Chapter 243: Inside the gates "Mara, stick close!" Nina whispered urgently, her hand moving to activate the lightning rune. Brilliant illumination flooded outward, pushing back the suffocating darkness as light claimed dominance over the space. Nina and Mara’s eyes widened as they found themselves standing in a chamber completely filled with cobwebs. Thick strands stretched across every surface, glistening with a liquid they couldn’t quite recognize. Their eyes scanned frantically left to right, searching for the beast that had created this lair. But there was nothing. No sound except their own rapid breathing. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺 The chamber appeared empty despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. "N-Nina... Look up!" Mara’s voice cracked with pure terror as she forced down a mouthful of saliva, her staff pointing toward the ceiling. Nina’s gaze snapped upward. The sight before her made her blood run cold. A gigantic spider hung directly above them, suspended from a single thick thread of cobweb, its massive body positioned perfectly for an ambush drop. The creature was enormous, easily the size of a small house, its hairy bulk blocking out the chamber’s ceiling. Eight malevolent crimson orbs met Nina’s eyes. Nina didn’t hesitate. Her limbs moved on pure instinct, she spun around, grabbed Mara into a princess carry with surprising gentleness despite the urgency, and exploded into motion using her powerful legs, driving her feet into the group and out. Her boots pounded against stone as she sprinted away from their entry position. ~Thud~ The spider released its thread, the massive creature crashed down on the exact spot where they’d been standing mere moments before, its enormous weight sending dust, rocks, and debris scattering across the chamber floor. The impact created a small crater in the stone, demonstrating the sheer mass of the spider. If Nina had been even a moment slower, they would both be paste beneath that bulk. "Shit, this beast is definitely S-Rank..." Nina cursed, her worst fears confirmed as she set Mara down and drew her sword in one fluid motion. As one of the most skilled support healers in her generation, Mara immediately recognized the beast’s heritage despite her terror. "Nina, this isn’t a normal spider variant. It’s an Acromantuli, a rare variant within the Spider Clan...specifically known for its extraordinarily potent poison element that it imbues into both its webs and its pincers. Contact with the silk alone can cause paralysis for multiple seconds." Nina nodded grimly, her eyes never leaving the gigantic spider that now stood before them, its eight immensely long, hairy legs spanning an approximate distance of twenty feet in every direction. The Acromantuli’s legs were as thick as a tree trunks and covered in coarse black hair. The Acromantuli’s eight crimson orbs fixed on the two women in intensity. Its razor-sharp poisonous pincers—each one the length of a sword blade—began clicking together, the sound echoing across the chamber. ~Click~ ~Click~ ~Click~ Nina tightened her grip on her sword, positioning herself protectively between Mara and the spider. "Mara, this is going to be tough... We might die a few times, but we can do it." Nina said, her eyes fixed on the beast that remained eerily still, watching them. Mara nodded firmly, "Mm-hm. We have enough lives accumulated to survive a few deaths. With my healing buffs active, the resurrection debuffs will be less straining on your combat performance too." Nina’s lips curved into a fierce grin, "Let’s kill this overgrown spider and get back to the others, Mara." Without further hesitation, Nina charged toward the Acromantuli, her S-rank shield held firmly before her in her left hand, her S-rank sword gripped in her right. Her knight class enhanced her forward momentum, her strides explosive and rapid. Hiss! Venom began accumulating in the spider’s throat, a disgusting green liquid pooling behind its pincers before the creature spat out a massive glob of poison. Nina sidestepped away from the main impact point, her eyes reading the trajectory perfectly. But she couldn’t avoid everything. She raised her shield to cover herself from the splashing poison that scattered in all directions from the primary strike point, droplets flying like toxic rain. Most of the venom was blocked by her shield’s surface, the metal sizzling where poison made contact. But a few droplets landed on her feet where her shield didn’t provide complete coverage. The poison burned through the patches instantly, making contact with her skin. Nina grunted sharply in pain as the venom began its work, her face twisting as the toxin tried to spread through her bloodstream. Thankfully, the agony didn’t last long. Warm light washed over Nina as Mara activated her healing skill from her position behind the front line, the magic purging the poison and simultaneously providing a temporary enhancement to Nina’s physical capabilities. "Thank you!" Nina shouted without looking back, her focus entirely on the spider as she continued her aggressive charge. Within moments, she closed the distance, entering striking range of the massive Acromantuli. As her sword lifted high for a powerful downward slash aimed at one of the spider’s legs, the Acromantuli’s eight limbs began moving with insane speed, weaving silk from multiple spinnerets simultaneously, forming a massive ball of webbing infused with glistening poison in less than a second. Nina’s heart skipped a beat as the web projectile launched toward her like a cannonball. Her hand moved instinctively to her chestplate, channeling mana desperately into the powerful defensive rune embedded in the armor. Once she was hit with that attack, she was almost certainly dead. The spider had hidden its trump card till she got close, before deploying a poisonous, crowd control skill that would leave her trapped within it. Once she was trapped, she was nothing but a snack. A translucent bubble of protective energy materialized around Nina mere moments before the poisoned web sphere collided with her. WHAM! The impact was tremendous, the web hitting the barrier with enough force to stop Nina’s forward momentum completely. Her mana depleted rapidly, draining at an alarming rate as the rune struggled to maintain its integrity against the spider’s assault. Activating such powerful defensive runes without being a dedicated runemaster was incredibly inefficient, consuming mana like pouring water into a hole that never became full. This was exactly why these emergency runes were meant only for life-or-death predicaments. The bubble of energy began showing visible cracks, fracture lines spreading across its surface as the poisoned web ate away. But Nina was going to extract maximum value from the temporary protection. While the barrier held for one more precious second, she would land a devastating counterattack of her own. Her sword blazed with power, her knight class skills flooding the blade in destructive energy as she pivoted her aborted downward slash into a horizontal cut aimed directly at the spider’s nearest leg joint.