Chapter 74 Charmed? Or Not?

The whole party became on guard instantly. Merle used her flame summoning skill and summoned two birds of flames that cried out while hovering around her.

Evan was about to comment on them when he suddenly stiffened involuntarily.

[Evan, that thing isn't something you can defeat on your own. Work with them, or go all out.]

Pride's voice rang out in Evan's head as he turned his gaze to the forest. The feeling he was getting from whatever was inside there told him that he might have to use the skills he had been restraining himself from using.

Namely his Blink and Aura Slash. Most importantly, he might have to drop the gauntlets and use the Sword of Pride that was sleeping in the crest on the back of his palm.

He activated his paladin skill, his body becoming coated in a thin layer of white light as he lamented internally.

'Why don't things always go the way I want?'

The barren ground around them became dyed in black. Seeds sprouted up and grew to black trees in an instant.

The black earth continued to expand and approached where they were.

"It's coming!"

"Kiyaaaaa!"

The moment Evan shouted aloud, a deafening shriek rang out from the forest. At the same time, a killing intent sharper than razor blades shot out toward the party.

There was no doubt. The owner of the forest had locked onto them.

"Everyone, prepare for battle! Iolana, protect Merle!"

Nodin shouted out as he coated his spear with magic power, taking a stance with his gaze trained on the black forest.

"Protection!"

Iolana shouted out as two illusory shields formed on either side of her great shield.

Evan and Nodin stood on guard on the left and right side respectfully when suddenly something flew toward them.

[It's poisonous! The spider web is poisonous!]

"It's poisonous, be careful everyone!"

Thanking Kuro for warning him, Evan punched at the spider web and burned it up with lightning. However, not one or two streams of spider webs, but hundreds flew toward them consecutively.

'Damn, if collected, there were enough to make several shirts!'

Merle also created a few balls of flames in mid air, and was freely controlling them to burn up incoming spider webs.

Nodin consecutively shot out light shockwaves and exploded spider webs mid flight. Watching it, Evan suddenly had a thought on how to develop new ways to use my ability as an Spirit contractor.

'Kayla, can you infuse yourself in my gauntlet?'

,m [Mmmmm...I can but it seems uncomfortable!]

The young great spirit pouted as she refused to enter Evan's gauntlet, however, she sensed the presence that was rapidly approaching and decided that this as not the best time to be childish.

[Fine! Master has to praise me later!]

As she said that, the young great spirit temporarily manifested her physical body before turning into a stream of lightning and entering Evan's gauntlets.

Now he did not have to bother actively using lightning magic as Kayla could take care of that on her own.

Evan struck forward with his fist and lightning poured out, burning the incoming spider webs too crisp. He then pulled out the pocket sack of mental resistance potions he got the day before and tossed it to Merle after taking one out.

The red-haired mage reflexively caught the sack and sent a questioning gaze towards Evan. He sent out another punch and burnt the webs before speaking.

"The boss has a mental attack that it would unleash at the very beginning, take those so you won't fall under its clutches."

Evan popped the bottle in his hand and downed the entire potion instantly before dropping the bottle on the ground and continuing to burn the incoming web bullets.

Merle saw him do this and nodded, deciding to trust him as she opened one of the potions and drank it, giving one to Nodin and Iolana.

"Huh? Why would you drink something so suspicious?!"

Nodin voiced out a reasonable argument but Evan shot him down instantly with a counter he prepared.

"If you don't want to become food for spider babies, tied up in a web as the little spiders eat you up piece by piece every day until you slowly die from the poison in their fangs then I suggest you drink that now!"

Nodin shivered at Evan's words but still wanted to refute, but upon sensing the incoming presence that was cutting down the trees as it made its way towards them, he decided to give up arguing and drink it.

By the time all the spider webs had been leisurely taken care of, the trees in a section of the forest suddenly collapsed and someone's voice flowed out from within.

"Ah, humans. I finally meet you."

Because the voice was so sweet, Evan stopped moving for an instant.

Where is this voice coming from? Who's was it?

These were questions Evan did not need to ask. As someone who had played the game Aidos Online, he was very familiar with the owner of that voice.

It was the Master of the Spider Nest dungeon.

The Queen of the Spiders.

An Arachne.

◇　◇　◇

Araneae

It was the name of the race the spider monsters in the Spider Nest dungeon belonged to.

In Evan's home world, the word 'Araneae', was the scientific name for spiders. Coincidentally, it happened to be the name of a race of spider-based monsters in Aidos.

They possessed the same abilities that normal spiders had, poison and web creation.

As monsters, they possessed high levels of magic power and physical strength that allowed them to over power the average human on their level.

With magic power and sufficient intelligence, these spider monsters were capable of casting deadly magic spells that have been the doom of a great many adventurers.

When an Araneae evolved even further, their intelligence increased exponentially and they gained the ability to speak the language of mankind.

However, these were just the side benefits, the real benefits from this evolution, were a exponential increase in strength and a high probability of gaining a rare or unique skill.

The dungeon boss of the 'Spider Nest', was a monster that had reached this level of evolution.

It had evolved from a mindless Araneae to an Arachne, a monster that was considered a queen among its species.

◇　◇　◇

"Come, come to my embrace."

Hearing that melodious voice, Evan raised his head to look at the owner of the voice.

From beyond the black trees, the abdomen of a spider appeared. It was slightly bigger than the giant spider from before at about 5 meters, but on the place where the spider's thorax should be, there was something one would not expect to see on a spider.

"Come, hurry. I will give you everything you desire."

"A girl…?"

Nodin quietly whispered.

Yes, it was a human.

An extremely beautiful one at that. She had flowing black hair and a pair of big eyes. The irises which carried a web shape left a deep impression.

It was a beauty that could not exist in reality. A mystical, illusionary beauty.

She had the power to grasp people's attention and not let go. Without wearing any clothes, her seductive figure was hard to describe with words…!

|Adaptive Evolution has been triggered. |

|Charm resistance has been acquired. |

The notification that appeared in front of Evan's face snapped him out of his daze. He had prepared for this but it seems that the potions were not enough to block the charm skill of the Arachne.

Also, the fact that Adaptive Evolution was triggered showed just how strong the Arachne's charm was!

Thinking that he was about to run into its embrace, he couldn't help but get goosebumps all over his body.

Not to mention, the temptation had not ended yet!

"You damned Pest!!!"

**CCRACKLEE!!!!

Evan growled as tendrils of lightning snaked around his fists. His destructive energy circuit wildly circulated his magic power as he kicked off the ground, closing the distance between him and the Arachne in a few seconds.

As Evan arrived in front of the stunned monster, he pulled his fist backward and used body transformation to enlarge his hand to size limit the gauntlet could take, as well as to harden his muscles.

[Electroflame!]

Simultaneously, Kayla activated her Electroflame as golden lightning burst out of the gauntlets.

**BAMMMM!!!

**BOOOOMMMMM!!!

A rose of flames bloomed at the abdomen of the spider where Evan's fist slammed into it.

The flames then mixed with the lightning and exploded in the next second along with the force of Evan's punch sending the five-meter-tall Arachne flying back into the direction of the forest it emerged from.

"KYAAAAAAA!!!!"

The monster screamed as it crashed into the magic absorbing trees, shattering the trees and causing some of the broken trees to fall atop its body.

Looking at his handiwork, Evan took a deep breath and turned around to see Merle giving Nodin a knock on the head.

"OWWW!!! Huh? W-what happened?!"

"You got charmed, that's what."

Merle calmly replied as she turned her gaze to Iolana and made sure the latter was okay before looking back at Evan.

"You guys were fine?"