Chapter 33: Venom Spider Queen (III)
Malrik was already moving before Lilith finished speaking.
No answer. No hesitation. The moment the Queen’s body locked under Mind Collapse, he kicked off the ground and closed the distance.
"Everyone — attack!"
The Wolf King howled.
The Spirit Wolves split instantly — half driving into the Queen’s front legs, sinking into the joints, forcing her weight forward and off-balance. The other half hit from behind, tearing into the damaged sections of her abdomen where the shell had already cracked.
The resurrected spiders came over the top of her. Webs wrapped around every injured limb. Fangs buried into every gap in the carapace. They weren’t trying to kill her — they were trying to stop her from moving for exactly as long as it took.
The Queen roared and fought it.
The webs snapped. Spiders got crushed. A Spirit Wolf dissolved. Then another.
It didn’t matter. Every second they bought was a second Malrik was getting closer.
Twenty meters. Fifteen. Ten. Five.
The Queen noticed him.
Her crimson eyes found him and she tried to reposition — and the Wolf King drove its jaws into her injured neck and opened the wound wider. Dark green blood came out in a surge. She threw the King away immediately, but the opening was already there.
Malrik was already swinging.
CLANG.
The blade struck the existing wound — not fresh carapace, the same crack he’d been working on all fight. The spear went deeper this time. He felt it seat into something more yielding than shell.
He twisted.
The crack spread.
Still not through.
He gritted his teeth — and the Queen’s foreleg came around at him.
Too close. No angle to dodge.
Three Spirit Wolves threw themselves between him and the strike.
BOOM.
Emerald particles scattered in every direction. The attack lost just enough momentum that when it continued through he was already stepping sideways. The leg caught his shoulder instead of his chest.
Pain fired up his arm and he ignored it completely.
The Queen kept struggling. More webs broke. Another spider went down. His army was roughly half what it had been at the start of this, and every soul that disappeared bought something — another second, another wound, another step closer to the number on her health that he couldn’t see but could feel getting smaller.
She was dying.
She just hadn’t stopped yet.
Malrik took one breath. Tightened both hands on the spear. Fixed his eyes on the deepest point of the wound at her neck.
One chance. Don’t miss.
He pushed mana into the weapon. The runes along the blade lit up — emerald mixing with dark crimson, the two colors running together along the engravings.
The Queen felt the shift. Her jaws opened.
Too late.
"Die."
The spear drove forward and this time nothing stopped it. Through the shattered carapace, through the wound, all the way through — the tip came out the other side.
Silence.
Just for a heartbeat.
SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
Her final scream hit the walls and bounced back twice. Her body convulsed hard — dark green blood erupting from the wound, Crimson Wound pulling the already destroyed flesh further apart, cracks racing outward from her neck across her carapace.
The wolves pulled back. The spiders released. The King retreated.
Malrik pulled the spear free and stepped back.
The Queen swayed.
One step. Then another, slower.
BOOOOOOM.
Five meters of Spider Queen hit the cavern floor. The impact shook the cave hard enough that loose stone fell from the ceiling. The echo rolled through the tunnel network and came back quieter each time until it stopped entirely.
Absolute silence.
No movement. No clicking of legs somewhere in the dark. Nothing.
Just Malrik’s breathing.
"...Haa."
"...Haa."
His arms were shaking. His mana was close to empty. His shoulder was going to be a problem tomorrow. His clothes were covered in dark green blood that wasn’t his and a fair amount of red that was.
He looked at the Queen’s body.
The smile came anyway.
"...We actually won."
Behind him, Eliza hadn’t moved. She was staring at the fallen Queen with an expression that had started as disbelief and was slowly becoming something else.
An Awakened-Rank Morveth.
Defeated by someone who had awakened three days ago.
She turned toward Malrik slowly.
[Venom Spider Queen Lv.40 Killed.]
[Experience Increased.]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
...
[Level Up!]
The system continued to beep for a few seconds, then Maleric opened his status. Surely after this fight, his level must have skyrocketed.
------------------------------
Name: Malrik Vesperion
Rank: Mortal
Level: 43
Class: Soul Binder
Class Rank: Epic ★
Talent: SSS-Rank — Infinite Evolution
Strength: 51 (34↑)
Agility: 52 (34↑)
Constitution: 56(34↑)
Intelligence: 134(34↑)
Free Attribute Points: 200
Soul Contracts: 40/ 50
------------------------------
Oh my god, I’ve already reached level 43!
He checked the Bond immediately. Every soul connected to him had climbed the same distance — wolves, King, spiders, all of them sitting at 43 alongside him. One Awakened-Rank kill, and the entire army had jumped.
So that’s what a ranked leader is worth.
The obvious thought followed almost immediately: if one Awakened-Rank target produced results like this, what would two produce? Three? The math wasn’t complicated. Target higher ranks, clear the gap faster, build the army into something that could handle whatever the Flag Bearer Trial threw at him in ten days.
Should I now target higher ranks to accelerate the level-up process?
But he immediately dismissed that thought.
Don’t be so hasty, you fool. If it weren’t for Lilith, I’d be dead.
Without Lilith, the Queen would have dissolved half his souls and then dissolved him.
But that would also be a waste of Lilith’s power. Should I target the low-ranking Awakened?
Low-ranked Awakened targets were the smarter play. Slower gains, but gains he could actually sustain without gambling everything on a single opening.
We’ll figure that out later.
I need to find time to allocate Free Attribute Points as well.
Malrik looked at the massive corpse for a moment.
The tired smile widened slightly.
"... For now, let’s see if I can recruit the Queen to the army as well."
Comments