Songs in the Void

ICDS Universe, Earth, South Korea, Yeongdeungpo. 

"Come here, I promise to give you everything your heart desires." Arachne said while looking down at Sumire, Shin, Yungoong, and Hwaya, who were looking up at her with clouded eyes. 

"It's a girl..." Yungoong muttered in a dazed tone. 

The human upper body protruding from the top of the spider's lower body was truly enchanting. So, the fact that they were all Charmed was not a surprise. However, as previously mentioned, there was one person missing. 

"Master! Wake up!" Peika shouted right next to Shin's ear. 

IN that instant, Shin bit down on the inside of his cheek so hard that it bled, snapping himself back to his senses. 

"Good." Tatsuo, who could not be seen by anyone present, said. "I would have been really disappointed if no one snapped out of it on their own. [Now, the rest of you need to wake up!]" 

{You used [Orc Lord's War Cry]. 

-All party members are cleansed of negative status effects. 

-All party members' attack is increased by 50% for the duration. 

-All party members become super-armored, unfazed by enemy attacks.} 

"Huh? A monster?" Sumire asked in a dumbfounded tone as the Charm status was cleansed. 

"Wh-What? What just... happened?" Hwaya asked in confusion. 

"Urgh! My wife, I'm sorry." Yungoong said with a pale complexion. 

"If you could have done that from the start, why did you wait so long?" Shin asked in an annoyed tone. 

Unfortunately, Shin did not receive a response. 

"Master, now's not the time for that." Peika said as she infused herself into Shin's gloves. 

"I know." Shin muttered as he got ready to fight. At the same time, he was thinking that he needed to have a long talk with his father after hearing what he said. 

Once everyone was freed from the [Charm] status ailment, they noticed that Hwaya's explosion had dealt some serious damage to Arachne. On top of a gaping hole on the gigantic spider abdomen that had poisonous, green blood leaking from it and turning into poisonous fog upon contact with the air, one of its middle legs was missing, as well. 

"Come on, everyone!" Tatsuo's voice rang out a moment later. "This [Skill] only lasts five minutes. We have to take it down before then." 

Although Tatsuo already knew that Shin could also use [Orc Lord's War Cry], that was something he was not supposed to know. So, he acted as such. At the same time, a gash appeared on Arachne's human torso before Tatsuo finally reappeared in front of it. 

"Kya~~~~~~!" Arachne shrieked in both pain and anger. 

In retaliation, Arachne raised one of her front legs to strike Tatsuo out of the air. 

"How dare you seduce me when I already have a wife!" Yungoong shouted angrily.. "[Mega Wave Lance]!" 

With Yungoong's shout, he thrust his spear forward with all his might and technique. As a result, a powerful shockwave was shot from the tip of his spear, shooting straight towards Arachne's human torso. 

At the same time, Tatsuo used [blink] to avoid Arachne's retaliation, reappearing behind it. At that moment, Arachne was struck by the shockwave, causing her to shriek once again. 

In the next instant, Shin appeared in front of Arachne's human torso and wrapped his legs around her waist. The speed at which he moved indicated that he had used the Skill, [Divine Speed], the upgraded version of [Lightning Speed] he received for being the first Explorer to defeat the Lizard Knight alone on his first attempt. 

[Divine Speed] raised Shin's speed by 400% for 0.5 seconds at the cost of 20% of his total mana, making it twice as powerful as Tatsuo's [Lightning Speed] Skill. So, in bursts, Shin was actually faster than Tatsuo, in pure movement speed, that is. 

As soon as Shin locked his legs around Arachne's waist, a strange expression showed up on his face. And Tatsuo, who was right behind Arachne's human upper body saw it clearly. However, he was not the only one to notice, as Peika and Yungoong also noticed. 

"You made a big mistake letting a grappler approach!' Shin shouted, ignoring the strange looks he was getting from Tatsuo, Peika, and Yungoong. "[Thunder Beast]." 

[Thunder Beast] was a skill Shin had just comprehended in the fight with the three large spiders from before. Using the lightning he gained from infusing Peka into his gloves, he wrapped it around his entire body. Then, with the combination of his martial arts prowess and the lightning that stimulated his body to nearly double his strength, he could deliver a series of powerful blows to an opponent, as long as his body and mana could hold out. 

In unison, with Shin starting his onslaught, raining electrified punches on Arachne's face, Tatsuo's [Thunderclap Daggers] lit up with the purple-tinted black [Energy] of [Spatial Slash]. Then, he started repeatedly slashing Arachne's back and the back of her head. Meanwhile, Yungoong, who was on the ground fired off consecutive shockwaves that damaged the giant spider body. 

"Nee-San, are you going to help, too?" Sumire asked with her shield raised just in case the Spider Queen was able to attack indiscriminately. 

"I want to, but I used up all my mana in that explosion." Hwaya replied. "It will take a little bit for me to recover." 

"I told you; you should work on your mana control!" Tatsuo shouted as if he could hear the conversation between Sumire and Hwaya. "An SS-Ranker should be more than a one shot cannon!" 

Hwaya immediately felt embarrassment after hearing that. Tatsuo had already told her to work on her mana control when she first met him in Japan. However, she did not take him seriously, thinking that she was already the strongest, so there was nothing she needed to do. But now, she realized she was being arrogant. 

"Kya~~~~~!" Arachne screamed in pain as she was being attacked in three places. Then, she started flailing her remaining legs around, aiming them at Tatsuo, Shin, and Yungoong. At the same time, she thrashed around, shooting webbing in all directions randomly. 

While Tatsuo and Yungoong avoided the flailing legs and webs while continuing to attack, Shin, who had his legs wrapped around Arachne's waist, was unable to do so. So, he just activated [Dragon Skin] to tank the hits. 

Noticing that just using her legs was not enough, Arachne opened her mouth to bite down on Shin's glove while he threw a punch. 

"Keep your mouth shut!" Shin shouted as he stopped his original punch before he used his other hand to throw an uppercut into Arachne's jaw, slamming her mouth shut. "You might bite your tongue. Plus, I don't want your saliva on my armor!" 

Seeing that yet another plan did not work, Arachne then used her arms to smash her hands on Shin's body. However, as soon as she lifted her arms, one of them was cut off, flying off into the distance. Then, an intense white flame slammed into the other one. And although it was not enough to remove it, the trajectory was shifted greatly, causing it to miss striking Shin. 

"Kya~~~~~~~!" Arachne shrieked once again in frustration and pain. 

However, before she could recover to try striking Shin again, Tatsuo cut off her other arm, completely disarming her. 

"You're too noisy." Tatsuo said coldly as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. 

"Cutie! Go!" Hwaya shouted from the ground simultaneously. 

Seeing Tatsuo's gesture and the glow surrounding his blades, Shin once again threw an uppercut, this time putting all his strength into it. As a result, not only was Arachne's mouth slammed shut, but her head was rocked back, as well. 

In the next instant, Cutie, the blue flamed cat, fell from above, slamming into Arachne's face, and burning the smooth, tender skin that had not even been damaged by Shin's punch barrage. 

However, just as she opened her mouth to scream once again, Tatsuo swung both his arms outwards, his blades aimed for Arachne's neck. At the same time, Shin, with all his might, kicked off Arachne's body. And that would turn out to be a good decision. 

As soon as Shin had separated from Arachne, Tatsuo's blades smoothly cut through her neck, something that would not have been possible if she had not taken so much damage from everyone during the fight. 

As a result, Arachne's head popped up into the air, and a blood geyser shot up from her neck. Meanwhile, as soon as he had decapitated her, Tatsuo also distanced himself from Arachne, using [Blink] to avoid the spray of blood before it could poison him or destroy his gear. 

"Whoa! That thing could sure take a beating." Shin said as he regrouped with the rest of the party. "There were four of us beating on it nonstop, yet it took us almost five minutes to kill it." 

Instead of replying to Shin, Yungoong looked at him suspiciously. 

"What's wrong, Kang-Ssi?" Shin asked in a wary tone. 

"Don't think I didn't see that look on your face." Yungoong said in a solemn tone. "I'm going to tell Yua about this when I get home." 

'Why don't you just tell the whole world we're father and son?' Shin thought to himself while rolling his eyes. 'Because you're making it really easy for people to tell with the stupid stuff you're saying, Father.' 

While thinking that, Shin deactivated [Thunder Beast]. Then, he immediately staggered and started breathing heavily. It was clear that Skill put a lot of strain on his body. At the same time, Peika left his gloved and looked at him worriedly. 

"Master, are you okay?" Peika asked in a concerned tone. 

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Shin replied with a smile while he tried to rub Peika's head with his finger. 

Unfortunately, Peika was quick to dodge, making sure that Shin could not mess up her hair. 

"Looks like it's over." Tatsuo said as he [Blinked] next to the rest of the party with Arachne's head in his hands. "And we're all gonna make a lot of money." 

As he said that, Tatsuo stabbed one of his bladed knuckle dusters into the Arachne's head. Then, he dug out a small mana stone. Yet, despite its size, it was completely incomparable to anything any of them had ever seen in terms of mana quantity or quality. 

"Well, you guys will be rich." Tatsuo said with a shrug as he threw away the head. "I wanna buy this mana stone from you, name your price." 

As Tatsuo had not defeated Arachne alone, he could not simply take the mana stone for himself. So, he raised this point. 

"How could you do that to a woman's head?" Hwaya asked in an astonished tone, not caring about the fact that there was a high-quality mana stone inside. "Even if she's a monster, that just seems wrong." 

"You just said it was a monster, though." Shin muttered. "Besides, how else was he going to get the mana stone out?" 

Hwaya did not have a response to that. However, despite being a woman herself, and a beautiful one at that, she felt uncomfortable at how ruthless Tatsuo was to such a beautiful creature. 

"You all were so cool!" Sumire shouted with sparkling eyes. "Yeon-San, you were just like Takemikazuchi when you were covered in lightning! And Kang-Ojisan, you're really great with the spear." 

Then, Sumire turned to Tatsuo. However, her eyes weren't just sparkling, she also seemed to have hearts in her eyes, as well. 

"And Tatsuo-Kun, you were like a real shinobi!" Sumire squealed in excitement. "It was like I was seeing the rebirth of Hattori Hanzo!" 

Tatsuo and Shin could only smile wryly at Sumire's excitement. 

"The God of Thunder and Japan's most famous ninja, huh?" Tatsuo said with a smile. "That's pretty high praise." 

*Cling!* *Cling!* 

Meanwhile, Yungoong was staring at Arachne's giant legs. Then, he drew everyone's attention when he tapped its carapace with the butt of his spear. 

"Hey, don't you think this might taste good, like crabs, if you fried it up?" Yungoong asked when he felt everyone's gazes focus on him. 

"It's poisonous." Shin replied with a deadpan expression. 

Not only Shin, but the rest of the party looked at Yungoong with deadpans, as well. However, before anyone else could comment, a fanfare from the Dungeon rang out in everyone's ears. 

{You defeated the Event Dungeon Boss Monster, Arachnee.} 

{100,000 Gold is distributed evenly among party members. You receive 20,000 Gold.} 

{Soramoto Tatsuo-Sama's contribution is the highest. Please choose your reward.

1. Arachne's Silk Dress

2. Arachne's Black Earthen Spear

3. Arachne's Poison Gland

4. Arachne's Cobweb Earrings

5. Arachne's Cobweb Bracelet}

Seeing the list of rewards, Tatsuo raised his right hand to his chin while considering which one he would choose. 

'If I had to guess, Kang-San got the second place.' Tatsuo thought to himself. 'If so, he'll pick the spear. And the others will probably end up with the same stuff they chose in the novel, too. The question is, do I wanna mess that up? I mean, I really want that bracelet. I could swing around like Spider-Man if I had it. But only having one would be kinda lame.' 

Reaching that point, Tatsuo shifted his attention to the third reward, [Arachne's Poison gland]. 

'But if I had that, I would be able to add a poison attribute to my weapons. And that would make them pretty lethal. But would that work well with the lightning?' Tatsuo wondered. 'Then again, I have a [Silver Spear] from the Lizard Knight. So, I could just melt that down and make new ones. Then, use the poison gland as a finishing agent. And with Arachne's magic stone, it would be perfect.' 

With that, Tatsuo made his decision. However, before he could choose his reward, a discontented voice broke his concentration. 

"How was I not first in contribution?" Hwaya asked. 

"Because you didn't really do that much damage to the boss." Tatsuo replied nonchalantly. "Which means, the contribution is decided by the boss fight and not the whole dungeon." 

Hearing that, Hwaya pouted, crossed her arms, and looked away. And because of her nation-toppling beauty, the three males were momentarily mesmerized, despite themselves. 

"Well, if it wasn't me, who got first place?" Hwaya asked while continuing to pout. 

"It was probably Tatsuo-Ssi." Shin replied. "Not only did he cure the status effect on everyone, he did a lot of damage, too. He even delivered the finishing blow." 

Hearing that, Hwaya's discontentment seemed to diminish by a lot. Meanwhile, the light in Sumire's eyes glowed even brighter while she stared at Tatsuo like a fan girl. 

"Anyway, I guess I'll take this.' Tatsuo said as he chose his reward. 

In the next instant, a small, round, green, pouch-like object appeared in Tatsuo's hand. Then, he quickly stored it into his [Inventory]. Though the [Arachne's Poison Gland] did not seem all that dangerous in its current state, he did not want there to be any accidents. 

"What was that?" Hwaya asked curiously. 

"[Arachne's Poison Gland]." Tatsuo replied casually. "I'll use it when I make my new weapons." 

Everyone had an idea of how strong Arachne's poison was. So, they could imagine how dangerous Tatsuo's new weapons would be. 

However, Tatsuo was not really thinking about that. Instead, his gaze fell on Arachne's lower, spider, body. And when it did, his eyes lit up like Sumire's had. 

"I'm gonna take some of the carapace, too." Tatsuo said as he stepped forward. "I'll pay for this, too. Is that alright?" 

"If that's what you want." Shin replied as he quickly picked a reward and stuffed it into his Inventory before anyone could get a good look at it. 

"I don't mind either." Hwaya replied as she looked over the remaining rewards. A moment later, she frowned slightly. "Ugh! Why is it all spider stuff?" 

Seeing that there was only a dress, bracelet, and earring, Hwaya did not know what to choose. Then, she looked at Sumire. 

"Sumire, what would you choose?" Hwaya asked. "A dress, an earring, or a bracelet?" 

Hearing that, Sumire could tell that Hwaya was being considerate of her. So, she smiled brightly. 

"Nee-San, just pick what you want." Sumire said warmly. "My contribution was probably the lowest, anyway." 

And that was correct. As the one assigned to defend Hwaya, she was not able to deal any damage to Arachne. 

"Don't say that." Hwaya said in a stern, yet sincere, tone. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have had the time to regain my mana or launch any attacks." 

Everyone could feel the sincerity in Hwaya's words. That naturally included Sumire, as well. So, she gazed at Hwaya with a deeply touched expression. 

"Nee-San." Sumire said warmly. 

"D-Don't look at me like that." Hwaya said bashfully. 

"Nee-San!" Sumire cried excitedly. 

In the next instant, Sumire wrapped Hwaya in a hug. And Hwaya returned the hug with a smile. Meanwhile, Tatsuo and Shin enjoyed the sight of their fairly large breasts being stacked on top of each other. Yungoong, on the other hand, only looked on with a fatherly smile, clearly pleased by the comradery. 

"Would you just pick a reward." Shin said as his face began to redden. 

In the end, Hwaya chose [Arachne's Silk Dress], as a dress probably would not be suitable to a tank like Sumire. And she looked really happy with her choice in the end. Especially since its stats were not only better than the dress she was wearing, but it was a very stylish dress, as well. 

Next to choose was Yungoong. And he took a little while to decide. 

"What's got you thinking so hard?" Shin asked curiously. 

"I was imagining how beautiful my wife would look while wearing those earrings." Yungoong replied calmly. 

"Stop with the devoted husband act." Shin replied in an exasperated tone. "You can just buy her some regular pretty earrings. Minami-Ssi would suit the earrings better in this situation.' 

"Nah, if you want the earrings, just take them.' Tatsuo rebutted. "I'm gonna make a pair for her later, anyway." 

"Really? you're gonna make me earrings?" Sumire asked with a blush on her face. 

Then, Sumire remembered that Tatsuo was going to make an accessory with [Dragon Skin] imbued into it. So, she calmed down considerably. Still, her gaze at Tatsuo was quite warm. 

"Ahjussi's wife is really lucky." Hwaya said with a smile. 

"*Cough* Yeon Hwawoo is probably right." Yungoong said while shaking his head. "the earrings would be better for a young lady than the bracelet, anyway." 

With that, Yungoong chose [Arachne's Cobweb Bracelet], leaving [Arachne's Cobweb Earrings] for Sumire. However, Sumire did not choose her reward immediately. Instead, she waited for everyone to fully recover they mana and stamina. 

"We need to recover completely before we complete this Event Dungeon." Hwaya said as the leader of the party, as well as the most experienced when it comes to dealing with Event Dungeons. [If a Raid Boss appears after the Dungeon disappears, I'll hit it with my strongest spell to tie it down. Then, we'll try to kill it as fast as possible so it can't cause too much damage to the area." 

"Understood." Sumire said resolutely. 

"Don't worry, Miss." Yungoong said while readying his spear. 

"Yeah, as soon as you hit it, I'll follow right up." Tatsuo added. "I might even be able to cut it in half if I go all out." 

In fact, that was completely true. He could have even handled Arachne in the same way. However, in consideration for the rest of the party's contributions and health, Tatsuo toned down his attacks on Arachne. If he had used [Spatial Rend] with all his strength, not to mention from behind, he could have definitely one-shotted the Spider Queen. 

"We really should have warned the other Ability Users." Shin said in a reprimanding tone. "If anyone gets hurt, it's on you, Mastiford-Ssi." 

"Raid Bosses only focus on the ones who cleared the Event Dungeon." Hwaya retorted sharply. "So, as long as they don't do something stupid, they'll be fine. Don't' look down on my experience. And as an SS-Ranked Ability User, I can keep it from hurting anyone." 

"Well, if you say so." Shin replied with a shrug. 

Eventually, everyone had returned to their optimal condition. So, Sumire chose the final reward. And just as everyone was prepared to deal with a Raid Boss, another Dungeon fanfare rang out. 

{You completely cleared an A-Rank Event Dungeon. All party members receive 1 bonus stat.} 

{You will now be returned to where you entered the Dungeon from.} 

"Huh? What about the raid boss?" Shin asked in a dumbfounded tone. 

"There is no raid boss." Hwaya replied. "If there was, the ground would have collapsed after the clear message. Then, it would have appeared. More importantly, get close to me. I'm going to cast another anti-recognition barrier." 

Quickly, the group gathered around Hwaya while she muttered a spell. Then, she spread her hands as she cast it. At the same time, a black whirlpool formed under the group as they all blacked out for a moment while being transported out of the Dungeon.