26 – Giant Fog Spider on the 26th Floor

“Tsk.”

The demonic cultist turned to ashes.

I stomped on it with my foot and left the alley.

I ascended the Tower.

[25th Floor]

The Witch’s floor.

Americano returned to the 25th floor.

On the way up, the floors left circular patterns.

Then what about the Witch’s floor?

Not a chance.

The Witch had expanded her room full of books and left nothing around it.

I took out [Soulstone of the Witch Win] from my inventory, but there was no particular reaction.

“…”

26th floor.

I stepped on the stairs and went up.

I drew my magic sword.

[26th Floor]

Only the entrance had light.

A hemisphere of light pressed into the corner.

Outside the realm of light, darkness occupied everything, making nothing visible.

‘It wasn’t like this when I came last time?’

The ceiling was visible and there was light.

What is this ominous change?

Then something caught my eye.

Mist.

…Or something that looked like it.

A low-lying, motionless mist was barely visible at the edge of the light’s realm.

Whoosh.

Americano lit a fire on her magic sword.

As she lightly sprinkled sparks, they caught on the mist and sizzled along it.

The mist was spider webs.

Whoosh.

Whoosh.

Whoosh.

Weakly,

But far,

She threw sparks.

The dark space without light is filled with the light emitted by the flames.

Floor, walls, ceiling.

A world of fire.

Wriggle.

Then something crawled out from the sizzling wall where the sparks had landed.

Wriggle wriggle.

There are many.

Countless,

Bazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazazaza.

Spiders.

They appeared, breaking through the wall of sparks.

The spiders that appeared each took their place and raised their bottoms high.

Puff puff.

They spewed small spider web mist.

The magic sword sweeps through the spiders.

Whoosh.

Whooosh.

Blue flames swept past.

The spiders burned away helplessly.

Bazazaza.

Bazazaza.

Bazazaza.

There were many spiders.

Spiders appeared from other places too, breaking through the walls and spewing spider web mist.

The spider web mist itself didn’t have the stickiness to bind feet.

But that too had its limits.

As the amount of spider web clinging to the body increased, the body became heavier and the spider web caught the limbs, restricting movement.

When meeting the boss of the spiders,

That spider web becomes imbued with will.

A boss that dominates the environment.

Americano poured out the flames of her magic sword even more strongly.

Without swinging it, the magic power spilled from the magic sword caught fire, creating a realm of fire.

As the spiders approached, they spontaneously burned to death in the fire, turning to ashes.

There were many spiders.

Too many to handle.

With no choice, she headed towards where she had met the boss like this.

It wasn’t particularly marked on the [Map],

But the path was already drawn in her head.

She had met it by chance on the first run.

It should be there if she follows that path.

…

…?

“Or not?”

Come to think of it, it doesn’t seem right.

There hadn’t been time to think about it until now, but upon reflection, it was different.

The spider boss revealed itself after enough spider webs had clung to her.

That was the timing.

If not, it doesn’t make sense.

Dozens of minutes.

That’s how long she wandered around the room on the first run.

The space is wide, but it’s still indoors after all.

It was enough time to go around everything and then go around several more times.

Moreover, [26th Floor] only had a few pillars, so unless it was deliberately hiding, it would inevitably be encountered within dozens of minutes.

‘Was it targeting me to appear?’

Americano raised the firepower of her magic sword even more.

She put maximum magic power into the magic sword and swung it.

Whoosh.

She threw a clump of flames far away.

Where did it land?

Whooosh.

Far away, the wall covered in spider webs shone brightly beyond and disappeared.

She threw the same fireball in all directions.

Whooosh.

Whooosh.

Whooosh.

Everywhere flashed brightly, and the walls covered in spider webs shone and disappeared.

Here and there, spiders swarming along the spider web mist could be glimpsed.

That was above her head.

Chills.

“Ugh.”

She swung her magic sword towards the ceiling, sweeping the spiders with a clump of flames.

The ceiling flashed.

A huge shadow.

“…”

Americano felt a chill.

That’s.

Along with recognition, an information window pops up.

[26th Floor Giant Mist Spider]

It was right above.

Who would have thought it would be right above.

She had learned to read presence through electrical signals, but she didn’t notice it right away.

Focused on the spiders spread all around, she had prejudged even the electrical signals from further away as ordinary spiders.

If she had paid just a little more attention, she would have recognized it immediately.

‘Once you know, there’s nothing easier to recognize than that.’

Spiders are animals that set traps.

They say larger ones hunt with physical strength, but whether this spider boss doesn’t or not, it was still quietly following and watching her.

Now that she knows it’s a spider, she can see it.

[26th Floor Giant Mist Spider]

Dark red letters.

The name is quite simple.

She infused magic power into the magic sword.

The spiders gathered around Americano, spewing spider web mist and wrapping around her body.

She didn’t interfere with this and quietly let the spider webs envelop her body.

A common weakness of those who use traps.

That is, they become weak once their trap is seen through.

The magic sword, with its flames extinguished and magic power accumulated inside, broke its surface and sparks flew.

A cooled sword.

‘Well, I guess cooling doesn’t matter.’

Anyway,

Americano twisted her body and threw the fully charged sword towards the ceiling.

The sword disappears into the darkness.

It gradually revealed its presence more brightly.

Then flash.

Whooosh.

Rumble.

The [Giant Mist Spider] screamed.

The spider, which has no vocal organs, screamed with its body and fled.

Thud.

Thud thud.

‘It came so well hiding its presence with that heavy body.’

She drew a new magic sword from her inventory.

The spider webs wrapping her body burst into flames with a whoosh and disappeared.

Erasing the spiders along with it,

[Leap]

She chased after the [Giant Mist Spider].

It lives up to its dark red color.

“Did it withstand that direct hit?”

It was a secret technique she often used when she was an unawakened hunter in reality.

It’s frustrating.

It was supposed to be a finishing move.

Are spiders’ exoskeletons strong?

No, that’s not it?

Spiders do have exoskeletons, but they’re thinner compared to insects.

Still, that strike didn’t work.

She wasn’t shocked.

It’s called a finishing move, but how many opponents in reality had this not worked on?

‘I guess it was that sturdy.’

The weakness of those who set traps is that they let their guard down at first, thinking their presence wasn’t detected, but that carelessness was used up with this strike…

Hmm…

Hmm…

Sigh…

‘Am I thinking too much?’

She cut off her thoughts.

Since when did she fight while thinking?

Thoughts are like a disease.

Once you start, they keep getting deeper and consume your mind.

Groundless thoughts only breed speculation and blindly insist that wrong answers are correct.

Then, after getting a few correct answers, you start thinking before taking action every time.

It’s undeniable that it’s a bad habit if the enemy has a plan,

But does everyone in the world act according to plan?

Rather, such situations are rare in the grand scheme of things, and you can sense it when dealing with such opponents.

Ah, this guy has a plan!

Like that.

Thoughts are something you can do when the time comes.

Rather, the habit of thinking makes you miss the momentary correct answer right in front of you.

You ask if she didn’t think when she was an unawakened hunter?

She did.

But,

‘Not when the enemy was right in front of me.’

Where was the leisure to think?

Back then, every minute and second was a life-and-death struggle.

The luxury of thinking about later was nonexistent.

As she gained magic power and more leeway, there were many gaps for thoughts to creep in.

It wasn’t particularly welcome.

Agonizing only gave her a headache.

The [Giant Mist Spider] is weak to fire.

Uniquely only to fire.

While exceptionally strong against water, metal, and wind, it was uniquely weak only to fire.

Lightning probably wouldn’t work well either.

Although it could burn, the area affected couldn’t compare to fire.

She, who could intuitively read electrical properties, could tell at a glance that electricity wouldn’t conduct well through the spider webs.

But its resistance to fire alone was weak, making it so easily penetrable.

‘If I didn’t have the magic sword, I would have lost.’

The [Giant Mist Spider] is not weak.

Rather, it was excessively threatening.

She said that the weakness of those who set traps is that they become weak when seen through, but,

That trap is also a means to hunt prey stronger than oneself.

Rather, setting traps with that body size probably means it eats things stronger than itself as its main diet.

Being a dark red-lettered boss mob while using traps means the [Giant Mist Spider]’s prey is…

‘Black ones like the Basilisk.’

It was definitely not an opponent to be taken lightly.

Moreover, without the ability to read electrical signals, it would have been impossible to chase after that fleeing creature.

It can’t be let go.

It uses traps.

=

It uses its head.

How can you read a spider’s thoughts if given time?

‘The more I think about it…’

It was an opponent that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

‘I can’t let it escape…!’

Americano swung her magic sword to clear a path.

Whoosh.

[Giant Mist Spider]

It’s visible.

I’m catching up.

Even though it was the master of the spider webs, it wasn’t completely free from the hindrance of the webs.

It was fast, but,

‘I’m faster.’

I caught up.

It came within range.

“Die.”

Flame.

Flame.

Flame.

She threw balls of flame in succession.

Explosion.

Explosion.

Explosion.

The [Giant Mist Spider] convulses and flees each time it’s attacked, but,

It couldn’t avoid the predicted shots that accurately grasped the [Giant Mist Spider]’s position.

She read the electrical signals.

The signals were getting weaker.

She could feel the life response fading.

‘Yeah, there’s no way it could be fine.’

Finishing move.

It had power befitting that name.

On top of that, as she unilaterally attacked, the end started to come into sight.

Still, it took time.

How much time has passed?

“Phew…”

Her breath spreads.

The cold sigh remained on the path she had come.

Even the magic power used in the magic sword was drawn from her body.

Although it’s offset by the heat from the magic sword’s flames, it couldn’t cover everything.

Rather, the more she fired, the faster the cold froze her lungs.

Still,

Explosion.

The true power of fire lies not in heat but in combustion and explosion, so even if the magic sword became cold, it didn’t greatly affect its attack power.

Flame.

Explosion.

───!!!!!!!!

“Haa..!”

Breath.

Just die already!

[Berserk] responded.

No, not now.

Even if fighting without thinking, there’s a line that must be kept.

It’s like walking a pet.

She held the leash so it could run freely but along the walking path.

Flame.

The clump of flames that spewed out exploded in front of the [Giant Mist Spider]’s path.

The shadow of the [Giant Mist Spider] is reflected on the surrounding space covered in spider webs.

Hesitation.

It faltered.

At that moment.

Americano had a magic sword in each hand, waiting for this moment.

One for bombardment.

The other…

“Die.”

Magic power accumulation.

Finishing move.

Explode.

She threw the magic sword.

The magic sword with flames on its blade burned through the spider webs and reached the [Giant Mist Spider].

Hmm…

It didn’t die from that just now.

Only after feeding it one more finishing move,

[26th Floor Giant Mist Spider – Clear]

[Rank] [SSS]

[First Clear Reward – Demon King Stone×26]

[Solo Reward – Wish Stone×26]

[Reward – 13,000 Gold]

Was she able to kill it.

Since the 21st floor, she had won relatively comfortably.

Though she used quite a lot of [Magic Power].

“Haa…”

Sssup…

“Haaaa…”

Her breath was thick.

Even though she had recovered, the cold in her lungs remained, and she exhaled the rest.

As much as she could unilaterally attack, she consumed [Magic Power] excessively in a short time.

She could feel the cold filling 80 percent of her lungs at once and quickly cooling down.

It cooled quickly and chilled fast, but it doesn’t seem to have seeped into her bones.

“Haaaaa…”

It’s cold.

Still,

‘It’s refreshing.’

All the things that had built up from party play in the field came crashing down.

Although she unilaterally beat the [Giant Mist Spider], unilaterally catching a giant boss is another kind of pleasure.

The satisfaction of catching something that wouldn’t go down even after attacking like that.

She grasped it in both hands.

“That was good.”

Next floor.