Chapter 54

After observing the room from the outside, Hisashi takes a step foot forward. However, as soon as he did so, the thick webs started to move. The spider, Matie, has woken up which made him alert.

Not only are female Purple-Spiked Spiders large on average than their male counterpart, but Matie also seems to be even a bit larger than normal. It may pale in comparison compared to bigger monsters but the lethality of its poison is among the highest in the continent.

'I just killed a boar for dinner this morning so I won't kill you. But even then, I would feel more guilt breaking my rule compared to killing you. I'd even let you see Seolim a lot sooner.' Hisashi thought to himself as he saw the spider move and felt its anger.

Ever since that day, Hisashi has yet to kill another human. He has also put a rule to himself to only kill one living thing(except plants) per day at most. And usually, he reserves it for eating meat. The only exception he has put on to this rule is the demons as he swore to annihilate every single one of them.

Then, suddenly, the spider jumps to the ground and the wall. Although it was thin, the webs it releases spinnerets helped it be agile and move a lot faster.

It then crawls to the wall to get closer to Hisashi but when it was about to pounce, a light immediately comes out of the core. Albeit a bit different, Hisashi immediately recognizes it as a recording. It wasn't the same as Benzei's recording but it has the same mana structure and principle as that.

The light then shapes and forms as it shows a figure that only Matie, the spider. The sudden stop of the spider gave Hisashi suspicion.

"Good day. It's me Seolim. If you are watching this, I'd probably be dead by now. For that reason, I created this recording and added it to the Dungeon Core that will proceed to activate when the door is opened."

Hisashi watched as the projection narrates the remaining truth of the matter. According to Seolim himself, when the first soldiers learned about his location, he know that he doesn't have enough much time to finish finding the right combinations and best process.

So, he took some of his prototypes and mass-produced them as much as he can. He then took the first couple of spiders that he got and along with his newly produced instant, he took them to the dungeon core's room.

Using the dense mana of the core, he connected the seed to it which almost failed. But luckily, he succeeded as he puts all of it along the walls of the room. As if remembering it herself, Matie lets out a shriek that Hisashi didn't know whether a cry of sadness or anger.

"I will lock this dungeon for a century so these corrupt people cannot get another tool to increase their power through my project. I hope that whoever you are that managed to open it, has the skills and intention to finish what I haven't and do the right thing. Hopefully by that time, the Purple-Spiked Spiders either haven't gone extinct or some of them survived here in the core room.

I have added sedatives to the plants so they would go into a coma every time they eat, preserving their energy and letting them live longer. That, along with the density of mana here to help them age slower, I fully hope that at least one can survive despite their already relatively short lifespan. I may have abducted them and forced them to help me, but I hope that their species survives."

The recording then ended with him saying his goodbye. As for what he did, Hisashi can only speculate on him exiting the dungeon and sacrificing himself which didn't affect him in the slightest. He just looks at the spider who wonders how she survived.

'Is mana that mysterious? It can help things age slower by several times?' However, Hisashi knew that even then, it wasn't omnipotent. A mana-dense place won't make a mortal immortal. After all, several signs of aging can be seen on Matie whose purple hue doesn't look as rich as a young Purple-Spiked Spiders.

"Can you understand human language?" He asks the spider, but it didn't respond. He repeats it but it didn't respond again.

'They can only probably detect the intention in the words but not understand them. Their brain is still limited after all.' He said to himself as he walks to the glowing dungeon core. It was floating in the middle of two pillars and was as large as him.

He also conjured several plants around him which Matie quickly jumps on.

"This core… I don't know how to analyze an artifact's age but this looks older than the one in Goshu." He then puts his hand on the core and felt a massive raging rush of energy.

"AH! ARRGGHHHH!"

It wasn't just that, he also felt the same energy be pulled out of his body. This circulation of the mana causes abnormal pain throughout his body. The suction of the mana was greater than the rush of mana it was giving to Hisashi.

"I can't pull my hand off!" Hisashi exclaims as he tries to pull as hard as he can. Just then, he succeeds as he falls to the ground butt first. When he looks at the dungeon core with displeased expression in his face, he noticed something different. The dungeon core's light has grown stronger, now capable of lighting the room quite clearly.

"It took my mana! If I didn't take my hand off in time, would it result in that? 'Michael' taking over wouldn't be good." Hisashi was referring to him after overconsuming his seemingly limitless amount of mana. Although it was painful, it gave Hisashi something to work on.

"That amount of mana… at least this dungeon will keep its function for a longer time," Hisashi said as he looks at his back. He sees Matie eating diligently as he conjures an apple tree for himself before taking and eating one for himself.

"Fill yourself up. I need you in top shape if I have to harvest your sternum."