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Energy Eater - Chapter 122 - Spider's Nest
🕑 Added 2025-05-25 02:14:19 +0000 UTCWe slowly moved down, looking for the spiders that we were assuming were here. We knew for a fact that they had been here at some point since the entire place was covered in webs. But it was almost impossible to be sure if they really were still here or not. At least, that was our initial thought as we were climbing down the staircase. But it didn't take long for signs of those creatures to be pretty much everywhere.
There was some skittering and some movement below, in addition to a few of the spider webs starting to shake even before we touched them. If that was going on, it meant that the spiders were active right now. Or maybe they were getting into position to prepare for our arrival. But whatever the answer, we only had one option. Continue heading down in hopes of saving the people from the village.
It took us just a few moments to climb all the way down to the bottom of this tunnel. Even though it was a passage created by the spiders, it was clear they were not really thinking too much about hiding, which made sense since they were already in a moderately hidden location.
Once we got to the main cave, we realized it was a massive place. Very different from the nest we found with the other spiders, which had been maybe 10 to 20 meters [32.8 to 65.6 ft] across. This was easily more than 100 meters [328.1 ft], and there were countless spiders everywhere. From tiny ones that were skittering up and down the walls to medium-sized ones about bigger than a dog or a cat, to ones that were taller than Astrid, even bigger than any of us or some horses. But the biggest one was at the very back of the cave, clearly unable to leave anymore due to its massive size as its legs almost touched the ceiling.
But unlike the others that were a strange mix of various different spiders, the biggest one was different. It didn't have that same look of multiple parts of its body being connected together. Instead, its torso seemed more natural, as if they were a part of it and not just some twisted perversion of their form.
We also noticed how the walls were littered with various cocoons. Most of them seemed to be human-sized, but there were others that might be from smaller animals and even a couple too big to be a person. Maybe it was a fully grown horse or a deer.
"Don't hold back," I told everybody, since it was clear that we were going to struggle a little bit here. "And Riley, be ready to escape. We won't be able to care for you if things go south."
I felt the spiders roar, or at least they did the closest thing to a roar they could do, clacking their fangs and letting out some air through their mouths. Just after that, they started charging in our direction. But I noticed how the smaller ones and the big one in the back of the cave didn't move. They were just staring at us. Although calling the dog-sized spiders smaller ones wasn't fair when there were a few hundreds of tiny spiders, smaller than my fingers, running away from the sudden appearance of a torch.
Three of the medium spiders ran at us at full speed. But Astrid intercepted one of them while I took care of another, leaving just one for Michael to deal with. I didn't want to do that since he wasn't much of a frontline fighter, but at the speed and directions they came from, there wasn't much else I could do.
Before it could reach its target, Astrid created a wall of ice using {Emerging Glacier} to cut off the creature's path. Michael followed that up by firing a few shots at the one creature that was unimpeded. He was using {Scavenger's Volley} to rapid-fire the projectiles that he had gathered, which included a few spider legs that he was utilizing to attack.
Even then, the creatures were relentless. They continued pushing forward, seemingly not caring about the incoming attacks. The closer they got, the more frenzied they became. I wanted to go out and help since I was closer than Astrid, but the spider that was attacking me had me trapped. Its fangs were snapping in my direction while the numerous legs tried to claw at me from every direction. It was taking everything that I had to just not be hurt by the attacks. And right now, I couldn't handle the possibility of helping my friend.
Instead, Astrid stepped forward to stop the beast. She swung her axe a couple of times, aiming at the one that was attacking her, and with a combination of {Frost Chop} and shattering ice, she was able to leave the spider wounded enough to back away without being attacked anymore. The monster was doing its best to try to stand up on just three of its sixteen legs.
She dashed towards Michael, moving as fast as she possibly could, but even then that wasn't enough. The spider managed to arrive before she could get close. But who moved in to help the Improvised Archer was Riley. They had grabbed a couple of plants from their pouch, smashed them together. Instead of the creating a small pill, they tossed whatever was in their hands at the spider. The concoction suddenly expanded, becoming a large clump of bubbles that slammed into the giant spider, covering the creature from head to toe. After being hit, the monster started moving from side to side, trying to get rid of all that gunk, but it seemed like it wasn't able to do so. The creature stopped chasing after Michael completely, giving Astrid enough time to catch up.
The Frosted Lumberjack swung her axe only once, cleaving the creature in two separate pieces, while I was still slamming the other beast with my staff and trying to change the size of the point of impact to cause more damage. Feeling frustrated with the time it was taking to get rid of this monster, I jumped and activated {Compression} to grow my staff. Doing a backflip in the air, I shot myself upward before making my weapon small again and slamming it on the upper part of the spider. My attack crushed the head, allowing me to land on top of the monster and, with a {Formless Swipe - Nodus} finish the job.
With those first three gone, the next wave came closer, but this time we were more intelligent in our approach. Instead of splitting off, Astrid and I stayed close together so we could handle more than just one each, and Michael could fire a volley of arrows to cover us. Between my ability to hold the spiders in place using {Compression} and my melee attacks and Astrid's ability to finish off the monsters, things were much easier. Michael was also fundamental for this strategy, as his arrows would stop the spiders from being able to prepare any big attacks.
We were starting to get the hang of things when the large spider in the back started to move, which clearly didn't bode well for us. If even the smaller ones were already being this much of a problem, that one would be something very different. And running away wasn't really an option since we were here to save people who were trapped. But that was only while we were still in a situation where things felt somewhat safe. The moment we crossed that line and it became clear we were biting more than we could chew, I was going to tell everybody to leave, and I wasn't going to accept any argument about that decision.
The giant spider, which was at least 8 meters [26.2 ft] tall, slowly approached us. It was pretty obvious that it couldn't move as quickly as the other ones because of its massive body. The smaller ones started to spread out, almost as if they were trying to avoid being involved in the fight now that the mother was going to join.
"Are we really doing this?" Michael asked in a worried tone.
"If we want to try to save the people who might be here, yes. Besides, if we don't get rid of that one, I bet more spiders are going to keep attacking the village."
"I don't know if this is going to work, but here." Riley spoke up as they rubbed a couple of plants between their hands before tossing some smoke in our direction. Suddenly, I felt my body lighter. I glanced back at Riley, who was breathing heavily, but they gave a thumbs up before the System spoke up with a notification.
[User is under the effect of an empowerment skill. User's Body and Mind attributes be increased by three for the next 60 seconds.]
Without even thinking twice, I rushed towards the giant spider. We only had a couple of seconds of this increased power, and I was going to make the most of it. Michael and Astrid followed along, understanding that this was a time-sensitive issue. After all, Riley was still at tier zero. We couldn't count on this buff to be lasting for very long.
I jumped under the beast and used {Compression} to stab the creature on its underbelly, but even my staff wasn't enough to pierce it. Seeing that my attack didn't work, Astrid tried something else. Using {Emerging Glacier} once more, she swung her weapon, creating a wave of ice underneath the creature, but even that wasn't powerful enough as the giant spider slammed its legs towards the ground.
Michael jumped to the side and fired a couple of projectiles at the beast, aiming at the joints to see if it would do anything. But to no avail. Only when I was already underneath the giant spider did I try to check its level through the System.
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Rotbug Matriarch - Tier 2
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I was honestly surprised it was just tier two and not something even stronger. But I wasn't going to complain about that.
Trying something a bit different, Astrid used {Frost Chop} on the leg of the monster. Her attack managed to break the carapace, but it wasn't enough to cut it. I followed that up by using a {Formless Lunge- Ice Devil}, hoping to, if not break the leg, at least damage it some more. And for the first time, I tried combining both my attacks at once. While in the motion of the lunge attack, I also channeled two more points of Energy and triggered {Formless Swipe - Nodus}.
I saw both versions of particles overlapping with each other and felt the power of my attack increasing considerably. But it also felt weaker than the sum of its parts, as if the Energy I was spending was clashing with each other, stopping me from being able to deliver a blow using the full power of both skills. But one way or another, it was stronger than a single attack.
Once I slammed my staff on the wounded leg, it cracked and shattered, causing the spider to screech and struggle a bit to move as blood started pouring out from the wound. At the same time, Michael was firing a volley of arrows aimed at the monster's eyes, hoping to blind it so we could continue our assault. But even the eyes were sturdier than we were expecting, as simple arrows were not enough to break them. Instead, he needed to use {True Shot} to even start to damage one of them, which cost a considerable amount of Energy. Energy that we might need to save since, aside from the giant creature, there were also the smaller ones in the area. And I seriously doubted that just by killing the mother, the rest would leave us alone.
Just as we managed to hurt the spider like that, the creature slammed one of its legs on the ground, causing the entire cave to shake and us to lose our balance, falling back onto the ground. Then it jumped, reaching the ceiling of the cave at staggering speed. It started spraying out webs towards the ground, covering every single piece of the floor in spider webs before we were even able to react. And with another screech, those spider webs started to be pulled towards it, as if the spider was a fisherman pulling their nets.
I tried using {Compression} to change the size of the spider webs, but to no avail. Astrid grabbed the ground and tried to slam her axe on the webs, but again, it didn't work. The strands were too strong for us to be able to do anything against them. Michael also tried to fire at the monster, but nothing was working. We were all being slowly dragged to the ceiling where that giant spider was trying to eat us all.
But suddenly, the pulling stopped, and we heard a voice coming from the stairs that we took to get here. "What the hell is going on here?"
The voice was strange, a mix of a whisper with a sigh, but Riley was the only one who recognized it. "Master?" they guessed.
As a cloaked figure raised one hand and quickly brought it down, causing the webs to break and the giant spider to collapse onto the floor, its legs curled around it as if it had just died. But its eyes were still there, and there was a twitch in its form that confirmed the creature was still alive.
It seemed that we had found Riley's master and likely the witch who owned this dungeon. Now I had to hope that they wouldn't be angry at us for finding this place and killing the spiders.
