The unfortunate adventurer.
"Looks like a dungeon, huh?"
Punk murmured to himself inside the Spider Cave. Without hesitation, he cast Night Vision and Silent Steps on himself, his voice barely above a whisper. Then he strode forward—of course, with Golem One leading the way.
The two illusory clones of the fat spider were incredibly lifelike—so much so that Punk couldn't distinguish the real one. To be safe, he treated all three as genuine threats.
He first commanded Golem One to cast Cage of Steel on the spider to the far left. The goal was simple—prevent all three from charging at him simultaneously.
With the shriek of twisting metal, countless steel bars materialized around the spider. The bars bent and spread tightly, forming a seamless cage that trapped the creature and even ensnared the surrounding trees and earth.
The spell successfully immobilized one spider, while the other two lunged at Punk with reckless abandon. Their attacks lacked technique, relying purely on brute force and sheer momentum. It was a crude approach—but undeniably relentless.
Unfortunately for them, momentum alone wasn't enough.
Before the creatures could reach him, Golem One charged forward, intercepting the middle spider. The last one, oblivious to its trapped clone and unbothered by its restrained companion, continued its wild sprint. The air screeched as its fangs sliced through the wind, and its eight blood-red eyes gleamed with feral hunger.
But it would never reach Punk.
With a resounding sonic boom, a concentrated surge of lavender energy shot from Punk's hand, aimed directly at the spider's head.
Formal-Level Conjuration Spell—Kinetic Energy Lance.
A high-speed, rotating spear of pure kinetic force, designed to pierce through enemies with devastating precision.
In the blink of an eye, the energy lance traversed over fifty meters and slammed into the spider's skull.
The compressed kinetic energy ground against the creature's carapace, generating an ear-piercing screech. The thin exoskeleton offered little resistance—the spell tore through with ease, leaving behind a hole the size of a a bowl.
A fountain of green blood burst forth, along with shredded chunks of flesh and powdered exoskeleton. The sickly ichor quickly soaked the ground.
The fat spider screeched in agony, but it was powerless to stop what followed. Its ravaged internal organs, unable to withstand the reactionary force of the spell, were violently expelled from its body in a grotesque spray. Even its carapace cracked further, unable to contain the sheer destruction within.
It never even managed a second scream.
The creature collapsed onto the bloodstained grass, its once-bright red eyes dimming into lifelessness.
It was dead.
As its true body perished, the restrained clone within the steel cage and the clone battling Golem One dissipated into black mist. That confirmed it—Punk had struck the real one.
"That was it? That fragile?"
He remained wary despite the easy victory, casting several divination spells to confirm his surroundings. Only after verifying that his skirmish hadn't drawn unwanted attention did he relax slightly.
With a casual flick of his fingers, he replenished the Silent Domain spell, ensuring that no sound would escape this area. Then he turned back to the still-twitching spider corpse.
Despite his curiosity about its anatomy, he wasn't reckless enough to approach immediately. Instead, he launched several Kinetic Bursts at the body, blasting apart its remaining limbs and head. Only when he was sure there was no chance of a counterattack did he command Golem One to move in for a closer examination.
Caution was key—especially with creatures that bore clear traces of artificial modification. There was no telling what kind of failsafe its creator might have embedded. Plenty of mages had died underestimating the dangers of a corpse's final trap.
With its razor-sharp claws, Golem One tore open the spider's bloated abdomen. A flood of ruptured organs spilled onto the ground, soaking the woodland with their viscous green fluids. The overwhelming stench of rot and corruption filled the air.
Under Punk's orders, Golem One carefully sifted through the remains. Observing through its "precision" eyes, Punk noted that aside from the fragmented spell model on the spider's back and the energy receptor implanted in its heart, most of its organs were deformed and swollen—entirely useless. Even after being torn apart by the kinetic energy lance, it was clear that at least half of its body mass was nothing but dead weight.
Punk stroked his smooth chin, his expression dark.
"This thing isn't an alchemic creation. It looks more like… a natural creature that's been warped by some unknown corruption."
The mutation had clearly granted it enhanced illusion abilities, but at the cost of everything else. It had no intelligence, no speed, no strength, and no real defenses. Stripped of its illusion magic, it was nothing more than a useless, bloated mess—a barely functional watchdog.
However, what truly unsettled Punk was the complete lack of external interference. There were no traces of artificial tampering, no foreign mana signatures. If not for the lingering vestiges of an implanted energy source, he might have believed this thing was naturally born defective.
"So the question is… what kind of force corrupted this spider to begin with?"
His lips pressed into a thin line.
"I don't have enough information."
There was no use speculating further with so little to go on. But one thing was clear—this spider cave was far from ordinary.
With newfound curiosity, Punk agilely sidestepped the dismembered corpse and pools of viscera, making his way toward the cave's entrance.
The warding spell placed at the entrance posed no obstacle. With his advanced alchemic knowledge, dismantling such a simple formation required no effort. A single spell was all it took to block the three key runes powering the array—instantly rendering it useless.
Punk took one final glance at the battlefield, then turned his focus back to the cave.
Without hesitation, he stepped inside.
The entrance sloped downward, the path jagged and uneven, strewn with rough stone. Patches of lavender moss clung to the cavern walls, their eerie glow the only source of illumination.
The air was thick with silence—unnaturally so. There was no echo of dripping water, no distant scurrying of cave-dwelling creatures. The gaping darkness ahead felt like the maw of some eldritch beast, waiting to swallow all who dared enter.
A sinister welcome.
"Yeah… definitely a dungeon."
Muttering under his breath, Punk adjusted his grip on his staff.
With quiet steps, he ventured deeper into the abyss—Golem One still at the lead.