Pepper and the black rabbit play a symphony of slashes, as a three-star possibility beckons the hero.
With a Climb Kick, Pepper sent the Crown Spider crashing to the ground, landing deftly on the spiral staircase-like ledges of the hollowed tree. Seconds later, a thunderous boom shook the cavernous trunk from below.
"Score! Pulled it down!" Pepper exclaimed.
"Nice one, Pepper-han!" Aitoile cheered from his shoulder.
Having destroyed its spinnerets, the Crown Spider could no longer rebuild its nest. Though it retained its legs, its attacks were likely limited to climbing or ramming with its massive bulk.
Glancing up, Pepper noticed rocks and logs tangled in the remnants of the spider's web. Cutting the threads with a blade could turn those into damaging projectiles.
"Those could work, huh, Pepper-han?" Aitoile said.
"Yeah, but that'd be… boring," Pepper replied with a grin.
With Aitoile perched on his shoulder, he descended the tree's ledges, carefully choosing a height that avoided fall damage.
"Pepper-han, you dragged it down because…" Aitoile began.
"I wanted to face the Crown Spider head-on in a ground fight," Pepper finished.
Despite High Beat's stamina recovery penalty, Pepper reached the bottom with Aitoile. The Crown Spider loomed, brandishing its forelegs and screeching, clearly furious at being grounded.
In pure melee, the spider's size and strength outclassed them. A direct fight risked being crushed under its bulk.
But that was exactly why Pepper fought. To surpass Tyranogiraffe and Kaiserion Caucasus, to slap Night Assault Lycaon's rear, he couldn't stumble against an area boss like the Crown Spider.
"Time to finish this, jester spider! Get ready!" Pepper declared.
With Accel's cooldown ended, he reignited it alongside Hydrate Work. Channeling strength into his toes, he kicked off the ground, charging the Crown Spider.
As it swung its forelegs to crush him, Pepper feinted with a backstep, switching his Marsh Dagger to a reverse grip. Combining Ladder Slash and Horizontal Slash, he sliced through its left foreleg and the second leg back, destabilizing its left side.
"GIIIIIIIII!" the spider wailed.
"Pepper-han! It's charging!" Aitoile warned.
"Thanks, Aitoile!" Pepper replied.
The Crown Spider gathered strength in its four right legs, aiming to sandwich them between its bulk and the tree. But Moon Jumper's cooldown had ended. Pepper leaped to the spiral ledges, dodging the charge, and swapped his Marsh Dagger for the Vorpal Chopper, etched with Lycaon's Afterglow.
Using Quintuple Jump, he aimed Spike Edge at the spider's head from above. But the Crown Spider, reacting to his killing intent, moved its uninjured left leg, narrowly dodging the strike.
"I thought I'd crippled its mobility, but it's still quick!" Pepper grunted.
"Pepper-han, I'll take the right legs! Finish it!" Aitoile called.
"Got it!" Pepper replied.
Aitoile leaped from his left arm toward the right legs. Pepper feigned following her, then used Thunder Turn to pivot left at a right angle, targeting an uninjured right leg with Neck Snap. He sliced through the joint's gap, crippling its evasion.
"Jester spider, those legs are mine!" Aitoile shouted.
Her Storm Naginata: Tiger Roar flashed, unleashing Peerless Flash Strike. Two of the four right legs shattered, and the foreleg hung by a thread, deeply gashed.
The Crown Spider collapsed, unbalanced.
"Pepper-han! End it!" Aitoile urged.
"On it!" Pepper roared.
With his highest jump and the game's physics, he poured his weight into the Vorpal Chopper's blade, driving it into the spider's head with Vertical Slash. The blade's essence—press and pull—split the Crown Spider's face in two.
The critical hit erupted, the spider's polygons exploding like a volcano, scattering drop items. A "Area Boss Defeated" result screen flashed before Pepper.
"Crown Spider, your ambushes from the dark and raw power on the ground were worthy of an area boss," Pepper said. "But this time, Aitoile and I win."
Stowing the Vorpal Chopper and re-equipping his Traveler's Cloak, he high-fived Aitoile, celebrating their victory.
They collected the Crown Spider's drops and moved on, crossing Senchibankou's Jungle Hollow to reach Fosfosie—the fourth town, a pioneers' haven beyond the miasma-filled Valley of the Dead.
Arriving in Fosfosie, Pepper hid Aitoile in his cloak, weaving through crowds to reach the weapon shop. The next area's enemies were mostly Cursed Spirits or Undead Types, requiring Holy Water consumables, holy-infused weapons, or a cleric/mage in the party to deal damage. Lacking holy weapons and with Aitoile's Drunken Breath or Yasha Slash as his only options, Pepper needed to bolster his arsenal.
"Hey there!" he greeted, entering the shop.
"Well, hello! Are you… Pepper-san?" a stout woman, likely the shopkeeper, asked.
"That's me," Pepper confirmed.
"My, my, all the way from Secandil—well done! My master, the white-bearded smith, told me to lend you my skills if you stopped by," she said.
So, she was a disciple of Secandil's master smith. That guy must be a legend, Pepper thought.
"So, you can upgrade my Madness Breaker?" he asked.
"Indeed," she replied, then dropped a bombshell. "But you'll need one of these: Gear Metal from the Shindai Iron Ruins near Thirdrema, Energy Stone from Senchibankou's Jungle Hollow's mining spots, or Bullet Rock from Eikosuisui's Dead Crater Lake."
The Lock-on Breaker, forged in Fasteia from Garock Worm materials, had been refined into the Madness Breaker in Secandil using marshland minerals. This hammer, born from the earth's bounty, could evolve into distinct forms based on minerals from Thirdrema's areas—a unique weapon with growth potential.
The Hidden Potential of a Unique Weapon
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