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Poison Spiders weren't strong monsters, so I didn't have to step out to really fight. I only occasionally helped the crew members, whose movements were slowed by the spider webs.

They were able to hunt them with ease because they had a predictable pattern of spitting out poison and attacking with their legs, fangs, and webs.

All I did was find their location while receiving experience points and collecting poison pouches and mana stones.

Since I didn't kill them myself, there was a problem with priority ownership of poison pouches and dropped items. However, since the spiders didn't drop any good weapons or armor, they handed over the things without a word.

My backpack was filled to the brim before I knew it. However, I still couldn't find the missing hunters.

Quite a bit of time passed, and we continued to clear the caves until only a few remained.

"Byeong-gi, are we going the right way now?"

Seol Myeonggeun didn’t hide his dissatisfaction.

"I’m just relying on my skills."

"Oppas, don't pester him too much."

"But Seol-ah, we don't know what will happen to the missing hunters while we wander like this."

Seol-ah grew serious.

"Sergeant Seol Myeonggeun, you have to speak correctly. Byeong-gi Oppa is doing nothing wrong, and if he hadn't given us information about the Poison Spiders, we'd still be fighting an uphill battle."

"Well, I could have just neutralized their poison with my skill..."

"Have you forgotten how many we have killed so far? Would you have any magic power left if you used that skill every time we fought?

"T-That… no. I've been too hasty. I'm sorry."

Seol Myeonggeun apologized and returned to his position, but distrust toward me was added to his status window.

"All right. As the sergeant said, we are worried about the missing people, so let's speed up a bit."

[Tsk, tsk, tsk, the grown-up soldier, has a worse attitude than the young Seol-ah.]

'I can see Seol-ah's qualities as a leader shining through. She’s the number one on my list of recruits.'

[Are you planning something after she grows up?]

'Come on, why do you have to joke whenever I get serious?'

[Even in the Martial World, I wasn't a quiet person.]

'That's very different from the Heavenly Demons I’ve heard about.'

[Reality is different from the martial arts novels you’ve read. I was born with this personality, so there’s nothing I can do really.]

'You’ve always been like this?'

[Only a few knew about my true personality in the Martial World, you know.]

'How could it be that nobody knew your personality even though you lived that long?'

[Since I was in a high position, I put on an act in front of the public. Kukuku. It was pretty frustrating at the time. Only the Lord knew this personality, that old man.]

'Were you close to him?'

[We used to hate each other when we were young, but we grew close when we got older. Suddenly, I miss him...]

'Still, didn’t a few people find out?'

[I killed all those who saw my actual face. It couldn’t become known.]

‘…’

The Heavenly Demon sounded somewhat lonely.

The search continued after that. Seol-ah was fine, but dissatisfaction and distrust of me grew among the rest of the crew.

Around the time it was starting to reach a peak, I picked up on a more powerful energy signature than the other spiders.

Strangely enough, I felt the energy from a cave I hadn't searched yet because there weren’t many monsters inside.

[You should reach 100% on the Heavenly Demon’s Origin Art quickly. How could you have missed that energy?]

'I know, I know.'

"Looks like a Boss monster has appeared."

As soon as I finished speaking, a system notification popped up.

<SYSTEM: The Boss monster’s summoning conditions have been met.>

<SYSTEM: As the number of Poison Spiders in the Gate decreases, the queen spider 'Arachne' awakens.>

<SYSTEM: 30 seconds until Arachne appears.>

<SYSTEM: 29 seconds remaining.>

"Let's move quickly!"

"Huh? Isn't she summoned here?"

"No. We have to go to where she is."

Seol-ah thought about it for a moment, but the crew didn't trust me.

Seol-ah didn't consider it much longer.

"Yes, I will trust Byeong-gi Oppa. Let's move as quickly as possible."

At Seol-ah's urging, the party hurried to the place I pointed out.

<SYSTEM: 20 seconds remaining.>

The reason for my haste was based on past experience.

Boss monsters in all gates where Poison Spiders lived weren’t 'summoned' but 'appeared.' The Boss of this one was called a 'Queen,' and when the number of individuals in the gate decreased while she was managing the eggs in the nest, the conditions for her to appear were met.

Ordinary hunters waited for the creature to appear before hunting, but during the battle, her eggs would hatch, and those baby spiders would attack us in their search for their mother.

That by itself wasn’t too bad, the problem was that when they hatched, they started eating the cocooned prey that had been captured.

Also, although their attack power was weak, they were pretty annoying to deal with since they also spat out poison.

Some hunters asked back then if they could get a lot of experience points farming them, but they only gave one experience point.

In short, it was inefficient to battle them in every regard.

To attack the Boss of this gate, the party had to be divided into one team to catch the Boss and another to remove the eggs.

[It's your turn to step up.]

'I must try the Blade Breaking Technique and get the Skill Book.'

<SYSTEM: 10 seconds remaining.>

"A little faster."

"We are doing our best."

It was frustrating. Even if we were running at twice the speed of ordinary people, the distance was still more than 200m until we reached the cave where it would appear.

"There is no other way. Seol-ah, I'll go first."

"Oppa?"

"Mr. Byeong-gi, it's dangerous to go alone!"

Seol Myeonggeun shouted, but I ignored him.

Whoosh-

I used the Heavenly Demon Air-Stride to dart ahead.

<SYSTEM: 5 seconds remaining.>

***

[Arachne Lv. 55]

[Category: Insect-type monster, attack first]

[Status: Rage]

[Skill: Lv. 3 Spider Sense (Passive) Lv. 3 Poison Web Lv. 3 Web Hunting

-Spider Sense: Detect danger and dodge enemy attacks.

-Poison Web: Fires webs to paralyze enemies.

-Web Hunting: Attacks by binding the enemy in web.

"Sssssh!"

Arachne, who had the upper body of a beautiful woman but the lower body of a spider, had awoken.

[Is her level high because she’s a Named Boss monster?]

"She is Named for a reason. This one is higher than the Bosses of the other gates. And her attack and defense are high relative to her level. That makes her difficult to deal with."

[Then you will become a Named Hunter? Kukuku.]

"Of course! Anyway, we're late."

I tried to arrive beforehand and reduce the number of eggs even a little, but I was too late.

[I can feel the hunters.]

"I felt them too."

I could feel a human presence inside the cocoons behind Arachne. They were still alive. However, while there were more than ten visible cocoons, only five seemed busy.

The rest were already mummified.

I saw countless eggs beneath them.

I quickly switched weapons. The Goblin's Sword was more effective at removing cobwebs than the bone.

Shaaak-

Arachne started with her Poison Web skill. Webs launched from her back, together with a poisonous mist rose.

"Oppa, dodge it!

Seol-ah, who arrived before I knew it, rushed at Arachne with her flame sword brandished.

I shouted at Seol-ah while dodging Arachne's attacks.

"Seol-ah! Deal with her for a second!"

"What?"

A question mark appeared above Seol-ah's head.

"I don't have time to explain."

I removed the webs around the cocooned hunters while dodging Arachne's attacks.

Seol-ah's expression hardened for a moment, but she soon understood my intention and calmly defended against Arachne while I rescued the five hunters.

[That's a neat cut!]

Despite the Heavenly Demon's admiration, I was still in a hurry.

If it were an ordinary Boss monster, Seol-ah could deal with it without difficulty using her Shadow Dance.

But Arachne was a Named monster. No matter how strong Seol-ah's skill was, it was apparent she would struggle if left alone.

"Miss Seol-ah!"

The rest of the crew had finally arrived.

"Move these people out!"

"!!!"

Their judgment was quick. They started helping as soon as they saw me carrying the unconscious hunters.

"Shaheek!"

Arachne changed the direction of her attack when she noticed her pups were being robbed of their food.

"Careful!"

Arachne swung her blade-like forelimbs at the soldiers.

Clank-

I blocked it by deploying the Demonic Dragon’s Eight-Blade Style.

"Sergeant Seol Myeonggeun, please help Seol-ah."

"What?"

"Quickly!"

"Got it!"

Arachne changed the direction of attack, but Seol-ah was holding up well, and when Seol Myeonggeun joined in, it became easier to fend off.

I left the rest of the crew to move the missing hunters and started attacking the eggs about to hatch.

It would be quite a nuisance if the eggs packed all the way to the ceiling started bursting open.

[You should use what you learned!]

"Obviously!"

I took out a Great Sword from my inventory. It was one of the weapons we obtained by killing the Poison Spiders here.

"Blade Breaking Technique!"

Kwurreung!-

The Great Sword exploded with a thunderous roar.

Spark! Whoosh! Papa baba babat!-

Fragments of the Great Sword shot outward, and the eggs shattered. More than half of them were blown away by the explosion, but much of my inner power was also consumed.

The critical hit recovered 50% but didn’t replenish all the inner power that escaped. What remained was about 30%.

"Damn!"

I cursed when my energy center emptied.

[They're hatching!]

Baby Poison Spiders began to crawl out of the remaining eggs.

'There's a lot!'

Even though more than half were gone, the number of the remaining nests was staggering. About 50 to 60 spiders seemed to crawl out of each one.

I took another weapon from my inventory and poured all my inner power into the Blade Breaking Technique.

Rumble-

Once again, I heard the sound of thunder as the fragments were scattered, and all energy drained from my body.

<SYSTEM: All magic power was consumed, and the 'Two Hearts' title effect was applied.>

<SYSTEM: Your magic power has recharged.>

"Hahaha! This is it!"

As the inner power of my energy center filled back up, I laughed.

This was why titles were so important!

[Ha, this system is amazing every time I see it.]

'Now that my inner power is back, I can take care of the rest!'

[I’m looking forward to it.]

PABABABABABANG-

There were still some left, so I kicked off the ground and used the Heavenly Demon Replication in conjunction with the Demonic Dragon’s Eight-Blade Style.

"Everyone, get back!"

[Why did you take out that bone again?]