273: Chapter 273 Broodmother Spider

"Have you sent anyone in to take a look?" Chen Fan asked, calming his racing heart.

These words earned him a roll of the eyes from Ruituocuipu.

"You want my clansmen to go?"

Chen Fan looked puzzled. "Aren't there Sailors outside? Send them in."

"Have you given me control?"

"..."

Chen Fan choked for a moment before directly authorizing the five thousand Sailors to Ruituocuipu.

Then, he bought another hundred cameras.

A hundred Sailors, carrying searchlights and wearing cameras, headed into the tunnel.

The winding, dark passage was instantly illuminated.

As the Sailors ventured deeper, the underground soil gradually became moist.

After walking a bit further, the space overhead became smaller and smaller. Eventually, the Sailors could only move forward hunched over.

After a while, there was no longer any room to stand; the hundred Sailors supported themselves with their hands and crawled on all fours.

Just as Chen Fan thought the passage would get even lower...

Suddenly, a bright light came from up ahead.

Chen Fan squinted, and as he looked closely, he was stunned.

A five-meter-high cave appeared before him.

What surprised him most was that a giant spider was crouching in the center of the cave.

Even while crouching on the ground, this giant spider was three meters tall.

The Crew Members, just over a meter tall, were like ants before it.

Sss— Sss—

The awakened spider leaned forward slightly, letting out a threatening hiss.

One by one, the hundred Sailors entered the cave from different passages.

Different camera angles displayed the giant spider from every perspective.

"Mother Spider?"

Beside him, Ruituocuipu stared at the surveillance screen in disbelief, muttering under his breath.

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow. "You know it?"

Ruituocuipu confirmed it several times, then took a deep breath and nodded.

"I do. A filthy Dark Creature."

"A Dark Creature?"

Chen Fan activated Exploration and looked toward the portal on the sea.

At this moment, the portal was still spitting out clusters of spiders.

And the number of clusters spat out each time had reached twelve.

"Could it be that these spiders are here for the Mother Spider?"

"Definitely. But why is this Mother Spider here? Be careful, this thing is very dangerous."

Ruituocuipu was somewhat puzzled.

Chen Fan shook his head. "Who cares? Let's take it down first."

With that, Chen Fan opened the shop and replenished the numbers of A-Rank Blade Soldiers and Archers to ten thousand each.

The twenty thousand soldiers quickly advanced toward the cave.

Inside the cave, the Mother Spider hissed a few times, and seeing that the enemies before it were unmoved, it opened its mouth in a rage.

A milky-white energy ball was spat toward a Sailor.

The Sailor had no time to dodge and was hit by the energy ball, instantly turning into blood mist.

A few seconds later, hundreds of small spiders scurried out from the blood mist.

Chen Fan clicked his tongue in amazement.

"This Mother Spider can actually use other life forms as nutrients to breed small spiders?"

"Yes, that's one of its skills."

"Oh, and that invisible web you saw—though I don't know what it looks like, it's most likely its other skill, Web Weaving."

"I see."

Chen Fan nodded; his previous confusion was explained at this moment.

However...

When did it weave that web?

Chen Fan tilted his head, thinking back carefully.

He remembered that when he was transported into the dungeon this time, the web didn't exist yet.

When those five waves of monsters appeared during the day, the giant web didn't seem to be there either.

So, it was most likely something that happened after this Dark Creature invasion.

While he was thinking, the Sailors and the small spiders had already engaged in a chaotic battle.

It took about two Sailors working together to kill one spider, and they would even get injured in the process.

From time to time, some unlucky Sailors were ganged up on by over a dozen spiders and bitten to death.

After these Sailors died, dozens more spiders crawled out from their corpses.

Seeing this eerie scene, Chen Fan frowned repeatedly.

The Sailors were becoming fewer, while the spiders were increasing.

Just as the Sailors were about to be wiped out, the twenty thousand soldiers finally arrived.

A-Rank Blade Soldiers and Archers were far superior to E-Rank Sailors. Each soldier could take on two spiders alone without losing ground.

Soon, the small spiders in the cave were completely cleared out.

The Blade Soldiers formed ranks and slowly advanced toward the Mother Spider.

The Archers hid in the passages, continuously drawing their bows and firing arrows.

A dense shower of arrows flew toward the Mother Spider, instantly turning it into a pincushion.

Just as Chen Fan thought it would go berserk...

The Mother Spider let out a wail and then spat out another energy ball.

"That's it? Very dangerous?"

Chen Fan's eyes widened slightly as he turned to look at Ruituocuipu.

Ruituocuipu was also full of confusion, staring intently at the surveillance.

After a while, he exclaimed, "I see! The Mother Spider is sealed there; it can't move."

"Sealed?"

Chen Fan's eyelid twitched.

Subconsciously, he thought of the metal barrels containing Xiaoxiao and Ruituocuipu in the Night Instance.

And the arrays in the room where they were held.

His mind was full of conjectures, but his hands didn't stop.

With a wave of his hand, ten thousand Blade Soldiers swarmed forward, hacking at those eight spider legs.

Every strike sent sparks flying.

However, just as Ruituocuipu said, the Mother Spider seemed as though it truly were sealed.

Except for the increased frequency of spitting energy balls, the rest of its body remained motionless.

Now, Chen Fan felt even more at ease and commanded with a smile:

"Hack away! Kill this beast!"

"Form a human wall and climb onto its back to hack at it. Let's see if it has any External Spirit Bones."

A human wall was formed, and the Blade Soldiers climbed onto the spider's massive back, frantically hacking away.

The Archers continued to fire arrows. Due to the game mechanics, their arrows couldn't hit the Blade Soldiers; they plunged deep into the spider's body through the gaps between the soldiers.

The intense pain caused the Mother Spider to wail repeatedly, and its body gradually turned red.

"Watch out, it's about to go berserk."

Ruituocuipu's eyelid twitched, his voice carrying a hint of lingering fear.

Chen Fan nodded slightly, his gaze fixed on the surveillance screen.

Suddenly, the Mother Spider's body jerked, turning blood-red all over.

"Skree—"

The blood-red Mother Spider actually broke free from the seal and began to move slowly.

Its four front legs suddenly buckled, causing the Blade Soldiers standing on its back to lose their balance and slide forward.

The Mother Spider opened its bloody maw and swallowed hundreds of Blade Soldiers whole.

The crunching sounds were hair-raising.

After consuming a wave of Blade Soldiers, its strength seemed to grow. Its eight legs twitched as its range of movement increased further.

It turned its head slightly, its blood-red pupils locking onto the thousands of Blade Soldiers on one side.

"Don't let it eat anymore. The more it eats, the stronger it gets."

Ruituocuipu warned.

Chen Fan curled his lip. "Do I look like I can stop it?"

"..."