The boss encounter entered what could be described as the second stage of the fight. Without half her legs, the Widow Queen could no longer properly balance herself so she took to air. She shot web projectiles in a spiral around her and attached dozens of thick and sticky threads to the walls, the ceiling and each corner of the hall.

Bones looked on in astonishment as the Widow suspended herself in the air and let out a long and almost silent: "hiiisss". Hundreds of small spiders the size of a fist crawled out of every nook and cranny in the walls of the hall. Bones directed Skully to move, circle the hall and try to reach the Widow while avoiding the spiderlings.

Skully followed command and circled the hall while avoiding most of the spiders but was ultimately overrun. Bones watched as hundreds of spiders swarmed his golem and harrumphed in annoyance.

He dismissed the command to try and reach the Queen and instead, commanded his golem to rush toward him. With great effort, Skully moved and when he was close enough, Bones blasted him away with the fully powered Mana Blast. The blast sent Skully flying and hitting the wall, gnashing the few surviving spiders behind his back. Skully's leather armor was torn apart and his left hand was missing. Fortunately, Skully was right handed and still held onto his spear. Bones threw a glance at the Widow and casted Mana Blast again, blasting away the encroaching spiders.

Seeing its spiderlings squashed to a pulp, The Widow raged and wailed. A prolonged high pitch sound hit Bones, without any effect. He turned to Scully and saw that he too, wasn't bothered by what seemed to be a mental attack or the damage he received from Mana Blast for that matter.

This didn't happen in a dungeon run with the dwarves. Back then, we had already killed the boss by now. Is it because me and Skully are taking too long? Hm?

Bones noticed something strange happening around him. All the blood of the spiderlings started moving and gathering into green blobs of blood and then taking off the ground and levitating toward the suspended Widow. Bones didn't interrupt the process, but continued watching in amazement. He had never witnessed something like that.

Is the queen going to…

Just as he thought, the Widow started absorbing the liquid blobs and her missing legs started growing back at an accelerated rate.

Oh no you don't!

Bones summoned four Bone Lances and started waving his arms in motion to attack. He commanded Skully to rush under the queen and go bonkers on her. Before Skully reached the boss, Bones casted a barrage of attacks. The Widow raised her intact legs in front of her to shield against the projectiles while Skully slipped under her and, like Bones directed, went crazy on her.

The Widow screeched and recoiled from the attack. She instinctively lowered her legs to protect her abdomen while smashing Skully away. Bones saw an opening he was waiting for and in grand and wide movements of his hands, guided and unleashed a precise barrage of attacks, aiming for the Widow's vitals like her neck and eyes.

In a short span of two seconds, a dozen projectiles hit their target as the Queen swayed from the impact, still suspended in the air. The damage was fatal, Bones was sure of it! The Widow was on her last legs, so to speak, but Bones knew it wasn't over yet. She still had a strand of life left and at this point, she was most dangerous.

Skully and Bones backed away as the Widow dropped to the ground, her huge body raising dust from the impact. Bones observed her body as she laid still but didn't approach. She still had thick threads attached to the walls and he was ready for any imminent danger that might come his way. So he sent Skully to poke the Queen.

Skully approached the Queen and poked her like he was about to ask her for directions. The moment he did, the Queen grabbed hold around his body and jerked herself back in the air, leaving the abdomen detached on the ground. Bones watched the bizarre scene thinking how glad he was that he was undead, because fuck this right here.

The Widow bit down, penetrating Skully's head and started absorbing vitality to no effect from the empty headed golem.

"DAMNIT SKULLY!" Bones yelled. It wasn't Skully's fault and he knew that, but the damage on the golem accumulated and just thinking of all the repairs he would have to do after the fight…made Bones wince. He quickly opened up his inventory and browsed through, stopping at the item he was looking for.

He immediately took out the adventurer's necessities kit and threw it on the ground. He couldn't remember when he acquired the basic kit but he was glad he did.

He kneeled and shuffled through the backpacking tent, sleeping bag and a torch. He picked up the torch, lit it up and threw it under the Widow, where the detached abdomen was.

Bones gambled, hoping that the acid the spider glands produced was flammable. His gamble paid off as the abdomen combusted abruptly and the fire reached the Queen in an instant, swallowing her and Skully in a blaze.

The Widow let go of Skully and he dropped to the ground while she screeched and trashed in the air. Bones dashed toward Skully, picked him up and rolled away, expecting for The Widow to drop to the ground too. He turned around and heard multiple sounds dinging in his head.

The widow hung motionless from her web in the middle of the hall. Her body burned to a crisp before she, too, dropped to the ground. Bones released his grasp on Skully, letting him collapse to the ground and approached the singed corpse of the Queen. He kneeled beside the body and ripped out a medium mana stone from her chest.

*sigh* In the end, no mana core…

He wasn't expecting a mana core as the chance to drop another one was low, but he still felt disappointed. He would have to count on an upcoming heist to acquire one. Bones looted the shell parts of the Widow's carapace and a steel spider silk. A few shell parts were singed from the fire and some were completely ruined.

A shield made from the carapace and leggings laid next to a mound of ash that was the spider's abdomen not even a minute ago. He picked up and stored the shield and took a proper look at the thick and hairy leggings.

They…they look like giant, spider's legs! I'm beginning to think people craft gear because of drops like these!

After looting the body, Bones turned to Skully. He decided to loot the body first because Skully would require sustained attention for a prolonged period of time. He approached the singed and damaged golem that stood still, awaiting further instructions.

Kneel. Bones commanded and Skully kneeled. Bones leaned over the skull and saw the Widow hit the core with her jaws. He extended his hand through the hole and touched the golem's core, identifying it. He swore, then grabbed the core and ripped it out of Skully's head after severing the connection between the core and the skeleton.

He observed the golem’s core and it seemed intact, just drained of mana. He stored it in inventory to recharge and glanced at the golem. Skully would have to wait just a bit more. There are important notifications he had to go through.

Level up!

Congratulations, you have gained a level 31 in Bonemancer Adept class

Level up in a class as expected!

Congratulation, your skill Bone Armor has reached level 20

Upgrades available: 2

Synergy between Bone Armor and Mend Bones detected

Bone Armor > Bone Aura

Bone Armor > Hulking Armor

Two upgrades available? Surprising!

Bone Aura [passive] - Permanently wraps a thin layer of hardened armor around the user and grants the ability to repair the damage over time.

The rate at which the armor mends depends on the level of Mend Bones skill and is not affected by attributes.

Levels in Bone Aura Increase the effectiveness of armor and the rate at which the armor repairs. The armor is affected by the Calcium Carbonate skill.

Mana cost is removed

Hulking Armor [active] - Grants the ability to exponentially increase defense by temporarily boosting the armor mass. The armor is affected by the Calcium Carbonate skill. Ability can be empowered, further increasing the effects of armor and Calcium Carbonate skill at increased mana cost.

Effectiveness and duration of armor increases with levels in Hulking Armor.

Bones paced back and forth, mulling over his choices. He wanted to have Bone Armor on at all times and he was given a choice of upgrade to do just that, but he could see the advantages in Hulking Armor. Having a higher defense was tempting! Even more so knowing he could empower an armor, increasing his defense further and thanks to his level 10 racial skill, armor scaled with VIT attribute. Not to mention that he could still actively use Mend Bones, without reduced effectiveness unlike with Bone Aura.

By all means, Hulking Armor seemed like the better choice of two and yet…Bones had a hard time deciding. Hulking Armor would give him a jump in overall strength immediately while he needed what Bone Aura offered for what he had planned in the future.

Ultimately, Bones decided not to give in to the temptation and believe what he had planned would prove more useful longterm.

Are you sure you want to upgrade Bone Armor > Bone Aura?

Yes/No?

Bones accepted and felt changes taking place. He removed the equipment and extended his hand. He saw a thin layer of bone manifest and wrap itself over his hand, then arm, following the rest of his body. The whole process lasted maybe a minute, and when it was done. He observed the changes.

The new armor was smooth and slightly thinner than his previous Bone Armor, but he could feel it was sturdier, providing more defense. The armor wrapped tightly around his bones, like a skin covering his skeleton and had the creamy-white color of ivory. Without the body tissue, he still had a thin frame, but Bones wasn't going for the looks. As long as the new layer provided protection and helped better fit his equipment, he was satisfied.

"Alright", he turned to Skully, "-it's your turn now!"

He circled the golem and closely inspected the damage done. Quite a lot of bones need repairing. Luckily, he was more proficient in Bone Shaping and Bone Manipulation now. The gear and the core will take time to recover. Nothing I can do about that. Bones took out his engraving tools and started working on the bones. He had bones of correct size and shape but needed engraving done on them which occupied the rest of the day.

When he was done, he let the skill Create Bone Golem and system do their thing and easily replaced the damaged bones. He didn't know or understand exactly how all the bones just…"clicked" together, but he was glad he had one thing less to worry about.

Skully was set and ready to become operational again but the golem’s core was…half empty or half full, as Bones liked to think. It seems the core takes longer to recharge than equipment needed repairing. Or maybe it's because the golem's core has that much more mana capacity?

Regardless, Bones decided to stay for a bit longer and wait for the golem's core to recharge. He couldn't enter meditation anymore so he took out engraving tools once more and started working on the next step of his plan to strengthen himself.

If I'm not mistaken, just like the first time I tried to modify my bones, this will be painful…extremely painful!

Bones had this idea that to compensate for the lack of body enhancement, reinforcement or whatever the skill was called, he would engrave and eventually inscribe runes on his own bones. He tested if engraving bones worked by constructing the golem with engraved bones and it worked well.

The difference in the golem's fighting potential with and without engraved bones wasn't small and after infusing his golem with the golem's core, that disparity was worlds apart! His golem could now actually fight on par with monsters his level even though the level of the golem was still too low for the monsters he was fighting.

Bones started small, engraving the fingers of his hand and he was right, the pain was excruciating! He chipped at his bony fingers, making incisions on the sides and after an hour, he had to take a break.

*grooaan* "Gods…fucking…”

He gritted his teeth, the pain was…affecting the precision he was working with. He merely finished with his thumb and started working on his index finger when he had to stop. What he was doing was self mutilation, but he didn't plan to give up. He displayed the red flashing of the warning notification and dismissed it. He expected what the warning would be about and understood what he was getting into. Once the pain subdued, he continued…