this injury but her ability will become much worse. Finding a way to heal her hand will also be a headache. The first item that comes to my mind will appear soonest in the last parts of this dungeon.
If I want to take THAT item, her presence is also irreplaceable.
I need to be quick!"
There were eleven main characters in total that the player could pick: the soldier, the hunter, the thief, the knight, the mage, the herbalist, the priest, the noble, the merchant, the healer, and the monk.
There were four female characters: the knight, the mage, the herbalist, and the monk. While the rest were male characters. Each provided different advantages and weaknesses, both in combat and society.
You could encounter every other main character in this game while playing a character. For Carter, he would have the chance to meet them all.
This slight modification might affect the storyline a bit but not much that could break Carter's prediction. He could easily woven all the storylines of the characters together in his head.
The biggest surprise was only Gaston.
Carter carefully planned his next few steps. He thought about it and quickly realized he did not have much time. His feet quickened by a tiny bit, enough so he could still react to any potential traps. His eyes darted to every corner of the room, staying ready for any surprises.
Carter Caine, the speedrunner, ventured deeper into darkness.