Chapter 100 : A Man vs Myth (Part 2)
One hour ago...
Before the incident happened.
"Bang~"
*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*
Loud explosions were heard at the East side of the forest, where Iris was located.
*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*
It continued in a chain of explosions, and the scent of burning woods filled the air along with the smoke that surrounded the whole area.
In the midst of all that, there's a girl who received many notifications from the system
[Notice!]
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]....
Spider monster's corpses littered the ground, making a mess of the surrounding area with their blown up body parts.
"Phew~" a small sigh escaped her mouth
"To think I managed to kill 250 of them in one go~" Iris smiled while wiping the sweat on her forehead.
Meanwhile, Harson and Silvi were just standing behind her in shock after seeing the damage caused by the item that she brought.
"Ojou-sama...what just happened?" Harson asked her while looking around.
"My apologies...Ojou-sama, I-i don't understand how this could happen." Silvi apologized then looked at her in confusion.
"Hmmm~ well you could say the cause of all this mess...is a Spirit Magic that was embedded on the magic item you brought here." Iris explained.
"It was called [Salamander Bomb], a bomb that is filled with the hottest fire from [The Spirit Beast, Salamander] himself."
"[The Spirit Beast, Salamander]? I heard that Spirit inherited The Fire Spirit King name right, Ojou-sama?" Silvi asked.
"Correct~ that Spirit is the current Fire Spirit King who's also the highest ranking of all Spirits, and it was stored into this thing." Iris spoke while showing them a large black bead on her hand.
"It looks like a normal bead, but this thing contains the Salamander's fire."
"It can even melt things that's difficult to cut and burn, such as these strings. That's why you should use the best quality." Iris explained.
"Ohhh!" Harson and Silvi admired her wise mind, but in reality those explanations came from the game she played.
Right now, despite acting like she knows all, Iris is screaming inside her head
'Kyaaaa! I didn't know the fire was this strong?!'
Iris just now seeing the destruction that was caused by herself, 'Eh–? Wait, what is this?!'
=======================================
[Salamander Bomb]
Grade: Epic
Type: Bomb
Durability: 100%
A bead containing the fire of the current Fire Spirit King, known as [The Spirit Beast Salamander], the 2nd Rank of High-class Spirit that is able to match the former Fire Spirit King. This fire could melt even the hardest steel and minerals.
Skill:
[Chain Bomb]
Active Skill
MP cost: 0
Using a remote that was set up with this bead, it will create a large explosion towards one enemy and to another one within 1 meter. Everything that touches the fire will be engulfed in flame that will spread to another with a touch. However, it can only be used once and after it is used, the durability will go down to 0 and the item will break.
[Used skill: 1]
=======================================
'I know [Salamander Bomb] is an Epic grade magic item, by using its skill [Chain Bomb] it will create chained bomb to everything within 1 meter of the target'
'But...
isn't this way too much damage caused by 5 beads! To think that the Spiders were so close to each other and the death count even reached 250!'
'even in the game, it wouldn't cause this much damage!' Iris started to panic because her plan burnt the forest down.
Iris looked blankly at the land ravaged with fire and reduced into wide field as the large forest from before have long gone because of it.
'Mhm...let's keep this a secret~' she gave up
*KIEKKKK* *KIEKKKK* *KIEKKKK*
The noises were coming from the remaining spiders that came out from the untouched part of the forest.
'I guess they are the oldest...seeing how they avoid the bomb.' Iris thought while staring at them that started to crawl out one by one.
One became two, two became five, and the numbers grew and grew again until all the remaining Spiders came out.
Exactly 39 Spiders were surrounding them now
*CLINK*
Harson and Silvi immediately unsheathed their swords from their sheaths, while Iris unsheathed her beautiful blueish rapier.
*KIEKKKK* *KIEKKKK*
The swarm of spiders began to crawl towards them.
*RUMBLE* *RUMBLE*
They toppled each other as they're trying to reach them as fast as they could.
*KIEKKKK*
....[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
As the Spiders screeched at them, the notice finally stopped. Iris took her that time to check on her status.
'[Status].'
=======================================
[STATUS]
NAME: Iris May Welford/ Hanamachii Yomi
JOB : Magic Swordsman
TITLE : [The Other Worlder]; [The Villainess]; [Quick Learner]; [Magic Master]; [Sword Master]; [The Tyrant Queen]
[Level: 38] ==> [Level: 54]
[HP: 10890/10890]
[MP: 2060/2060]
[FATIGUE: 0]
EXP: 0/50500
STATUS POINT : 160
______
STRENGTH : 144(+15)(+80)
AGILITY : 144
VITALITY : 124 (+145)
INTELLIGENCE : 242(+15)
SENSE : 106(+15)
[SKILL]
Magic Mastery Lv6; Sword Mastery Lv7; Super Growth LvMax; Darkness Magic Lv7, Light Magic Lv6; Magic Eyes Lv6; The Villainess LvMax; Etiquette LvMax; Knitting Lv7; Cooking Lv6
Status Appraisal Lv6
Foresight Lv6
Restraint Lv6
Intimidate Lv6
Shadow Movement Lv6
Shadow Blade Lv7
Heal Lv7
Holy Light Lv5
Sword Dance Lv7
Vital Strike Lv7
Omni-Slash Lv7
Dark Pulse Lv5
Silent Field Lv2
Holy Wall Lv4
Take Over LvMax [Locked]
Enchant : Strength Lv2
Enchant : Shield Lv2
Enchant : Speed Lv2
Divine Art : 13th Pillars Lv2
=======================================
'I leveled up 16 times, that's pretty low...despite killing 250 of them, it means they are newborn babies that haven't started their hunt.'
'Although...the rest in front of me...' Iris thought as one of the spiders were approaching them.
When Iris looked at something above their heads, she could see their name was of orange color
[Arachne's Children].
'It seems they are the adult one–'
Iris calmly stood there as one of the Spiders jumped at her with full throttle.
*KIEKKKK*
Swinging one of its sharp legs towards her head.
*TING*
But its leg was blocked by two swords that protected her from both sides.
"How dare a mere bug trying to touch our Ojou-sama." The silver haired woman spoke.
"This should be a divine punishment." The brown hair male spoke.
*SLASH*
Then the two of them easily cut the Spider in one strike.
'Although they are no match for these two.'
Iris used her [Status Appraisal] on them.
=======================================
[STATUS]
NAME: Silvi Threston
JOB : Magic Swordsman
TITLE : [The Silver Princess]
[Level: 90]
[HP: 40900/40900]
[MP: 15000/15000]
______
STRENGTH : 400
AGILITY : 250
VITALITY : 200
INTELLIGENCE : 500
SENSE : 200
=======================================
=======================================
[STATUS]
NAME: Harson
JOB : Magic Swordsman
TITLE : [The Loyal Guard]
[Level: 85]
[HP: 30500/30500]
[MP: 10000/10000]
______
STRENGTH : 370
AGILITY : 200
VITALITY : 500
INTELLIGENCE : 200
SENSE : 100
=======================================
Ever since she leveled up her [Status Appraisal] skill, she's able to see their status completely.
'Although I managed to appraise them, I guess Master Matilda and Sensei Rowan are different kinds of monsters since theirs doesn't show up before.' Iris thought.
'hmm...I am still wondering why Crimson-san status doesn't show his name?'
*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*
Something was crawling behind her.
*KIEKKKK*
And it's a giant spider that showed up out of nowhere
*THUNG*
But when the Spider struck one of its sharp legs towards her, it was deflected by something invisible.
Iris turned her face to look at the spider with her calm composure.
"[Holy Wall]×2."
As she said that, she was protected by two sets of barriers that she casted and combined into one thick barrier.
*SLASH*
Silvi jumped over her head afterwards, then she swung her sword upwards, cutting the spider into half.
"Ojou-sama, are you alright?" Silvi asked.
"Oh yes, I am quite fine~" Iris smiled while looking at the remaining Spiders crawling towards them.
"There's still a lot more, so I am leaving my back to you two." Iris ordered while pointing her rapier at them.
Silvi and Harson stood beside her.
"Yes Ojou-sama!"
"Then~ shall we start the requiem~" Iris raised her left hand then snapped her fingers.
*TAK*
Then the three of them were engulfed with aura, along with a few magic that were casted on them.
"[Enchant : Strength]
.
.
.
[Enchant : Shield]
.
.
.
[Enchant : Speed].'
Iris casted three enchantment magic on herself and her subordinates, they could feel the surge of power coming from within them.
=======================================
[STATUS]
NAME: Iris May Welford/ Hanamachii Yomi
JOB : Magic Swordsman
TITLE : [The Other Worlder]; [The Villainess]; [Quick Learner]; [Magic Master]; [Sword Master]; [The Tyrant Queen]
[Level: 54]
[HP: 15890/15890]
[MP: 2060/2060]
[FATIGUE: 0]
EXP: 0/50500
STATUS POINT : 160
______
STRENGTH : 144(+15)(+80)(+70)
AGILITY : 144(+50)
VITALITY : 124 (+145)(+50)
INTELLIGENCE : 242(+15)
SENSE : 106(+15)
=======================================
Her status began to rise up temporarily according to the magic she casted.
*RUMBLE* *RUMBLE*
The swarm of the spiders were finally close to them and five spiders started to jump at them.
*KIEKKKK* *KIEKKKK*
They prepared their sharp legs to catch them and opened their hideous mouths to bite them to death.
"Seriously, I guess being old isn't enough to mature one's mind~"
When Iris spoke like that.
*THUNG*
The spiders were flung away after hitting the barrier that showed up at the right time when they're about to launch their attack.
While they were still in the air, Iris gripped her rapier tightly.
"[Sword Dance]."
Her strength and agility increased by 50 once again, and her body was surrounded with a violent purplish aura.
*SWOOSH*
Iris jumped towards them fearlessly, then...
'[Vital Strike].'
...performed coordinated thrust towards the spiders that were still in the air.
*KIEKKKK?*
*STAB* *STAB* *STAB* *STAB* *STAB*
With a blinding speed, Iris passed through the spiders, leaving them with their crushed heads from her thrust and fell down to the ground lifelessly.
[You leveled up!]
A notice appeared.
'That was 5~' Iris counted while landing on the ground herself.
*KIEKKKK!!!*
But immediately being surrounded by four Spiders.
*SLASH* *SLASH*
Followed by Silvi and Harson quick movements which cut through them before they were able to approach their Master.
"...11 down, 28 left...let's speed up the pace a bit." Iris ordered.
Silvi and Harson swung their swords aside to sweep away the green blood that stained their sword.
"Haa!" They answered her at the same time, accepting her order.
The spiders immediately swarmed them, as if they didn't care if they were much more powerful.
As three approached them, they quickly reacted to it.
*KIEKKKK*
*STAB*
Iris performed [Vital Strike] to thrust her rapier and stabbed it on the head of the middle one.
*SLASH*
Harson swung his sword downwards from above, cutting the right one in half.
*CRACK* *CRACK*
Meanwhile, Silvi swung her sword upwards, followed with her ice magic that froze the enemy after being cut in half.
"14~" Iris smiled as her eyes glinted red, keeping count of the spiders that had been killed.
'Ara~ there's still a lot more~ then...why don't we raise the speed even more~!!'
Something arose within her body. It excited her and made her feel strong.
"Heh~ Silvi, Harson~ I am jumping in first!~"
She said as she jumped towards the swarm, surprising them with her rather reckless move
"Ojou-sama–!!"
'What is this?' Iris asked herself while smiling in front of the danger before her.
*STABS*
Iris performed downwards stabs on the spider's head in the middle of the swarm, green blood spurted out from its head and stained her face a bit and her rapier.
*KIEKKKK*
Then, seven spiders began to crawl towards her.
"Heh~"
'Why did I do this?' Iris asked herself when she was about to get surrounded.
'[Shadow Movement].'
Iris used her skill as she suddenly dived into the shadow beneath her while the spiders that approached her stopped their movements when they lost sight of her.
*KIEKKKK??* *KIEKKKK?*
They looked around to search for her but...
'[Shadow Blade]~'
*SWOOSH*
With blinding speed, Iris came out from the shadow under the spider's corpse that she killed before.
She created a sword with her own shadow on her left hand, and then...
"[Omni Slash]~"
*SLASH* *SLASH* *SLASH*
With precise slash and elegance, she jumped up to the sky after cutting 7 of them down through their heads.
As she soared into the sky, she flipped her body in the air elegantly while moving her head to look down.
'Why do I feel...so happy~' she questioned herself again
'Seventeen to go~'
"Harson! Silvi! On my signal~ cut them through!~" Iris shouted at them while she was still flying in mid air.
Silvi and Harson did as they were told and then immediately rushed to the swarm.
"Yes!"
Iris stretched her left hand and pointed it towards the spiders underneath.
"[Holy Light]!"
*TWINGGGG*
A bright light came out from her hand, blinding the spiders' sight the moment they looked up at her.
*TAP* *TAP* *TAP*
Then...
*SLASH* *SLASH*
Harson swung his sword in a horizontal line and cut 2 Spiders into half using his sword.
*CRACK* *CRACK*
Meanwhile, Silvi froze 3 Spiders after she swung her sword, leaving the corpse frozen on the spot.
After that, they jumped away after killing several more spiders.
*BZZZTT* *BZZZTT*
After that, Iris created a dark energy sphere in the air from her hand, condensing them into several smaller spheres with strong condensed magic energy, then aimed her magic at the remaining Spiders underneath her.
"I see~" After that she mumbled, as if she's just realized something.
This was her first time hunting a monster and killing them thoroughly like this.
For the whole two years, she was trained under the guidance of two Legends and stuck in the manor while doing business and stuff.
She only could level up through studying magic with her Master, and trained her swordsmanship with her Sensei.
And the last time she leveled up was from when she fought against the experiment chimera, then spending her time to pluck out every corrupt Noble in her Kingdom.
But now...it's different.
Different scent, different scenery, different kinds of training and different...
.
.
.
.
Feeling, after her blade stabbed through their body.
Her eyes remained red as her feeling of excitement grew stronger. She didn't know why she felt that way...but one thing's for sure.
She wanted to crush these insects without a trace.
'Such different feelings from the game~'
*BZZZTT* *BZZZTT* *BZZZTT*
The intensity from the energy sphere on her hand became stronger and the spiders were restless when they saw it.
*CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK*
But before they could leave, they were prevented by an ice wall that was created by Silvi who stood beside it.
"Silvi, Harson–stay back!" Iris spoke to them then they jumped away from the scene.
After that...
'[Dark Pulse].'
Iris shot her dark energy spheres and they rained down to the spiders that were trapped within the wall of ice.
*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*
Multiple explosions occurred from within it
*CRACK* *SHATTERS*
And the ice wall broke down after the explosions stopped.
Iris landed on her feet to the ground and swung her rapier aside to sweep the blood away then sheathed her rapier.
The remaining 12 Spiders were crushed down, and their blown body parts were scattered around the area after getting hit by her magic.
Finally, that's all 289 of Arachne's Children that lived in this forest.
Iris sighed and checked on her status.
=======================================
[Level: 54] ==> [Level: 59]
[HP: 12990/12990]
[MP: 1120/2110]
[FATIGUE: 60]
=======================================
Her status went back to normal after the enchantment skill wore off, although the status raised up because of levelling up.
'I managed to level up five times, from killing 25 of them, I guess that should be good.' Iris assessed herself.
Then she was approached by Silvi and Harson.
Iris turned to them and smiled, "You both did a great job~"
Silvi and Harson bowed their heads a bit.
"It was nothing compared to your performance, Ojou-sama." Harson smiled back.
Silvi nodded in agreement, "Indeed, you were amazing back there~"
"Well it's because I have amazing people like you both, that is why I was able to kill them all."
Harson bowed his head, "Thank you for the praise, Ojou-sama!"
"Hm, we have to focus on the boss now...since we killed its children." Iris spoke to them.
"Spiders are nocturnal monsters, so from the looks of it...the boss must be somewhere far away from here, maybe at some secluded place for it to lay eggs." Iris explained.
"But Ojou-sama...the question is, where?" Silvi asked as the three of them were thinking deeply to themselves.
"Hmmm...if I remember, there's an Underground Facility within the area around us." Iris spoke.
"Underground Facility? Did the Elf Queen mention it to Ojou-sama?" Silvi asked her.
"Y-yeah." Iris smiled awkwardly while shifting her eyes around a bit.
'I cannot say...there was something like that in the game.'
'I must say...this is quite an impressive feat, we managed to clear up the Arachne's Children and it didn't take a long time.'
'In the game, I had to defeat several of them and managed to sneak into this Underground Facility which was also the place where Arachne laid her eggs.'
'But since we sneaked in...what if we defeated all the Arachne's children before it spawned more.'
'hmm...' Iris thought as she opened her [Inventory] then she took out something from it.
A scroll.
Harson who noticed the scroll, "Hmm? Ojou-sama what is that?"
Iris looked at him with a smile, "This is a [Magic Scroll] that lets me use an instant magic one time."
"And this scroll contained magic called [Search], which lets me find anything with this magic."
"With a clear image you can search and find the thing that you want, whether they are inanimate objects, humans, or other living beings." Iris explained.
"Ohhh! I see! As expected Ojou-sama! You have prepared this for a long time!" Harson looked at her with his eyes that were full of admiration.
"But Ojou-sama, how do you use this?" Harson asked as he didn't know about this yet.
"Of course, it's simple...you just need to rip this scroll." Iris explained and opened it.
"Here we go." Iris closed her eyes to remember the image of the monster called [The Spider Queen, Arachne].
From its large spider body, the grotesque appearance along with its exoskeleton, its large sharp legs that could effortlessly slice its enemy.
And then...
*ZWONG*
A hologram appeared above their head, showing a map with a large red dot and three green dots.
'The green dots must be us...while that large red dot means [Arachne] but...'
Iris widened her eyes as the red dot was closer to where they are right now—no, more like the red dot was right beside them.
"Why is that large red dot so close to these green dots?" Harson wondered.
Silvi and Iris quickly looked at their surroundings, "Prepare yourself!" Iris spoke to them as they immediately gripped their swords and unsheathed them again.
Iris continued to look around, but there was nothing but a large open field and some fallen burned trees around them.
Meanwhile, the large red dot remained at the same spot in the hologram map.
Iris was confused because she didn't see anything around them right now.
Until the large red dot moved towards them.
Iris began to panic a bit, looking around again and again.
The three green dots that indicated them, now were located at the top of the large red dot, as if...
.
.
.
.
It's telling her...
.
.
.
.
That it had always been underneath them all along...
*CRACK*
Iris heard a cracking sound from the ground they were standing.
"Jump away and evade now!!"
Iris warned them immediately before...
*BOOM*
Several large sharp like objects came out from the ground, following after that was a large grotesque looking mouth.
*SWOOSH*
Iris, Silvi and Harson immediately jumped away from the scene as they could identify the thing that came out from the ground.
A large Spider monster, the size was two–no, five times larger than the monsters they faced before.
With its eight pairs of eyes and eight pairs of large sharp legs.
Its name was revealed above its head from Iris' eyes.
*KIEKKKK!!!*
[The Spider Queen, Arachne].
And the color of the name was a total red, meaning that this monster is far above her current level.
A monster that could create a spawn of its own, and could spit a poisonous venom that was hard to cure and its grotesque appearance that matched its sinister name.
Now standing before Iris.
Iris smiled as she landed her feet on the ground, "I see..."
'There was once a saying, a mother who lost her children will do anything to exact revenge on the one who had taken them.'
'I guess it's true...' Iris gripped her rapier tightly on her hand then stood in front of the Spider.
*KIEKKKK*
And finally began her second boss monster hunt.
To be continue...