—-

‘Whoosh!’ ​​

Apollo sprinted away from the enclosing spider beast. However, he didn’t head toward the entrance. Instead, he changed directions towards the side and moved with one intention—destruction.

Swiping his hand against the floor, he picked up a severed spider leg and threw it. Unfortunately, his aim was off missing his target but that didn’t stop him. There was a large number of such limbs covering the floor. Hence, he entered a playing field greatly suiting his desires.

‘This beast…it’s so much faster than the others. Unlike them, it’s able to keep up with me. No…it’s slightly faster than me but…’ thought Apollo as he glanced behind him at the rampaging spider. The information he learned about it didn’t unsettle him. In fact, he felt if he could complete his plan’s he’d be able to combat it.

Monster Name: Dark Iron Widow Queen

Type: Variant

Cultivation: Peak Stage Rank 2 Spirit Beast

Health: 3,490/3,490.

Chance of Defeat: 0.19%

Its health was amongst the highest he’d ever seen. But surprisingly, the system calculated his change being higher than he expected. In light of this, he came under the assumption that he would be able to weather this situation.

Grabbing another limb, he repeated his actions. This time he hit his mark.

‘Splich!’

The spider leg punctured one of the eggs; this was his plan all along. To deal with the eggs before attempting to finish off everything here. However, he was surprised by the notification that appeared in his eyes. It was beyond his expectations. After all, these were unhatched beasts.

«You have killed a Rank 1 Spirit Beast.»

«50 (25 + 25) Experience has been gained.»

«Experience: 19,250/19,900»

‘Rank 1 Spirit Beasts? Why aren’t they counted as Mortal Beasts?’

[It’s quite simple. The lineage of the beasts follows the principle of bloodline inheritance. In other words, their power is inherited through their beast genes. The offspring of certain ranks are guaranteed to reach the rank of their predecessor. Furthermore, upon creation, especially those birthed in eggs and are the offspring of at least Rank 3 Spirit Beasts they have advantages.]

[They are born as Rank 1 Spirit Beasts capable of absorbing Natural Essence. Of course, beasts with actual bloodlines are capable of doing this at a far greater level. Their growth rate and their combat ability are not to be underestimated. In fact, they are incomparable. You’ll come to understand when you venture through this world and meet them.]

‘Hm…I see. If it’s like this then rather than killing these mature beasts. I’ll mutilate the large number of eggs!’ thought Apollo as a malicious gleam passed through his eyes. Picking up two more extremities, he threw them. All the while, he remained moving; shifting his position away from the Widow Queen. If he entered its grasps, it wouldn’t be a pretty sight.

1…2…3… the number of destroyed eggs continuously increased. However, this only served to further incense the queen. Its path to advancement was being cut off! Its offsprings birthed for one purpose were being destroyed.

‘Screeech!’

Dashing to the side, Apollo narrowly avoided a destructive stab of the beast. Not much needed to be said about the force behind its blows as its leg impaled into the ground causing large rocks to fly.

‘I can’t get hit by that…’ thought Apollo as he jumped and landed on a regular spider beast. Jumping between them, he weaved and spun in the air throwing the spider legs accurately something piercing multiple legs with one throw. His experience bar began to visibly climb.

A short moment later, he smirked as the notification appeared before him. Instantly, he began adding all his attribute points where they belonged. In the blink of an eye, all 88 of his Stat Points disappeared.

«Congratulations, you have reached Level 70. You have been rewarded .2 Attributes and 3 Stat Points. Experience: 0/21,900.»

«Strength: 40.7 → 44.1»

«Agility: 35.1 → 37.5»

«Vitality: 27.0 → 30.0»

The small burst of stats allowed him to increase the previously minuscule distance between him and the Widow Queen. A scene that caused the beast to spit poison madly. At this point, it had relinquished all qualms with dealing damage to its eggs. After all, Apollo was destroying them anyway.

‘It seems to have thrown caution to the wind… if I do this properly. I’ll be able to kill two birds with one stone,’ inwardly thought Apollo as his eyes shifted back and forth. Clenching his hands, he evaluated his new strength and dashed towards the nearest foe.

Clenching their leg, he dragged a spider along with him and waved it in the path of the Widow Queen’s poison. Using this makeshift shield, he raised his arm and launched the beast into a large gathering of eggs. Instantly, a continuous stream of notifications appeared before Apollo.

‘So it does work! If I cause the action that leads to their demise, even if it isn’t me damaging the eggs; I’ll receive the experience,’ thought Apollo as his experience filled by ¼. The number of eggs in this breeding ground was simply astronomical!

Unfortunately, the Widow Queen’s eyes glowed with an ominous light as it looked at Apollo. The Natural Essence seethed and flowed towards it carrying a poisonous aura. Noticing this, Apollo acted even faster. Being as it was a Rank 2 Spirit Beast and the fact whatever it was doing was a large move, the speed was rather slow.

‘Bang!’

Apollo’s experience continuously filled, however, his attention never left the Widow Queen. He realized it was going through a small change. First of all, it was shrinking as it was expelling a toxic screen. Besides that, its abdomen was opening presenting 6 jet black spinnerets.

Rooting itself on the ground by stabbing its legs inside, the Window Queen launched 6 threads. However, they seemed different from the rest. They were entirely green in color without any hints of white! Frowning, Apollo tried to dodge with ghost-like movements due to his sufficient agility.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Unlike the other webs, these ones seemed to follow his movements. In other words, the Widow Queen was actively manipulating their trajectories. It was now intent on seeing his doom. His prior actions were intolerable.

‘What the heck is this…’ thought Apollo as he twisted and turned his body in odd fashions. Yet even then, he didn’t forget to stomp and damage the eggs in the process. Then it happened, an abrupt change!

The threads weaved together forming a net covering all of Apollo’s paths. But as they did so, they vibrated and ejected poison everywhere. Some of which landed upon Apollo; specifically his right eye.

“A-agchhh…” gripping his eye, Apollo retreated. His vision blackened as the lid closed in an attempt to mitigate as much damage to it as possible. However, he was already crippled in this battle. Losing part of one’s eyesight was synonymous with losing part of your view on this battlefield at his current cultivation.

The pain drove him mad as he screamed in pain.

[Lad, calm down. Any further deviation from your initial plan will become potentially catastrophic!]

Sadly, his words fell on deaf ears as Apollo’s body twitched. At the same time, a faint purple, gaseous aura escaped from his body as his eyes illuminated with a treacherous light. Glancing up, he gazed into the infuriated eyes of the Widow Queen.

“Kill…”

[!! This aura…]