abcnovels
Chapter 81: Floor 10
Chapter 81: Floor 10
Chapter 81: Floor 10
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In a flash of light, a group of players appeared in the middle of a deserted and overgrown, ruined city. It looked abandoned for years, and there were also eerie spiderwebs covering the crumbling buildings.
Knoxx looked around with an eagle's gaze, and then his gaze landed on a campfire that had burned out a while back.
'They used this place as a camping spot; should we as well?' Knoxx wondered to himself with a frown.
He had the role of raid leader-it was a demanding role, and this raid was very important to him.
So far, he hasn't led any raids yet. He recently became an ordergiver and had the opportunity to become a raid leader. It was his opportunity to show what he was capable of doing.
In Crimson Hound's, there were in total ten raid teams-they were ranked from first to tenth based on their skill level-the guild's core team was the first team, and Knoxx was now leaving the lowest-ranked team, the tenth team.
He hoped that this would show his capabilities as a leader, and perhaps in the future, he could lead one of the top five ranked teams. It would be a huge honor.
"Alright, everyone!" Knoxx shouted.
Everyone stopped checking out the town and turned to their leader.
"We'll camp here."
Knoxx said and after giving everyone the order, they began building up the campsite for them -it was still quite early, but they would have to spend several weeks on the floor.
Their main goal was to defeat the boss of the floor, but that wasn't all-they were also looking for Magick Energy shards. They were worth quite a bit, as the New World desperately needed them.
Therefore, they would survey the floor for the shards before going to defeat the boss.
After a few hours, the campsite was somewhat built-around seven tents were already up, forming a circle in the middle of the town-and in the middle of the circle, the previous campfire was removed and replaced by a larger, more elaborate bonfire pit.
Knoxx sat down on a log and saw that everyone was listening. He then opened a map and flapped it in front of everyone.
"This is a map of the tenth floor," he said before continuing, "And it shows the areas where we can look for the shards. However, we must be careful in one specific area."
As he showed the map, there was a red zone in the middle of a thick forest. It was a danger mark.
"That's where the boss lays and its underlings."
Knoxx scratched the back of his head before continuing.
"We are facing a dangerous breed of Chaosbeings-Spider Demons-they are, just like their name suggests, spider-like creatures with demonic attributes.
"They are quite a bit like humans, to be honest, as they can stand on two legs, but the underlings have four arms instead of two, and their heads are that of a spider's. They are very disturbing fellows.
"And then the boss is Spider Mother. She is the most terrifying of them all, with her massive size and ability to control all the underlings with just a glance.
"Unlike underlings, she is a bona fide spider with eight steel legs that can pierce through you like a spear. We'll need to think of countermeasures for them."
A few female members of the raid party shuddered at the idea of those spiders. The idea of facing such ugly creatures was terrifying.
Adam looked at the ground, where a few small spiders were crawling near the bonfire. He then stomped on them and squeezed the spiders into the dirt.
Knoxx's gaze landed on Adam, and he then smirked before asking, "Well, let's ask from our newcomer. What are three common Spider Demon skills that we need to be careful of?"
He asked it because he was certain that Adam didn't know the answer to that. None of the newcomers usually starts with reading about different types of Chaosbeings, as they are usually too occupied with training.
Knowledge had power-that's why they were told to study about Chaosbeings, but since Adam was still a young mercenary, he hadn't been ordered to.
Knoxx and other members of the raid party had learned about Spider Demons beforehand because they knew what floor 10 had in store for them. They didn't tell Adam to do that.
"Spider Demons..." Adam quickly tried to remember and then said, "Spiderweb, Fear Inducement, and Wall Crawling."
Knoxx's eyes widened in surprise. He didn't expect to know them!
"May I explain them thoroughly?" Adam asked.
"Sure..." Knoxx crossed his arms and listened.
"Spiderweb is quite simple. Spider Demons can shoot silk from their hands, creating sticky webs to trap their enemies. Its weakness is fire, so hopefully we have some users of Magick that know how to throw fireballs."
"I-I do." A shy-looking woman raised her hand with a smile. "I-I specialize in fire attacks."
"That's why I brought her." Knoxx said with a smug look.
'Oh?' Adam shrugged his shoulders and then continued, "Fear Inducement is a mental attack. It can put a person in a state of extreme fear and panic, rendering them unable to think clearly or fight back.
"If that happens and you are alone... you will die. However, as long as you are with someone, one slap to the face will do the trick. It is easy to break someone out of that state."
"If you see someone blank out, act immediately to bring them back to reality before it's too late." Knoxx added.
"And lastly, Wall Crawling." Adam sighed and said, "It is a troublesome skill. It allows the Spider Demons to crawl across walls and ceilings. It makes their ambushes deadly.
"There is no real weakness to that; just keep your eyes peeled and be on the lookout for
anything."
"Not bad; that's pretty much it all."
Knoxx gave his first hint of a smile. He appreciated those who actually bothered to learn by themselves rather than relying solely on others to teach them.
"Spider Mother has extra skills, but what we know is that she specializes in Magick skills. She does have the ability to use Kiryoku, but it is weak, and she is unable to use Kraft.
"It still doesn't matter because her hard shell protects her from most physical attacks. It's pretty much as strong as the basic version of Kraft.
"That forest..."
Knoxx stood up to point towards a dark, thick forest that stretched far.
"It is the home of Spider Demons. In the middle of the forest, there is a dome-like structure that houses their mother. It's big enough to be seen from here if you go on top of one of the
houses."
"Excuse me, I have a question." Adam raised a finger.
"What is it?" Knoxx asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Is there a danger of another mercenary party coming to contest us?" Adam asked.
After he asked that, other members of the raid party turned quiet. It was obviously possible. Whenever one of the floors became available, guilds sent a request to the Mercenary Guild to get permission to enter the floor. It was usually given only to one guild, whichever was
fastest.
This time, there were around five guilds that sent their requests, but Crimson Hounds was the fastest. However, there had been instances when other guilds ignored that and still went for
it.
If they were discovered doing so, there would be punishment-however, it was possible to do
it unnoticed.
All they would have to do is kill the other guild that got the official permission so that no one
would know.
"That's unlikely." Knoxx said with a shake of his head and turned to his tent.
"Are you sure?" Adam asked with a frown. "Does Crimson Hounds have enemies?"
"..." A silence fell over the campsite.
"They wouldn't dare..." Knoxx said coldly.
"However, just in case, should we change the location of our campsite?" Adam asked with a frown. "We are at the spawn spot. If another guild happens to come here when we are
sleeping, we are easy prey."
"Uhm..." Knoxx looked troubled and then saw other members look very worried.
In the end, he sighed and waved his hand. "Fine! There's another relatively safe place north of
here. We'll move our camp there instead."
"Whew..." Adam sighed to himself. 'I am relieved that even he is worried about that possibility and doesn't want to take any risks. I expected him to be more hardheaded, but I
guess he also has a brain.
'From what I know, Crimson Hounds have few enemies, and it doesn't hurt to be careful. Dungeon is a dangerous place, and Chaosbeings aren't the only threat.'