Beyond the Eternity

The journey through the dark tunnel was a quiet one. Yunhee didn't speak again and continued walking forward without pause.

I wasn't expecting Yunhee to suddenly pin me against the wall. Then again, I guess something like that was expected.

[A few constellations are disappointed.]

[A few constellations say they wanted to watch a kiss scene.]

[A few constellations say you are not manly.]

A vein popped on my forehead.

Look at these stupid constellations saying whatever they liked. Getting teased by my junior is one thing but the constellations are also teasing me.

I took a breath and calmed my mind. This was not the time to be distracted.

I ignored the messages of the arrogant constellations and continued moving onwards.

"We are almost there."

It was evident because the tunnel became brighter with each step we took. As we got closer and closer to the other side, my heart began beating faster than usual.

I was tensed about what we will find at the end of the tunnel.

[The trial has been updated.]

[You have found the core of the hidden dungeon.]

"Wh-What? All these..."

Once we came out from the tunnel, Yunhee who was besides me released a shocked gasp. We didn't arrived at the next station, instead we arrived at an unknown location.

The torn wings, legs, torsos, and even heads — remains of different type of monsters were scattered all over the tunnel like trash.

[The constellations are digusted by the sight.]

I looked above and saw a source of light high up in the middle of the air, making the situation in the room clear enough to see. It was the mana in this place that had concentrated there.

It was then Yunhee saw something and opened her mouth.

"Hey, look over there."

She pointed towards something at the end of the room and I shifted my attention there.

In the dim light, there was three people webbed to the wall at the end of the room. Angelica, Jongho and Gyeong. There were all there.

Luckily, they were still alive. But they looked like they had fallen unconscious since they didn't utter a word. I was far away so I couldn't see their expressions properly.

"Let's go over..."

"Shush! Get over here, quickly."

I grabbed Yunhee's hand and hurriedly dragged her over to the cover I found at the corner and hid there.

"Jakga, what are we doing? There are right there. Let's grab them and go."

"Shush! Lower your voice."

Grrrr—

Seconds after we arrived, 'somethings' came out of the tunnel. It was the crawling spiders and they came while carrying the huge corpse of a monster.

It was the peak grade 8 great rhinoceros. Despite being around grade 8, it possessed strength that rivals some grade 9 monsters.

How did those little spider manage to catch it? Was it because of the deadly venom in their fangs? Or was it already injured?

My mind raced with such possibilities.

The crawling spiders dropped the torn rhinoceros and left the place quickly as if they were in a hurry.

Yunhee whispered into my ear by the side.

"What are they doing?"

"I've explained it to you already."

"You mean they bought that to feed the mother spider? I don't see it anywhere."

"You are looking the wrong way. It's over there."

My hand pointed towards the ceiling and Yunhee raised her head to take a look. Her expression paled in an instant. Would that be the look of someone whose blood had gone cold?

It was because there was a spider as huge as a house quietly lowering itself towards the rhinoceros. If I have the fear of spiders, I would have horrified as well.

Grade 7 Plague Spider. It was the mother spider that controlled all the crawling spiders.

"Keurruuuk—"

The Plague Spider spider landed on the dead rhinoceros and sprayed a greenish-like liquid all over its body.

Crunch! Munch!!

The flesh of the rhinoceros began to melt upon contact with that liquid and the plague spider began devour the melted flesh and bones.

"That's acid!"

"Is that so? How surprising."

The sudden urge to roll my eyes was impossible to resist. It was called the 'Plague Spider' because of its highly toxic digestive gland that melted anything in a single touch.

Basically, If that liquid made contact with your skin, then it's game over.

Moveever, the novel described the Plague Spider as an utterly disgusting creature and now that I have seen it with my own eyes, I now knew those words wasn't a lie.

Should use that? Either way, it was time to start the performance.

I placed my hand on Yunhee's shoulder and spoke softly.

"I will be back soon. Wait here."

"Huh? Hold on just a minute..."

Yunhee swiftly snatched up my sleeve just as I took a couple of steps towards the spider.

"What are you trying to do?"

Despite trying to act tough, her hands were shaking pretty bad. Even indifferent people are afraid of death.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to kill that spider."

Yunhee's facial expressions shifted to that of disbelief. It seems like she received a mental shock beyond her capability to deal with and stopped thinking rationally.

Then she opened her mouth and spoke the words that I predicted.

"Are you out of your mind?! I knew you were a pervert but to be suicidal as well."

Yes, everything was going according to the script. This was a scene that has happened many times in fiction.

The main actor would say something unbelievable and the people around will think he was crazy. I wasn't the main actor though.

"I think what you're thinking. That thing can't be hunted down."

"Then..."

"However, that thing pretty weak right now due to overfeeding."

"Wait, you don't mean..."

"That's right. The mother spider usually overfeeds before going into hibernation. So during this time, It will become much weaker."

I pushed away the hand holding my sleeve and spoke softly.

"Wait here. When you find the right moment, dash out and free the others. You can do that, right?"

I turned around without giving Yunhee time to respond and walked out of the hiding spot at the corner.

Thankfully, she didn't try to stop me and I was glad. It would have been troublesome if she tagged along and said she wanted to help out.

Even if she was a little strong, she will be completely useless in this battle.

The plague spider must have sensed the presence of an unknown enemy because it shifted its gaze from its meal and faced my direction with those eight eyes.

The spider pushed its legs forward and got closer and closer. Strangely enough, it didn't immediately pounce and just observed from a distance.

"Fuu—"

At this point, the plague spider has already filled up my vision. My breathing became heavy and my body was trembling.

[You have fallen under the status effect Fear]

[Personal skill, Black Box has activated.]

[The negative status effect has been released.]

I took a breath, calming down my mind and gripped the revolver.

To be honest, this was not my original plan. At first, I planned to steal all the cores here once the plague spider had entered hibernation.

But the current circumstances has forced my hand. Besides, if this was an opponent I could not defeat, I wouldn't have even come here.

[The Plague Spider has detected an intruder.]

[The contents of the Fable has been updated.]

[Defeat the 'Plague Spider' and clear the dungeon.]

"Keurururuk—"

The plague spider rapidly approached and raised two front legs up and bent them at an angle.

Slam!

Luckily, I already jumped out of the way before the leg could stab me. I raised the revolver, took aim and shot one of the plague spider's eye.

Puok!

The plague spider let out a painful cry and staggered around a little. At this stage, damaging the exoskeleton of the spider was impossible for me.

The same couldn't be said about the eyes though. There were only seven eyes now.

Perhaps it was the spider was angered about losing an eyes, it started stabbing the ground with its sharp razor-like legs.

Slam! Boom! Kwahng! Kaboom! Slam! Boom!

Kwahng! Kaboom!

Each stab from the spider's leg destroyed the ground and made my ears tremble. Thankfully, the spider has already been weakened due to overfeeding.

Even then, if I make a mistake here, it will be the end of me.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

In the meantime, the spider's attacks poured down without a break. Perhaps it had become enraged since it was unable to catch me.

I dodged each one of those stabs aimed for my chest and pulled the trigger of the raised magic gun three times.

With a wind parting sound, the magic bullets flew in the air and accurately pierced three of the spider's eyes.

Puok! Puok! Puuuookkk!!!

Rooooaaaar!!!

The spider roared out and staggered about in pain. Blood gushed out from its missing eyes like a fountain.

Although critical injuries were inflicted on the spider, attacks from the magic gun won't be able to finish it off. Only blind it at best.

Since the spider has become weakened enough, let's proceed with that method.

I summoned the iron-cutting sword from the dimensional storage ring.

[A few constellations asks what you will do with that weak sword.]

Indeed, the Iron-cutting sword was a weak blade. Although it can easily cut through magic iron, it is still considered a D-rank artifact in the fantasy world.

However, the Iron-cutting sword was only a weak sword when used without skills.

[Two exclusive skills has been activated at the same time.]

[Aura Sword + Blood Demon Ki]

Skill combination. It was a rare phenomenon when two skills are used at the same time. That was not all. That skill should be activating any second now.

[The exclusive skill 'Synthesis' has activated.]

[The skills 'Aura Sword' and 'Blood Demon Ki' are being combined.]

[A new skill is being formed.]

Synthesis.

A skill that I bought from the shop for a whopping 40,000 coins. Basically, it combines two skills together and creates a more powerful one. Such a useful skill was well hidden in the shop and was placed with a low price.

Although there was a chance of failure if the two skills did not share enough comparability. But I did not have to worry.

[Congratulations, synthesis was successful!]

[You have acquired the skill 'Blood Demon Sword Energy (Ki)]

Kiiing!

The sword trembled. It was because a blood-like aura erupted from the blade and shone with an ominous glow.

[A few constellations opens their eyes wide.]

I smiled upon seeing their reaction. The constellations were shocked upon seeing a superior energy technique in the beginning scenarios.

Thud! Thud!

The plague spider was still staggering about. Such a foolish thing. Moving around so much will only spend up the bleeding process.

[2000 coins has been invested into Magic Power.]

[Magic power Lv. 10 –> Magic Power Lv. 20]

[Your overall mana has increased.]

Swish!

The spider's legs that resembled extremely sharp razors covered my view. It would be dangerous If I was hit by any of those since my physique was at a low level.

Instead of dodging, I leaped forward and swung the Iron-cutting sword.

Slash! Puoookk!!

The seemingly indestructible exoskeleton was penetrated and one of the spider's legs was severed.

Such was the power of the Blood Demon Sword energy. Because of this skill, even an average person like me can fight against a grade 7 monster.

The plague spider spat out a strange cry and began tottering around.

An opening.

I leaped forward and swiftly moved the sword.