Level Up The Colony
Chapter 75: Cocoon

Chapter 75: Cocoon

Timothy burst from hiding, his eyes locked on the monstrous spider.

Something about her gaze had been fixed on him from the moment she appeared, though he didn’t know why.

That didn’t matter now.

His job was simple, create a clear opening and weaken her defenses for the others to exploit.

Nonso’s skill wouldn’t last forever, and without a proper plan, getting under the spider’s belly seemed impossible.

Still, he had to try.

Vines were still constricting the spider, courtesy of Prisca, slowing its movements.

Seizing the chance, Timothy sprinted beneath the towering creature, machete in hand.

Limbs lashed out, but he parried them with narrow swipes, ducking and weaving until suddenly, boom! The spider slammed down on its stomach.

He rolled out just in time to avoid being crushed, sweat trailing his face.

However, there was no time to rest.

They needed to strike while it was down and that’s where Helen came in.

Her appearance began to change.

Red streaks surged through her hair, and her aura intensified.

Timothy remembered this look from the Wyvern Dungeon, She had quite the fierce demeanor then, though this wasn’t as fully transformed as then.

They all retreated quickly, putting distance between themselves and the recovering spider.

The vines still held, if barely, buying them time.

As the spider finally rose onto its legs, the earth beneath it shifted and gave way.

One leg sank, then another.

It tried to stabilize, but the ground was caving beneath every step.

Everyone looked to Helen, now kneeling with her hands on the earth.

The ground around the spider glowed red-hot, mirroring the heat at her feet.

Soon, molten lava bubbled up, swallowing the creature’s legs.

This was her skill: Molten Wave.

She could rapidly heat the ground, turning it into molten lava, and control the flow within a certain radius.

The spider shrieked, struggling to escape, but it was already too late.

Each time it tried to lift a leg, another sank deeper.

It couldn’t jump, not on terrain like this.

Timothy knew he wouldn’t be the one to deal the finishing blow, not this time.

The team had contingencies, and this was just one of them.

He could already see who their ace was in each battle every time and understood their synergies better.

They watched as the creature fought the lava’s pull, inching forward, its body sinking ever deeper.

Slowly, one foot broke free and found solid ground.

It tried to haul itself out.

"Get ready," Miebaka said, eyes narrowed.

"If this doesn’t finish it, we go all in."

Another leg came free.

Then a third.

Half of its body was now above the lava.

Just as it prepared to free its Fifth limb, Helen acted.

The molten pool instantly cooled into solid, searing-hot earth, locking its lower limbs underground.

"Three seconds," Nonso whispered, then vanished into the shadows.

Apparently, the assassin has been keeping track of his skill countdown.

He reappeared beneath the spider’s exposed belly.

This time, he struck in his physical form, dagger in hand.

He unleashed a rapid flurry of blows, all centered on a single point.

Cracks formed, hairline at first, then split apart with a sharp crack, like ceramic shattering.

Finally! a weak spot.

But before they could celebrate, the spider twisted violently, tearing its limbs from the earth.

Even charred and weakened, the front limbs struck with terrifying speed.

One limb slammed into Nonso before he could escape, sending him through the large stump of natural vines and debris.

Assassins weren’t known for their defense.

Timothy held his breath, praying that didn’t hold true here.

The spider snapped off its own scorched limbs to move freely again.

Despite its injuries, its fury hadn’t dimmed.

Its Four eyes tracked the others.

Two locked onto Timothy and he felt a chill in his gut.

"Timothy!" Miebaka called, already charging in with his katana drawn.

Timothy didn’t need to be told twice.

He sprinted in, flanking the spider opposite Miebaka.

Its four limbs dragged behind it, but it didn’t stand, it waited.

Timothy focused not on the kill but on his role: control the aggro, protect the others, and coordinate his moves with Miebaka.

It was still a team fight; knowing his strength and position, he had to keep a balance with his team.

Timothy and Miebaka closed in fast, closing the ten-meter gap between them and the spider.

But just as they reached striking range, the creature’s mandibles cracked open and with a sharp twitch, it spat toward Timothy.

In the same motion, it fired a web upward, launching itself high into the trees.

Timothy barely dodged the spit, rolling aside.

Even though his immunity protected him from toxins, he wasn’t sure whether this was poisonous or acidic and the difference could be fatal.

Miebaka, meanwhile, arrived too late to land a strike before the spider vanished into the canopy.

Clinging high above on a web it had spun, the spider perched with eerie balance, despite its prior injuries.

It scuttled across the threads, heading straight to one of several large cocoons.

With its front limbs, it tore the silk open and began devouring the contents with unsettling eagerness.

The team could only watch from below.

Apart from Helen, whose current condition made aerial combat too risky, none of them had any ability to fly.

Timothy noted her labored breathing.

Her skill had drained her, leaving her in need of rest and air.

Still, they all needed a moment to regroup.

Timothy considered using the scarf to launch himself up there but quickly dismissed it.

He had no terrain advantage, and against a spider like this, that could be fatal.

Worse still, the threads supporting the creature, thin as they seemed, were strong enough to carry its weight and probably matched its physical strength.

Watching the spider shift among its webs stirred a memory, an image of the Human King’s last battle.

The scene was too similar.

He wondered if spider silk from monsters like these might be stronger than even his silk scarf, or if it was the reverse if he grew the scarf eventually.

While Timothy lost himself in thought, the others checked on Nonso.

That was when he saw it, the spider moving rapidly from cocoon to cocoon, consuming them one after another.

Yet it skipped several in front of it, instead choosing specific ones.

Timothy frowned.

Why was it being selective?

Then the spider’s body began to convulse.

Its muscles twitched violently, and it shrieked, clattering its mandibles in pain.

A whitish fluid began to seep from each of its wounded limb sockets.

Timothy watched in frozen horror as the substance dripped and thickened until it shaped itself into full-sized limbs.

Moments later, hardened crusts cracked open like wax, revealing new limbs beneath, metallic and gleaming.

In mere seconds, the spider had regenerated all eight of its legs, even the ones previously charred.

Timothy stared in disbelief.

None of the others had noticed the transformation yet, their focus still on Nonso.

The spider turned toward him, and though it had no mouth capable of smiling, Timothy could feel the smugness in its stare.

It no longer needed its threads.

It now clung to the tree bark with raw power alone.

"This is bad..." Timothy muttered.

He glanced around at the hanging cocoons.

Now he understood, this was the purpose behind them.

Food.

Recovery.

Regeneration.

The longer this fight dragged out, the worse it would get for them.

They couldn’t afford to hold back anymore.

A drawn-out battle would end in failure.

But there was a glimmer of hope.

The spider’s underbelly, the vulnerable point they had targeted earlier hadn’t regenerated.

Maybe it was more difficult to restore than the limbs.

Or maybe it was a focused regeneration.

He wasn’t aware of its biology, but he was bound to exploit this point

That gave them one last shot.

He couldn’t just stand there and let it keep healing.

Then he noticed it, another cocoon being torn open.

And near it, one cocoon stood out.

Partially ripped, crudely rewrapped... but familiar.

Timothy’s eyes widened when he saw the name and status hovering faintly above it.

Gray.

The termite was still evolving inside, unconscious and completely vulnerable.

In the blink of an eye, he finished devouring the other cocoon and was about to head straight for the gray

Whatever hesitation he had disappeared immediately.

Timothy didn’t wait.

Activating multiple dash skills in rapid succession, he sprinted up the trunk, his scarf whipping out to latch onto higher webs, he was just as agile as the spider in stats.

He zigzagged through the canopy, leaping and swinging like a blur.

To Miebaka and the others, it happened in the blink of an eye.

One moment, Timothy was standing guard, holding the frontline as their designated tank, and the next, he was gone.

The group, however, after checking on Nonso and confirming that, while the injury wasn’t life-threatening, it was serious enough to hamper his combat ability, the group turned their attention to the sudden absence of their frontline defender.

Now, Timothy wasn’t just acting as the tank, he was acting as them all.

Frankly, he was the only one among them who could take a direct hit from a C-rank monster and still walk away with little consequence.

Whether it was because he was a B-rank or simply built tougher than the rest, he was perfectly suited for that position.

Above them, the scene was chaotic.

Timothy swung between the branches using a rope-like scarf, yanking at the spider as he went.

He tumbled over sticky threads and web lines, yet somehow managed to disrupt the spider’s rhythm.

With each movement, he limited its range and redirected its attention toward him.

In his own reckless, calculated way, Timothy was drawing aggro deliberately becoming the spider’s target to keep it away from the others