Chapter 29
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Black Sorcery Fortress #4
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“Boss monster! Leader beast!”
I shouted at the top of my lungs to warn everyone.
Over there in the distant cave, spider legs of freakish size were wriggling sususu-.
No sound whatsoever.
No one had noticed.
“Leader? Where? Where is it!”
Hammer gripped his hammer, scanning every direction.
Hermit and Felix turned back-to-back, going on alert.
“Can’t see it!”
“Damn, it’s too dark.”
Fwoosh-!
Hammer lit another Ether Torch from his belt.
The surroundings brightened in an instant.
“Hammer! That one alone costs a million Ether!”
“Yor, what did I tell you about leader beasts?”
Sudden lesson time?
I racked my brain quickly.
“They’re hard to hunt without healing blessings?”
“Right! But I also warned you they get even more ferocious in the ‘night’!”
“Uwaa! There it is!”
Hermit pointed.
Thanks to the two torches, the spider’s form emerged in gruesome clarity.
—Queeeek…!!!
Purple and black stripes crisscrossed its legs, its fangs as thick as a human arm, and humans bound tight in spider silk dangled from its body like lunchboxes.
“Pl…please…kill me….”
“Un…under the skin…under my skin…!”
Tiny bubbles or spores clung to their bodies.
Nothing good about that, for sure.
“Queen spider, looks like!”
Hermit summed it up curtly.
—Tssrrrrrr-.
The queen spider let out a sharp screech that didn’t suit it at all.
Shwaaaa-!
It spewed sticky thread from its mouth, sealing off the entire cave entrance.
“Fuck, looks like we can’t leave without taking that bastard down! Everyone, clench those asses!”
With Hammer’s shout—
Whoosh-!
The queen spider’s massive leg hurtled toward us.
Like a sharpened utility pole dropping from the sky!
“Uwaaaaa!”
That’s when Hammer bellowed a huge war cry, dual-wielding his hammers as he charged the queen spider.
“Siege Ram!”
Boom-!
Hammer’s hammer smashed into the spider’s leg.
Crack, zap-!
The spider shell shattered.
Splurt-.
Purple blood sprayed from the wound.
—Qweeeeeeak-!
“The spider’s hurting bad!”
I called out the situation fast.
Hermit, sitting cross-legged on the ground, shot back curtly.
“Nothing to be surprised about. Hammer’s a Destroyer, after all.”
“What’s that?”
“Warrior classes have Guardians who tank up front for ages, and Destroyers who crush enemies to remove threats.”
Ordinary Guardians wield big shields.
Destroyers heft ridiculously huge weapons.
“Hammer’s a pretty skilled Destroyer.”
“Ooooh! Solid! But what are you doing?”
“Ran out of mana catching those earlier spiders! Meditating! Protect me!”
—Queek-
—Queeeek-!
Hand-sized baby spiders swarmed nearby.
I stomped them flat, utterly baffled.
“Meditating with eyes closed in this mess?”
That’s how much she trusted her party.
‘This is trust!?’
“Felix! This fucker! It’s starting to dodge my attacks!”
“Hammer, I’ll take over soon.”
Hammer and Felix moved like a single unit.
It was almost moving.
‘This is real party hunting!’
I couldn’t just stand around.
I smeared blood from my spider bite onto my palm and coated my throwing knife.
Then hurled it at the giant spider.
“The shell looks tough, but the eyes probably aren’t!”
I was confident in hitting the eye.
So blatantly huge, missing would be weirder.
Crunch-!
“Nice sound!”
—Qwaaaaaah!
The spider screamed.
The cave seemed to shake.
Stagger, stagger-.
My eyeball shot worked; the spider’s assault paused for a moment.
“Good, opening! Hammer, I’ll use my ‘blessing’ in this gap!”
Whoosh-.
Then Felix gripped his sword reverse-handed and jammed it into his own gut.
Spurt-!
“Hey, you crazy bastard!”
The scream burst out instinctively.
In that instant, red blood erupted from Felix’s body, coating the blade.
“Blood Sword, Astras.”
The sword he pulled from his gut throbbed like a heartbeat, elongating.
Crimson glow painted the cave walls, the stench of blood so thick it twisted your nose.
Felix gripped the blade two-handed and lunged at the queen spider.
“First strike.”
Slash-. Shwaaa-.
The red blade passed; the queen spider’s leg spurted purple blood and severed.
—Qweeeeeek…!
The queen writhed in agony.
Slash, shwaaash-.
“Second strike, third strike.”
Felix mechanically swung, slicing off two more legs in succession.
With two front legs and the left second leg gone out of eight—
Boom-!
The massive body couldn’t hold, collapsing from the belly first.
At the same time, the red blood aura around Felix’s sword lost form.
“Damn, still stuck at three strikes.”
“Felix, get out of there!”
Then the forgotten Hermit yelled.
A head-sized fireball blazed fiercely at the tip of her staff, scorching hot.
Just its heat melted the spider webs into goo.
—Queeeek…!
The queen, aggressive until Felix cut its legs, cowered at Hermit’s flaming orb and slunk back.
But—.
The problem was it had sealed all entrances.
Trapped in its own web and traps, no retreat—
“Flame Jewel!”
Hermit’s staff-tip fireball hit it unavoidably.
KABOOM-!
Massive explosion.
Scorching heat whipped up instantly.
“Cough!”
My throat dried out suddenly, making me cough.
—Gurgle-.
Throat clogged too?
The spider hacked up black phlegm and keeled over dead.
Crackle, crackle-.
Hermit’s flames finished off the queen spider.
“Fuck! Insect bastard! Big or not, still an insect!”
“Newbie, spiders aren’t insects.”
“Then what are they.”
“Everyone, check your status first!”
Hammer’s armor was dented or holed in places.
Hermit had burns too.
Felix was worst off.
Drip, drip, drip-.
Blood poured endlessly from the gut wound he’d inflicted himself.
Everyone badly hurt.
I had the lightest injuries.
Felt awkward.
‘Feels like I hitched a free ride without doing shit.’
I smeared cave ash on my face.
This’d make it look like I tried hard.
“Felix, here’s a Red Potion, heal up first.”
“Hammer, that’s two million Ether each. Two torches plus potion—that’s four million Ether down the drain.”
“Man, you could croak before seeing a healer. And we’ve got Yor.”
“Me?”
Hammer clapped my shoulder.
“Yor, see those ‘Shards of Night’ the queen puked up before dying?”
“Shards of Night? You mean those dark smoky clumps?”
The vomit the queen spat right before death.
Thought it was black phlegm.
“High chance of valuables inside.”
“Ooh, really?”
“Yor, your luck’s key. No good items, and hunting a hundred of these is pointless!”
Item farming on me, huh.
But what if nothing good?
My shoulders suddenly felt heavy.
“Come on, big money!”
Squish-.
Amid everyone’s expectations, I plunged my hand into the Shard of Night.
Sloppy and sticky, like rummaging someone’s guts. Gross.
Clack-.
Then something hard in my hand.
Rip-.
Pulled it out: some weird thing in my palm.
Pitch-black stone.
[+1000 Ether]
[Spider Jewel: A rare find inside cave spiders. Rumored to bring misfortune to its bearer.]
“Hammer, what’s this? Only a thousand Ether too.”
“Dunno. Damn, dud…?”
Dud-!
Boss rewards can dud too?
“Uh… but….”
Beyond the burned-away webs in the cave.
Huge legs stretched out quuuick-.
No sound.
“Queen spiders…!?”
Same as the one we just killed.
Problem: two coming, one left, one right.
“Fuck, what the hell! Boss monsters! Two of them!”
“What? Yor! For real!?”
“Damn— no time to skimp potions!”
“I-I’m really outta mana now!”
Desperate pinch.
Then crackle—intense static.
Turned: a bald old man holding a torch stared our way.
“Lots of forks, easy to get lost, but you made it deep. Impressive.”
Major General Raiden!
“That a spider jewel? Hundred soldier spiders for one usually. Lucky bastard.”
“Rare?”
“Give it to our sorcerer, he’ll love it. At least ten million.”
Ooooh…!?
Hermit reacted weirdly.
“Those are soldier spiders? Not queen?”
“Queen? Way bigger. Popped up a year ago, popping eggs like crazy. Keeps dragging people underground, real headache.”
Everyone speechless at the chuckling major general.
“Probably the darkness from what I dumped deep down calls this stuff. This is my trash bin, after all.”
Kwaaaaa-!
Queeeee-!
The two giant spiders spotted the major general and slunk back.
Making those cold-blooded bugs cower—respect!
“I’ll check lower down. You lot head out first. Follow if you want.”
“Our party’s pulling out.”
Hammer decided retreat.
I was curious what’s below, but…
Selling this spider jewel for Ether tempted more.
On the way out of the cave.
Everyone exhausted, silent.
Climbing back up the rope we came on—
Sususu-.
Suddenly my surroundings went pitch black, a space like the universe welcoming me.
“No letting you go that easy.”
Where was this?
Pitch-dark void.
Eight sinisterly glowing stars.
Shaped just like spider pupils—and as they all seemed to stare at me, breath caught.
[I am ■■ ■■■, ■■.]
[Bearer of my divine name.]
[Offer all your innards.]
[And I shall grant.]
[—My knowledge.]
Eek—.
First time with this type of idol.
Not Ether, wants my innards?
All of them…!?
In exchange for boring-ass knowledge!
‘Snagged by a creepy one.’
Flash-!
Good idea hit.
Idols can kill idols.
Best to sic my trading idol on this nasty spider one.
“Sabrannik!”
Called the Skull-Eating Dragon God!
One of the Three Evils—if anyone’d chase off this spider!
[—Absent at present—.]
[—…crackle…—.]
What.
Absent?
At this critical moment…!!!
Then kikikiki—laughter.
Creepy sneer, like a wolf with ripped lips.
[Call my name.]
[Nihil-Raz.]