Awakening: Mage of Oblivion with SSS-Level Infinite Evolution Talent Chapter 89: Spider Silk Nest, Spider Queen

The lives loss rate of the [Spider Silk Nest] was high, especially for such a zone.

Five hundred lives drained if you died.

For any normal player, that alone was enough to turn them away.

But Stark? He didn’t even flinch.

He had already gone through the [Church Sanctuary], a zone where the lives loss rate was double this.

Compared to that nightmare, this was nothing more than a warm-up.

He stood in the first chamber of the cave, the zone’s entry point.

The space was small, circular, and covered in thick, gleaming strands of silk.

They stuck to the walls like veins, hanging loosely from the ceiling, spreading across the ground in tangled webs.

The air itself slled faintly of mold and sothing rotten.

No spiders appeared yet, but he could hear faint rattling in the distance, like claws tapping against stone.

He gripped his staff tighter.

He was ready to unleash an attack the second sothing ca crawling out of the dark.

Unbreakable Magic Barrier!

He also cast his barrier on himself.

The translucent do appeared around him, humming with power.

Stark wasn’t about to get caught off guard in a place like this.

Even if he was ambushed, the barrier would buy him ti.

This zone wasn’t supposed to be massive. Mid-sized at most.

But even then, mid-sized didn’t an safe.

He exhaled slowly, then walked forward.

Out of the initial chamber and into the unknown.

The next room stretched out before him: massive, sprawling, and webbed with tunnels on every side.

The ceilings were high, the floor covered in silk like carpet.

"Oh, shit..." Stark muttered under his breath. "This might be bigger than I thought."

This was a pretty big nest.

And since it was the spiders’ nest, that ant one thing, he was standing in the very heart of where they lived.

Summoning the ghost wolf here would only cause problems.

Tight spaces, silk everywhere, the beast would just thrash and get stuck.

Worse, it would panic.

Stark didn’t need that. So he went alone.

He picked one of the tunnels leading deeper into the nest.

But the mont he stepped inside, he heard a hiss.

Eight legs scraped against stone. Shadows shifted ahead.

And het t face to face with several spiders.

There was the usual [Ground Spiders], but also two other types.

---

[Miner Spider (Level 27)]

[Rank: Elite]

[HP: 360,000]

---

[Small Spider (Level 26)]

[Rank: Uncommon]

[HP: 100,000]

---

The [Miner Spider] stood out imdiately.

Pickaxes were fused to its legs, the jagged iron heads glinting in the light.

The smaller spiders, though weaker, crawled in groups, skittering fast along the silk.

The [Ground Spiders] hissed the loudest, leading the charge.

The whole swarm rushed him.

Blazing teor!

The tunnel lit up.

-384,480! -384,480! -384,480!

The explosion was deafening.

Flas ripped through the passage, burning silk, stone, and flesh alike.

When the smoke cleared, nothing was left but ash and twitching, charred legs.

Every single spider was dead.

Do note that when outside, [Blazing teor] would result in a teor ca crashing down from the sky.

But inside zones like this?

The teor simply blasted out of Stark’s staff like a projectile, smashing into enemies with devastating force.

Ding!

---

[You have killed x4 "Ground Spider (Level 26)"]

[You have killed x2 "Miner Spider (Level 27)"]

[You have killed x12 "Small Spider (Level 25)"]

[You have gained 30,000 Experience Points.]

[You have gained 124 Lives!]

---

Hand of Avarice!

The spectral hand clawed at the spiders’ corpses, and indeed, the loot he got was higher!

[You have gained 158 Lives!]

One of the items even upgraded automatically.

[Miner Spider Pickaxe (Epic): Can be used to mine or attack, though extrely weak.]

Not much of a weapon. More like a tool.

But Stark stored it away anyway.

You never knew what might co in handy later.

"Not bad."

He continued forward, deeper into the nest.

Every fight gave him what he wanted: lives and experience.

People often underestimated them, but Stark would need as many as he could get.

After all, extracting your abilities to the real world was indeed useful, but only during so of the [Global Events].

In most other cases, you would spend your ti inside of [Eternal Soul].

And the reason why Stark wanted lives so much even after the [First Calamity] was over was because they would be needed in the future.

For example, in the very next town, and further in [Eternal Soul], having lives would be crucial.

He wasn’t going to be caught unprepared.

The tunnels twisted and stretched endlessly.

He fought group after group of spiders.

[Ground Spiders], [Small Spiders], [Miner Spiders].

All fell before him.

His spells burned through their lines like paper.

Their corpses piled, their loot filled his inventory, their lives flowed into his status window.

An hour passed.

And then... silence.

’They’re either hiding... or there aren’t any left.’

Stark doubted the latter.

Monsters weren’t completely mindless. He knew that extrely well.

Even they, in front of an overwhelming opponent, would hide or try to run away.

The [Inferno Fox] back in the [Novice Continent] had tried to flee when it realized it couldn’t win.

And even the [Calamity Goblins] in the [First Calamity] turned and ran when Stark showed up.

In here, spiders had so instinct for survival too.

They’d retreat if slaughtered too easily.

This world wasn’t a "ga", after all, was it?

Ding!

[You have gained 2,178 Lives!]

Even with [Hand of Avarice], sotis you just didn’t get Evolution Points.

It didn’t matter. The lives alone were worth it.

Then ca the real reward.

[Congratulations! You have leveled up to Level 26!]

[You have gained 5 to all attributes, and 5 free points.]

"All in Spirit."

He distributed the points imdiately.

His body humd with new power, spirit energy rushing through his veins.

[Level: 26 (127,000/220,000)]

Already halfway to his next level.

At this rate, he’d reach Level 30 faster than he thought.

A few more zones, a few more risks, and he’d be ready for the [Demonic Ruins].

But first—

The tunnels eventually converged into one.

A massive corridor stretched forward, silk covering the ground like a carpet.

At the far end, a cavern opened up.

"The boss room," Stark muttered.

He walked without hesitation.

The chamber he entered dwarfed all the others.

Silk coated every wall, dangling from above in thick strands.

The floor was littered with cocoons, dozens of them, so the size of a man.

They pulsed faintly, like sothing inside still moved.

The mont Stark stepped inside—

Fwip!

A barrier appeared behind him, sealing the tunnel.

There was no turning back now.

Then—

HISSSSS!

The hiss was loud enough to shake the chamber.

From the shadows above, sothing massive stirred.

Boom!

The ground shook as the spider dropped from the ceiling.

---

[Spider Queen (Level 28)]

[Rank: Legendary (Boss)

[HP: 1,000,000]

---

One million HP. The sa as Andregil.

Three levels higher than the [Lord of Calamity].

It wasn’t stronger than the Lord, not exactly.

But it was close. Close enough to be a threat.

The spider queen lood over him, her body armored in the thickest exoskeleton Stark had seen.

Eight black eyes glowed in the dark, staring down at him with cruel hunger.

A tiny crown of bone and silk rested atop her head, marking her as the ruler of this nest.

"More food..." she hissed, voice echoing in the chamber. "Good..."

Her legs tapped against the floor in a steady rhythm.

"Co forth... my children."

The cocoons around Stark trembled.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

’More experience.’ Stark’s lips curled into a grin as he raised his staff.

But his eyes never left the Spider Queen.

He pointed his staff at her, aura flaring.

"Gotta get rid of you."