*CRASH!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!*

The turtle (it's tedious to call it the hydra turtle all the time, so I'll shorten it) continues to bash at the tunnel walls. Doesn't it get a headache from that? The spider grunts keep on doing their job as well. 

Now then, how should one kill off hundreds of spiders, when they're right beside a gigantic turtle with several heads, keeping a lookout?

That's easy. Make them go away from the big bad turtle. While they're cooperating with the turtle now, their true boss is the spider queen. She's currently unguarded, due to a lack of personal. Most of the spiders are around the Dungeon for some reason. Probably looking after the culprit that killed Glavras. Meaning, me. 

That would explain why most of the spiders I encountered were trying to run, instead of fighting to the bitter end like they always do. They must have been scouts, not that all of them understood what that implied. They weren't that suited for their mission, seeing as I'm currently right by their queen. 

While I was speculating about the low amount of spiders that was working on digging the tunnels, I've positioned myself right there, under the cover of [Stealth] and [Silence]. 

Now then, [Poison Dust], go! When the skill was integrated into [Hydra, Dragon of Poison], the skill changed to [Deadly Poison Dust]. Lots of purple dust was created around my body. It costs just a third of Hydra, and have none of the force that comes from the dragon, but the toxicity is still boosted by the Unique skill. 

I've cut down on the toxicity a little, to increase the amount of dust. I tried it out a little before heading towards the spider queen, and it works like [Poison Synthesis]. Or maybe I'm subconsciously using [Poison Synthesis] to control the production of the dust? Anyway, I know how to use the new poison skill, and that's that.

The spider queen let out a scream of anguish when it was covered in the toxic dust cloud. The queen is too slow and heavy to get out of the dust cloud, especially when I had fixed her in place with some sticky webs on her feet.

The spider underlings stop with whatever they were doing and rushed to protect their queen. What gentlemen-, gentlespiders. What knights in shining armor. What idiots.

The turtle sees the deserting spiders, leaving it completely flabbergasted. All its heads' jaws are left open in surprise, and it has stopped working on the digging. 

The spiders are close enough now, so I fired off another dust cloud, covering more of the area, and the spider underlings. Now that all of the targets are inside the cloud, out of the eyes of the turtle, it's time to hunt!

The dust cloud is less toxic than normal, but it still feels like your skin burns inside it. The poison is getting even to me, making me teary. It must feel like hell for the spiders. The queen is holding out thanks to her HP-recovery skills, but the rank-and-file spiders ain't that lucky. 

I've started to hack 'n slash at the spiders that enter the dust cloud. This thing is working as a distraction, DoT¹Damage over Time, and a smokescreen. Talk about a multi-functional ability. But, the poison is starting to hurt my eyes here. Did I mess with the toxicity/amount ratio of the dust?

Wait, doesn't everyone get teary when they get dust in their eyes? Oops. Why did that obvious fact slip my mind? I've lived way too long as a monster now. I don't have any googles or the like, so instead, I turned the Mirage Mantle into a blindfold. There. This should stop more dust from entering my eyes. Not that I need them to see, as I have [Magic Sense], but the constant itching is distracting.

Alright, there we go. Just as I had put on the blindfold, a spider noticed me in the dust cloud. I could just unsheathe the katana again, but there's something I want to confirm first. I sidestepped the classic spider water blast. and rushed towards the spider with Accel Leap. When I was right in front of its face, I gave it a good kick.

*BANG*

W-whoa. The spider was sent flying. [Appraisal] didn't joke when it said the boots increased my kick's strength.

=====================================================================

EXP has reached the required amount.

Garami has reached LV2

Life attributes have been recovered.

All basic attributes have increased.

0.5 skill point(s) acquired.

=====================================================================

And I even got a level! Maybe I'm suited for kicking? Anyway, I've got 10 odd minutes left before I need to run for the exit. This is starting to feel like playing a fighting game on 'time attack' mode. The enemies are mobs though.

---

The battle afterward wasn't any too special. Since it would be better to have the spiders come towards me, I turned off [Stealth] to catch their attention. While the grunt spiders couldn't see me in the dust cloud, the spider queen, with her perception skill, could. She gave the underlings my position through her leadership skills.

The only problem with that strategy is that, even if the underlings know my position, that doesn't change the fact that I'm unaffected from the dust cloud, while they still are. [Magic Sense] was working overtime, allowing me to obtain more information than if I used my own eyes. Using the blindfold proved to be an even better idea than I first thought.

The all-important battle itself wasn't that great:

--- I slashed the ones who showed their backs to me --- kicked the face in of those who tried to rush at me --- jumped out of the way when blasts of water were shot --- Threw out another poison dust cloud when the old ones started to disperse --- ran away when one or more chased after me, for then stabbing a spider, living or not, with piercing threads, then threw the pierced spider at the chasers --- dodged the blind attacks of the turtle, and so on.

I've taken so many spiders out now, that I've lost count. But they're still coming at me! Are they limitless or something? I've kept an eye on the spider queen, just in case, but she hasn't taken any actions other than observing me, and giving... orders... to the underling... spiders!?

Oh crap! That explains it! She's getting all the spiders in the Dungeon to converge here! How much time do I have left?

00:36:42

Tch, time to close shop. Okay then, time to dish out one last dust cloud! The purification function only works on the water in the Dungeon and the stuff in the water. Dust in the air is, therefore, free from its effect! And you, don't sneak up on me when I'm planning massacres!

*Slash!*

=====================================================================

Conditions satisfied.

Acquired title [Slaughterer]

 

Conditions satisfied.

Title [Monster Slayer] has been upgraded to title [Monster Slaughterer]

=====================================================================

Hey, I got a title from that last one. And Monster Slayer changed as well. Both of them are 'slaughterer'? That does not sound friendly, but they're a good excuse to ditch this monster party!

With that in mind, I ran out of the dust cloud, heading for the entrance to the upper-layer the turtle and spiders were digging out.

However, the turtle saw me the moment I escaped the dust cloud and attacked. I managed to dodge the first head, then I crunched down, and slid under the second head. I then jumped forward and escaped the third heads attack. But, right after the third head, came the fourth! I don't have the time to escape! GYYAAAH! I'm gonna be eaten!!

*Chomp!*

...

"?!?!" - Glavras Hydraortress

Or so you think, sucker! [Mirage] strikes!

Even when changed to a blindfold, the Mirage Mantle can still use its effect! I tested it out while in the middle-layers, and boy is it useful. First off, the mirages are way better than my Hologram spell. It looks like they have a mass for real! And it's only me who can see the target that the mirage is copying!

The bad part is that the mirage's quality lowers the longer it's active. After 50 seconds, it starts to look hazy, and the target gets completely visible again. It's better to just kill the effect so that you won't drag out the cooldown time with a useless distraction. The mirage will disappear by a single attack, even something that would have done 1 damage! No wonder it's called a mirage.

For another good news, there are no costs of activating the [Mirage] effect! But the limit is one mirage at a time. The cooldown starts the moment the mirage dies, or when the effect gets turned off.

Thanks to this mirage though, I managed to get the turtle's attention towards the ground. Getting the turtle to attack there also drew the attention to all the spiders, meaning it was all clear for me to climb up the walls, up to the entrance of the upper-layer there.

Now that I am in a position to run away now, I'll give them one last present: a dust cloud of maximum toxicity and size that my MP can squeeze out!

*PWHOOO*

Whoa, there's poison all over the entrance to the upper-layer. The one on the area's ground floor. I overdid it big time. Well, better with too much than too little.

=====================================================================

EXP has reached the required amount.

Garami has reached LV3

Life attributes have been recovered.

All basic attributes have increased.

0.5 skill point(s) acquired.

=====================================================================

And I was right! Better yet, my MP and SP are maxed again! I think I'll use them for a little extra back in the tunnels. I've always wanted to make one of those, ever since I started on my first home, back when I was a Lesser Grey Demon.