Chapter 9: Spiders' Den

Davos sat on his chair, still catching his breath from the shock of his first actual death.

Once he had calmed down, he carefully replayed the events in his mind, to figure out why he had been suddenly killed.

"Look at the prey trying to escape from the pack of wolves!"- I remembered one of them saying this.

*Pack of wolves...hmmm*

"OH, OF COURSE!" he exclaimed, his palm meeting his forehead as realization dawned upon him.

It was the Blood Wolves, a group notorious for their PK activities outside of Vendall—a name I had heard before.

I had underestimated the threat these players posed to newcomers.

In my current state, I was no match for these veteran players at all.

*After the 30-minute punishment for his death had passed, Davos went back into the game*

*Sigh* "I am back in Vendall huh?"

I recognized that I was still far too weak to even face a single member of the Blood Wolves.

It was clear that I needed to find a way to become stronger without the risk of being ambushed like that again.

Hence, I decided to seek out a party of players to hunt alongside, rather than going solo.

After scouring the village for a while, I came across a small group of apparent newcomers looking for additional members to grind monsters in a nearby beginner dungeon.

The group consisted of a Paladin, an Archer and a Priest.

"Hey there! Would you mind if I join your party? The name's Shadow, I'm a Level 6 Assassin."

They sized me up, then the Paladin replied: "Nice to meet you! Of course, you can join. We were actually in need of another damage dealer, and an assassin like you is a perfect fit! I'm Tristan, the Paladin and leader of this party. The guy next to me is Eugene, our archer, and the young lady in the back is Erica, our priest. By the way, all of us are Level 5 at the moment."

Eugene greeted me with a cheerful "Howdy!" while Erica smiled warmly and said, "Hello Shadow, nice to meet you!"

"We're a group of friends from the real world, so we're just using our actual first names unlike most of the other players. Just in case you were surprised by our rather generic names, Shadow."

"Alright, then I'll be counting on your guidance! Where are we headed for today's hunt?"

"I read online that there's a spider den in one of the forests near Vendall, and we were considering going there. The spiders drop items we can sell and also provide the best experience for beginners like us."

"Sounds like a plan! I'm ready whenever you guys are. Lead the way!"

We headed out of Vendall into a nearby forest, and it wasn't long before we spotted the entrance to the dungeon—an opening to a small underground cave nestled between two towering trees.

"Okay, team, let's venture into the cave and clear out some pesky spiders!" Tristan announced as he entered first, followed by the rest of us.

The cave's dark interior was an advantage for me, as my innate lower presence as an assassin allowed me to easily hide in the shadows.

Tristan held a torch to light the path for Eugene and Erica.

Meanwhile, I silently navigated the darkness behind them, alert to any potential threats from behind.

Soon, we reached a wider section of the cave, where about ten black spiders with eerie red eyes lurked.

Tristan signalled for Eugene to shoot an arrow towards the far end of the room to draw the spiders' attention away from us.

At the same time, Erica cast her beginner "Buff" spell on the three of us, boosting our stats by 10% while active.

Eugene began shooting arrows at the spiders that are the furthest away from us, while Tristan shielded Erica from the nearby spiders.

*Haste!*

I dashed towards the back of the first spider, my daggers at the ready, executing a cross-shaped slash followed by a precise stab into its crimson eyes.

Its corpse dropped to the ground as I already moved towards my next target.

*You've gained 17 experience points, 3 BC, 1 Spider Silk*

As I approached the next spider, I remained oblivious to the fact that one of its comrades had shifted its aggression toward me, spewing venom in my direction.

My Sixth Sense skill allowed me to evade most of the attack, though a small trace of poison found its way to my right leg.

*You have been slightly poisoned, losing 1 hp every 10 seconds*

Given the spider's beginner-level status, the poison's effect was mild, yet it was a reminder to exercise caution against such attacks.

Swiftly, I became one with the shadows, manoeuvring through the obscurity of the room until I reached a spider preoccupied with Eugene's arrow barrage.

A single, precise stab through the head ended its misery.

*You've gained 17 experience points, 2 BC, 2 Spider Silk*

Meanwhile, Tristan had dispatched one spider, while Eugene had injured two others from a distance.

One of the remaining spiders managed to escape Tristans' gaze, sinking its fangs into Erica, who had been momentarily distracted.

Her cry of pain redirected all aggro toward her.

Seizing the opportunity, I sneaked behind the two wounded spiders and ended their lives with swift, lethal stabs through their hearts before they detected me.

*You've gained 34 experience points, 5 BC, 3 Spider Silk*

Five spiders remained, encircling Tristan and Erica, while Eugene stood at a distance, his panicked arrows largely missing their mark.

*Haste effect has run out*

Without my heightened speed, I now cautiously glided through the shadows, my approach quiet and measured.

Silently, I crept up behind one of the spiders, my whisper of "Hello there!" inducing a fear debuff as It shocked the spider who hasn't noticed my presence.

Before the brief effect could fade, my daggers plunged into the spider's head and heart, draining its life quickly.

*You've gained 17 experience points, 2 BC, 1 Spider Silk*

*System Notice: Due to consecutive successful sneak attacks, you've learned the skill "Stealth (Rank E)," concealing your presence within shadows or darkness. However, concealing from higher-level opponents becomes progressively harder.*

Empowered by this newfound skill, I decided to put it to the test against the remaining spiders.

"Stealth" consumed 3 mana per minute, granting me a 2-minute window.

My mana stood at 7, as I had already expended some during the use of "Haste".

Tristan and Eugene managed to eliminate two more spiders, but Tristan sustained notable damage in the process.

Erica focused on healing both Tristan and herself, depleting her mana and disabling the earlier casted "Buff."

"Eugene watch out!", Tristan screamed as one of the remaining spiders jumped towards Eugene.

Erasing my presence, I positioned myself beside the spider targeting Eugene.

In an instant, my daggers plunged through the arachnid's head and into its heart, preempting its attack.

*You've gained 17 experience points, 1 BC, 2 Spider Silk, 1 Spider Eye*

My companions stared in disbelief at my swift intervention before refocusing on the final spider, dispatched quickly by Eugene and Tristan.

After the fight was over, we put up a small camp in the now-empty part of the cave to rest for a bit and replenish our hp and mana.

"Holy shit Shadow, what the heck was that? Are you really a beginner and not some secret pro that is going around the beginner areas?", Tristan asked me filled with excitement and looking at me with a worshipping gaze.

I temporarily lifted my hidden level, revealing my Level 6 status. "Yes, I'm truly a beginner. I acquired a new skill during the battle and wanted to test it out. My apologies if it startled you all."

"That's insane! Getting skills in CoB isn't easy, especially as a newbie. Congratulations, Shadow, and thank you for rescuing Eugene. Archers lack defence, and things could've gone south quickly."

"No problem, we're a team, and helping each other is natural."

After our rest, we continued hunting monsters for a few hours, uneventfully.

Eugene and Tristan reached Level 9, while Erica attained Level 8 due to her limited damage output.

I, on the other hand, ascended to Level 11, due to dispatching the most spiders. (160 Spiders = 2720 exp, 276 BC, 235 Spider Silk, 14 Spider Eyes)

I also got the Title "Arachnids' Nightmare" which increases damage towards all spider species by 25%.

During the process, my skills went up in Rank:

"Haste" reached Rank E+, lowering the cooldown to 25 minutes and extending uptime to 1 minute with a 20 mana cost.

"Dagger Mastery" ascended to Rank D, heightening the damage and accuracy buffs to 25%.

"Dual Wielding" progressed to Rank E, enhancing my dual weapon proficiency and granting a 5% damage boost during dual wielding.

"Sixth Sense" reached Rank E, refining my perceptive and intuitive capabilities and reaction speed.

"Stealth" also advanced to Rank E+, making it easier to conceal myself within shadows and dark environments, while increasing the mana cost to 4 per minute.

Immo Strike remained unchanged because I did not use it at all, as it wasn't effective against spiders.

From the 5 stat points, I allocated 2 stat points to vitality and 3 to intelligence, addressing my need for more HP and mana.

Devilish Shadow

Titles:

Happy Helper

Hard Worker, Overcomer of Hardships

Goblin Slayer, Arachnids' Nightmare

Lv. 11

Hp 54/54

Stat Overview:

Strength: 11 Atk=32

Vitality: 9 Hp=54

Endurance: 7+1 Def=28

Agility: 13+2 Spd=30

Intelligence: 9 Mana=36

Stamina: 32

Stat points: 0

Skills:

Active:

Haste(E+)

Immo Strike(E+)

Stealth (E+)

Passive:

Dagger Mastery (D)

Sixth Sense (E)

Dual Wielding (E)

Exp: 94/1035

Equipment:

2x Rusty Iron Dagger (Atk+10, Agi+2)

Black Leather Coat (Def+3, End+1)

Adventurers Cap(Def+1)

Accessories:

—

Items:

Spider Silk x244

Spider Eye x15

BC: 401

Sidenote:

pulling aggro = getting the Monsters attention

Level calculation: 124 before the grind +2720 from 160 spiders

2844-290(lv7)-400(lv8)-530(lv9)-690(lv10)-840(lv11)=94 leftover exp

I apologize that there were no updates in the past 2 weeks, I was busy with a few things and therefore didn't have the time to continue writing. >.<