Excited for a good fight, Cely pressed on. The density of webs began to increase, and as it did, the first few Oakland Spiders attacked her. It was only Tier 1 spiders, though, so they were dispatched in a heartbeat.
These spiders attack by first spewing poisonous acid at the target, before trying to jump them should the sneak attack miss.
Instead of devouring the little buggers, though, Cely kept them in her storage ring after dispatching them, so she could eat them later. This would decrease the quality and amount of energy, but better that than having to resort to her trump card because she angered that Monster God.
On that topic, Cely had noticed what kind of monster that Monster God was. It was a currently four-headed Chaos Hydra. Why currently?
Because Chaos Hydras, different from most other Hydra species, don't just regrow their heads. They regrow two heads for each head that is cut off.
The issue with the Chaos Hydra is that each new head comes with a new personality, and there is simply no limit to how many heads there can be. This has led to one Chaos Hydra at the Transcendent God Tier becoming a ball of millions of heads, calling itself "Cocophony".
It is completely intelligible when talking, as most heads try to overlap responses, making it utter nonsense. Cocophony is also trapped in an infinite argument with itself over who was the original personality, and the sound it creates drives any being below Tier 6 to insanity instantaneously.
Coming back to this Monster God, though, they are, of course, way weaker than Cocophony. Cely couldn't discern their exact power level, since she was too weak right now, but she could tell that this Monster God was not a Greater God or above.
These kinds of thoughts were swirling around her mind as she leisurely entered the cave where the main Oakland Spider colony resides. She had already killed about a thousand Tier 1 spiders and a handful of Tier 2. Now, though, she was entering the main event, so Cely started to concentrate on her surroundings.
Although what Cely was doing might seem reckless to some, considering she was seeking out the fight with an opponent she knew was likely to be above Tier 4, while she was only nearing the later stages of Tier 3, it was a calculated risk.
You see, although Cely might seem reckless, she really isn't. If she were a reckless person, with her work and the things she was working with, Earth and the entire universe it was in would have been doomed.
Even when she seems to lose control, it is partly because she lets herself bathe in the ecstasy she feels when torturing her enemies and partly because she knows the situation allows for it.
Her violence isn't random. It is controlled. And that makes her more dangerous.
The only thing she has started to notice is how her emotions seem to have been amplified in this new body.
Joy, anger, wrath, and pleasure all seemed so much more vivid.
Suddenly, Cely noticed some large movement to her left, as four Tier 3 spiders sprayed their acid in a large area. Jumping to the right, a sharp pain broke her concentration as a meter-long spider leg stuck out of her abdomen, laced in mercury-like blood.
Suddenly, all thought, all emotion calmed, as she spun her masked face to look at the assailant. She did so just fast enough to catch part of the Tier 4 spider that had pierced her in the process of unloaking.
'Stealth abilities capable of getting past my detection? This is a bit more dangerous than I thought.' Cely's eyes narrowed as her body made of mycelial roots dissolved on the spider leg. Most of herself tried to pierce the hard chitinous exoskeleton protecting the spider, but it wasn't working, since the Core Tier spider had prepared with an energy shield around its leg.
A laugh like chittering escaped from the spider's grotesque maw before it sprayed yellow, poisonous acid towards the mass Cely had become. Noticing the attack easily now, since the spider was no longer cloaked, she flung herself backward toward the three other spiders.
Her form reassembled in midair, her right hand swinging to shoot out five of her finger claws. Four of these claws pierced through the heads of the four Tier 3 Oakland Spiders, popping them like melons. While the last one u-turned midair and cut through the leg of the Tier 4 spider that had tried to chase Cely.
Swinging her other hand to store the dead bodies of the four spiders, Cely spun around to look at the last one remaining. Yellowish blood seeped out of the wound, as the spider chittered in pain, trying to look for an escape. It didn't think that Cely would survive after it had succeeded with its sneak attack, not to mention killing its kin and cutting off one of its front legs the next second.
This fear caused it to be distracted for a mere moment, and when it looked at where Cely stood, she was already gone.
"What are you thinking about?" A cold, emotionless voice echoed from above the spider, and before it had the time to look at Cely, her clawed hand smashed into its head, splattering its head across the webbed flower.
Pulling her hand out of the spider's head, Cely looked at the yellowish liquid coating it with interest. In mere moments, large parts of her hand began to dissolve under the corrosive liquid, while at the same time, some of it attempted to poison her, which didn't really work.
As she tried to use her devouring ability to absorb the liquid, Cely sadly noted her inability to do so before shaking off the acidic poison to avoid further damage.
'Seems like I can't devour everything yet. I really need to understand how this ability works when I reach Tier 6.' Cely thought, while keeping her attention on her surroundings in full force.
That some of these spiders have cloaking abilities that could escape even her notice was truly unexpected. But she would not make the same mistake twice.
Continuing, Cely continued slaughtering through waves of spiders, having reduced most of the lower-tier enemies. And then, a large open area appeared before her.
Natural light fell in glimmering rays through holes in the ceiling, though that was way less interesting than what that ceiling was. A singular tremendous web spanned the entire roof. Almost a thousand spiders of various sizes and strengths were scattered about.
In the center of it all, the Spider Matriarch's furious eyes stared at Cely.
"You will regret coming here! My children are hungry. A strong foe like you would make the perfect meal. Hahaha!" The spider's voice was grating.
"What a coincidence! I thought the same about you!" While Cely's was mocking.
And without warning, the figure of the Spider Matriarch and Cely blurred, before a large clash echoed in the center of the large cave. Cely slid backward, digging a trench through the ground as she tried to slow down, while the Spider Matriarch stood steadfast after the clash.
'This isn't just early Soul Tier. This Spider Matriarch was already at the later stages.' Cely's eyes narrowed dangerously as she thought about it.
There was only one way this could have happened: The Chaos Hydra gave this Spider Matriarch a treasure to break through further, so Cely would die here.
'Seems my kill list has a ninth name.'
Cely's eyes narrowed dangerously as she assessed the situation. The hydra was right. If she were only as strong as she had displayed during her battle with the Shadow Unicorns, she surely would not have been able to survive this encounter.
The issue being that that is far from her full strength.
Cely's arms swung to the sides, releasing all 10 claws into the air at once. The Matriarch, knowing the threat from the intel she was provided, started to get serious as well. With one small twitch of its back legs, hundreds of hair-thin, razor-sharp spider threads spread throughout the room and closed in on Cely's position.
Cely, faced with this, felt immense danger, but before she could properly react, the Matriarch released an ear-piercing screech, imbued with a soul attack. Luckily, she had her finger claws deployed, since they had an automatic defense functionality. It wasn't great, though, as most threads still reached her.
Cely couldn't recover from the soul attack in time before the threads reached her. From her right shoulder to her left ear, through her waist, and multiple more cuts diced her into pieces. Mercury-like blood spurted from the wounds, as her root-like insides started stitching themselves back together.
Her size, though, had decreased by a few centimeters. Showing how much of her had been destroyed. Before her body had even healed, her red eyes flashed as she willed the finger claws into the offensive.
The claws turned into blurs as they rushed towards the Matriarch unpredictably. The latter started to move its legs skillfully, as thousands more of the thin threads were controlled by the movements of its legs.
It sounded like the clashing of metal. Each strand managed to hold for one attack before being sliced through by the superior quality of the finger claws. Each clash created a small shockwave that billowed through the cave, creating tremors through the earth.
Suddenly, a spider leg appeared behind Cely, piercing towards her back. But instead of piercing through her, the leg hit empty air, as Cely's body seemed to part around the leg within a split second, before snapping shut on top of it.
"You really think I would fall for that again? Hehe"
The Tier 4 spider that used stealth to approach her tried to run away, but it was held firmly in place by Cely's body. The latter clenched her fist, smashing it into the head of the sneaky spider before it could attempt to spew its acid.
It was only at an early stage Tier 4, so it was far from matching Cely, its head popping from the impact, spraying yellow blood.
While this was happening, the exchange between the Matriarch and Cely continued, cracks starting to spread on the cave walls, though it was held together by the extensive spider webs acting as glue keeping the cave intact.
'I can't really use spells, since my energy reserves are nowhere near enough to cause enough damage to this thing. Seems like I have to rely on these Demi-Devinity Claws, eh?'
Thinking about her strategy while defending against the occasional offspring and simultaneously clashing with the Matriarch, Cely finally made up her mind.
The claws that were still clashing with the threads returned to her hands.
"Hahaha! Giving up, are we? Just lie down; I will make it quick! Khehehe!"
The Matriarch's grating and breathy voice echoed, trying to mock Cely, as she thought herself victorious over the latter.
Cely, though, just ignored her, as most of her energy entered the claws to activate a specific functionality. A light purple sheen overcame the claws, intensifying with each bit of Qi infused.
A smile appeared on Cely's face as she stretched out her left hand, as if to give a handshake.
"Darkness"
In a violet flash, the world turned black.