Chapter 7: The Price of Survival
The massive leg of the Venomfang Broodmother shot downward like a black spear.
Marcus froze.
His sword was still raised, but his trembling hands had long since lost the strength to defend himself. The monster’s crimson eyes reflected in his widened pupils as death closed the final distance.
Then—
BOOM!
A violent burst of kinetic force exploded from the side.
The Broodmother’s front leg jerked away from Marcus’s chest, knocked several feet off course. The impact echoed across the cavern like rolling thunder.
The giant spider hissed, all eight crimson eyes snapping toward the source of the attack.
Standing near the entrance of the cavern was a lone figure.
A worn dark coat.
A strange mechanical frame mounted across his back.
A long spear resting calmly in his hands.
Kael.
Marcus stared in disbelief.
"...You?"
Kael didn’t answer.
His eyes remained fixed on the Broodmother while his mind calculated every detail.
Tier-2 Boss.
Its shell was far thicker than the Skeleton Sentinels’. Its legs were covered with dense chitin reinforced by hardened mana. Destroying it head-on would waste too much energy.
But every creature had weaknesses.
The Broodmother slowly turned its enormous body toward him.
A shrill screech echoed through the cavern.
The surrounding tunnels trembled as dozens of smaller Venom Spiders crawled out from cracks in the walls.
The boss wasn’t alone.
"So that’s your strategy..." Kael muttered.
Summon the swarm first.
Wear the prey down.
Finish them personally.
The Portable Scrap Processor on his back hummed softly.
[Nearby Materials Detected.]
Rusted Iron...
Broken Weapons...
Damaged Skeleton Armor...
Kael smiled faintly.
Perfect.
Without hesitation, he activated his skill.
"Dismantle."
A gray wave swept across the battlefield.
Broken swords abandoned by previous adventurers dissolved into streams of metallic light.
Cracked shields followed.
Even shattered skeleton armor scattered around the cavern broke apart into refined fragments.
Marcus watched in stunned silence.
"What... is he doing?"
Blue notifications appeared before Kael.
[Purified Iron Obtained x12]
[Corroded Steel Shards x21]
[Mana Conductor Fragment x8]
The materials floated around him like tiny stars.
The Broodmother shrieked and charged.
Its massive body smashed through layers of webbing, shaking the entire cavern.
Kael remained perfectly still.
"Rapid Assemble."
The floating fragments rushed together.
Metal twisted.
Compressed.
Locked into place.
Within seconds, three heavy steel stakes formed in front of him.
Each one was covered in sharp barbs.
[Item Created: Reinforced Anchor Spike (Common+)]
Kael kicked the first spike into the ground.
Then the second.
Then the third.
A triangular formation.
The Broodmother closed the distance.
Twenty meters.
Fifteen.
Ten.
"Now."
Kael drove his spear into the center stake.
The kinetic chamber discharged instantly.
BOOM!
The shockwave raced through the three anchors.
Invisible force lines stretched between them.
The charging spider couldn’t stop.
Its front legs slammed directly into the reinforced trap.
CRACK!
One enormous leg twisted at an unnatural angle.
The monster screamed.
Its charge collapsed into chaos as its own momentum threw it sideways.
Marcus could only stare.
"He... trapped a Boss?"
Not with magic.
Not with brute force.
With engineering.
Kael had used the battlefield itself.
The Broodmother struggled violently.
Its broken leg leaked dark green blood onto the stone floor.
But Kael didn’t celebrate.
"It’s adapting."
The remaining spiders rushed toward him.
More than twenty.
Small, but fast.
Kael switched his grip on the spear.
The Sentinel-Breaker Vambraces glowed.
The first spider leaped.
He punched forward.
The stored kinetic energy exploded from his right arm.
BANG!
Three spiders were blown backward.
Before they landed, Kael spun his spear in a wide arc, smashing another two against the cavern wall.
System notifications appeared one after another.
[Target Defeated.]
[Experience +15]
[Target Defeated.]
[Experience +15]
He never stopped moving.
Every fallen spider became another source of materials.
"Dismantle."
Fragments of chitin and monster cores disappeared into the Processor.
Mana consumption remained low.
Resources kept increasing.
Kael wasn’t simply fighting.
He was harvesting.
Meanwhile, Marcus finally regained his senses.
He looked around.
His two shield-bearers were barely conscious.
The Elementalist had no mana left.
Without Kael...
They would already be dead.
His pride burned.
The person he had mocked for days was now standing between him and certain death.
Marcus clenched his sword.
For a brief moment, he wanted to help.
But the Broodmother suddenly broke free.
The broken leg didn’t stop it anymore.
It roared in fury.
Its eight crimson eyes locked onto Kael alone.
A Boss monster remembered the one who hurt it most.
The cavern shook again.
High above, pieces of stone began falling from the ceiling.
Kael looked upward.
His expression changed for the first time.
"...Not good."
The repeated shockwaves had weakened the ancient cavern.
If the ceiling collapsed...
Everyone inside would be buried alive.
The Broodmother screamed once more.
Then it lunged.
Faster than before.
Kael lowered his stance and tightened his grip around the Hybrid Kinetic Cannon-Spear.
His mana dropped rapidly as energy gathered inside the weapon.
Blue light spread across the spearhead.
The Portable Scrap Processor roared behind him.
Every remaining unit of stored kinetic energy flowed into a single attack.
One strike.
Everything would depend on one strike.
The distance between Kael and the charging Boss vanished in an instant.
[Mana: 118 → 64]
[Shockwave Thrust... Charging.]
...80%
...100%
Kael exhaled slowly.
"...Let’s end this."
To Be Continued...
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