His body plummeted into a dark abyss, reminiscent of death.
But his body did not succumb to it or yield to intimidation. Instead, he sharpened his senses to know when he was going to fall and thus avoid breaking a bone.
The moment he felt he was approaching something, he bent forward, fell to the ground, and rolled over it.
It didn't take him long to get to his feet, sword raised, senses sharpened, and ready to defend himself in case of a deadly attack.
The darkness in here was terrifying; he could hardly see anything in front of him, behind him, or above him...
'Nor...'
He frowned.
What was this? A trap?
Quite unlikely, though very possible.
It was unlikely that it was a trap where he had no other choice but to die, but it was very likely that it was a trap where the spider was hiding in the darkness and would attack from there.
It wouldn't be the first time he had seen something like this, although it was the first time he had done so when he was so weak that even his senses couldn't perceive anything.
He kept his guard up and took a few steps into the darkness, not knowing where he was going. The fact that he couldn't even see the ground meant that he was in constant danger with every step he took, but he didn't bother to pay attention to the nyctophobia that was coming over him.
His steps stopped suddenly, and he spun around, raising his sword above his head.
CLANK!
The impact reverberated in his head and pushed him several feet backward, momentarily stunning him.
Although he managed to quickly focus and look above him.
He couldn't see the name or its figure. He could only see two intense red eyes and fluorescent legs that revealed its location.
He couldn't see it, but he knew who it was.
"Queen Spider."
He smiled.
"I haven't seen you in a few hours... it seems you've become miniature." He taunted.
The spider there emitted a strange sound from its peculiar, imperceptible mouth, which revealed the location of its teeth through the smoke that issued from it.
'Serious mistake.'
Xiaotian gripped his sword. He knew the spider could see him clearly and that its webs had to be nearby, but he knew even more that now was the time to kill it.
His first steps were extremely small, but they were not taken with the intent to attack. Rather... to gain momentum!
His body shot forward with the momentum of those small steps and quickly reached the vicinity of the enormous spider.
Although he called it "miniature," it was not. It was 2.5 meters tall in its current position, but compared to the 15 meters of that colossal spider, it was nothing.
His sword struck the nearest leg with thunderous power, exploding with a loud sound. At the same time, he grabbed onto it, allowing the spider to shake him upward as he tried to escape the pain.
In midair, he let go of the spider's leg and ended up falling on top of it.
Even so, he had underestimated the spider's perception, which knew his location at all times.
"GRAWR!" His mouth spewed smoke again, as his powerful breath moved to the rhythm of his two front legs that attacked upwards in a semi-vertical manner.
CLANK!
The attack landed squarely on Xiaotian's raised sword, which was unable to withstand the onslaught.
BOM!
His body was sent flying toward the top of the black ball, and he braced himself for the impact on the ball's walls...
But that never happened.
'Am I falling?' he thought, in shock.
He couldn't see anything again; the beast had disappeared from his field of vision, but his senses told him he was falling.
'I see. This ball is not just any normal ball. It's special in every way, it's a real item!'
He didn't understand what kind of item it was, but if it had no walls or if they were so far apart, it was an amazing item!
A very high rank, perhaps... Legendary?
He wanted it for himself.
He recalculated the moment he would touch the ground to avoid breaking a bone.
But this time, it didn't let him.
He felt the danger coming from behind, and it wasn't just any danger.
'Web!'
He knew immediately just by feeling the movement of the wind, so he was able to turn around in mid-fall and swing his sword to break it in half.
SWING!
His successful defense was immediately interrupted by an attack from one of the spider's legs, but he still managed to dodge it when he finally hit the ground.
'It's hard to sense when it's not attacking personally, but once it does, it's easy to defend against,' he thought as he jumped backward, under brutal attack from all the spider's legs and several webs trying to trap him.
Each attack from the spider was more brutal than the last, but it didn't leave a scratch on the mysterious black floor of the place.
It was solid; both of them could walk on it. But it didn't make a sound or break under such a strong impact.
'I want it.'
He had never felt such an urgent desire to obtain an item since the time he took the sword from a legendary fighter in the ruins.
His evasive movements soon stopped, and he ran back toward the spider, which was quickly repositioning itself. This time, he was faster than it and managed to strike one of its legs before lunging at the other.
The sound of metal striking metal was the only thing audible, mingling with their breathing and the occasional angry groans of the spider.
Its attacks stopped when each leg had been struck a total of eight times.
"Guah!" The spider let out a cry into the air, fiery anger overflowing from its mouth.
'Now.' Xiaotian chuckled to himself and quickly jumped on top of it. It wasn't that big, but he knew that attacking its body directly from the start didn't make much sense. It was overly protected, even if he couldn't see it.
In fact... not seeing it was the perfect example of that. Its legs weren't protected, which is why they could glow in the dark, but everything he couldn't see was what he shouldn't try to attack.
He knew that attack pattern.
This was like a video game.
And he was the high-level player who came to challenge a low-level dungeon in that video game... just for fun.