11: Chapter 11 Spider Queen

Cecilia stood up, scraped the sticky spiderweb residue off the edge of her shield, and glanced at Richard.

Richard was pulling his halberd out of the spider's corpse and casually flicked the bodily fluids off it.

Their eyes met. Neither spoke, but they nodded, acknowledging each other's strength.

The end of the cavern was a naturally formed underground hall.

It wasn't particularly large—a size smaller than the Adventurers Guild hall in Blackwater City—but its height was astonishing, with at least a dozen meters from the floor to the vaulted ceiling.

The ceiling was covered in stalactites and spiderwebs so thick the rock was invisible; the entire hall was wrapped in a cocoon of gray-white silk.

Hanging on the four walls of the space were over a dozen spindle-shaped cocoons.

Some cocoons were still wriggling slightly; whatever was wrapped inside clearly wasn't dead yet.

Others were motionless, with dark brown liquid seeping from their surfaces, the outlines of beasts vaguely discernible.

Hanging upside down from the ceiling in the center of the hall was a behemoth.

It was at least three times the size of the previous giant spiders, and each of its eight legs was as thick as an adult's thigh.

Its surface was covered in a hard, purplish-black carapace, with barb-like bristles growing at the joints.

Its lower body was a disproportionately massive abdomen.

It hung from the ceiling like a giant purple-black egg, and at the tip of the abdomen was a continuously wriggling ovipositor.

A large number of translucent eggs were sliding out one by one from the ovipositor, sticking to the spiderwebs on the ceiling—enough to trigger anyone's trypophobia.

When the light from their torches shone into the hall, the creature slowly lowered itself from the ceiling.

Its eight legs spread out simultaneously, it flipped over in the air, and then hung in mid-air facing downward.

Its head was adorned with a structure that looked almost exactly like a human face.

But it wasn't a human face; the patterns on the carapace just happened to form the shape of facial features. There were no eyeballs in the two eye sockets, only two balls of eerie green phosphorescence burning hollowly.

When its mouth opened, it was filled with dense, hook-like small fangs, each one wriggling.

"Intruders..."

The voice from its mouth was hoarse and slow, like nails scraping against dry tree bark.

"Why have you trespassed into my home?"

Cecilia recognized it; this was a giant Spider Queen, possessing high intelligence and the ability to communicate linguistically.

"Watch its abdomen and leg joints; those are its weak points," Cecilia whispered.

"It can talk... it, it speaks the Common Tongue..." Liam was so frightened he was trembling as he spoke.

"Never mind whether it can talk."

Richard took the halberd off his shoulder, spear tip pointing up, gripping the shaft firmly.

"Think of those poor villagers; we are here to clear out these damn monsters."

Val was already cracking her knuckles: "I like the sound of that. Let's have a good slaughter!"

Cecilia raised her shield and stood in front of Liam, turning back to say to the priest apprentice:

"Keep the Detoxification Spell ready at all times. Prioritize ensuring we don't get stuck in the webs. Val, you take the left, I'll take the right. Richard, look for an opportunity to ambush."

The Queen's face-like visage twisted, and the phosphorescence in its eerie green eye sockets flared intensely.

It let out a piercing screech, and the walls, floor, and ceiling of the entire hall began to shake simultaneously.

From every corner, every crack, and behind every layer of spiderweb, swarms of tiny spiders poured out.

They were only the size of a fist, but their numbers were enough to make one's scalp tingle. A gray-black tide of insects advanced along the walls and floor simultaneously.

The rustling sound of the insect tide overlapped, turning into a low hum, as if the entire cave were humming a dirge of death from its throat.

Then the Queen moved.

It dove from the ceiling, and two of its eight front legs slashed toward Cecilia like two black scimitars!

Cecilia raised her shield to block the first strike.

The thunderous sound of metal colliding exploded in the underground hall, and her feet slid, carving two shallow grooves into the rocky ground.

The second strike followed immediately, slamming into the same spot. Her arm went numb, and she nearly dropped her shield, but she gritted her teeth and didn't take a single step back.

The Queen used the force to spring back to the ceiling, constricted its abdomen, and a mass of milky-white spiderweb the size of a human head was cast down over her.

Cecilia rolled to dodge.

The web slammed into the spot where she had just been standing, exploding into a sticky area two meters in diameter on the ground, hissing with acidic smoke.

"Scatter!" she shouted.

Val had already charged into the swarm of spiders.

Her movements were extremely agile, dancing back and forth.

Her fists were her weapons; every punch she threw smashed a small spider into pulp.

Furthermore, her fists were wrapped in a faint white light, and every strike was full of power.

When a spider's fangs bit into her forearm, she backhanded an elbow, smashing the spider into the rock wall, spraying fluids everywhere.

But there were simply too many small spiders. No sooner had she cleared a space than the next wave surged up, trampling over the corpses of the previous wave, and a few had already crawled onto her back.

Richard couldn't spare the time to help her; the Spider Queen was still on the ceiling, and that was the truly lethal enemy.

He held his halberd high, looking up and locking his gaze on the rapidly moving black shadow on the ceiling.

The Queen's speed on the ceiling was much faster than on the ground, its eight legs moving on the spiderwebs as nimbly as if sliding on water.

It circled the dome, constantly looking for any prey below that exposed a weakness.

Richard could see clearly who its target was prioritized on: not Val, not himself, but Liam!

It intended to kill the weakest priest first.

The Queen dove again, and this time its abdomen constricted beforehand.

As it descended, it sprayed a spiderweb, directly sealing off Cecilia's path of movement, and then aimed straight for Liam.

Liam's face turned pale with fright, but he didn't run—perhaps he was paralyzed with fear, or perhaps he knew running was useless.

He raised his holy emblem, his lips chanting rapidly, and a light from a Detoxification Spell expanded from him, covering the area where the four of them were.

Cecilia had her left path of movement blocked by the spiderweb; she side-stepped, shoved Liam away, and met the Queen's fangs with her shield!

The force of this blow was immense; the Queen's two fangs embedded directly into the metal face of the shield, dragging her three or four meters across the ground before stopping.

Her back hit the rock wall, and she let out a muffled grunt.

Fortunately, the defense of her half-plate armor meant she didn't suffer much damage; she held up her shield and did not fall.

Richard seized this rare opportunity.

In order to bite through Cecilia's shield, the Queen had pressed its entire head down.

Its body was forced away from the ceiling, its legs flailing in the air, trying to find a new foothold.

Richard hardened his heart and took an extremely risky action; he threw the torch in his hand with all his might at the dome.

The burning torch spun as it flew into the thickest, oldest part of the spiderweb on the dome, and the dry silk ignited instantly.

The flames spread along the spiderwebs as if alive, crackling and burning into a curtain of fire.

Dozens of small spiders that hadn't yet managed to swarm down were engulfed by the flames, their charred bodies falling from the ceiling with a pattering sound, hitting the ground and emitting wisps of blue smoke.

The Queen let out a screech even sharper than before.

Its nest was burning, its eggs were being consumed by the flames, and its spiderweb platform was breaking and collapsing in the fire.

Its body swayed, one of its hind legs lost the support of the web it was gripping, and its entire rear half dropped a notch.