Vol. 2 - Chapter 7 - Lurking Spiders Instance

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Following his hunt, he managed to find another herd of boars that he put down, gaining enough experience as to level up.

However, once he got to level 7, he found that the amount of experience he gained from the boars was smaller than he imagined.

He was moving Ragnius around himself, unleashing Sweeps to keep the wild beasts in check and deliver his damage using [Piercing Rain].

The scene was bloody, but once the boars gave their last breath, their blood staining the ground along with the gore scene vanished like ash blown by the wind, turning into gray light, leaving out only the small rewards Mathias was accumulating.

"With only 50 EXP per boar, it will be a hustle completing this quest. But I guess I have nothing better to do, and in such a way, my skills will also rise up."

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Mathias continued his hunt like a possessed ghost, entering deeper in the forest, and once he got to another herd of boars, he saw one big enough that the elite ones looked small. It was full of scars with tusks that had a metallic luster on them. His back also made it seem like a miniature mountain, which made Mathias step back and reconsider his chances.

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(Ψ)[Hillsbars Gragger Boar - Level 15] [12.000 HP]

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'Dangerous. I don't have enough firepower to take this boss down solo as I am standing right now. Maybe after I awaken my Mana Core, I will try to hunt it down. For now, let's avoid this place and hunt other beasts.'

Ending that series of thoughts while gazing at the boar from a distance, he went to clean up other zones of the forest without creating a big disturbance that would trigger the boar boss into acting against him.

Soon he reached a zone where a group of wolves resided, and which made him prepare to ambush them.

Yet once he got in their hearing range, one of the wolf scouts sensed that something was off, even if he couldn't hear anything, there was a smell of crows coming from their back which alerted the group.

*Howl*

"Tsk, they sensed my approach even if I was using Raven's Movement. My stealth method got stuffed, let's return to the direct approach. Kill or be killed."

Exiting his hiding place and moving with a fast speed, he jumped in the air using Ragnius shaft to give himself a boost, bringing the spear along with him, in the sequence of an aerial strike when the spear blade collided with one of the wolfs he had in his target.

[Critical!]

[You have dealt 784 damage to the target causing the debuff 'Bleed']

Once Mathias entered the center of the group hitting his mark using [Bloodfall] as if it commenced a storm of blood, he looked with serious eyes at the beasts and raising Ragnius on the sky, he did a warrior cry before he started with [Sweep Thrust] wounding all the wolves in their legs.

With this new circle of blood and cries of pain from the beasts, he saw an opening in this group of 5 wolves, and following the [Thrust] movement of his skill, he targeted the throat of a wolf which dealt a critical hit of [480] damage along with the 'Bleed' debuff.

'Tsk, I think I got over excited with starting with [Bloodfall]. Now I have to play with basic attacks until my MP slowly recovers.'

Looking at his resources, he noticed his MP being at a low with only 50 mana which he chose to leave for escaping from a dangerous situation using Raven's Movement.

In this manner, after managing to get the aggro of this entire pack of wolves, Mathias moved his attention on the one who struggled to move and who was bleeding a lot.

Spinning Ragnius to make the wolves trying to slash him back off, he moved forward to the one he hit with [Bloodfall] and using fast piercing attacks that give off the impression of using [Piercing Rain], he put the level 8 wolf from his misery, not caring about the notifications and fully focusing on the encroaching beasts that started encircling him.

His green eyes had a flicker in them as he dashed toward the wild beasts returning the gesture, following a flurry of attacks that pushed them away.

The fight started with a rapid kill, but slowly as both parties were hurting each other, it took Mathias to the extremes, draining him of all the resources. Nevertheless, the wolves slowly dropped on the ground, scattering like ash, leaving out only Mathias, who was full of wounds and having a haggard breathing.

[You have defeated a Forest Wolf gaining 100 EXP, 5 silver coins, 1x Wolf Fang, Wild Beast Trophy]

[You have defeated a Forest Wolf …]

[You have d…]

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[You have defeated a Forest Wolf gaining 100 EXP, 5 silver coins, Wolf Pelt, Wild Beast Trophy.]

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"Hah, hah. That was crazy and stupid of me. I shouldn't have used 'Bloodfall' when I don't even have enough resources or some mana potions. At least I survived this fight, barely having 120 HP left. Let's get out of here and find a place to hide before more of those pesky beasts come my way."

Saying that he used Ragnius to stand upright, and with his remaining stamina he started to wander deeper in the forest, where he stopped at the entrance of an underground tunnel which made his mind work again, pondering on what could be hidden inside the tunnel.

"It could be the den of some rats. Let's recover my mana and HP, and I will test my thoughts. I still haven't got an instance alert so it shouldn't be that dangerous."

Outside of the tunnel range, he stood hidden in the dense vegetation looking at his resources and also at the quest progression that notified him of his state.

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[Keep the Wild Beasts in Check - <20/60>]

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"Forty more to go, and this quest will be done. This tunnel should have plenty of those beasts that need their population reset."

Taking a deep breath after recovering his resources, he walked toward the tunnel, and he could see it was so spacious that even he could enter. When he got inside, only darkness was ahead of him, with the moonlight not being strong enough to light even these deeper crevices.

It didn't take long for Mathias to find out how wrong he was when he walked deeper into the dark tunnel.

[You are about to enter the instance 'Tunnel of the Lurkers'. Danger Level: High]

'Really? So there's actually an instance hidden here. Should I step in and check it out?'

This moment couldn't be described as a crossroads, but it was an interesting moment for Mathias, who entered inside filled with curiosity after thinking about his options.

[You have entered the instance <Tunnel of the Lurkers>. You can't exit the instance without clearing it.]

Exhaling a deep breath, he brought Ragnius out and walked ahead, where he immediately flinched after he heard the sound of rocks being stirred around him, and then giant rats appeared from the holes of the tunnel walls pouncing at him.

[Giant Rat - Lv. 9] [2500 HP]

'Already 5 rats of level 9 each? This difficulty level is really no joke if the first mobs are this level. God knows what will await me at the end of the tunnel.'

Entering the middle stance guard, he let the rats get to him at the same time before he unleashed [Sweep Thrust], which dealt an AOE hit of [115] and on one rat dealing a critical of [230] damage, while the piercing attack of the skill dealt a hit of [179] damage.

Following that skill, he also started sending out the [Piercing Rain], which the low intelligence rats could figure out how to dodge, being pierced and having their body full of wounds.

Yet it wasn't like they were ragdolls that didn't try to wound Mathias. In fact, it was something that they managed to do, biting off some flesh and delivering to him the 'Bleeding' debuff and another weakening debuff called 'Armor Reduction'.

Using Raven's Movement to exit the encirclement of the beasts, he started his attack combo once again, with [Sweep Thrust] and ending it with [Piercing Rain], and rapidly after being hit for some moments until he figured out their attack mechanics, he put an end to this annoyance.

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[You have defeated a Giant Rat gaining the following rewards. 150 EXP, 10 silver coins, Wild Beast Trophy]

[You have defeated a Giant Rat gaining the following rewards. 150 EXP, 10 silver coins, Wild Beast Trophy]

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The same notification happened for all the giant rats he killed in his first meeting and also the other groups that followed up as he advanced up. There were so many rats he fought against that he started to get annoyed by only seeing them.

"Same mechanics and attack pattern. The only difficulty was the fact their number increased by two heads with each progression I made."

Mathias, who was fighting a new group of 8 Giant Rats after dealing with the group of 4 rats and another one of 6, was concentrating on his fight with the rats, not giving them a chance to profit over his relaxing senses.

"Hmm, I am about to hit level 8. Isn't this great?"

This happened when he killed the first rat from the group, which pushed his EXP bar to a new level, and with his resources refreshed with except for his stamina, he unleashed havoc on the Giant Rats, who he learned like a child's book.

[You have leveled up!]

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Mathias, only after he cleaned up the sector he stepped in, did he take a seat on the ground and open his windows status, and also verified his quest mark.

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STATUS WINDOW

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Name : Mathias  /  Class :Beginner

Level : 8 (1300/4100)  / Title : Farmer's Son / Item Creator

Health : 676/676  / Mana: 302/302

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Strength : 50  / Stamina : 38

Agility : 22  / Intelligence: 151 / Dexterity: 174

STAT POINTS: 20

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"Let them gather around, and once I get stuck in a dangerous situation, I will fill the blank spots."

Saying that to himself as he checked his stats, he moved to check the progress on Ragnius where his progress had risen to [23%] as for his basic skills, they were at 46% growing in an alerted manner with each fight he was part of.

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[Keep the Wild Beasts in Check - <38/60>]

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'My, aren't I close to reaching the top level rankings if I disclose my data? Haha, what are you guys doing? How can someone like me who is not even trying to get ahead of "gamers"?'

"Ahh, it's comical when I think about it right now. But the first levels don't mean a lot. Only after level 25 will there be a barrier between those good and the ones playing it casually."

Raising on his feet after his rest, he noticed that he was inside the tunnel for about 30 minutes while outside, it was probably midnight. Moving on the long dark tunnel, with his eyes already adapting to this dark environment, he felt his feet touch something wet.

'This is a new setting. It is quite sticky to the touch. Could it be?'

Gazing down on the floor and using Ragnius, he figured out fast that he stepped inside a spider's web, and the vibration of his movement sent out the signal to the lurking enemies.

[You have suffered 78 damage.]

[You have suffered 56 damage.]

"What? From where?"

A simple question that Mathias asked, but without a found answer as he turned his gaze down and around him. He could find a single thing that might have attacked him.

Yet the vibration still continued, and with a chill on his back, he used Ragnius to stab on the ground web where the shriek of a monster was heard.

[You have killed a 'Lurker Spider'.]

Quickly raising Ragnius, he could see some small insect-like creature in the shape of a spider with sharp dagger-like fangs.

"No wonder I couldn't find them. They blend perfectly with the web and the environment fitting the description of the instance. Lurkers."

Cutting the web around himself and freeing his feet, he started to prepare for 'Bloodfall', and once he hit the skill on the ground, it created a shockwave on the web, later killing the surrounding spiders who had low HP, but as the notification windows were ringing in his brain, the roar of a monster was heard.

"Fuck. I think I triggered the boss of the instance by killing so many of those small lurkers."

As he said that, the big shadow of what could be said to be a spider was revealed to Mathias, and when he tried to escape, he heard the sound of something flying in his direction and then hitting him.

[You have suffered 325 damage and got trapped by the 'Spiderweb']

"I think?... No need to think since I am dead."

After saying that, he saw the monstrous spider with crimson red eyes glimmering even in the darkness with a black body that was shrouded by the environment. From its fangs there was some venom, similar to snakes, which made Mathias remain shocked.

(ΨΨΨ)[Lurking Spider Queen - Lv. 35] [100.000 HP]

Seeing that dark red name with the huge HP gauge made Mathias open his mouth before closing it, turning serious all of a sudden, acting upon instincts, and using Ragnius's blade, he freed himself from his spider web trap. Using 'Raven's Movement' he stepped on the clinging webs as if they were normal ground, and getting at the large body of the spider, he slashed with Ragnius.

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[You have deal 57 damage to the target.]

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*SCREECH*

"Come on, give me a break, I didn't even make a wound on your body and you are so angry? You lady need some manners."

Saying that, he saw the large body of the spider turning to meet him, but he moved with the body line starting to pierce with Ragnius, who gained experience faster than when he was fighting simple mobs.

However, everything had an end to a story, and such was Mathias's story to stop his dance around the Lurking Spider Queen who used her abdominal sting, something that looked like a javelin to impale Mathias chest, which made him gush blood on the spider.

[You have suffered catastrophic damage]

"Screw you …  It seems you got some attack patterns I might have to learn in order to teach you a lesson. No problem, I will return. You better remember me because I am a petty person at times."

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*SCREECH*

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From how he was impaled by the spider monster, he saw the spider move her upper body to bite him, delivering his final blow and bringing a sea of pain along the way, but something he learned to get used, being comparable to being punched hard in his sparring sessions.

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[You died]

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[A/N: Bye Mathias, we'll see you next time how you deal confronting the spiders and Lurking Spider Queen.  You gave your best, but you still are not a wuxia MC to beat even god itself, at least not yet.]

[Hope you enjoyed how the Lurking Spider Instance spanned, and the overall hunting experience. If you have suggestions for me, speak your mind by commenting on this paragraph or at the end of the chapters.]

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[If you want advanced chapters, check my p@treon. P.S: Once I get them, I will also immediately update that page (12 advanced chapters - we are climbing there - ALSO, I will have to update the tiers a bit, so is not an unfair trade deal)]

[www.patréon.com/Morpheus146]