Chapter 12

The inside of the labyrinth was pitch-black, not a single ray of light reaching within. Only the faint glow of spider eggs clinging to walls and pathways gave them the bare minimum of sight. The paths tangled above and below like a web suspended in the air, and the damp, sticky air clung to their skin, making even breathing feel heavy.

The paths were narrow and slippery, with an endless abyss yawning below. One misstep and anyone who fell would scatter the party, making the raid far harder.

“If even one of us falls, it’ll get tough starting from the first boss. Stay sharp.”

Leading the way, Father emphasized the danger as she stepped forward. Her hands shifted into combat stance, gripping an épée in one hand and a kopesh in the other.

They walked in a line, alert, but it wasn’t long before a spider shot out of the darkness like a bullet. It lunged at Father, who had been expecting it, and she cut it down in a single stroke, then flicked her blade at the ground to shake off its fluids.

The spiders in the Spiderweb Labyrinth carried secretions that corroded and wore down weapons. If left uncleaned, durability dropped fast—and with bad luck, a weapon could even break.

As they moved along the narrow path, spiders attacked from the front, behind, above, and below. But with Father handling the front and Theo covering the rear, they progressed smoothly.

Through the maze of twisted, rootlike paths, they eventually arrived at the first boss. It was a space where tangled roots had formed a massive nest.

The ceiling above was jet black, impossibly high, beyond reach of light. And from that darkness, eight pairs of giant red eyes gleamed down. Everyone spread out and took battle positions.

“We’ll need to drag it down first.”

Father spoke. The first boss, Skit, clung to the ceiling and spat venom. A ranged-only party could ignore it, but if they wanted Father and Aslan’s full power, they had to drag it to the ground.

The threads anchoring Skit to the ceiling were strung throughout the nest. They would need to find and cut them all.

Theo and Aslan silently scanned the nest, preparing to move. But before they could, Blaine abruptly raised his orb. From beneath his cloak, his arm was covered in tattoos like magic formulas, which began to glow with a deep blue light.

In the next instant, Skit let out a tearing shriek and crashed to the ground with a heavy thud. None of them even realized what had just happened. All they could see was an unseen force crushing Skit’s struggling body.

There was only one person here who could use that kind of magic. Blaine.

Everyone turned to him. Whether he noticed or not, a magic circle began to form beneath his feet. It glowed red.

A magic circle appearing at the caster’s feet meant it was gathering even more mana—a concentrated spell meant for a single target.

The circle drank in mana and grew redder and redder, until it burned like blood, like flame. Then, with an explosive burst, fire shot out like sharp arrows, streaking toward Skit.

But it wasn’t just one. Multiple circles overlapped beneath Blaine’s feet, and the fire arrows exploded in succession, trailing each other in arcs like a burning chain.

Pinned and unable to move, Skit’s body took the full brunt of Blaine’s magic. The blasts pierced straight through its body, hammering into the nest’s walls with violent crashes before finally fading.

Sparks scattered everywhere. None of them could take their eyes off Blaine. Concentration magic usually consumed enormous amounts of mana—no one cast it so recklessly. But this? They had never seen a mage like this before.

It had to be the buffs from the Via Lactea staff and the Eternal Stone… but wasn’t this going too far?

While everyone was still stunned, Skit staggered upright. Then it reared its body and unleashed a flood of venom.
But one stream of venom spat by Skit arced straight for Theo’s head. If no one warned him, he’d be drenched in it.

“Theo!”

Blaine cried out in alarm, already casting a spell to neutralize the venom. But Aslan was faster. In a flash, he closed the distance, shielded Theo with his body, and swiped away the falling poison.

Blaine froze, his face showing a flicker of shock. Theo, unfazed as if this were routine, slipped free from Aslan’s arms and rushed to handle the spreading venom. Blaine quickly snapped back and dealt with the other streams, but his eyes kept straying toward the two. His chest stirred restlessly, and a pang of disappointment dug in.

I wanted to be the one to save him.

And Father was staring right at Blaine.

Skit, forcibly dragged down by gravity magic, kept trying to climb back up to the ceiling. The webs hadn’t all been cut. But every time it latched on to climb, Blaine’s gravity magic yanked it back down, and pinned under the spell, Skit turned into nothing but a perfect punching bag for the party.

The boss was originally simple—once on the ground, it was easy to kill. With Blaine’s magic pinning it, the fight ended even faster.

With a final shriek, Skit collapsed, leaving behind loot. Theo and Aslan moved to collect the drops, while Father stood a step back, deep in thought. Then she walked over to Blaine, who was still standing blankly in place.

“Did you strengthen gravity magic with the Eternal Stone?”

The question came out of nowhere. Blaine blinked in surprise. “Huh?” Then, almost sheepish, he nodded.

“How did you know?”

He pushed back his cloak, revealing both arms. Inked across them were dense tattoos resembling magical formulas—the marks left from absorbing an Eternal Stone.

Father had only suspected, but now she couldn’t hide her astonishment. She spoke with a hint of confusion.

“Skit might be a simple boss, but for it to be dragged down by just gravity magic… that’s strange. If it were possible, that strategy would’ve spread ages ago. And gravity isn’t even a direct attack spell—it’s more of a support type. So why use your Eternal Stone on gravity of all things?”

“I just felt like gravity magic had better applications.”

“Applications?”

“Yes.”

Father couldn’t make sense of it. Out of the seven attributes, only gravity magic wasn’t offensive—it was support. It lifted enemies into the air, slammed them down, gathered them in one spot, or scattered them apart. And yet, he had used his one and only Eternal Stone not on an attack spell, but to strengthen gravity? It was baffling.

Before she could press further, Theo called out from behind. “Enough. Let’s go.”

Blaine’s face brightened, and he quickly nodded, hurrying after Theo. Father stood staring blankly at Blaine’s retreating back, then shook her head and followed.

Well… maybe he was just a fool who didn’t understand the game.

Theo’s party cleared the second and third bosses smoothly. Blaine’s gravity magic proved useful in countless ways, helping the party immensely. The supposedly difficult Hard Mode no longer felt difficult at all. For someone who had claimed his Tier 6 self wouldn’t be much help, Blaine had become indispensable.

The fourth boss, and final one, was Bamia—the spider king who ruled alone over the Spiderweb Labyrinth. Compared to the earlier bosses, its colossal size was overwhelming at a glance.

Unlike other spiders, Bamia had sixteen legs—eight pairs joined together, above and below. Its abdomen bore a crown-shaped pattern, while its legs were covered in sharp spines and jagged protrusions.

As soon as the party fully entered the boss chamber, a curtain of webs dropped down behind them, sealing the entrance. The room was plunged into pitch-black darkness. From above came the rapid scuttling of countless legs, and pairs of glowing eyes revealed themselves in clusters.

The eyes gathered above Bamia’s head, twitching in restless motion. Soon, the eggs scattered across the chamber walls lit faintly, illuminating the surroundings. From the ceiling, a crown woven of webs descended.

Bamia lifted its massive body solemnly, placing the crown upon its head. Then, raising its upper legs, it secured the crown so it would not fall.

When Bamia took on its complete image as king, countless spiders descended from the ceiling on their threads, dangling and swaying above.

Everyone watched the boss room in tense silence. Once the fight began, those spiders would spit venom and webs to keep them from reaching Bamia. They couldn’t be killed—only knocked down. And once they fell, they would climb back up again after a short time, attacking endlessly.

Their attacks weren’t lethal, but the venom corroded weapons and armor, and the webs immobilized feet—making them a constant nuisance.

Everyone’s eyes turned wordlessly to Blaine. Blaine raised his orb and asked, “Shall we begin?”

Father drew her swords and nodded. With her approval, Blaine immediately cast his spell. A magic circle large enough to cover the entire floor of the chamber appeared.

“What the hell…?”

Aslan muttered. At that moment, the spiders dangling from the ceiling let out shrill screams as if crushed, then rained down to the ground. The tremor struck their feet, and a numbing pressure swept through everyone’s bodies.

“This range is insane…”

Aslan’s voice was trembling as he stared at Blaine. He also used orbs, but he had never seen such a wide-area spell.

Theo was just as shocked. He stared blankly at the spiders, cleanly dropped and now writhing under the crushing force of gravity. And then, from beside him, someone shouted in excitement and charged forward.

Theo and Aslan’s gazes slowly shifted. The figure ahead, already rushing into the fray, was Father. Only then did the two snap back to their senses.