Chapter 45: The Plan Begins, Hunting Giant Spiders

Chapter 45: Chapter 45: The Plan Begins, Hunting Giant Spiders

"That’s... a lot of bugs," Seraphina muttered, fine beads of sweat forming on her forehead as she unconsciously clenched her fists.

She wasn’t afraid of bugs, but the giant ones still filled her with a strange sense of revulsion.

This instance world was pure malice for anyone with a fear of insects.

Just looking at those hairy spider legs and their countless compound eyes was enough to make one’s skin crawl.

But to complete the mission, Seraphina had to overcome this instinctive disgust.

Seraphina took a deep breath and began to carefully inspect the weapons in her Space Equipment.

She still had quite a few bombs left from Nicholas Jensen. If she detonated them all, she could probably take out a huge swath of spiders.

But she quickly dismissed the idea. The commotion would be too great, and it would likely attract something even more terrifying.

She wasn’t sure if firearms would work on these giant spiders. It was best to save them for a critical moment.

Of course, Seraphina felt that firearms were best suited for defending against her own kind—that is, humans or other Players.

For the past few days in the real world, Juliet Sullivan had been studying by reading all sorts of survival and apocalypse novels.

The plots were always full of psychologically disturbed people persecuting others.

That was why it was understandable for Seraphina to keep firearms as a defense against her own kind.

’I shouldn’t entertain such dangerous thoughts. First, I need to replenish my energy,’ she muttered to herself, taking high-calorie food from her Space and quickly chewing and swallowing.

Her [Sweet Fragrance], [Sleeping Fragrance], and [Quick Sewing] Skills all consumed a lot of stamina. She had to be fully prepared for the upcoming battle.

After filling her stomach, Seraphina began to formulate a battle plan.

She needed to accomplish two goals simultaneously: find the Power Apple Tree and collect enough spider corpses.

The Silver Needle Sword quickly materialized in her hand, glinting with a cold light.

’Large-scale slaughter is out of the question,’ she thought, shaking her head. ’It would alert the entire spider colony.’

The best strategy was to pick them off one by one.

Seraphina’s eyes narrowed as a plan gradually took shape.

First, she would use Sweet Fragrance to lure and control a stray spider. Then, she’d lead it to a safe place and use Sleeping Fragrance to make it fall unconscious. Finally, she would use the Silver Needle Sword for a precise, fatal strike to the brain.

It was both quiet and efficient.

’Alright, I’ll give this method a try and see if it works.’

Seraphina selected a giant spider patrolling the edge of the web as her first target.

This spider was relatively small and far from the center of the colony, making it an ideal test subject.

Seraphina held her breath and crept closer.

She stopped about ten meters from the target, gently removed her mask, and her red lips parted—

"Sweet Fragrance~"

A wisp of pink mist drifted out, forming a heart-shaped trail in the air as it floated precisely toward the spider.

The moment the fragrance touched the spider’s antennae, it visibly paused, a flicker of confusion in its compound eyes.

It worked!

Seraphina rejoiced internally and continued to emit the fragrance.

Soon under Seraphina’s control, the spider began to move unconsciously toward the source of the scent. Its eight legs grew sluggish, like an ant drawn to honey.

When the spider reached a hidden corner of the ruins, Seraphina suddenly changed her Aura—

"Sleeping Fragrance!"

A pale blue mist replaced the pink fragrance. The spider’s movements immediately grew sluggish until it finally collapsed to the ground, its eight legs twitching unconsciously.

’Now’s the time!’

Seraphina’s gaze sharpened. The Silver Needle Sword shot out like lightning, its Silver Needle—capable of easily piercing steel—accurately penetrating the ganglion in the spider’s head.

The giant spider convulsed slightly, then went completely still.

Once the giant spider was dead, Seraphina placed it directly into the collection system.

[Ding! Successfully collected giant spider x1]

The system notification sounded, and Seraphina let out a long sigh of relief.

The plan was a success.

Seraphina moved on to find her next target.

Like a Hunter in the dead of night, Seraphina wove continuously through the shadows of the garden.

She patiently repeated the process of luring, hypnotizing, and killing, her movements growing more and more adept.

One by one, the giant spiders fell, swiftly collected into her system’s Space.

[Ding! Successfully collected giant spider x15]

[Current progress: 32/100]

The mechanical notifications chimed again and again as the completion rate for Seraphina’s collection quest rose rapidly.

Whenever her stamina dropped by more than half, she would hide in a safe corner and wolf down food to replenish her Energy.

Compressed biscuits, energy bars, chocolate... These mundane foods from the real world were now the key to maintaining her combat effectiveness.

Her only weakness now was her endurance. In simple gaming terms, her mana pool was too small, and she had to eat food to replenish it.

"Whew... constantly having to replenish my Energy is such a pain," Seraphina said, wiping the sweat from her forehead as she stuffed the last piece of chocolate into her mouth.

Right now, she felt like a robot low on battery, constantly needing to "recharge" just to keep using her Skills.

The surrounding webs began to thin out, and the number of patrolling spiders also decreased noticeably.

This abnormal quiet made Seraphina instinctively uneasy, but she continued to press forward to complete her mission.

"Number 97!"

Seraphina wiped away her sweat after finishing off that one.

"This is seriously hard work. If there wasn’t a Power Apple in the center of this park, I’d just blow this whole place up with a bomb."

Of course, Seraphina was just talking tough.

As Seraphina drew closer to the heart of the garden, a new situation became apparent.

The dwindling number of giant spiders had attracted the attention of a powerful existence deep within the web.

In the center of the garden, beneath a massive, cyan fruit tree, a creature with the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a spider opened its eyes.

However, her pupils held no glint of humanity, only the feral nature of a beast.

It opened its mouth and let out a hair-raising sound.

Meanwhile, Seraphina continued to dispatch the giant spiders one by one, completely unaware that other spiders were gathering around her.

As Seraphina pushed deeper, she had just started moving again when she suddenly noticed a flash of reflected light in the distance.

Her sharp intuition put her on immediate alert. Her Analysis Glasses automatically activated the [Remote Locking] function, and her vision rapidly zoomed in.

On the rooftop of a dilapidated high-rise, a blurry figure was observing her through a pair of binoculars!

’A Player? Or one of the Native People?’ Seraphina narrowed her eyes, her finger already resting on the trigger of her Sound Wave Gun.

Meanwhile, atop the high-rise, Jude Donovan was watching Seraphina’s entire spider-hunting process through high-powered binoculars.

His eyes shone with excitement, and the corners of his mouth turned up unconsciously.

"Perfect hunting technique... This person must be a Player, too!" Jude Donovan muttered to himself. "If I can team up with her, I can definitely over-fulfill Mission Two!"

"And she’s the Player who appeared in the instance with me. I never thought she’d be this strong. What on earth is her Talent?"

This was none other than the Player in black who had appeared in the room with Seraphina at the start of the instance.