A week earlier.

Before the A-rank dungeon.

Before the man bat.

Xali walked through a B-rank gate alone.

The forest inside stretched endlessly beneath a dark orange sky, twisted trees bending unnaturally over narrow dirt paths while the smell of blood and burned wood lingered thick in the air.

The raid had already started.

Bodies of goblins littered the ground behind her.

Some split cleanly in half.

Others missing heads entirely.

Xali moved through the forest calmly, blade resting loosely at her side while green blood dripped steadily from the edge. Her movements were efficient—clean enough to look effortless.

Another goblin lunged from the trees shrieking wildly.

She didn’t even stop walking.

One slash.

The creature dropped instantly.

A second came from behind.

Xali twisted without looking and drove the blade backward through its throat before pulling it free in one smooth motion.

The goblins weren’t threats.

Just noise.

Small groups kept charging from deeper in the forest only to collapse moments later under precise sword strikes. Xali cut through them methodically, barely using mana at all.

Then the inconveniences started.

The ground exploded beneath her feet.

Xali jumped backward instantly as jagged wooden stakes erupted upward from the dirt where she’d stood. More goblins emerged from the trees alongside larger variants carrying crude weapons reinforced with mana.

Archers.

Casters.

The forest suddenly filled with hostile mana signatures.

"Tch."

Fireballs and arrows launched simultaneously.

Xali inhaled once.

"Mana Pulse."

BOOM.

The blast erupted outward from her body instantly, crushing the incoming attacks apart mid-air before flattening the surrounding goblins hard enough to snap trees sideways.

The forest shook violently.

Silence followed briefly.

Then heavier footsteps approached.

Xali looked up.

A centaur emerged from deeper within the woods.

Massive.

Its lower body resembled a black warhorse covered in scarred hide while its upper half was armored in rough iron plating layered over dense muscle. A long spear rested in its grip, lightning mana crackling faintly around the weapon.

Unlike the goblins—

This thing was actually dangerous.

The centaur snorted once before charging.

Fast.

Its spear carved through the air toward Xali’s head immediately.

She stepped aside narrowly, the strike blasting a trench through the forest floor behind her from sheer force alone.

The centaur pivoted quickly and attacked again.

Aggressive.

Relentless.

The spear thrusts became a storm, forcing Xali backward through the trees while lightning bursts detonated around each missed strike.

Then Xali stopped retreating.

"...Manfire."

Heat exploded outward instantly.

Manfire — Stored Rare Skill

A combustion-based flame technique that converts mana directly into continuous ignition force. The generated flames actively seek hostile mana signatures and continue burning aggressively until no enemy mana remains detectable within range.

Fire formed around Xali’s arm first.

Dense.

Bright orange with white edges from extreme heat concentration.

Then she launched it.

The fireball screamed through the forest and struck the centaur directly in the chest.

BOOM.

The explosion tore through multiple trees instantly while flames wrapped around the creature’s body violently.

The centaur roared and charged through the fire anyway.

Manfire followed.

The flames clung to it unnaturally, continuously feeding off the hostile mana inside the creature instead of dying out. Every movement spread the combustion further across its body.

Xali raised her hand again.

Another fireball.

Then another.

Then another.

She kept firing relentlessly into the burning centaur while it stumbled through the collapsing forest. Explosions chained together violently, flames detonating across armor, flesh, and bone as the skill aggressively hunted every hostile mana source it detected.

The centaur tried to extinguish the flames.

Didn’t matter.

Manfire kept reigniting.

Kept burning.

The monster’s movements slowed rapidly as entire sections of its body blackened beneath the endless bombardment.

Xali didn’t stop.

More fireballs.

More explosions.

The forest became an inferno around the dying centaur as the flames spread across everything nearby.

Only when the hostile mana signature finally vanished—

Did the fire stop chasing.

Xali continued deeper into the dungeon alone.

The burning forest eventually thinned into something worse.

Stone.

The trees disappeared gradually, replaced by narrow rock tunnels layered with thick white webbing stretched across the walls like veins. The deeper she walked, the quieter the dungeon became.

Too quiet.

Even her footsteps sounded muted beneath the layers of silk coating the floor.

Xali’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"...Spider type."

The webs weren’t ordinary either.

Small holes burned through the stone wherever excess strands touched the walls. Acidic residue dripped steadily from hanging threads, hissing softly whenever it landed on the ground.

A corrosive enchantment.

Dangerous enough that even accidental contact mattered.

Xali cut through a web strand with her blade while continuing forward.

The severed thread hit the floor.

SSSSSSS.

The stone melted instantly.

"...Annoying."

The tunnel widened ahead suddenly.

Then opened into the boss chamber.

Massive.

Circular.

The ceiling disappeared into darkness high above while gigantic web structures stretched between towering stone pillars. Cocooned corpses hung throughout the chamber, hunters and monsters alike dissolved halfway into skeletal remains beneath layers of acid-soaked silk.

And at the center—

The boss moved.

The spider slowly descended upside down from the darkness.

Huge.

Its body alone rivaled a small building, black armored legs stabbing into the stone floor one after another with horrifying precision. Purple patterns pulsed faintly beneath its exoskeleton while multiple glowing red eyes opened across its head in uneven clusters.

Then its mouth unfolded.

Rows of dripping fangs extended outward as acidic saliva splashed onto the floor beneath it, burning craters into solid stone instantly.

The pressure rolling off it confirmed everything.

B-rank boss.

Xali exhaled slowly.

Then attacked first.

Mana gathered around her fingertips immediately.

"Fire Bolt."

A compressed streak of flame shot across the chamber and exploded against the spider’s face.

BOOM.

The boss screeched violently.

Xali followed instantly.

Another bolt.

Then another.

Then six more rapid-fire blasts erupted across the chamber in succession, explosions tearing through webs and stone pillars alike as the spider twisted violently through the bombardment.

Fire Bolt — Basic Ranged Spell

A condensed projectile spell that compresses mana into focused elemental blasts for rapid long-range combat. While individually moderate in power, repeated usage allows sustained pressure and environmental destruction.

The spider retaliated immediately.

Webs exploded outward from its abdomen in massive streams, covering huge sections of the chamber almost instantly.

Xali jumped sideways.

Too slow.

One strand clipped her shoulder.

SSSSSS.

Pain exploded through her body instantly as the acid-enhanced webbing burned through fabric and skin simultaneously. Smoke rose from the wound while the sticky silk tried binding her arm in place.

"Tch!"

Xali tore herself free forcibly, ripping away portions of the burning web before launching backward across the chamber.

The spider lunged.

Fast.

Its massive legs stabbed downward repeatedly, each strike punching craters into the floor while acidic webs filled every gap between attacks.

Xali countered immediately.

"Mana Pulse."

BOOM.

The blast erupted outward from her body violently, shredding nearby webbing apart while forcing the spider backward half a step.

The chamber shook.

Mana Pulse — Reinforcement Burst Technique

A close-range mana release technique that detonates compressed energy outward from the caster’s body. Used for defense, area disruption, or overwhelming nearby enemies through raw force output.

The spider shrieked louder.

Then the chamber moved.

More webs descended from above like collapsing walls, forcing Xali to sprint between openings while acid burned through the floor behind her continuously.

The boss wasn’t just trying to kill her.

It was controlling space.

Every second the battlefield became more restricted under expanding layers of enchanted silk.

Xali clicked her tongue.

"Persistent bastard."

The spider vanished upward suddenly.

Then—

The ceiling exploded.

Dozens of smaller spider constructs dropped from the darkness simultaneously, acidic bodies bursting apart on impact and spreading corrosive fluid across the battlefield.

Xali slashed through two immediately before spinning away from another wave of webs.

Her movements stayed clean.

Efficient.

But the chamber was becoming harder to navigate by the second.

One mistake—

And the acid would immobilize her long enough for the boss to finish the job.

The giant spider attacked again from above.

This time Xali answered with pure aggression.

She dashed directly toward it.

Fire bolts exploded around her continuously while her blade cut through descending webs before they could close around her body. Explosions lit the chamber in flashes of orange and red as the boss screeched overhead.

Then a web caught her leg.

Xali’s momentum died instantly.

The acidic silk wrapped around her calf and burned deep immediately.

"AH—!"

Pain surged through her body as the web tightened.

The spider saw it.

And dropped directly toward her.

Its massive body crashed downward through the chamber with fangs fully extended, enough force behind the attack to flatten entire sections of stone beneath it.

Xali tore herself free at the last second.

The fangs missed her torso barely—

But acid sprayed across her side anyway.

Smoke erupted from the wound instantly.

Xali stumbled backward breathing harder now, burns spreading across multiple parts of her body while the spider repositioned itself overhead again.

The boss was winning the attrition battle.

And she knew it.

Xali stared upward through the smoke and webs filling the chamber.

Then sighed softly.

"...This spell’s gonna take mana."

A lot of mana.

More than she wanted to spend in a B-rank gate.

But the battlefield had become too unfavorable for anything else.

She didn’t have a choice.

The spider lunged again.

Xali raised one hand slowly.

"Man Chain."

The atmosphere changed immediately.

Dark chains erupted from the ground around her in massive numbers, covered in glowing runic patterns while distorted mana pulsed through every link.

The spider stopped mid-motion instinctively.

Too late.

One chain shot upward instantly and wrapped around one of its legs.

The effect triggered immediately.

Man Chain — Rare Stored Curse-Type Spell

A substitution-and-decay technique that binds targets using cursed mana chains. Anything captured can be substituted for another designated state or material before being accelerated rapidly through time until deterioration and decay consume it completely.

The spider screeched and tried tearing free.

Xali pointed upward calmly.

"Rust."

The substitution activated.

The spider’s captured limb transformed instantly.

Its hardened exoskeleton became corroded iron.

Then time accelerated.

Rapidly.

The leg aged centuries in seconds.

Rust spread violently through the metal structure before the entire limb decayed apart and collapsed into dust.

The spider screamed.

More chains launched upward immediately.

They wrapped around its abdomen.

Its remaining legs.

Its face.

The boss thrashed violently through the chamber, acidic webs firing everywhere as it desperately tried escaping the bindings.

Didn’t matter.

Xali pointed again.

"Rot."

The spider’s armored body shifted into dead organic matter.

Then decay accelerated.

The process became horrifying instantly.

Its flesh aged unnaturally fast beneath the chains, blackening and collapsing inward while entire sections of its body deteriorated before her eyes. Legs broke apart into ash-like remains while its abdomen caved inward under centuries of decay compressed into moments.

The spider shrieked desperately.

Then weakened.

Then collapsed.

The chains tightened one final time.

And the boss disintegrated completely.

Silence filled the chamber.

The webs slowly lost mana afterward, sagging lifelessly from the walls while the acidic enchantments faded away.

Xali stood there breathing heavily, burns still smoking lightly across her body while the chains dissolved back into mana around her.

"...Expensive."

But effective.

Very effective.

She turned toward the exit gate slowly.

And left the dungeon accomplished.