A Risky Operation

Just as Qin Ruo expected, the Deathfiend Spider had died at the hands of Slayer's Heart and the others by the end of the battle. However, after Violet Orchid came to him and struck him with a few words, he felt his heart shrink. He was overcome by anxiousness for a moment as she actually told him that he did not leave a corpse behind after he died. If Slayer's Heart had not asked her to cast her Resurrection on a pile of water on the ground, Qin Ruo would have only been revived at the Resurrection Point in the city…

Qin Ruo could briefly feel his heart clench up as cold sweat began to drip down his forehead. He never expected to suffer an aftereffect like this when killed in his Aquamorph form. If someone else had been in his shoes at that same moment, that person would have absolutely given up on any attempts to stay alive.

If his level dropped because of that, he would have had a lot of grievances!

After feeling a chill pass through his entire body, Qin Ruo followed the party members who were done picking up the loot. They carried on with their journey towards the depth of the Ruins's lower third floor. Since they had taken out the most troublesome monster on the lower third floor of the Ruins, it seemed that they did not need to worry too much about upcoming battles. Counter soldiers with arms, water with an earth weir as they say. They would just need to decide which actions to take based on the different situations they would be facing.

***

During his journey, Qin Ruo's mind was visibly broadened by his experiences.

The variety of spiders on the third floor of the Ruins were much more difficult to deal with compared to the Gorefiend Spiders back on the second floor of the Ruins. There were Green Goblin Spiders, which possessed the ability to spray spider webs that were stickier and much more poisonous than the ones by the Gorefiend Spiders. There were also Violetwing Venomspiders, which possessed wings on their backs, so they could fly and glide in the air like cicadas. Not only were their movements extremely fast, they could also launch a great number of venomous needle attacks to perform ranged offenses. Last but not least, there were the Chameleon Spiders that behaved just like their namesake as they would crouch in the corners of the crypt and make themselves extremely difficult to spot with the naked eye. Based on Qin Ruo's knowledge of all the ordinary spider species in the ruins, the Chameleon Spiders were also the most difficult species to deal with. The surfaces of their bodies were as tough as steel. Not to mention that there were also venomous needles densely packed all over the surface of their bodies. Even though Slayer's Heart was considered strong, he would not have been willing to face those monsters as well. A simple touch from those creatures would inflict a Poison Effect upon any player, weakening the player's Strength by 20 %. Furthermore, it would require time to get rid of the Poison Effect. Things could get wearisome by then.

The only fortunate thing was, Green Goblin Spiders and Violetwing Venomspiders were monsters that flocked together in groups. Sometimes, the crypt would be overwhelmed with the presence of those hairy, green gigantic spiders. While sometimes, a great bunch of Violetwing Venomspiders would be buzzing in the air with their wings right above the players' heads. Chances of encountering the Chameleon Spiders were very rare. Not to mention, there would only be three of them at most if they appeared at the same time.

Even though that was the case, any party who encountered one or more Chameleon Spiders had to remember to stay as vigilant and cautious as they were when they were up against the Gorefiend Spider Demon and Deathfiend Spider…

Qin Ruo could no longer remember how many turns the party had taken and how many crypts they had explored. He was even more unclear about their whereabouts on the third floor of the Ruins. He felt lost in the middle of a maze. The moment the party set foot in another new crypt before them, everyone could hear thuds swiftly traveling into their ears. The sound was coming from a few corners around them at the same time. Qin Ruo could not help himself anymore as he started to feel miserable.

"I hate spiders!"

The ladies, who had sweat all over their foreheads tried very hard to prevent themselves from laughing out loud. However, the corners of their mouths still revealed traces of a smile on their faces.

"Hehe, just hold on! We're almost there!"

While they were having their conversation, Qin Ruo frowned as he encountered the Chameleon Spider, which he was most unwilling to fight. It's another Chameleon Spider! Not to mention, there are three of them this time… Looks like we'll have to bust a gut again…

"Leader, can you say something else other than that? You've been saying the same thing for half an hour."

Qin Ruo was really speechless, rolling his eyes at his Squad Leader from the side. In the meantime, he charged up his Water Elemental Magic as swiftly as he could. His movements suggested that he was skilled in it, as though he had done the same thing many times before. He seemed like a completely different person now compared to the time he encountered his first ever Chameleon Spider. He no longer panicked as he did back then. Instead, his performance had become rather convincing. He showed experience and was calm in handling the spiders.

Without the need for Slayer's Heart to remind him, Qin Ruo followed the old instructions that everyone previously set up based on their mutual understanding. He seized the one moment right before Slayer's Heart and the first Chameleon Spider could engage into battle. He cooperated with Burning Rose and iLittle Arrow to block down the other Chameleon Spiders, which were leaping at them from the other corners of their surroundings.

The Chameleon Spiders were much slower than the Galewind Wolves though. It was much easier for the players to intercept them. However, because the colors on the surface of the Chameleon Spiders' bodies were exactly the same as the colors of the background in the crypt, it became really difficult for anyone to notice their presence with the naked eye. That factor made the situation a little more challenging and troublesome for the players to handle. Furthermore, the Chameleon Spiders also had high defense and powerful attacks. Not to mention, they also possessed strong venom. Due to all of that, their existence became a worse nightmare for Melee-type players.

However, from Qin Ruo's perspective, these monsters became easy targets once ranged players were able to detect and lock on them with their targeting system—in his previous encounter with the Chameleon Spider, Qin Ruo kept using his regular Frost Magic to keep the Chameleon Spider frozen throughout the entire battle. Not only was he able to prevent the spider from approaching him and his party members, but the spider also did not even get a chance to move its body at all.

From that point of view, the Chameleon Spiders' weakness should be their Magic Resistance attributes… Hence, their resistance to magic should be… awfully weak!

Upon catching the Chameleon Spiders' weakness, all Qin Ruo needed to do was perform some minor control over the battlefield with his magic skills. The Chameleon Spiders would all become grasshoppers that would never escape the grasp of his palm. He could just knead those spiders whichever way he wanted to.

Following the sound of the Chameleon Spider marching forward, Qin Ruo swiftly lay out a Water Element "carpet" at an approximate location, waiting for the Chameleon Spider to set its feet on the surface of the water trap he laid. He then swiftly drew in the net!

"Freeze!"

Maybe because the surface of the spider's body was tough as steel, the Chameleon Spider was extremely weak when it went against freezing attacks. It was immediately frozen on spot. A layer of frost swiftly covered the Chameleon Spider's entire body and exposed it right before the eyes of Burning Rose as well as iLittle Arrow…

Once Qin Ruo was done preparing the first wave of his magic attack, both Lunarshackle and Firegod Fury also managed to hit the target at the same time. Soon after, the frost on the spider melted away due to the heat from the fire attack. Following that, Qin Ruo added another blow of magic attack on the spider unhurriedly…

The Chameleon Spider's frozen state continued to remain in effect!

By repeating the same pattern of attacks on the spider, the poor Chameleon Spider was tormented by the three of them until it met its doom.

Compared to the three of them, Slayer's Heart and Little Apple were feeling much more frustrated.

Having to battle the spider in melee combat, not only were they exposed to the risk of getting inflicted with its Poison Effect all the time, their attacks could only deal a limited amount of damage on the Chameleon Spider. When Qin Ruo, Burning Rose and iLittle Arrow were done slaying the Chameleon Spider on their side, the two of them had only been able to reduce less than half of the spider's HP bar…

After they finally got rid of the Chameleon Spiders, Slayer's Heart looked like he had just completed an extremely difficult task as he wiped off the beads of sweat that were dripping down his face. Then, he walked over to his party members and said, "So, where do we go from here? There aren't many rooms left around, am I right?"

"Three to the left, four to the front, five to the right, seven to the front… This time, we'll take right. After going through this room, we'll arrive at the Altar. By then, we'll be able to summon the Dimensional Door!" Violet Orchid was the one who responded to Slayer's Heart's question.

However, as Qin Ruo heard about it for the first time, he looked at Burning Rose, cluelessly scratching his head. He then asked, "What's with the 'three to the left and four to the front' thing? Is that some sort of mantra?'

"That's the route to get through the third floor of the Ruins," Burning Rose replied.

Qin Ruo seemed bewildered.

"Sigh. Ruo Ruo, with your current intellect… it's truly a challenging thing to communicate with you."

Perhaps Burning Rose had been was overwhelmed by the high-intensity battle to the point that she could not catch her breath, so she unscrupulously chose to make fun of Qin Ruo. Seeing Qin Ruo looking awkward and embarrassed soon after, she could not refrain herself from laughing as she tried to explain to Qin Ruo.

It turned out that Violet Orchid was talking about a route to get through the third floor of the Ruins. The members of the Bauhinia League figured out after doing some research on the floor map. To get from the entrance to the third floor of the Ruins to the Altar, that was the shortest route one could take. Players could only be able to use the map they acquired earlier on to summon the Dimensional Door only when they were near the Altar.

After Burning Rose explained it to him, she also told him that the blood of hundreds of high-tier members of the Bauhinia League had been spilled before the route was discovered. Furthermore, only one of the many players who ventured in had walked out of the secret chamber alive so far—that time, the party was led by the League Master of the Bauhinia League, Scarlet Bauhinia. All nine of the strongest players in the League who tagged along with him were killed in action. Scarlet Bauhinia was the only one who survived and came back from the expedition.

Qin Ruo was speechless.

Burning Rose appeared to attach a lot of importance on the matter when she explained it to Qin Ruo. After that, Qin Ruo seemed glanced at Slayer's Heart with a serious look on his face. He suddenly had an idea. Was this journey into the dungeon… really as simple as exploring an ordinary secret chamber?