Second World Online

Ten seconds.

In the mathematical calculation of an MMORPG battle, ten seconds without the main Vanguard is an absolute death sentence for the party members in the backline. Especially when the enemy is a Level 40 Field Boss with 60,000 HP.

Yuna thrashed inside the thick white silk cocoon that wrapped her entire body up to her neck. Her dragon shield was locked tight, unable to move.

Arachne, the Venomous Broodmother, did not waste the loss of the dragon. The skull mask on her face split open, revealing rows of sharp fangs dripping green venom. She lowered her eight massive legs, sharp as obsidian spears, then leaped with the natural hydraulic power of an insect, shooting through the air like a black meteor.

Her target? Yuuki, Lumina, and Flora, who stood without protection.

"This is bad! She's targeting us!" Lumina screamed, her Elf face turning deathly pale. Flora, perched on her shoulder, flew in panic around the priest's head.

Yuuki growled, her snow-white fur standing on end. She raised her snout and her floating wooden magic staff, ready to fire. "Don't underestimate me, you ugly monster!"

But I knew Yuuki's fireballs would not stop the momentum of a multi-ton leap. If Arachne landed on them, the fragile bodies of the fox mage and Elf priest would be crushed to pieces (Insta-Kill).

"Fall back!" I commanded in a voice as cold as ice that cut through the panic.

I planted my feet into the swamp mud. My left hand drew the Titan's Ironbark Compound Bow at maximum speed, nocking the heaviest projectile I owned: [Obsidian Tremor Arrow].

Without waiting for Focus to activate, I chanted [Charged Shot] and released the sledgehammer-heavy obsidian arrow into the air. A roaring vortex of wind accompanied it.

DUAARR!

The arrow struck dead center on the carapace chest plate of Arachne while she was still mid-air. A seismic explosion erupted at the point of impact.

[-2,400 Physical/Blunt Damage!]

The damage was small because the giant carapace defense was extremely thick, but the pure kinetic force of the obsidian and its seismic effect worked perfectly. Arachne's leaping momentum was forcibly halted in mid-air. Her massive body reeled backward and crashed into the swamp ground five meters in front of Yuuki, creating a mud crater that sprayed filthy water in every direction.

"Flora! Now! Bind her legs!" I shouted.

The tiny flower-spirit girl understood immediately. "Thank you, Sister Syl! Taste this, you ugly monster! [Thorn Binding Roots]!"

Flora spread both arms. The muddy ground beneath Arachne cracked open at once. Giant thorned roots the size of pillars erupted outward, tightly wrapping all eight spider legs and locking her to the ground.

"Yuuki! Burn Yuna's cocoon! Be careful not to roast her scales!" I commanded again, running in a circle to find a better firing angle.

"Got it, Sis! [Scorching Ray]!" Yuuki unleashed a straight, precisely controlled beam of fire thanks to her doubled INT and AGI. The fire beam swept across the white silk cocoon binding Yuna. The giant spider web hissed as it burned and peeled away.

Just as Flora's roots began snapping one by one under Arachne's brutal strength (CC duration remaining: 2 seconds), Yuna finally tore free of the remaining scorched webs. The dragon Vanguard roared in fury, her eyes blazing golden-yellow. Her armor was slightly singed, but her fighting spirit exploded.

"How dare you bind me like a caterpillar cocoon!" Yuna charged forward. She slammed her [Dragonscale Heavy Shield] straight into Arachne's humanoid face with the skill [Shield Bash].

BAMM! [Arachne is afflicted with Stun (1.5 Seconds)!]

"My turn! [Fox-Fire: Tri-Burst Inferno]!" Yuuki shouted.

Three giant magical fireballs shot from the tip of Yuuki's staff, slamming into the swollen spider portion of Arachne's rear body.

But this time something different happened. Instead of screeching from the heat like the previous spiders, Arachne crossed both humanoid arms in front of her chest. The entire black carapace on her body suddenly radiated an oily purple sheen.

[-1,800 Magical Fire Damage!] [-1,800 Magical Fire Damage!] [-1,800 Magical Fire Damage!]

Yuuki's eyes widened. Her three tails drooped in shock. "What?! Why did my damage drop drastically?! Earlier it was seven thousand per fireball!"

"That's a Magic Reflection Shell!" Lumina cried out while restoring Yuna's HP from the backline. "This Field Boss isn't an ordinary insect! Her black carapace absorbs 70% of magic damage and neutralizes elemental weakness effects! As long as that shell is intact, fire magic won't be effective!"

Arachne recovered from the Stun. She hissed in anger and swept her front leg, sharp as an obsidian blade. Yuna blocked it with her shield, but the impact force dragged Yuna two meters backward.

"Ugh! Her strength is enormous!" Yuna groaned, holding back the spider leg so it couldn't advance. "Teacher Syl! If Yuuki's magic doesn't work, we don't have the Damage Per Second to finish off her sixty thousand HP!"

I snorted coldly. Hiding behind an anti-magic shell, are you? Too bad this spider boss didn't know that above these trees lurked an alchemist who had just created a nightmare for anyone who prided themselves on layered armor defense.

"Yuna! Hold her in position! Lumina, keep healing Yuna! Yuuki, conserve your Mana and wait for my signal!"

I activated [Wind Walk] and leaped onto a thick dry mangrove branch about a dozen meters above the battlefield. This was my Sniper Nest.

I reached into a special tube at my waist. My fingers touched a Blood Oak wooden shaft tipped with a hollow steel tip like a giant syringe. At the neck of the projectile, a small glass vial imprisoned a purple mercury liquid radiating an Epic+ aura.

[Venom-Fang Injector Arrow].

I nocked it onto the cable string of the Titan's Ironbark Compound Bow. I took a wide stance, planting my feet firmly on the wooden branch.

"Let's see whose shell is harder. A Level 40 spider carapace, or the Knight Epic shield I just melted half an hour ago," I murmured slowly.

One second. Two seconds.

Instantly, [Sub-Skill: Focus] activated.

My world became absolute silence. The clanging of Yuna's shield against Arachne's legs and the monster's furious roars faded into static noise. My vision locked onto the oily black carapace protecting the giant spider's back. A bright red dot blinked exactly in the gap between her main carapace plates.

I held nothing back. I chanted [Lethal Shot] to guarantee pure armor ignore and critical damage, then stacked it with [Charged Shot] that drained my stamina, and finally [Piercing Gale Arrow] that wrapped the long steel needle in a roaring drilling wind vortex.

Three layers of lethal skills combined with the extreme-pressure mechanics of the bow.

The death injection began.

I released my finger grip.

DZHAAAANG-WUUUSSHH!

A small sonic boom erupted in front of my bow, causing dry mangrove leaves to rain down. The needle arrow shot forward like an invisible laser beam, splitting the humid air of Murkwater Swamp at a speed impossible for a tank-sized monster to dodge.

CRAAAAK!

An extraordinarily loud cracking sound echoed. The steel Bodkin needle tip of my arrow struck the red point on Arachne's back. The pure impact force of the Charged Shot, driven by my 152 INT/DEX, forcibly penetrated the oily carapace ten centimeters deep, pinning the insect flesh inside.

But the kinetic damage was only 1,800 points. That wasn't my main weapon.

The moment the steel needle locked in place, the forward momentum triggered the mechanism at the arrow's neck. The small glass vial shot forward, slammed into the steel base, and shattered. A metal spring stretched, pumping the entire thick purple liquid of [Empress's Malice] through the capillary channels inside the steel needle, spraying it at high speed directly into the organs and soft tissues behind Arachne's shell.

One second of oppressive silence followed. Arachne stopped attacking Yuna. Her massive body suddenly went rigid.

Then… hell leaked out from inside her body.

SHREEEEEEAAAAAKKK!

Arachne screamed at such a high frequency that I had to cover my ears. It was no longer a roar of rage, but a scream of unbearable agony.

Thick purple smoke exploded from the cracks in her carapace. The permanent Armor Degradation 25% effect began devouring her structural defenses. The oily shell that had previously reflected magic blistered severely, lost its color, and began melting into foul-smelling black sludge.

[-1,500 Acid Damage!] [-1,500 Acid Damage!] [-1,500 Acid Damage!]

A continuous stream of red damage numbers appeared above Arachne's head every second. This Epic+ corrosive poison was burning her from the inside out. The Level 40 boss thrashed wildly on the muddy ground, her eight legs kicking the air and toppling the surrounding mangrove trees.

"W-what's happening to her?!" Lumina shrieked in horror, shielding her face from the acidic mud spray.

"Her armor is destroyed! Her carapace is melting!" Yuna shouted, covering herself with her red dragon shield to avoid the acid fumes rising from Arachne's body.

"What are you waiting for, Captain Yuuki?!" I shouted from the branch, nocking a normal arrow ready to intercept any attack. "Her shell is already breached! Burn her internal organs now!"

Yuuki's silver-blue eyes blazed with ferocity. Her three tails stood upright, channeling her doubled Mana capacity to its absolute limit.

"You dared to trap Yuna! Die, you ugly spider! [Fox-Fire: Tri-Burst Inferno - OVERDRIVE]!"

This time Yuuki did not release the fireballs one by one. She compressed her entire remaining Mana into a single chant. The three giant fireballs merged in the air into one massive blue-red fire vortex pillar. The heat from the magic made the swamp's night air feel like midday in a desert.

The giant fire pillar slammed directly into the gaping hole in Arachne's back that had been melted by my poison.

BLLLLAAAARRRR!

[-34,800 Magical Fire/Penetration Damage!] [Lethal Hit! Internal Weakness Exploited!] [Overkill!]

The combination of internal acid poison damage and Yuuki's nuclear fire pillar produced damage that defied logic. Arachne's remaining forty-thousand HP bar simply evaporated.

The explosion split the Broodmother's body into digital ash swept away by the hot wind, leaving a medium-sized crater in the muddy swamp ground.

Silence instantly reclaimed the area. The mangrove forest was now filled with residual flames burning on the dry branches and the sharp stench of scorched insect flesh.

The system delivered a series of golden notifications that delighted the eyes.

[Congratulations! Your Party (5 Beautiful Girls) has slain Arachne, The Venomous Broodmother (Field Boss - Level 40)!]

[Gained 85,000 EXP (Party Bonus)!]

[Level Up! Yuna reached Level 34!]

[Level Up! Yuuki reached Level 32!]

[Level Up! Lumina reached Level 30! (Milestone Unlocked!)]

[Level Up! Flora reached Level 29!]

(Meanwhile I, already at Level 35 from previous solo hunting, only saw my experience bar fill by a quarter. Splitting Boss EXP among five party members certainly reduced individual gains, but at least safety and efficiency were guaranteed.)

I leaped lightly down from the tree branch. When I landed, I could see my four companions regulating their breathing and staring at each other in disbelief.

Yuuki sat weakly on the ground, her white fur covered in soot. Her Mana bar had truly hit zero (0/600), yet her fox smile bloomed extremely wide. "W-we… defeated a Level 40 Field Boss… in less than five minutes?"

Yuna dropped her dragon shield, wiping sweat from her scaled forehead. "That's because Teacher Syl destroyed the boss's main defense mechanic." Yuna looked at me with a gaze full of wonder mixed with horror. "Teacher… what kind of poison did you inject just now? That spider literally melted from the inside. Her shell turned into mush."

I walked casually past them toward the crater where the boss had died to collect the loot.

"That's Empress's Malice," I answered lightly, picking up several gold coins and materials. "A pure extract from the Miasma Snake Queen's gland mixed with Troll sinew and forcibly injected using a modified needle arrow. Its special effect permanently destroys armor stability. I suppose a monster's carapace also counts as armor in the system."

Lumina swallowed hard, reflexively stepping back one pace from me. "Teacher… you really must never become our enemy. Any Tanker player hit by that arrow of yours will cry blood because their armor will be completely annihilated."

"Relax, Lumina," I chuckled, tossing a robe item toward the young priest. "I'm a peaceful monster hunter and craft artisan. I only kill if attacked first."

Lumina caught the item and her eyes sparkled. It was a [Priest's Silk Robe (Rare)], perfectly suited for her class.

In the middle of the boss's ash pile, my eyes caught two objects radiating an Epic glow. That was the main reason I had come to this filthy, humid place.

[Arachne's Queen Silk] x2 - Rarity: Epic.

A roll of pure silk woven with absolute venom. Its fibers are stronger than steel wire yet light as cotton. Immune to mid-tier fire magic.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

[Broodmother's Spinneret] - Rarity: Epic.

The Queen's spinning gland. A rare material that can be used by a Tailor or Blacksmith to create equipment coated in invisible webs.

"Perfect," I whispered in satisfaction, storing the shimmering white silk rolls and the spinning gland into my inventory. My new leather armor would become a masterpiece of defense that was both light and lethal.

I turned to look at my small party. Yuuki was still lying down recovering her stamina, Flora was sprinkling light healing light on Yuna, and Lumina was busy admiring her new robe. This '5 Beautiful Girls' formation had proven their insane asymmetric combat potential.

"Great work, everyone. We hit the material jackpot tonight," I said with a sincere smile, the cold aura of the sniper completely fading. "Let's Return Scroll back to the city. Time to rest and visit Kitsuna to order a new combat armor set."