An invisible pressure abruptly pushed down on everyone's shoulders. A knife seemed pressed against their necks as adrenaline surged at the presence of an apex predator.
Vincent's guts twisted, immediately understanding that they were suddenly the hunted and not the hunters.
He swerved around, searching, but the crawl on his spine dampened.
'Oh, so we're not its target...'
He did a double take.
"Fuck! We're not its target! Quick! There are other survivors!"
They rushed towards its nest, finding it empty. But Vincent noticed the faint needle tracks on the ground and decisively followed them.
It brought them to the center of the mall, where an indoor park had once existed. But only clutter of ice mixed with glass remained, a dangerous terrain.
"Aaaaah! What the fuck is that?!"
A deep, bloodcurdling scream came from a large, bald man staring at the Revenant Spider hanging upside down from the ceiling.
It was impatient in its attempt to cocoon its food. In a fit, it ripped off its prey's noisy head and began feeding in a sloppy manner.
Blood and guts rained from above, painting the ice.
[+ 300 xp]
Ecstasy overwhelmed the spider, its form trembling in response.
It only needed to eat three more people, and the power surging inside would burst forth!
The spider's mouth rattled in a form of laughter before diving for another meal, heading straight toward the bald man.
Bang! Bang!
One shot hit the side of its temple and another struck its body. An almost blackened blood dripped instantly from its wound, but the Hellfire Rounds didn't ignite as expected.
The sheer force of the bullets made the spider barely miss its target, landing with a skid a few meters away from its prey.
Curses rang out in fear from the bald man again, but his body stayed locked up, while the rest of his group (four more people) scrambled toward the source of the gunshot.
Two of them frantically cast their spells, fumbling in their control—a pyromancer and an electromancer.
The two bolts of fire and lightning rushed toward the spider, but having no mastery of control, they unnaturally spiraled. The fire landed in a booth, igniting it, and the lightning managed to damage one of the spider's legs, effectively stunning it.
But the spider had five more.
"Theo, target its other leg!" Vincent ordered, the words flowing naturally after only half a day of training.
"Aye!"
Theo palmed the air with his bolt of fire, landing a hit successfully on one of its legs. His skill didn't ignite their target either, merely dissipating into smoke.
Vincent was sure this time. "Resistance to fire! Cut its legs!"
The group running toward them froze in shock as Vincent's party rushed past them, fully intending to confront the monstrous spider. They guffawed staring at the party's determined backs, wondering if they were suicidal.
But soon their initial thoughts of abandoning to save their own skin was pinned as they were nailed on the spot, awed at the battle they were witnessing.
The spider screeched in a drawn-out, distorted frequency. Its human head lunged toward Dave with its mouth open.
But a bright shield stopped its attempt to rip off Dave's flesh, and the spider bounced back in confusion, teeth tingling.
[7 -> 3/7 Hp]
[100 -> 0/100 Mp]
Dave didn't feel any regrets using his skill at the start of the battle. That bite came too fast for him to dodge so he steeled himself instead.
Seeing the -4, he knew he was dead if he hadn't stopped it.
Henry quickly switched with him, following the team that was chipping at the spider's health instead.
Its legs seemed to have a mind of their own as they fended off weak slashes from inexperienced blade users.
But the weapon was sharp enough to cut deep, and Jackson (the archer) almost sliced one leg clean.
Jackson was the oldest of the homeless crew. Being 36 years old with some white hair sticking out his brown short hair. His tanned skin was actually from years of working in a construction group and not due to his ethnicity.
"Nice!" Daniel shouted from behind before coming in an attempt to strike the same spot. But he failed, landing a few centimeters off.
"Damn it, I suck!"
Jackson laughed, briefly unguarded.
The leg thrust forward in that moment, ready to pierce through him.
Clang!
Daniel stepped forward to parry it, but the force sent him flying back, dragging Jackson with him a few meters away, stumbling like ragdolls.
Jackson: [13 -> 11/13 Hp]
"Fuck—sorry! And thanks!" Jackson screamed as he groaned in pain.
Daniel: [20 -> 16/20 Hp]
"Urgh, same here."
"No distractions! Or there will be 50 push-ups later!" Vincent blurted in the heat of the moment, pausing briefly as he realized he had treated Jackson like he did the siblings.
Dodging the spider's bite, the distracting thoughts vanished in an instant—this wasn't the time to dally.
Vincent shot three more bullets at the same leg, breaking off the last bit of its exposed bones.
The spider faltered for a moment, taken aback by its loss of balance.
It suddenly jumped, overturning to hang from the ceiling. Its eight eyes glowed red with rage.
Screeching, it started forming a ball of web in its hands that steamed from the amount of mana used.
Vincent's alarms blared. "Hide! Into the stores!"
But it was too late.
With a flick, the ball of web unraveled, spreading like a fishing net, encompassing an area of ten by ten meters, capturing everyone, including the people watching from the sidelines.
It was as if a weighted blanket fell on top of Vincent. He struggled to free himself, his arms burning from the effort.
Groans and curses echoed in the area as the spider dropped down, tilting its head with a grin, enjoying how the worms squirmed under its captivity.
Henry had been keeping its attention earlier. Annoyed, it turned to him first. Its grin widened unnaturally, splitting from ear to ear.
Vincent noticed and stopped struggling, firing all seven bullets without hesitation. He took down another leg, and the spider dropped to the floor, unable to carry its weight.
The spider sharply turned to Vincent, screeching in rage.
It started to crawl toward him, but it froze midway.
This wasn't part of its plan. It had all the time to mess with this human later, but feeding was more important!
Looking around, it grabbed the nearest food, ripping out an arm in an instant.
The person's scream sent chills down everyone's spine. Attempts to free themselves stopped as they were forced to take in this sight.
Internally, they prayed that this was all just a nightmare and that they would wake up feeling like they had fallen from the clouds.
But the nightmare continued.
The spider didn't hear the wondrous voice of the system, so its mouth caught the person's entire head and tore it off with ease.
"Nooo!!!"
Theo screamed, successfully freeing himself from a sudden burst of strength.
The person who died was the party's enchanter.
A brother he had known for years. A friend who had protected him even when the world ended.
Theo's last firebolt landed on the spider's chest, but its attention was glued to its food, gnawing on another arm.
Raw agony tore his heart, Theo's knees buckled, dropping onto the floor.
All his energy was sapped as he lost the will to fight.
Just then, a blur moved past him, heading toward the spider.
The spider opened its mouth for another bite, but a foot landed on its chest, using it as footing before a blade pierced through its mouth.
"RAAAAH!!"
Vincent howled from the effort, muscles tearing as he dragged the katana to the side, almost slicing the jaws off.
The spider reeled from the pain, dropping the body in its arms, which Vincent caught and dragged back—even when he knew he risked dying in the process.
Three shots from Angel's revolver rang out right after. She had succeeded in her escape.
A second later, she discarded the empty gun without hesitation, noticing the spider's arms reaching for Vincent.
She rushed forward, a stiletto dagger in hand.
Bracing herself, she let the spider's force do all the work as the 40 cm-long needle pierced through its hand.
The spider yanked its hand away, and Angel failed to retrieve her sword.
The spider's sorry state had become evident from its low, distorted grumbling.
The last embers of the battle were approaching.
Vincent had brought the body to Theo, his face dark and his eyes dulled.
"I'm sorry. Wait here."
But his voice was sinister.
It dragged Theo's waning adrenaline back to the surface as his hairs stood on end. He reflexively nodded, failing to notice how his longsword had been taken away.
Vincent handed the longsword to Angel, who noticed his state but said nothing.
Daniel, Henry, and Dave managed to free themselves as well and joined the momentary stalemate, clutching their own weapons.
The spider looked wary. It fought the urge to glance around for another meal, but the eyes of the human at the very front were disturbing.
Somehow, it knew not to break eye contact with him.
Vincent stared at its red name tag, his knuckles turning white from how tight he gripped his katana.
No matter how calm Vincent appeared, his blood was boiling. Violent intent coursed through his veins as his vision narrowed, tunneling onto the spider.
"Kill it."
He calmly ordered.