Spider Cave was dark.
As soon as Lu Tiechen stepped inside, the webs around the entrance blocked out most of the light behind him.
The air smelled damp and rank. The earth beneath his feet was soft and sticky.
White webs covered both walls. Some had yellowed with age, holding the remains of rabbits, wild dogs, and other small monsters.
This was nothing like Boar Slope outside.
Grayhide Boars were fierce, but at least their movements were easy to follow.
Spider Cave was cramped, dark, and full of tricky terrain. And poison.
For ordinary players, a place like this was far more dangerous than an open hunting area.
Another system notification appeared.
[You have entered Spider Cave.]
[Current Area: Danger Zone]
[Exploring with a party is recommended.]
Lu Tiechen glanced at it and kept walking.
Before long, he heard a faint scraping overhead.
Rustle.
Rustle.
He stopped.
A dark shape dropped from the ceiling.
[Lv.7 Venommarked Spider]
The Venommarked Spider wasn't enormous, but it was wider than an ordinary wild dog. Its eight slender legs braced against the ground, and its body sprang upward. Its mouthparts opened, spraying a thin stream of pale green venom straight at Lu Tiechen's face.
He sidestepped.
The venom hit the ground with a faint, corrosive hiss.
He didn't rush to attack.
Venommarked Spiders were different from boars and Fanged Hounds.
They were light, quick, and had more ways to attack.
Pounces, venom sprays, silk bindings. Every one of them was more troublesome than the monsters he had faced before.
Especially here, where there was so little room to dodge.
Lu Tiechen tightened his grip on the Glimmer Iron Sword, studying the spider's leg joints.
Before each movement, its two front legs drew inward, then its rear legs pushed off hard.
It reminded him of the changes in a material just before a forging blow landed. What looked chaotic followed a pattern.
The Venommarked Spider lunged again.
This time, Lu Tiechen stepped diagonally forward instead of retreating.
A leg scraped across his shoulder, leaving a shallow mark on the Toughhide Tunic.
[Health -14]
With his improved Defense, a Basic Attack like that was no longer much of a threat.
He swung backhanded, cutting into the joint of the spider's second leg on the left.
-36!
A faint silver light shone along the edge of the Glimmer Iron Sword.
[Glimmer effect activated.]
[Weak-Point Armor Penetration]
The spider shrieked, one side of its body buckling.
Lu Tiechen's eyes brightened.
It worked.
The sword's armor-penetrating effect was more pronounced when he hit a weak point.
The spider's shell wasn't especially thick, but the joints connecting its legs were fragile. Break the supports it moved on, and its speed would drop sharply.
The spider tried to retreat, opening its mouthparts again.
Lu Tiechen tilted his head before it fired.
Venom flew past his cheek.
His next thrust went into its underside.
-41!
The Venommarked Spider twitched a few times, collapsed, and dissolved into motes of light.
[You have killed a Venommarked Spider.]
[Higher-level kill. Experience reward increased.]
[You have gained: 68 Experience Points.]
[You have obtained: Venommarked Spider Silk.]
Lu Tiechen picked up the drop.
[Venommarked Spider Silk]
[Material]
[Description: Mildly poisonous spider silk. Suitable for tailoring and alchemy, or as a special supplementary forging material.]
His gaze lingered on the last phrase.
A supplementary forging material.
Spider silk could be used in forging?
In reality, of course, you couldn't use silk to forge iron.
But the rules of Age of the Ancient Gods seemed more flexible than the real world's.
Perhaps he could wrap a grip with Venommarked Spider Silk. Perhaps it could improve grip stability, or even give a weapon a mild poison effect.
He put the silk away and continued deeper into the cave.
The route ahead was more troublesome than he had expected.
Venommarked Spiders didn't spawn one at a time.
Sometimes one clung to the ceiling while another hid in a crevice.
One careless moment could leave him caught between them.
Lu Tiechen didn't hurry.
Every short stretch, he studied the walls and floor.
Were the webs fresh?
Were there drag marks on the ground?
Was something trembling overhead?
To ordinary players, those details might be nothing more than environmental textures. To Lu Tiechen, they were all clues to danger.
When the second Venommarked Spider sprang from a crevice on his left, he turned half a step early and severed a front leg.
When the third spat silk, he didn't simply dodge. He angled his sword upward, hooking the silk onto a protruding rock on the wall.
The fourth was the worst.
It hid behind a large web and sprayed venom as he approached.
He avoided a direct hit, but venom still grazed his left arm.
[You have been exposed to venom.]
[Poisoned: Lose 2 Health per second for 15 seconds.]
[Movement Speed reduced by 10%.]
The spreading poison felt remarkably real.
First his left arm went numb. Then his movements grew sluggish.
He immediately retreated and drank a Basic Antidote from his inventory. The source of this chapter is g.com.
[You have used a Basic Antidote.]
[Poisoned status removed.]
His gaze hardened as he watched the spider.
Tie Shan had been right.
The poison itself wasn't deadly.
Being slowed was.
In such a cramped cave, even a slight delay could get him caught in silk, then swarmed by a second and third spider.
He gave it no further chance.
As the spider prepared to pounce, he dropped low and thrust the Glimmer Iron Sword upward, driving it straight through its abdomen.
-48!
Weak-Point Damage.
When the spider fell, system notifications followed.
[You have killed a Venommarked Spider.]
[You have gained: 68 Experience Points.]
[You have obtained: Damaged Venom Sac.]
Lu Tiechen checked his experience bar.
Going from Level 4 to Level 5 required 800 Experience Points.
At 68 points each, Venommarked Spiders gave considerably more than the Fanged Hounds outside.
If he could grind here consistently, he would level quickly.
But the costs were high, too.
Potions, antidotes, equipment Durability. Every one of them was being used up.
Lu Tiechen glanced down at his Glimmer Iron Sword.
[Durability: 47/55]
He had barely entered the cave, and it had already lost 8 points.
Fighting higher-level monsters wore weapons down faster than ordinary combat.
That made him want Tie Shan's Blackmarked Forging Hammer even more.
With a better forging hammer, he could make stronger weapons.
Perhaps he could repair their Durability himself, too.
The cave continued downward.
The deeper he went, the thicker the webs grew.
Eventually, he had to cut away silk every few steps just to keep moving.
It was tough stuff. An ordinary strike could leave the blade stuck fast.
Fortunately, the Glimmer Iron Sword was sharp enough. Whenever silver-white light shimmered along its edge, the strands parted one by one.
After killing three more Venommarked Spiders, he finally reached the depths of the cave.
It was much wider here, almost a natural stone hall.
A black rock rose from the center.
Beside it lay a hammer.
The hammer was black all over, its head ringed with dark markings that looked like traces left by fire.
Half the handle was buried in webs, wrapped in thick white silk.
Lu Tiechen's eyes brightened.
The Blackmarked Forging Hammer.
He didn't approach immediately.
A larger spider crouched beside it.
Nearly twice the size of an ordinary Venommarked Spider, it had a swollen abdomen and a ring of gray-white markings on its back. Its eight legs resembled curved black spears, their tips planted against the stone.
It lay motionless, as if asleep.
But the moment Lu Tiechen entered the hall, the name above it lit up.
[Lv.8 Venommarked Spider Guard]
[Elite]
Lu Tiechen stopped.
A Level 8 Elite.
Only one level above an ordinary Venommarked Spider, yet clearly in a different league.
The guard raised its body. All eight eyes fixed on him.
Then its mouthparts opened.
Not venom.
A mass of white webbing.
The web shot toward his face, fast enough to cover almost half the hall.
He immediately rolled to the right.
It struck where he had been standing, sticking to the floor in a white, adhesive patch.
[Warning: Webbed areas reduce Movement Speed.]
Lu Tiechen glanced at the ground and made a quick assessment.
Don't step in it.
Unlike the ordinary spiders, this one used webs to restrict movement, then venom and lunges to force mistakes.
The longer he fought in this hall, the more webs would cover the floor—and the less room he would have to move.
He had to be quick.
The guard was already lunging.
Faster than the ordinary spiders, it crossed its front legs like two long blades, slashing toward his chest.
Lu Tiechen raised his sword to block.
Clang!
The force numbed his wrist and drove him half a step backward.
[Health -22]
Twenty-two points lost just from the shock of the block.
His eyes narrowed.
He couldn't trade blows with it.
Using his backward momentum, he shifted sideways, avoided the second slash, and swept his sword toward a leg joint.
-27!
Not much damage.
The Elite's shell was far tougher than an ordinary spider's.
Glimmer hadn't activated.
Lu Tiechen stayed calm.
He retreated to the edge of the hall, watching every movement.
Leg joints.
Abdomen.
Mouthparts.
Ordinary strikes simply weren't reaching it.
The guard spat another web.
Lu Tiechen dodged sideways, but his foot caught a stray strand of silk.
He slowed for an instant.
That instant was enough for the spider to reach him.
A sharp foreleg sliced across his shoulder.
[Health -39]
[You have been exposed to spider venom.]
[Poisoned: Lose 3 Health per second for 20 seconds.]
Lu Tiechen immediately downed a Basic Antidote and rolled backward.
One antidote left.
He couldn't drag this out.
He took a deep breath.
The guard attacked quickly, but before spraying a web, it always drew its abdomen downward. The gray-white markings on its back also flashed briefly.
Afterward, it paused for an instant.
Not long.
But long enough.
For the third time, its mouthparts opened.
Its abdomen contracted.
Its markings lit up.
Lu Tiechen didn't dodge immediately.
He waited until just before the web fired, then rushed low to the left, skimming its edge.
White silk brushed his back and stuck to the edge of his Toughhide Tunic.
[Movement Speed reduced.]
He ignored it.
Carrying his momentum forward, he closed on the guard and thrust upward into the soft flesh exposed by its contracted abdomen.
Thwack!
-62!
[Glimmer effect activated.]
[Weak-Point Armor Penetration]
The guard shrieked, its huge body shuddering.
Found it.
Lu Tiechen's eyes brightened.
Its weak point wasn't a leg joint. It was the soft flesh exposed when its abdomen contracted after spraying a web.
Enraged, the guard slashed repeatedly with its forelegs.
Lu Tiechen didn't linger for another hit. He retreated at once.
The fight became straightforward.
Dodge the web.
Wait for the abdomen to contract.
Close in.
Thrust at the weak point.
Pull back.
Once. Twice. Three times.
Every attempt was dangerous.
Once, silk snared his right foot, and the guard nearly pounced on top of him.
He hacked through the strands with his Glimmer Iron Sword and drank a Health Potion before his Health returned to a safe level.
The sword's Durability kept falling, too.
[Durability: 39/55]
[Durability: 34/55]
[Durability: 29/55]
Finally, after the guard's fifth web attack, Lu Tiechen seized his chance. Gripping the sword in both hands, he drove it deep into the wound already torn beneath its abdomen.
-78!
The guard's Health bar emptied.
It struggled backward two steps, its eight legs buckled, and it crashed down beside the Blackmarked Forging Hammer.
[You have killed a Venommarked Spider Guard.]
[Higher-level Elite Monster killed. Experience reward greatly increased.]
[You have gained: 260 Experience Points.]
[You have obtained: Venommarked Spider Guard Carapace.]
[You have obtained: Intact Venom Sac.]
[You have obtained: 86 Copper Coins.]
Lu Tiechen didn't stop to inspect the drops.
He walked to the black rock and grasped the hammer wrapped in silk.
It was heavy.
Much heavier than the free hammers at the smithy.
The handle was rough, but secure in his hand.
He cut through the silk with his Glimmer Iron Sword and slowly pulled the hammer free.
A system notification appeared.
[You have obtained a quest item: Blackmarked Forging Hammer.]
[Lost Blackmarked Forging Hammer: Objective complete.]
Lu Tiechen studied the hammer, his gaze settling.
It really was suited to working hard materials.
Just holding it, he could feel the weight it would carry in a strike.
Then another notification appeared.
[Player Golden Abacus has sent you a friend request.]
The same request.
The other player hadn't withdrawn it.
Lu Tiechen glanced at it and left it alone again.
He put away the Blackmarked Forging Hammer and checked his sword's Durability.
[Durability: 24/55]
Time to head back.
He had found the hammer.
He had materials, too.
Now he would see what reward Tie Shan had for him.
Lu Tiechen turned and left the hall.
Behind him, the Venommarked Spider Guard's corpse slowly dissolved into motes of light.