The spiders that swarmed Lucas at the entrance of the Spider Cave may have looked terrifying, but that was about all they had going for them.
Each one was only the size of a washbasin, and while the sight of so many crawling at once could make your skin crawl, Lucas stayed calm.
He activated a Detection Scroll and tossed it at the nearest one. The results popped up in front of him.
"Huh. These guys are barely stronger than Level 10 monsters," he muttered.
Their health points were low, their attack stats pathetic, and their defense practically nonexistent. If not for the sheer number of them, they wouldn't have posed a threat at all.
Lucas stabbed through the incoming swarm one spider at a time. His dagger glinted under the dim torchlight as each strike easily pierced through chitin and ended another insect's life.
But every time a spider died, it burst open with a splatter of sticky, greenish-white goo, releasing a sickly-sweet odor into the air. The cave quickly became a warzone of crushed bodies and foul smells.
Lucas winced, wiping his blade clean.
"If only I had a decent area-of-effect skill," he grumbled. "I could clear these pests in one shot instead of dancing around like this."
The experience points from these monsters weren't worth the effort either. Even after slaying over thirty, the EXP gain barely moved his level bar.
It was clear—this was just the dungeon's opening act, a gross and tedious way to weed out the weak or scare the easily frightened.
"Yeah... I'm really starting to hate spiders."
With the last of the little ones squished under his blade, Lucas let out a sigh of relief and pressed deeper into the cave.
---
The Spider Cave was a labyrinth.
Twisting tunnels branched out in every direction, like the web of a very confused spider. To a first-time visitor, it would've been a nightmare. One wrong turn and you'd spend hours wandering in circles, constantly bumping into respawning enemies.
But Lucas had come prepared.
He'd studied the maps. He knew the layout. He memorized the exact path that led to the boss chamber.
As he advanced, he began seeing clusters of massive spider eggs, tucked into corners of the walls or hanging from webs on the ceiling. Some of them visibly pulsated, as if something was squirming inside.
Curious, Lucas poked one gently with his dagger.
Crack!
The egg split open, and a wave of palm-sized spiders poured out, crawling toward him with terrifying speed.
"Damn it."
Lucas scowled and hacked his way through the small swarm, their legs clicking on the stone floor like rain.
They didn't offer much challenge, but the surprise factor and the inconvenience were enough for him to decide: "Never touching those again."
---
Eventually, after navigating through the maze-like corridors, Lucas encountered something new.
A giant spider—taller than a man—skittered toward him, its long, bony legs scraping against the stone. It let out a chilling hiss, baring its venomous fangs.
Lucas immediately activated another Detection Scroll.
Their stats were similar to the werewolves from the Ogre Lair, but their abilities were different.
Suddenly, one of the spiders opened its mouth and fired a white streak straight at Lucas.
He instinctively rolled sideways.
"Spider web!" Lucas growled.
He recognized the skill—a control-type move that could immobilize a player for five full seconds. It didn't deal damage, but it left you completely vulnerable.
If that web had hit him, he'd have been swarmed by a dozen legs and fangs in seconds.
Lucas didn't hesitate.
"Backstab!"
He vanished in a flash of shadow and reappeared behind the attacking spider. His dagger plunged deep into its abdomen.
–46275!
The spider let out a shriek as its health bar was instantly drained. It collapsed to the ground, twitching.
Lucas didn't even blink.
That spider wasn't the target—it was just a springboard. The real plan was to use the skill's teleport effect to reposition and strike the next target immediately.
One, two, three…
He danced between the spiders like a phantom, eliminating them with surgical precision.
Within ten seconds, the entire group lay dead around him.
Lucas sheathed his dagger. "As long as you dodge the webs, this dungeon isn't any tougher than the Ogre Lair."
The giant spiders had poisonous bites, but their overall damage output was lower than the werewolves'. They lacked the buff skills that gave the latter sudden power surges.
Lucas pressed on.
---
For the next stretch of the cave, Lucas moved like a ghost in the dark, slicing down waves of spiders that came at him in ones, twos, or full packs. Even Elite-class spiders, who ambushed him from the ceiling, didn't last long under his blade.
Finally, he reached the deepest part of the dungeon.
And that's when he saw it.
The Giant Female Spider.
She was a monster to behold—as large as a delivery truck, her monstrous body resting in a massive nest of webbing and spider eggs.
The very sight of her sent a chill through his spine. She had jagged, serrated legs that twitched with tension, and long fangs dripping with thick, green venom.
Surrounding her were dozens of massive eggs, resting in shadowy alcoves and hanging from web clusters on the walls.
"Jeez," Lucas muttered. "Anyone with a fear of spiders would pass out by now."
But what caught his attention most wasn't the spider—it was the battlefield itself.
This entire nest was a trap.
If someone accidentally popped one of those eggs during the fight, they'd be overrun by spiders from all sides. The ground was laced with webs, which could easily slow movement or get a player stuck.
Lucas narrowed his eyes.
"If this were a real team fight, you'd need someone constantly watching movement and spacing. One bad roll, and you're spider food."
He had no doubt—the boss probably had a summoning mechanic, breaking the eggs herself to unleash more spiders once her health dropped below a threshold.
"This place would be a nightmare for beginners."
He imagined a fire mage with AoE spells lighting up the whole cavern with flames. Now that would be a beautiful sight.
But Lucas was alone. No fire mage. No backup. Just him.
"Alright, lady. Show me what you've got."
---
The Giant Female Spider hissed and lunged at him.
But Lucas was already moving.
"Backstab!"
He vanished from sight and appeared behind her, driving his blade into the soft tissue between her armor plates.
–68452!
A massive red critical damage number floated above her head.
She shrieked—but it was already over.
Her health bar was only 32,000.
She didn't even survive long enough to trigger her berserk phase.
Lucas stepped back as her corpse collapsed to the ground, green venom pooling beneath her.
She died in a single strike.
All that planning, all that terrain, the eggs, the ambush potential—it didn't matter.
Lucas was just that powerful.
His Pale Blade had a base attack of 1,500. Combined with his dual awakened Talent skills—one giving 2000% extra skill damage, and the other boosting critical hits by 200%—his burst damage was simply ridiculous.
While others struggled for fifteen minutes in coordinated fights, Lucas cleared nightmare dungeons in seconds.
It was almost unfair.
"Under my dagger," Lucas muttered, "even bosses bleed the same."
---
Then he noticed something gleaming near the spider's corpse.
A beam of shimmering blue light.
"Wait—did she drop something good?"
He hurried over and bent down.
"Not bad! Looks like this run's already paying off."
It was a drop. A rare one. The first of many, he hoped.
And it was only the beginning.
---
End of Chapter 57
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