#56. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
A thin streak of light barely grazed past me, piercing straight through the ceiling. Sparks crackled on the edge of the shield where the attack had clipped it. I smacked them off with my hand, but the spot was charred black.
Given its grand title as a hidden boss, I'd expected it to have some threatening unique patterns. But fuck, who turns its neck like that and shoots a laser? No conscience at all. What the hell does a spider have to do with lasers anyway? If it's gonna shoot something, shouldn't it be special webs or poison?
And it already had a pattern of spitting crystal shards from its mouth—now it's firing lasers from the same damn mouth? I don't know the exact power, but if it'd hit me dead-on, I wouldn't have walked away unscathed. Nearly got myself killed like an idiot.
"Hey, human, you okay?"
Rizmel, who'd wrapped herself in shadows to block the beam, called out to me. The reason I hadn't eaten that spider's laser was because she'd reacted in an instant and shoved me aside.
Well, to be precise, it was a bit different. Rizmel hadn't reacted to the attack—she'd predicted it.
She foresaw the beam shooting from the spider's mouth, shoved me quickly, and cloaked herself in shadows. Thanks to my Intuition skill's buffs, I could predict and dodge attack precursors to some extent too. But Rizmel had anticipated it way faster than me, even without an Intuition skill.
And that wasn't all. She'd even predicted the form of the attack. She knew it wouldn't be the shard spray from before, but a beam attack. Otherwise, she wouldn't have chosen to defend with shadows like that.
How the hell did she know that far ahead? Did she already know the spider's attack patterns?
"You..."
I was about to question her when the ground shook. More accurately, the spider's back—the thing we were standing on—shuddered.
-Thud!
Sharp spines erupted from the crystal spider's back. Rizmel and I leaped off to avoid them. Its neck twisting earlier made sense now; it could deform its body to some degree.
Guess that unbeatable spider-fight formula of mounting its back and doing nothing won't work here.
"Watch out—they keep coming!"
As we hit the ground, one of the spider's massive legs swung at us.
-Bam!
The basic leg attacks weren't much different from a regular Twilight Spider. Slow as hell, easy to dodge.
We had breathing room while it spammed legs. Time to analyze its patterns.
Confirmed patterns so far: four. Beam emission, shard spray, spine generation, leg strikes.
Legs are slow and easy to evade, but given the weight, better not block. Shards are fast but low damage, no extra effects. Beam's fast and insanely powerful—charred my shield edge, so probably can't block it. Spines: unknown, but precursors are clear, easy dodge.
"This is doable."
Figured it'd have webs or poison based on looks, but nothing I can't handle.
"Doable? What the fuck are you talking about? We gotta run!"
Rizmel overheard my mutter and shrieked. Then she starts yapping about how I don't value my life. Run from that? Get real.
A huge growth opportunity dangling right there—how could I just turn tail? What happened when I ran scared before, valuing my life? When I hid from reality? Fucked up every time.
"We can win this. Got some ideas."
Look the enemy dead in the eye. Analyze objectively. Ask yourself: is this a hopeless wall where retreat's the only option?
Nah, not even close.
Decision made, blood starts boiling on its own. Heart pounding with anticipation of that growth rush.
-Thump thump thump!
The spider kept insisting on close combat, swinging legs. No danger at all. I gripped my sword and shield tight, charging back at the oncoming beast.
**
As the spider and I rushed each other, the distance closed fast. A glittering leg swung down to crush me, but I dodged clean again. Weaving through attacks, I tried slipping under its belly this time.
-Screee!
Its mouth gaped, spraying a barrage of crystal shards. Up in the air earlier, dodging freely wasn't an option, but now? Different story.
Maxing out my Intuition skill and Agility stat, I evaded most, blocking only the unavoidable with my shield. Slid under its belly without a single hit.
Then its body deformed instantly. Crystal spines sprouted just like on its back, targeting me.
-Bam! Bam!
I rolled to dodge the spines stabbing for my skull. Fast generation, but precursors visible.
I reared back my arm and activated the skill.
-Clang!
Brandish triggered, body moving on autopilot. The blade sliced the emerging spines as predicted. Sharp tips shattered and fell.
Can't deal massive damage in one go, but attacks land fine.
-Screech!
Next instant, its head snapped around, staring right at me under its belly. Beam incoming.
Precursors hard to sense, but knowing range and direction lets me dodge.
-Kaboom!
A beam swept under its belly. I rolled sideways out of it. Regained distance, and it countered with legs again.
Hidden boss or whatever, still just a 7th-floor boss. Patterns too simple.
Normal challengers would've folded to that attack power and defense, but now? Just rinse and repeat.
What is this? Total pushover.
**
Soloing big bosses is dead simple: dodge everything, hit everything. Stats just need to meet minimum offense/defense thresholds.
The Crystal Spider Aranasia was bigger and hit harder than any boss I'd faced. But its intelligence? Rock bottom.
Not even low—just pure spider-brain levels, fitting that big dumb head.
Simple patterns make high specs meaningless. Like how that ranker spear bitch Choi Gil-hyun couldn't touch me.
-Thud!
After sustained attacks wrecked most of its legs, the crystal spider collapsed pathetically.
Its body took damage from basic swings, skills hit harder. Legs, being weaker, went down easier. Now it was a stationary sandbag.
"Tough for no damn reason, you piece of shit."
-Clang! Claaang!
Minding possible phase 2, I bashed its head with the Death Knight's Greatsword.
-Bam! Boom!
Even immobile, it twisted its head freakishly to spam beams. But old pattern—I'd memorized timings perfectly. Couldn't hit me if it tried.
Legs shattered, it sat there eating my one-sided beatdown for ten-odd minutes before croaking.
‘EXP’, ‘Gold’ acquired.
Hexagonal Crystal Necklace
Active Skill - Condensation
Hidden boss lived up to the hype—rewards were juicy. Opened skill window and inventory to check details.
Necklace gave a modest MP max boost. Condensation gathered ambient light into a small lamp. Thought I'd get beam-shooting like the spider, but nah—just a flashlight. Kinda disappointing.
"See? Told you we'd win."
Closed the interface and called to Rizmel, who'd watched from a safe distance with a disgusted look.
She neither joined the fight nor ran—just stared in revulsion.
"Y-you won, so that's it? You nearly died how many times? You have no idea how scared I was!"
"Nearly died my ass—I didn't take a single hit."
"That's 'cause you'd die if you did! You almost got hit a bunch! What're you grinning about?!"
I brushed dust off my armor. Shard scratches already fully healed by Combat Healing. Zero scratches—clean win.
She had to know by now there was nothing to worry about.
"You're not normal. You know that, right?"
But her eyes held an oddly intense concern. What the hell did I do?