Fighting a spider

HOLYSHI*T!

HUGE!!

ITS HUGGGEEE!!!

I'm not talking about a Tarantula-size spider.

I'M TALKING ABOUT MEGAFAUNA-SIZED ONE, JUST HANGING FROM THE CEILING AND LOOKING AT ME!!!

GAH! CALM DOWN!!

Take a deep breath. Think about the situation.

Don't panic, don't panic.

Maybe it hasn't seen me yet!

It might just happen to be facing in the direction I'm in. Yes!

Slowly, I began to float to the side of the cave and move backwards inch by inch. All eight of the spider's eyes continue to stay locked onto me as they follow my movements.

IT DEFINITELY SEES ME!!!

GAHHH!! I'M SUCH AN IDIOT!!

I'm literally a floating ball of glowing light! How can it not see me??

Damn it, at times like this...「Appraisal」

---

Name: none

Race: Greater Cave Arachnid

Skills:「Silent movement」,「Paralysis Venom」

Race Skill:「Sticky Threads」,「Carapace」

Resistances: Slight Pain Resistance, Medium Physical Attack Resistance, Basic Magic Attack Resistance

---

Greater Cave Arachnid?

I dunno about you but to me, that kinda sounds dangerous.

Just a little bi-

Oh god, I think I saw one of its eyes twitch.

The name section says "none" just like mine. I read in one of the books in the library that most monsters don't have names, the only way for a monster to receive a name is to either be named by a powerful being or to fulfil certain requirements for the voice of the world to give you a name.

In that sense, I would also be categorized as a monster. Yep.

You see that unfairly huge spider in front of me?

I'm in the same category as it.

Wait. That's not important right now.

Should I try fighting it?

...

Nope. Not a chance.

I am definitely not fighting that thing. Nope.

Then that leaves me with one option left, to run awa-

*SCREEECHH!!!*

GYAAAA!!!!

Before I can turn to leave, the giant spider leaps from the ceiling, screaming with its terrible huge fangs pointed forward and its front legs stretched out in order to grab me. The sight of the enormous arachnid lunging towards me causes me to freeze up as the same fear of death from my previous life begins to resurface, stunning my ability to think rationally.

The sight of the spider's fangs becomes bigger and bigger as I continue to stare at the oncoming death. During this moment, only one thought is running in my mind.

I'm gonna die!

These few short moments of the spider flying closer to me seemed to last for an eternity. Until, finally, everything turns black...

And then my vision returns back to normal.

...Huh?

What just happened?

Due to my confusion about the situation, I turn around to look at the spider, only to realise that the spider standing there on the ground was just as confused.

OH! RIGHT!

I'm immune to physical attacks! how can I forget!

Due to the nature of my energy body, the lung attack of the spider was rendered useless since it couldn't actually touch me. The reason that my vision had gone black was actually because of the spider passing through me, interrupting my view for that split second.

Gosh. I thought I was gonna die...

Right then. Time to get out of he-

No. Wait, I can do this.

He can't hurt me so I have the absolute advantage!

I can do this!

A surge of confidence began to rise up in my chest as I pulled out both Arondite and the adamantite hammer from my dimensional storage. Soon enough, the spider to snaps out of its confusion as it takes another lunge at me, keen to finish off its prey.

Bring it boldy!

As the spider flies closer to me in the air I swing the a-hundred-kilogram hammer like a bat onto the side of its body, crushing two of its legs and cracking its carapace in the process before sending the rhino-sized spider flying to the side of the tunnel.

*BOOM!*

The sound of the huge spider slamming into the rock wall echos throughout the tunnel as it lets out a screeching scream in pain. Taking this opportunity, I line up Arondite before chucking it with all the strength my telekinesis can muster towards the spider's abdomen. The sword hits home and pierces through the spider as it lets out another cry before slumping on the ground and going completely silent.

...it's over right?

After letting out a sigh of relief, I floated towards the spider in order to retrieve Arondite that was deeply embedded into its abdomen.

Gah, that was quite the experience.

You better stay dead you stupi-

GAHHHHH!!!

As if coming back to life, the spider suddenly jumps off the ground and does another lunge attack. In a panic, I swing the adamantite hammer down onto its head.

*CRACKKK!!*

The sound of a loud crack echoes through the tunnel as the hammer, with the help of the spider's jumping momentum and my telekinesis, smashes in the spider's head, finishing the job for good.

GUH! THAT SCARED THE SH*T OUTTA ME!

WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DO THAT???

STAY. DEAD.

...

Okay, I think its really dead now.

I decided to wait for the next few minutes to make absolutely sure that the spider was dead, poking the corpse with my hammer every now and then. After finally feeling confident that it won't wake up anymore, I move forward once again to retrieve Arondite that was still stuck in its abdomen. During the process of pulling it out, I picked up mana signals with my mana sense somewhere inside the spider.

Mmm? Is there a magic item inside this spider?

No. It feels different from a magic item.

Should I dig it out?

After pulling out my sword from the abdomen of the spider, I began to think of a way to open up the spider before casting another glance at Arondite.

Ewww, it's covered in spider fluid and guts.

Damn it spider, look what you did.

Urgh, whatever. Since it's already dirty I might as well use it to take apart the damn thing.

I began using Arondite to cut open parts of the spider, carefully not to damage or hit whatever was giving off mana signals from the inside of the corpse. The process was ugly and I did a rough job but eventually, the source of the signals began to reveal itself in the cephalothorax. It was a strange-looking white coloured crystal-shaped roughly as a sphere, about the size of a volleyball, and glowed slightly in the dark.

Oh! I think this is a monster core!

In another one of the books, I read in the library monsters are said to grow things called monster cores inside their bodies. The size of the core also directly influenced by the quantity and density of mana the monster had in their bodies. Monster cores are used for many different things but the most common use is creating magic circles and enchanting weapons.

After pulling the core out of the corpse of the spider and waving it around to get rid of the spider fluids, a strange feeling began to rise in my chest and I started to feel the slight urge to eat the core.

Eh?

Am I getting hungry?

No, that's not it...

It's not like the feeling of hunger. It's almost like...my guts are urging me to swallow it?

I don't have a mouth anymore though.

Should I just try using my extraction skill? Wouldn't hurt to try right?

After staring at the core for a few more seconds, I activated「Magic Extraction」on it and began to wait. Over the next few seconds, the mana fluctuations in the core began to become dimmer and dimmer before finally vanishing. Next, presumably because of the depletion of mana, many cracks began to form on the core. These cracks enlarged and caused the core to break apart into small pieces before evaporating into blue particles and dispersing into the air.

As I stare into the air into confusion for the next few seconds, a refreshing and comfortable feeling suddenly washes over my body. I didn't really get what was happening but I enjoyed the feeling while it lasted. Soon, the refreshing feeling begins to fade away as I come back to reality and looking around to confirm the situation.

Oh? Everything looks and feels clearer for some reason.

It's only a little but I feel like I can see better in the dark now.

The range of my「Mana Sense」also seems to have increased a little bit.

Wait, maybe...

Curious about my suspicion, I begin to swing both Arondite and the adamantite hammer around and brandish them into the air.

My control with telekinesis seemed to have improved, not only is it easier to carry things but I can control them with more accuracy!

Now that I think about it, I think I remember reading in one of the books that monsters would also consume the cores of other monsters to improve their own body.

I'm technically a monster now so this logic naturally applies to me as well.

So basically...the more cores I can get my nonexistent hands on, the more powerful I'll become?

Hehehe. looks like my delusion of carrying mountains might be closer than I thought.

After flinging around Arondite and wiping it on the dead spider to get rid of the spider guts and fluids, I pulled up the map once more and looked at the distance between me and the entrance of the dungeon at the surface. Since the map wasn't taken out to map the dungeon due to the chaos of the kingdom falling, the few kilometre gaps between me and the surface appear as a blank space.

I gotta explore this dumb cave and map it out if I wanna leave...

*Sigh*

I hope I can reach the surface soon...

.

.

.

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At the entrance of the dungeon.

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As her party were preparing the enter the dungeon, Alice sat down on a nearby rock and began to make a few final checks on her equipment. She checked each strap on her body and pulled on the metal platings which covered the thick padding underneath, making sure it was tight. The two-handed long sword laying beside her, which was just cleaned, found it's way into the scabbard hanging from her waist and she slung her magic bag over her shoulder. Just as she was about to put on her helmet, the voice of a woman called out to her.

"Alice? everyone's waiting for you."

"Ah, Marie. I wanted to do one last check."

"Fufu. I know its good to be vigilant but the party leader shouldn't make everyone wait you know?" Marie joked as she put up a gentle smile.

"Haha. Sorry, I just felt like something was off about this dungeon." Alice smiled in resignation.

Hearing this, the priest wore a slightly worried look but quickly returned to her gentle smile.

The dungeon they're about to enter is a newly discovered dungeon. Naturally, newly discovered dungeons are considered dangerous as they have yet to be explored and adventurers may not know what to expect. Due to this, only adventurer parties that are of B rank or higher are qualified to enter them. Alice's party, a group of five, were B-rank adventurers who accepted a quest to assess the difficulty of the dungeon, as well as exploring the resources it can provide.

As Marie was about to say something to comfort her, she was interrupted by a cocky male voice.

"Don't worry Alice! If anything dangerous happens, your knight in shining armour will come to save you."

The man smiled and put a thumbs up towards Alice.

"If a magic swordsman like Alice meets a foe stronger than them, what can a thief like you do Neo?" Marie replied as she gave him a confused innocent look.

"...Come on now. It hurts a lot more if you look at me like that."

Hearing this exchange, the laughter of another man came from the behind Neo could be heard as a scruffy looking dwarf covered in heavy armour made his way to the trio. The clanking of his armour could be heard as he heaved the tower shield from him back overhead and slammed it on the ground.

"Gahaha! That's right! A thief like you wouldn't be able to help much so leave it to me, the tank!" The dwarf exclaimed with a confident attitude.

The carefree interaction of the party allowed Alice to loosen up as she smiled at her reassuring comrades.

"Haha. Thank you Burmer, I feel confident now."

Just as she was going to continue the conversation, a pretty but prideful voice of a woman called out to them in impatience.

"How long are you all going to make me wait?"

Close to them, a beautiful elven archer could be seen leaning against a tree as she held her bow and stared at them with her sharp and prideful eyes as if looking down on them.

"My bad Olivia, just doing a few last checks," Alice replied as she stood up with her helmet in hand and walked towards the entrance of the dungeon, her party following close behind her.

"Hmph. I guess for a human you're vigilant, I'll forgive you," Olivia stated as she averted her gaze and looked at the surrounding area.

"Thank you very much," Alice replied as she wore a warm smile.

"Hey, how about me? Am I doing great?" Neo called out while smiling at the elf.

"Silence trash."

"Ahhh, how cold."

This exchange caused the party to laugh and brightened up the mood, giving Alice more confidence.

That's right, my party is here with me. We should be fine.

Alice finally put her helmet on her head and tightened the straps before heading into the dark dungeon with her party.