Ranker's Return

Nothing had changed except that Hyeonu decided to kill the giant spider he believed to be the boss monster of the Mine Spider’s Lair. It was the jeweled spider he saw previously. Despite its large size, the giant spider was good at hiding, and it took Hyeonu five hours to find it again. The giant spider was crouched in a large space.

‘A dead end?’

The exit was the entrance where Hyeonu was standing. This meant that if the giant spider blocked the entrance, he would have to fight without escaping. Once fallen, it couldn’t be canceled. Hyeonu started to judge reality coldly.

‘I don’t have much information on it.’

The patterns of boss monsters varied, but they were powerful. Even if a lot of information had been released or there was a proper strategy to combat them, there was still a high chance of dying. A new unknown boss monster was even more difficult. A large guild could appear and be annihilated several times. One annihilation to find one pattern—it was a suffocating equivalent exchange.

‘I have only one chance.’

However, Hyeonu had one chance. Normally, the boss monster’s location was set, and it could be re-challenged even if they were wiped out. It was just that to enter the Mine Spider’s Lair, he needed the map Herard gave to him.

“There is no guarantee I can come back.”

Therefore, he had to think more carefully. Hyeonu didn’t think about it for too long.

‘My skills don’t have a long cooldown, and my items won’t get better. It’s just this one time—one time only.’

He just had to fight it. Hyeonu came to this conclusion.

***

Instead, his preparations were thorough. There was no increase in skill proficiency, so he couldn’t miss anything.

“Fire Breath, Cursed Spear.”

The former was a skill embedded in the bracelet obtained from the desert dragon, and the latter was a skill embedded in the bracelet dropped by Lich Cardum. Both were powerful skills. In particular, Cursed Spear was a skill that was used specifically to fight boss monsters.

[Cursed Spear] 

[-Create a spear filled with black magic energy. The health of the target hit will be reduced by 1% per second. 

Duration: 20 seconds.]

“There are five Blinks left.”

It was because Hyeonu had used Blink twice a few hours ago. He had five uses remaining.

“I can use both of the giant skills.”

The preparations were over. All that was left was to hunt the ugly spider.

***

“Tang-E, just use Lightning. If more than two legs get cut off, hit it from behind. Got it?”

“Understood, Master dude.”

Hyeonu explained everything to Tang-E from one to ten. It was like this and that. He talked about all the situations that could arise. Tang-E listened at first but soon picked at his ears once the explanation grew longer.

“Then let’s get started. Buff me.”

“Believe in me, Master dude.” Tang-E pounded his chest and buffed Hyeonu.

[You have received Bear’s Momentum.]

[Physique has increased.]

[Strength has increased.]

[You have received the Forest’s Blessing.]

[Physique has increased.]

[Health will continue to recover.]

Various notifications appeared along with Tang-E’s buffs. It was the prelude to the doping.

[Master of Combat is activated.]

[Your stats have increased.]

[The stat ‘fighting energy’ has caused your stats to rise.]

[The other party is stronger than you.]

[Your stats have increased.]

[Mindset of a Murderer has activated.]

[All stats have increased by 15%.]

[Solo Raider is activated.]

[All stats have increased by 10%.]

Hyeonu finally used his giant skills.

[Giant’s Power has been used.]

[Your strength stat has increased.]

[Giant’s Nature has been used.]

[Your strength stat has increased.]

This power could be maintained for five minutes. He had to do as much damage as possible during that time.

“Let’s go!” Hyeonu flew toward the giant spider.

***

The five elements spider, Crasul, was angry. Poison rose in him.

This mine was his and his children’s home. There had been no intruders. Then a few days ago, one of his children died. An intruder had appeared.

‘Poor things...’ It was painful to see the signs of his children’s deaths when they had only just become adults.

‘Intruder... I will kill him if I see him!!’ Crasul was feeling furious at the intruder when he detected a strange magic power.

‘A being with mighty magic power has come.’

At this moment, a black spear pierced Crasul’s torso.

‘What is this...?!’

Pain dominated Crasul’s senses. It wasn’t pain that came from the piercing wound. This was a more intrinsic pain that came from the source of the damage.

‘Vitality is being absorbed.’

The black spear was absorbing Crasul’s vitality. Meanwhile, Crasul diligently moved his ten pairs of eyes. He was looking for the owner of the spear.

‘You!’

Then Crasul’s eyes captured a small human being—the one who inflicted this pain on him. The master of the spear was a small human. Crasul screeched at the human,‘Reflect on the pain and sorrow I feel!!’

***

‘Shit. Fear!’

In the beginning, Hyeonu comfortably inserted the Cursed Spear into the middle of the giant spider’s torso.

‘Surely there will be at least one abnormal status?’

It was a useless wish. Rather than receiving an abnormal status, the giant spider was angered and used Fear. A huge leg descended toward Hyeonu.

[The influence of fighting energy allows you to ignore the Fear of Five Elements Spider Crasul.]

Hyeonu immediately used Blink to dodge the spider’s attacks.

“Phew.” He was lucky. The fighting energy stat saved Hyeonu. If it wasn’t for the fighting energy stat, Hyeonu would’ve died without doing anything, pierced by the large leg of the spider. Hyeonu used Crescent Moon Cut to create a giant crescent-shaped sword energy.

After obtaining the wind attribute, Hyeonu’s attacks became sharp. Due to his high defense penetration, he was unstoppable when it came to slashing monsters. Then the wind attribute upgraded the sharpness of his single-edged sword even further.

The five elements spider raised his legs in a natural manner to block Hyeonu’s sword energy. It was just that Crasul’s obvious trajectory betrayed him. Blood was scattered into the air. In the end, one of Crasul’s eight legs was cut off.

Crasul was furious. This was the first time he had been injured since settling here in the mine. Crasul had only been hurt when he wandered the forest in the past. A huge flow of magic power appeared inside the space. The magic power was red.

‘This...?’ Hyeonu knew this magic power very well. It was part of the ruby spiders’ special pattern. This was magic of the fire attribute. The red magic power became a fire storm that filled the air and quickly moved toward Hyeonu. Frightened by the fire storm, Hyeonu ran away. He was so desperate that he even used Bash.

Hyeonu fled the flames while beckoning to Tang-E in the corner, “Use magic!”

Lightning immediately appeared in the tight space.

***

50 minutes had passed since the battle between Hyeonu and the giant spider began. There were three things Hyeonu discovered during the battle.

One was the giant spider’s name—Five Elements Spider Crasul. Based on the name, Crasul had all the attributes of the gem spiders—sapphire, ruby, emerald, diamond, and amethyst.

‘The good news is that he doesn’t have the wind or lightning attribute.’

There was good luck in misfortune. It was that Crasul had no wind or lightning attributes. If they had been present, it would’ve been impossible for Hyeonu to have held on until now.

The second fact Hyeonu discovered was that Crasul’s intelligence was very high. No, he was clever. His use of magic power wasn’t based on his intelligence. It was enough to make Hyeonu believe Crasul was a dragon in a spider’s body. Crasul’s conversion of attributes and use of magic power were efficient.

Then there was the last thing. Crasul had less than 50% of his health left. In 10 minutes, the Cursed Spear’s cooldown would be over, and that would be the end of this ugly guy.

***

The five elements spider was different from the desert dragon. Unlike with the desert dragon where the raid had been half-successful once Hyeonu climbed onto its back, Hyeonu couldn’t climb onto the spider. He could only deal with the eight legs in an orderly manner.

Tang-E occasionally used Lightning to disperse the nerves of the five elements spider, but that was it. It was just a brief aggro. Still, in order to drag time out by 10 minutes, Tang-E came out.

By now, Hyeonu had reached his limit.

‘Fire Breath should be used as bait.’

Fire Breath wasn’t useful. Given the enemy’s intelligence, he had the potential to convert his attribute to fire and absorb the flames of Fire Breath. No, it was certain. This guy was very clever.

The space shook due to the movements of the five elements spider. The four-meter-tall Tang-E looked short next to the spider. He was smaller than one of the five elements spider’s legs.

However, Tang-E absorbed Hyeonu’s advice like a sponge and fought very well against the five elements spider. At this moment, the five elements spider’s attention was caught by Tang-E, and Hyeonu completely cut off one of Crasul’s legs. Then Tang-E’s lightning also reappeared.

Crasul was prevented from attacking again. However, the spider wasn’t just passively being beaten. He released ice attribute magic, that was reminiscent of a breath, toward Hyeonu.

‘Now!’

Hyeonu didn’t escape from the Cold Breath skill. Instead, he shot his Fire Breath. Crasul’s Cold Breath and Hyeonu’s Fire Breath collided. A storm of magic struck the space. Yet Hyeonu and Tang-E didn’t stop even at this moment. They were moving diligently toward Crasul’s torso.

Tang-E used one of Crasul’s huge legs as a stepping stone to try and reach Crasul’s torso. On the other side, Hyeonu threw himself toward Crasul’s leg.

At this time, Crasul noticed that Hyeonu and Tang-E were on his legs and moved his body. However, it was too late. Tang-E used his lightning to interrupt Crasul’s movements while Hyeonu once again inserted the Cursed Spear into Crasul’s torso. Unlike the first time, Crasul’s body started to dry up noticeably.

‘His health is at the bottom.’

“Tang-E! This is the last one! Pour out all your magic power!!!” Hyeonu shouted. Then Hyeonu poured all his magic power into his single-edged sword. He was preparing for the final blow.

Flash!

The space momentarily flashed white. Tang-E’s magic power stat, which was over 1,000 points, accumulated into a single bolt of lighting. This was followed by Hyeonu’s sword energy flying toward Crasul’s head. Consequently, Crasul’s head was cut off.

Hyeonu and Tang-E had won.

“Phew, I killed him.”

The painting on Hyeonu’s jar of honey was a giant spider.