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Chapter 165 by TheDespaxas TheDespaxas

The Underworld Altar.

What lurks bellow.

The group carefully entered the room, a stone altar stood at the center of it, surrounded by two pillars, topped with glowing crystals. The stone work was engraved in small symbols that John had never seen before, but he was far from knowing any magical language anyway. Finding the Altar the day before would have granted him huge rewards, but he was still happy to finally stand in front of the elusive Underworld Altar.

"What do we do now? Should I undress? Or..." asked Cali, unfazed by what was inside of the room.

"Not right now, Cali. I want to try something, keep an eye out," he announced. He dropped a small piece of silver ore in the bowl bolted to top of the Altar, he hoped that it would have an effect on what he wanted to try.

Sitting cross-legged in front of the stone slab, thinking about the Earth, John couldn't get out of his head the idea that something was wrong. In a sudden realization he opened his eyes and looked upward. Just in time to roll on his side and avoid being crushed.

A huge rock, coated with silky white fibers had just fallen where he was sitting followed by a huge block, that looked like it could weigh up to a few tons, which fell in front of the only exit of the room.

"Everyone! Prepare yourselves!" he shouted to the group as he unsheathed his weapons. His night vision was beginning to give him a better view of what he was facing. The room (a cave) had a really high ceiling, they had walked down for a long time before getting there. Nearly half of this space was filled with a dense canopy made of spiderwebs from which dozens of blocks of stone were hung by thin threads. Hidden in this knitted nest was something, something huge and yet moving with speed and a lot of grace.

"Look up and be careful!" he commanded. He had discovered that as king he was automatically considered as in a party with any nearby subject of his kingdom, without having to use the special interface to invite people. He was trying to find how he would engage this thing, but Cali was ahead of him and had already let go of one arrow toward it, getting ready to fire the second one.

The dark shape dropped from the web and crashed on the ground. John had had to jump and push Vesta out of the way to stop her from being crushed, all while lifting Nashin and two other rats out of the way with move.

John looked up to finally see what was attacking them. It was massive, a lot bigger than himself. He was facing the body of a giant spider, but where the head should have been, a humanoid, bulbous shape was visible. It looked weird and mutated, nothing like the idea he was making himself of it, the black chitin stained by green and brown spots or smudges.

Corrupted Fungoid Drider
Lvl 20 creature (corrupted)
3000/3000 hp
Agile
Web spinner
Swarm master
Venomous
Fungoid infection
Low fire resistance

John instantly pulled three incendiary projectiles from his inventory and threw them at the horrific upper body of the creature, splashing it with inflammable liquids.

"Vesta, now!" he commanded. Not a fighter at heart, the former priestess still reacted quickly, bathing the creature in a plume of fire and setting ablaze the fluids it was covered with. Dozens of fist sized spiders began to rain from the ceiling, falling off some cocoons on the silk canopy.

"No discomfortment of the mind, pack master. The folks are intently solvationing this, you can hold on us for this. Groupation everyone, self is leading, admirabilize the pack master, demonstrate how folks handle crunchies!" declared Nashin in an epic speech. The five rats gathered around her, getting into formation to fight as a unit.

Fighting something with eight legs and two arms was like fighting multiple enemies at once, even getting close enough to hit was a challenge. John sent a couple of Magic Projectiles, the eight sparks of energy hit the monster, but it would take a lot more than that to take it down.

The spells and fire had only shaved off 255 hp of the massive health bar of the creature. Sylvia was channeling some powers, probably trying to affect what was infecting the creature, but it wasn't a plant, and was probably far too deeply ingrained in it.

The thick chitin of the exoskeleton was very hard to get through. Light hits or parries of his sword on the legs weren't even doing any damage, the large abdomen and upper body were the weak spots. After a few arrows to the chest or head with little effects, Cali had let go of her bow, putting it back into the small inventory of her ring, she was now using the wood axe as a weapon.

John was never motionless, the creature had managed to extinguish the flames and was now moving frantically, trying to kill everything in sight. To John's surprise Parkour was showing him the best ways to avoid the attacks of the large legs. Almost all of them...

On two occasions Cali and himself had been hit, thankfully by swiping moves that sent them flying through the room, rather than piercing ones that would have nailed them to the ground, ready to be killed. John ordered Sylvia to take care of Cali first, despite protestations from both of them. The elven huntress, all robust and agile as she was, had a normal body, the hits made her bleed, broke bones and hurt her a lot, John could withstand everything as long as he had some remaining hp.

John tried once or twice to pull down the rocks hanging above them and make them fall on the creature, but it was hopeless, the silk from the webs was really durable.

Vesta was hidden behind one of the pillars, trying to shoot fire at the monster each time it had its back turned.

Against normal monsters John would have gathered everyone, but against such a boss, being scattered was a good way to attract its attention in different directions. John watched his health bar going up with relief, Sylvia had finished healing Cali and was taking care of him.

After long minutes of constant struggle, John could see his companions showing signs of fatigue from being to move constantly and the results weren't glorious.

2125/3000 hp

Just as he checked how much health was left to the beast, John tossed one of the rats to Sylvia, he had noticed it being bitten by one of the small spiders and wanted him to be healed before he succumbed to the venom. John was impressed by the effectiveness of the small rat squad, they fought as one and held their ground against dozens of spiders, just with their six members. The injured one ran back into the fray, the second he was healed, jumping over a foot high to land in the middle of his comrades and continue the fight.

The strange ballet of the fight brought him closer to Sylvia.

"John, we can't beat it like that. We'll be exhausted long before it dies. You have to find something," said Sylvia.

"I know..." he answered, this was a very dangerous fight. He had not used as many offensive spells as he could have, but he made sure not to run out of mana in case he needed some in an emergency. The dagger was near useless in this fight, except as a boost for his spells. He finally decided that it would serve Vesta a lot better. He ran towards the fire-elf, diving between the beast's legs and cutting the underside of its abdomen with his sword as he was doing so.

The dagger was suddenly giving Vesta the focus and precision that she lacked. John pointed upward and she smiled. The spiderweb was very resistant to tears and cuts, but it was highly flammable. Finally, the stones started to rain, some hitting the beast, the others forcing everyone to get near the walls for cover to avoid being crushed. The cocoons that had spawned the swarm of small spiders were emitting pop corn sounds and the drider was moving around like enraged.

One of its legs had been damaged by a falling stone and John sprung forward, unleashing a Charged strike on the weak spot. The dark steel of Black Sky cleaved the leg at the joint, the stump bleeding some dark brown ichor. The loss of a limb had caused it 150 dmg and slowed it down a little.

Cali had managed to damage a few other legs, swinging the axe like a mace. The rats had finished to exterminate the last of the surviving spiders, a lot more successful in their task than the large fighters.

John increased the rhythm at which he was sending Magic projectiles at the creature, slowly reducing its health bar.

Switching to his pickaxe for a moment, John waited for an opening and stabbed the softer abdomen with it repeatedly while Cali distracted it. It was easier to hit that way, but the dmg was very low. It gave him an idea though. Hitting on the same spot each time had created a rather large wound. On his next opening, John jammed a few incendiary projectiles in the wound and cracked a last one open on top of it. He then jumped back, grabbing Nashin who was riding the beast to stab it with her small glaive.

Vesta approached as close as she dared and, pointing the dagger at the wound, unleashed a fire wave at it.

The heat and flame ignited the projectiles, creating a large fireball and setting ablaze the whole creature.

1250/3000 hp

During this agonizing moment Cali managed to cut another leg, on the same side as the first one. Soon followed by John, who took advantage of the panic of the beast. With only one leg on its left side, the creature was unable to stand and quickly fell over. The beast was trying to surround its wound in silk to contain the bleeding, but it only worsened it, the last flames igniting it and burning the raw flesh even more.

All of this had distracted the monster so much that it wasn't even noticing John stabbing and cutting it with his sword.

With only a few hp left, John jumped on the back of the creature and used a weak spot attack on the neck of the creature. Like with a video game finishing move, his swing sent the head of the beast flying in the air.

350xp

John looked around, everyone was breathless and tired, but he could see smiles on their faces. Now he would need to find a way to move the enormous stone to get out of here, but at least his kingdom was free of this threat.

Digging himself out.

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