Chapter 27: The Serpent's Venom

"Open the door, Felix!"

"You fool, you'd betray your own brothers just to save your skin?"

Though the voices were muffled by the thick stone door, Felix still heard them.

Hearing Charles's curses, Felix wasn't angered but rather pleased: "This is what you get for crossing me. Just sit tight inside and feed those monsters. Once they're done, all those treasures will be mine, hahaha..."

Felix was soaked in cold sweat; that had been too close for comfort. He had almost lost his life.

He had been tomb raiding for over a decade and seen all manner of deadly tombs.

But the traps in those tombs were just simple pitfalls, crossbow traps, nothing like this place with its poison gas, spikes, and even glimpses of ferocious beasts...

Felix pressed his ear against the stone door, hearing a cacophony of screams and the sound of flesh being torn apart. Clearly, this deadly tomb had turned into a meat grinder.

"What a pity, such a fine woman..." The image of Aria's beautiful face crossed his mind, and Felix sighed before instructing his subordinates: "Keep a close watch on this. No one gets near. Let me know when there's no more noise inside."

"Yes, Second Boss!"

After issuing these orders, Felix finally stood up to leave; he needed to change his pants that were soaked through with urine.

---

"Felix!"

Charles swore angrily, picking up his tyrant spear and striking the stone door furiously.

There was a sharp clang, but the stone door did not budge, only sparking slightly.

Hiss, hiss...

Hearing the hissing and the sound of something crawling behind him, Charles broke out in a cold sweat and turned around in shock.

—[Man-faced Spider]—

[Attributes]: Metal/Poison

[Level]: 28

[Quality]: Bronze Division

[Skills]: Web Binding, Venom Spray, Steel Claw Strike

[Mood]: Excited

[Health]: Hungry

[Weakness]: Fire Attribute/Poor Vision

[Description]: This is a Level 28 Man-faced Spider that has been trapped in this tomb for several centuries, surviving on fish from the water. Its prolonged underground existence has weakened its eyesight, but its sense of smell and vibration detection are exceptionally sharp. Tasting warm blood for the first time has made it extremely agitated.

"Ugh... what a disgusting creature!"

The sight of the Man-faced Spider instantly gave Charles goosebumps, and his stomach began to churn uncontrollably.

Despite the spider's body being that of an arthropod with a swollen abdomen, it bizarrely had a grotesquely ugly human head. It was now opening its maw wide, advancing towards the remaining people.

"Monster! It's a monster!!!" A tomb raider with a broken leg struggled to crawl away. But suddenly, the Man-faced Spider sprayed webbing, entangling him.

Scraping at the ground with his hands, the man desperately tried to break free, but the web dragged him towards the gaping mouth of the Man-faced Spider.

"Crack—" A sound like breaking bones echoed.

The man, now reduced to half his body, looked at Charles with pleading eyes, reaching out a bloodied hand: "Charlie, save... save me..."

"Crack—"

Another crisp sound echoed as the man was completely swallowed, leaving only his twitching severed arm on the ground.

The man-faced spider licked the blood from the corner of its mouth, then raised its head to look at Charles, seemingly still unsatisfied.

The hungry man-faced spiders quickly devoured the corpses on the ground. Having tasted fresh flesh, they surged like a tide towards Charles's position.

"What do we do now?" A panicked voice spoke up as Charles felt a soft body press against his back.

Only then did Charles realize that he and Aria were the only living humans left in the tomb.

Her normally fair face was now pale with terror, and even through her clothes, Charles could feel her trembling slightly.

What to do?

What could he do?

Charles could see the levels of these man-faced spiders; all were above Level 25, and one was even Level 31, more despairing than Aria.

Sometimes, knowing more isn't necessarily better, especially when there's a significant gap in strength...

"Stay calm, stay calm..."

Charles gritted his teeth. The more critical the situation, the more crucial it was not to lose composure.

The strength of these man-faced spiders was far beyond him and Aria. Even if he used Beast Mastery skills or Max's special move [Energy Bomb], it likely wouldn't be enough.

Unwilling to overlook any information, Charles opened the system tips for the man-faced spider's [Weakness], and a panel popped up.

[Man-faced Spider Weakness]: Fire attributes counter metal attributes, which can also cause its venom to evaporate. Man-faced spiders are nearsighted, relying on smell and vibration detection to hunt prey. If they cannot be defeated head-on, it's essential to minimize scent and noise as much as possible.

As the man-faced spiders continued to close in.

Aria had drawn her sword, ready to fight these ferocious beasts to the death, but Charles suddenly grabbed her wrist.

Before she could react, Charles gently embraced her and then fell back into a nearby stone sarcophagus.

Aria felt engulfed in darkness, with the somewhat heavy body of a strange man pressing down on her. Fortunately, this sarcophagus was empty, containing no remains or hidden weapons, but that was the least of her concerns...

"What are you going to do to me!" Aria's voice was thick with warning, sensing the ambiguous position they were in.

Her outcry caused the man-faced spiders, which had initially dispersed, to quickly converge toward them.

Hearing the sound of arthropods scrambling towards the sarcophagus, Charles shuddered, but Aria, unable to see the weakness prompt, couldn't understand Charles's intentions and struggled desperately to free herself.

"Let go of me! If you dare touch me, I will kill you!" Aria's pale gold eyes glared coldly at Charles, her pupils narrowing into slits while fine scales began to appear on her arms.

By now, dozens of man-faced spiders had gathered around the sarcophagus, all curious about this talking coffin. One even extended a claw, attempting to lift the lid...

Through the crack of the sarcophagus, Charles saw the ugly face peering in, its highly nearsighted eyes trying to investigate the interior.

Charles was at his breaking point, also feeling frustrated. Misunderstood by the same woman twice in a row, and now he couldn't even speak to explain.

This frustration gradually turned into anger, and just as Aria was about to speak again, he silenced her.

Of course, since both his hands were busy controlling her wrists, Charles used his mouth.

The world went silent instantly.

...

Outside the sarcophagus, a tide-like wave of man-faced spiders hissed, while inside, only the sound of two rapidly heating heartbeats could be heard.

Charles cursed inwardly: "Damn it! My first kiss!"

His first second transmigrated into this world was spent in an affair with Lily in the office, a situation Charles had no choice in, but he still had his first kiss!

He held one belief: as long as he still had his first kiss, he remained a man of innocence.

However, he hadn't expected to lose it in such a way in less than half a month...

After such an absurd thought crossed his mind, Charles couldn't help but curse himself for being shameless. After all, kissing a girl with top-tier looks and an exotic allure didn't seem like a bad deal at all.

Feeling that she had been forcefully kissed, the girl's body stiffened momentarily before she quickly broke away from Charles's lips. She seemed at a loss for words, her gaze empty and distant.

Moments later, tears began to slowly trail down her cheeks, making her appear deeply wronged.

In her human form, Aria seemed fragile and pitiable. Seeing her tear up, Charles's heart softened, and he loosened his grip slightly.

It was at this moment that the girl broke free from Charles's hold and bit sharply at his neck.

...

"I'm sorry." The girl hugged her knees, curled up in a corner of the tomb chamber, and struggled to push out these three words.

"Louder, I didn't hear you. If saying sorry is enough after biting someone, what's the point of having police in the world?" Charles applied [hemostatic powder] to the bite marks on his neck while talking.

The usually fast-acting hemostatic powder was slow to work this time, and the bite left two poisonous fang marks on his neck. Feeling the pain, Charles couldn't help but rant, "Do you even know who just saved you? If I hadn't had [beast-driving wine] with me, you wouldn't even know how you died! Is this how you repay someone who saved your life? Biting is bad enough, but to poison too!"

"Where's the antidote, bring it quickly."

Realizing her fault, Aria's tone softened significantly, her face showing a pale smile: "It's my snake venom, but I don't know how to cure it... so, there is no antidote."

"No antidote?" Charles's hand trembled, and the jade bottle in it crashed to the ground in shock.

You've got to be kidding me, is this how I die? Not even half a month into transmigrating, and to die from a girl's bite, even the devils in hell would laugh at such a death, wouldn't they?