Chapter 16: Viscous Web

"Elf? You mean Sophie?!"

Arachne jumps, falling onto the same platform, Alice withdraws with light steps. But the creature shows interest in Fedora. "You… You are like me?"

"Glob?", both Fedora and her partner are extremely confused.

"Your… Essence, compared to other slimes, is greater…", he puts his hand under his chin and carefully analyzes Fedora. "I see… You used the human to obtain more essence, right?"

She looks up, "Does what he's saying make any sense to you?", the slime negates by shaking its face side to side.

"You foolish ape. We, superior monsters, are born with the ability to absorb the essence of living beings. For every body I left behind on my blood path, I get stronger and evolve. This slime is just like me, so if I kill him, I'll have so much essence that maybe… What am I doing? Why am I telling you this? You would never understand something so complex and superior."

"You can level up…?" Alice's eyes open in terror, realizing how dangerous that world could still be.

He advances with a leap, pointing all his paws at the player. Confident in his victory, he advanced recklessly, not considering the possibility of a counterattack.

[Perfect Block]

[Stamina: 75/100]

Feeling all the impact back, he is thrown off the bridge. But not before pulling Alice with his webs—which come out of the palm of his hands—in free fall, the creature spins its body, consequently spinning its prey with a whirlpool and throwing her against one of the bridges, breaking it and making her continue to fall freely.

[HP: 60/90]

Her consciousness almost fades away, her blurred vision can still see the shine on Arachne's pale skin, approaching to finish her. Until Solol suddenly appears—with the spider on his back releasing a web—rescuing her and taking them both to a higher platform.

"Dude, how are you still alive?"

Even on the verge of unconsciousness and feeling as if she was about to spit her ribs, Alice still jokes, "I told you… Put points in Defense…"

"Listen, if these spiders are identical to those from Arcadia, then they share the same obvious weakness: fire."

"Good point, oh wait, WE DON'T HAVE FIRE!"

"Yet." With a confident smile, he points to the group of Auracrysolis on the top floor. "Even though it's commonly used as lanterns, if you put too much 'fuel' in it, it can get as hot as a magma stone."

"And even if it didn't work, we could still use the high amount of light to blind him. That's brilliant actually. But it would require a lot of mana…", Solol closes his eyes, just waiting for Alice to finish speaking, "… That you already have."

"I know, I know. I'm always 5 steps ahead from everyone.", he self-praises with his hands on his hips.

Suddenly, Arachne appears behind him. "Not from me."

The necromancer slowly turns around, sweating cold, beholding the horrendous face of the half-spider. And then he heroically flees—using the web of his 8-legged undead—depositing all his trust in Alice. "Distract him! I trust you!"

Holding back the 15 different curses destined for the cowardly player, she raises the half-blade sword with trembling hands. Without even batting an eye on her, he gently snaps his fingers and points to Solol in the air—and dozens of spiders emerge as an army dedicated only to exterminate him.

After the silent order, he shifts focus to Alice and with a venomous smile, he cheerfully invites her to the fight: "Where were we?"

Without hesitation, Alice advances with a reverse grip aiming to hit the creature's eye. However, he easily anticipates the movement and grabs her hand, and then her neck, lifting her in the air.

"I must admit, the other gentlemen had more 'fangs' than you.", while mocking, he crushes the player's wrist—and her weapon is released, falling to the last floor. The low sound of the sword hitting the ground is like music to Arachne's ears, as despair 'seasons' the food.

[HP: 57/90]

"GLOOOOOB!" Fedora jumps onto one of Arachne's front legs, and furiously tries to dissolve it. His effort is so great, that bubbles are forming inside his gelatinous body.

"HUH?! You…", he releases Alice's arm and tries to rip the slime off his paw, "Worthless… Little…", his hands pass through the gelatinous layer and he pulls hard, making the Slime groan in pain.

Seeing the chance, Alice lets out a war cry, "NO ONE MESSES WITH FEDORA!", and kicks the paw with Fedora—already in the process of dissolution—the impact makes it come out instantly. Surprising the creature and making him lose balance.

Being released and at the same time thrown off the platform, she grabs Fedora and hugs him tightly. The two fall onto another point, a few meters below that one.

[HP: 52/90]

"Fedora… Are you ok?", she opens her eyes and sees Fedora intact, making her breathe relieved. But this tranquility is cut with the sound of something piercing the ground.

CRAC

It was Arachne's severed leg embedded next to them. The sound of the creature screaming in agony and rage echoes through the cave and in Alice's head—realizing that now she is more screwed than ever.

Seeing her partner's concern, Fedora looks at the leg and jumps for joy at thinking of something. "Glop! Glop!", he jumps to the top of the limb and his form starts to tremble.

"What are you doing?!", she stands up worried about the Slime's condition.

[Slimy Mimic]

Fedora's body is remodeled to the shape of a sword handle, its skin becomes more solid, and he grunts calling Alice. "Swish-gloob!"

Her eyes widen in surprise, but soon a small laugh of relief escapes from her mouth, "You can't be serious.", she holds onto the slime handle and raises the improvised sword, whose blade was firm like her bond with her Slime friend, "I shall name you…"

Behind her falls Arachne, who furious advances with a slash with his other front paw—however, he feels his limb immobile. It was Alice blocking with her newest sword, "Viscous Web!"

[Wind Scrapper]

[Stamina: 60/100]

Still confused by the human's recovery, he receives a wind cut as powerful as his. He defends with his two arms, but that doesn't stop him from being pushed "My own leg…?!", he sticks his legs on the ground, slowing down the impact. And with a lot of effort, he throws the cut to another direction.

But to his frustration, Alice simply disappeared from his sight. He looks wildly around for her, growling "You sick animals! How dare you…!"

But before he could finish his sentence, Alice appears from behind him, shouting, "Here I am!" With a sudden movement, she strikes a powerful blow with her improvised sword on the back, making Arachne stagger forward.

He rolls, gets up quickly and turns, looking furiously at Alice. "Damn you!", he roars, throwing his trunk back and filling his mouth with venom.

[Poison Bullet]

"Tsc. Tsc. Tsc."

[Perfect Block]

Even though not affected by the poison, the substance still covers his vision temporarily. Alice doesn't waste a second and advances again with the raised Fedora sword, determined to take advantage of the momentary advantage. With Arachne temporarily blind, she approaches with agility, delivering a precise blow to one of his remaining legs—not ripping it off. The creature roars in pain and frustration, but manages to react quickly, spinning his body and trying to hit Alice with one of the hind legs.

The player already anticipating this, retreats with a jump backwards. But, she sees Arachne smiling, and before she could touch the ground…

[String Trap]

Instantly, white threads as soft as silk but as hard as chains emerge from all directions, entangling Alice's body and trapping her. "I learned a valuable lesson today… Never play with the food."

She struggles futilely, with her body unable to escape, while Arachne slowly approaches, as his offspring get closer. He walks slower, letting the spiders pass and have a taste first.

…

FIU

"…!" the creature turns around, with a disbelieving and scared look. He creates webs in his hands and pulls himself away—leaving his offspring behind. Alice doesn't understand, until an arrow fell where Arachne was previously.

[Fiery Arrow: Explosion]

A flame explosion transcends the arrow, destroying the nearby spiders and freeing Alice from the web. "An arrow… But that's…", she turns around hopeful and excited. Watching Sophie, the lost elf.

"Fighting a boss, huh? Mind if I join? But you will have to share the rewards!", she can't contain her relief and happiness in her speech.