22 Webs, Webs, and More Webs

After a small round of introductions, the group of five traversed the mountain.

Before we began scaling the mountain, we all conveniently made a party together.

𝐋'𝐀𝐫𝐜: 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟐𝟑

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞: 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟐𝟏

𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐝: 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟓𝟕

𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫: 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟓𝟏

Originally, they were surprised to see how high a level I was, and became confused.

Therese and L'Arc were also bewildered to see that only four members were listed and registered in the party.

There was no 'Lamb,' and there was obviously no 'Wolf.'

By common sense, they knew the cloaked and hooded figure was the 'Soulspinner,' but who was Kindred?

Also by logic and rationality, they knew that Kindred was 'Lamb,' but was that her true name?

For some reason, although they had a thought that the name 'Lamb' was an alias, they also thought she was telling the truth.

Confused, L'Arc asked about it, but the the three remained silent and did not bothered to respond to them.

This time, I wasn't as kind to enlighten them once more.

Then it was a godsend that his companion, Therese, took the hint and indirectly told L'Arc to buzz off. Which was to jab his hips as hard as she can.

Although I didn't say it, I appreciated her staying at his side.

Anyways, our journey on the mountain was surprisingly peaceful.

Peaceful and quiet.

Too quiet.

It was the calm before the storm, and as we went higher and higher, the winds began to grow more harsher and colder.

The sky became darker, and the atmosphere around us became more dangerous than ever.

It felt as if a single breeze can cut our skin, or push us off the edge and into the ravine of darkness...

Luckily, the party weren't novices, and so we were able to scale the mountains with skill and ease.

...

"...wow, that's a boss lair if I ever saw one," L'Arc whistled and breathed out in wonder.

In the middle of the mountain, the five of us appeared before a large, gigantic cave.

Many stalactites and rocky formations formed across the mouth of the cave, appearing like a very large monster opening its mouth and showing off its many sharp teeth.

Entering it would be akin to being swallowed by the darkness.

That would not deter us.

With that, we entered the cave, unaware of the unknown dangers that lay ahead.

I couldn't help but feel that we were being watched.

...

It had been a minute since we walked into the cave. Luckily, we had a magic user to light our path, that magic user is Therese.

With a ball of light in her hands, she moved a slight bit ahead of us, with L'Arc and Wolf next to her.

We were all quiet, and even L'Arc and Wolf were grim.

It was no time to be joking around.

As we were walking deeper and deeper, we heard something.

𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬.

Narrowing her eyes, Therese tossed a magic ball of light, a piece from hers. It sailed through the air, and it landed at the spot where she estimated to have heard the sound.

The moment it landed on the ground, it exploded, covering the small area in particles of light.

That was when we all saw it.

A spider. A dark, pitch black spider. Yt would be quite hard to see it for those whose eyes can't adjust well in the darkness, as it was camouflaged so well.

It was as large as a dog, and it had small pieces of hair that decorated its body, more so onto its eight legs.

That still doesn't entirely explain its existence. Although this was a magic world filled with monsters, I had never expected to see a spider...especially one this large.

I also wouldn't expect to see what was coming later.

"A weaver?" the soulspinner said thoughtfully, looking at it with an intense curiosity.

Before they had any chance to move, the spiderattacked with a manic glow, its eight eyes all glowing a fearsome crimson red.

It would've been more fearsome and awe-inspiring if it wasn't oneshotted by one arrow.

My raised bow fell to my side as it dropped dead onto the flow, its legs twitching for a few seconds before it stopped.

'Not a prey worthy of the hunt.'

Even Wolf looked disappointed, eyeing the corpse on the ground with a look of disdain.

"It seems to have not even have a grace of sentience..." the soulspinner sighed, shaking his head.

L'Arc suddenly gained enlightenment from that sentence.

"Wait, if there's a spider, and this is not the real monster...then doesn't that mean-?"

Out of nowhere, something fell from the ceiling, and L'Arc immediately sidestepped it, dodging midsentenced.

Gazing at the floor closely, the thing that dropped from the ceiling looked like a saliva of some sort...

We all then looked up in unison, and with Therese tossing another ball of magic, we all saw...

Webs.

Webs, webs, and more webs. They were everywhere we looked, and if one was to think with logic, where there are webs, there could be...

Spiders.

An uncountable number of spiders, similar to the one that just died, decorated the walls and rooftops, their gleaming red eyes appeared like stars in the night sky.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...this is a problem."

...

Hurried footsteps resounded in the cave as five figures ran through the darkness, the only source of light being held in a woman's hand.

If one were to squint to look into the darkness around them, they would be aghast to see a neverending sea of moving bodies scuttling here and there.

𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬.

𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬.

𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬.

𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬.

𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬.

"Why...𝘩𝘶𝘧𝘧...why are there so many...𝘩𝘶𝘧𝘧...spiders?" one of the five said, gasping for air as he swung his scythe, neatly cutting a small spider into two.

"I assume it must've spawned from the...monster..." the second of the five echoed, his voice deep and calm.

I, the third of the five, turned to look at the soulspinner, the fourth of the five, thinking-

'He must have a plan.'

Although I was shooting arrows left and right, I noticed that while we were running, the soulspinner was doing something with his hands. He was sometimes flicking his hands left and right, here and there rapidly, or making something within his hands.

The others weren't paying attention, and rightly so.

Although they were running for a few minutes, the only people that seemed to be tired were L'Arc and Therese.

I noticed Therese buffed themselves with magic, but it clearly wasn't working that well.

"Look out!" L'Arc yelled.

I calmly looked up, and saw that a spider was falling from the ceiling towards us. Before it came a second closer, an arrow swiftly pierced through it, causing it to fall to the side.

"...nevermind."

Ahead of them, several spiders were scuttling towards them, but they were awfully weak in terms of defenses, allowing them to be immediately disintegrated by the only magic user in our group.

Therese whispered spells as she used the gemstones in her hand as well as her accessories. Anything that had gems-necklaces, bracelets, earrings-they all were used in her spells.

Sadly, as she was only barely above level 20, her mana capacity was weakened, and the many spells she used were also low level AOE spells. With that limiting her powers, Therese only used them in extreme circumstances...like when a wave of monster came charging at them from the front.

I silently thought it would be great to have a powerful AOE attack to wipe away the extras.

However, it had to be said that the main reason why we weren't completely steamrolled by the spiders was because of Wolf.

The fifth of the five, he flew across the ground, opening his mouth wide as he swallowed and swallowed groups of spiders in one strike.

Him being the size of a horse, as well as immune to physical and magical attacks, allowed him to be the perfect striker in our team.

It also helped that Wolf was floating, and so he had an extreme advantage in terms of speed and maneuverability.

Unfortunately, the only two mortal beings in our party began to slow down, which means our chances of escape has decreased.

"...𝘩𝘶𝘧𝘧...𝘩𝘶𝘧𝘧..."

L'Arc and Therese kept running forward in determination, sweat matting their faces and back.

Although they moved forward without slowing down, I could see it was a last ditched effort.

Still, I turned to the soulspinner, who seemed eerily tranquil, silent. He had seemed to have planned all of this, and from my memories, he is a type of being that would plan before action.

It was at this moment the sounds of conflict quieteed down, and I looked in front of me.

There were no more monsters ahead of us, and I saw a tiny light in the distance.

We were all close to the entrance, and so although the monsters were still quickly closing in on us, the spiders were now all in one direction.

An opportunity to sweep them all in one blow.

The soulspinner must've thought of it to, because to the shock of Therese and L'Arc, he suddenly scraped across the floor, sliding to a halt as he turned to look at the approaching wave of monsters. He then took out his hands from within his cloak. All four arms stretched outwards, his clawed fingers grasping outwards.

In one swift movement, he grabbed something in the air, and to the shock of the two, he did grab something.

It was a familiar, blue glowing string. As it began to be visible, more and more strings began to become visible, glowing an eerily light blue. Other than the monsters, strings were all that they can see from their position.

The spiders, all being abruptly surrounded by strings, froze in shock. The soulspinner, taking advantage of the momentary shock, pulled his strings together.

Then the world turned into a world washed in crimon red blood.

"𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘤𝘩!"

"𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘤𝘩!"

"𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘤𝘩!"

Multiple sounds of agonizing and pained screeching echoed through the large tunneled cave, and after a few seconds, a large amount of 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘥𝘴 were heard.

A few seconds affter that, there was no more noise. No scuttling sounds along the rocky walls, no hissing, no screeching, no clattering...

It was as if nothing had happened.

If it weren't for the corpses of the sliced spiders and blood that covered an entire part of the stone floors, then one wouldn't be able to be sure if a massacre happened.

"...woah."

L'Arc and Therese looked at the soulspinner in a different light, even when they dropped to the ground, gasping for air.

Although they knew he was a higher level and had remarkable skills, they didn't think it would be this...brutal.

'I thought he was just a weaver?' L'Arc thought, staring deeply at the bus who carried them all on his back.

The soulspinner in question remained silent and quiet, nonchalant.

It was as if this entire massacre wasn't his doing.

"As expected of the soulspinner, your woven strings are as smooth and beautiful, gleaming within the dark, whispering," I said, praising him.

"Your compliments are indeed worth listening to, but it as expected of the Kindred's hunt, so elegant and refined, but yet hungry and impatient," he responded back with his own compliment.

The soulspinner and I were giving each other our admiration, and the two tag-alongs felt strangely out of the picture.

Wolf, meanwhile, just looked hungrily at the corpses on the ground.

He was always hungry.

Although the spiders all died, that doesn't excuse the fact that we are not out of danger yet.

We looked around a few times warily, and after a few seconds of waiting, we all slightly relaxed, and focused on the one thing that came after killing many monsters.

Our levels.

Glancing at it, I noticed our level didn't even increase by one. These spiders, although many, were low leveled.

It seems we have finally reached a point where we need to find stronger monsters to hunt.

That is why we are here.

Moving on, I looked down from the top of the party list and saw that only L'Arc and Therese leveled up a few times.

At least two or more levels.

"Phew...wow, that was a great experience farm, wasn't it?" L'Arc said jokingly, still breathing harshly, albeit he was slowly calming down.

It was as if such an experience near death was the norm.

Therese was also the same, and although her eyes were closed, she appeared to be concentrating on breathing.

"Can we...take a break?" L'Arc said.

I wordlessly gazed at them, and seeing their pathethic figures on the ground still heaving for air, nodded my head.

The soulspinner, silent, also nodded his head in agreement.

...

Minutes passed, and the two had finally regained their breaths, Before we began moving on our journey, I looked back at the soulspinner, who was staring into the depths of the caves all this time.

"I've heard in the stories back at the inn that the wizard created the monster," I asked, implying something.

"In a different meaning...it could be said that, yes, you're correct," the soulspinner, glancing at me, nodded in agreement.

"What do you mean?" L'Arc, overhearing our conversation, said aloud as he looked at us conversing with interest.

Therese also opened her eyes, glancing at us with interest as well. Wolf was chewing on the closest corpse near us, clearly not interested in the topic.

"The monster didn't just create a monster...he became the monster."

"Huh?!" L'Arc gasped in surprise.

"..."

"....so these spiders...they must've came from this monster..." I said, pondering.

"How? Wasn't the wizard a man?" L'Arc asked, curious.

"..."

We ignored him as the rest of us focused our eyes onto the soulspinner.

The soulspinner, as if feeling our questioning gazes, continued his story.

"It is once said that a spider possesses ancient wisdom and patience, and so it could be said that the wizard must've wanted to obtain this wisdom for his own gain..."

The soulspinner shook his head.

"Unfortunately, the experiment failed, and he fused with the spider."

I tilted my head slightly.

"You mean the wizard did not create the abomination, but was actually the abomination?"

"Yes. The problem was that the wizard, in his experiment, committed the taboo," the soulspinner said, finally turning his entire body towards us, the blue marks on his mask burning ever so furiously.

"He had attempted to fuse with a spider."

"Fuse...?" Therese, the silent one, asked bewilderedly.

"Did you know why he failed?" the soulspinner asked us, like a teacher asking his student to answer his question.

I shook my head. I was also curious in knowing how he failed. Judging by the soulspinner's words, this wizard sounded like this wizard was an extaordinary person.

"He had seen the its face, and so he knows its embrace..."

"...I see," I nodded my head in understanding.

"Wait, the wizard and the spider were a couple?!"

We turned to look at the one who shouted it, and he had the audacity to look as if he had done nothing wrong.

Shameless.

Even Therese appeared embarrassed, poking L'Arc harder then usual. Seeing that, we turned back towards the conversation.

"It would be more advantageous if we were out in open space, but...it could also be a blessing."

"None can escape," Wolf said in satisfication as he looked in our direction, finally finishing eating that one corpse.

"Hey guys, I was asking a question..."

Suddenly, the cave began to rumble, and roar came from the depths.

L'Arc and Therese were stumbling from the miniature earthquake, but the three of us were fine. Wolf looking around with a serious gaze was floating, so it didn't really matter to him.

The soulspinner unnaturally stood still, while I balanced myself with natural grace and ease.

Standing with one leg on the ground for a long time was worth the effort after all.

Still, the group looked around warily, trying to look for the source.

The soulspinner, with his glowing blue marks on his mask, seemed to peer into the darkness.

"It knows we're here..."