The group continued on through the gate, killing the small groups of beasts they encountered along the way. The group had only experienced common tier beasts so far which weren't any issue for them, but had injuries on some of them that hadn't been inflicted by them signaling that something else was hunting these beasts.
Eventually they got to another crossroads and decided to head down the left path first to see what was at its end. Once they reached the end of the tunnel, they experienced a type of beast that was different from the giant quillrats they'd been experiencing so far and surrounding it was the corpses of around eight quillrats. When using the inspect skill Milo got a screen that said:
[Uncommon Tier Beast]
Species: Giant Poisonous Arachne
Status: Healthy
Disposition: Aggressive
An uncommon tier beast that is known to hunt and kill common tier beasts for food. They are able to spit acid at their opponents and they secrete a potent poison from their fangs.
[clear]
The beast was a massive spider, the size of a rhino, with eight beady red eyes and eight legs as thick as tree trunks. After seeing that this beast was a tier higher than they'd experienced so far Milo chose to err on the side of caution, he informed his teammates of what the system told him, claiming that he'd done research on the list of known beasts, so that they didn't wonder why he knew so much about the beasts they'd encountered. From there they formed a plan and put it into action.
Chloe once again shot an arrow at the beast before teleporting to a new position to reload. The giant spider then charged them, they each spread out to divide the spider's attention. The spider's first target was Zach, he deflected an attack from the spider's leg which proved to be stronger than he was expecting as it caused him to stagger, Luke then threw up a barrier to allow him to get out of danger. After the attack failed to hit, the spider grew enraged, and a green foam began to form in the spider's mouth before it was shot out towards Milo who threw up a wall of ice blocking the attack.
While blocking the acid spray and getting out of the way of the spider's attack, Maria chose this moment to charge in slashing the spider's leg with her sword and rolling out of the way. The spider no longer focused on Milo and went after Maria, swinging its tree trunk like legs at her. She dodged the first attack but ended up being grazed on the arm from the spider's onslaught. Luke then threw up a barrier giving her a window to escape. Seeing its prey trying to escape, the spider then turned and shot a web out of its back end which caused Maria to be stuck to a wall behind her.
Seeing Maria in danger Milo sprinted to intercept the attack before Maria was hit. For some reason, seeing one of his team members, even Maria with her stuck up attitude, enraged Milo and caused him to push past his limit. He arrived by Maria's side and threw up a wall of ice blocking the attack of the spider and controlled a spear impaling the spider in its abdomen, the spider wailed in pain and chased Milo who ran to give Zach enough space to get Maria free. Once a significant distance away, Milo screamed in anger as a huge ice spike erupted from the floor stabbing through the head of the giant spider, killing it.
"Whew, I should've done that from the start," Milo said.
After being cut free, Maria and the rest of the team turned to see Milo standing before the unmoving body of the giant arachnid. The group was surprised that a beast they were sure they'd have trouble with was dead in an instant.
After snapping back into reality they looted all the corpses in the room, before going to Marco to get healed. Aside from the wound on Maria's arm and Zach's sore arm from taking the blow of the spider head on, the group was healthy and after receiving healing from Marco, they pressed on.
Along the way, they fought a few more groups of quillrats and one more giant spider, before arriving at what they could only assume was the boss chamber.