Ethan clenched his fists, trying to calm his tension. The system had essentially just locked his advantages away. The only way he could get them now was if he cleared the dungeon, but that was going to be hard, Ethan thought. He needed a weapon, and he didn't have any on him right now - what surrounded him was just stones on the ground.
The water continued to drip into the pool below. He walked forward, staring at his own reflection in the pool. At least I won't die of thirst, he thought to himself. CLICK! Ethan turned his head instantly toward the direction the noise came from. Dungeon monsters! The thought instantly flooded his mind.
The torches began to glow brighter, and from the darkness appeared a spider. Only this was no ordinary spider. A mana beast. His eyes widened in terror. Mana beasts were normal animals that had been influenced by mana from the apocalypse, mutating them and granting them supernatural powers. But something was wrong - mana beasts were never supposed to appear in a grade F dungeon, but here it was.
The spider was large, its eight legs clicking along the cold ground. Its body was covered in an obsidian-black exoskeleton. Its ten eyes, black as its body, darted around before locking onto Ethan. Its mandibles were as long as his forearm, sharp and deadly. A green liquid dripped from them onto the ground, causing the ground below to melt. Poison? Great, Ethan thought. As if the creature wasn't terrifying enough already.
The spider moved forward slowly as it began circling Ethan, who followed its motion - each of them circling the other. More clicking noises came from the spider as it continuously snapped its mandibles, more of its poison dripping onto the ground.
It stopped circling Ethan and let out a snarl. It crouched and launched itself at Ethan, who dodge-rolled to the side, barely avoiding getting impaled by its eight legs. The creature turned its head, ready to launch again.
It's quite slow. I just need to avoid those mandibles and look for a chance to kill it, Ethan thought. The spider hissed in frustration at being unable to directly kill Ethan in the first attempt. Ethan began circling the creature as he looked for an opening.
But the spider didn't launch itself at Ethan again - it just stared at him, its eight eyes fully focused. A dim green light appeared from its thorax, traveling all the way until it reached its face, causing its eyes to glow a sickly green. Ethan's eyes widened in realization. He jumped to the side quickly, narrowly avoiding a stream of concentrated acid that the spider spewed.
He looked at the place the spider had just spit - the stone was now slowly melting into sludge. He let out a sigh of relief. If he hadn't dodged fast enough, he would have been the one turned into sludge. But he didn't escape unscathed. He looked at his arm, wincing in pain - the acid had splashed onto his arm, burning the top layer of skin and singeing his flesh. The pain was intense, but he endured it. The spider seemed a bit disoriented after launching that attack. I bet it can't do that again, Ethan thought.
He began looking around for something he could use as a weapon. Then he saw it - on the side, there was a sharp stone lying on the ground, partially melted due to the spider. He smiled. He'd found a weapon he could use. But the spider had already regained its senses.
He looked at the spider, but it was too late. It rammed him to the ground, clamping on top of him as it ruthlessly tried to chomp his head off. He swerved his head from side to side, avoiding decapitation. Then he used his legs to launch the spider off him.
He rolled to the side, avoiding the spider's lunge once again. He grabbed the sharp piece of stone he'd seen earlier, wincing in pain as it still had some acid from the spider's earlier attack, but he ignored it. He placed it in front of him like a dagger.
Now facing off with the spider, his eyes focused. The two charged at each other, and as the spider lunged, Ethan slid below it, avoiding the attack. The spider collided with a nearby wall, stunning it. Ethan didn't waste this chance - he jumped onto the spider's back and began repeatedly stabbing it. The creature screeched in pain, but Ethan continued. He lodged the stone into its eyes, drawing green blood.
The thorax of the spider began glowing a dim green light. Ethan knew what this meant. He unlodged the stone and stabbed it into the spider's thorax. With an even louder shriek, it wriggled its body, launching Ethan off. He collided with a nearby wall, slumping down.
The spider, though still alive, continued wriggling in pain. The acid in its thorax spilled out onto the rest of its body, burning its own flesh. Pain overcame the spider as its own acid began burning it alive. With a final shriek, it fell down dead.