Arlesk rushed down into the tunnel that's a bit distant from the ones the hero went in. Because of such drastic action, he caught up some lines of string which caused the giant spider to react and start moving. Despite the large open area, the spider quickly made its way into the tunnel that Arlesk had rushed down to. The other heroes had entered other holes to investigate whether they are connected in some way.
"[Cyber Systems]!" Arlesk immediately changed form as the divine armor was called up. Since the spider was following him, he immediately absorbed part of his own mana and divinity to instantly charge up a powerful heat blast fueled up with alcohol from his ability to convert intangible objects to any state of matter. He then blasted the spider with extreme heat and uncontrollable fire as he added gasoline into his conversion. "[Area Tracing]!" Because he has to push back the spider outwards, he immediately continued to trace the areas of the tunnels. Using the heat blast to stall for time, he took the data he gathered from [Area Tracing] and quickly relayed it to the heroes. "Everyone, all tunnels are connected some way or another. Entering one will lead to a different exit. Pantheon, continue forward and help me keep this monstrosity in position. Ulysses, Claude, exit your tunnels immediately and blast off the miasma from behind." """Got it!""" The three heroes immediately went off to move to the designated positions.
Arlesk continued to try and burn down the spider, but he started to realize that something was amiss as the fire seems to only be seen passing through the monster.
"[Scan Living Object]" Arlesk started to gather information directly from the giant spider. He then gained every bit of information, strengths, weaknesses, and more importantly, abilities.
"Shit! Transduality?! Are you fucking kidding me?!" Arlesk cursed out his frustration upon seeing the abilities that the giant spider had. This caused the other three heroes to have a bad premonition about the giant monster and quickly asked Arlesk if there is a change of plans.
"Hell yeah there is, Ulysses, Claude, head to the exit immediately!" "Got i-!!" Just as the two responded, as they had already went into the tunnel to flank, they were struck by a web that was spewed from the back of the spider. "We're stuck!" "Ulysses, activate your hero card, we can cleanse off any anomalies in us!" "Got it!" As both Ulysses and Claude got stuck in webs, Ulysses started to panic, to which Claude calmly urged him to activate the hero card that they had. "Let's get out of here!" Ulysses nodded to Claude's urging and they quickly left the tunnel. When they did exit the tunnel, thousands of smaller spiders, around the size of predatory animals, were in between them and the exit. "The web is gonna trigger some nasty traps, how should we do this?" "Don't worry, I got this... [Cyber Systems]..." A similar garment to Arlesk's Cyberdivinity was formed by Claude. While it is similar, the level Arlesk could handle such power was unfathomably high for Claude. He was instantly burdened just by manifesting the ability with his hero card. But instead of giving in, he started to absorb the energy. "You're crazy! Isn't manifesting this ability without divinity equivalent to suicide?!" "It definitely is without my hero card, but this is the only way to get through right now. Arlesk is fighting against something that is supposed to be more than he can handle right now. If we don't step it up, we will! Be left behind!" The hallway was enormous, enough to stuff even a million spiders at the size of mammals. And for them to block off the exit means that these monsters are very coordinated and controlled properly by intelligent beings. With that conjecture on Claude's mind, he used the hero card to replicate the destructive capabilities of Arlesk's Cyber Systems. But it was his only choice when he intends to create an opening for them to pass through. After fully charging the cannon, he unleashed unfiltered sunlight towards the exit that was slowly being covered by spiders. Ulysses continued to cover for him, preventing any spider from coming closer with his glaive. But after the laser struck forward, he instantly felt feeble due to the heat magnitude of the ability. "Wha..." Ulysses quickly retreated back to Claude as he noticed that he was completely lethargic after the ability. Claude, having dematerialized the Cyber Systems, immediately knelt down in an abnormal level of exhaustion. "I got you man, you did really great, now let me carry you to the end." Ulysses carried Claude on his shoulder and started running towards the exit. The laser that Claude unleashed had melted most of the spiders, and scorched the floor. With most spiders still blind, he took the opportunity to rush into the exit of the hallway before they regain their ability to see the area. Pantheon arrived just in time to be in front of them as he swiped away the other spiders who recovered quickly. "What about Arlesk?!" Ulysses shouted as he realized that Arlesk hasn't moved out from the tunnel yet. "He's still stalling the behemoth! He had me block off the other end behind the spider, so he has some time to escape!" With Pantheon's rushed explanation, Ulysses decided that everything was okay for the time being as they run to the exit. Claude, who had just regained consciousness, took notice that Arlesk was starting to run towards the exit behind them. "[M-Manifestation of...]" Just by the attempt of trying to activate his hero card, he vomits out blood from the heat in his body. The nausea kicked in and he was completely unable to cast some attacks. The three of them arrived to the exit, and passed through a barrier that prevents monsters from passing through. With a stroke of luck, Ulysses gently let Claude down to sit and rest. "Good to see you awake man, that was pushing it real hard!" "Ulysses, I'll go check the area ahead, I want to make sure we don't get attack while you two rest." "Got it!" Pantheon advanced further to get rid of monsters in the tunnel that was the exit of the giant hall.
"[Heat Absorption]!" Arlesk started to absorb the heat so he could generate enough energy to fly. After expanding too much divinity to a behemoth unnecessarily, he knew that if he wants to complete this expedition, he has to conserve some more. After gaining the ability to fly by absorbing the heat in the area, he started to speed up his flight as the spiders were starting to close the gap to the exit. "Get the fuck out of my way!" He continues to speed up, absorbing more of his energy as his mana was already siphoned completely just from stalling the behemoth. Just as the gap was about half a meter in diameter, he managed to exit the hall. With little room to stop, he couldn't hold himself to slow down and smashed his body right into the walls of the underground dungeon. After falling to the ground with fractures and wounds, he finally had the time to drink a [Recovery Deluxe]. "Phew..." He sighed in relief for a moment, until he took notice on his weakened comrade. "Claude!" He pushed himself up and quickly moved towards Claude and got him to drink a [Recovery Deluxe], speeding up the recovery dramatically. "Thanks Arlesk... Even though this potion is something we can't create easily..." "That's not the issue... You were pushing yourself too hard with using my abilities. I can't have you die because of me." Just as they began resting, Pantheon returned to them to give some news. "The end of this hallway has a room with a lot of monuments. We can investigate it right now, but I think we all need to rest..." None of them were in good condition, Ulysses who had fended off more than a hundred spiders alone while Claude was charging, Pantheon who swatted away those that recovered too fast and took most of the damage in the stead of the two, Claude who over-pushed his limits just for one opportunity, and Arlesk who fought something at the level of a world-class threat. They all took the time to rest this time.