I didn't know how long I spent in the spider cave by that point in time, but it felt like fifteen minutes or so. That was slightly worrying, since the boss battle I was hearing had been going on for at least that long.

Wait, what if it ends before I even arrive?

Eyes widening, I started picking up the pace, slightly jogging down the cave.

I did not want the fight to end before I got there.

Like, come on! I don't want to waste my time walking through a demon-spider cave while not even getting a boss fight at the end! That would suck!

But though I was running through the darkness at this point, I was still paying attention to my surroundings. If a Tiletik surprised me and managed to get a sneak attack, there would be no one but myself to blame.

That said, I was still rushing. Getting bitten by a spider was totally worth it if I could get to the fight on time. I needed to get stronger as soon as possible, since the longer I stayed at a low level, the higher the chances were I would eventually run into something too strong for me to escape.

I couldn't waste this chance to level up quickly.

I didn't know what my exact bearings were in the cave, but by listening to the sounds of the battle in the distance, I could tell I was getting closer. The explosions and screams were booming loudly, and I was quite excited.

That was, until I turned a corner and came face to face with a wall of glowing light, completely blocking the passageway.

It was bright, lighting up the shadowy corridor. Along with that light, it was vaporous and whispy, like it was made of mist instead of an actual solid. Tiny sparks and crackles of electricity flashed through it as if the entire thing was statically charged with lightning.

But that wall was not the thing that stood out to me.

On the other side of the barrier was a pile of dozens of Tiletiks, each singed and burned, as if put through an oven.

My nose wrinkled as the scent of burned flesh hit me.

Each spider was smoking, their fur sparking and spitting with heat. They were all very dead.

They were also all on the other side of the wall.

I stopped before getting too close to the barrier and looked up towards it. My eyes traced along the edges, watching bolts of lightning flow through the mist.

I frowned and walked over to a shard of stone that had fallen off the cave wall. Picking up the small stone, I lightly tossed it through the magical barrier.

The rock made contact, and with a crack, the lightning bolts converged onto it and exploded with a burst of harsh light.

As it hit the ground on the other side of the mist, I could see it was blackened and smoking.

Well, this seems troublesome.

....

How the hell did something like this even happen? It's obviously magic, but who or what put it here? From what I can tell, the Tiletiks can't use magic, and the demon that massacred the Tiletiks uses a sword of some kind. Neither of them should be able to use Lightning spells.

Maybe the Tiletik boss can do stuff like this?

Oh wow, a giant spider magician sounds both hilarious and terrifying.

Pacing around, I kept my eyes on the barrier, thinking of what to do.

It seems like spiders from my side had tried to cross through the barrier, causing them to burn and die. That's probably why there's a massive pile of corpses on the other side.

The Tiletiks probably did not set up this barrier, at least not on purpose, since it's only killing them. There are no dead demons here besides Tiletiks. Since that's the case, either the invading demon/demons did it, or there was some sort of accident that created this thing.

I started to gather a large pile of small stones from my surroundings.

Then, I picked up a bunch of the rocks at once and threw them at the wall altogether.

As they all hit the magic, pops and cracks resounded through the cave along with bursts of light, leaving spots in my vision.

But I tried to keep my eyes open throughout the light show, to see if the sheer quantity of rocks had somehow weakened the lightning.

They did not.

Even though I had thrown something like ten stones at once, the barrier didn't stall or fizzle; it just burned them all at once, with the same intensity.

So throwing a bunch of things at the barrier to break it is not the correct strategy.

Then what else could work?

Maybe since this lightning wall is clearly magic, more magic could disable it?

But I don't have electricity. I have water, ice, and blood. None of those seem like they would be able to disable a lightning barrier.

Sighing, I took control of my soul-space.

I suppose there's no way to tell until I try.

Grabbing hold of the water magic inside of me, I quickly dispelled it and formed a cloud of the mana. At this point, it was getting pretty easy for me to control magic. It only took around fifteen seconds to fully discharge a decent amount of the stuff from my body.

Controlling the cloud of water magic, I slowly drifted it closer to the barrier.

Immediately, I noticed the barrier sparking and crackling with more intensity as my magic approached. Tiny veins of lightning popped outwards, reaching to the water mana.

Realizing the magics obviously had some reaction, I made the water go even closer, and the barrier roiled with energy.

It was difficult to control my magic as it got closer, almost like I was pushing the resistant ends of a magnet together.

I scowled as I began to push through the mental resistance, and with a final shove, the water magic connected with the barrier.

The magic flashed, brighter than anything before, and nearly blinded me.

A blast echoed through the cave, and through it, I felt the hold over my magic disappear.

As my surroundings came back into focus, with my ears still ringing horribly, I saw the barrier fizzle out, disappearing entirely and leaving the cave in darkness.

Beginner Water Magic: Level 2 Acquired

....

Blinking the dark spots out of my eyes, I rubbed my temples as a headache started to set in.

I didn't know what caused the sudden migraine, possibly the loud blast from the barrier disabling, or overuse of magic. Either way, it was very unpleasant.

Luckily, the migraine soon faded just as quickly as it had appeared, and I started walking down the cave again.

I stepped over and around the huge pile of various Tiletiks and past where the lightning barrier used to be. As I left the corpses behind me, I smirked, imagining all those Tiletiks mindlessly jumping through the wall to their deaths, like the dumbass spiders they are.

But I quickly moved those amusing images out of my head and turned forwards, seeing some sort of light up in front of me, and slowing my pace.

I could hear the fight just ahead, and my legs stopped moving.

Breathing slowly, I opened up my menu, checking my status and skill list.

Level 3 (299/300)

HP: 11/17

SP: 14/14

MP: 6/13

Active Combat Skills:

Demonic Envelopment - 1, Sprint - 1, Persistance - 1, Time Dilation - 1, Blood Rush - 1, Taunt - 1, Regenerate - 1, Double Hit - 1, Block - 1, Counter - 1, Fire Absorption - 5

Other Skills:

Perception - 3, Foresight - 2, Climbing - 1, Contemplation - 1, Punching - 3, Kicking - 3, Jumping - 2, Stomping - 2, Analyze - 1, Demon Killer - 3, Abyss Sanctum; Mastery of Death - 1, Explosive Artist - 1, Grappler - 1, Slayer - 3, Stealth - 1, Reflexes - 3, Deception - 1, Scavenging - 1, Tracking - 1, Taunt - 1, Quick Feet - 2, Tenacity - 1, Iron Stomach - 3, Beginner Water Magic - 2, Beginner Ice Magic - 1, Beginner Blood Magic - 1, Fire Absorptian - 5

Resistances:

Fear Resistance - 1, Heat Resistance - 5, Bludgeoning Resistance - 1, Pain Resistance - 3, Slashing Resistance - 2

Although it was comforting to see how many skills I had, I was a little worried, seeing how most of my active combat skills were level 1, and that my current HP wasn't nearly as high as I would have liked.

I reached into my surprisingly intact pocket, feeling for the insurance I had brought with me.

The health potion I received from a previous loot box.

At the time I got it, I considered it useless, which was a very dumb thought. The item's description stated how it would restore 10-20 HP, but if it went over my max health, there would be "drawbacks" or something like that.

Depending on how quickly I would heal, the potion could basically give me a second life during the fight. It was something that gave me enough confidence to actually try and come to this place.

Along with that, I had the Regenerate skill, which had already saved my life multiple times before.

And even if the potion and Regenerate aren't enough, I'm only 1 XP away from leveling up, so if I kill just one of the bosses, I should be healed to full HP while getting to level 4.

So, the plan would be simple. Hopefully, I would sneak inside behind a nearby piece of cover and try to Analyze the demons I see. They might be too high leveled for me to get a good read on them, but I would maybe get something out of it.

If I'm unable to see their levels, I'll wait until they're both extremely weak, or maybe wait until one is dead.

Once I feel confident, I'll jump in with a large number of skills activated. Looking at the list, I probably want Sprint and Blood Rush, while attacking with Double Hit. If the boss monster is uncomfortably fast, I'll also activate Time Dilation.

Hopefully, I'll kill the boss with that combination of skills before it even knows what's going on.

And if the bosses are weaker than I thought, I'll join the fight immediately, killing both of them and getting all the XP.

While strategizing, I had approached the battle. There was light glowing from an opening ahead of me, which appeared to be the entrance of a large room.

I took a deep breath, checking over my status one last time, before crouching low and peering into the boss room.

....

The space was massive, easily more than 120 feet long.

Along the walls, floor, and parts of the ceiling grew massive needle-like crystals, glowing a florescent black-purple. They looked so sharp you could spear yourself on them. Along with those crystals were huge stalagmite-like crags of rock growing from the floor, like boulders.

Spiderwebs, massive and overarching, grew across the room, covering the crystals and walls but leaving the central floor space wide-open. Giant, five-foot-tall egg sacks lay resting in those webs, nestled around the shadowy parts of the cavern.

The ceiling of the space was around forty feet above, give or take. It was hard to tell from my position.

There also seemed to be strange, glowing sigils marked around the room, about a dozen of them were scattered along the walls. Each glowed bright blue and emitted sparks of lightning.

But none of those things were what I noticed first.

I only saw the spider.

Tiletik Young Mother: Level ???

It had to be at least twenty feet long, and almost twice my height. Its huge legs were gnarled with muscles, and long, black spike-like hairs grew along every surface.

Its muscular torso seemed to glow, with its glistening black eyes ferociously staring down the enemy, its fangs each as long as my arms.

The Young Mother was covered in black blood, burns, and slashes marred every part of its body. Its fangs were cracked and smeared, massive marred wounds coated its head. But it did not stand afraid.

I almost started to shake, my knees going weak as I watched the enormous demon.

It's literally a tarantula the size of a fucking elephant.

Why would I ever think I could kill that thing.

Then, as it flung its massive body towards a floating blue creature, it barreled into the stone walls, and great streams of blood flew through the air. Dust and debris were flung across the cavern, nearly hitting me.

I realized I was standing straight out in the open, and sprinted across the edges of the room, throwing myself behind a large outcropping of those purple-black crystals. Each one was taller than I was, and the cluster of them completely hid my body.

Looking around the corner of the crystals, I tried to watch the frightening battle.

While the Tiletik Young Mother took up space with unrestrained ferocity and power, I could barely see its opponent.

The Young Mother's enemy was a small blue creature. I could make out wings, a tail, and a bright blue glow surrounding the demon, but it moved too fast and was too small for me to make out completely. But I could tell the demon couldn't have been more than three or four feet tall.

I watched the fight for maybe ten seconds, seeing the enormous tarantula throw itself across the cave and barrel into walls as it chased its opponent, while the small blue creature flung what looked like bolts of lightning at the Young Mother.

Cold sweat dripped down my body, my hands nearly shaking as I tried to follow the blurring monsters with my eyes.

The attacks of the two demons sent shockwaves ratcheting through the cave, shaking the walls.

I saw the small demon fly right in front of one of the glowing blue sigils in the wall, making the Young Mother charge into that direction. Once the giant spider hit the sigil, it exploded in waves of lightning, burning and singing the body of the massive Tiletik.

That blue demon was obviously lower-leveled, with much less power, and even it's lightning-bolts didn't seem to do much damage against the Tiletik. But it was making use of strategy and versatile magic, and it seemed like the blue demon was actually winning.

My mouth hung open as I tried to comprehend the battle, my instincts screaming at me to run away, but I felt like if I moved from cover, I would instantly die.

I focused on the blurring blue demon.

Was it... coming closer?

And then, the small demon dashed towards my location, nearly sitting on the cluster of crystals I hid behind.

The Tiletik Mother charged.

Oh.

As I saw the elephant-sized tarantula barrel towards me at the speed of a bullet train, Reflexes took over, skills flashing through my mind.

Sprint

Time Dilation

Regenerate

Persistence

Blood Rush

Block

The demon crashed into the crystals, waves of shattered glass and stone shrapnel flew towards me.

And then things got really bad.