Chapter 15 - Spider Queen

Rynold summoned his Mech Knight with a big shining magic array from on top of the spider's sleeping body.

The spider jolted awake from the crushing weight that it felt from X's heavy metal body, pushing up against its stomach and, for some reason, looked like was flattening.

Like something was going to come out from both ends of its body, the gigantic spider struggled to stand up using its eight hairy legs.

Hissing and struggling, the spider didn't even notice that the Mech Knight on top of it was brandishing its longsword, ready to stab directly into the gigantic creature. Meanwhile, Rynold activated his [Scan] ability.

[Spider Queen Lvl 15]

A spider that evolved to the status of queen.

It was a simple yet direct introduction. Killing this thing would mean that the spider pest problem would be over.

X stabbed directly on the Spider Queen's abdomen, making it wail in anguish. Rynold, on the other hand, moved along carefully and swiftly. He tried to spot if the spider had poisonous properties only to find the jaw of the spider shut from the weight of the Mech Knight on top of it.

Jack, after recovering from the shock that X brought, was trying to shoot its eyes out from the cave path that they came from. But it proved to be rather difficult since the spider was squirming its head around so much.

X pulled its sword back and held its sword up high, ready to swing down continuously on its target.

The Mech Knight didn't even have to wait for its master's commands as it knew what it needed to do like it was born to do this and only this. Its master, on the other hand, was busy sizing up the creature before him.

Rynold ran up to one of the huge legs that the spider had and noticed that the tip was sharp enough to kill him with one strike. Thankfully X was pinning it down. Without much delay, he held up his Mana Gauntlets in Strength-form and let the mana in his body go wild.

He held up the gauntlet and activated Charging Fist on one of the spider's legs, effectively crippling it. This was the first time that Rynold had experienced the power that the Charging Fist brought and smiled at the result.

The blast from the attack could effectively break open a concrete wall. What's more, is that the Spider Queen screamed in pain from the constant wave of attacks.

Meanwhile, back at the house...

The trio managed to relax while Oliver was keeping guard over the house from the second-floor window. Skye and Elle were just chilling in and around the house, looking at random things at the same time ransacking a bunch of closets and drawers.

It was not until a few minutes ago that Rynold and Jack have left the house in the care of the three and Oliver felt responsible for watching the two girls until his best friend came back.

The surroundings of the house were quiet and nothing was happening around the block that the house was situated in. That was until Oliver notice something move on the corner of the block across the house that looked like a person's shadow.

Oliver stood up and headed to the roof. Since the buildings were connected, he easily maneuvered himself rooftop to rooftop, making full use of his experience in parkour and attributes.

Once he reached the rooftop that was directly opposite of where he saw the movement, Oliver ducked to spy on the possible enemy. It somewhat looked like young men donned in military gear. The same type that Jack wore when Oliver first met him.

Without a shred of doubt, Oliver moved in, making full use of his dagger's passive skill [One with Darkness]. The sun was blocked by a few houses thus making some shadows that Oliver could move in. He slid down the side of the building like an assassin in his element, maneuvering while not making a sound that would alert the enemy to his presence.

In the corner of the building where the targets are, Oliver first tried to eavesdrop on their conversation only to realize that the two military men were actually peeing on the side of the building.

Oliver sighed at the sight of two idiots peeing on the side of the building with no care in the world. He then held his dagger once again in a reverse grip, getting ready to strike with the element of surprise. He ran in and struck down the one nearest to him, rendering him dead with a swift strike to the neck.

The other young soldier was surprised to see his buddy collapse and the stream of pee just abruptly stopped at the shock of his dead friend. He struggled to pull his small firearm out, giving Oliver a good opportunity to hold the tip of his dagger on the neck of the young soldier.

"What are you doing here?" Oliver questioned the young man with a low, serious tone in his voice.

"W-we're trying to find one of the soldiers that went missing last night. The guy was scheming some sort of plot," the young soldier was terrified from dying that every single muscle in his body tensed up as the dagger could slice open his neck at any moment.

"I've heard enough."

With a quick slice across the neck, the young soldier collapsed to the ground with a loud thud, pants still on the bottom of his legs making this death seem a lot more complicated than it actually is. Regardless, Oliver moved back to the rooftop where he once came and dashed back in the direction of the house.

Once he got to the roof of the house that they were staying in, he noticed a small black spot that seemed to be getting larger and larger in sight.

"Crap."

Oliver went back into the house and notified both Elle and Skye of what he saw in the distance and the encounter with the two young soldiers.

"I'm going to where Rynold is, you guys better come with," he said with a serious tone.

Skye nodded without a sense of doubt while Elle was still hesitating at what she should do. Oliver then moved out and went in the direction that Rynold and Jack set out to. With Skye behind him and Elle not far behind, he ran as fast as he could without leaving the ladies behind, determined and unshaken.

Back at the cave...

Rynold was still fighting the large Spider Queen and managed to cripple more than half of its legs but it exhausted him from moving around too much. Meanwhile, X was still swinging at the top of the spider while Jack was still popping out shots like he was playing.

'Why won't this thing die?!' Rynold inwardly yelled.

The damage output of the team was inconsistent but it was obviously effective against the gigantic creature. But it still won't die. While Rynold managed to cripple its movement, X should still manage to deal great damage to the spider but, looking at it, the slashes seem to only deal flesh wounds. The initial stab appeared to be the only thing effective against the Spider Queen.

That was when Rynold finally realized what was wrong. The exoskeleton of the queen was too thick, making X's longsword the only effective damage dealer in the team. Jack, on the other hand, was the most useless, his shots managed to hit its head but the exoskeleton only made it look like tickles to the spider. Unless Jack managed to deal a hit to the thing's eyes, he was a hundred percent useless.

Rynold analyzed the situation, thinking about what he could do to ease the situation only to come up with one solution.

He jumped up as high as his legs can carry him and tried to reach where X was. Like having a mental connection, X reached out its hand and tried to catch his liege's hand. Successfully grabbing onto his Mech Knight's hand, Rynold sprung up on top of the spider's body.

Up there, he once activated Charging Fist and punched straight into where the spider's abdomen, making a hole in the exoskeleton exposing its insides.

"X! Stab here!" Rynold yelled with purpose.

The Mech Knight moved as soon as the command from its master ended, holding its longsword high once again. It pushed down in a strong stab on the exposed area making the Spider Queen wail even louder, ensuring its effectiveness in damaging the monster.

With the longsword stuck inside the spider, Rynold climbed to the Mech Knight's shoulders, holding his gauntlets up high, fingers interlocked. He slammed both fists down on the longsword's hilt, pushing the longsword deeper into the spider's abdomen.

The Spider Queen let out a louder hiss in response to the attack and struggled helplessly before finally dying. The arachnid finally died after a tiring fight and its corpse deteriorated into dust.

"Finally," Rynold let out a sigh in his victory. He relaxed as soon as he realized he won, until...

Bang!