TEOCH 35

All my comrades had fallen asleep. Putting anxious comrades to rest was no easy task, but I couldn’t have them fight the Queen Spider when they were exhausted from moving all day.

Of course, I couldn’t sleep. With the penalty of the “boss room” preventing proper base establishment, if I didn’t infuse the air with purification energy in time, my comrades would suffocate and die.

I sat up straight, staring at the flickering campfire. Staying up all night wasn’t particularly tiring since I was used to it, but my mind was tangled with complicated thoughts, like a knotted thread. I couldn’t even grasp how to face the first boss in this unprepared state.

“What’s the best way to handle this?”

In front of the campfire were various scribbles I had drawn throughout the night. They were traces of my attempts to plan efficient strategies for navigating the boss room. I stared at the scribbles, but as had been the case for the past few hours, there were no meaningful results. It was frustrating.

If we leave this cave, we’ll likely enter the boss room immediately. The first boss room, “The Queen Spider’s Lair,” takes the form of a massive hemisphere. Strictly speaking, it might be more accurate to call it a spherical plaza, but the distinction doesn’t matter much. We can only move along the upper hemisphere where the spider webs are stretched, and falling below the webs means certain death by plummeting.

In truth, the Queen Spider itself isn’t an overwhelmingly difficult opponent. While it’s undeniably larger and stronger than other monsters, its attack patterns are fairly simple, and the long delay before its attacks makes dodging relatively manageable. But the problem is…

“The key is how to deal with the endless swarm of subordinate spiders.”

The Guardian, the Queen Spider, is adept at efficiently utilizing its forces. That cunning creature rarely engages in direct combat with us. It spends most of the battle hanging from the ceiling, focusing on support attacks, and only swoops down to ambush us when it deems it necessary to fight directly.

Even worse, if it senses it’s at a disadvantage, it immediately retreats to the ceiling and delegates the fight to its subordinate spiders, making it extremely difficult to time our attacks. If we don’t deal with the subordinate spiders quickly, we won’t even land a single hit on the Queen Spider.

The Queen Spider commands nearly three thousand subordinate spiders, but of course, they don’t all attack at once. In reality, we face about three hundred spiders at a time. Even that is a formidable force, and if we don’t properly utilize the terrain and traps, we’ll be surrounded and devoured by the spiders in an instant.

If we manage to knock at least 150 of the subordinate spiders off the webs and incapacitate them, the Queen Spider descends from the ceiling, giving us a one-minute window to attack before another 300 spiders swarm in. That’s roughly how the battle with the Queen Spider unfolds.

The explanation sounds simple, but putting it into action is excruciatingly difficult, especially for those not yet accustomed to fighting spiders.

“Is there even a chance of winning? We should’ve had at least two more days to prepare…!”

Currently, my comrades and I are at level 4. We’re on the verge of leveling up, so killing a few more spiders might get us to level 5, but even then, we’d fall short of the minimum level 7 required to face the Queen Spider.

To endure a prolonged boss battle, sufficient stamina and mana are essential, but at a low level, stamina and mana recovery are significantly limited, putting us at a disadvantage in a long fight. If we at least had ample experience, we might compensate for the lack of stamina and mana, but that’s not the case now…

Even with thorough preparation, this would be a fight we’d barely win, and now we’re being forced into it without proper readiness! It was bound to be a grueling battle. Feeling a surge of irritation, I pinched the nose of the sleeping Damian as hard as I could. Damian squirmed briefly but didn’t wake up.

“Ugh, uhh, uuu…”

I tormented his nose for a while, but it didn’t relieve my frustration—it only made me sigh. What was the point of picking on this guy now? Rather than wasting energy on pointless pranks and fueling my irritation, it’d be better to focus on devising a solid strategy.

I let go of Damian’s nose and once again drew the layout of the Queen Spider’s lair on the ground. I calculated the movements of the subordinate spiders, mulling over various possibilities, when a voice came from behind me.

“For someone who gets tormented like that and still doesn’t wake up, that wizard is impressive in his own way.”

“Why are you awake already? You should rest more.”

“I’ve slept enough. Shouldn’t you get some rest yourself? Even if you need to purify the air…”

“No, I can keep going. It’s better to stay awake than to sleep half-heartedly.”

Rehas gave a wry smile and shrugged. I lowered my head again to calculate the movements of the subordinate spiders, and Rehas sat beside me, quietly observing.

As expected, there were too many variables, making it hard to devise a strategy. The Queen Spider’s health might have increased, the number of subordinate spiders spawning at once could be higher, and the possibility of enhanced monsters among the subordinates couldn’t be ignored.

Most importantly, there was Tristan. Since Tristan can use “purification,” it might not be a bad idea to consider a pincer strategy, but we’ve never attempted one before, so I wasn’t sure how to allocate our forces. Sighing and closing my eyes, Rehas spoke to me softly.

“You seem to have a lot on your mind.”

“Well… The situation’s bad, so my head’s a mess. Right now, the only option is to dive in and see what happens, but that’s easier said than done…”

Fatigue was setting in, my eyes felt hot, and my head was dizzy. I rubbed my dry face several times, trying to shake off the drowsiness. My physical condition wasn’t great, but I wasn’t too worried since the tension of battle would likely override my fatigue. My condition didn’t matter—what mattered was the strategy. That’s what I was thinking when…

Suddenly, a large hand grabbed me from behind.

“Want me to massage your shoulders? They seem stiff, like your muscles are knotted.”

“Shouldn’t you at least ask for permission before doing something like that?”

“What’s the big deal about needing permission for this? Just stay still, don’t squirm.”

This guy, he’s so reckless. I tried twisting away from the firm grip pressing into my shoulders, but Rehas’s hands persistently followed, kneading my shoulders and neck. It actually felt quite refreshing as the knotted muscles loosened, so I eventually sighed and let him do as he pleased.

Rehas was surprisingly skilled at massaging. Each time he pressed a tense spot, a pleasant pain spread through my shoulders. He’s quite a bit older, so it feels like he should be the one getting a massage… Wait, strictly speaking, am I older? In that case, maybe it’s fitting for him to be massaging me. It’s trivial, but still.

After about ten minutes of massaging, I felt refreshed and stretched thoroughly. Not only had my shoulder pain eased, but even some of the accumulated fatigue seemed to dissipate. Rehas tossed out a casual remark from beside me.

“Want me to do your lower back, too?”

“No need to go that far. …Anyway, thanks. I feel much better.”

“Glad to hear it. Should I do this more often?”

“No thanks. You don’t need to go to that trouble. Just take care of yourself.”

“No choice, is there? You’re always telling others to look after themselves, but you neglect your own body, so someone’s got to look after you.”

I glanced at Rehas briefly before looking away. When I didn’t respond, he frowned for a moment but, true to his brazen nature, quickly relaxed and shrugged. …He’s such a meddlesome guy. Almost annoyingly so.

“And if you’re in good shape, our lives are more secure, right?”

I didn’t answer. Honestly, in this situation, even if I’m in top condition, I doubt I can guarantee their safety. Our preparations are lacking, our strategy untested, and the monsters are endlessly strong and threatening. But I didn’t voice those thoughts. I didn’t want to dampen their spirits in an already tough situation, and more than that…

I felt compelled to live up to the expectations of this person who says he trusts me, to meet the expectations of my comrades, even just a little.

“Oh, right. I have something for you.”

Wanting to change the subject, I pulled several small pouches from my bag and approached Rehas. I had made them while the others were sleeping. I’d planned to give them out later, but…

I tied a pouch to each of Rehas’s limbs and one to his waist. Rehas looked at me, puzzled, as I explained.

“Parasites.”

“Oh, right. Parasites… Wait, what?”

“It’s a precaution. I don’t like wasting parasites, but given the circumstances, we need some insurance.”

“…So these are supposed to regenerate my wounds if my limbs get torn off?”

“Exactly. Sharp as always. It’ll hurt a bit, but you’ll be able to keep fighting immediately, significantly boosting your survival odds.”

“…”

“Still uneasy about parasites entering your body? Bear with it. It’s better than dying.”

Whether Rehas gave a reluctant smile or not, I pulled another pouch from my bag. I planned to give each of the other comrades five parasites, but since parasites weren’t exactly abundant, I decided to take only one for myself—the “bombardment” and “luck” parasites I’d obtained yesterday.

I slipped the pouch inside my left arm’s wrist guard and tied it securely, feeling the parasite wriggling vividly inside. Yeah, the situation’s rough, but we’ll make it through somehow. Somehow…

“I’ll wake the others soon. Until then, you should rest.”

Rehas nodded, and I lowered my head again to work on strategy. Perhaps because my mind had cleared for various reasons, my brain seemed to be working a bit better than before.