Second World Online

The Obsidian Forest still radiated a dark glow from its leaves made of sharp glass. We had just finished collecting the remaining gold coins and crystals from the pack of Obsidian Shadowstalkers that Yuuki had annihilated when a panicked scream shattered the silence from the south.

"Yuuki! Yuna! Hang in there! We're coming!"

From behind the dense obsidian trees, two female figures emerged, running out of breath.

A blonde Elf in a white priest's robe (Priest) holding a glowing staff, with a tiny flower-spirit girl with pink petals perched on her shoulder. It was Lumina and Flora.

Both looked extremely pale and out of breath. Lumina's face was filled with panic, while Flora's flower petals on her head were slightly wilted from the exhaustion of flying.

"Yuuki! Where's the enemy?!" Lumina immediately chanted a healing spell at the tip of her staff while scanning the surroundings. "The system said ten people were surrounding you!"

Yuuki, who had been casually sitting and cleaning her white fur with her tongue, suddenly froze. She stopped licking, her eyes now with a silver-blue glow widened in shock. Her three tails drooped in embarrassment.

"Eh… ah… oops…" Yuuki stammered, looking at Yuna with a forced awkward smile.

Yuna slapped her forehead with the palm of her gauntlet, producing a sharp clang.

"Yuuki sent a mass Priority Message (PM) to all of us when she was ambushed by Ouroboros earlier," Yuna explained with a long sigh as she looked at Lumina. "Then she evolved into a three-tailed fox, destroyed five shadow monsters by herself, and… it seems she completely forgot that she had already sent a panic message to all of you who were offline or in the city."

"I forgot! Really! It's just that… my evolution was too cool!" Yuuki tried to defend herself while pressing her front paws together in a pleading pose.

Lumina and Flora looked at Yuuki, then at the pile of ashes that were the remains of SteelFang's Epic armor lying on the ground, and finally their eyes landed on me, who was leaning against a tree branch wearing my Gargoyle's Visage mask.

Lumina immediately dropped to her knees on the glass ground, clutching her chest with an expression of immense relief. "Thank goodness… I thought we were too late and the two of you had already been PKed and sent back to the city. I immediately left the mission in the village the moment I read that message."

Flora flew down from Lumina's shoulder and smacked Yuuki's head with her small tendril. "You forgetful fox captain! You gave us a heart attack!"

"Ouch! Sorry, sorry! Oh my god, I'm really sorry!" Yuuki whimpered cutely, covering her head with both paws. "As an apology, tonight I'll be your main DPS! I'll fully cover the exp from the high-level monsters!"

I chuckled softly from the branch, then jumped down. "You two arrived at just the right time. I was just about to ask Yuuki and Yuna to continue the hunt. Since both of you are already here, this party formation is complete again."

Lumina looked at me with sparkling eyes of admiration. She quickly stood up and straightened her robe. "Thank you for saving them again, Teacher Syl. We're always troubling you."

"No problem. Give her a party invite, Yuuki," I ordered.

Yuuki quickly opened her system interface panel.

[System: Player 'Lumina' has joined the Party.]

[System: Player 'Flora' has joined the Party.]

However, before I could close my screen, an additional notification appeared.

[System: Party Captain 'Yuuki' has changed the group name to '5 Beautiful Girls'.]

I stared at the screen, then looked at Yuuki with a flat gaze from behind the mask.

Yuna, Lumina, and Flora exchanged glances, then smiled to themselves. They clearly already knew my true form behind this scary-faced mercenary hunter disguise.

"You're really enjoying this, huh?" I grumbled softly at Yuuki.

"Hehehe, of course! This is our signature formation!" Yuuki giggled, showing off her three tails.

I shook my head, realizing that maintaining the Gargoyle's Visage disguise in the middle of a party that all knew my secret was both pointless and uncomfortable. I opened the equipment menu and unclasped the stone mask from my face.

Instantly, the illusion of my disguise faded. The stiff jet-black hair returned to long, soft pale-silver hair cascading down. The dull gray cloak parted, revealing the figure of an Albino Elf with skin as white as snow and ruby-red eyes. Syl's true form once again dominated my appearance.

Flora flew around my head. "Wow, this Sister Syl is way prettier and smells better than the scary old gargoyle version!"

"Shut up, little flower," I hissed, though I couldn't hold back a thin smile. "Everyone get ready. Our hunting destination this time isn't the Obsidian Forest. I need specific materials, and unfortunately, that place is extremely unpleasant."

"Where are we going, Teacher?" Yuna asked, positioning her shield.

"Murkwater Swamp," I answered firmly. "My leather armor is starting to fall behind in stats. I need materials from high-level webs and silk threads to upgrade it at my favorite Tailor later. And the best habitat for obtaining high-level webs is the giant tarantula nest at the edge of the swamp."

"Swamp spiders?" Lumina swallowed hard, her face instantly pale. "But, Teacher… I heard the monsters around Murkwater Swamp have poison types that are immune to basic Heal."

"That's exactly why we're going there," I said casually, slinging the giant Titan's Ironbark bow back onto my back. "You have a dragon Vanguard, a Three-Tailed Fox with fire affinity, and me. Spiders hate fire, and Yuuki's fire can now melt glass. There's nothing to be afraid of."

Hearing the word 'fire', Yuuki immediately puffed out her furry chest proudly. "Leave it to me! This forest, or that swamp, I'll burn everything flat!"

Thanks to the Wind Walk effect and the party's adjusted passive running speed, we arrived at the outskirts of Murkwater Swamp in less than half an hour. The night air that had been dry in the Obsidian Forest now turned damp, humid, and reeked of sulfur.

"Ugh, it never smells nice here," Flora complained while covering her tiny nose with both hands.

I led the way in front, with Yuna walking one step beside me. Unlike my previous visit when I entered the deadly purple Miasma area in the center of the swamp, this time we were skirting the outer edges of the swamp, which consisted of dry mangrove forests without the corrosive fog.

The mangrove trees here towered dozens of meters high, but their trunks and leaves were wrapped in thick layers of dull-white silk threads. Spider webs stretched like giant tents covering the forest canopy, blocking the moonlight and creating a dim, extremely oppressive atmosphere.

"T-this place is so scary…" Lumina whispered, pulling her robe tighter. Her staff was the only bright enough light source in this area.

"Watch your steps carefully," I warned. "Don't step on the white threads on the ground. The spiders here are blind in the dark, but they are extremely sensitive to thread vibrations (Web Tremor)."

We walked stealthily. Yuuki deactivated the fire at the tips of her tails to maintain stealth. Yuna raised her shield high, ready to block sudden attacks from the air.

Suddenly, my sharp Elf ears caught a faint rustling sound from the branches above us. It sounded like dozens of spiny legs rapidly crawling along the wooden trunks.

"Defensive formation!" I ordered quickly.

Yuna reacted instantly. She swung her red dragon shield above her head, activating [Draconic Aegis].

Exactly one second after the shield lit up, two black figures the size of pickup trucks leaped down from the darkness of the canopy, slamming into Yuna's shield simultaneously.

BAAAM!

Yuna grunted under the weight, her knees bending slightly, but she didn't move a single centimeter.

The monsters were giant tarantulas with densely furred legs and green slimy fangs.

[Murkwater Weaver - Level 35]

HP: 14,000/14,000

Type: Insect/Venomous Beast

Description: Swamp nest weaver. Its bite inflicts [Paralysis] and [Poison]. Extremely vulnerable to fire.

"Disgusting!" Yuna shouted, forcibly pushing her shield to fling both tarantulas backward.

"Yuuki! Burn them!" I commanded.

𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Yuuki was already ready. She leaped into the air, her three tails instantly blazing brightly, illuminating the mangrove forest area.

"[Fox-Fire: Tri-Burst Inferno]!"

Three blazing red fireballs shot from the tips of her wooden staff.

BLLAAARRR!

Spiders were insect-type monsters with very low or even negative fire resistance. When Yuuki's fireballs buffed by her doubled INT hit the two tarantulas, the effect was far more terrifying than when she burned the shadow tigers.

The fire not only burned their bodies but immediately spread to their coarse fur and the sticky webs around them. The two Murkwater Weavers screeched with ear-piercing hissing sounds, rolling around on the scorched muddy ground before finally dying and turning to ash within seconds.

[-11,200 Magical Fire/Weakness Damage!] (Double calculation due to elemental weakness).

[Overkill!]

"Hah! Even spiders the size of a house will turn into burnt skewers if they fight me!" Yuuki landed gracefully, puffing out her chest proudly.

"Don't get cocky yet," I cut in flatly. "Your explosion just now did kill them, but you also burned the webs around us."

Yuuki tilted her head in confusion. "So what, Sis?"

"Because those webs are their alarm system," Yuna answered from behind her shield, her eyes staring sharply at the dark canopy above us.

The faint rustling sound that earlier came from only one direction now exploded into a noisy buzzing from every direction. The sound of hundreds of spiny legs scraping against wood could be heard descending from the giant mangrove trees.

Dozens of pairs of compound red glowing eyes began appearing from the darkness of the nests above us.

"Oh… good grief," Lumina went pale, her magic staff trembling in her hands.

"Tight formation!" I shouted, drawing the Titan's Ironbark bow from my back. "Lumina, prepare Purification if anyone gets poisoned! Flora, bind their legs if they try to jump behind Yuna!"

Yuna roared fiercely, slamming her axe against her shield and casting [Draconic Taunt]. A red sound wave swept through the forest, drawing dozens of level 35 tarantulas to focus their attacks on the steel-armored dragon.

The rain of tarantulas began.

Giant spiders fell like a nightmare. Yuna blocked, cut, and kicked them brutally. Her bone axe cleaved the insect bodies, spraying green acidic fluid in all directions.

Yuuki was at the peak of her performance. She continuously fired [Fox-Fire: Tri-Burst Inferno] and [Scorching Ray]. The mangrove forest instantly turned into a sea of blue-red flames. The stench of burnt insects filled the air, covering the sulfur smell of the swamp.

I stayed in the rear line, not using explosive arrows or Epic+ poison. I only relied on pure physical precision shots to chip away at the damage that Yuuki missed, ensuring not a single tarantula managed to sneak toward Lumina.

Every Charged Shot I released pierced through two to three tightly packed tarantulas, instantly crushing their chests.

Crash! Crash! Boom!

The slaughter lasted a full fifteen minutes. Fatigue began to set in. Yuuki's Mana bar, which had previously seemed unlimited, had now dropped below half, while Yuna had been forced to drink three healing potions due to acidic bites that slipped past her shield defense.

Finally, the last tarantula was burned to dust by Yuuki.

We were all panting. The ground around us was filled with digital corpses and a sea of loot in the form of mid-tier [Sturdy Spider Silk] and [Venom Gland]. I quickly collected the web silk materials. These were the materials I needed to craft Epic-class leather armor later.

"Is… is it over?" Lumina asked, still holding her staff protectively.

Just as I was about to answer, the air around us suddenly became extremely heavy. The sound of heavy, wet, noisy breathing could be heard from behind the wall of giant mangrove trees to the north.

A slow seismic tremor began shaking the ground, different from ordinary tarantula footsteps. This was the footstep of something extraordinarily massive.

Mangrove trees cracked and broke, and from behind the darkness of the burning forest, an existence appeared that made my Elf blood run cold.

It was a giant spider, but its upper body from chest to head resembled the figure of a human woman clad in terrifying black carapace armor. The woman's face was covered by a bone mask with eight glowing spider eyes, and her hair was made of poisonous silk tendrils. Her eight spider legs supported a massive body larger than a military tank.

[Arachne, The Venomous Broodmother - Level 40 (Field Boss)]

HP: 60,000/60,000

Type: Mutated Humanoid/Insect

Description: Queen of the death weavers. She considers this entire forest her personal web.

"Level 40 Field Boss…" Yuna hissed, tightening her grip on her war axe.

"She's angry because I burned her children," Yuuki swallowed hard, her third tail stopping its sway.

I stared at the boss with sixty thousand HP. If I had consumed a fifteen-gold-coin food buff, used Arthur's Shaped Charge, and brought a full party, this might have been an even fight.

But tonight, I had no food buff. I wasn't carrying armor-piercing grenades. And this party was already exhausted.

Sreett!

Arachne gave us no time to discuss. She raised one of her humanoid hands, and from her palm she fired a thick white silk web at cannon speed toward Yuna.

"Watch out!"

Yuna raised her shield, but the web dealt no impact damage. Instead, the sticky web wrapped around the shield and Yuna's entire body in an instant, locking the dragon inside a thick white silk cocoon.

[Party Member Yuna has been afflicted with status [Cocooned]! Unable to move or attack for 10 Seconds!]

Arachne laughed with a voice that sounded like nails scraping on glass. She then lowered her body, preparing to leap toward Yuuki, Lumina, and Flora, who now stood without a Tanker's protection.

"Damn it," I cursed roughly.

This casual clothing-material hunting plan had just turned into a high-level survival operation.