After finishing his meal, Waldo left the villa and headed to a mining site. According to Mia's intelligence, there was a golden-level supply crate there, which was highly valuable to Waldo. So he wasted no time and set off.
Arriving at the outskirts of the mining site, Waldo looked at the dark mine entrance and remembered Mia's warning before he left.
"Waldo, don't blame me for not reminding you. The outskirts of this mining site are not the most dangerous part. With your skills, you should be able to handle it easily. The real danger lies inside the mine, where I've heard there are many zombies, and rumor has it that there's a giant spider in there. At that time, nobody believed it, but now it seems likely that it's a mutated creature."
Waldo nodded solemnly after hearing Mia's words. Dealing with mutated creatures was no simple task. He unsheathed his Critical Strike Warrior Sword, displaying agile movements as he swiftly decapitated a zombie from behind.
Within a few breaths, he had effortlessly slaughtered all the zombies outside the mine as if cutting vegetables.
Shaking off the black blood on his sword, Waldo stood at the entrance of the mine. He couldn't see what was inside, but he could faintly hear the howls of zombies and feel the chilling gusts of wind blowing from within.
Waldo had already made up his mind that if things didn't seem right once he entered, he would immediately retreat without hesitation. Golden supplies could be collected later, but life was irreplaceable.
Waldo adjusted his breathing slightly and proceeded into the mine with his flashlight illuminating the path ahead. Every five or six meters, he would carve a notch into the stone wall and insert a torch soaked in gasoline.
This slowed his progress as he had to take the time to do this. He continued moving deeper into the mine and came across zombies and scattered human remains. These dead people were most likely the previous survivors who had come to explore the mine.
If he couldn't escape from this place after going deeper, it would be a dead end. Several zombies were attracted by the light from Waldo's flashlight and began charging towards him.
Waldo took a few steps back, creating some space, and then threw several Molotov cocktails. The intense flames blocked the zombies, but it seemed that the zombies were less afraid of fire than before. Many of them, still burning, continued charging towards him.
Waldo didn't use his pistol. The mine was too dark, and he wasn't confident in aiming for the zombies' heads. So he chose to unsheathe his Critical Strike Warrior Sword. With one sword in each hand, he swung them fiercely.
Waldo had no training in using a sword, let alone dual-wielding, but his physical prowess overwhelmed the zombies. He swung the swords haphazardly, with incredible speed, and dismembered the zombies.
After the last zombie fell, Waldo took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "One force can subdue ten." This was not an empty saying from their ancestors.
With his two Critical Strike Warrior Swords, Waldo continued deeper into the mine, cutting through zombies like a unstoppable force. It had to be said that having a Critical Strike state with the swords was like having divine artifacts in the mine.
Roar! Waldo pulled his swords out from the head of the last zombie, and the entire mine returned to silence.
However, he didn't find the golden-level supply crate that Mia mentioned. Something was off. Waldo furrowed his brow.
Could Mia's intelligence be wrong? Or had someone else beaten him to it?
But considering the zombies he encountered earlier, that assumption was unlikely.
Just at that moment, a strand of spider silk caught the unsuspecting Waldo, pulling him towards the darkness. The force was so strong that even he nearly lost his balance and stumbled.
In the depths of the darkness, a long string of spider silk tightly bound Waldo's left hand. While he was busy hacking down zombies, he hadn't noticed the presence of this spider lurking in the darkness. It had only struck when he let his guard down.
"Damn it!" Waldo cursed inwardly, quickly trying to free himself. Without hesitation, he pulled out a torch and burned through the spider silk.
With the torch on the ground and the flashlight on his head, Waldo could finally see the rumored giant spider clearly.
The enormous spider perched on the top of the mine, emitting a purple luminescence from its entire body. Its beautiful compound eyes, resembling those of a green empress, observed Waldo intently.
With its thick and unusually elongated eight legs, it gradually extended its reach, occupying the entire top of the mine.
Waldo looked at this boss-like mutant zombie spider, a sight one would only encounter in a game. Countless thoughts raced through his mind, but in the end, he summed it up with a single word.
"Shit!"
Facing such a colossal mutated zombie spider, Waldo had his doubts. After all, the first mutant creature Sheriff and his team hunted required the combined effort of the whole group to succeed. Only they knew how challenging the process had been.
Now, Waldo was facing this mutant spider alone. It was undeniably a perilous challenge. He wanted to quietly retreat and leave the mine since he hadn't found the desired golden-level supply crate.
It wasn't worth risking his life against such a massive spider.
"Big spider, you have fun on your own. I need to go home and be with my wife!" Waldo muttered while slowly moving backward, teasing the mutated spider.
Hiss!
Hiss!!
The mutated zombie spider let out a few sharp screeches, then unleashed a massive amount of spider silk. Waldo instinctively rolled sideways, dodging the silk, all the while grumbling.
"Come on, bro, I was just joking. If I offended you, I apologize, okay!"
It was only then that Waldo realized the spider silk wasn't aimed at him but at his escape route behind him. By the time he realized the problem, the entrance had already been sealed off.
Waldo frowned. He hadn't expected these mutated zombie creatures to possess such high intelligence. He had assumed they were no different from the mindless, instinct-driven zombies of the past.
Now he had to admit that these mutant zombies possessed a certain level of intelligence.
With his escape route blocked, Waldo stood up, drew his handgun, and aimed at the spider's head.
Bang!
A direct hit.
The spider's beautiful gem-like compound eyes, capable of emitting a faint glow, exploded into a putrid, dark blood as Waldo's shot tore through it.