Chapter 40: Giant Spider, The Native People’s Warning

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Giant Spider, The Native People’s Warning

Seraphina Sullivan held her breath, carefully making her way through the ruins.

She was looking for a place where she could hide and take shelter.

She desperately hoped to find a safe space like in the last dungeon, one where she could survive until the very end. She didn’t care if it was cramped, as long as she could hide out there until the dungeon was over.

However, after surveying her surroundings, Seraphina realized this dungeon would be much harder.

Her surroundings were crawling with all sorts of mutated insects.

She periodically activated her Eye of Resume, trying to analyze the mutated insects as light-blue data materialized before her.

[Mutated Cockroach]

[Mutated Centipede]

[Mutated Beetle]...

The data panels only offered these simple labels, not even providing specific stats.

Seraphina frowned and dispatched a few giant insects blocking her path.

She offered the carcasses to the collection system to see if they met the criteria for Mission Two, only to be met with a cold, mechanical tone:

[Collection criteria not met.]

"So, what kind of insect actually counts?" Seraphina kicked away a large cockroach she had just dispatched.

She would soon have her answer.

When Seraphina turned a street corner, the sight before her made her freeze on the spot.

Countless silvery-white threads interlaced across the blood-red sky, forming a massive web that blotted out the sun. Upon it crawled innumerable giant spiders.

Their abdomens were distended, and their eight compound eyes shone with an eerie purple gleam in the crimson light.

The area felt like a demon’s lair, the air thick with the nauseating stench of decay.

Seraphina’s Eye of Resume activated, and the data that appeared this time made her pupils shrink:

[Name: Giant Spider]

[Gender: Female]

[Professional Skills: Silk Spinning, Poisonous Fang]

[Weaknesses: Vulnerable to fire.]

Unlike the small-fry insects from before, the data on these spiders was terrifyingly detailed.

Most importantly, the collection interface on her system suddenly lit up.

These were the insects the mission required.

’So that’s how it is...’ Seraphina had a flash of insight. ’Only insects with a complete data profile are counted.’

’So picky!’ Seraphina grumbled to herself.

Just killing the regular insects was hard enough. If she hadn’t strengthened her body with the Body Transformation Pills, Seraphina wasn’t even sure she could have handled a single large Mutated Cockroach.

Seraphina thought of Martin Lewis’s Telekinesis Talent.

’I can’t help but feel a little envious.’

Still, the Profession Skills she awakened this time were pretty good.

Previously, Seraphina had considered imbuing the Fencing Sword formed from her Silver Needles and Quick Sewing with poison.

She never expected that now, all she had to do was breathe on her Fencing Sword—using her Sleeping Fragrance and Sweet Fragrance Skills—and the effects would wrap around the silver needle to strike her target.

It was basically like imbuing it with [Sleep] and [Control] effects.

Now, the silver needle Fencing Sword created by [Quick Sewing] could do more than just stitch targets together. After being imbued with her two [Perfumer] Skills, whoever she stabbed would fall asleep or be put under her control.

Seraphina quietly retreated a few steps and ducked into a half-collapsed convenience store.

Through the broken display window, she observed the structure of this expanse of spiderweb.

Clearly, Seraphina had stumbled into the territory of a giant spider colony.

Seraphina was holding her breath and concentrating, preparing to make a probing attack on a lone giant spider at the edge of the web.

She was about to release a wisp of faint pink Sweet Fragrance, intending to Charm one over and deal with it alone.

However, before Seraphina could make a move, a voice suddenly came from behind her.

"Are you crazy?"

The deliberately hushed voice of a young girl startled Seraphina, making her freeze.

She spun around sharply, her right hand already on the Sound Wave Vibration Gun at her waist.

Less than two meters away from her, a grimy-faced girl was staring with wide eyes.

The girl looked about fifteen or sixteen, her slight frame wrapped in a filthy cloak. She held a bizarrely shaped, jade-green scythe in her hand.

When Seraphina got a closer look, she realized it wasn’t a Metal Scythe at all. It was a section of an Insect Forelimb, glinting coldly, its edge so sharp you could see the chill gleam of its blade.

"Provoking them now? Are you trying to get wrapped up in a cocoon of silk?" The girl stared at Seraphina as if she were an idiot, making a throat-slitting gesture with her other hand.

Seraphina didn’t lower her guard, covertly activating her Eye of Resume.

[Name: Cheryl Chase]

[Gender: Female]

[Status: Native of The Insect Frenzy Dungeon]

[Professional Skills: Use of the Mantis Scythe]

[Weaknesses: Hunger]

Seraphina did not let down her guard as Cheryl Chase mouthed silently: "Are you trying to attack these giant spiders and get us both killed?"

Seraphina narrowed her eyes and slowly withdrew her weapon, but her body remained poised to counterattack at any moment.

Seraphina silently regarded Cheryl Chase, her gaze as still as a deep pool of water.

She was well aware of the principle that in an unfamiliar environment, saying more meant making more mistakes.

"Hey, you’re not mute, are you?" Cheryl Chase frowned, looking Seraphina up and down.

When she noticed her neat clothes and clean face, she suddenly "tsked," a flash of disgust crossing her eyes.

"Looking at you like that... you’re one of those researchers from the Shelters, aren’t you?" Cheryl Chase’s tone suddenly sharpened, her grip on the Mantis Scythe unconsciously tightening. "You people are insane, giving up your humanity just to develop the Insect Fusion Potion!"

She took a fierce step closer, her voice extremely low yet filled with rage. "If it weren’t for you lunatics experimenting on living people, how could a monster like the Insect Speaker have been created!"

Seraphina was inwardly shocked, but her expression remained impassive.

Although she only half-understood Cheryl’s words, she keenly picked up on several key pieces of information: Shelters, Insect Fusion Potion, live experiments...

’There were clearly bigger problems at play in this dungeon world.’

’After entering the Disaster Game, she knew there was a hidden system rule: you couldn’t reveal your status as a Player to the dungeon’s Native People. She had to handle this carefully.’

"I’m not a researcher." Seraphina finally spoke, her voice deliberately lowered and hoarse. "Just a... survivor."

Cheryl Chase stared at her suspiciously, her gaze lingering on her clean clothes. "A survivor? Do you take me for an idiot?" she sneered. "What kind of survivor manages to stay this clean?"

’Seraphina hadn’t expected to be met with suspicion and disgust just for being clean.’

’I have to remember this. In an apocalypse, who would be perfectly clean?’

’But it was a good reminder. In an apocalyptic disaster dungeon, being too clean would make her a target and draw suspicion.’

Seraphina wanted to say something more.

But then she felt a strange vibration coming from the ground.

Cheryl Chase’s expression changed.

She looked toward the distant sky. "Not good. The giant spiders are starting to hunt. If you don’t want to die, we need to leave. Now."

Without another word, she turned and fled without hesitation.

Seraphina glanced back at the web woven across the sky. Sure enough, giant spiders were starting to climb down toward the ground.

Seraphina wanted to learn more from the girl, so she followed after Cheryl Chase without a moment’s hesitation.