Level Up The Colony
Chapter 79: One Foot up

Chapter 79: One Foot up

The reverent stare that followed Timothy’s miraculous return from death didn’t last long.

A sharp, ear-piercing scream cut through the silence.

Everyone turned to look at where the sound came from, but they could not see anything. However, they could hear its violent thrashing from where they stood.

Timothy calmly walked over to Miebaka and stood beside him.

"You’re alive," Miebaka muttered, still shocked.

"It’s a miracle, isn’t it?" Timothy said with a faint smile.

"Before you start scolding me, I only confronted the spider to save my companion."

"The termite, huh? And you still lost. It got eaten. So what now, are you going to mourn it?" Miebaka asked, sensing there was more behind Timothy’s words.

"Not really," Timothy said as he summoned his weapon.

"It’s still alive. But I’m going to need your help to subdue it."

Miebaka stared at him, uncertain of what Timothy was planning, and weighed whether he should even agree.

Plus, he didn’t ignore the hint in Timothy’s tone. Subdue?

But after a moment, he exhaled slowly, there wasn’t much of a choice.

"The problem isn’t fighting it... it’s keeping it grounded," Miebaka replied.

Timothy nodded.

"I was the one who lured it out of its cave. I should be able to catch its attention again."

"So, you’ll be the bait," Miebaka said.

"I thought I was the tank."

"Well, congratulations," Miebaka said dryly.

"You just got promoted. You’re now both."

"Is it just the two of us, or are we going as a team?" Timothy asked, glancing at the others.

They both looked at the rest of the group still exhausted and barely able to stand.

"We’ll go alone. No need to risk them in their condition," Miebaka decided.

Timothy nodded and walked over to Nonso, the assassin.

He lowered his voice as he spoke.

"Hi there. Second time we’re talking today. That’s a record."

Nonso looked at him with irritation, this was the first time Timothy had actually seen part of his face beneath the hood.

He looked young, likely the second youngest after Prisca.

"What do you want?" Nonso asked bluntly.

"Can I borrow your dagger? You use a dagger, right?"

Nonso blinked in surprise.

"Why?"

"Because I need a proper two-handed weapon," Timothy explained.

"Can’t exactly fight the beast with just my fists."

Nonso studied him for a moment, then pulled out a small green dagger.

"Be careful with this. It can be used by anyone with the right technique. The blade is poisoned so even a scratch can be lethal, though I doubt one scratch will be enough to bring down the spider."

Timothy took the dagger and tried to read its stats the same way he had with other weapons before.

...

Item: Weapon

Rank: C

Name: Poisoned Steel

Attack: 15 (Poisonous)

...

He eyed the blade, sharp and pointy, clearly made for stabbing.

It seemed decent, though Timothy couldn’t say if it was exceptional or average.

He hadn’t used many human-forged weapons, after all.

Still, his old machete had long reached its limit.

This wasn’t one of those times he could rely on its past advantages.

"Thank you," he said sincerely, then returned to Miebaka’s side.

"Are you ready?" Miebaka asked.

"When this is all over, if it is possible I would like to use my share of this raid if any to get a weapon with good penetration power, if you know what I mean," Timothy said with a glance at Miebaka

"I understand " Miebaka replied

"That should be everything," Timothy replied.

Miebaka gestured for him to take the lead.

As the bait, it was his job to approach the spider.

Miebaka’s role was to remain hidden and strike with a single decisive ambush, one strong enough to keep the spider from leaping into the air.

Meanwhile, Prisca deactivated her skill and, breathing heavily, watched Timothy’s figure grow smaller as he moved away.

She realized Miebaka had already vanished.

Nonso and Helen watched as well.

They might not be able to fight, but that didn’t mean they’d sit back passively.

Quietly, they formed a loose triangle formation, each watching the other’s back.

Timothy strolled silently through the chamber.

The only sound now was the spider’s skittering from behind the massive tree.

When he came into view, he saw the spider furiously rubbing its abdomen against the bark, almost like it was trying to scratch something out of its body.

Timothy smirked.

Just as I thought.

It hadn’t had the time to properly digest the cocooned termite that was undergoing evolution, it had swallowed it whole.

And the system hadn’t indicated the process could be interrupted so easily.

Even within the spider’s supposedly deadly digestive fluids, the termite was still evolving.

Now, there was only one way to confirm it.

Timothy struck the two metal weapons together, creating a harsh screech of steel-on steel.

At the same time, he whistled a low, melodic tone as he circled the dungeon wall, keeping a safe distance in case he needed to react quickly.

Spiders were sensitive to sound, and sure enough, they turned toward him more than once.

But each time, the itching agony in its abdomen distracted it.

For now.

Timothy remained patient, subtly releasing pheromones meant to signal a challenge.

He wasn’t sure if the spider could interpret them like termites did, but it was worth a shot.

His gaze stayed fixed, unwavering, drilling into the spider like a silent dare.

Eventually, he caught the monster’s attention.

Its six eyes followed him cautiously as he moved into position, standing directly across from it.

Then, with a slow, confident smirk, he provoked it further.

Did it work? He couldn’t tell for sure.

But if the spider had even a fraction of a woman’s pride, being disturbed, challenged, and then smiled at so coyly, then yes, it had absolutely worked.

Almost instantly, he saw the shift.

The spider began to prioritize him over the itch in its abdomen.

It loosened its legs from the tree’s surface, now gripping it only lightly.

Timothy’s eyes narrowed.

He knew what was coming.

With a burst of strength, the spider launched itself from the tree toward him.

Mid-air, it spread its limbs wide, gliding like a monstrous parachute of death.

It was huge.

Terrifying.

Almost majestic.

If not for the wet squelching hole in its abdomen and the fact that it wanted to kill him, it might’ve been beautiful.

He expected it to waste more time pouring digestive fluids on its meal, but apparently, the cocoon inside its gut was causing more than mild discomfort.

All the better.

Timothy waited, tense but composed until the spider was close enough to make dodging difficult but still far enough for a counterattack.

Then, with a sharp motion, he swung his machete twice diagonally, activating Kinetic Pounce.

Two crescent aura blades shot out, catching the spider off guard and slamming into its carapace.

It didn’t wound the creature much, but it knocked it off balance.

That was more than enough.

He dashed forward with smooth, practiced agility.

The spider recovered fast, skittering to its feet.

Fortunately, its maw wasn’t immediately in position to bite.

Coating his machete in Armament, Timothy struck again. Another Kinetic Pounce cracked against the spider’s front leg, throwing it backward.

Before it could recover, he was already in the air, descending with lethal intent.

His borrowed dagger, Poisoned Steel flashed in the light, and with a surge of effort and another burst of Armament, he stabbed it straight through one of its eyes.

A thin line of blood trickled down its gleaming white carapace.

Timothy didn’t stick around to admire the result.

He immediately leaped back.

It wasn’t a fatal blow, he never expected it to be.

But a poisoned eye was still an injury.

Whether the venom would take effect remained to be seen.

One down.

Five more to go.

Spiders didn’t rely on their eyes the way humans did; they were more supplemental than vital.

Still, it was blood for blood, and that counted for something.

He climbed up a protruding vine arching from the ground, an elevated position.

Below, the spider skittered in furious circles, searching.

When it saw him again, its eyes were filled with rage, but not the delirium Timothy had hoped the poison might cause.

Still no signs of the venom working.

’This will take a while’ he thought

He launched another Kinetic Pounce.

The spider responded with a high-speed leap, aiming to crush or impale him.

It tore through the aura slash and landed hard where he had stood just a second before.

But Timothy was no longer there.

A faint whistle echoed from underneath.

"Let’s hope this vine holds," he muttered.

The spider twisted, its eyes locking onto him, just in time for another figure to drop from above.

Pink!

Another eye is gone.

The creature shrieked and tumbled, crashing down and snapping the vine beneath it with a thunderous crack.

Timothy didn’t wait for an invitation, he dove straight into the chaos. freewebnøvel.coɱ

Before the spider could regain its footing and resume its frenzy, his scarf lashed out, wrapping tightly around one of its legs.

Using the scarf’s strength as leverage, he pulled himself toward the beast with explosive momentum.

His foot, now fully healed, had restored the scarf’s functionality, another welcome advantage.

It could now detach and reattach at will, though he still wasn’t entirely sure of the conditions that governed it.

His target was a narrow, vulnerable gap where the spider’s abdomen connected to its limb joints.

The machete in his grip shimmered with Armament, and with the monster’s vision now impaired on one side, it didn’t notice him in time.

With a brutal strike, Timothy drove the blade into the joint.

The spider reeled, lost its balance, and crashed to the ground again in a shrieking heap.

Timothy landed beside it, breathing hard, but victorious in the moment.

One of the spider’s limbs now lay severed at his feet, twitching violently as the beast howled in pain.

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