In a dark, stuffy cave filled with large spider webs that could trap an average person, Caelum was standing leisurely without any kind of armor or weapon. He was in his usual shirt with his sleeves rolled up and eyes shining slightly in the dark.
Around Caelum was a few dozens of human-sized monster spiders.
Some of them missing legs, some of their head were penetrated by huge spider legs, and some of them were squished, the ground under them was broken — a clear sign that someone slammed the poor spiders to the ground.
Yet, more than half of them were still alive.
The perpetrator was obviously Caelum.
With a calm breath, Caelum stormed into the spiders and threw a normal punch at one of the spiders.
Bang!
The spider's head exploded even before it reacted.
"SCREEEEECH!!!"
The monster spiders screeched as they thrust their sharp legs towards Caelum to stab him, but he caught one of the bony legs of a spider and gave strength to his arms.
SWOOOSH
Swinging the spider 360°, Caelum fended the leg stabs of the spiders and threw the human-sized spider in his hand to the other group.
"Screech?!
"SCREEECh!"
The group of monster spiders scattered with the impact of the thrown spider.
The furious screams of the spiders were both annoying and strangely pleasant to his ears. He liked to make people and monsters mad.
"Heh,"
As Caelum created some space around him, he jumped, about 5 meters, and landed on a spider, crushing the spider in the process. The spider couldn't stand and fell onto its torso.
"Screech!"
Not giving any mercy to the poor spider, Caelum grabbed one of its legs while pushing the spider with his foot.
PLOP
SCREEEEEEEEECH!
Stab.
Thrusting the newly obtained organic spear to the screeching spider in pain, Caelum cut off the sound that was hurting his ears.
Spurt!
Blackish green blood spurted like a fountain but Caelum evaded professionally without dirtying his clothes.
Withdrawing his organic spear from the head of the spider while leaving a smooth, bloody hole, Caelum tensed his muscles and flung the spear.
Swoosh!
The spear thrust into the cave wall, penetrating over half its length. Tracing its trajectory, six lifeless human-sized spiders now sprawl on the ground with smooth circular wounds caused by the powerful spear throw.
"It is getting boring," Caelum muttered with a dissatisfied look as he kicked a spider in the head, sending its head flying like a ball.
"Although there are a few Normal rank monsters, it is not enough."
Whack!
Spurt!
"Though there is this familiar sensation here. Am I having hallucination again?"
Thrust
Swoosh
Screech!
"Ah, fuck! I hate spider webs."
Letting out some steam was his purpose for coming here, but even before he started properly, beating up low ranks monsters became boring and their spider webs became annoying.
"I will just follow this familiar sensation instead of taking my time with these mobs. They are not as good as punching bags."
Calling his spiritual mana to the physical realm, Caelum muttered.
[Fire]
The blue spiritual mana went through the mana circle that appeared above Caelum's hand and the intended magic was realized.
A small, short-timed fire circularly spread around Caelum, burning the spider webs that stuck to his shoes to ashes.
Lighting a fire for a long time or using too much fire magic in a cave was a no-brainer move, Caelum just used it to open up some space and create shadows.
Surrounding got chilly in an instant as Caelum called forth a good amount of spiritual mana from his spirit and muttered:
[Shadow—
The spiritual mana got processed by the shadowy magic circle. A few drops of weightless shadows dripped from his glowed hands onto the ground.
And...
Nothing happened.
-until Caelum uttered the last word for the shortened incantation.
Spikes]
Screee—
Schiiing!
"..."
All of the spiders went silent and their screeches ceased to exist.
Drip...drip...
Slowly, shadows withdrew from being materialistic to immaterial and the fire went out.
Thud!
Thud!
...
The corpses of spiders fell back to the ground after the shadows stopped supporting their lifeless bodies that riddled with holes.
"Heh."
Caelum smiled.
"Yup, there is nothing better than Advanced Magic. It is a pity that I don't have much mana to use it in succession."
After saying this, Caelum put his hands into his pockets leisurely and began to walk away from the corpses without minding the heavy scent of metal — the blood of a few dozen human-sized spiders.
[Light]
A small but radiant ball of light materialized above Caelum's hand. He could cast magic without any incantation but that was less efficient compared to using incantation. Was there any reason to use more mana than needed just to not say a few words? There was no witness here either.
With the help of the light, Caelum resumed his exploration of the Natural Dungeon. Although his eyes could see in the dark, it wasn't better than seeing in the light.
"Screeeech!"
"Again?"
Caelum sighed as another group of spiders approached. He decides to pass through them with a few swift movements instead of killing them.
After all, this dungeon was for the freshmen students to get experience. If there was no monster remaining in the dungeon, then the students wouldn't have practice material to get experience.
[Shadow Cloak]
After Caelum muttered, the shadows around him moved and covered his whole being and he virtually disappeared from the monster spiders' sight
"Screech?"
Caelum continued his exploration until he managed to get a clue about the familiar sensation.
He usually tried to not kill the weak monsters and punched the death the Normal rank monsters whenever he saw one, which was not a lot. If he were to see a Greater rank monster or above, he would be a little bit more happy to let out some stress, however, he didn't find one.
"They kept the monster levels in check very thoroughly. Normal rank monsters aren't a problem for the professor, so even if I didn't kill them, the students would be fine."
Caelum murmured as he felt the cave walls.
"Huh?"
Until he felt something different.
'This is Mother's aura!'
From the wall, Caelum sensed a dark, ominous, and horrifying but strangely calming aura.
Ba-dum! Ba-dum!
...
BA–DUM! BA–DUM!
BA–DUM! BA–DUM!
...
BA–DUM!
His heart hammered to his chest with a lot of strength as if it wanted to escape from his ribs. His heart was aching with pain because of sudden excitement.
Excitement.
"Mother, I finally found one of them."
A wide, almost creepy smile was present on his usually calm and collected face.