As a spider, my attribute boost went from 25% to 50%. The difference was significant. I went from being behind the manticore in Strength and Dexterity to exceeding it in a single moment. I lunged forward, lashing out with my forelegs.

  My chitinous limbs sliced through the air with newfound speed and precision. The manticore, caught off guard by my sudden burst of speed, barely managed to dodge my first strike. But I was relentless, my eight eyes tracking its every movement as I pressed my advantage.

  With each attack, I felt the raw strength coursing through my arachnid body. My mandibles clicked in anticipation as I maneuvered around the beast, weaving a deadly dance of strikes and feints. The manticore's lion body tensed, its scorpion tail poised to strike, but I was too quick now.

  I leapt onto its back, my sharp forelegs digging into its flesh. The creature roared in pain and fury, trying to shake me off. But my enhanced strength allowed me to cling on tightly as I sank my fangs into its neck. I felt a surge of satisfaction as my venom began to take effect, the manticore's movements becoming sluggish. I felt the stinger of its scorpion tail penetrate my chitin armour where I wasn't protected by my new armour plates. The pain was minimal, and the Venom was rebuffed by my [Venom Resistance]; it wasn't quite potent enough to really affect me. Still, there was no sense in being careless. I activated [Auric armour] and then took advantage of Vipera being within my soul and activated [Venomous Strikes]. The ghostly grey plates arranged themselves over my spider body, covering areas my new chitin armour plates didn't cover; my limbs were covered in the familiar dark green shimmer. The manticore roared in agony as mine and Vipera's venom flooded its body. It was a huge dose; the monster wouldn't be long for this world. I could already feel its struggles weakening.

  Unfortunately, I wasn't going to have the time to deal with it right this second. I could feel more presences approaching with my aura senses.

  I leapt from the manticore onto a nearby redwood tree; they were more than large enough to accommodate my bulk.

  I clung to the massive redwood trunk, my enhanced senses tingled with anticipation while I activated [Stealth]. The forest seemed to hold its breath, the air thick with tension. Then, like a wave crashing upon the shore, they came. Three more manticores burst through the treeline, their eyes blazing with primal fury. Each was a terrifying amalgamation of lion, bat, and scorpion, their bodies rippling with corded muscle beneath matted fur. Their leathery wings furled at their sides, looked like they could easily span twenty feet from tip to tip. The monsters cast ominous shadows across the forest floor, preceding their approach.

  The first manticore I'd battled lay twitching on the ground, my venom coursing through its veins. Its kin circled it warily, their scorpion tails raised high, dripping with venom that sizzled as it hit the leaf litter below. I remained motionless, my eight eyes drinking in every detail. The largest of the newcomers, a battle-scarred beast with silver tinging its red mane, let out a bone-chilling roar that shook the very air. Its companions answered in kind, a cacophony of bestial fury that shook the forest. It seemed I'd run into the youngest one of the bunch first. It didn't have the wings of the other three manticores.

  While the smaller one had gone down without much of a fuss, three more, all at the same time, seemed like biting off more than I could chew. Maybe. The smallest Manticore hadn't had much of a chance to do anything before I'd already dosed it with venom, both my own and Vipera's thanks to her [Venomous Strikes] Skill. That Skill really did make it much easier to employ my venom, without the concern of having to actually bite an enemy to bring my venom into play. If I dove into the fight carelessly, it would end up as me versus three healthy manticores, which would not be in my favour. I remained still perched on the tree above while the manticores gathered around their fallen. Moments later, it fell limp, its laboured breathing gone silent. I felt the notification in the back of my mind, I ignored it and began working up a thick ball of webbing between my forelegs. Being an ambush predator had worked out for me before; why stop now? There was a part of me that preferred open combat to ambushes, but I couldn't deny that it was effective. This was especially true since I had the [Stealth] Skill, making me much harder to detect by normal means, unless something looked directly at me.

  A plan formed rapidly in my mind as I spun up the ball of webbing. It was my best chance of eliminating all three manticores right now, and not having to chase them down later. Or have them chase me down later. Unfortunately, I was on a time limit, and sitting here was burning through that limit. I wasn't completely certain, but I felt I'd been in the Dungeon somewhere between 4 and 6 hours by this point. I still had plenty of time left to clear the area, find the boss, and then eliminate it. That was, of course, if I didn't run into trouble on the way. I had no idea how many more chambers I'd have to get through before I found the boss. My instincts said the boss wasn't terribly far away, but I had no way of confirming that.

  My web ball reached the size I wanted.

  All thought ceased as I reared up from my position on the trunk. I hurled the thick bundle of adhesive webbing at one of the smaller manticores. I didn't wait to see how it worked out. I lunged from the redwood tree, flying in a straight line towards the other manticore, leaving the big scarred one for last. That one seemed to be the boss of the other two. I figured it was better to remove the minions first before I went for the main course. I slammed into the side of my target like a cannonball, and we went down tumoring across the ground in a while of chitin and fur. The green shimmer or [Venomous Strikes] coated my limbs while I jabbed at the manticore every time I had a free limb, while we rolled across the loamy forest floor.

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  The manticore roared in pain and fury as my venomous strikes found their mark. Its wings beat frantically, trying to dislodge me, but I clung on with my enhanced strength. We crashed through undergrowth, snapping saplings and sending leaves flying in our wake.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the webbed manticore thrashing wildly, its wings and legs tangled in my sticky trap. I'd gotten rather lucky and managed to get a large mass of the web stuck to its head, which was currently anchored to the truck of a nearby tree. Good. One down, two to go.

  The scarred leader let out another ear-splitting roar and charged towards us. I needed to end this quickly. With a burst of strength, I flipped my opponent onto its back, exposing its softer underbelly. My fangs plunged deep into its throat, pumping a massive dose of venom directly into its bloodstream. The manticore's struggles weakened almost instantly, its eyes glazing over as the potent toxins took hold. I leapt clear just as the leader's massive paw swiped through the air where I'd been a second before. That monster was living on borrowed time now. My venom would do its work while I dealt with the manticore leader.

  Now it was just me and the alpha. We circled each other warily, sizing up our opponent. The scarred manticore loomed over me, its massive form blocking out the filtered sunlight streaming through the redwood canopy. I could smell its rancid breath as it snarled, revealing yellowed fangs the size of daggers. This was no ordinary beast - its battle-worn hide and calculating gaze spoke of years of battle and survival. Though I wasn't sure how that could be, the dungeon had only just formed. Something didn't add up there, but I couldn't dismiss the feeling in my gut that the monster in front of me had been hunting its prey for dozens of years.

  I crouched low, my eight legs tensed for action. The manticore's scorpion tail arced high, dripping venom that sizzled as it hit the forest floor. We circled each other warily, neither willing to make the first move.

  Suddenly, the beast's wings unfurled with explosive force, kicking up a cloud of debris. The massive manticore launched itself at me, claws extended. If I hadn't left my [Auric Armour] active, I wouldn't have made it in time. The impact sent me skidding across the ground, plates of [Auric Armour] shattered under the weight of the blow. My chitin armour creaked dangerously under the strain as I was sent skidding across the dirt ground. The frantic Thud thud thud told me the manticore was in pursuit after I'd been knocked away from it by its initial attack. I wasn't out of the fight yet, though.

  The manticore pounced, and we went rolling across the ground, carried into a dizzying roll by the weight and momentum of the larger monster. The manitcore's claws dug deep gouges into my chitin. I hissed in response but ignored the pain. They were small wounds. They'd heal soon enough thanks to Vipera's [Root Regeneration] and my [Totem of Regrowth].

  We grappled, each jockeying for position, to end up on top of the mad scramble. I felt Vipera's presence within my soul; my little mischief maker was howling for blood. At her core, she was a predator just like the manticores, even if she was friendlier and probably more intelligent. I still struggled with my mana control, but I was able to channel more into [Venomous Strikes] without draining myself. The green sheen that coated my limbs became thicker, more pronounced. Each blow I landed lingered, leaving black veins and rot wherever my limbs struck. Every blow another dose of venom, a little closer to ending the struggle between spider and beast.

  I pinned the manticore beneath me, its feline body writhing against the ground while it snarled its rage at me. Sharp burning pain screeched through my mind. I felt the manticore's stinger dig deep into my thorax, and burning venom poured into my insides like a flood through a broken dam. I hissed in rage, redoubling my efforts to end the beast. My spider limbs flashed out a mix of scything blows that slashed into its body and deadly spear thrusts that left gaping holes in their wake. Pain and anger spurred me on. Every wound was leaking black ichor now, and the beast's breath came gasping and ragged. It struggled on wrestling with me, rending deep gouges in my chitin armour. One of my rear limbs raised up and plunged down, spearing the manitcore's tail and pinning it to the ground. The manticore howled and finally presented me with an opening to end this fight. As it howled, its head reared back exposing its throat. I lunged in, tearing into its throat with my fangs. A single moment, and its throat was a bloody, destroyed mess. I staggered off the manticore; it wasn't long for this world, with its throat destroyed, and there was still one more to deal with.

  —-

  The area around the mobile terminal was silent. None of the three men present knew what to say about what they'd just watched. It wasn't just the strange transformation they'd watched Aiden go through. Transformation Skills weren't unheard of; there were several Rankers who held Skills that might yield similar results in his region alone, let alone the whole of the White Banner. The one that stuck out the most was a member of one of the squads up north. The man's Class leaned towards the route of old school druids, spells based around nature, and borrowing the forms and abilities of animals. Seeing that man take on monsters as a massive bear, shifting seamlessly to a swift jaguar, then a bird of prey and back to being a bear as it suited him had been a sight to see. Of all the Skills David had witnessed in action, none were as monstrous as this spider form Aiden had taken on. It was pure nightmare fuel for anyone who had an aversion to the eight-legged, to see a man become a spider that was larger than some cars. It seemed like he could keep it up indefinitely as well. There were no signs of flagging or mana drain that David could see or detect through the drone.

  What unsettled David was the way Aiden had torn through the manticores. The White Banner had records on most of the monsters their members had encountered in the dungeons since its inception. The archives were full of pages upon pages of both lore and actual data gathered over lifetimes. David was well-versed in the information the White Banner archives held. He'd also been in a few scrapes of his own in the dungeons during his younger years. Manticores were mythical beasts with their roots in human mythology. They were not weak beasts to be taken on in groups. They were monsters that frequently took full squads to put down, and not without risk of death. The number of phone calls to families David had been required to make over the years because of those beasts was significantly larger than he wanted to think about.

  Aiden had torn through four of them. In minutes. Alone. Three out of four at the same time. It was flabbergasting. Looking over to Carl David, he saw a look similar to the one he imagined was on his own face. Just how many secrets was this young man hiding? Just how much had David underestimated the young man who had lived through [Soul-Sheer]? Worse, how would the Families react when they found out about what he could do? A shudder ran through David.

  He would have to call his Father. Soon.

  The Patriarch of the Giffle family must know what was coming.

  What a twist! And all that.