The Adventurer's Guild of Oakhaven was a place of constant noise.
He gestured to the figure standing silently behind him. Elena, dressed in a dark grey hooded tunic, looked like a shadow that had decided to become a person. She was Level 8 now, but her presence was unnerving.
Livia scanned the board. "There's a request from the Merchant's Guild. A caravan was attacked on the northern road by a Crystal Weaver. It's a subterranean monster. Poisonous. Fast. Reward is 50 gold pieces."
"Sold," Silas said instantly. 50 gold was rent, food, and a down payment on a sword that wasn't rusted.
"Wait," Livia warned. "This is a D-Rank quest, but the monster is estimated at Level 32 or higher. It's a 'High-D' threat. Usually requires a full party of four."
"Then we'll just have to be worth four people," Silas winked. "Come on, Elena. Let's go bug hunting."
The location was a rocky ravine about an hour's walk from the city. The air grew colder as they approached, the natural sounds of the forest fading into an eerie quiet.
"Why do monsters always live in the depressing places?" Silas muttered, stepping over a calcified skeleton of a deer. "Why not a nice meadow? With flowers?"
Elena scanned the cliffs, her new Void Strider instincts making her sensitive to the darkness. "It's here. I can feel... a distortion."
"Distortion is bad," Silas noted. "Distortion usually means teeth."
Suddenly, a glistening thread shot down from the canopy above. It wasn't webbing; it was a thin, razor-sharp strand of crystal. It aimed straight for Silas's eye.
[Danger Sense Triggered]
Silas didn't dodge physically. He utilized [Void Step].
He blinked three feet to the left. The crystal thread pierced the ground where he had stood, shattering the rock instantly.
From the shadows above, the creature dropped.
It was horrific. A spider the size of a carriage, but its body was made of translucent, shifting quartz. Inside its abdomen, glowing blue liquids pulsated. Its legs were serrated blades of pure gemstone.
[Target Analysis] Target: Crystal Weaver (Elite)
Level: 34
Rank: High D-Rank
Strength: 45
Agility: 38
Intelligence: 10
Weakness: Blunt Force (Low effectiveness due to density), Sonic.
"Level 34," Silas hissed. "Livia, you traitor. That's six levels above me."
The Weaver screeched—a sound like glass breaking—and lunged.
"Elena, scatter!"
Silas activated [Sovereign's Gaze], watching the flow of the Weaver's mana. It was a bright, jagged yellow, focusing on its legs.
The Weaver swiped a massive leg at Silas. Silas raised The Last Resort to parry, but he miscalculated the creature's reach.
Clang!
The impact numbed his arm. He was thrown backward, tumbling into a boulder. His 32 Strength was decent, but against a creature that had 45 Strength and natural armor, he was physically outmatched.
"Okay," Silas wheezed, standing up. "No trading blows. I need to be smarter."
He checked his stats again. Intelligence: 44. The Weaver had 10.
"Hey, Ugly!" Silas shouted, pointing his sword at the spider. "Your exoskeleton looks like cheap glass! Did you buy it at a discount store?"
The Weaver, possessing low intelligence, didn't understand the insult, but it recognized the threat. It turned fully toward Silas, mandibles clicking.
It spat a glob of liquid crystal. Silas dodged, but the liquid splattered on the ground and hardened instantly, creating a trap zone.
"Silas! It's boxing you in!" Elena yelled. She emerged from the shadows, throwing a rock to distract it.
The Weaver ignored her. It sensed Silas's high mana density. It wanted him.
It skittered forward with blinding speed (Agility 38 vs Silas's 40). It was almost as fast as him. It swung two legs simultaneously.
Silas ducked under the first, spun past the second, but the third leg caught him in the side.
Crunch.
Silas gasped, feeling a rib crack. The creature's legs were sharp but also heavy, like battering rams. He rolled away, blood staining his shirt.
"High Agility, high defense," Silas thought, his vision swimming slightly from the pain. "I can't cut it with this rusty sword. I need an opening."
He looked at the environment. They were in a ravine. Rocks above. Jagged stalactites.
"Elena!" Silas shouted, clutching his side. "I need you to be annoying! Can you use that Shadow Meld to get on its back?"
"I can try!" she yelled back.
"Do it! Don't attack, just hold on! Distract it!"
Elena dissolved into the shadows, reappearing instantly on the Weaver's translucent back. She grabbed onto a jagged spine. The Weaver shrieked, trying to shake her off, twisting its body wildly.
That was the moment.
Silas didn't attack the body. He looked up. Above the Weaver, a massive, loose boulder was perched precariously on the cliff edge.
Silas didn't have the Strength to lift the boulder. But he had the Void.
He focused on the space behind the boulder.
"Hey, Spider!" Silas taunted, sheathing his sword and holding his hands up. "Look! I'm vulnerable!"
The Weaver, seeing the prey stop moving, raised its front legs to deliver a crushing blow.
Silas activated [Void Step].
He didn't blink to safety. He blinked directly behind the boulder on the cliff ledge, thirty feet in the air.
"Surprise," Silas grunted, pushing against the rock with his shoulder.
His Strength wasn't enough to tip it normally. But he used [Void Consumption] on the friction holding the rock in place, draining the potential energy of its stability for a split second.
Gravity took over.
The massive boulder dislodged.
Silas fell with it, using [Void Step] one last time to blink back to the ground, landing in a roll just as the Weaver looked up.
CRASH!
The boulder slammed into the Crystal Weaver's thorax, pinning it to the ground. The spider shrieked, legs flailing, trying to lift the rock, but its leverage was gone.
"Pin it!" Silas yelled to Elena.
Elena drove her Void Dagger into the joint of the Weaver's leg, pinning it to the earth.
Silas staggered forward, clutching his broken rib. He was exhausted. His mana was low. His health was dropping.
[Suggestion: Void Consumption]
"Not yet," Silas growled. "Too much energy to eat through that shell."
He walked up to the pinned creature. It was thrashing, but stuck. He looked at its head. A small, soft spot near the mandibles.
Silas drew his sword.
"Agility 40," Silas panted. "Strength 32. And a really big rock."
He thrust the sword into the soft tissue. The Weaver spasmed once, then went still, the light in its crystal body fading.
[System Notification]
[Target Terminated: Crystal Weaver][
Experience Gained.]
[Level Up! Level 28 -> Level 29]
[Vitality Increased.]
Silas collapsed against the boulder, breathing hard. The pain in his side flared, but he laughed.
"That," he gasped, "was way too close."
Elena slid down from the corpse, wiping goo off her dagger. She looked shaken but unharmed.
"You were bleeding," she said, pointing to his side.
"Just a scratch," Silas lied, wincing as he stood up. "A scratch that goes all the way to the bone. But we won. And we're rich."
He looked at the carcass. The Crystal Weaver's core was intact.
"Plus," Silas grinned through the pain, "I think I know what I'm having for dinner."
He placed his hand on the cooling crystal body.
[Void Consumption Activated]
The crystal began to turn grey, crumbling into dust as the essence flowed into him. The pain in his side lessened, his stamina refilling, the hollow hunger finally silenced.
Silas Vane stood up, straightening his cloak.
"Level 29," he said. "One more level and I'll be thirty. The Sovereign is back on the menu."
He looked at Elena. "Ready to go home?"
Elena nodded, sheathing her dagger.
"That was terrifying," she admitted.
"Terrifying is just another word for 'exciting' in my dictionary," Silas corrected, limping slightly as they began the walk back to the city. "Now, let's go collect our fifty gold. I need to buy a better sword. And maybe a pillow. A soft one."