Eric's eyebrows twitched as he stared at the massive, grotesque orb hanging from the ceiling.
It hung in the middle of the huge, empty room, submerged and covered in a strange, white, sticky substance. It was wrapped like a colossal ball, and inside... were countless human heads, fused together and encased in a horrifying, fleshy mess.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of faces—contorted in agony and horror, screaming silently. Most of the faces had largely decayed and were unrecognizable, yet the horror and terror in their expressions were vivid on each one.
Eric didn't know what to say… Though he soon came to his senses and 'slapped' a certain large spider trying to sneak up on them with his Telepathic Slap.
The deep-reddish spider, nearly 10 meters in diameter, was slapped away, as it hadn't expected a giant invisible palm to strike it from thin air.
Lyria and Livy snapped out of their daze and were about to retaliate when Eric waved them off. "Leave this one to me. See if you can find that pond and deal with the smaller ones."
Lyria and Livy gave a quick nod before bolting toward the other end of the warehouse.
They avoided approaching or even glancing at the appalling orb at the center of the hall. They felt staying any longer might make them vomit everything they'd eaten that morning.
Lyria punched through the far door and left the warehouse with Livy, heading toward the water body she'd spotted.
Eric turned his attention to the colossal spider and smirked. The spider was definitely seeing stars, as even its large 'cute' eyes—which resemble a devil's—was rolling everywhere.
He had enlarged his Telepathic Slap to its maximum size, which was around two meters, before striking it. Compared to the spider's bulk, it was negligible, but if targeting only its main body, excluding limbs, it was just a few meters oval, hairy ball.
He glanced toward from where they had entered and noticed the smaller spiders hadn't dared enter the warehouse, instead chasing the girls by going around it.
He focused back on the massive spider, which seemed to have recovered, but the slap appeared to have put some sense into it as it just glared at him with venomous, penetrating dark eyes.
Normally, anyone would freeze while being stared at by such large, bloodthirsty eyes, which seemed to be dripping venom from their gaze alone. Yet Eric, as well as Lyria and Livy, were starting to get used to all these abnormal, exotic-looking creatures.
That was what gaining experience was all about—to be calm-headed no matter the situation.
Both spider and human simply stared at each other, neither moving.
'Is this spider really the final boss and the leader of all the smaller ones?' Eric wondered.
He could guess from its presence that it was definitely a Newborn stage Rank 2 Mana Beast. It usually had every right to call itself the "final boss." However, could a Newborn Rank 2 truly take over an entire village? Especially one of this size?
He was feeling something was amiss.
He tried to recall the information they had on Crimson Tide Spiders.
These creatures were biologically too different from normal spiders. Well, all Mana Beast species were different, so that wasn't important. However, what was that, they seemed to grow by feeding on other creatures, including humans, but they needed a huge amount of sacrifice to advance in their Ranks.
He casually glanced toward the large showpiece "bag" hanging from the ceiling and felt this spider was truly disappointing. It still hadn't finished devouring its breakfast—or perhaps was enjoying it slowly? Or was this about collecting trophies?
As he was pondering, his eyelid twitched. He suddenly started having a terrible premonition as he sensed two more Newborn stage Rank 2 and a few more Newborn stage Rank 1's unrestrained presence a little farther away.
He decided that it was better to end this Crimson Tide Spiders arc as soon as possible; otherwise, something terrible might happen.
Right at this moment, the giant spider attacked. It opened its jaw and spat out a thick, purple, poisonous-looking spiderweb at Eric.
The web shot toward Eric with extreme speed, but before it could reach a meter in front of him, it slowed down countless times.
Eric had long activated his invisible Space Shield in front of him. He was actually somewhat disappointed with this ability. He had tried numerous times and found it blocked both his and his enemies' attacks, so he also couldn't attack from behind the "wall." Perhaps leveling up might help in that endeavor.
Eric swiftly recalled the information on the spider's ability:
Venomous Webs: The Crimson Tide Spider can spin webs that are not only incredibly strong and sticky but also coated with potent venom that can paralyze or even kill weaker Mana Creatures on contact. The venom is so potent that it can dissolve the victim's flesh if trapped for an extended period.
Eric had lost the mood to play this slowly. He blinked above the spider and punched it using his Telepathic Slap. He didn't hold back, letting the punch reach maximum momentum before smashing it from above.
The punch connected. The spider, whose agility was higher than Eric's, had no time to dodge, as it hadn't even noticed when Eric had appeared above it. It let out a strange squeak and was buried deep inside the wet floor.
BOOM!
The entire warehouse shook but didn't collapse.
Eric stood beside the new crater and glanced below. Soon after, he frowned as he had to use his Space Shield to block another Venomous Web. In other words, the spider was still not injured enough despite him using almost the full extent of his Telepathic Slap's punch.
It was similar to punching someone from an inch away versus punching properly from a meter or two away. The difference in power between them was huge.
The spider's constitution seemed far superior to the Thunder Panther's. Well, it wasn't a Mystical type and Rank 2 for nothing.
The spider leaped out of the crater and stood opposite Eric.
Eric released the Venomous Web, and it disappeared so fast that both barely perceived it. It flew out of the warehouse, leaving a hole in the ceiling.
Although the spider avoided being completely crippled by Eric's punch, it was still injured. Dark red blood flowed from its abdomen and jaw; three of its eight legs were limp, probably broken or fractured.
The spider finally stared at Eric with dread in its large eyes.
From its perception, Eric was no different from a mid-stage Rank 1 Mana Wielder. It had killed and devoured quite a few of this rank just within this very village. Thus, it never imagined it would be so severely injured by this human. Moreover, it hadn't even been able to perceive how this human had moved or attacked.
Eric, on the other hand, had originally planned to fight using only his physical stats. However, he abandoned this approach the moment he realized the situation in this village was much bigger than he had originally thought. If his guess was correct, it would be extremely dangerous to stick around here. It was best to leave this village as fast as possible.
The Crimson Tide Spider stared at Eric's unmoved expression and felt its internal alarm rising. Its instincts screamed that it might actually die if it didn't escape quickly. This human was just too unreasonably strong and unpredictable.
So, with its remaining five working legs, it tried to escape at its fastest speed.
Eric was speechless.
Since he had already involved himself in this mess, he planned to finish off all the Mana Beasts in this village as quickly as possible.
Just as the spider was about to leave the warehouse, Eric once again appeared above its head and punched with his ability.
It seemed the spider had learned its lesson, as it also turned upward and spat its favorite Venomous Web directly at him.
However, Eric didn't give a shit and punched through with his Telepathic Slap, sending both his strike and the web right back at it.
BOOM!
With a thunderous boom, the spider was once again shoved deep into the ground.
Finally, the warehouse couldn't hold and started falling apart.
Eric calmly directed his Telepathic Slap to move away the falling debris above his head while glancing below.
He was truly amazed—this spider was indeed highly intelligent. It had learned from its mistake and woven a barrier of web above itself before getting crushed, though it was still severely injured from the punch.
Web Shield: Crimson Tide Spiders can create a shield of interlocking webs around themselves, which can block most Physical and Spell attacks.
Eric didn't delay further. He used his Disappearance and jumped below.
The spider glared at Eric venomously, but then the human suddenly vanished into thin air. It had excellent vision and senses, so it knew the human hadn't jumped below or teleported above it like he had twice before. So, it concluded that the human had most likely gone to support his two companions from earlier.
Just as it sighed in relief internally, it suddenly let out a high-pitched, shrill cry.
Its eyes shook. It barely managed to glance upward to notice that the human had unknowingly arrived and had already stabbed a sharp, long object right through its body, destroying its heart.
'H-how?'
Tragically, it never received an explanation, and the nearly 10-meter-long Crimson Tide Spider lost its life and lay limp.
Eric breathed a sigh of relief.
He swiftly covered the spider with his Mana and stored it inside his pocket watch.
There was no way he would leave such a treasure behind. It could be sold whole, or its various body parts could be crafted into armor, weapons, and so on. Its Mana Core was also extremely useful.
Mana Cores were usually very small—almost the size of a ping-pong ball—regardless of their owner's rank. However, they were countless times sturdier than whatever the Beast's constitution was.
Mana Cores were theoretically indestructible—though, of course, this wasn't entirely true—but they were very difficult to destroy.
A Mana Core was where a Mana Beast's Mana was stored. Not all Beasts had cores; for example, most Spirit-type Mana Beasts didn't have any or were hard to collect.
For a Mana Beast, its core was as vital as its brain or heart—they couldn't survive without it, and even receiving injuries near it was very lethal to them.
As far as Eric was aware, Mana Cores could only be used as an extremely potent "battery." Artifacts often used them as power sources; they could also be used to set up arrays.