“Stone Skin!”
A dim yellow light clad Roan’s body, forming a layer of impenetrable armor above his skin.
“That should be a spell that raises defense,” Dragonthousand stared intently at the Demon King, the soulfire in her eyes flickering intensely.
Her intuition as a warrior told her that the additional defense provided from that spell would allow her to withstand even the simultaneous assault of five crypt spiders!
But that wasn’t all!
Roan’s chant continued as he waved his wand.
A green light gathered at his wand tip. It morphed into a pair of transparent wings that crashed down on his shoulders before dissipating.
“Fleetfoot!”
Roan felt his body beco as light as a swallow, as if he was standing on a gryphon’s shoulder.
“That must be an agility buff!” Twilight exclaid.
‘But why on earth does a mage require an agility buff?’
The other players were confused by the Demon King’s actions as well, but they didn’t think too much into it. Rather, they were too srized by the endless stream of light that surfaced one after another to consider the rationale behind each of them.
“Magic Amplification!”
“Reinforced Bones!”
“Cold Splash!”
“Living Armor!”
“Thorned Protection!”
“Wind Barrier!”
“Earth Shadow!”
“Netherworld Armor!”
“…”
Roan chanted twelve spells in a breath, layering all the buffs he had on himself.
He would even pick a fight with Egor in his current buffed-up state despite his lower level.
‘Why Egor? Of course it’s because he’s the only one who won’t retaliate.’
These spells were elentary, but the players from Earth didn’t know that and were awed.
Dragonhundred gulped as he uttered his first words since entering the labyrinth, “Good lord… Isn’t our Demon King too cautious?”
In contrast to his rowdy image, Dragonmyriad stroked his lower jaw as he carefully studied the Demon King’s ‘magic warfare’ with a look of interest.
“Fascinating… Is this how the ga’s powerhouses fight? Strategic in their maneuvers, they would rather stay put unless they can take down their enemies in a single swoop! Incredible!” Ṙ
Dragonthousand also stroked her lower jaw and murmured contemplatively, “I see… So this is the developer showing us a demonstration?”
Twilight: “Oh? I didn’t expect there to be this layer of aning to it.”
‘As expected of a large guild. I feel like an impostor compared to these people.’
One by one, they turned to look at Autumnleaf.
“Why are you staring at ? I don’t know any spells…” Autumnleaf was bewildered.
Draognmyriad laughed. “We know that. We’re just curious what your thoughts are.”
“What thoughts could I have? I’m not even on the sa tier as him… We have to wait and see. I’m also curious to know how the top powerhouses of this world fight,” Autumnleaf replied with a helpless sigh.
‘Now that the buffs have been layered, we should begin farming now, right?’
As Autumnleaf was wondering that, the Demon King took out a blue potion out of nowhere and gulped it down.
There was nothing to nitpick about this. It made sense for the Demon King to replenish his depleted mana.
But to Autumnleaf’s bewildernt, he heard familiar chants once more.
‘Again?!’
It was the sa light show as earlier, but this ti, the buffs were placed at the greatsword-wielding zombie. That zombie was so inconspicuous that the players failed to notice him even though he had been standing there for so ti now.
Even Twilight, who usually maintained his composure regardless of the situation, had to retort, “Goddamnit! Is he not done yet?!”
He was imdiately t with the Demon King’s stern glare.
He anxiously zipped his mouth shut, but the great Demon King had already set his eyes on him.
The Demon King reached into his robe, took out a test tube plugged with a wooden cork, and handed it to Twilight, saying, “Drink it.”
‘Drink it?!? Bro, I am a skeleton!’
Staring at the potion in his hand, Twilight pointed at himself in confusion.
The Demon King nodded.
In the end, Twilight uncorked the test tube and poured its contents into his mouth. A viscous, jelly-like paste flowed down his spine down onto his crotch. He didn’t have a digestive system, so he naturally spilled however much he drank.
Even though the potion had gone to waste, the Demon King nodded in satisfaction as if this was the effect he intended. “Good.”
With a wave of his hand, the Demon King placed a ‘Fleetfoot’ buff on Twilight.
“Go on, but don’t stray from my line of sight. Do your best to draw the crypt spiders’ attention. You may leave the rest to .”
The Demon King reached out and gently pushed Twilight forward.
Luring enemies was Twilight’s field of specialty, but he and Autumnleaf had already tested it earlier. The crypt spiders here had already eaten their fill, so bone sacks like them couldn’t hope to draw their attention.
Or at least that was what Twilight thought until he heard squeals coming from his left.
He quickly turned over to take a look. The crypt spider who had ignored him earlier was now staring fixedly at him with its red eyes as if it was on drugs.
‘What’s going on?!’
Before he could think deeper into it, the crypt spider suddenly sucked in its abdon. Having familiarized himself with the crypt spiders’ habits and movents through previous battles, he knew that the crypt spider was about to spew webs.
Thus, he reflexively ducked to dodge the incoming white secrent.
“How fast!” Dragonthousand exclaid in awe.
Twilight’s movents were so fluid that she nearly failed to follow them.
The others, including Twilight himself, were surprised as well.
“I feel so light!”
Twilight glanced at his status column, where the ‘Fleetfoot’ buff flickered. He looked back at the crypt spider and suddenly felt a surge of fighting will.
‘With such speed, I can kite the shit out of these spiders!’
As soon as this thought surfaced in his mind, several thousand more glowing red eyes appeared amidst the darkness. Those gazes were filled with desire… or maybe thirst would be more apt as a descriptor.
eting those eyes made Twilight feel as if his heart had stopped even though he had no heart.
Woosh!
A whizzing sound echoed past him.
A bone spear slamd into the crypt spider who spewed web at him earlier, pinning it firmly against the wall.
Twilight finally snapped out of his daze.
“Don’t stand there like a fool. Run!” the Demon King howled.
“FFFFFUUUUUUUUUCCCCC—”
The spider horde ca so quickly that Twilight didn’t even have ti to finish his expletive. Chills rattled his skeleton body as he imdiately took flight.
More whizzing sounds echoed past him.
So were the spiders’ webs. So were the Demon King’s bone spears.
Twilight initially fled frantically without a plan, circling the pillars in a fluster, but it didn’t take him long to figure out the trick to it.
‘Brother Autumnleaf is right. These spiders have terrible close-ranged vision! It’s safer to maintain five to ten steps away from them than further.’
The crypt spiders were not a harmonious bunch. They were so used to living alone that it was uncomfortable for them to crowd together, not to ntion they were competing for sa prey. This resulted in infighting among them.
Another thing that surprised Twilight was the Demon King’s attacks.
While the Demon King’s bone spears appeared to be shot at random, they were, in fact, calculated attacks to open up a path for him, ensuring there was space for him to escape to.
Putting these clues together, Twilight found the optimal solution to this quest—running into the spider horde, maintaining five to ten steps away from the nearest spider, and following the bone spears’ trail!
‘Yes, it’s feasible!’
“GAHHHH! I’ll kill all of you!”
Having reforged his confidence, Twilight let out a war cry and charged forward. The fighting will that was nearly extinguished burned with greater fervor than before!
His steps beca firr!
anwhile, more crypt spiders arrived in the hall as if an avalanche had washed them here.
Feeling utterly chilled, the other players solemnly murmured a prayer for Twilight.
Only soone who had encountered a spider several tis their size would understand just how terrifying such an encounter was. Now, imagine there were hundreds or even thousands of them lurking around…
Even the most resilient person would suffer a ntal breakdown!
The sharp-witted players swiftly realized they might have to take Twilight’s place if he succumbed here. All of a sudden, they dearly regretted having taken on this quest.
“That fellow… is an expert,” Dragonthousand remarked in awe.
“Indeed. His gaming sense, controls, and reflexes are top-notch. No hard work can compensate for that kind of talent.” Dragonmyriad nodded in agreent before sighing in regret. “What a pity he has a guild!”
Dragonhundred didn’t say a word. He was studying Twilight’s movents with glowing eyes, hoping to imprint the latter’s movents in his mind.
Similarly, Autumnleaf also stared intently at his party mber’s figure while contemplatively stroking his lower jaw. So ti later, he suddenly mumbled, “I see…”
His mumble didn’t escape Dragonmyriad’s notice.
Dragonmyriad imdiately turned over and asked with a smile, “Did you notice sothing?”
Autumnleaf nodded. “It’s pheromones.”
Dragonmyriad was baffled. “Ph-pheromones?”
“I’m talking about what Autumnleaf drank! To be exact… it’s probably a sex hormone,” Autumnleaf stared at the spider horde with eyes gleaming in excitent. “Those who have satiated their hunger act on lust… How could I have overlooked that?!”
Dragonmyriad: “…?”
Dragonthousand: “…”
Dragonhundred: “!”
anwhile, Roan, who had been stalling ti by creating an escape route for the player, thought that it was about ti. So, he tossed out his last bone spear before quickly transiting to an incantation.
Twilight stared at the final bone spear that had failed to strike a spider. He initially thought that the Demon King had missed his attack, but Autumnleaf’s anxious shout enlightened him.
“The Demon King is chanting another spell! Run to the bone spear!”
There was no ti to hesitate.
Twilight sprinted to the bone spear.
The mont he reached the bone spear, a deafening roar reminiscent of a terrible storm stole his sense of hearing. For an instant, he thought a helicopter was flying across his head.
“Stone Rain!”
Stone bullets fell like raindrops, indiscriminately striking every inch of space around Twilight. The webs were torn through, and dark red blood splattered. Even armor that players considered ‘impenetrable’ was shredded like flimsy paper paste.
Wherever the stone bullets struck, flopped-over spiders and crushed body parts could be seen.
Nothing survived the devastation of the Demon King’s spell!
Autumnleaf’s soulfire flickered in excitent as he clenched his fists.
To reduce hundreds of crypt spiders to dust with the snap of a finger—he desired such overwhelming power too!
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