Confronting the spider

Standing in front of the same dark forest Mina felt her stomach churning inside her. She felt sick and scared but if she backed out now it was same as failure and throwing away her life. "Are you ready fuzz ball?

[Anytime.] The confident voice of system made Mina smile as she replied, "So am I."

Stepping inside the forest they passed the same place as before but were not transported to the cave as they had expected.

[Now what Host?]

"Don't worry. It's actually much better this way. We now have more than one way to solve this mission."

System: [???? How????]

Ignoring the remarks of the system Mina stood still for a while as she thought something. "Fuzzy do you remember the main character of the spider?"

[Yes, it's big and only hunts at night.] The system answered even though it had that 'what' expression.

"That is the main hint we need. The spider comes out at night meaning it is weak against exposure to daylight and it is just my assumption but I believe it is quite defenseless during day."

The system analyzed her reasoning as it answered. [Well what you said is true. Still how does that gives us many options?]

"If we had to search for the cave where will you look first? It's obviously in the darkest corner of the forest, isn't it?"

[Yes.] The system agreed.

"Can you make the map of the whole forest?" Mina asked a little anxiously. She was hoping for "Yes" as the answer.

[I couldn't before but now that we are here, I believe I can scan the area and create an approximate map.] The system replied hearing which made Mina overjoyed.

"So analyze the surrounding of the forest and pin point the darkest location inside. Some place which is totally deprived of sunlight." Mina asked the system as she tied her loose hair into a ponytail. The system after confirming the approximate area of the forest including the altitudes and latitudes determined the places receiving lowest amount of sunshine. Among them the biggest region was located in the southern part of the forest where the trees were abnormally large but were lifeless. Mina had a hunch that this was the place they were looking for. A screen appeared before her showing the rough map of the forest. Mina watched the entire map carefully in order to see each detail that she could use to her advantages. It was an unknown battle in enemy territory so she was a lot cautious as she tried to obtain information as much as possible even though she was sprinting towards the cave at her full speed.

The area was full of rocks big and small so it could act as perfect place to ambush when battling. Mina also needed to check the power level of the two headed spider and as long as she could make it use it's skill at her, she could form a counter measure against it. Suddenly a message popped up in front of Mina who was surprised slowing down her speed but seeing that it was just another message form the system.

[High Use of thinking ability has been detected. The awareness and wisdom of the Host has increased by 1% each.]

'So the more ability I use the more I will get stronger.' Mina thought in her head. 'It was similar to a video game that was popular now-a days among the youngsters. The more you use, the more experience you gain and the stronger you get.'

Within 10 minutes they had arrived at the place where their battle was going to take place. In front of them was a huge cave. The miasma spilling out from the cave that mixed in the air had paralyzing effect on the intruders. It was truly the haven of the Spider.

If she had been a normal human she might have become unconscious any moment but now that her body had been developed and upgraded she could resist some of it's paralyzing effect but still the more she went nearer the cave, her body felt more sluggish and heavy.

[Host your health is dropping.]

[Host your agility is dropping.]

[Host your strength id dropping.]

A barrage of notifications popped up inside her head. Even without the system saying Mina knew all of these. She knew what was happening in her body better than anyone else. "Show me my current statistics."

[Yes Host.]

[Health: 95;decreasing by 5 per minute.]

Looking at this Mina knew that the more she dragged on the battle she was going to be in disadvantage. She should charge head on and try to finish the fight as soon as possible.

[Agility: 40; decreasing by 10 per minute.]

That was to be expected considering how heavy her body was feeling. The spider was big so as long as it was slow she still had a chance.

[Strength: 45; decreasing by 5 per minute.]

As long as she could preserve she knew her strength could hold out.

[Mana: 50]

'Ohhhh..my Mana is still intact. That's great.' Mina was happy.

Soon they reached the entrance of the cave. Even from there shivers ran down their spine by how creepy and chilly the cave looked. By using her lightening, she formed a small glowing light in her hand as she moved cautiously forward. It was neither bright nor too dull so as not to aware the enemy.

[Another minute has passed. Your stat has decreased.]

[Health: 90]

[Agility: 30]

[Strength: 40]

[Mana: 50]

Mina felt her body growing even heavier. She even had the wish to lie down. The temptation was getting stronger and stronger.

[Your mental resistance is getting weaker. Want me to put up a barrier?]

"You can do that?" Mina asked her sound full of surprise. If Fuzzy could do that it was like finding oasis in desert.

[I couldn't but due to some reason I can do that now.] [//…//] [ 'It's thanks to someone else though.'] The system thought.

Damian sneezed as he was doing his work. 'Was someone badmouthing him?' He thought as he passed the file to Beth.

"Since you are always cold to other people they would badmouth you, Master." Beth sighed as he was moving some paper works.

Damian: "….."

Beth: "What?"

Damian: "...….."

Beth: "...…"

Damian: "I'm wondering how that woman is doing. "

Beth: "All I can say is she is stronger than you think she is. I am sure she will nail it."

Inside the cave.

[Host the barrier will hold up for 5 minute only.]

"That's more than enough."

They soon reached the center of the cave. They passed few small baby spiders but they were still larger than normal spiders but the number was quite small than they had anticipated.

In the dim glow of the light Mina looked at the thousands of white eggs that glowed endlessly up to the depth of the cave. They hadn't hatched yet which was lucky for them but where was the two headed spider? Instead of guarding her eggs she had gone somewhere else or was she hiding somewhere?

Mina's instinct told her to dodge and as soon as she dodged to side a hissing sound came along with a purplish black smoke. The ground where she stood was now melting as if acid has been poured on it. Mina's true fear came true as she looked above. A spider, having two heads which was bigger than anything she has ever seen was staring at her hanging from a large spider web. Mina was shocked by the countless lifeless body of humans that were wound in the web ready to be eaten.

Just in the blink of an eye, another poisonous spit came at her but thanks to her upgrade she could judge it. Currently she felt no heaviness due to the barrier but she couldn't get careless.

Lord Ganiveil clenched his fist when the second shot missed hitting the target. "That useless spider. Can't even land one hit properly."

[Host 4 minutes left until the barrier dissolves.]

She had no time to waste. "Fuzzy you ready?"

[Yes}

"Then it's time for plan A."

NEXT TIME: " Plan A: Success?"