Chapter 508: Fast. Piercing. Lethal. [Bonus]
Despite the words of the conspirators hidden in the shadows, Sylas didn't seem to be in a rush, nor did he seem pressed. One would have thought that he hadn't lost half of his stats at all.
He calmly observed the wave after wave of spiders coming toward him, analyzing their quirks, their habits, and most importantly, their weaknesses.
As he grew used to their patterns, the amount of Strength he put into each blow began to reduce slowly.
At first, every one of his fists aimed for the head, shattering it apart with a forceful blow.
But then his stance changed, aiming for the largest eyes at the center of their foreheads and sending a stream of fist aura right into their skulls.
However, his tactic didn't last for long.
He noticed the twitching hairs on their bodies soon after and how sensitive they were to changes on them. He began to use his telekinesis to brush against them, trying to gauge what sort of reaction they would have.
He quickly realized that they were hypersensitive to these changes on their body, and the most violent of them even turned in the direction of his telekinetic touch, opening themselves up to be killed with a swift strike.
When Sylas settled into a rhythm, it almost became a joke. The disoriented spiders were in part focused on him, and in part on an invisible enemy that didn't exist.
By the time the wave of spiders actually reached Sylas, he had comprehended their habits and sensitivities so profoundly that they didn't even get a chance to attack him before they died.
The stamina usage of Sylas slowed to a crawl. In fact, because of his Dual Class Constitution and his State of Wealth, his recovery ability was already ridiculous. Now, he was regaining lost stamina faster than he was using it up.
In a battle where he should have been on his back foot, being quickly drained, it was as though he was lightly sparring in his own backyard.
However, the only person aware of such profound changes was Sylas himself. It would take a very keen eye to realize what he was doing, and his telekinesis was entirely invisible to outside observers without visualization.
Even if those hidden in the shadows did have visualizations, they weren't close enough to use them. In their eyes, it probably looked like Sylas was using up a great amount of stamina to kill them all quickly, when in reality, he wasn't.
Sylas settled into a rhythm, his movements became more fluid. The only worry was his usage of Aether, but even that was being kept to an absolute minimum.
All the while, his gaze was focused on finding a way out of this.
He needed a method to kill the spider queen before it could break free. He also wasn't under the illusion that it would just continue to sit idly there as its children continued to die in droves. There was definitely some sort of skill or the like that it could use.
However, its Constitution was too high for him to kill with his current stats.
'It has to be poison, then. That's the only way. But I'll need a method to bypass its Constitution nonetheless. Beasts at this level have intelligence no weaker than that of humans as well. So if I want to use my telekinesis to trick it with its sensitive hairs, I'll only have one go at it... a second time won't work.'
He needed an open wound at the very least, or he needed to destroy one of its eyes. But he also couldn't afford to go all in on this tactic either. There was a very real possibility that this spider queen would be resistant to his poison.
This was a Quasi Bronze beast, or a Quasi King beast as the Madness Key called them. He couldn't afford to take it lightly.
SSSSKKKKRRREEEEEEEEE!!!
Just as Sylas was trying to figure out the best course of action, the screech of the spider echoed through the root system. More sand fell from above, and pillars of light fell on the Woodland Spider Queen's abdomen.
Runes lit up and all of a sudden its abdomen began to pulse. With every squeeze, another spider was released, but this time their aura made the earlier baby spiders look like, well... babies....
[Elite Woodland Spider (FFF+)]
[Level: 11]
-
[Physical: 471]
>[Strength: 538]
>[Constitution: 512]
>[Dexterity: 395]
>[Speed: 411]
[Mental: 467]
>[Intelligence: 762]
>[Wisdom: 273]
>[Charisma: 416]
[Will: 488]
Sylas' gaze flickered. This was a problem. Even with a distraction, it would be nigh impossible
to kill these easily. His Strength was now only half of their Constitution.
The spider queen wasn't done even after a dozen pumps. It just kept going, and soon the number of these Elite Woodland Spiders had doubled, and then doubled again.
It felt endless. But considering the ridiculous Intelligence stats of the spider queen, maybe it really could be endless.
'I can't continue to rest on my back foot. I've observed enough.'
Sylas finally stopped standing in place and burst forward as though he had been shot out of a
cannon.
The underground space was large, but there was still only 50 meters separating him and the
spider queen.
Caution lit his senses as his wariness shot through the roof. He had no idea if the spider queen would have another method of attacking him when he got close, and he quickly found that he was right to be cautious.
The spider queen unleashed another screech, and an arrow of venom cut through the air
toward him.
Fast, piercing, lethal.
Sylas opened his mouth and roared, using <Arctic Howl Mutant> for the first time in the
battle.
The arrow froze in place as Sylas slid by it, coating his feet with more ice as he accelerated past the leg scythe of one of the elite spiders before jumping onto the head of another and
into the air.
Semi-Fusion activated, and Sylas pulled on Nosphaleen's Skill Mastery, activating <Glide> in a split second. In that moment, it was like he had been using the skill all his life.
In a blink, he had appeared high above the spider queen, meeting its several eyes with a deathly intent of his own.