After that night, the three of them finally stumbled upon the Spider's Nest.

They hadn't meant to take so long, they'd just gotten lost. Well, Medici had gotten them lost, though of course he refused to admit it.

He stood now with his arms crossed, staring at the horizon with a solemn gaze, as if he were contemplating the mysteries of life itself. In reality, Luna could all but see the embarrassment simmering beneath his furrowed brow. He sucked at being a navigator, and he knew it.

Luna stifled a laugh, though the sound died before it reached her lips. Her eyes shifted to the boy asleep beside her. Amon lay sprawled on the skin of the nightmare creature, battered and pale, his breath shallow but steady. Relief curled through her chest like warmth in winter.

She exhaled softly and let her fingers trail through his tangled curls, brushing them back with a tenderness that surprised her.

"At least you're alive," she whispered. "That's all that matters."

The words tasted bitter. Because she knew the truth.

If she hadn't sent him to investigate that noise, if she had thought twice before trusting Listener, he wouldn't have gone outside and wouldn't have had to endure that kind of crap. She hadn't known that noise was the Leviathan's breath rising from beneath their camp, no, but ignorance wasn't an excuse. If she hadn't pushed him, Amon wouldn't have come back half-dead.

Her fault. No excuses. She should have made a divination before sending him off, that way she would know whether he could handle the danger or not. That was because of her own arrogance and overconfidence in her and her friends' ability.

Overall, this was a humbling experience, and the weight of it pressed heavy on her ribs as she leaned back against the cold stone, staring up at the rising sun with bitterness.

She stared blankly at the ground, the echo of her own thought biting at her: I left him again…

Her jaw clenched. No, enough of that. Regret was a pit with no bottom, and she refused to sink into it. What mattered was that he was alive. What mattered was making damn sure it never happened again.

Rising to her feet, Luna strode toward Medici. Her voice cut through the stagnant air.

"Hey. Let's destroy those spiders."

Medici blinked, pulled from his brooding. His lips twisted in annoyance. So much for aurafarming under the rising sun. Still, her tone made him pause.

"Shouldn't we wait for Amon? He's the one who cooks up the easy plans."

Luna shook her head. It wasn't just pride. Depending on Amon for every solution would turn them into sheep waiting for a shepherd. They were stronger than him in raw power, but without his mind they were just fumbling in the dark. That had to change.

"Not necessary," she said firmly. "You're a hunter, so start hunting. I've got ideas too."

Medici frowned, weighing her words. For a moment, silence pressed between them. Then he exhaled, long and tired, and gave a crooked nod.

"Fine. Let's cook them up."

Then the two of them took a seat and started planning their approach to the spider's nest. Medici was surprisingly good at it, it's just that he never bothered to think... Fucking idiot.

They also didn't remember much from the novel, they just knew that spiders were there. That's why Medici decided to investigate. Amon often studied his enemies before engaging in combat so there wouldn't be any unexpected variables. Medici adopted that approach with his task this time as well.

After they were done, they set their plan into motion.

Soon, the cavern trembled with chittering. Hundreds of legs scraped stone, threads quivered in the stale air, and the smell of rotting flesh laced with acid curled into their lungs.

"They don't even have order anymore," Luna muttered. "The matriarch's gone."

Medici cracked his knuckles, lips tugging into a wolfish grin. "Great, let's give them a taste of freedom."

When evening came, the spiders dragged their prey deeper into the nest, their steel like webs pulling taut as they cocooned the victims for later. That was when Medici struck.

He landed at the mouth of one tunnel, slammed his palm against the stone, and unleashed compressed fire. The entrance blew apart in a molten roar.

"Next one!" he barked, sprinting toward another.

Luna mirrored him on the opposite side, her body rippling unnaturally as flesh twisted into something alien. She raised a pulsating sac, veins throbbing across its surface, and hurled it down into the pit. The bomb burst, splattering corrosive ichor that ate through stone and chitin alike.

Spiders shrieked in a chorus that rattled the cavern walls. Webs caught flame, burning like tar. The nest became a cage of fire and acid, and the arachnids had nowhere left to run.

Those near the entrances had already been scorched to ash or dissolved into smoking puddles by Luna's flesh bombs. The others came skittering to the battlefield, only to find collapsed tunnels and the butchered remains of their kin.

Before realization could even sink into their varely intelligence minds, a giant fireball plummeted from above. Yellow flames devoured them, flesh blistering and blood boiling. Then came the second strike, a rain of corrosive ichor spilling through the ruptured hole, sizzling on chitin and silk alike, drowning their screeches in steam.

As the chaos raged, Luna and Medici dropped through the opening, boots crunching into the half-charred husks below. Both knew what they had killed wasn't even half of what lurked deeper.

The nest swallowed them quickly, damp and stinking, every breath coated with the musk of rot and acid. Webs clung to walls in pale veils, thick enough to glisten in the faint firelight. Luna raised a hand to halt Medici, her eyes narrowing at the threads, tensioned lines that hummed faintly with vibration.

"They'll feel us if we touch these," she whispered.

Medici only grunted, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

The tunnel split ahead, twin pathways leading deeper into darkness. Luna gave him one last glance and a grim nod. Without another word, they parted, slipping into separate veins of the nest, the silence pressing heavier with every step.

At last, they reached the inner chamber from opposite ends of the nest. The air was thick with damp silk and the reek of decay. Before the arachnids could react, Medici unleashed a torrent of fire while Luna's flesh bombs burst from the shadows, drowning the chamber in flame and gore. Screeches echoed, dozens of legs thrashing blindly, yet the formation gave the spiders no chance to regroup.

But both of them knew the truth: this barrage would not last. Medici's essence burned low, his flames sputtering at the edges, while Luna was growing exhausted, not physically, but mentally, yes. Luckily, she still stood strong because she absorbed the spiders she butchered along the way.

With a grimace, Medici drew his armor breaker, flames crawling along its spiky edge until it glowed like molten steel. Luna dashed forward at the same moment.

A spear-like leg slashed down, grazing the stone where she had been. She ducked low, hardened her flesh, and slammed her fist into the spider's skull with a bone-cracking thud. The beast reeled back, and she vaulted over its body, driving her hardened fist into its head. Black ichor sprayed across her face, hot and foul.

At the same time, threads hissed through the air, but her cloak of flesh unfurled, shielding her from the sticky barrage. She ripped it away and rammed a throbbing mass of flesh into the spider's maw. Its screech lasted only an instant before the bomb detonated, showering the nest in burning gore.

Luna's expression slowly grew more and more indifferent, focusing solely on ripping arachnids apart and then absorbing them. Listener let her hear every twitch and vibration of silk, while her high spirituality let her know which spider was more threatening.

Then, a claw raked her shoulder, jagged fangs sinking deep, but she only snarled, absorbing the beast's flesh and knitting her wound closed. With a gesture, she spread her essence across the area, and corpses rose in grotesque mimicry of life. Her flesh and blood servants swarmed forward, overwhelming the spiders and forcing them back.

Observing the battle while controlling puppets, she spared a glance at Medici. His spear blazed, every thrust leaving behind trails of fire. Each strike ended with a head bursting into flame or a body collapsing into cinders. He looked half-mad and enraged, drenched in sweat, but still he pressed on.

Their eyes met across the battlefield and both of them grinned, giving each other thumbs up.

Then, they leapt back in unison. Medici forced out the last drop of his essence, a giant fireball swelling above his palm, its heat blistering the air. Luna drove her puppets forward, their twisted forms charging heedlessly into the swarm and then:

BOOM!

The fireball fell upon the spiders while flesh and blood servants self-destructed.

[You Have Slain a Awakened Beast, Iron Spider.]

[You Have Slain a Awakened...

[You Have Slain...

The explosion tore through the nest in a fire and gore. Stone cracked, webs disintegrated, and spiders shrieked as they were burned alive. Medici was flung back, only to be caught by Luna's cloak of flesh as it curled around them. Together they endured as the nest collapsed in chaos, flames and acid raining down, soaking the nest with blood.

Half an hour later, the battlefield had grown quiet. Luna's body trembled faintly as she devoured the last scraps of twitching flesh, her skin steaming with absorbed essence. Color had returned to her cheeks, and her movements no longer felt sluggish. She exhaled, the sickly stench of blood and charred chitin clinging to her breath.

Medici crouched nearby, hands stained black as he pried soul shards from shattered husks. The translucent crystals gleamed faintly in his palms as he stared at them with a tired look. Luna absorbed most of them, though Medici kept a small share tucked safely away.

Now she sat still, motionless, her skin glistening with drying blood. Crimson stains marked her arms and cheeks, the metallic scent clinging to her like perfume. She stared at the glowing runes hovering faintly before her eyes, exhaustion softening her expression.

Class: Beast

Soul Fragments: [825/1000]

Almost there. Just a little more, and she would form her monster core. Medici was only a few fragments away as well, but unlike her, he restrained himself. He would wait for Amon to recover so the two of them could guard him during the agony of forming a monster core.

At least, everything had gone well. Their plan had been reckless, yes, but it worked… mostly.

Luna puffed her cheeks faintly, imagining Amon's inevitable frown. Tch. He'll tear this plan apart the moment he opens his mouth. He always does.

Her lips curled into a tiny pout, half-annoyed, half-amused. Then, without warning, her thoughts betrayed her: At least he's cute. That's his only saving grace.

Her eyes widened, and her face went stiff. Blood still dripped from her jawline, running down her neck in a crimson trail, but she froze as if struck by lightning. Wait. Cute? Did I just… call Amon cute?

A shiver ran through her shoulders, and she shook her head violently, splattering the blood that clung to her hair. Her grimace deepened. No, no… creepy. Yes, creepy is better. Amon and cute in one sentence… ugh, that's such bullshit.

Even drenched in gore, surrounded by webs and death, Luna couldn't stop her cheeks from warming ever so slightly.

At the same time, Medici glanced at her and shivered.

Why's she smiling warmly like that while staring at a spider's crushed head and its twitching insides!? I was right about the little communist! The Hanged Man's pathway only produces lunatics! Amon, wake up, bro! I'm scared!

Luna ignored his stare, stretching with a yawn. The fight hadn't been too hard, at least not for her, with her near-immortality but it had still been mentally draining. Medici looked far more roughed up, though nothing serious: just a few bruises and cuts she'd patch up later.

Not a bad day, all things considered.

A few hours later…

"So you could have hidden flesh-and-blood bombs in the arachnids' bodies, then slipped into one of them with Flesh Creek to observe. That would've given you a significant advantage. Once they gathered to feed, you'd detonate the bombs and wipe them all out in one go. Or, you could have waited for me. With Medici's help, I could have boiled something effective from the Jar of Hundred Poisons into gas. Then we'd seal every entrance, drop the chemical weapon from above, and wait until they weakened or died. There's also another way, which Medici-"

"Okay, enough!"

Luna and Medici cut him off in unison as Amon rattled on, listing everything they had done wrong.

Cute, my ass. Who thinks up all that in seconds!?

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[A/N: I'm, in fact, not a girl. Some of you were deceived, lol. Well, what can I do? I'm a mentor of deceit, fr fr. Heh. Anyway, I wrote this chapter yesterday and today corrected some grammar mistakes. That's why the translation sucks. Words from my language get translated into something different, so it's really a headache, I have to check it over and over again to see if it's done correctly, and if not, then fix it. Well, people are doing bonus chapters or stuff like that, so let's call this one that. Though, I don't understand, why not just post the chapter if you wrote it? Do some people like torturing their readers or something? Well, whatever. Enjoy, fellas!]

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