Chapter 11 : Chapter 11
Chapter 11: Counterattack
The daggers in his hand were thrown out as if they were worthless. One parasitic spider after another died beneath those blades.
The hissing behind them did not diminish in the slightest. The creatures continued to pursue relentlessly, showing no intention of retreating.
“Save me, please! I beg you! I will never dare to do it again!”
“Please save me! I still have children at home—I do not want to die!”
“I am willing to become your slave! I am willing to become—aaaah!”
A shrill scream rang out. The wounded man who had been left on the ground was instantly drowned in acid. His flesh sizzled violently, and the miserable scream ended abruptly.
Witnessing the scene, the thin woman let out a howl that no longer sounded human. She scrambled backward in panic, trying to flee, only to be instantly surrounded by another surge of spiders.
The screams mixed with the scalp-numbing sounds of chewing.
Chenxi did not even frown.
The moment they tried to shift the disaster onto him, their deaths had already become inevitable.
Even if they had somehow survived the spiders, he would not have allowed them to live.
Whether one killed directly or indirectly, killing was still killing. To him, there was no difference.
If someone chose to kill, they had to be prepared to be killed in return.
But now was not the time to dwell on such thoughts. The Lord of the Sixth Floor would inevitably come to cleanse the area once it discovered that creatures from the Seventh Floor had invaded its territory.
It would not distinguish who started the trouble. It would simply carry out a complete purge.
Those mixed in with the invaders—like them—might simply be treated as roadside pests and crushed to death.
They had to retreat to the passage leading to the Fifth Floor. A floor lord could not enter the level above.
That way, the lord would eliminate the majority. The small number left afterward would be manageable for them.
“We’re leaving. Head back!”
“We can’t get away!”
Hongxu shouted, her voice carrying a trace of agitation.
The long-handled double-bladed axe whirled fiercely in her hands. The spiders behind them that attempted to form an encirclement and crush them all at once were chopped into fragments.
“That’s terrifying enough…”
Chenxi glanced at Hongxu. If she had been more obedient, with her appearance, figure, and strength, she would have been worth at least a three-digit number of gold coins.
…
Chenxi and Hongxu fought as they retreated.
“Duck!”
Chenxi barked in a low voice. With a flick of his wrist, the last two throwing knives shot out.
Thud! Thud!
Two spiders that attempted a sneak attack exploded instantly, green fluid splattering across the stone wall.
“Hold on. We’re almost there.”
Chenxi glanced at his backpack. The daggers were already gone, including the ones he had obtained while AFK.
They were truly at the end of their rope. Ahead of them was still pitch-black darkness.
The tunnel exit was roughly ten minutes away. Damn it!
What kind of luck was this? Their coordination had not even been fully practiced yet, and they had already run into something like this!
“Watch out!”
Chenxi’s pupils shrank. His body suddenly dropped low, sliding forward as he narrowly avoided the ambush of several spiders that had somehow circled ahead.
Several parasitic spiders the size of fists were silently spraying nearly transparent silk.
If his eyesight had been any worse, he would never have noticed them.
But he reacted.
Hongxu did not.
“Hm?”
Hongxu suddenly felt her elbow tighten. Her movement stalled for an instant.
A large amount of transparent silk had wrapped around her arm.
She shook her arm irritably. “What the hell is this thing?!”
That single moment of hesitation—
From the darkness, more parasitic spiders that had been lurking earlier in the ceiling or within the cracks of the stone walls moved.
Their target was extremely clear.
The one who had already been restrained.
Countless strands of spider silk, sticky and laced with a faint paralytic toxin, shot out from all directions!
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
The dense spraying sounds merged together. Sticky white threads instantly wrapped around the joints between Hongxu’s arm armor, helmet, and shoulder guards… and several cunning strands even bound the end of the axe handle to the guard of her weapon.
“Bastards!”
Hongxu roared as her massive armored body twisted violently, struggling with explosive strength to tear apart the annoying threads.
The silk wrapped around her arm and shoulder armor snapped under brute force with sharp cracking sounds.
But more silk kept coming.
The moment she broke free from one layer, even more threads covered her again.
Layer upon layer.
They no longer attempted to bind her in one strike. Instead, they cunningly filled the gaps torn open by her struggles, reinforcing each binding point, weaving over her like a net.
Before long, a sticky white layer of restraint rapidly covered her entire body.
Her arms and weapon were especially targeted.
In the blink of an eye, they were wrapped in thick spider silk, making Hongxu’s movements unbearably heavy and clumsy.
“Grrrgh!”
Hongxu tried to swing her massive axe, but the handle had been firmly glued in place by the silk in front of her. Her arm joints were also restrained, leaving her unable to muster the strength to strike.
She attempted to break free with brute force, but there were simply too many sticky threads.
She possessed terrifying strength, yet countless strands bound her tightly. The more she struggled, the tighter they became.
The rustling sounds gradually grew louder.
The main swarm of parasitic spiders had arrived.
In the darkness, those faint green phosphorescent eyes reappeared.
Dense.
Endless.
They clearly knew that the greatest threat had been temporarily restrained.
Chenxi’s heart sank.
Behind them was the approaching swarm of spiders. Hongxu was trapped.
The situation could not possibly get worse.
“Get the hell out of here! I don’t owe you anything anymore!”
Hongxu shouted loudly. Even though she was wrapped in layer after layer of silk, her voice still carried through.
She knew she was finished.
More and more silk was binding her, and it carried paralytic poison.
With her strength, completely breaking free would take time—and those spiders would never give her that time.
She had drawn away part of the swarm. If that strange human ran alone to the entrance of the Fifth Floor, he might survive.
I’m big. They’ll take a while to eat me.
Her struggling weakened.
He was strong and capable, but facing a swarm of spiders of this scale—and with her as a completely immobile burden—staying meant dying together.
She was not clever, but she still understood this much.
Not long ago, if someone had told her she would willingly use her life to clear a path for a human, she would have thought that person insane.
“Hmph. Right now, I look just like the heroes in the chief’s storybooks. Remember how cool I looked!”
A low roar rumbled in her throat as she prepared to use the last of her strength for a final struggle.
Her skin turned blood-red, and her pupils completely transformed into crimson.
The threads began snapping apart one by one.
Once this final strength vanished, death would be waiting for her.
But—
From the shadows ahead, a figure suddenly moved.
Not retreating.
Instead, it charged directly toward the dense cluster of slowly advancing green lights!
It was Chenxi.
The eyes beneath Hongxu’s helmet widened instantly, her crimson pupils filled with disbelief.
He… he actually came back?!
He came back to die?!
This idiot! Stupid human!
There was definitely something wrong with his brain!
“You damn—”
Her words stuck in her throat.
Chenxi did not look at her.
He did not even look at the approaching spiders.
His target was extremely clear.
The spiders that were spraying silk.
“You’re not cool. I’m the cool one.”
Air currents wrapped around Chenxi’s body.
【Burst】
The three-minute countdown had begun.
Within three minutes, the battle would end.
His equipment changed instantly. His original attack-focused cloth armor was replaced with agility cloth armor.
Agility +4
Holding two daggers in reverse grip—
He charged forward.