Reborn As a Pirate - Chapter 196

Chapter 196: Exploding Spider Silk!
The massive blood loss triggered the second stage of [Secret of Fire Scene lv.1] — his damage output increased by 10%, and the damage he received was reduced by the same margin. Additionally, his earlier defensive maneuvers activated [Turn Defense into Offense lv.3 (max)], boosting his damage by an additional 20% for the next sixty seconds.

With these enhanced abilities, even the basic Blood Spears radiated formidable power. The [Upper] Princess Blazing Spider, sensing disturbances through its web, paused, its eight golden eyes catching the blur of two blood-red spears cutting through the dust.

“Squeak! Squeak!”

Two shrill cries echoed as the spears found their marks, impaling two guard spiders and pinning them to the ground. Although their silk was formidable, these spiders lacked the vitality of their superior, and the impact of the spears induced immediate, critical injuries.

With two of the eight guard spiders now dispatched, Ryan had carved a vital opening in the encirclement. As dust settled around the echoes of battle, the gap in the west stood as a testament to his resilience and strategic prowess, offering him a fleeting chance to plan his next move in this deadly dance of survival.

Ryan navigated through the dissipating smoke and debris with precision, his memory vivid with the locations of the guard spiders. As he swallowed the last of his meal, a faint black flame ignited along his body and sword, a manifestation of the [Food War] skill.

[Food War: Black Roar Dragon’s Sorrow]: Infused with the essence of a black dragon soul, this skill enhanced Ryan’s speed by 20% and granted his attacks potent shock damage, potentially rendering enemies rigid and unresponsive.

Empowered by the dark flames, Ryan’s movements became a blur, allowing him to evade the thick ropes of spider silk launched by the [Upper] Princess Blazing Spider. The silk fell to the ground, accumulating into a volatile “cocoon” that erupted in a fierce explosion.

The shockwave from the explosion accelerated him even further. Like a shadow, he emerged from the haze, reaching the unsuspecting South Side Guard Spiders. His greatsword, charged and ready, swept through them with a crisp twin “pop,” sending fragments of exoskeleton and viscera scattering like burst tomatoes.

The demise of these four guards incited a wrathful hiss from the Princess Blazing Spider. With a menacing posture, its shell glistening ominously, it unleashed a searing column of fire aimed directly at Ryan.

As the flames tore through the air, distorting it with their heat, Ryan met the challenge head-on. With a defiant glint in his eye, he deployed the [Pure Water Crystal] and charged towards the two northern guard spiders. His blade arced through them, their shrieks cut short by swift death.

Even as the fiery onslaught caught up, engulfing him in its scorching embrace, the water vapor from the crystal first mitigated the blaze’s fury. Although the intense flames breached the vapor, Ryan’s defenses [Nullification of Heat Damage], [Ceratops Armor], and 17 points of fire resistance, allowed him only a stagger under the assault, sparing him severe burns.

Regaining his footing, Ryan surged towards the final pair of guard spiders. His sword danced through the air, its path marked by destruction. In moments, the last of the spiders lay in ruins.

Now, all that remained was the Princess Blazing Spider, its compound eyes seething with unbridled fury. Ryan turned to face this formidable foe, a taunting grin playing on his lips. “One on one, this is fair, isn’t it?”

In response, the cavern filled with the layered roars of the spider. It underwent a transformation, its legs adorned with red, glue-like protrusions shedding a fine, explosive powder that raised the ambient temperature, a harbinger of further peril.

The spider’s stance became more aggressive, its enlarged abdomen shielded by layers of tough silk, from which it hurled several man-sized “cocoons” towards Ryan. Each cocoon, pulsing red as if filled with gunpowder, posed an imminent threat, daring him to approach.

Ryan recoiled from the blast, rapidly creating distance between himself and the Princess Blazing Spider, the blazing monarch of the cave. Her assault was relentless, hurling three “cocoons” that formed a deadly triangle, trapping Ryan in their midst. Moments later, the color of these “cocoons” intensified to a dark crimson before they erupted in a cataclysmic explosion.

The explosion unfurled like blossoming “red flowers,” the shockwave dislodging stalactites from the cavern ceiling, sending them crashing to the floor below. Dust billowed through the air, shrouding the aftermath in a dense, choking cloud.

The Princess Blazing Spider watched with a sneer, mocking the audacity of any creature that dared defy her. The web of spider silk destroyed in the explosion also impaired her vibration senses, yet her experience told her that few could survive such a devastating assault.

As the smoke thinned, the scene that greeted her compound eyes left the Princess Blazing Spider momentarily stunned.

There stood Ryan, clad in the formidable [Ceratops Armor], wielding a blood-red spiral spear longer than he was tall. He made a charging motion, the spear ablaze with a fierce blood flame, its lethal sharpness instinctively making the spider recoil in fear.

But before she could react, the spear was airborne, cutting through the distance between them in a heartbeat.

“Roar—!”

In response, the Princess Blazing Spider spewed a torrent of red silk, attempting to thwart the spear’s advance while shielding herself with her formidable claws.

“Tear—”

The sound of silk being shredded filled the cavern as the spear punctured one of the spider’s chelicerae, leaving a gaping hole through which the inverted stalactites were visible in the background. The spear, driven by Ryan’s vengeful might, had impaled the Princess Blazing Spider, dealing a grievous blow.

Her agonized scream reverberated through the cave as a surge of rustling sounds emerged. Ryan, poised for another strike, paused as hundreds of smaller spiders swarmed out from the shadows.

These new adversaries, smaller and paler than the guard spiders he had previously dispatched, scuttled forward en masse. Though individually weaker, their sheer numbers and the ominous red hue of their abdomens, reminiscent of ticking bombs, posed a new and overwhelming threat. Ryan eyed the swarm, calculating his next move against this sudden, teeming menace.

A deluge of spider silk erupted from the small spiders, weaving an intricate web that crisscrossed above, effectively cutting off Ryan’s escape route and trapping him on the ground. These agile arachnids scuttled faster across their newly spun threads, as the Princess Blazing Spider, distant yet omnipresent, orchestrated a symphony of hisses that crescendoed into a series of violent explosions.

“BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!”

The detonations were rapid and numerous, each one casting a fiery glow that mimicked a miniature sun plummeting to the earth. As the smoke cleared and the dust settled after countless years, the cavern was left pockmarked and devastated. Stalactites that once adorned the ceiling lay shattered; those that survived were few and notably resilient. The intense heat had melted much of the spider silk into blackened crisps, filling the air with the acrid scent of charred protein.

At the epicenter of this chaos was a crater over ten meters wide, with Ryan at its heart, half-kneeling, his armor cracked and seeping blood.

His vision blurred, hallucinatory images flickering before him.

Despite the formidable defenses of his [Ceratops Armor] and [Dragon Helmet], and a special skill that nullified heat damage, Ryan had teetered on the brink of death more than once. If not for the sustaining pull of the “Heart of Gluttony” on his lifeline, he would have surely perished.

Now, however, his condition was dire. The “gluttony level” had reset to zero, leaving him without the means to heal or regenerate.

The strength of the Princess Blazing Spider was beyond anything he had anticipated. Despite being only a slight tier above the formidable “upper two-star” Black Roar Dragon and the Molten Dragon, the gap in their powers was stark.

The onslaught from the Princess Blazing Spider was overwhelming in both magnitude and reach, the explosions so dense that not even Ryan’s blood membrane defenses could mitigate them.

“Kacha… Kacha…”

The sound of heavy, deliberate steps signaled her approach. The colossal form of the Princess Blazing Spider loomed at the rim of the crater, gazing down upon the beleaguered Ryan with the cold superiority of a queen observing a fallen challenger.

With a grim determination, Ryan pushed himself to his feet, leaning on his great sword, the True Red Crown Horn. Blood smeared his face, filling even his eyes with a sanguine tint. A grotesque smile twisted his features, though he was at his most vulnerable, paradoxically, he was also at his most potent.

The massive explosion had obliterated the horde of little spiders, clearing the stage for a true duel.

With the scene set for their final confrontation, Ryan flexed his legs, his thigh muscles tensing like coiled steel. With a forceful leap, he propelled himself over twenty meters into the air. From this vantage, he looked down upon the Princess Blazing Spider, his great sword poised for a decisive strike. The battle between them was about to reach its zenith.