Chapter 22
Chapter 22
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Spiders and Trolls Are All in How You Use Them (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Genius stock investor, cameraman, and hunter destined to dominate an era—Jeong Do-jin declared.
‘The magic of direction comes from the unexpected.’
After summoning the queen spider, I glared with fierce intensity.
I was in a state of unprecedented hyper-focus right now.
It was impossible not to be.
‘Damn it. What good is a winning lottery ticket if you can’t scratch it off?’
No matter how much effort you put into the staging.
If you can’t take down the boss mob, it’s all meaningless.
The stage was set. All that remained was victory.
That was why I’d entered this extreme state of concentration.
‘I have to win this.’
A plain victory wouldn’t cut it.
It had to be flashy.
And brutal.
A one-of-a-kind bloodbath that the plebs couldn’t even dream of touching.
I needed to deliver an impact that would steal everyone’s gaze.
“Kieeeek—!!”
And so, the queen spider charged at the mad skull.
Having made such an arrogant, majestic entrance, it couldn’t resort to petty tactics now.
The donation message announced the time remaining until shutdown.
13 minutes? Plenty of leeway.
A seasoned kimbap heaven kitchen auntie could serve up tteokramyeon with a roll of kimbap and still have time to flip channels.
Compared to those curly-haired chefs’ workload, how easy did I have it?
“Fight to the death if you have to! Crush it!”
Collateral damage to the raid party? Who gives a damn, haha.
Worst case, if they die, I just resummon them.
The bad guys’ slander was just BGM.
Thwip—! The queen spider shot out a web.
Nest Building was a versatile skill.
Beyond just making spider webs, it had tons of uses.
“Kiee!”
The queen spider whipped its eight legs into a frenzy.
The shattered traps rebuilt themselves into a spider web.
Whirl—!
The mad skull was wrapped in thread before it could blink.
“Krkrkaaaaa—!!”
The debris turned into weights, halting the enemy’s movements.
The traps guarding the boss had become shackles.
The defending mad skull was a mage-type monster.
A classic glass cannon, all-in on mana and wisdom stats, pure backliner.
‘You don’t have the strength to break these webs.’
The defending mad skull of the Absolute Defense Line.
Queen Elizabeth of Ghost Girl’s Mansion.
They were both masters of stage control.
But in the hands of a director like me, it had lost its main weapon.
The mad skull’s combat power was mostly sealed.
‘Even your arms are bound. Your fancy curses are useless if you can’t aim them.’
With traps and magic sealed, all that was left was a physical brawl.
“Kieee!!”
In other words, Queen Elizabeth’s solo stage.
Crunch—!
Queen Elizabeth lunged like a spider pouncing on prey.
Its massive fangs shattered the mad skull’s bones.
Bone shards flew as the skull’s HP drained rapidly.
“Yoooouuuu diiiirtyyy iiinnvaaader!!”
At that moment, flames erupted from the skull’s eye sockets.
Arms bound, couldn’t aim magic? Fine.
Fangs in its jaw meant the invader’s body was all around—360 degrees.
Judgment made, the boss mob unleashed curses wildly.
Curses spewed out, blanketing the boss room in darkness.
Bone shards flew, curses assailed the queen spider.
From its jaws, curse energy sprayed indiscriminately.
A deathmatch where boss and boss threw everything at each other!
A sight you’d never see in a standard raid stream!
Viewers cheered and hammered their keyboards.
Pre-recorded raids never let the party lose.
Can’t include failure when stock prices are on the line.
But live streams? Different story.
No—my live stream was different.
“Uwaaaah!! Fuck!! Take It Back!! Queen Please Don’t Lose!!”
Why? Because even I, the director, was sweating bullets on the verge of panic!
“Prayer meta or whatever, I don’t care!! Just Don’t Die!! I’m Outta MP!!”
Fucked up! MP miscalculation!
Dozens of zombies for thirty-odd corpse explosions, then El Ayla and Giant Queen Spider.
Expecting MP left after that would be shameless.
Potions? I chugged those just to hang on, fuck!
‘Honestly, it’s weirder that MP didn’t bottom out sooner, but Queen Spider’s eating more mana than expected!’
I had enough mana to maintain Queen Elizabeth’s summon.
But if it got reverse-summoned now? Game over.
No MP left to call other summons!
“Guys! Queen’s earning her size! She’s guzzling mana! Fuck, what do I do?!”
“Kyaaaaak!! Local Broadcasters Shut Up!!”
“You think I’m acting right now, for real?!”
Even if I calculated MP perfectly, what can you do when my abilities fall short? Let those loyal retainers who dared advise me do silent meditation for 5 minutes.
I’m a total newbie who just started hunting in the last stream.
Genres that don’t love newbies deserve to flop!
Grind, crackle—!!
“Krkrkaaaaa—!!”
Call it a miracle or just as planned.
The defending mad skull’s curses mostly failed.
It wasn’t that they missed Queen Elizabeth.
They hit, but the effects were negligible.
The defending mad skull’s curses were powerful.
But high levels resist debuffs.
That’s why I picked this guy as the lead.
El Ayla was for debuff removal.
‘Queen Elizabeth isn’t a named summon.’
The queen spider was a different type from El Ayla.
Like the zombies, its stats were fixed.
No growth beyond that, no matter the fights.
‘Meaning its level is the original’s level!’
The original Giant Queen Spider, Queen Elizabeth.
As a boss mob, it had a high level.
That’s how it resisted the curses.
Thanks to its boss-level lifetime stats!
“Puuuublic tooowerrr!! Giiiive meee poooweeer!!”
But the enemy wasn’t just taking it.
Whoosh—!
Flames on its body swelled with magic.
The spider webs binding the mad skull melted away.
“Krkrkaaaap!!”
Freed hand bones aimed at the queen spider.
Boom—!! Ripples spread through traps and bone dust.
A distance-creating skill favored by mages!
Invisible force repelled the queen spider.
But to me... no.
To our raid party, it was already visible.
A dozen little ghosts surrounding the boss room.
They’d spotted the boss mob’s weak point.
‘Target the spine!’
The cracked center of its torso from accumulated damage!
I instinctively manipulated the queen spider’s skill.
“Kieeeek!!”
Threads shot out, sticking to trap debris.
Eight legs in full motion, 360-degree spin.
Debris swung half a turn on the threads.
Bwoooom—!! Crash!!
Centrifugal force slammed the pillar into the boss.
Spine shattered, the mad skull’s body flew.
—Fwoosh!
Faster than the skeletal body hit the ground, the queen spider pounced and crunched its bones.
The perfect climax, nothing more to want.
I grinned wide and tapped my neck with my fist.
“Clear.”
Kuguguguguguguguguguga—!!!
The Giant Queen Spider biting the skull’s torso ground it straight into the room’s wall.
“Kku... kuh.”
The defending mad skull’s cranium rolled across the floor.
Friction and weight had torn its head off.
Baekgwi Dojang’s savage quip had viewers nodding along.
That was the fight’s end.
+ El Ayla Leveled Up !
“...Kruuuuh!!”
I shot to my feet, clapping standing ovations.
A tyrannical, perfect finish.
‘Plus, I leveled up three times in one go!’
Thanks to clearing a gate higher-ranked than me.
Pumped, I gestured at the cam.
“Did you see that, everyone? Great fight, right? Moving, yeah? I get it if you wanna throw money at me. For the next 10 minutes, I’ll sweetly accept any praise.”
“For real? Then say it via donations!”
Me, reveling alone, clucked my tongue in pity.
Why the weak reactions? When my face fills the screen, shouldn’t they swoon over my handsomeness and sculpt a Michelangelo statue in my likeness to offer up?
“Sigh. Everyone’s twisted from harsh daily lives, always full of complaints. Fine, fine. Us adults will endure.”
Bullshit! One hit from you and an ogre would explode!
I scurried like a rabbit sensing mortal danger.
And that was my biggest blunder today.
“No thanks to Roomtard’s philtrum punch. Let’s check drops and close room. Definitely not cuz Baekgwi Dojang scared me shi... Huh?”
—Sparkle.
Something gleamed in the skull pile.
Absolute Defense Line boss drops max 2-3 items.
Mostly bits from the Wandering Mad Skull.
‘But something shiny can’t be bones.’
I sent a little ghost to fetch the drop.
It pulled out a rusty iron shard.
‘...A key?’
To me, that shard looked like a key.
Glance—.
I found myself staring at the boss room door.
The door behind the skull, which I’d taken for stage backdrop.
It stood there arrogantly, steadfast.
As if waiting for its soul’s missing half to unlock it.
Like the dead mage’s guarded key.
That’s when I realized.
‘This... is an item to move to the chain gate!’
This hellish gate had a ‘next map’ no one had seen.