Chapter 38 - Honing Tower (3)
Zwei finally understood what the system meant by being "fully prepared."
The system wasn't telling him to raise his strength as much as he could before entering the dungeon or to be well-prepared in terms of potions and tools—even though these preparations were similarly important. Instead, the system was referring to food and water.
He had been moving without rest for nearly 10 hours now. Both his stamina and concentration had already reached their limits.
He had also been sweating a lot from all his physical activities. While he could endure his hunger, his thirst was a different story. At this point, he was already showing symptoms of dehydration.
Unfortunately, he could not afford to search for a water source at the moment. Although drinking his Mana Potions and Emergency Potion was also an option, drinking precious potions to quench his thirst was already going beyond luxury. That would just be a blatant waste of resources.
Not to mention, he didn't actually know whether potions could satiate his thirst.
Enduring the nausea caused by dehydration, Zwei ran with all his might. In the next moment, however, even though he was in a dimly illuminated environment, an extremely conspicuous shadow suddenly appeared on the ground beneath him—and it was growing in size.
Meanwhile, the owner of this shadow was a giant spider falling from the sky!
As a physically weak Apprentice Magician, even if Zwei managed to run out of the titan tarantula's landing point now, he would still end up face-to-face with the monster afterward. Needless to say, this would be a really bad situation for Zwei, who possessed no melee combat capabilities, to be in.
At this time, though, Zwei had finally gotten within one kilometer of the giant stone pillar. Simultaneously, the true appearance of the pillar, which had been shrouded in darkness all the while, also became visible to him.
In the end, it was still an ordinary stone pillar.
Since I can't outrun it, I can only fight back!
Zwei halted abruptly, and his face turned solemn as he raised the Dark Celestial Sphere, pointing the wand at the behemoth in the sky.
The titan tarantula possessed an incredibly heavy physical body, yet it could jump dozens of meters into the air and leap across hundreds of meters. Aside from its powerful innate strength, there was another reason why it could accomplish such feats.
The Antigravity ability. Antigravity was an earth element magical ability that allowed the titan tarantula to perform agile maneuvers despite its massive body.
However, this situation had given Zwei an advantage.
If the titan tarantula were standing on the ground, the hairy barbs on its legs would've provided it with a strong grip on the ground. Even if Zwei struck it with all his might, he would, at most, hurt the monster only a little. He wouldn't even be able to break through its Elemental Guard.
However, it was a different story if the titan tarantula was in the air. Although Zwei still wouldn't be able to break through the monster's Elemental Guard, he was confident he could send it flying. After all, under the effects of Antigravity, the titan tarantula's actual mass wasn't particularly significant.
Not to mention, the Dark Celestial Sphere provided a 70 to 130 Magic Attack bonus.
From the several experiments Zwei conducted during his trek through the dungeon, he had discovered that the so-called Magic Attack attribute didn't just provide a fixed increase to his spells' power.
If he cast elemental spells or spells enhanced by Shadow Domination, the fixed rule of element over mana would take effect (which was why non-elemental magic wasn't particularly popular in this world), and the Magic Attack bonus would boost elemental damage. Take Zwei's Exploding Flame Arrow for example. When cast with the Dark Celestial Sphere, the temperature of the flames would double, and the burn duration would increase significantly.
The problem was that unless he shattered the titan tarantula's Elemental Guard, any amount of elemental damage he dealt would be nothing but a joke.
Non-elemental spells such as Magic Bullet and Mage Hand were a different story. When cast using the Dark Celestial Sphere, the wand's Magic Attack would increase the strength of the spells. Even so, it was still difficult to damage the titan tarantula's Elemental Guard by relying on pure mana.
However, Zwei's current goal wasn't to damage the titan tarantula. He simply needed the strength to send his opponent flying.
It was just like volleyball, where what the hitter needed to do wasn't to break the ball but to send it flying!
Faced with the tremendous pressure from the titan tarantula, Zwei gritted his teeth and tried his best to calm his madly beating heart.
The Magic Bullet had great power and would explode upon contact with his target. However, while the resulting force the explosion generated would indeed be better than nothing, it wouldn't be strong enough for his purposes. Casting Magic Bullet in this situation would simply be a waste of mana.
Before he learned Mana Bludgeon, Mage Hand was the best option if he wanted to send the titan tarantula flying.
However, although Zwei could extend the range of his Mage Hand, the spell's mana consumption increased in proportion to distance. If he attacked the titan tarantula at this distance, he would be trading off power for range, which would, in turn, limit the distance he could send the monster flying.
Hence, if he wished to maximize the use of his mana and send his opponent flying as far away as possible, he had to wait until the titan tarantula entered his standard attack range before launching his attack. In such a case, however, the timing of his attack would be crucial!
Just like in ancient wars, when one side's archers were facing the opposite side's cavalry, if the archers launched their arrows too soon, they wouldn't be able to hurt a single hair on their opponent's body. However, if the archers launched their arrows too late, their opponents would've already arrived before them.
Zwei's current situation was similar. However, compared to a measly cavalry unit, the behemoth falling from the sky gave him much greater psychological pressure.
When Zwei had a clear view of even the titan tarantula's moving mouthparts, he finally made his move.
In an instant, every bit of mana in his body flooded into the Dark Celestial Sphere. Vague runes immediately appeared around the gemstone on the pommel of the wand.
However, Zwei currently didn't have the leisure to inspect these runes. He had to focus all his attention on the Mage Hand that had depleted the mana in his body, willing it to strike the titan tarantula's abdomen.
When the Mage Hand made contact, a screech came from the titan tarantula. However, it wasn't a screech of agony but of rage!
The titan tarantula had reigned over this realm for a long time, yet now, an insignificant insect that it placed no importance to had actually slapped it!
However, before the titan tarantula could figure out what was going on, the Mage Hand stuck to its abdomen suddenly exerted a powerful force, hurling its massive body backward!
Judging from the parabolic curve the titan tarantula described across the sky, Zwei estimated that the monster should land over two kilometers away!
However, he did not stop his actions. As he sent the titan tarantula flying, he downed a Mana Potion and followed up with a full-powered Magic Bullet.
Afterward, without even looking at the results of his second attack, he turned around and dashed for the stone pillar.
Although the titan tarantula had spat out a glob of corrosive venom in anger, its attack lacked the necessary range, splashing on the ground some distance behind Zwei. In the end, it could only watch with its six large eyes as Zwei disappeared in the stone pillar's direction.