The group slowed down slightly as they stepped into the area, their surroundings imdiately changing.
The buildings here were covered in thick layers of dark silk, stretching from wall to wall, forming a twisted web that spread across the entire zone.
And right in front of them...
"Holy shit..." Alicar muttered, his eyes widening as he took in the sight ahead.
The remains of a collapsed building lay before them, the structure completely destroyed, reduced to a massive pile of rubble that spread across the street.
"...Is that it?" he asked, glancing at Leon.
"Yeah," Leon replied simply, a faint grin forming on his lips.
They approached the debris carefully, stepping over broken pieces of stone and tal as they climbed on top of the wreckage.
Oasis pointed toward sothing beneath them.
"It’s here," she said, her voice slightly tense, "The general... it’s really dead."
They all looked down. And there it was.
The body of the [Forsaken General], lying motionless among the rubble, its massive form unmistakable even in death, its head completely missing, its dark aura gone.
"What about the [Fire Silk Spider]?" Violet asked, her gaze shifting.
"Under all of this," Leon answered, gesturing toward the rubble beneath their feet, "Didn’t feel like digging it out at the ti."
"Move," Godrick said as he stepped forward, cracking his knuckles.
Before anyone could stop him—
BOOM!
He punched the ground with overwhelming force, the impact sending a shockwave through the debris and blasting it apart in all directions.
Chunks of stone and dust flew through the air, forcing Oasis to quickly deploy a barrier around the group using one of her inventions to block the falling pieces.
"Are you insane?" Alicar shouted, clearly annoyed.
"It’s just rubble," Godrick scoffed, lowering his fist, "Relax."
As the dust settled... They saw it.
The corpse of the [Fire Silk Spider], crushed beneath the building, its massive body broken and twisted, several of its legs missing while the rest of it had been flattened under the sheer weight.
"Incredible..." Violet whispered as she stepped closer, kneeling beside the remains, her expression filled with genuine awe, "This is... actually real."
For a mont, none of them spoke. They simply stared at the scene in front of them.
The proof of what Leon had done.
While they were focused on the scene before them, Leon’s attention shifted elsewhere, his gaze scanning the area carefully as he searched for sothing far more important than admiration or shock: the loot.
His eyes moved across the rubble, then toward the corpse of the [Fire Silk Spider], then back again, his expression tightening slightly as he realized sothing was wrong.
There was nothing. Not a single item.
’They disappeared too...?’ Leon frowned, the thought imdiately bothering him, ’That makes no sense.’
He understood the system well enough to know that items didn’t just vanish like that.
In [Eternal Ascension], drops stayed.
They didn’t disappear without reason, because the system was built around rewards being tangible, sothing players could rely on after a battle.
The only thing that changed over ti was ownership.
If soone killed a monster and left its drops behind, the system would temporarily mark those items as theirs, but eventually that ownership would fade, allowing others to take them.
But even then, the items themselves remained. Always.
And yet, in this case... Nothing.
The [Fire Silk Spider] had been buried under rubble, and unless soone had sohow dug through all of this before they arrived, which was impossible given the state of the area, there was no reason for the drops to be gone.
"...Forsaken City," Leon muttered under his breath, his eyes narrowing slightly as he tried to make sense of it.
Sothing about this place wasn’t following the usual rules.
"Alright," Violet suddenly called out, her voice snapping everyone back to attention as she stood up from the spider’s corpse, her expression turning serious again, "That confirms it, which ans our main threats moving forward will be the [Dark Silk Spider], the regular spiders, the mutations, and... the [Mother] herself."
Even now, there was still a strange tension in the group.
The corpse of the [Forsaken General] was right there, undeniable proof of what Leon had done, yet a part of them still struggled to fully accept it. It felt unreal.
And during the entire trip here, Leon hadn’t done anything to reinforce that claim either, because he hadn’t fought, hadn’t interfered, and had simply walked behind them while they handled everything.
Of course, the reason for that was simple: Leon knew his own limits.
Without [Celestial’s Might], he couldn’t compete with enemies on this level, and with four strong players around him, the passive wouldn’t activate, making him effectively weaker in this group than he was alone.
Which ant that for now... He stayed quiet.
’...Just a few more,’ Leon thought, his gaze drifting toward the deeper parts of the [Mother’s Area], his eyes shining faintly with determination, ’Once I clear this, I’ll go for the king.’
Even if he had to do it alone. He would find a way.
And just as that thought crossed his mind—
SKREEEEEE!
A piercing screech echoed through the area, sharp and loud enough to instantly put everyone on edge.
The reaction was imdiate.
Every single mber of the group took their stance without hesitation, their attention snapping toward the surrounding buildings as movent appeared in every direction.
Just like before.
Dozens of [Spiders of Darkness] began crawling out from the walls, the streets, the broken structures, their crimson eyes locking onto the group as they moved in.
"Watch out for the silk!" Violet shouted, already moving forward as she raised her rapier, "They’re weaker than us, but getting caught will slow you down!"
Fwoosh!
She dashed forward in an instant, her movents clean and precise as her blade pierced through two spiders back to back, killing them instantly without giving them any ti to react.
With her combat power, they weren’t a threat. They were barely even obstacles.
Alicar followed up imdiately, drawing his bow and releasing a series of arrows that flew through the air with deadly accuracy, each one striking a spider and either crippling or killing it depending on where it landed.
Godrick didn’t bother with precision. He simply stepped forward and started swinging.
BOOM!
His fists exploded with force as he smashed through the spiders, crushing them one after another with raw power, their bodies bursting apart under the impact.
"HAHA! CO ON!" he roared, clearly enjoying himself as he tore through them without slowing down.
At the back, Oasis remained beside Leon, calm and composed as she observed the battlefield.
For a mont, it seed like she wouldn’t act at all.
But as more spiders appeared and so of them slipped past the front line, closing the distance toward the back...
She sighed. Then reached into her storage.
What she pulled out was a small cube, simple in appearance, but the mont she poured her aura into it, it expanded rapidly, reshaping itself into a humanoid construct with a glowing energy blade in its hands.
SLASH!
The construct moved instantly, its sword releasing a wave of energy that cut through multiple spiders at once, clearing the area in front of Leon and Oasis with ease.
Leon watched it for a brief mont, his expression sharpening slightly.
’She’s insane,’ he thought, studying the construct closely, ’You never know what she’s going to pull out next.’
Her strength wasn’t straightforward. It wasn’t about direct combat. It was about versatility.
And that made her dangerous in a completely different way.
anwhile, Leon himself didn’t move. He didn’t need to.
With Oasis’ construct protecting the rear and the [Annihilation Turret] she placed beside them, any spider that got too close was imdiately dealt with.
BOOM!
The turret fired, its shots precise and powerful, killing anything that entered its range without hesitation.
"This is easier than I expected," Leon comnted calmly.
"I agree," Oasis replied, her eyes still on the battlefield, "But we shouldn’t get careless."
The group continued pushing forward like that, cutting down wave after wave of spiders as they advanced deeper into the area.
"Unlike the [Forsaken Legion], which has a limited number of knights," Violet said as she fought, her voice steady despite the chaos around them, "the [Mother] can produce these spiders endlessly if given enough ti, so this isn’t about strength alone, it’s about endurance."
For now, that wasn’t a problem. None of them were tired yet.
The spiders weren’t strong enough to push them to that point.
But eventually... They reached sothing that stopped them.
The street ahead was completely blocked.
From end to end, thick layers of dark silk stretched across the path, forming a solid barrier that looked almost impossible to pass through.
"...Do we go around?" Alicar asked, glancing at the others, "There should be other routes nearby."
SKREEEEEEE!
Before anyone could answer, more spiders appeared behind them, their numbers growing rapidly as they closed in, effectively cutting off their retreat.
They were being funneled.
And yet... Leon smiled.
A slow, confident grin spreading across his face as he stepped forward for the first ti since the fight began.
"I guess it’s finally ti for to do sothing," he said quietly, his eyes locking onto the wall of silk ahead.
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