Chapter 58: The Spider-Infused Sprite

The endless labyrinth, Fang Shi fell silent for a moment.

“As long as you don’t wander around, you can pass after waiting twenty-four hours.”

He informed Jiang Xian of the labyrinth’s rules, then left.

As for the fruit that caused Zhang Di to collapse, Fang Shi also examined it.

One can only say, truly, the favored of the Lady of Luck has incredible fortune.

The fruit is called Pure Yuan Fruit, increasing Strength and Constitution by two points each.

Unfortunately, it’s useless to Fang Shi—this fruit only works on players with base attributes below 12.

Jiang Xian stood frozen in place; even after Fang Shi explained the solution, her mind remained bewildered.

Having been a boy for over a decade, facing her first time as a girl, she had no idea what to do.

Long hair draped over her shoulders—she could not adapt to it at all.

She even entertained the thought of cutting it off.

“Ouch!”

Zhang Di, who had been unconscious for a long time, awoke to see a strange, cute girl standing before him.

He rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

“What are you staring at? I’m Jiang Xian.” Jiang Xian’s voice rang like silver bells.

This startled Zhang Di—he had merely slept, yet woke up to this.

“Jiang Xian, how long was I unconscious? Did you get surgery? Uh, the surgery went well.”

Zhang Di scratched his head—well beyond well, he could even smell a faint, delicate fragrance.

Like that of a girl.

“No!” Jiang Xian shouted, veins bulging on her forehead.

After a while, Zhang Di finally learned the full story from Jiang Xian.

“Jiang Xian, it doesn’t matter anymore. The apocalypse has come—survival is what counts.”

“Besides, your current strength is incredible—you’ve made a fortune.”

Zhang Di instinctively slapped his hand on Jiang Xian’s shoulder.

“Don’t touch me,” Jiang Xian cried out.

Zhang Di paused in surprise, noticing the strange expression on her face, and awkwardly withdrew his hand.

Jiang Xian didn’t know why—this gesture, once so ordinary, now made her feel uneasy.

The brother she once knew had become this—she didn’t know how to interact with him anymore.

The two chatted for a while, then fell silent.

They waited quietly, awaiting the end of the twenty-four hours.

……

Inside the corridor.

Fang Shi continued forward, after leaving Jiang Xian and Zhang Di.

He used Primordial Force and gained Primordial Resistance I.

“【Primordial Resistance I】: Your primordial resistance equals your Life Level +1.”

This time, the bodily change was not intense—it felt like water flowing over him.

Aside from a soothing sensation, he felt nothing else.

This perfectly matched the primordial force’s nature of nurturing all things.

Fang Shi soon reached the next crossroad.

This time, it was a Spider-Infused Sprite—a deformed monster, half-centaur, half-spider, half-drow.

Said to have been created by the Spider Demon Queen to punish traitors.

Through special toxins and spiritual herbs, the drow elf’s body was mutated to gain giant spider traits.

Especially evident in this male Spider-Infused Sprite.

His lower body resembled a wolf spider, with four hairy pairs of legs standing eighteen centimeters tall.

His upper body was lean, identical to a normal drow’s build.

His face resembled a spider, not a drow, with massive fangs on his lower jaw.

Aside from the drow’s signature obsidian skin, he bore no trace of an elf’s appearance.

In his hands he held a massive composite longbow, wore a heavy hammer, and his compound eyes constantly scanned distant enemies.

Moreover, the Spider-Infused Sprite possessed spellcasting ability.

He could cast up to third-tier spells, such as Lightning Bolt.

Unfortunately, as a Level 7 creature, his base attributes were low.

Even with rank bonuses, they were far from sufficient.

He possessed only 24 points of base Strength and 19 points of Agility.

To Fang Shi, this was easy to handle—far easier than the Gato Monster.

Normally, monsters with spellcasting ability were formidable foes.

But that assumed they had sufficient casting time.

The problem was, in the endless labyrinth, Spider-Infused Sprites were always alone.

Without companions, they had no safe environment to cast spells.

Their threat level plummeted instantly.

Added to that, Fang Shi had just gained Primordial Resistance I—he paid no heed to it.

The Spider-Infused Sprite, upon seeing Fang Shi, intended to unleash a trio: Darkness, Daze, and Weakness Ray.

Darkness was an environmental spell—this effect could not be negated by Primordial Resistance.

And the Spider-Infused Sprite naturally possessed darkvision, making him unaffected in darkness, as if swimming in water.

But Fang Shi’s Perception had reached 23 points—he could still sense the Spider-Infused Sprite’s location even in darkness.

With Double Force enhancement, he closed the distance instantly.

The Spider-Infused Sprite, experienced and quick, immediately halted casting and swung his heavy hammer straight at Fang Shi.

High against low, late but powerful—he was certain he couldn’t miss.

Yet he missed.

With the Epic-level Lightning Reflex, the Spider-Infused Sprite’s attack seemed slow to Fang Shi’s perception.

Even without darkvision, with his high Perception and lightning-fast reaction speed,

he easily deduced the direction of the Spider-Infused Sprite’s strike.

He even had time to consider several counter-strategies.

“Crack!”

Fang Shi severed the Spider-Infused Sprite’s arm, like a jointed limb.

The heavy hammer crashed to the ground with a thud.

The Spider-Infused Sprite screamed in pain, thrashing its legs to attack Fang Shi.

Fang Shi effortlessly dodged, then swiftly severed the creature’s first few legs.

The rest of the battle held no suspense.

A low-level spellcaster caught at close range, unable to fight in melee, was like a lamb awaiting slaughter—dead in moments.

“Target deceased.”

“Extracting target’s soul energy. You gain 672 experience points, 67.2 Survival Points.”

“Detection: Player has reached Level 5.”

“You gain partial information on the advanced class: Hidden Blade.”

“You gain partial information on the advanced class: Huashang Sword.”

“As the first player to kill a Level 7 creature,”

“you receive a Bronze Chest.”

Fang Shi’s heart stirred—Bronze Chests were still decent.

Last time he leveled to 5, he only got skill points—he’d nearly gone mad.

It hadn’t even improved him as much as the previous Iron Chest.

“Would you like to open the Bronze Chest?”

“Yes.”

“You obtain item: Agility Gloves +1.”

“Agility Gloves +1”

“Toughness: 4”

“Durability: 10”

“Quality: First Tier”

“Effect: When worn, your Agility increases by 1 point.”

“Weight: 100 grams”

“Evaluation: These gloves make your strikes swift as the wind.”

Good, good—a rare item that boosts attributes.

Attribute points are the foundation of everything, and higher is always better.

Still, it’s a bit regrettable that my Dexterity attribute is too high.

I can’t fully utilize it—if only I had equipment that boosts Intelligence.

As for the two free attribute points Fang Shi possesses, he’s unwilling to spend them on Intelligence.

His Intelligence is currently only 14 points, leaving plenty of room for improvement.

It’s said that a mage’s meditation technique can raise Intelligence.

Fang Shi plans to get his hands on one and try it out if the chance arises.

Next, he encountered a variety of miscellaneous monsters.

Such as low-level creatures like Ettin, Woolly Rhinoceros, Satyr, and Crawling Giant Hand.

Or higher-level ones like Cyclops Beast, Gularaz, and Cang Mo Ke.

If Fang Shi could defeat them, he killed them; if not, he ran—and then slept soundly.

Thus, twenty-four hours were nearly over.

Fang Shi now faced the final monster—the Soul-Draining Scavenger.

The creature resembled a swollen, egg-like body supported by three thick, short legs, larger than an ox by a full circle.

A vine-like eyestalk rose about seventy centimeters up its bloated body, bearing four eyes clustered together, spinning rapidly.

Its massive mouth gaped across the entire front half of its body, lined with multiple rows of serrated teeth.

Four thick tentacles extended from its sides, each tipped with sharp teeth, resembling four secondary mouths.

Its pale, twisted skin covered its bizarre body, seemingly infused with terrifying power.

Another disgusting aberrant creature.

It’s said this malformed monster was created by spellcasters of the Dacum Empire in the Aeb Lun world.

As a war beast, it carries a Soul-Draining aura, specifically designed to counter clerics and other healing-oriented classes.

Whenever anyone uses healing-related magical abilities within twenty meters of the Soul-Draining Scavenger,

the creature gains the corresponding healing effect, while the original target receives no healing whatsoever.

But Fang Shi has no healing abilities, so this formidable talent is useless to him.

Still, don’t assume the Soul-Draining Scavenger is easy to handle—it has a base Strength of 27 points.

Combined with its rank and size bonuses, it possesses nearly four tons of brute force.

Its four thick tentacles are a quadrupled version of the Gatu Beast’s.

Moreover, its body structure allows it to attack by leaping and springing.

Like a spider, it’s far more agile than the Gatu Beast.

It can even pounce on enemies and deliver a lethal grapple.

Add to that its four tentacle tips capable of biting and tearing, making it an utterly terrifying creature.

To be honest, Fang Shi’s first reaction upon seeing this monster was to retreat.

But he realized the remaining time wouldn’t let him reach the next intersection.

And the next monster might not meet his requirements anyway.

Fang Shi’s current highest recorded kill is a Level 7 monster.

Including over-level kills, his clearance evaluation is naturally extremely high.

But Fang Shi isn’t satisfied—he hopes to encounter a Level 8 monster he can actually defeat.

Unfortunately, there was no interference from Taimora.

Fang Shi’s luck has been average: either he encounters monsters too low-level, or too high-level.

The only two Level 8 monsters he’s encountered were a Supermassive Storm Elemental and a Shredstorm.

Due to their life forms, pure physical classes struggle to fight them.

One is a gale, the other a swarm—how can a physical class fight either?

The Soul-Draining Scavenger is at least manageable; as a flesh-and-blood lifeform, it can at least be bled to death.

Fang Shi had also considered escaping to clear the stage.

But it’s nearly impossible—the Soul-Draining Scavenger moves at thirty meters per second.

Even Fang Shi’s maximum sprint can’t outpace it, and its four tentacles don’t hinder its attacks while moving.

Pure flight is just suicide.

But for the clearance evaluation, Fang Shi must kill the Soul-Draining Scavenger at all costs.

THUD!

The moment Fang Shi stepped into the intersection, the Soul-Draining Scavenger lunged at him, its four tentacles flailing wildly in attack.

Each strike produced a sonic boom at its tip.

Especially the four tentacles—their wide attack range nearly sealed off Fang Shi’s escape routes.

Fang Shi didn’t dodge or retreat—he charged straight at the Soul-Draining Scavenger, then slid forward, his steel sword thrust upward.

Using the monster’s own lunge momentum, he slashed a massive gash across its abdomen.

“Cleave attack activated.”

“You dealt 3 damage to the target.”

…

“You dealt 4 damage to the target.”

…

This strike dealt a total of 23 damage. The Soul-Draining Scavenger, having lost a quarter of its health, instantly went berserk.

Its dorsal eyestalk spun, all four eyes locking onto Fang Shi on the ground.

Four furious tentacles lashed out from behind.

No—the Soul-Draining Scavenger has no front, back, left, or right.

Its central eyestalk rotates freely and independently.

Its three legs form a fixed triangle; the direction of its eyes defines its current front.

No matter where the enemy stands, the Soul-Draining Scavenger can attack instantly.

THUD!

Fang Shi slammed his left hand into the ground, using the recoil to spring upward instantly.

His steel sword slashed straight upward.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Fang Shi used the tentacles’ force to retreat backward.

He was no longer the man he once was—his Epic-level Lightning Reflexes effortlessly dodged attacks at twice the speed of sound.

Moreover, the Soul-Draining Scavenger’s skin naturally conceals magical power, granting it a +4 dodge bonus to its defense.

In simple terms, incoming attacks often glance off, reducing damage.

Fang Shi exploited this trait, using it to dissipate the force transmitted through the four tentacles.

And the tentacles themselves aren’t as hard as the Gatu Beast’s tail nodes.

Thus, even with three additional tentacles attacking, the recoil Fang Shi endured wasn’t nearly as devastating.

It’s like striking a cotton quilt and a steel plate with the same punch—the damage received is entirely different.

Then he charged forward again, engaging the Soul-Draining Scavenger’s tentacles in close combat.

Four supersonic tentacles, each crackling with sonic booms, made Fang Shi’s eardrums ache.

But force is reciprocal.

As long as Fang Shi firmly gripped his sword with his right hand,

the Soul-Draining Scavenger’s tentacles, upon impact, each suffered

torn skin, spurting blood, wounds deep enough to expose bone.

But the Soul-Draining Scavenger, being a war machine crafted by spellcasters,

didn’t care about its own injuries—instead, the more wounded it became, the more frenzied its attacks grew.

After inflicting sufficient damage, Fang Shi ceased his offensive.

Instead, he circled around it, waiting for the Soul-Draining Scavenger to bleed out and die naturally.

“Target deceased.”

“Soul energy extracted. You gained 936 experience points and 93.6 Survival Points.”

“Player detected at Level 5.”

“You obtained partial information on the advanced class: Spirit Blade.”

“You obtained partial information on the advanced class: Wandering Swordsman.”

“As the first player to kill a Level 8 creature,”

“You received a Bronze Chest.”

PS: Thank you to “Yu Sheng” for two monthly tickets, and to “BookFriend20211224141246176943052” for one monthly ticket.