Chapter 50: One (Two) on One Final Showdown

With a flick of his wrist, Victor cast {Zephyr Dash} and propelled himself in a swift circle around the queen spider. If a head-on confrontation didn’t work, then like a pro gamer he once was, he would use a kiting technique. Thanks to his enhanced physique and the boost from the spell, he was running at a velocity four times that of an average human, leaving Earth’s fastest runner to shame.

“{Tempest Burst}! {Heat Wave}!” Victor chanted.

Normally, {Heat Wave} was an unremarkable offensive spell, but combining it with {Tempest Burst}, it created a scorching cyclone of tempest that materialized right beside the queen spider. This spell combination was something Victor came up with after the players started learning to cast spells and discussing the possibility of magic on the official game forum — they were an ingenious bunch.

Caught off guard by the instantaneous Anemo spell, the queen spider let out a deafening roar as it was engulfed in the fiery tempest. Its body was scorched and lacerated by the combined forces of Anemo and Pyro spells. This time, the result of the attack was satisfactory unlike previously.

Victor, however, wasn’t going to cheer just yet as he unleashed a barrage of follow-up ranged spells to further wound the monstrous creature. Despite the queen spider’s attempts to evade and retaliate with blobs of venomous acid, Victor maintained the upper hand, his tactic showing an edge. He continued casting spells, relentlessly chipping away at the creature’s health. The final clash came when his {Flame Dart} collided with a stream of venomous acid that the queen was about to spew, creating a swirling cloud of warm mist around the queen spider.

“Did the headmaster NPC kill it?”

“Fuck! You just had to say the cursed line!”

Victor overheard this from the mouths of nearby hiding players and furrowed his brows. He knew all too well that bringing down the queen spider was far from simple. Its monstrous vitality was not something his meager spells could contend—

“Gagh! Wh-What is—”

Suddenly, an intense force gripped Victor, lifting him into the air. The sensation was akin to being strangled alive by an invisible hand, plus his internal organs felt like they were on the verge of bursting. Is this some kind of telekinetic magic? Its innate ability…?!

While he had witnessed players being turned into mists of blood during the queen spider’s onslaught, his third-stage initiate Attunement physique would prevent such a fate. But still, if he didn’t act swiftly, he would be in a deep predicament.

As the mist dispersed, the queen spider appeared and reached out its left hand toward Victor. Various injuries marred her form — a huge gash on its abdomen. Some of her legs were almost torn apart, looking like they had been burned by fire as green blood oozed out.

Unintentionally, Victor had let his guard down after unleashing a barrage of spells against this formidable foe. He had been careless! No, this couldn’t be avoided even if he realized it sooner; from the shrewd mind behind those two crimson eyes, Victor knew that he had been had, and this was within the queen spider’s plan.

Slowly, his body was inexorably dragged closer to the queen spider by the supernatural force. Despite manipulating the energy particles in the air in a desperate attempt to regain control, Victor’s efforts merely delayed the inevitable. It was crystal clear that the queen spider possessed the greater strength, despite its numerous injuries.

“Aargh!” With every passing meter, Victor endured increasing agony. When the gap closed to a mere ten meters, blood oozed from his every orifice.

“Uh-oh, looks like the headmaster’s losing.”

“Should we help him?”

“Stupid! Do you think he will lose?”

“Yeah, let’s just believe in him and observe. I bet this is another hidden trick or something.”

The players who had been hiding nearby seemed uncertain about what to do. It appeared they had no intention of intervening just yet, as if they believed this was all part of a scripted event where Victor would eventually make a triumphant comeback. Victor cursed inwardly, vowing to teach these players a lesson once this ordeal was over.

As he was on the brink of activating his defensive magic tool, the Twilight Moon Pendant, something utterly unexpected happened. A ray of light materialized next to the queen spider, coalescing into a large silvery wolf with gleaming claws that swiped through its back. In that moment, a deafening shriek pierced the air as the invisible grip that had held Victor vanished.

Capitalizing on this miraculous rescue, Victor propelled himself backward with a forceful kick, simultaneously extracting a vial of the health-restoring potion from his interspatial ring. Hastily, he uncorked it and downed the contents whole in a single gulp. In just a few moments, his internal injuries began to mend.

Focusing his gaze forward, Victor’s astonishment turned to realization as he saw the one who had saved his butt: It was none other than Lumen, his contracted beast. She clamped her jaws around the gaping wound on the queen spider’s abdomen, engaging it in a fierce struggle.

“You… I thought I told you to stay put in your room…” Victor chided, though his words were tinged with gratitude for her timely intervention. Is this the work of Lizbeth, perhaps?

The scuffle between Lumen and the queen spider ended pretty quickly. At the end of the day, Lumen, despite her innate ability {Gigantification}, was only comparable to a second-stage Initiate Attunement acolyte. The queen spider utilized its telekinetic magic to toss her aside and redirected its malevolent gaze toward Victor.

In just a few moments, Lumen bounded back to Victor’s side and assumed a protective stance in front of her master, growling.

“You okay there, bud?” Victor asked with a determined tone.

Lumen responded with a resolute bark as her eyes locked onto the looming threat of the queen spider. The battle was far from over, and with the addition of her, Victor had total confidence to win.

“SKREEE!”

The queen spider howled, and the remaining twenty Lesser Hiveborne Arachnids gathered in front of it like loyal guards, forming a protective circle around their queen. She must have realized her disadvantage in numbers and called her very own offspring that she tried to protect to her side. Regardless of her protective nature, she understood that her life was the most important.

Victor’s heart pounded as he prepared to face the queen spider and its cronies once more. He had already cast numerous spells, and his inverted mana reserves were dwindling. He sneaked a quick glance at his current status using the Shadowlink Mark, wanting to assess his situation precisely.

Victor Asteriscus

HP: 84%
MP: 81/208

Oh no, with this little MP left, it will be a miracle if I can cast eight more spells without passing out, Victor thought. The battle had taken a toll on him, but he couldn’t afford to show weakness now.

As he mulled over his options, faint footsteps echoed from behind him. The remaining thirty or so players who were still able to fight finally rallied together and stood behind Victor.

Their representative, Zero, stepped forward and declared, “Esteemed Headmaster, please leave the other weaker spiders to us.”

Without giving a reply, Victor stood his ground and grinned confidently. This much was enough to give them the sign that their help was more than welcome. The players behind him stood ready, weapons drawn, magic spells charged, and determination etched across their faces.

The queen spider, despite its injuries, still radiated a menacing presence. Its many eyes fixated on Victor and the players, calculating its next move. Victor knew that he needed a plan, something unexpected that would give him the upper hand.

***

The queen spider was backed to the corner with her remaining children forming a protective circle around her. Grievous wounds marred her once-imposing form, and venom dripped from her serrated mandibles as she hissed in fury.

The humans, led by a comparatively weak but cunning Magus with distinctive blue hair, closed in on her with relentless determination, looking as if they were invincible. Yet, the queen spider was far from yielding. Her remaining twenty children formed an unyielding barrier, moving in uncanny harmony through their hive-mind connection.

She knew she was cornered, wounded, and outnumbered; the pain may have also been relentless, but she was determined to resist to the end. She had made her final decision: Even if it cost her life, she was determined to take down this formidable human adversary with her!

***

The ensuing chaos worked better in Victor’s favor, but it wasn’t without its own sacrifices. He had lured the queen spider away to a certain distance with Lumen and let the players handle their part.

Victor took a deep breath, feeling the hot smoky air fill his lungs and causing him to cough. He glanced around at the battlefield, where the players and Lesser Hiveborne Arachnids were locked in their own struggles. Some players had met their demise; their lifeless bodies strewn across the charred ground. Others fought valiantly, doing their best to whittle down the remaining arachnids.

He continued to observe the queen spider’s movements, now ridden with even more injuries, searching for a weakness he could exploit. Relying on the players was a no-go; they were too inexperienced, too scattered to coordinate an attack on the queen spider.

No, this battle was his to win or lose.

Caught in this impasse, Lumen growled softly as if to tell him not to worry. Her confidence and clear determination to protect him infused Victor with renewed energy.

“You’re right. We just have to give it a try. Let’s finish this in one attack,” Victor said with a resolute tone. In response, Lumen looked at him with intelligent eyes, likely to tell him that she understood the assignment.

With determination in his eyes, Victor whispered an incantation as mysterious symbols materialized, and the world around him seemed to blur before changing its scenery. He had cast {Blink Step} to appear behind the queen spider for a surprise attack. It was a risky move, but he needed to seize every advantage.

After facing the queen spider for an extended period, Victor had become intimately familiar with the patterns and nuances of its attacks. He understood how to counter each and every offensive move, whether it was through nimble dodging or erecting protective spells. But he also knew that defeating this formidable foe without taking a risk would be a pipe dream. Its durability was too great, and his mana was running dangerously low.

As he emerged closely behind the queen spider, Victor was ready to stake it all on a single spell — another combination spell. But to do that, he required delicate timing to cast two spells in tandem, and a single interruption could lead to a severe backlash that not only canceled his progress but wound him severely.

Concurrently, growling ferociously, Lumen released a barrage of light arrows, each streaking toward the queen spider with incredible velocity. These were not ordinary projectiles; they bore the essence of her newfound innate ability, acquired through this intense battle. Some of the arrows were deflected and even returned by the queen spider’s telekinetic magic, but the rest found their mark and struck the wound on the queen spider’s abdomen. They unleashed bursts of radiant energy, causing searing pain to course through the creature’s body.

“SKRE!! SKREEE!!”

The queen spider writhed in pain and its focus was momentarily shattered by the relentless onslaught of light arrows. This provided the vital distraction Victor needed. Without hesitation, Victor started chanting the {Tempest Burst} and {Heat Wave} spells, channeling every iota of his inverted mana into them. In his mind, intricate spell models took shape, one after another, as he chanted the words with fervor.

“Return to your hellhole, you stinky spider!” With a declaration, a tempest of flames and howling winds that erupted with unmatched intensity and enhanced by the Voidborn Orb came hurtling from his palms. The fusion of fire and air surged toward the queen spider, enveloping it in a maelstrom of blistering destruction. The already wounded creature was consumed by the incandescent inferno, gradually reducing to smoldering ashes.

The queen spider’s anguished screeches echoed for what felt like an eternity. And then, as the flames subsided and silence descended upon the battlefield, Victor collapsed to one knee. A long weary sigh escaped from his mouth as severe exhaustion and lightheadedness from the overuse of his magical power hit him hard.

But at long last, this battle was drawing to a close.