Chapter 75: Getting Caught in Sticky Situations High Above the Ground!

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Getting Caught in Sticky Situations High Above the Ground!

"I hope Kael didn’t make his signature cremation dish again?" Lucien asked while smiling as he rejoined the others back in the camp.

"No, we decided to eat the rations we brought, it would be faster than cooking since we’re only stopping for a bit." Rika said.

Kael tore into a strip of dried meat from their supplies. "This tastes like sadness."

"It’s rations," Rika said while checking the map.

"Sadness-flavored rations, can’t believe they make these nowadays. "

Lucien passed him a small container instead leftover seasoned meat from the previous floor, still holding warmth thanks to a minor preservation enchantment.

Kael took one bite and went silent.

"...This is so much better."

"You’re welcome."

"Marry me instead."

"No thanks, I don’t swing that way and besides I’m already married, three times at that."

"I’ll wait my turn."

Zalor, leaning against a tree with his eyes closed, didn’t even open them. "You’re disgusting."

"I’m hungry, okay."

Lucien popped another blood candy into his mouth, chewing idly, this time gaining a level in one Trait.

Kael eyed him. "You’re eating those again?"

"They’re convenient."

"They’re made from monster blood."

"Correct."

"You could at least pretend to be normal."

"He’s a vampire," Zalor said, still not opening his eyes.

"I know that."

"Then why the shock every time?"

"Because most vampires don’t turn their lunch into candy, they drink it from what I heard."

"You should try it sometime," Lucien offered.

"Absolutely not."

Rika folded the map. "Enough fooling around, five minutes, then we move."

"I was enjoying my meal," Kael protested.

"You were arguing with Lucien."

"That’s how I enjoy my meals, with entertainment. "

They packed quickly, array, detection crystal, lanterns, supplies all vanishing into storage rings and Rika did a final check.

"Anyone still hurting?"

"All fine," Vex said.

"I’m good," Zalor echoed.

Kael raised a hand. "My pride is wounded."

"Not a medical condition."

"It should be."

Lucien glanced toward the stairs. "Ready for another floor?"

"Not particularly," Kael admitted.

"You could stay here."

"And let you all keep the loot? Absolutely not." He stood immediately. "Let’s go."

The moment the last boot touched Floor Four, the staircase dissolved behind them, as the environment changed entirely around them.

They stood on a wide platform of interwoven roots, suspended impossibly high. Massive trees rose in every direction, their branches connecting into a labyrinth of natural bridges and overlapping canopy layers.

Below, crimson mist swallowed everything, obscuring whatever ground existed hundreds of meters down. Strands of red silk hung everywhere, some thin as hair, others thick as rope, crisscrossing the space between trunks like a web spun by something way to big for its own good.

Kael peered over the edge. "...Where’s the floor?"

"We’re standing on it," Vex said.

"No, I mean the actual floor."

Zalor leaned out slightly. "Several hundred meters down."

Kael stepped back immediately. "I’ve decided I dislike this floor the most."

"Crimson Canopy," Rika said, checking her map. "Elevated terrain, suspended platforms and giant trees."

Lucien eyed the webbing threaded through the branches.

’This is basically built for something that hunts from above.’

A strand near them trembled.

Nobody spoke.

A second strand shifted.

"...Did anyone else see that?" Kael whispered.

"Yes," Lucien said.

"Good, thought it was just me."

"The dominant species," Rika said, "are Bloodfang Weavers, High C Rank, some Peak C but very rare. They’re solitary hunters, they set traps, wait for hours, and prefer isolated targets."

"At least they’re alone," Kael offered.

"That’s not necessarily good."

"Why not?"

"A solitary predator doesn’t have to share, but they are way stronger than group hunters."

Kael considered this. "...I liked it better when things came in groups."

They’d barely started across the first root bridge when—

TWANG.

A silk strand snapped taut around Kael’s ankle.

He looked down. "...Oh no."

He shot upward.

"I HAVE BEEN CAPTURED!"

"Don’t panic!" Rika shouted.

"I’M ALREADY PANICKING!"

Lucien’s scythe’s chain shot out, hooking the strand and hauling Kael back down just as a massive shape dropped from the canopy above.

BOOM.

Eight jointed legs slammed into the bridge, black-red chitin gleaming, a bloated abdomen swaying beneath a semicircle of small crimson eyes.

Kael landed on his back. "I had that completely under control."

"You were hanging upside down, and screaming like a girl." Zalor said.

"Strategically amd it was a war cry dammit."

Rika met the spider’s lunge with her shield.

CLANG.

As pale venom splashed across the surface from the spider.

"Don’t let that touch skin!" she called, swinging her axe into a leg joint. The blade bit but didn’t sink deep. "Its shell’s tough!"

Kael intercepted a stabbing leg with a gauntleted fist, punching it wide before it could reach Rika. "I HATE SPIDERS!"

"You hate everything that attacks you," Vex said.

"Because it’s rude!"

A thread lashed out, wrapping his arm. He planted his feet, all four arms tensing.

"Not today." He hauled back, using the spider’s own pull to twist one leg off balance.

Rika struck the exposed joint immediately.

"The weak points are the joints!" Vex called, loosing a piercing arrow.

"Which ones?!" Kael shouted.

"The ones moving! You moron, what else!"

"THAT’S NOT HELPFUL!"

"Left rear leg, now!"

Kael and Rika struck together.

Zalor vanished as his shadows lashed up from beneath spider, wrapping two legs. The spider tore one free easily.

"Stronger than the hounds," Zalor muttered, vanishing again and reappearing above it, daggers finding a softer plate on its abdomen.

Blood sprayed as the spider shrieked.

Lucien fought at the front, chain hooking legs, redirecting strikes, twin scythe’s flashing in clean arcs leaving gashes and cracks across the spiders chitin.

The moment Zalor’s cut opened a wound, Lucien reached out with Blood Manipulation, seizing the exposed bloodflow and using it to stab into the spider, opening the wound some more a stood sprayed out.

He then forcefully took contol of its bloodflow freezing it for a heartbeat.

"It’s frozen," he called.

"How long?" Rika shouted.

"Seconds."

He yanked, the injured leg jerked sideways, exposing the joint fully.

CRACK. Rika’s axe finished it.

Lucien pulled another leg directly into Kael’s swing.

"THANK YOU BRO!"

"You’re welcome."

The spider’s abdomen swelled grotesquely.

"Move, it’s gonna blow!" Rika shouted.

It ruptured a blood sac, crimson fluid washing over its shell, chitin hardening as its movements sharpeed.

A dense web sprayed across the bridge, catching Vex mid-shot.

"I’m stuck!"

"DON’T WORRY, I’LL SAVE YOU—" Kael surged forward.

"Don’t rush!" Rika snapped.

Kael actually stopped.

He looked at the web, then at the spider and then at Rika.

"...Right."

He waited for Vex’s arrow to cut the strand before moving in.

’Progress,’ Lucien thought, genuinely pleased he didn’t run ahead.

The finishing sequence came together clean, Lucien’s chain wrenching a front leg sideways, Zalor’s shadows pinning another, Vex’s binding arrow sinking into the abdomen, Kael crashing through the exposed flank and Rika’s axe finding the final joint.

The spider collapsed, spraying a last cloud of poison mist as it died.

Lucien’s second blade finished it through the softer underside.

Silence descended, broken only by the canopy creaking overhead.

Everyone coughed through the poison haze, downing antidote pills in unison.

Lucien didn’t bother, his Venom Resistance trait handled it without a hitch.

"...Show-off, how come you’re okay?" Kael muttered, still coughing.

They harvested the loot quickly, mana core, bloodsilk glands, venom sacs, chitin plates, fangs.

"This silk’s worth a lot, especially for fashion." Rika said, examining a strand.

"How much?" Vex asked.

"Depends on the quality."

"Our lucky charm will know," Kael said, pointing at Lucien.

"I’m not appraising every strand of spider thread."

"You said you have the skill, right?"

"It costs mana."

"You have plenty."

"I also have plenty of reasons not to waste it on spider poop."

"He’s conserving his mana," Zalor said.

"He’s becoming boring."

Lucien raised a hand, drawing the spider’s remaining blood upward in a slow spiral, compressing it into a single candy.

"You’re doing that again," Kael said.

"It’s efficient."

"It looks like you’re making snacks out of corpses."

Lucien ate it. "Thats kinda correct, they even taste like iron and bitter herbs."

[Trait Acquired: Silk Sense (Uncommon) — Lv.5]

[Trait Acquired: Eight-Point Focus (Uncommon) — Lv.2]

[Trait Acquired: Sticky Situation (Uncommon) — Lv.3]

He nearly choked. ’...Sticky Situation. Real professional naming, system.’

"You okay?" Kael asked.

"I’m fine."

"You made a face."

"The names are unhinged." He murmured.

"...What?"

"Nothing."

They pressed deeper, running into two more spiders over the following hours, each fight faster and cleaner, the party’s rhythm sharpening with practice, they also crossed paths with two adventurer parties who simply nodded and kept moving, and one lone B-Rank adventurer who walked past without so much as a glance.

"He didn’t even say hi," Kael muttered.

"He’s stronger than all of us," Vex said.

"He could’ve had manners."

"You wanted him to fight us?"

"No. I wanted a hello, a nod or something."

"A punch to the face?" Zalor asked.

The third encounter went differently.

A four-person party emerged from the mist as they finished off another spider, an Oni swordsman, a demon archer, a demon shield-bearer and an ifrit mage, all High C-Rank.

"Rough fight there," the swordsman said, eyeing their loot.

"We’re fine," Rika said, tense.

"No need to be defensive, we’re all adventurers."

Vex noted their spread formation as Zalor slipped into a shadow.

’They followed the noise,’ Lucien thought. ’And waited for the fight to end.’

"Since we helped draw it out," the swordsman continued, "seems fair we split the mana core and silk."

"You didn’t do shit, moron" Kael said flatly.

"We were nearby."

"That’s not helping."

The archer raised her bow. "Give us the loot."

The mage’s hands lit with gathering flame.

Lucien sighed shaking his head in disappointment. ’There it is, classic adventurer greed.’

Back at Blackthorn Estate, Aurelia uncorked one of the Epic Mana Vein Restoration Elixirs Lucien had left her, drinking it slowly.

Warmth spread through her body, mana veins pulsing faintly beneath her skin.

’Almost there,’ she thought, setting the empty vial aside.

She glanced once more toward the window, toward the treeline where someone had watched her family only hours before.

’Come back safe, Lucien.’