Boom!

A loud explosion shook the cave and the stone wall crumbled under the pressure exerted by it.

It wasn't a big hole, but it was enough for Gerald to squeeze through without any problems.

The cavern was slowly expanding outward and water dripped from the ceiling, forming many stalagmites and stalactites. Some of them met in the middle, forming giant stone columns.

Gerald carefully ventured forward on the slippery floor, but he soon got a feeling he was being watched.

The cave expanded to a great hall and the tiny light from his torch couldn't light even a tenth of it. He felt like he was in the middle of the void, blackness on all sides.

Taktaktaktak…

Weak knocking sounds reverberated through the cavern. At first, it was only a few, but soon it was coming from all sides as it slowly grew in intensity.

"What kind of…" Gerald didn't even have time to finish his sentence when something entered his field of vision.

A small, eight-legged, hairy creature emerged from the darkness. It was about twenty centimeters in height and half a meter in width. Countless small eyes stared at the light coming from the torch Gerald was holding.

"Spiders!" Gerald suddenly figured out what was producing the sound. Just at the thought of it, his body shivered. Soon more and more spiders emerged from the darkness, completely encircling him from all sides.

He activated his Magic Eyes to be able to see better in the darkness and what he saw almost made him scream in horror.

"Fuck! So many spiders!" Indeed, the entire cave was filled to the brim with thousands of spiders. They were slowly climbing down from the ceiling via threads and stone columns.

But that wasn't the worst of it. Way in the back, a giant mass of Mana was slowly approaching.

It was the Broodmother, the queen of spiders, and the current owner of this cave.

She did not appreciate someone disturbing her by barging in through the back door.

Skree!

A high-pitched noise came from her and the spiderlings rushed towards Gerald like mad.

They climbed over each other and jumped forward without a care in the world. The shout from their queen was like a divine order for them; they could nothing but obey.

And the order was: "Kill the intruder!"

This time Gerald didn't understand the screeching from the Broodmother, but he could easily get the gist of it based on the actions of smaller spiders.

"Stay away from me you pests!" he shouted, and immediately after he threw the torch to the side and pulled out his sword.

Fire crystals were almost exhausted, but the blade was still sharp and useful.

Woosh, woosh, woosh!

With the remaining Mana in the sword, Gerald made a few Fireballs and sent them flying forward.

Boom! Skree!

Each Fireball engulfed about a dozen spiders and they almost instantly turned to charcoal. The surrounding spiders got spooked by the flames and screeched loudly, but that didn't mean they gave up.

Instead, they pushed forward with even more vigor.

Gerald felt great pressure being surrounded, but he wasn't worried. With the Stone Body, he didn't fear the bites of spiders.

But he had to finish the fight quite quickly since his Mana won't last forever.

The best way to do that was to dispose of the Broodmother first. Without her guidance, the little guys posed no threat whatsoever.

Gerald walked forward swinging his sword and slicing the small spiders in half. But soon he was unable to move since he was covered by dozens of them, and although they were quite light, the weight quickly added up.

The worst part was that they were trying to bite him with their poisonous fangs but that only made Gerald feel like he was getting pinched all over his body. It was extremely uncomfortable.

"Ah! Get off of me!" He gathered his strength to free his hand and then flames spewed from his palm like he was using a flamethrower.

Those tiny black hairs on spiders' legs ignited immediately and with Gerald's help, the cave was soon filled with a sea of fire.

Swish, splat!

He grabbed his sword again and continued carving his way through the sea of insects. Every once in a while he would shoot Fireballs out, keeping the spiders at bay.

Woosh, woosh, woosh!

Boom!

Hundreds of spiders already died in the flames and explosions but they still kept advancing. Gerald was slowly starting to feel a headache.

His use of Fire magic wasn't as natural as Earth magic, so the strain on his mind was somewhat greater. Now that he had to use it constantly, it was starting to show its weakness.

"Damn, I wish I had a greater area-of-effect spell so I could finish this quicker! Too bad I can't use the Greater Fireball without my second hand…" Gerald complained while spewing fire from his Fire Sword.

"Just die already!" He spun around, spewing flames everywhere. Then he used a few Wind Blasts to push spiders out of the way and ran towards the Broodmother.

Finally, she was in his sight. She was a much larger version of the small spiders and Gerald only noticed how giant it really was when he came close.

It was more than three meters tall and her eight legs were as thick as Gerald's arm. Small spikes decorated the sides of her chitin armor plates, and her multiple green eyes reflected the flames in the darkness.

"Alright! It's you and me now!" Gerald shouted and a Fireball formed at the tip of his sword. "Die!"

Woosh! Boom!

The Fireball shot forward and exploded, engulfing the Broodmother.

But the spider didn't seem to mind the flames, she just shook her body and the flames extinguished.

"Damn, another one of those fire-resistant creatures!" Gerald silently cursed his bad luck. Fire magic was the most destructive, but sometimes it proved to be the most useless.

Skree!

The Broodmother screeched and jumped forward with her poisonous fangs extended.

Bam!

However, her jump was cut short as a wall of stone materialized from the ground, blocking her advance. But that didn't pose too big of a problem for her, she was a spider after all, and a big one at that.

With two steps she was on top of the wall, looking for her juicy prey. But Gerald was nowhere to be seen, as he was already on the move.

Ka-cha!

A stalactite broke off and fell from the ceiling.

Under the ceiling, many strong cobwebs were spread out and the broken stalactite got tangled in them for a few seconds, before falling to the ground.

It just barely missed the Broodmother. But Gerald quickly reacted, pulling a few more stalactites from the ceiling with magic, hurling them down on top of the giant spider.

However, the Broodmother already noticed his attacks and tactically retreated a few steps. Giant stones once again missed their target.

By now the small spiders already encircled Gerald once more and greatly limited his movement.

The Broodmother finally had the opportunity to attack while Gerald was distracted. It ran forward with six legs, using her front two limbs to attack.

They were like deadly spears, stabbing at Gerald from above.

He had to weave and dodge to avoid them. Although he had Stone Body, he wasn't going to test if it could withstand a full-powered strike from the spider. Especially after he saw the stone ground crack apart after being struck.

"You know what? Screw this!" Gerald roared. He sent a few Fireballs flying to distract the Broodmother and then turned around and blasted a path in the surrounding spiders.

Destruction Palm could possibly break through the thick armor, but the downside was that he had to be close to the enemy.

Maybe he could win after a prolonged battle, but his Mana was quickly running out and he didn't want to risk it.

It was best if he could escape the cave and maybe return some other time.

He ran to the opposite side of the cave from where he entered since there had to be another exit. He kept using Wind Blast along the way, keeping the small pests from bothering him.