Songs in the Void

ICDS Universe, Earth, South Korea, Yeongdeungpo. 

Inside the Spider Den Event Dungeon, Tatsuo, Sumire, Shin, Yungoong, and Hwaya were facing off against three elite giant spiders. However, instead of a five on three situation, they were down to a four on three thanks to Hwaya losing her wits and constantly screaming. 

"Damn, a phobia sure is a pain." Tatsuo muttered as he dropped into his fighting stance. "Sumire-San, take care of Mastiford-San. We'll take care of these creepy crawlies." 

"Understood." Sumire replied solemnly as she raised her spear and shield. 

At that moment, the spiders, who were only staring menacingly at first, seemed to get annoyed by Hwaya's screaming. Then, one of them shot a hardened ball of webbing at Hwaya to silence her. 

Reacting quickly, Sumire stepped in front of Hwaya before bracing herself behind her shield. 

*Bang!* 

The sound of impact was deafening. On top of that, the webbing had enough force behind it to push Sumire back a few steps and cause her face to go pale. 

At the same time, that shot was the signal for the battle to begin. 

The first to act was Shin, who dashed forward with his fists clenched and lightning sparking around them. Next was Yungoong, who thrust his spear forward and sent a shockwave hurdling at a second spider. At the same time, Tatsuo activated [Lightning Speed], increasing his [Agility] to three times its normal value. As a result, when he rushed forward, he appeared as a blur. 

Although he acted after Shin, Tatsuo reached the spider he was aiming for first. Despite his speed, however, the spider seemed to be able to track his movements. So, as soon as Tatsuo entered its range, it stabbed forward with one of its spear-like legs. 

*Bang!* 

In response, Tatsuo hopped to the side, narrowly avoiding the incoming attack. Then, he flowed his [Energy] into the [Thunderclap Daggers], causing lightning to begin arcing around them. 

"I'll take that." Tatsuo muttered as he swept the bladed knuckle duster in his right hand at the spider's leg. 

*Screech!* 

The ear-piercing sound of metal cutting through metal echoed around the clearing, drowning out Hwaya's screaming. Despite that, Tatsuo was not able to completely sever the spider's leg. Instead, he was only able to cut three-quarters of the way through it. 

"Tch! It's harder than I thought." Tatsuo muttered as he cut the remainder of the spider's leg when he swung his left arm. 

Because of the loss of its leg, the spider reeled back, standing up tall on its four back legs. Seeing that, a glint passed through Tatsuo's eyes. Then, he blinked in front of the spider and stabbed up into its spinneret. 

With its web producing organ damaged, the spider thrashed its legs around. However, before it could get away, Tatsuo channeled as much [Energy] as he could into the [Thunderclap Daggers] as he could. As a result, a high voltage bolt of lightning was released directly into the spider's body. 

*Boom!* 

Shortly afterwards, the Spider fell to the ground, constantly twitching. Yet, it was still alive. But Tatsuo had no intention of leaving it that way for long. 

A moment later, Tatsuo had circled around to the Spider's head. Then, he activated [Spatial Slash]. However, instead of swinging his bladed knuckle duster to decapitate the spider, he stabbed it through the middle of the spider's head, killing it while damaging the corpse as little as possible. 

After its brain was destroyed by the space-type ability, the spider stopped all movement and died, giving Tatsuo the chance to look around the battlefield. 

*Clang!* 

At that moment, Tatsuo saw Shin punch one of the front legs of the spider he was facing, causing it to rear up like the one he fought. Then, Shin placed his hands on the spider's abdomen and pushed with all his might. As a result, the spider fell over on its back. 

"Even if he kept going, that must have hurt." Tatsuo muttered as he watched Shin jump onto the underside of the spider. "I mean, those things are really damn hard. And the recoil damage must have shook his arm to the bone" 

As soon as Shin secured himself on the spider's under belly, he grabbed its carapace with one hand. Then, his other hand lit up with lightning and he continuously rained blows down on it. And with every punch, because of the lightning flowing into its system, the spider's struggle lessened. And on the final hit, Shin's hand pierced through the carapace and was buried wrist deep. 

*Zap!* 

Then, Shin flowed as much lightning into the spider as he could. As a result, the entire spider started emitting lighting from every gap in its carapace before eventually dying. 

"Well, we fought in a very similar manner this time, huh?" Tatsuo muttered to himself as he shifted his attention to Yungoong. 

Yungoong did not seem to be struggling with his spider, either. Calmly, he dodged each time the spider stabbed at him with its legs. And if it took some distance to shoot webs at him, he would disperse its web balls with his shockwaves. AS for his offense, he landed precise thrusts in the gaps of the carapace. By now, he had already disabled one of its legs. 

"Hey! Kang-Ojisan, need a hand?" Tatsuo asked, though he felt that he already knew the answer. 

"No, I'm fine." Yungoong replied. "This is even more exhilarating than that time I fought that anaconda in the Amazon." 

When Yungoong mentioned the anaconda in the Amazon, Shin shivered. Undoubtedly, he remembered the same fight that his father made him participate in during his training as a teenager. Tatsuo, on the other hand, simply shrugged his shoulders. Then, he once again stabbed his [Thunderclap Daggers] into the spider he killed, and dug out its mana stone. 

"They said these things are supposed to be rare, but I've already got four of them since we got here.' Tatsuo said with a smile as he looked at the mana stone with more [Energy] than any other mana stone he had seen until now. 

"We probably would have gotten even more if Mastiford-Ssi hadn't burned all the corpses so bad." Shin replied as he pulled his hand out of the other dead spider's head with a mana stone in his grasp. "But I guess I can't complain. Without her, this would have taken much longer than it already has." 

Nodding in response, Tatsuo shifted his attention back to Yungoong, who had disabled the spider's other front leg. And now that it was much less mobile, and its attack methods had decreased, he was basically picking it apart. 

"I can understand why my dad lost to him." Tatsuo said, thoroughly impressed by Yungoong's skill with a spear. "Although my dad was good, he definitely wasn't that good." 

"Well, he proclaims himself the strongest man on Earth." Shin replied with a shrug. "So, he'd better be at least that good, right?" 

Tatsuo only smiled in response. However, he also noticed that all the screaming from before had ended. So, he looked back towards Hwaya, who was slightly pale. Yet, she had a truly staggering number of fireballs floating around her, ready to send them flying at everything with eight legs. 

"We better put these corpses away.' Tatsuo said hurriedly. "Mastiford-San looks like she's about to lose it." 

As he spoke, Tatsuo quickly stuffed the spider's corpse into his [Inventory]. Meanwhile, Shin glanced at Hwaya. And when he saw the expression on her face and all the fireballs floating around her, he did the same. 

*Boom!* 

At that moment, Yungoong stabbed his spear into the middle of the spider's forehead. Then, without retrieving his spear, he vibrated it with his shockwave ability, turning the spider's brain into mush. As a result, the giant spider's body fell to the ground, causing a slight tremor, as it died. 

"*Sigh* That was fun." Yungoong said, sounding completely refreshed as he pulled his spear out of the spider's head. "I hope there's more." 

"Hwaya-Neesan, calm down." Sumire said frantically. "You can't burn it up! That's Kang-Ojisan's spoils." 

Looking back at Hwaya, it was clear that she was at her limit. So, Yungoong quickly put away the spider corpse, as well. He didn't even have time to check for a mana stone. 

"Nee-San, are you okay?" Sumire asked in a worried tone after seeing Hwaya's expression. 

Instead of responding immediately, Hwaya took a deep breath, trying her best to calm her emotions. Then, she wiped the tears from her face and looked at Sumire with a bright red blush on her cheeks. 

'I can't believe I screamed and cried like that.' Hwaya thought to herself while trying to hide her face from Tatsuo and Shin. 'I'm supposed to be the leader of this party. Yet, when we faced our strongest enemies so far, I was useless. This can't go on.' 

*Smack!* 

In the next instant, Hwaya smacked her cheeks with both hands, replacing the blush with handprints. 

"I'm fine now." Hwaya replied in a resolute tone. "Now that I got that out of my system, I'll be alright." 

Hearing that, Sumire smiled at Hwaya. Though, it was clear to see that she was still worried. Still, she decided to not say anything. Instead, she tightened her grip on her spear and shield while vowing to protect Hwaya no matter what happened next. 

"Okay, let's go." Hwaya said resolutely as she turned towards the rest of the party. 

Then, without giving anyone a chance to speak, Hwaya stepped past Sumire, walking deeper into the forest. 

An hour later, the group of five were walking through a vast open field. Though, that description was a bit inaccurate. Instead of a vast open field, it was a wasteland covered in the ashes of all the trees Hwaya burned down. 

The reason for that was simple, after her embarrassing display not long ago, Hwaya put even more effort into killing all the spiders by burning the forest. As a result, not even the ones hiding under ground were spared. So, Hwaya had turned the entire Event Dungeon raid into a one-man show. 

"Wow! You make the most brutal arsonists look like amateurs, Mastiford-San." Tatsuo said as he watched the flames engulf the trees in the distance. 

"Can't you just say my flames are powerful?" Hwaya grumbled as she continued to light everything ablaze. 

"Even so, it's really impressive." Shin commented while watching the flames burn. 

"Hmph! Even if you complement me, I won't let you into my organization." Hwaya said in a flustered tone. 

"Not that I want to join." Shin said casually. 

"Why?" Hwaya asked in an agitated tone. 

Shin could only look at Hwaya strangely. 

"I can't tell if you want him to join or you want to fight him to the death, Mastiford-San." Tatsuo said, speaking the words in Shin's heart. 

Unfortunately, before Hwaya could respond, the situation changed. The group reached a section of trees that were completely black in color. And when Hwaya's flames came in contact with them, they simply went out. 

"Huh?" Hwaya exclaimed in confusion before sending another wave of flames at the trees. 

However, only a few branches were burned away before the flames went out again. Then, after all the flames went out, black smoke started rising from the trees. 

"Well, that's not normal." Tatsuo muttered as he watched the proceedings. 

"It feels like something is calling us." Shin said with his eyes narrowed. "I think we have to go in ourselves. I don't think we'll be able to burn them down." 

At that point, all the resolution Hwaya had shown for the last hour evaporated. 

"B-But what if a spider attacks us from above?" Hwaya asked in a shaky tone. 

"Then, just burn up all the spiders." Shin replied. 

"Hmph! You think I can't?" Hwaya asked in a tone that suggested her pride had taken a hit. 

In anger, Hwaya held her right hand out towards the black trees. Then, a pure white flame appeared on her palm. And as soon as the flames formed, Hwaya sent them in a torrent at the patch of black trees. 

In a moment, the entire stretch of black trees were engulfed in white flames. However, before the party could rejoice, the flames went out like the ones from before. 

"I don't' think your flames are the problem." Shin said while examining the trees. 

"Yeah, it looks like your mana got absorbed." Tatsuo added. 

"You're right." Hwaya replied in a frustrated toen. "I think the trees got bigger, too." 

With that said, Hwaya bit her lower lip until it bled. Then, she smeared her right index finger with her blood before using it to write a symbol on her left palm. 

"Tch! I can't believe I have to use a Skill." Hwaya grumbled in irritation. "Hmph! I don't' like this. Go, [Flame Beast]." 

In the next instant, Sumire, Shin, and Yungoong widened their eyes in surprise as a blue flame materialized above Hwaya's hand before shooting forward and quickly transforming into a thirteen-foot tall tiger made of blue flames. 

"If you could do something like that, why didn't you use it before?" Shin asked in a dumbfounded tone. 

"It takes a lot of concentration." Hway said in a weirdly prideful tone. "So, I couldn't do it while staring at all those disgusting spiders." 

"Um... Nee-San, that's not something to be proud of, you know?" Sumire said in an awkward tone. 

Once it was formed, the giant, blue flame tiger wagged its tail. Then, it dashed towards the forest. At the same time, a large number of spiders jumped up from underground. However, because there was nowhere for them to hide, they were all dealt with rather easily. 

A moment later, the blue flame tiger reached the patch of black trees. Then, it swung its massive paw at the closest tree. As a result, the tree was toppled effortlessly. On top of that, because the tree was destroyed so quickly, it did not have the opportunity to absorb any of the tiger's mana. 

Seeing its attack deal damage successfully, the tiger began to rampage to its heart's content. However, before it could do too much damage, a truly gigantic spider leg came down from above, impaling it through the back. 

"Cutie! No!" Hwaya cried in surprise and disbelief. 

"You actually named that behemoth, Cutie?" Tatsuo asked, poking fun at Hwaya's naming sense. 

"I'm more surprised that it has a name at all." Shin muttered. 

"I think it's kinda cute." Sumire said. 

Before the conversation could continue, the blue flame tiger was struck a second, then a third time. Then, the tiger vanished into a puff of flames. And that seemed to set off Hwaya, as her eyes started to glow like a flame, as well. 

"You dare kill my Cutie? I'll never forgive you!" Hwaya shouted in grief. "[I shall transform my soul into an undefeatable army, Army of Flames]!" 

Hearing that, Yungoong smiled as if he thought Hwaya's enraged chant was the coolest thing. 

"That was so cringe." Tatsuo muttered. 

Shin nodded in agreement with Tatsuo's statement. However, no one could deny being impressed when they saw the effect of Hwaya's spell. 

"Shut up, you two." Hwaya said in an irritated tone. 

With Hwaya's chant, the temperature in the surroundings rose swiftly. Then, white and red flame incarnations of all kinds of mammals and avians began to appear. There were lions, tigers, bears, wolves, eagles, hawks, owls, and many more. 

"it's the animal kingdom!" Yungoong cheered excitedly. 

Shin flinched as if he were embarrassed that he and his father were thinking the same thing. Hwaya, on the other hand, glared at Yungoong for lowering the grandeur of her spell with his comment. However, she did not focus on him for long. Instead, she pointed at the forest of black trees and gave a command. 

"Burn up all the trees in that forest!" 

With that, the [Army of Flames] roared in their own ways. Then, they charged forward with reckless abandon. Though, there was one animal that did not charge with them. Instead, with its tail wagging, a blue flame cat sat on Hwaya's shoulder while grooming itself. 

"Now you look like a real SS-Ranker." Tatsuo said, looking impressed with the sight in front of him. 

Hearing that, Hwaya puffed out her chest in pride. Clearly, she was happy with Tatsuo's recognition. 

"If this were a movie, it would definitely be a blockbuster." Tatsuo continued. "I mean, you don't' get to see a flaming animal kingdom destroying the environment with a flame witch commanding them every day, do you?" 

Hwaya's proud expression turned awkward immediately. She had no idea how she was supposed to respond to that. A moment later, she felt a stare directed at her. More specifically, at the blue flame cat on her shoulder. 

"My Cutie's a real cutie, isn't she?" Hwaya asked after noticing that Shin was staring at the blue cat on her shoulder. 

"Cutie? Is it the same one as before?" Shin asked in a dumbfounded tone. 

"Yeah." Hwaya replied with a nod and a smile. "But since it was reversed summoned, I'll have to raise it from scratch again." 

'For someone who looks like an evil witch commanding her demon soldiers, why does she look so cute right now?' Shin asked himself 

Shin then shook his head to snap himself out of his mesmerized state. Then, he looked back at the forest of black trees. When he did, his expression stiffened. 

Instead of harming the forest, Hwaya's [army of Flames] was only empowering it further, made evident by the fact that the forest was expanding. And that did not mean that the trees were simply getting bigger. Instead, new trees were sprouting and growing at a rapid rate. 

The reason was not so simple as the mana was being absorbed on contact, either. Instead, those gigantic spider legs were attacking from above, skewering flame creatures with every strike. On top of that, streams of web would do the same from time to time. And every time one of the animals were killed, a new tree would grow. 

*Screech~~~~~~~!* 

After that, a deafening cry echoed from the forest's interior. On top of that, a massive killing intent locked onto the party. It was clear that whatever was inhabiting the forest was finally ready to deal with the party. 

"Mastiford-Ssi! Cancel your Skill!" Shin shouted. "You're only making things worse at this point!" 

"Nee-San, Hurry!" Sumire added frantically. 

Hearing that, it was clear that Hwaya was even more frustrated. However, she knew now was not the time to be stubborn. 

"Sorry, guys!" Hwaya shouted as she agitated her mana. "[Big Bang]!" 

*Boom~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!* 

*Screech~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!* 

With Hwaya's command, all the flame incarnations, other than Cutie, who was still standing on Hwaya's shoulder, exploded. And with that explosion, a huge portion of the forest was blown to pieces. On top of that, a pain-filled shriek sounded out, partially drowning out the sound of the explosion. 

"Looks like the real battle is coming." Shin said solemnly. "Minami-Ssi, protect Mastiford-Ssi." 

"Understood." Sumire replied in just as solemn a tone. "[Guardian]." 

In the next instant, Sumire began to shine brightly in a golden color. In fact, she shined so brightly that no one could look at her directly. At the same time, Shin and Yungoong took up positions to Sumire's left and right respectively. However, no one seemed to notice that someone was missing. 

At that moment, hundreds of streams of poisonous spider webs were shot at the party from above. 

Reacting quickly, Shin, Yungoong, and Hwaya quickly sent their attacks at the webs to either burn them or splatter them harmlessly. As a result, lightning, shockwaves, and flames flew in every which direction to deal with the flames. Meanwhile, Sumire used her shield to block any webs that made it through the barrage and were headed towards Hwaya. 

"Humans… I finally get to meet you." A seductive female voice said once all the webs were dealt with. 

Hearing that voice, the group froze momentarily, with Shin and Yungoong being the most effected. 

"Come to my embrace." The female voice said gently. 

With that, everyone noticed where the voice as coming from. So, they raised their heads simultaneously. 

Standing where all the burned down trees used to be, there was a huge, more than fifteen foot tall, spider's abdomen. Underneath the abdomen were legs big enough to support its huge body. However, where the spider's thorax should have been, there was the naked upper body of an absolutely stunning woman with flowing black hair and eyes with web-like patterns. 

{Spider Den's Boss Monster, Arachne, has appeared. Defeating Arachne will clear the Dungeon and grant special rewards.}