Chapter 30: The Demon-Faced Spider

I have no idea how much time passed before I woke up. Looking around, I saw dense forest, and noticed that my level hadn't dropped, which meant I hadn't died—a stroke of luck amid misfortune. I wondered how the others were doing, but soon discovered that none of them were online. I was about to pull out a return scroll to teleport back to town, only to find, with a sinking heart, that I’d forgotten to bring one.

Such a rookie mistake—return scrolls are as essential as food and potions, the ultimate lifeline to escape danger. Now, without one, I had no choice but to walk back myself. Without further hesitation, I set out on foot. Night had already fallen, and in the darkness, the "Forest of Death" lived up to its name, exuding not only gloom, terror, and evil, but above all, death.

I released my Black-Furred Hound, and with a low growl, it appeared, cleverly following at my heels. Its greenish eyes scanned the night, alert for any threat, ready to warn me of danger the instant it appeared.

We moved silently through the thick carpet of dead leaves—just me and my beast, slipping through the Forest of Death in the night.

We hadn't gone far before the underbrush ahead rustled, and out came one after another—giant black wolves, each over a meter tall: Jungle Black Wolves, level 18, ordinary beasts. Clearly, these creatures were among the weaker monsters in the forest, but appearing in such numbers was daunting.

Forty or fifty wolves closed in, mouths agape, drool dripping, panting as they advanced to within ten meters of me.

The Black-Furred Hound barked furiously, clearly excited.

The wolves lunged first, ten or so leading the charge, howling, jaws wide to reveal two rows of razor-sharp fangs.

My hound sprang into the fray, launching Shadow Claw attacks, and I threw myself in as well.

With 350 attack points, the Black-Furred Hound’s Shadow Claw was nearly unstoppable. A single swipe shredded a charging Jungle Black Wolf King, blood and entrails spilling onto the ground.

Meanwhile, four wolves fell beneath my fists. But their numbers were overwhelming, and I couldn’t dodge every attack; I had no idea how many bites I suffered on my shoulders, legs, and torso. Yet my health remained untouched—these wolves simply could not penetrate my 200+ defense. They couldn’t harm me at all.

My confidence surged. Able to ignore their attacks, I was invincible against this pack. No matter how many wolves came, they couldn’t threaten me. After about fifteen minutes of slaughter, nearly forty corpses lay strewn about. The remaining wolves tucked their tails and fled, howling in despair.

I collected the few copper coins they dropped—truth be told, monsters never yield much money. After gathering the loot, I tore open the wolf corpses and found small, black octahedral crystals, about the size of a fingertip.

These were their crystal cores—valuable, though such small ones were the most common and worth little. I dug out all the Jungle Black Wolves’ cores and stored them in my system-issued backpack, which had space for only twenty units. Thankfully, identical items could stack up to 999, or these cores would have filled my pack.

After tidying up, a strange sound caught my attention.

A rustling, like someone changing clothes, or the whisper of leaves rubbing together. Alert, I tensed, cautiously looking toward the source of the noise. My hound stayed close, showing a hint of fear.

Then I saw what caused the sound: giant black eight-legged spiders, each as large as a person, hissing and shrieking as they rushed at me. My hound fired shadow spheres, hitting one, and another spider lunged forward. I punched it, sending it flying.

The spiders surged like waves, their thin legs whipping me like steel rods, each strike costing me ten health. A bite dropped fifteen.

"Damn it!" I roared, pressed to the ground by countless spiders, straining with all my might. I activated Burn, clearing a patch of space, then my hound and I dove back into the fray. My fists and the hound’s Shadow Claw worked in tandem, smashing shells, splattering green viscous fluid, exposing rotten flesh that oozed onto the ground, accumulating until the earth was awash in putrid juices.

I have no idea how long it took, but after vanquishing over a hundred spiders, my whole body felt stiff and weak. Exhausted, I pushed forward.

After a while, I surveyed the terrain and sat beneath a tree, my stamina nearly depleted—I had to recover some strength.

I took out my water flask, gulping it down, indifferent to my clothes being soaked.

My breathing steadied, but I dared not linger—who knew if another horde of monsters would attack? I could only wait for my strength to return before moving on.

Suddenly, I noticed a dark shadow looming over me. Alarmed, I sprang up and ran a dozen meters, then turned to look: a spider.

A monstrous spider, its body over one and a half meters in diameter, eight spear-like legs more than three meters long. Its black shell gleamed, the tips of its slender legs silently piercing the earth, revealing their sharpness. Most chilling was the human-like face on its front.

Demon-Faced Spider, level 35, boss. Seeing this, I was stunned. I’d heard of this creature before; forum posts described it as the strongest boss on the outskirts of the Forest of Death. A hundred-player team once encountered one and was wiped out, sent back to town en masse.

This monster is every player’s nightmare at this stage, and now it stood before me. Should I flee or fight? I knew its armor was tough, its speed incredible, its eight poison-tipped legs deadly and piercing, and its web most terrifying of all.

Unlike ordinary spiders, whose webs are spun from silk, its web is sprayed directly, sticky and resilient, laced with a neurotoxin—a formidable foe.

Suddenly, the Demon-Faced Spider opened its mouth and spewed a torrent of green liquid. Without thinking, I fled, but a shadow flashed overhead and a giant spider claw struck me, faster than I could run.

I screamed, feeling my body contort from the force, flying backward. The green liquid splattered all over me, and my health instantly dropped to 600. Its attack was truly terrifying—despite my 200+ defense, it had taken over 400 health, showing just how monstrous its offensive power was.

The green fluid enveloped me, and fire-like pain seared through my body, an unprecedented agony that made me howl. My health kept dropping, five points per second.

Clearly, this was venom—deadly poison. The spider’s two front legs stabbed at me, but I dodged. It pressed me back, the hound firing shadow balls, each dealing just over a hundred damage. The spider’s leg pierced the hound’s body, then shoved it into its mouth, crunching it to pieces. My heart ached—though a summoned beast doesn’t truly die when its health reaches zero, instead falling into a deep sleep, I’d have to wait an hour to summon it again.

After devouring the hound, the Demon-Faced Spider charged at me. I unleashed an energy explosion, hitting its ugly human face, then followed with a crushing blow, but its shell was too tough—my attacks barely scratched it.

Seeing that direct attacks were futile, I searched for another approach. Suddenly, a steel-like claw struck me, sending me flying before I crashed into a tree, my health instantly dropping to 356. If I hadn’t healed earlier, I’d have been sent back to town.

I quickly drank a potion, but the Demon-Faced Spider roared, "Boom!"—another crash as its leg slammed into me, sending me flying like a broken kite. My health plummeted to 132, and I was in dire peril.