Extra Chapter…(On Completing 1200 Power Stones)
….
In his original world, there weren't monsters like Stonehide Lawachurls. If he had to compare, a Lawachurl in this world was probably on par with something like Earth Dragon Araba in his.
But honestly, right now, he wasn't particularly afraid of Earth Dragon Araba anymore.
"And you're still that confident?" Paimon was very puzzled.
"Even though I haven't fought a Lawachurl, I have plenty of combat experience. I can give it a try," Elliot replied nonchalantly. "Besides, even if we get a little hurt, the kind Miss Barbara is here to heal us, right?"
Hearing Elliot's praise, Barbara blushed slightly but cleared her throat and said gently, "We can try. Taking a long detour would be too troublesome. But please, don't push yourselves too hard. If anyone gets injured, I can provide healing."
"Well, since Miss Barbara said so, I guess we have no choice but to go for it," Paimon said, spreading her hands in a helpless gesture.
Lumine rolled her eyes. "You never help when we fight Hilichurls anyway."
Paimon scratched her head sheepishly. "Don't say that! I'm always cheering you on from the sidelines! Besides, Elliot is Zhongli's cousin; he must be strong too. Nothing to be afraid of!"
With the decision made, the group of four headed towards the Hilichurl camp. Along the way, Elliot easily dispatched over a dozen Hilichurls.
The smaller Hilichurls were very weak, even weaker than some of the monsters in the Elroe Labyrinth, and their intelligence was low. Actually, saying their intelligence was "low" was being generous.
To put it bluntly, they were morons. Unlike Abyss Mages, they didn't have any fancy skills, so they just swarmed any enemy they saw.
Elliot had initially thought his [Dragon Might] would scare them off. But, surprisingly, they didn't run away at all. Even knowing they were outmatched, they still charged forward. Seeing this, Elliot could only sigh and reluctantly accept their "gifts" of EXP.
Soon, his quest progress reached 46/50. Just four more Hilichurls, and he'd complete the first part.
Just then, a roar, distinctly different from the other Hilichurls, echoed through the area. No doubt about it that was the roar of a Stonehide Lawachurl.
"Here it comes! The Stonehide Lawachurl is going to attack us!" Barbara, standing at the back, not being a combatant, nervously clasped her hands for the Traveler and Elliot.
Even though she knew they were both very strong, encountering a Hilichurl Chieftain for the first time still made her uneasy.
No sooner had she spoken than a whistling sound cut through the air the sound of something blunt tearing through the atmosphere, growing louder, almost deafening.
Barbara whipped her head around and saw a massive boulder, five or six meters in diameter and weighing dozens of tons, hurtling towards them! Getting hit by something like that would instantly crush them into paste.
The wind pressure from its passage blew Barbara's twin pigtails back, making her instinctively raise her hands to shield her face.
When she opened her eyes again, she was completely stunned.
Barbara swore she would never forget this scene for the rest of her life—
Under the bright sun, Elliot transformed into a dozen streaks of lightning-fast slashes, and the massive boulder above them instantly disintegrated into dust. Then, a faint smile played on the Earth Dragon's lips. He raised his right hand, his giant dragon palm clenching into a fist, and said calmly:
"[Tendo Bansho]!"
The next second, a colossal meteor, ten times larger than the boulder, plummeted from the sky. The Stonehide Lawachurl, seeing the descending meteor, actually froze in place, as if in awe, not even attempting to flee.
Terrifying damage numbers exploded over the Lawachurl. Its stone-forged armor shattered like a castle hit by TNT, and it was simultaneously petrified for a full 7 seconds.
"Now's our chance!" Seeing the petrification effect and the Lawachurl left with only a sliver of health, Lumine was about to dash forward and finish it off.
But Elliot, having learned from his previous kill-steal experience, gave Lumine no opportunity.
"[Starfell Stone], fall!" A rock construct dropped from above, finishing off the critically injured Stonehide Lawachurl. A massive wave of EXP surged into him, and with the system's level-up notification, Elliot smoothly advanced to Level 19.
"Huh? Starfell Stone? Isn't that the Traveler's skill?" Paimon noticed the discrepancy and asked, puzzled. Lumine also looked over, curious.
Indeed. Starfell Stone was Lumine's skill. After resonating with Geo, she gained two Geo abilities, and Starfell Stone was one of them.
[Tendo Bansho] was Zhongli's skill, and him being Zhongli's "cousin" made that somewhat believable. But Starfell Stone? How did he have that?
He'd accidentally used his most convenient skill. He was just afraid of getting his kill stolen again, so he used the quickest way to finish off the Lawachurl. Elliot didn't bother explaining.
After all, if you dug deep enough, everyone had secrets they couldn't easily explain. Like Paimon a flying creature, yet the Traveler fished her out of the water. And the Traveler herself was from another world. Everyone had their mysteries.
[Quest Complete. Acquired Key to Return to Original World. Return Now?]
Return? Of course not. Kumoko had probably cleared out the entire Upper Stratum by now. If he went back, he'd just be staring at an empty cave with no monsters to grind for levels.
He wasn't going back yet. First, he needed to deal with Maguu Kenki and get that Gnosis!
….
Back in the Elroe Labyrinth...
After learning that Kumoko refused to submit, the Queen Taratect dispatched a massive spider army to capture her. The spiders in this army were all around Level 25 to 35, each one nearly as strong as Earth Dragon Araba.
Although Kumoko had wiped out all the creatures in the Upper Stratum and reached Level 24, successfully evolving from Zoa Ele into [Shinigami's Shadow] (Death's Shadow/Reaper's Shadow) and gaining many new skills and stats, the most important among them was Space Magic.
Having witnessed the Administrator's terrifying spatial abilities a simple spatial barrier could render her immobile Kumoko, after much thought, had poured all her subsequent level-up and evolution skill points into Space Magic.
Her Space Magic was now... LV 9!
Relying on her Space Magic, Kumoko could definitely win one-on-one against these high-level spiders. But if they ganged up on her? That was a different story. So, for now, Kumoko was still forced to flee.
As for the Queen Taratect, her main job was laying eggs. Although her stats were incredibly high, enough to crush Kumoko easily, she rarely left her nest.
"If the Queen Spider doesn't come out herself, I might still have a chance to kill these large spider monsters," Kumoko thought secretly.
Many of the spiders in this army were her siblings, hatched by the Queen just like her. But because Kumoko possessed the [Ruler of Pride] title, she didn't see them as family. Instead, she viewed them as stepping stones, EXP on her path to power.
"If the Earth Dragon were here, maybe I wouldn't even need to be afraid of these big spider monsters," Kumoko couldn't help but think of Elliot. If he were here, no matter how many large spiders there were, they wouldn't be his match.
Unfortunately, at the last moment before the Queen Taratect's breath attack hit, Elliot had thrown her to safety, while he himself was buried under the falling rocks.
But she still believed that the Elliot wouldn't die so easily. Someone who could go toe-to-toe with an Administrator couldn't be killed that simply… well not really toe to toe but injuring him was a feat too!
Elliot is still alive! Kumoko firmly believed this. And even if he had died, once she learned high-level magic, she might have a chance to resurrect him. But right now, she was still too small, too weak; many things were beyond her capabilities. The most urgent task was to raise her own level.
While fleeing, Kumoko's mind raced. Her siblings had all chosen evolution paths leading to large spider forms focusing on high attack, high defense, and high HP.
But this also meant their bodies became extremely bulky, making it difficult for them to maneuver in narrow spaces.
And speed... speed had always been Kumoko's advantage!
"You want to chase me? I'll let you chase!" Kumoko deliberately led the large spider monsters on a merry chase through the Elroe Labyrinth.
Soon, they reached the Middle Stratum, the area filled with lava. She remembered Elliot could survive in lava for a long time, but these large spider monsters probably didn't have a shield skill like his.
The next moment, Kumoko didn't hesitate at all.
….
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