Episode 6: Duo Dungeon (5)

"...?" Soon after closing his status window, Jace turned his head over towards the blonde-haired man who was standing in front of a dark cavern-like entrance. "Ah. We're already here?"

"Yep!" Landon nodded his head in reply. "...unless this isn't the boss room?"

"Well..." As his eyes scrutinized the opening before him, he noted that a trail of green ooze was leaking out of it. At the same time, the closer he got to the entrance, the more pungent the smell of rotten eggs became. "...this is the boss room alright. Ugh... It's even more awful than I remembered."

"Awful? What do ya mean?" Landon tilted his head in confusion. "It doesn't seem that bad... I mean, look! It's just some green ooze, that's all!"

"...never mind," he coughed, soon shaking his head helplessly the next moment. "If you're ready, then let's just head in and get this over with." Although Jace hated the fact that he was in an insect dungeon, there was nothing he could do about it.

"Hmm?" Landon blinked. "Well if you say so. Let's go!"

Without any further delays, Landon and Jace entered the Spider's Den.

...

As the two men stepped foot into the opening, their eyes were greeted by the sight of countless white eggs all lying across the cavern's floor, shaking as if they were about to hatch.

"Tch... There's so many of them..." Upon taking notice of the eggs, Jace's footsteps abruptly stopped in place as he turned towards Landon in caution. "Be careful. Mind your steps here."

"Woah... There sure are a lot of eggs here..." Following the black-haired man's warning, Landon began to slowly tiptoe towards him. "The spider queen sure was busy, huh?"

"Busy trying to make an inconvenience for us..." he clicked his tongue in reply.

"Pfft..." Hearing Jace's annoyed response, Landon chuckled. "Hah. That's a good one."

"...in any case, the boss should be coming soon," Jace stated, pointing his pistol up front.

"Yep. I'm ready! Bring it on Spider Queen!" Landon's eyes lit up in excitement.

Right as the blonde-haired man eagerly took out his dual pistols, the entire area around them suddenly began to shake. "SKREEEE!!!" At that very moment, a piercing loud roar echoed throughout the entire cavern.

"Ah...! The spider queen!" Almost as if her timing was on cue, a giant black spider could be seen rapidly approaching the two men from a distance, eyes completely locked on her prey. "She's that big...?!"

"Start shooting!" Jace ordered, swiftly shooting out a few bullets over towards the body of the giant spider. At the same time, the young man activated [ Soul Channeler ], linking himself with Landon.

"A-Alrighty...!" Shaking his head to rid away his momentary shock, the eager man began to shoot out a barrage of bullets over at the spider queen. However, no matter the amount of bullets that were hitting her, the queen's charge didn't stop, rapidly closing the distance between them. "Y-Yikes... She's coming closer!"

"SKREEEE!!!" Just as the spider queen neared the two men, the boss began to loudly roar once again. Right at that instance, the eggs around Landon and Jace slowly began to crack.

"...the eggs!" Upon noticing the cracks in them, Jace hurriedly leapt back in that very moment. The countless white eggs from before were no more. Now, they were all replaced by small newly born spiders crawling out of their shells. "Ugh... There's so many..."

"Eh?! She hatched them all?!" As Landon witnessed the countless spiders preparing to pounce at him, his attention shifted from the spider queen over towards the swarm. "Eeep! Shoo! Go away!" In an attempt to retaliate against the insects, Landon began to rapidly spray with his pistols, randomly shooting out in hopes of deterring the spiders away from him.

"Tch... This is why we needed a Magician..." Clicking his tongue at the sight, Jace grabbed onto Landon, pulling him back slightly from the swarm.

"I mean, even without a Magician, it's still possible!" Landon coughed, repositioning himself into a better position.

"It's not only that, you know..." he frowned. "That queen isn't sitting around either."

As the two men were in the midst of fighting off against the endless stream of spiders before them, the spider queen that had summoned her army was busily chasing after the two of them as well, getting up close and personal for the kill.

"Eeep!" Landon cried out, sliding down to the ground as he barely dodged a sudden attack from the boss. "Right! The queen! How are we gonna deal with both of them at the same time??"

"...you ask that now?" As Jace threw out a question back to Landon, the young man was busily scanning around the area. "Well, first of all, get out of there." Just as he spotted a small area nearby where there were no enemies in sight, he blinked.

[ Synergist Skill - Shadow Mirage. ]

"Eh?! Easier said than done!" Landon screamed. "You can escape easily!"

"Stop attacking and just focus on escaping the swarm," Jace stated, shifting his focus back to the boss. "I'll try to get the spider queen's aggro, and then we'll focus solely on her."

"Huh?? Then what about the small fries?!"

"They're too much to handle, so we'll just ignore them." Following his words, Jace pressed the trigger of his pistol, sending out a stream of bullets over towards the spider queen in the next moment.

With every bullet that struck the giant spider's body, the attention of the boss slowly changed from Landon to Jace. "SKREEE!!!" In that instance, the spider queen began to angrily lock eyes on the young man, soon crawling towards him.

"Alright." Jace nodded his head at the queen's reaction. "As soon as you're out of there, just focus fire on the boss!" With every bullet Jace had shot out, he leapt back, keeping a safe distance from the boss.

"So all I have to do is ignore the small fries and focus on the big guy??" As if he finally got the memo from Jace, Landon hurriedly slid down onto the ground, pushing his way through the swarm of spiders. "Well then, bring it!"

With his dual pistols once again locked onto the boss, the blonde-haired man began to mercilessly barrage the spider queen with an endless amount of bullets.

"Screee!!!" Although the swarm of spiders never stopped chasing after Landon, he didn't care. Whenever the swarm was about to reach him, Landon would just slide away each time. His attention was solely focused on the giant spider.

As such, in the end, after the endless amount of bullets that struck the spider queen, she was no longer able to hold out, giving in to the two hunters.

[ You have defeated the dungeon's boss (Black Spider Queen)! ]

[ You have levelled up to level 9! ]

[ 10 Hunter Points have been obtained. ]

[ You are one of the highest contributors to the raid! ]

[ Affirming achievements in the raid... ]

1. Jace

2. Landon

[ You have received an additional bonus due to your ranking! ]

[ You received 3 extra Hunter Points! ]

[ "Challenger of the Soul Oracle" Title Bonus: You received 2 additional Hunter Points! ]

[ You have obtained (Vial of Spider Queen's Ooze) 3x ]

[ You have obtained (Spider Queen's Leg) 4x ]

...

"Phew... We're done!" As the two men witnessed the collapse of the spider queen and her minions, Landon cheered loudly. "We defeated the spider queen!"

"Hah..." Upon glancing at the spider queen's corpse in the distance, Jace tiredly sighed. "I'm going home straight away after this..."

"Hey, what's with that gloomy expression? We did it, Lazy Eyes! We defeated the spider queen easy peasy!" he grinned. "See, I told ya we didn't need a magician."

"..." At Landon's words, Jace glared at him. "It would've made things much more easier..." Shaking his head helplessly, Jace began making his way forward. "Well, it's whatever. I'm heading out. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to..."

"Eh? Hey, wait up!" Just as Landon was about to catch up with Jace, he noticed that he had suddenly stopped in his place. "Huh? Why did you stop??"

"...what the...?" What was on Jace's expression was that of confusion, as a sudden notification had popped up in front of him. "What's this...?"

[ The Bond: "Whiff & Indolence" is shaking... ]

[ The bonds between souls grow stronger as the fate of two crosses another. ]

[ The connection that one forms shall undertake a new meaning. ]

[ The Bond: "Whiff & Indolence" has ranked up to Rank 2! ]

"...?!" Upon reading through the notifications, Jace's eyes opened wide in shock.