A single Noose Spider was not frightening.
In swarms, however, they were terrifying—one of the trickiest monsters in the outer regions of the Great Forest of Tob.
They spat webs at incredible speed. Once a group of Noose Spiders wrapped someone up, thick layers of silk would bind them in moments, making escape nearly impossible.
Their webbing was said to be extremely tough, a first-rate material.
But now was not the time to be thinking about that.
As Aaron sprinted through the jungle, he racked his brain for a way to shake off the mass of Noose Spiders behind him.
In a forest like this, his speed was constantly hampered.
The basketball-sized spiders, on the other hand, were barely affected. By spitting strands of silk and anchoring them to nearby trunks, they actually moved faster.
Whoosh!
A sharp whistle of air came from behind.
Without thinking, Aaron swung his sword backhand.
Pshhk!
The lead Noose Spider let out a shrill screech as his iron blade cut it cleanly in two, pale green viscous fluid splattering across the ground.
"EXP +23."
Huh?
He did not slow his steps, but his eyes flickered. That was a lot of EXP.
He thought of the mass of Noose Spiders chasing him. There had to be at least seventy or eighty of them, if not a full hundred.
If he could wipe them all out in one go,
that would be two to three thousand EXP—enough for two full levels.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Pinky-thick strands of webbing shot out from the swarm behind him, streaking toward Aaron in a dense volley.
He twisted his left foot,
slipping behind a thick tree and using the trunk to block the bulk of the threads.
A few strands hit the ground nearby. With a thought, he swung his iron sword down at them.
Thrum!
The webs bent under the blow, then snapped with a tight, springy sound.
Troublesome.
Feeling the elasticity in the strands, Aaron finally understood why this silk was considered such excellent magic material.
Thump!
His eyes narrowed. Planting a foot against the tree trunk, he kicked off and dashed forward again, leaving his previous spot.
In the blink of an eye, several Noose Spiders had already swarmed around the tree he had just been behind.
He had shaken them off once more, but the gap between them was shrinking fast.
"If only I had Druid, Forest Priest, or even Ranger-type skills, I wouldn't be in such a sorry state."
Sweat beaded on his forehead as he used the surrounding trees to continually dodge the incoming webs.
He could not keep this up.
He could clearly hear the hissing cries from the pursuing spiders now. At this rate, they would be on top of him soon.
Magic?
The only offensive spell he had was Magic Arrow, and against this many Noose Spiders, it would barely make a dent.
Wait.
Aaron's eyes lit up as he suddenly remembered another spell he had.
"Heating."
He gripped the iron sword tightly and murmured the spell name.
Heating could raise the temperature of any object he touched. The catch was that it took time, and the upper limit was not very high, so up to now he had only used it for making soup and warming food.
Even after spending a skill point to raise its tier, the improvement in practice was minimal, so he still thought of it as a kitchen spell.
But now,
it occurred to him: if it could heat anything he touched, could he not heat a weapon as well?
"Heating."
In barely ten seconds,
he could already feel the iron sword in his hand growing hot, the searing warmth creeping through the hilt into his palm.
Tsssk—
He raised his left hand, grabbed the sleeve of his rough linen shirt, and tore it off, wrapping it around the hilt.
That way, if the temperature climbed higher, it would not burn his hand.
A minute was not long. It passed in a flash.
By then, the iron sword in his hand had reached roughly 150 degrees. Heat shimmered off the blade.
The sword itself showed no visible change. Iron melted at well over 1,500 degrees; 150 was not nearly enough to make it glow.
Pfft!
The sound of white webbing shooting out came again.
This time,
Aaron did not dodge. Instead, he raised the red-hot iron sword and slashed into the incoming strands.
The webs that had been so tough before now parted effortlessly under the hot blade, sliced and scattered.
"As expected. No matter how tough webbing is, it has no resistance to heat."
"Now it's my turn."
A grin tugged at his lips as his eyes went cold, fixing on the onrushing swarm of Noose Spiders.
Their true menace lay in their incredibly strong webbing.
But now,
with a superheated sword that cut webs like paper,
well—
Aaron slammed a foot into the ground, stopping his retreat. Then he charged forward instead, sprinting straight at the spiders.
"Fourfold Slash of Light!"
With a low shout, he swung his sword. Four dark afterimages flashed through the air.
The blazing blade not only sliced apart the dense barrage of silk coming at him, it also cut down the four lead spiders in an instant.
"EXP +21."
"EXP +27."
"EXP +22."
"EXP +25."
"Hiss!"
"Hiss!"
"Hiss!"
"…!"
A chorus of shrill hisses filled the air.
Because Aaron had stopped running, the Noose Spiders quickly surrounded him.
They scuttled along the branches all around, their legs rasping and hissing as blood-red eyes fixed on Aaron, who stood atop a thick carpet of leaves.
Pff—pff—
Dozens of strands of white webbing erupted from their abdomens all at once. Working together, they wove a complex net in midair and sent it dropping toward him.
"Useless."
Aaron bared his teeth in a smile and casually slashed upward.
The sticky web, thick as a tarp, was instantly cut in half by the hot blade and fell in two pieces to the ground.
For a moment, the mass of spiders froze in place at the sight.
"The slaughter starts now."
Aaron kicked off and rushed to a nearby tree, planting a foot against the trunk and leaping up into the air.
"Fourfold Slash of Light!"
Pshff!
Pshff!
Pshff!
"EXP +27."
"EXP +25."
...
Notifications began to flood his status panel.
The Noose Spiders' bodies went flying in chunks, pale green foul-smelling fluid raining from above until the very air stank.
Without their webs to hinder him, these spiders might as well have been lambs on a butcher's block.
______
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