37 Honing Tower (2)

Chapter 37 - Honing Tower (2)

A sudden noise erupted in the silent ruins.

A tall building resembling the Konark Sun Temple began collapsing from bottom to top amid a cloud of yellowish-brown dust. From afar, it looked as if the dust was devouring the building.

Zwei, who was currently in a somewhat miserable state, jumped out of the dust cloud and threw himself on the ground. After rolling twice, he lay flat on the stone ground.

Gritting his teeth, he stood up while ignoring the pain in his chest and severely bruised arms.

Despite his trump card, the Dark Celestial Sphere he held, he didn't feel the slightest sense of security in his heart.

At this point, the building before him had already collapsed completely. However, the dust cloud it kicked up still hung in the air, obscuring his vision.

In the next moment, a large silhouette rivaling the size of an ordinary classroom emerged from the dispersing particulates. The owner of this silhouette possessed a head shaped like an inverted triangle, and dotting its head were six glowing red orbs that resembled neon lights.

Belying its cumbersome body, the creature nimbly jumped up from the shattered ground, the air current its body generated blowing away the lingering dust. Shortly afterward, Zwei could see this giant creature in its full glory.

It was a giant black spider with thick barb-like bristles growing out of its feet.

This monster was a titan tarantula.

Although its size was drastically different, the titan tarantula belonged to the same jumping spider species as the wolf spider. In this current age, it was also the largest jumping spider known to mankind.

Zwei tightened his sweaty palm around the Dark Celestial Sphere, his eyes fixed on the behemoth before him as he desperately gathered the mana inside his body.

The titan tarantula landed roughly 20 meters behind Zwei, placing him well within its attack radius!

Antigravity was one of the titan tarantula's innate abilities. Thanks to this ability, the titan tarantula could move as nimbly as the small wolf spiders despite having a body weighing nearly 10 tons.

After landing on the ground, the titan tarantula bared its fangs at Zwei, clearly displaying its intent to devour this rare prey.

At this time, Zwei had also completed his spell—a Magic Bullet charged to 10 times its normal power!

In addition, he also activated one of the Dark Celestial Sphere's skills, Shadow Domination. The charged Magic Bullet immediately transformed into the first-circle shadow spell Shadow Ball—a Shadow Ball charged to 10 times its normal power.

This charged Shadow Ball was currently the strongest spell Zwei could cast instantaneously!

The charged Shadow Ball had a red core shrouded in darkness. Taking advantage of the titan tarantula's having just landed, Zwei sent the pitch-black sphere smashing into the spider's forehead.

Although this charged Shadow Ball couldn't rival Turbid Impact, the destructive power it possessed was definitely at the second-circle standard.

The moment the black sphere collided with the titan tarantula's forehead, it exploded in a storm of shadow energy. If an ordinary creature were to get enveloped by this energy storm, it would've lost its life instantly. However, the titan tarantula didn't seem particularly affected by the spell. After shaking its head a few times, it let loose an angry screech and charged at Zwei. Moreover, it seemed even more hostile!

"Sure enough…" Zwei spat on the ground.

Appearance-wise, the titan tarantula might not seem to have any special protection. In reality, however, a layer of earth elementals coated its body.

Elemental Guard. Human magicians had great difficulty mastering this type of magic. However, it was a different story for monsters that acted on instinct.

When a monster specialized in a particular element and had gathered a sufficient amount of mana, they could activate Elemental Guard. The effect of this magic was akin to wearing a coat of densely packed elementals of the same type, and this elemental coat would not react with any sort of magic.

The reason for this was because a homogenous gathering of elementals would hold a certain degree of repulsion toward other types of elementals. Hence, Elemental Guard was capable of blocking most elemental spells. In the case of non-elemental spells such as the Magic Bullet or Mana Bludgeon, Elemental Guard would simply discard some of its elementals in defense. Overall, the Elemental Guard was a very troublesome ability to deal with.

Even so, there were three ways to break this type of shield.

The first method was to use a more powerful elemental spell to break through the Elemental Guard's defense. However, for an Apprentice Magician like Zwei, trying to break through a second-circle spell's defense was incredibly difficult. Not to mention, Elemental Guard was above average even among second-circle defensive spells.

The second method was to use the counterspells for such defensive spells; for example, Elemental Dispersion and Elemental Precipitation. One could even use spells that had effects such as mental interference and mana neutralization. Magicians who specialized in dark magic could also use curse magic such as Mana Weakening and Elemental Chaos. Meanwhile, priests who specialized in light magic could use Purification and Dispel. However, for Zwei, who currently lacked skill points, this wasn't a realistic option, either.

The third method was to rely on forbidden or antimagic equipment. Currently, however, Zwei didn't possess a single piece of equipment with these attributes.

No matter how reluctant he was, he had no choice but to admit that he had no way of defeating the titan tarantula right now.

Originally, the Level 15 Titan Tarantula was an existence even Basic Magicians would have to think twice before challenging, let alone Apprentice Magicians. After all, Elemental Guard was basically an ability meant to bully magicians.

Right now, Zwei wasn't even in the mood to curse at the fraudulent system. He felt as if he was a Level 10 protagonist going up against the Level 99 final boss. Under such circumstances, normal players would have no choice but to throw in the towel and quit the game.

However, unlike those players, Zwei couldn't quit the game. Apart from a deep sense of helplessness, he no longer had any words to describe his current state.

Maybe I should just use the Return Crystal and give up on this dungeon for now.

He was clearly very close to his final destination. If he looked up now, he could see a towering pillar looming in the darkness and extending into the sky.

Wait! Something's not right!

As the titan tarantula destroyed another building, the resulting shockwave sent Zwei tumbling to the ground. However, he paid no attention whatsoever to the flying bricks, just quickly climbed to his feet.

Afterward, using the dust as cover, he dashed toward the pillar.

It was evident that his current self couldn't defeat the titan tarantula. However, the Magic Academy System also wouldn't give out impossible quests.

In that case, can't I assume I can clear the trial so long as I reach the endpoint?

Zwei used the gap between two houses to avoid the titan tarantula's attack. Turning around, he looked at the eight-legged monster screeching at him, and his eyes became resolute.

I'll bet a month's lifespan on this possibility, you monster!