The darkness of the Cave of Whispers was different from the twilight of the forests of Mythlorien.
The air here was thick, heavy with the smell of mineral mold and the sticky dampness that dripped from the stalactites. However, to Lohan’s enhanced senses, now operating at the peak of Level 13, the environment was perfectly clear.
Through [Thermal Perception] and [Spatial Echo-Location], he could map every irregularity of the rocks and, more importantly, every movement of the creatures crawling across the ceiling.
Ironically, the group they were now facing consisted of Weaver Spiders.
Lohan vibrated his membrane in amusement and a trace of melancholy.
He looked at the creatures with chitinous bodies and multiple jointed legs that moved with silent agility above them.
It was one of these creatures that, weeks ago, had given him one of the most useful abilities in his repertoire: [Magical Weaving].
He vividly remembered how digesting that memory had nearly killed him, plunging his consciousness into a predatory frenzy that tested the limits of his rationality.
Back then, even the memories of a single spider had been a nightmare for him; today, with him and Lisa on the same level as them, and superior in terms of Base, they didn’t seem the least bit intimidating.
"Hold the formation! Dee, shield up! Tunder, don’t let the Mana leak before firing!" Halon’s mental voice echoed with cold, precise authority over the guild link.
The vanguard of Astralis Requiem, led by Alice and Dylan, was in the midst of cave raid training.
Since Saturday’s objective was a Level 15 Dungeon in an underground setting, Lohan and Lisa decided this would be the ideal testing ground to level everyone up to Level 14.
For the group’s players, however, dealing with the Weaver Spiders was a frustrating experience.
The greatest danger wasn’t the physical damage from their mandibles, but the magical webs they fired.
Whenever a translucent thread struck Samantha’s arm or Dee’s shield, the system triggered the alert: [Mana Drain Initiated].
Watching the resource bar drop while immobilized and unable to free themselves created a sense of helplessness that irritated the veteran players.
Previously, they had seen Halon do this to enemies and thought it was just a "convenient" skill. Only now, being on the other side of the web, did they realize the true scale of their Vice President’s power.
SHIIIING!
The sound of mana threads cutting through the air didn’t come from the spiders, but from Lohan.
Floating effortlessly while clinging to Lisa, who moved like a white blur along the vertical walls, Lohan fired his own [Weaver Mother]’s Magical Weaving, his bluish filaments visibly thicker, brighter, and tremendously more potent than those of the original spiders.
With precision guaranteed by [Monocular Telescopic Vision], Lohan pinned two spiders attempting to flank Justin, the archer, anchoring them to the ceiling and initiating the drain back.
"Thanks, Boss! These things are a pain in the ass!" Justin exclaimed, firing a light-infused arrow into the exposed abdomen of the immobilized spider.
To ensure the group’s total safety, Lohan wasn’t using his clones offensively as he usually did on solo hunts.
He activated [Partial Division] and left a blue gelatin clone with each of the guild members.
These clones acted purely defensively; if a spider managed to break through the front line and leap at WyrmWood’s neck, Lohan’s fragment would instantly expand, forming a [Obsidian Exoskeleton] to absorb the impact and protect the druid’s life.
Lohan knew that if anyone died here, all the effort put into leveling that person up over the past few days would be wasted due to the death penalty.
Although the loss of the "other Halons" in the attack slowed down the clearing speed of the room, the players in the group managed to compensate for this with their own damage, feeling more confident knowing they had an indestructible safety net attached to their armor.
The group’s synergy started off clumsily.
In the first ten minutes, Dee nearly tripped over the roots while trying to keep up with the pace of the commands, and Dylan’s group, which was still adjusting to the different leadership style, hesitated to follow the telepathic orders immediately.
At first, there was still a lingering trace of prejudice; however, as the battle progressed, that hesitation was gradually replaced by a silent and absolute respect.
Lohan used his [Parallel Processing Core] in conjunction with [Collective Synaptic Synchrony] to act as a true puppeteer of the battlefield.
He saw the world from ten different angles through the clones and his main body.
When he detected a spider preparing to pounce on Samantha’s back, he didn’t just warn her; he tried to transmit the motor reflex directly to her mental link, allowing her to dodge milliseconds before the attack occurred.
"Justin, lean 15 degrees to the left... now! Alice, uppercut at the heat signature I just highlighted!" Lohan’s orders flowed without pause, coordinating everyone’s movements as if the group were a single biological organism.
The members of Dylan’s group, who had previously looked at Halon with a raised eyebrow, now obeyed in silence.
They realized that the Vice President was completely dominating the chaos of the cave.
Lohan’s true strength was what commanded the respect of those Players. If he were weak, they would ignore him; since he was superior to anything they had ever seen, they surrendered to his command, moving with a fluidity that transformed the combat into a blue-and-white dance of death.
Lisa, for her part, was having fun as she rarely did.
With Lohan handling the defense and logistics for the entire group, the Ice Queen was loving finally letting loose with her mind practically switched off.
She didn’t need to worry about anyone’s safety, as she knew Halon had everything under control.
Her white fur glowed intensely under the effect of [Spectral Step], and she leaped gracefully among the enemy webs.
The white flames of her [Spiritual Fire] carried a golden hue due to the vitality Lohan constantly infused into them, turning the spiders into living torches.
But what amused her most was testing the new synergies. Using Lohan’s newly unlocked skill [Synergy Link], which allowed them to share the use of certain abilities directly through their biological connection.
Lohan shared partial control of his Ice Mana with her; at other times, he absorbed part of Lisa’s Spiritual Energy for himself.
The result was that after getting used to this new energy, Lisa’s compatibility with Magic was as high as Lohan’s compatibility with her Spiritual Energy!
When Lisa blew a fireball, Lohan could inject a core of compressed ice into it, creating a thermodynamic projectile that exploded on impact, ignoring the spiders’ elemental resistances.
The cave, which had once been the domain of the Weaving Spiders, had become the playground of Astralis Requiem.