First Dungeon (16)

Pov Asani Martin

As I stared at Julius dashing toward the silver spider while surrounding it in a tight ring of flames, I truly realized that I had to be cursed. There was no other explanation for why a simple, clear-cut mission had turned into such a mess, with miniboss after miniboss popping out like toys from a jack in the box.

Everyone else seemed to be having an easy time while I was the only one getting attacked by camouflaged spiders, getting smacked around by a giant spider, and now another hidden spider had popped up, which would probably focus on me as well. It really seemed that everything that could posisbbly go wrong had happened to me and me alone.

It all had to be attributed to that dumb author who had cursed me. Swearing to stomp on the Author's face with spike-covered boots when I finally got my hands on him, I decided to focus on the battle before me and take stock of my body.

Head? It was pounding, but the bleeding had stopped, and thankfully, my double vision had cleared up. From what I could tell, I didn't think I had a concussion.

My mana? Low but slowly refilling one droplet at a time.

Left leg? It was still aching, and it couldn't bear a lot of weight for long, but it was bearable.

The shoulder where the spider and the mimic had bitten me was hurting but usable, and I had almost a full range of movement.

Overall, my combat capabilities had been reduced to around 30-40%. It was a shitty position to be in, yet I had to make it work somehow.

Squeak? 

The mimic squeaked at me in apology as the numerous snake heads nuzzled my shoulder, neck, and head. Feeling the cool, slippery texture brushing against my overheated skin, I took a deep breath to order my thoughts.

"It's fine. Just turn into bird form and drag me away if I'm in danger again, and don't get damaged. I can't spare the mana right now."

Squeak!

It immediately transformed and settled on my head while leaving one thin snake-like appendage wrapped around my neck like a choker.

Crafting another mana potion and shoving it in my mouth, I began running in the opposite direction of Julius as I began shooting at it. Completely ignoring both the ring of flames and the bullets hitting it, the spider continued eating the scraps of spiders lying around it. Once I was a good distance away, I quickly analyzed it, which quickly drew its attention towards me.

[Shadow Mimic]

[Shapeshift - Steel Armored Darwin Bark Spider Queen]

[Disguise - Steel Armored Darwin Bark Spider Queen]

[Rank C]

[ Strength - B]

[ Intelligence: C]

[ Perception – B]

[ Speed: B ]

[ Magic power – C]

[Abilities: ▷Paralyzing Venom (C) ▷Camouflage (C), Armour(C) ▷Call(B)]

Fuck. Another mimic. And this one seemed slightly stronger.

"Eat?" The discordant voice whispered from the top of my head.

"Not yet. Wait until I tell you, and no talking."

As if it sensed me using Analyze, the spider stopped eating the scraps of spiders around it, spun around, broke the restrictive flame ring with a brutish snap of its legs, and quickly began charging at me at an insane speed.

Not wanting to be slammed against the wall again, I ran forward as quickly as I could and slid underneath it while crafting a shield on one arm to protect my body and a mana barrier above that. 

Feeling the barrier begin to crack as the spider immediately slammed its body down, I quickly began rolling quickly, until I was clear.

Scrambling to my feet, I willed the shield away and quickly pumped the shotgun, blasting explosive bullets at its eyes.

Armored plates quickly grew on the area around its eyes, shielding the glowing red orbs from the bullets and explosions before disappearing into the silver metal-like skin around it.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me. That's cheating." I groaned when I saw what I assumed was the armor skill in use.

Dashing backward, I quickly began crafting bear traps between the spider and me as it began dashing toward me again, its body moving swiftly despite its bulk. 

Gracelessly throwing myself to the side, I watched the spider quickly run through the bear traps, thick armored plates growing over the large legs, which caused the teeth of the bear trap to break as it snapped closed, rendering them useless hunks of metal.

It hadn't even slowed it down at all.

Reloading my gun, I tried shooting at its legs and main body as I leaped to the side once more to avoid the charge, sighing as more armored plates formed to protect its legs.

What an annoying bastard.

Calculating the mana consumption of creating a mana potion and the rate of regeneration, it was clear that I would eventually run out of mana if I kept consuming my mana in this way. I had to change tactics. This needed to be a quick battle.

As the spider turned to dash at me once more, I crafted a shield and, in a smooth, practiced motion, prepared to slide underneath.

"Crimson! Back me up!" I called as I slid underneath the spider, aiming upwards as best as I could with the shotgun and emptying the clip as I slid through. The first couple of shots caused it to flinch backward with a loud screech, stopping the expected body slam and allowing me to easily get clear. But then I noticed the armor forming to protect its stomach.

"On it!" a voice called out, and several small fireballs began to fly at the spider from all angles, with a big one aiming for it back.

As it turned its body to face a new threat, immediately dashing toward Julius, a golden sword slash flew forward and smashed against it, leaving a faint dent in its body and causing it to temporarily reel back.

Screeeeeeeeeeecch!

A horrifying sound, like metal scraping against metal, sounded out as the spider reared up in anger. Without pause, like a vengeful golden devil, Lionel dashed forward and angrily swung his sword, leaving long dents on the spider's body but not landing any critical hits.

"Hit its stomach; it's weaker there," I called out before backing away while keeping my eye on the battle. Since the attention of the spider was off me, I began to craft a spool of steel wire attached to a large spike. Slamming the spike into the rock wall at chest height, I created a hammer and pounded it as far as I could. Tying the steel wire on it, I dragged the spool across the open space and repeated the same thing over and over again.

Looking back at the battle, Lionel actually seemed to be working hard, each swing of his golden sword making proper marks in the armor of the spider while Julius supported him from behind with smaller fireballs flying at the spider's eyes, stomach, mouth, anywhere it could fit to cause damage without harming Lionel.

Spotting smaller spiders approaching from different sides, I paused what I was doing to shoot them down while observing everything that was going on.

At first glance, the battle seemed to be going well, but it was too inefficient and slow. Julius, who was the main strength on my side, was slowing down compared to the momentum he had before. His flames were no longer the previous bright blue but a dull yellow, and it would have been easy to miss if I wasn't watching closely, but Lionel and the spider were slowly cornering Julius as he defended attacks with his body, so he was further and further away from me while more and more little spiders kept appearing.

Quickly making a couple more spikes and wires and tying them off until I had a simple section of nets, I called out to Julius while blasting more of the smaller spiders.

"Crimson, to me. Look sharp," I warned him. With a slick turn, he quickly sent off a large fire blast before he retreated, forcing Lionel to be in front of him and bear the brunt of the large spider's attack.

Looking up, I searched for Lina, who was squatting just out of sight and observing the situation. Catching her gaze, I mouthed '3 minutes'. As she tilted her head in confusion, I crafted a butterfly net and pointed it to myself and the wire net, then crafted a nail and hammer and pointed it at her before looking pointedly at the spider. Hoping she got the hint, I looked away and paid attention to the battle before me as I began mentally counting down the seconds in my head.

180 seconds. The clock had begun ticking. Time to drag it here.

As Julius dashed toward me, leaping over the spider with a flash of brief orange flash and sending a crescent flame wave to attack little ones that dropped from who knows where, I began firing my shotgun at the spider queen, aiming only at its eyes.

Armor plates quickly formed to cover its eyes, and in a fit of rage, it swung its front legs angrily, catching lionel off guard and slamming him backward.

Good.

When Julius arrived, he looked between me and the wire net with an arched brow before slipping underneath once I tossed him my shotgun and a mana potion.

"You're dragging, so switch with me and play defense. There's a high-rank bullet in there. Cover any openings with your flames, and if you have the opportunity, shoot it in the mouth. If Lionel does anything funny, shoot him in the head. I'm off to play bait, so watch your back and back me up if you can." Crafting a handgun for myself and mentally commanding the mimic to go to Julius, I began running toward the spider that had turned toward me and began scuttling over at a noticeably slower speed.

120 seconds.

Catching its uncovered eyes, I gave it a harp smile.

"Awww, does your tummy hurt?" I asked it in a mocking manner as I began shooting again while crafting a few mana sludge potions and ignoring the jolt of pain shooting through my head from my low mana.

Screeeeeeeech! 

As it began charging in anger, I tossed the potions at its face before aiming explosive shots at its snapping jaws. Extra flames flying in from behind me joined the mix, increasing the range and scope of the explosion.

A shriek of pain incomparable to the one before came out of its mouth as multiple miniature explosions occurred. As the smoke cleared, I couldn't help but snicker at its hideous look.

All the fine hairs on the spider's face were gone, one of its mandibles flew off, 3 of its eyes were burned off, and it began leaking greenish-black blood from its charred face.

"Ugly. Ugly. Ugly." I whistled at the damage left behind. Those sludge potions had an excellent damage-to-mana spent ratio. They were truly my best discovery by far.

As the remaining red eyes focused on me, I smiled gently while backing up until my back was against the wire net. 

Willing away the handgun, I crafted a grappling gun and emptied potion bottles, waving the potions at the spider.

"Wanna try it again? I can make you symmetrical this time. Promise."

Screeeeeeeech! 

It began charging as thick bits of armor shifted to cover its entire head area, leaving only a slit for its eyes. Shrugging, I tossed the sludge potions at it, but it quickly leaped back, avoiding the empty bottles that shattered on the ground.

"Don't be a baby, come here. I don't bite," I murmured as I crafted actual sludge potions and began circling it, trying to get the spider directly under the open portion of the space.

Seeing that Lionel was just standing at the back, observing with disinterested eyes when I had given him the perfect opportunity to attack it, I hid my anger and called out to him.

"Oi, Lionheart. Focus and cut off one of its back legs, then I'll grab its attention again. We can switch off."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Lionel growled back as a flurry of golden aura swung at random spots of the spider's body. Although additional dents were made, the spider's skin wasn't even pierced, and it didn't even turn to look at him. It stayed completely focused on me, twitching and turning its body every time I moved toward it while waving the bottles.

He was useless. Worse than useless. Julius, at least, was still sending fireballs, while Lionel was just sending casual sword strikes every once in a while.

60 seconds.

Seeing as neither the spider nor Lionel wanted to cooperate, I dashed for the spider while turning, and it quickly swung its body to the side, several of its back legs getting tangled in the wires. As it began struggling to free its legs, the wires snapping bit by bit, while it kept trying to headbutt me, I immediately shot the grappling hook upward, retracting the line until I dangled just out of reach of the spider. 

As it paused and began trying to rear up to swat me, I saw blue flames form on Julius' fists once more as he repeatedly struck a back leg, causing the spider to falter temporarily from the pain.

seeing him look exhausted, I knew he didn't have much mana in him. As the spider tried to turn back, multiple silver spears flew down at a high speed, piercing the spider's back and causing it to shriek as it focused upward.

I began tossing the mix of sludge potions onto its back, and as I crafted more, I began tossing it to any part of its body I could hit. Back, legs, butt. I didn't have to aim because it was big. The mix of the energy and mana sludge potions began causing small explosions as they stuck to the hairy body and began to ignite.

"Crimson. Explosions." I called, not stopping my actions. Even though he was tired, he needed to squeeze out everything he had.

Understanding what I needed, Julius, who had moved away, quickly sent additional fireballs, making the explosions bigger than they usually would be. 

"Asani! I'm ready!" Lina's strained voice called out, and high above, I could see one large needle-like object, several feet long and quite thick, floating in the air as well as what looked like a giant humanoid shape.

At her voice, I increased the amount of potions I threw at the spider's back, trying to concentrate the damage on one spot.

Come on. Move! Shift that armor from your face; you damn spider!

As the spider's armor shifted from its head to its back, I created an extra large jug of sludge and dropped the whole thing directly onto its face, my head feeling as if a sledgehammer slammed into it. As something began trickling out of my nose and my vision temporarily grayed, I bit my tongue to stay conscious.

"Open up your mouth, you damn bastard and drink up. Lina, drop it. Julius, regenerate yoursself."

Without waiting for the fallout, I crafted another grappling hook, immediately shooting it toward the furthest rocky wall away from me, which was where Lionel was, and tossed Julius my final mana potion. As I began flying, the hook pulling me forward, a niggling feeling in the back of my head prompted me to put up a mana barrier.

Having had my life saved more than once due to those feelings, I immediately obeyed as I tucked my body compactly, creating a barrier surrounding me and a brick with 'Incorporal' in my hand. Eyes opened wide, I focused and observed everything going on, and it felt as if the world slowed down for a couple of seconds.

The longest metal nail with the widest top that I had ever seen was dropping into the back of the spider, followed by the sheer mass of a block-like human-like figure made of metals of different colors pressing its entire body into the nail. 

 Julius was retreating rapidly while sending a large fireball at the spider.

While Lionel had his hands on his sword while quickly at me with completely black eyes, the moment I was about to swing past him, I quickly activated Incorporal on myself.

A moment later, his sword hand twitched almost faster than I could see it; his sword swung at me, the golden aura slicing through the rope and the smallest bit of my hair.

As everything returned to its normal speed, the sound of something large crashing into the ground sounded out, and it felt as if a localized earthquake happened.

Ignoring the effects of Lina's golem as debris and guts flew through the air and hiding the shock at Lionel's aura still harming me while I was technically incorporeal, I mentally commanded the mimic to start heading for the spider with Julius and to tell him to pretend to burn it to a crisp while my eyes were completely focused on Lionel.

I could see the slight disappointment on his face as he turned to look at me before he wiped it away, and his eyes returned to normal. He turned to look at the squashed spider's body and began taking a step toward that area.

It seemed that he was a little impatient and wanted that spider the body or rather the mimic in it, and it was my job to distract him so the little blob could eat. And since he dared to try to kill me first, he couldn't blame me for retaliating.

The moment I landed, I immediately dashed toward Lionel, craftting a shotgun in my free hand.

"You're dead," I warned him before I shot at him. Easily deflecting it with a wave of his sword, he fully turned and pointed it at me, his golden aura surrounding his body.

"For your contribution to the battle, as little as it might be, I'll give you one chance to apologize to me, trash. Otherwise, I don't mind teaching you a lesson. I'm sure Crimson won't mind as long as I don't kill you." his red eyes flashed as he smiled mockingly.

"How generous of you. But if you think you can attack me and get away with it, you've got another thing coming, you little shithead."

"I expected no less from the rabid dog of the academy. Attacking everything in sight and not knowing when to bow to your betters. And who's to say I attacked you?"

As I nodded my head pointedly at the sliced rope, he bared his teeth.

"Oops. My hand just slipped."

"Oh yeah? Same here."

Smiling gently, I emptied another clip of explosive bullets at him, using the opportunity to craft visible and 'Hidden' effect bear traps all around him.

Without even moving, the golden aura surrounding him expanded completely around his body and absorbed each bullet I shot at him. laughing, Lionel lightly slashed his sword horizontally, sending forward a golden wave before turning toward the spider again.

The instant I saw his hand move, I activated 'Incorporal' and threw myself into a low squat, using the opportunity to back away.

Ignoring the blood streaming down my nose, I continued staring at him before trying to grab his attention again. The one thing uppity spoiled narcissists hated was when their pride was challenged, especially by somebody they considered beneath them. Lucky for me, wasn't I the type of 'trash' Lionel hated?

"Look, I don't know what you have against me, but I can tell you don't like me, so let's clear the air now that we're done with the spiders. Fight me. Man to man. Just weapons, No gifts." I boldly told him.

"Why would I do that?" Lionel responded with a sneer.

"Why not? Could it be that you're too much of a chicken to fight me, the last ranked student without your little golden aura? I guess that golden hair of yours represents you being a baby chicken instead of a lion. Buck buck buck." I arched my brow and began making clucking sounds while his face began turning an ugly shade of red.

"I don't know why you're goading me, but I don't mind teaching you a lesson, trash. And I assure you, I don't need my gift to defeat someone like you."

"Prove it. Turn your aura off. Unless you need it against a rank 1000 like me. I understand if you're scared."

As we stared at each other in silence, I added the final straw that would break him.

"Heh, I guess this is why Nova doesn't take you seriously and even sent a little rank 1000 like me to back you up. He knew you couldn't do it because you're so weak. How pitiful."

Seeing him begin to grind his teeth and his hand twitch on his sword handle while the aura surrounding him fluctuated and his red eyes glowed, I wrapped my fingers tighter around my brick while keeping my breathing calm.

His first move was always a horizontal slash. This was the pattern against the spider and me as well. As long as I ducked and was incorporeal, I wouldn't die. Anything after that was dependent on Julius' aim with the shotgun I gave him.

Although it would be nice not to have to worry about a mimic stabbing me in the back, I wanted to know what the entirety of the plan Lionel and whoever else had, and it would be a shame to lose him now. I needed to make him remove that protective aura and injure him enough to force him to stay.

 Shrugging, I gave him a smile that I knew would piss him off.

"Considering how useless you were in this battle, you might as well leave now. You're deadweight and nothing but a worthless, trashy hindrance. Even more so than me."

"Tsk. Fine. If you want a beating so bad. I don't mind teaching you respect. And you can use your useless gift, not that it would do anything to me." Lionel ground out as his ruby eyes began glowing.

"Say less."

I planned to use it anyway.

The moment the aura around him disappeared, I took a step toward him while crafting visible bear traps in front and behind him.

"Please, I saw you use those useless things against the spider."

As he snorted disdainfully and easily sidestepped the visible traps, his leg easily slipped into one of the hidden ones and-

Crack.

The trap snapped shut with a loud crack, and he screamed out in pain as his leg buckled and he fell. As his hand touched the ground, coincidentally touching another bear trap-

Crack!

Another trap snapped shut over his wrist, causing him to release his sword and the metal spikes to sink into his wrist, blood gushing out and staining the surroundings red.

As his golden aura immediately snapped around his body, concentrating on the injured portion as he began prying away the traps with one hand, I quickly willed away the hidden ones and kicked his sword far away as I stood close while looking down at him. 

The damage was done.

Compared to Evelynn, who almost lost her leg, Lionel was way better off. His leg was broken, sure, but the skin contusions were healing, and it looked like the shattered bits of his bones were slowly retreating into his skin. His wrist seemed to have taken more damage, but as he forced more aura into the injured portions, even as his face became drastically pale, his injuries were clearly getting better. At the cost of him being weaker. Good.

"You're pretty sturdy, aren't you? Must be nice to have such a strong body. I'm jealous." I gave him my honest opinion even as his eyes narrowed in anger.

"You bastard. You dare to attack me?!? I'll report you, then kill you!"

"So noisy." I cleaned out my ears with my pinky while rolling my eyes, "We agreed to a fight. Besides, you said it yourself: I'm the rabid dog of the academy. You already know I have a shitty personality, and I don't acknowledge anyone as my better. I attack anyone who attacks me. And report me for what? I didn't commit a crime. Fighting is allowed, but killing is not. You don't look dead to me."

"This is attempted murder! You've basically disabled me."

"And just look at how beautifully you're healing. If you wait until we're back at the academy, our lovely nurse can fix anything, so don't worry. Plus, didn't you just try to kill me? I've said it before: my eyes are very good. Even Solomon Nova has said so. I saw everything. I know what you're hiding." I gave him a knowing smile.

"…What did you see?" despite his straight face, I could hear the slightest quiver in his voice as his eyes looked to the side nervously.

"I saw you swing your sword at me and cut through my grappling wire. A few inches down, and you would have cut my head off. I can tell you want to kill me."

"Is that it? That's all you know?" he clarified once more as he narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.

"Isn't that enough? Should I have seen something else?" I asked him in a soft tone, and he looked away with a confident smirk on his face.

I went to pick up his sword, weighing it in my hand, before I squatted in front of him with a soft smile that I'm sure didn't reach my eyes.

"I'm watching you, Lionel Lionheart. And I'm warning you just this once. If you try something like this, you'll end up with more than a couple of broken bones. Now, why don't you sit quietly like a good boy and use your little golden aura to heal that body of yours so you can be more than a deadweight? I have no plans to take a long with a useless person that I dislike. Especially one as stupid as you who can't listen to simple orders or even kill a simple spider."

Taking the opportunity to release my stress, I fully vented my anger, happy when I saw his embarrassed yet furious expression. It felt good knowing I had basically incapacitated him and could treat him like dirt, and he wouldn't leave until he either killed us or completed his mission.

"You-"

"Me what? Do you want me to break that other arm? Or your other leg? I hope you know that you've only got a pass because you helped rescue the students. Otherwise, straight to the jungle with you. With both arms and legs are broken. Shall we try it?"

As Lionel's gaze turned sideways to look toward Julius, I snapped my fingers at him.

"Don't look at him, look at me. Give me a yes or no. Yes, you'll behave and stay, or no, you want to leave the group, get your limbs broken, and be tossed into the jungle."

"…I'll stay." He unwillingly replied.

"Good enough. Anyway, I hope with this, we've settled our animosity like men. You tried to harm me; I harmed you back. We're even. Let's get along from now on. Ah, and I'll be keeping your sword so you don't do something you regret later, like try to kill me again. If you want it back, I can sell it to you for…" I raised my watch and checked the leaderboard, whistling as I saw his score.

"25,000 points? You've killed quite a lot, huh? How efficient. I'll sell it back to you for 40000 points. Let me know whenever you want to make the purchase."

Ignoring the angry look on his face, I walked over to where Lina and Julius were standing. Behind them was a blaze of fire that I assumed was the burning spider. As our eyes met, they both flinched before taking a couple of steps back.

"You…are a very vicious kid," Juliuss commented lightly, looking from the Sitting Lionel to me.

"Mommy, I'm scared," Lina added as she pretended to shiver.

Irritated at their nonsense, I rolled my eyes before speaking, "Anyways, You two work together to kill any leftover spiders and pick up any cores. I'll go check on the students and start preparing a camp for the evening while watching over that one."

"And Lionel?" Lina asked.

"I have his weapon, so everyone should try to keep an eye on him and make sure you're not alone with him. Where's the little birdie?" I asked Julius.

Squeak?

The little mimic flew out of the flames, circling my head before plopping down its slightly chubbier body on my head.

It seemed to wiggle for a bit before it let out a horrendously loud burp and released a horrendous stench of dead bodies and who knew what else.

As the two of them quickly leaped back while the unpleasant stench spread around me, I sighed and began trudging to go find the students. It was time to reap some benefits after suffering for so long.