Even with his cracked skull that had holes and lines running all over it, Leon was still intimidating in every way. His empty eye sockets that radiated lingering killing intent fixated on the huddled ex-slaves in the corner, and he took a step forward.
“P-please spare us!” A young woman that looked to be in her mid twenties from what Leon could tell, jumped forward and prostrated on the floor before Leon, pleading for their lives.
Leon looked at the woman tiredly. “Why should I spare your lives when I can just kill you all and spare myself the stress?”
“B-because… We can be loyal servants! We will not act against your will!” She cried and banged her head against the ground.
‘Wow, Grokus really broke their spines. They are completely subservient.’ Leon thought to himself.
“My summons are loyal servants.”
“…”
They did not know what to say, and the woman remained on the ground, trembling, with her head bowed down.
Leon thought for a moment before turning around and walking to the end of the cavern. He did not want to deal with them. They could handle themselves.
At the end of the cavern, there was a large, stone archway. Leon had not noticed it before. Perhaps Grokus had used magic to hide it, but after he died, the illusion he had cast had faded away.
Walking forward, the first thing he noticed was that the inside of the new space was pitch black. It looked as if some sort of ward had been placed on the archway so no one could see what was inside of that space.
“Seems fishy… Let’s head in after we are healed.” He told his companions and sat down at the front of the archway with crossed legs. His mind drifted and receded into the confines of his mind. He could absently feel his companions settle protectively around him, and it reassured him of his safety.
Slowly, time ticked by. After half an hour, Leon’s body was fully healed, his HP was full once again, and his mana was topped off. He sighed as his consciousness returned to the forefront of his mind, puffing out a breath tainted with darkness, and unholy energy.
“Let’s go.” He got up to his feet and stood in front of the pitch black archway.
.
.
“Where is it, dammit?!” Joseph, middle aged man with a scholarly look, swore to himself as he held a red and black compass in his grasp. Behind him was a team of twenty armed people. They were all adventurers from different background that were all very prestigious and had good reputations.
“How much longer do you think it will take?” Behind him, a large man of about 2.5 meters in height walked up to him and asked. The man was a Peak C rank adventurer who was known for his indomitable strength. He had even killed a few B rank creatures in situations where the information on a dangerous quest was outdated. His strength was certified. If it were not for the fact that he had refused to take the test to rank up, he would already be regarded as a B rank adventurer. Divinity’s Bout itself clearly recognized him to be a C rank being. Even still, he was regarded to be the strongest adventurer present at the time.
“We should already be there from the looks of the way this compass is shaking.” Joseph mumbled to himself just as the sound of running water reached his ears. His head snapped up and he looked around.
“Running water?” He had a hunch. He quickly led the team in the direction of the running water, and under ten minutes, they arrived at a stream. He then led them upstream and when they reached the waterfall, their alert senses immediately discerned the caver behind the waterfall.
The compass in Joseph’s hand was also shaking madly as if it was attracted to something that was unfathomable.
“Jackpot.” Joseph grinned widely.
.
.
A warm, refreshing feeling washed over Leon’s body as he passed through the dark veil of the archway. When his vision cleared, he was surprised to see that they were still in a cave. What truly stood out was that this cave looked as if it had been carved out to resemble something made by an intelligent race. And there were lit torches lining the cave, which split into three right from the get-go. Left, right, and center.
“What is this? Did we get teleported?” Leon wondered out loud as he looked around. He summoned a hundred millipedes, sending fifty each down each pathway but the middle. He would explore the middle pathway himself.
“Let’s explore this place. But be careful of any traps.” He told Nedra, Nero, Kaladin, Grokus, and James. He waved his hand and summoned a dozen millipedes that moved at the front. He intended for them to trigger any traps that may lay ahead of them, but for the next minute, they did not encounter anything odd.
That lasted until they turned the first corner that came their way. After turning right, the millipedes immediately started hissing and screeching.
From his shared vision, Leon instantly saw what was making them react so crazily.
“Oh, crap no.” He muttered, shaking his head. “Not the damn spiders!”
The millipedes had run head first into into a large spider web. There were no spiders present, but the webs were very strong. It took a few seconds for the millipedes to cut away the webs and free themselves from the webbed trap.
“These are…?” Nedra tilted her head. She was familiar with spider webs, as she had seen a lot in her former master’s library. “Spiders?”
“Yes, but they surely are not normal ones.” Leon nodded.
Just then, a distant screech rang through the cave. Leon’s aura wavered slightly at that screech because he knew what was coming.
Spiders were hunters by nature, their tools being their constrictive webs. A spider hunted using its webs. When a prey got tangled in the web, it set of vibrations that would alert the spider. The spider would then follow those vibrations back to the prey, then devour the prey.
The simple explanation ran through Leon’s mind as he waited for the ghastly beast to make itself known. In mere seconds, the oversized monster spider appeared, illuminated by the bright torches that lit up the cavern halls.
Black exoskeleton that had jagged and pointed edges entered Leon’s vision. It’s compound eyes were wide and blank, but looked vicious all the same. With its eight, long, thin, and pointed legs, it was able to strike fear deep within Leon’s heart.
“Oh, hell nah!” Leon raised a hand and directly blasted it with a concentrated fire bolt. The bolt of red fire speared through the air and pierced the spider from front to back, before exploding in a shower of flames and burnt up body parts.
[Level 12 Dark Abyss Spider killed!]
Leon’s companions turned to face him with questioning looks, but he refused to look back at them.
“…I just… I hate spiders.” He cleared his throat and set the webs on fire. He waited until all the webs were burnt up before moving forward. His millipedes had already gone on after he cleared the way, so they were a bit ahead.
It did not take long before they encountered yet another blockade of spider webs. This time, they did not rush head first, but opened their maw and spat out a spray of purple liquid onto the webs.
Hissssss!
The webs immediately began to dissolve under the corrosive substance spat out by the millipede soldiers. The dissolution of the webs immediately set off the hidden enemies. This time, three spiders that were just like the other one Leon had killed rushed forward, their maws wide open in hatred, anger, and hunger.
The dozen millipedes reared back to give the spiders space and draw them out from the confines of their webs, but that did not mean that the spiders would be powerless outside their webs.
Spppt!
A thick string of web shot out of the poised abdomen of a spider as it reached the end of the fixed web. The string of web hit one of the millipedes, forcing it to come to a stop.
Two more strings of web hit that same millipede as the spiders combined their efforts to trap and restrict that millipede, but Leon’s summons were not having it. The other millipedes quickly rushed forward and destroyed the web, before they all ran forward together to fight against the spiders.
Just like how Leon’s millipedes were large in size, one of these spiders was as large as a human. It was roughly as thick as an adult human’s torso, but its long legs made it seem even larger than it actually was.
Through effective teamwork and luring tactics that were conducted by Nedra, the spiders were put down well enough before Leon arrived at the scene.