Chapter 493: Sometimes, Even I Fear Myself

Charlot Mecklenburg was somewhat surprised and exclaimed, "You can talk?"

A piercing, shrill voice replied, "I am an eighteenth-rank Transcendent creature."

Charlot nodded thoughtfully. An eighteenth-rank Transcendent creature was roughly equivalent to the legendary demons of the Eastern nations, beings that had cultivated intelligence over two to three centuries. It wasn’t surprising that it could speak.

After some contemplation, Charlot said, "I don’t have to resort to slaughter. If your entire tribe submits to me, I can spare your lives."

Clearing out the underground labyrinth could mean killing every monster or converting them into labyrinth guardians. Since Charlot had obtained the labyrinth powers of Agmirlas and possessed nine labyrinth runes, he could transform creatures into guardians even outside the labyrinth. If he could subdue a group of guardians, it would be far better than outright annihilation.

The shrill female voice became furious. "You dare demand that our entire tribe submits? Such arrogance!"

Charlot responded calmly, "Then I’ll just exterminate your tribe. Either way, the outcome is about the same for me."

The spider monster leader’s voice echoed incessantly, spewing curses at Charlot in the vilest terms and hurling "curses" at him. However, Charlot discerned that the leader lacked any actual curse-related abilities, so he paid it no mind.

Suddenly, Charlot noticed a faint glimmer emanating from the corpse of the massive spider monster he had just slain. Stepping closer, he collected over ten fragments of divinity from its body. Within the spider’s remains, he also discovered an ancient-looking long blade.

The blade resembled one of those fashionable swords sold on modern-day online marketplaces. Its design was elegant, with a slender, gracefully curved form. However, it bore no resemblance to any known historical weapon. It was the kind of artifact that might delight buyers and sellers alike while annoying purists who valued practicality.

Charlot tried a quick flourish with the blade but found it unwieldy, unsuitable for combat. Just as he was about to store it away, the blade vibrated faintly in his grip and suddenly flew up, slashing toward his forehead with deadly precision.

Charlot instinctively retreated at top speed, unleashing eighteen blazing Flame Dragon’s Hands in rapid succession. Although three were destroyed in the process, the barrage deflected the blade just enough for Charlot to narrowly evade its strike.

He quickly accelerated, catching the blade midair. Channeling Blood Glory into Stardust Battle Energy, then activating Blade of Emptiness, Blazing Corrosion, and Dark Corrosion simultaneously, he shattered the weapon with a sharp, resonant crack, obliterating the will imprinted within it.

Charlot’s heart was filled with anger. Losing three Flame Dragon’s Hands was tolerable, but he had come perilously close to being bisected by that sneak attack.

The leader spider’s behavior—seemingly foolish and vulgar—had indeed lulled Charlot into lowering his guard. Sending its subordinate out as bait wasn’t reconnaissance but a deliberate trap to catch him off-guard. It had nearly succeeded.

A chittering laugh echoed from every corner of the cavern.

The giant spider’s voice turned sultry and teasing. "You dare threaten to annihilate my tribe? Are you certain?"

Charlot quickly calmed himself. Getting angry was pointless now. In a low voice, he replied, "I am."

"You may have ambushed me once, but it failed. You won’t get another chance."

Several humanoid cocoons, tightly bound in spider silk, floated out from the depths of the lair and landed on the ground. They squirmed incessantly, clearly containing living humans.

Charlot summoned a single Flame Dragon’s Hand and lightly touched one cocoon. It burst open, releasing a swarm of small spiders.

Fortunately, Charlot hadn’t approached directly. These spiders would have been exceedingly dangerous if even one had made contact, as they were undoubtedly venomous.

The giant spider leader’s laughter fluctuated between tones before settling into a mocking, raspy voice. "I have plenty of tricks. If one fails, the next may succeed. You can’t dodge them all."

Charlot sighed in frustration but refrained from further banter. Instead, he aimed his firearm at the ground and fired a Flame Dragon’s Roaring Bullet. The incendiary projectile incinerated several of the humanoid cocoons, along with the spiders within.

These small spiders were too weak to be classified as monsters. Otherwise, this lair alone could have produced millions of creatures. Once the cocoons were all burned, only four were reduced to ash, while the others retained human forms. Charlot’s instincts flared. He sent another Flame Dragon’s Hand to gently brush the ashes off the intact cocoons, revealing human bodies inside.

They had been alive earlier, possibly candidates or reserves for some evil god, but now they were unmistakably dead.

Charlot withdrew his Flame Dragon’s Hands without hesitation and left the lair to search for another monster nest.

He would not let the giant spider leader escape, but for now, he needed to regroup and prepare. Charlot resolved to craft a batch of eighteenth-rank blood energy bullets and dismantle this lair with sheer force.

After scouting the final eight monster nests, Charlot had slain hundreds of creatures but failed to breach a single lair. At least he managed to replenish the three Flame Dragon’s Hands he had lost.

Charlot realized that his dungeon expedition had reached its critical phase. Clearing these last eight lairs would enable him to transform the area into a labyrinth and establish his fourth dungeon.

This exploration gave Charlot a clearer understanding of his own capabilities.

While he often fought alone, he wasn’t limited to solo combat. His arsenal of extraordinary abilities offered him countless strategic options.

Returning to the spider lair, Charlot decided to abandon direct combat. Instead, he activated his labyrinth runes to unleash Labyrinth Magic and conjured an endless fog.

The dense mist crept through the cavern, infiltrating every crevice of the spider lair. While the spider monsters initially used their abilities to dispel the fog, the mist regenerated continuously. After seven or eight days, the entire lair was thoroughly shrouded. Even the stronger spider monsters that occasionally dispersed small patches of mist were quickly enveloped again.

At first, the giant spider leader remained calm, but its confidence soon gave way to fear. As an eighteenth-rank monster, it possessed exceptional intelligence, surpassing even humans in cunning. It realized that Charlot must have devised a formidable strategy for his return. Several times, it deliberately revealed itself to lure Charlot into the lair, but Charlot refused to take the bait.

Two or three days later, Charlot sensed that the mist had permeated every corner of the lair. He activated another labyrinth power: False Labyrinth.

The spider lair transformed into a temporary labyrinth, rendering it an extension of Charlot’s domain.

Watching the chaos within the lair, the screeching and shape-shifting cries of the spider leader echoing through the fog, Charlot calmly opened his diary to a page connected to the Labyrinth God Agmirlas. He murmured, "This is my first time using such an ability. You should consider it an honor."

The giant spider leader shrieked, "Use whatever means you like! I am not afraid!"

Charlot smirked faintly and replied, "Sometimes, even I fear myself."

When Charlot first embraced Blood Glory, this secret art—created by the human philosopher Protagoras—was relatively simple, featuring only thirteen blood vortexes that could condense into thirteen miraculous techniques. However, Charlot’s encounters with vampires and his own discoveries had expanded the art far beyond its original scope, adding two entirely new blood vortexes.

Although Charlot sometimes hesitated to unleash certain powers, fearing their uncontrollable nature, he resolved to use them now.

Even as their wielder, these abilities filled him with a touch of dread.

Charlot wrote a brief story in the blank pages of his diary. It told of a Spider Queen from a foreign realm who fell in love with a human man. The two ultimately lived together in their underground lair, in eternal companionship.

The story was trite and unimaginative—an archetypal romance recycled through centuries of storytelling.

Charlot grinned. "Its charm lies in its banality."

Then he unleashed the ability: Capture!

The fog enveloping the spider lair surged with an eerie force, sticking to everything it touched—stones, sand, webs, cocoons, small spiders, large spiders, ordinary monsters, extraordinary monsters, and even the leader itself—pulling them inexorably toward the void.

The giant spider leader struggled with all its might, wielding every ounce of its strength to resist the pull. While its immense power allowed it to hold its ground temporarily, its weaker offspring succumbed, vanishing into the fog one by one.

Ultimately, the leader could only watch helplessly as its lair, its progeny, and finally itself were drawn into the mysterious force. A profound tether locked onto it, sapping its strength until it, too, disappeared into Charlot’s diary.

Within the pages, Charlot beheld a vision of the Spider Queen—a being of unsettling beauty. Her upper body resembled a mature woman, but her lower half was that of a towering spider, her eight legs sharp and metallic. In a direct confrontation, Charlot would have struggled against her alone, and with her progeny by her side, he might have had to flee. But now...

Charlot smiled and whispered, "Tell me your name, my dear little spider."

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