[I have my own situation right now. Just stay where you are. I'm on the way], Ali replied to Miles. He dismissed the message, his eyes narrowing as he peered through the jagged stone opening toward the massive, slumbering spider.
'Let's see what I'm dealing with…' he thought.
He crouched and pinched a jagged fragment of rock from the ground, no larger than a coin. With a subtle flick of his fingers, the Force guided the stone forward. It hovered low, barely centimetres above the frost-laced terrain, floating toward the beast with glacial slowness.
The closer it crept to the spider, the harder it became to control. The air thickened—like trying to push through syrup. The rock trembled, quivering violently, and finally—
CLINK.
It dropped.
But Ali had prepared for this. The stone landed soundlessly, cushioned by its low altitude. Still, the moment was telling.
'So I lose control that close…'
Ali's gaze sharpened further as he studied the monster's frozen shell.
'I still don't know if my lightsaber, my spear, or even my lightning will be enough to break through that armour. No choice but to test it myself.'
He reached behind his back and summoned his second weapon—the cursed inverted spear of heaven. Its chain hissed along the rocky floor like a serpent, metallic and alive.
Ali didn't hesitate.
He stepped out from the shadows, revealing himself fully to the sleeping monster. His feet made no sound. His presence was erased by his preternatural stealth—so refined that even the ambient magic of the cave couldn't detect him.
Now, a single meter away from death incarnate, Ali paused.
The vapour curled around his calves, nipping at his skin with its otherworldly cold. The memory of the cave's torture flickered through his mind—but only for a second.
Then, his left eye turned pitch black, and dark veins erupted across his skin like cursed roots. His muscles bulged with raw vitality as his healing cells surged through him like wildfire, enhancing every nerve, every tendon, every ounce of flesh.
FLING.
The chain launched with a blur of steel.
It looped once—twice—then wrapped around two of the spider's rear legs, slithering like a constrictor before tightening with a sudden snap as Ali pulled it back.
The spider's eyes opened, all eight snapping into gleaming awareness.
Then—
KREEEEEEEEEEEE!
It unleashed a shriek that echoed like thunder within the cave, a piercing, soul-rattling cry that caused shards of crystal to tremble on the walls. It reared its two front legs instinctively, crossing them in front of its head to form a thick, protective wall of enchanted ice.
Ali didn't flinch.
SLASH.
With a roar, he swung his red lightsaber in a horizontal arc, channeling his full strength and aligning it with the whispers of the Force.
CRACK.
The blade split through the icy barricade like a burning razor through parchment, carving through the spider's armoured forelegs and biting deep into its magical fangs. There, the saber slowed—its beam clashing against the dense, magic-fortified ice. Steam hissed as blade met ancient chill, the two forces battling with savage intensity.
Then—
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
A wave of azure frost erupted from the spider's maw, flooding the air like a tsunami of cursed breath. The chilling vapour billowed in every direction, fogging the cave and threatening to bind Ali where he stood.
But he was already gone.
Ali launched himself into the air with fluid grace, soaring above the spider's head in a wide arc. The chain remained coiled tightly around its hind legs, and as Ali twisted midair, he yanked it with feral force, jerking the beast off-balance.
He landed hard atop its massive, frozen back.
HISS.
The red blade plunged down and into the ice-plated exoskeleton. It sizzled on contact, carving a glowing trench as Ali began to sprint forward across the spider's spine—each step melting deep gouges through its armor.
The beast convulsed beneath him.
Legs thrashed. The cave shook.
Still, Ali ran—his saber drawing a molten line across its back while his left arm held the chain taut like a leash on a beast from hell.
Suddenly—
CRACK.
The spider's back split open—not from the saber, but from its own body—sprouting a forest of glimmering, razor-sharp icicles. They shot outward with explosive speed, dozens of magical ice spears stabbing through the air.
Ali's eyes narrowed.
Focus and the FORCE.
He ducked, twisted, leapt—weaving through the jagged projectiles with inhuman agility. The icicles missed him by inches, but he never slowed. Every evasive move was calculated to preserve his forward motion. He kept the saber low, carving deep into the beast's spine with each footfall.
The spider screamed again—its body now covered in glowing wounds as blue steam hissed from each gash. Hot internal fluid spilled beneath its armour and evaporated into the cold air, mixing with its poisonous breath to fill the cave in a white-blue haze.
It didn't understand.
This monster, this Mother of Crystals, born in frost and surrounded by death, had never encountered something like him.
KREEEEEEEEE
The spider let out another earsplitting shriek, a sound so shrill and primal that the very cave trembled under its fury and fear. Gaping, sizzling wounds had opened all across its thick, icy exoskeleton—molten streaks where Ali's lightsaber had cleaved through icy armour. Now, with its instincts screaming, it did the only thing it could.
TURN—BOOOOM
With sheer desperation, the beast twisted its entire mass in one violent heave, its legs flailing chaotically as it attempted to spin away from the onslaught. The sudden movement reverberated through the cave, the thunderous slam of its limbs gouging deep gashes into the surrounding rock like pickaxes slamming against frozen granite. But its frantic escape exposed the one thing it had protected above all else—
Its underbelly.
A soft, unarmored stretch of shimmering pale blue, veined with cold magic.
PULL—SLASH
Ali didn't hesitate. He yanked the chain tight in a masterful motion, releasing the grip on the spider's legs just as he repositioned his stance for the next attack. His inverted spear tore forward, a gleaming line of destructive intent, and ripped straight through the exposed flesh of the spider's lower body. The blade met almost no resistance, slicing effortlessly through skin and sinew like a hot blade through paper-thin ice.
SPLASH
A geyser of icy blue blood erupted violently, spraying the cave in arcs of steaming gore. Entrails, viscera, and fragments of internal organs flew through the air like shrapnel, painting the rocks with grotesque art as the spider's body buckled and writhed in agony.
Ali leapt back smoothly, the weightless grace of his movement a stark contrast to the chaotic flailing of the dying beast. Its legs thrashed in every direction, smashing into cave walls with catastrophic strength. Rock shattered under the strikes, jagged debris fell from above, and deep, uneven trenches were carved into the stone.
'I can imagine how brutal falling into this spider's trap would be…' Ali thought, watching with cool detachment. He had fought many things before, but this was clearly a creature designed not for head-on battle—but for ambush.
Its method was simple but terrifying: lure, immobilise, and drain.
The frigid vapours it constantly released were meant to weaken, paralyse, and kill slowly. The thick webbing, infused with the same cold, would trap prey long enough for the venom-laced breath to do its work. Ali was an anomaly—an intruder too resilient, too violent, too warm for it to comprehend.
And yet this was no ordinary spider.
All around the cavern, Ali now noticed the true scope of what he'd walked into. Hundreds—maybe even thousands—of faintly glowing blue eggs were plastered across the ceiling, each cocooned in dense icy webbing. The vapour that had nearly killed him earlier was being slowly released from them as well, blanketing the area in an ethereal mist of death.
Ali's blackened eye glinted.
"Bahamut did say that TEETH could grow with consuming food…" he muttered aloud, voice calm yet cold.
His mind raced, assessing his options with precision. 'I heard beast summoners can capture monsters like this after defeating them, force a contract through submission. This one would've made a fantastic asset—but if this exists, there are definitely more like it…'
His muscles relaxed. His grip loosened.
"COME OUT AND EAT."
The command echoed throughout the cave, bouncing off the frosted walls like an incantation summoning something ancient and terrible.
ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR
Reality seemed to split open as a colossal black gate tore into existence above him—its edges jagged, like the jaws of some elder god. From within the swirling void, something massive emerged: a dragon's head nearly three times the size of the spider. The air around it distorted, vibrating with power.
Its flesh was shadowy obsidian, dark enough to drink in the dim light of the cave. Its breath came in slow, hot gusts, vibrating the very rock beneath Ali's feet. The dragon's snout—long, plated, ancient—was lined with rows upon rows of interlocking, saw-like teeth that gleamed with hunger and menace. Its eyes burned a brilliant, merciless purple, casting a hellish glow across the frost-covered cave.
The great beast hovered for a moment before obeying its summoner's will.
With a sickening, almost mechanical motion, the dragon lunged forward.
Its jaws opened wide—unnaturally wide—and bit down with an earth-shattering CRUNCH on the spider's writhing body. The webbed, icy exoskeleton snapped like candy glass, torn apart by an entity that had devoured far greater things than this frost-born abomination.
SPLASH
The remaining half of the spider's body exploded under the bite, flinging shards of frozen flesh and cold blood across the cave like high-pressure fluid from a burst pipe. But the dragon didn't pause. It continued chewing, those mountainous teeth grinding down armour, bones, and flesh with the same ease a human would crush snow beneath a boot.
It didn't care about the temperature. It didn't fear the magical vapours. It was hunger made manifest.
Ali stood there, watching with unblinking focus. His coat was stained with remnants of frost and blood, but he didn't flinch as the enormous maw of his summoned dragon loomed overhead. The creature had finished the last of the spider's corpse and was now… staring.
Upward.
Toward the ceiling.
Toward the eggs.
Its mouth hung open, saliva dripping thick ropes of blue-stained drool from between its fangs. Its nostrils flared. It wanted more.
But it didn't move.
Not until—
PAT. PAT.
Ali stepped forward and calmly placed a hand on the dragon's hide. The skin was rough like volcanic stone, radiating heat and energy so intense that Ali's own body was warmed just by standing near it.
'It is a dragon after-all', Ali thought about the heat from the dragon.
His hand stayed there, steady. The dragon's breathing slowed, its burning purple eyes remained locked on the eggs. A soft, deep growl trembled in its throat—less of a threat, more of a request.
Ali's eyes gleamed with satisfaction.
[Personal Mission: Kill the Mother Magic Crystal Spider (1/1)]
[Reward: 0.1 Spirit]
'So it gives points directly into my attribute… Still a very good reward for the effort I put in. If this continues, then I can carve down a massive chunk of Spirit needed to one day summon an Ancient Dragon.'
His smirk returned.
He stepped back and gave the order:
"EAT."
The beast moved with feral brutality. It soared upward, smashing through the upper edges of the cave. Its head slammed into the ceiling and dragged itself along the entire length, its open jaws scooping the webs and eggs into a single devastating pass.
Hundreds of blue eggs vanished in a single monstrous swallow, consumed by a being so much higher in the food chain that even the concept of fear was irrelevant.
Spirit: 5 → 5.1
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