Chapter 31: Venom Spider Queen
The Venom Spider Queen landed.
BOOM.
The cave floor cracked beneath its weight. Stone fragments rained from the ceiling. Thick webs stretched behind its body as it settled, eight crimson eyes scanning the cavern with the unhurried certainty of something that had never once needed to hurry.
Every surviving spider dropped immediately. Not scrambling, not fleeing — just lowering themselves flat, trembling, the way things do when a deeper instinct overrides everything else.
Their queen had arrived.
He glanced sideways at Lilith.
"She is of the same rank as you, Lilith.."
Lilith was looking at the Queen with the expression of someone examining a mildly interesting rock. "Hm." A small tilt of her head. "So that’s the ruler of this little nest."
She sighed.
"A shame."
"A shame?"
"Had I not been sealed, I wouldn’t have needed a spell." Her tone was entirely matter-of-fact. "I could have ended this with a thought."
Malrik made a noncommittal sound. "I’ll pretend I believe you."
Lilith turned to him, visibly offended. "...Master. I am telling the truth."
He didn’t respond to that.
Her expression shifted — the amusement pulling back into something more focused. "There is something you should know."
He straightened slightly.
"The seal limits me. My illusion isn’t absolute anymore." She raised one finger. "Against anything below my Rank, there’s no resistance — they simply fall in." A second finger. "Against something at the same Rank, my control degrades. Considerably."
"How long does it hold?"
"If everything goes well." She paused. "Thirty seconds."
A beat.
"If her perception is stronger than average..."
Her crimson eyes met his directly.
"...perhaps ten."
Ten seconds.
He turned the number over once. Didn’t like it. Didn’t argue with it.
"Ten seconds is enough."
Lilith smiled. "As expected from my master."
The violet mist, which had been drifting quietly through the cave since she’d released it, shifted.
Lilith moved her fingers once, gently, like adjusting something only she could feel. The surviving Venom Spiders turned toward their queen in unison. Whatever had been left of their minds was gone now — only the madness remained, filling their eight eyes completely.
The Queen screeched before any of them reached her.
It didn’t matter.
The first spider leaped. Then another. Then dozens, pouring in from every direction with no coordination and no self-preservation, just raw aggression pointed at the largest thing in the room.
The Queen moved.
One foreleg swept through the air.
CRACK.
A spider exploded before it touched her. She turned and drove straight through another’s head on the same motion — no wasted movement, nothing theatrical about it. A third tried to scale her back and she slammed it into the wall hard enough to leave a shape in the stone.
Bodies piled up around her feet.
More kept coming.
The Queen screeched again. Her abdomen expanded — slow, deliberate — and Malrik’s eyes caught the motion.
"...Move."
Too late.
Her jaws opened and a torrent of dark green acid erupted outward in a wide arc.
SHHHHHHHH.
Everything it touched began dissolving immediately. Spider shells. Webbing. The stone floor hissed and smoked where it pooled. Nearly a dozen Venom Spiders came apart before they hit the ground, and the ones behind them barely slowed down.
Malrik watched the acid eating into the floor.
"...That’s new."
The Queen lowered her head and kept working. No visible frustration, no urgency. She caught one spider midair, crushed it in her foreleg, used the body to knock another aside, then impaled both with a single downward stroke.
Lilith observed from beside him. "Physically, she’s well above the rest."
"I noticed."
The ordinary spiders weren’t making a dent. If this continued, she’d finish the remaining swarm herself and have energy left over for whatever came next. He couldn’t let that happen — not if he wanted the experience.
Eliza remained silent in the back. She could have easily killed the queen; after all, she was a Rising Rank while the queen was an Awakened Rank.
The difference in power between the two ranks was significant, but if she intervened, it would affect Maleric’s experience points gains.
Malrik stepped forward.
The Wolf King moved immediately to his side. The Spirit Wolves fell in behind it. The resurrected Venom Spiders began spreading outward along the cave walls, positioning without being told — they knew the terrain better than anything else in this cave.
Forty souls. Arranged and ready.
Damn, if I had known the queen would be of the Awakened rank, I would have revived more than 40 souls.
It’s too late for regrets. Everything must be finished within 10 seconds, or at least inflict as much damage as possible within those seconds.
After all this is over, I must begin evolving my spirits. Evolution points are useless if I die before using them.
Malrik looked at Lilith.
"Lilith, at my command, imprison the queen within the illusion.""Your mission will be to provide support from behind if anything goes wrong."
She inclined her head. "I understand."
Ten seconds. Maybe less. Whatever happened inside that window was going to decide how this ended.
The Wolf King growled low and steady beside him.
Malrik exhaled once.
"...Everyone."
He raised the spear.
"Charge."
Forty souls and their master rushed toward the Spider Queen simultaneously.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’ve received a lot of comments about the slow pace of the Chapters, and I completely understand your concerns. Those Chapters were mainly focused on building the foundation of the new world, introducing the system, and setting everything up for what comes next.
From this point onward, the pace of the story will pick up, and the events will become much faster and more intense.
If you have any comments, suggestions, or criticism, please don’t hesitate to leave them. I read every single comment, and your feedback helps me improve the story.
Lastly, if you’re enjoying the novel, don’t forget to support it with **Power Stones**. Your support motivates me to keep writing and bring you even better Chapters.
Thanks for your patience, and I hope you enjoy what’s coming next!
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