The echoing roar of the shotgun blast was far too loud for the enclosed cavern. Within seconds, the shadows ahead began to twist and writhe as the noise triggered the rest of the nest. Dozens of skittering, clicking sounds filled the darkness, and several massive, mutated neospiders suddenly burst from the tunnels, lunging straight toward us.
Alta reacted instantly. She stepped forward, her hands glowing with an intense, blinding light as she unleashed her devastating fire magic. Torrential streams of flame erupted from her palms, incinerating the frontline neospiders into blackened husks before they could even get close.
While she focused her destructive magic on the horde ahead, I took up a defensive stance right beside her to protect her blind spots. Watching the jagged cavern walls, my single eye tracked the ceiling as several stealthy arachnids prepared to leap down directly onto Alta from above.
I raised the Death Chant Shotgun and let my monstrous nature take over. With every squeeze of the trigger, the artifact violently fed on my blood, converting my lifeforce into high-impact, crimson blood bullets that tore through the air.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
I fired eight consecutive, bone-shattering shots, completely obliterating the leaping monsters into a spray of dark fluid and shattered carapaces. The heavy recoil vibrated up my arm as the chamber clicked empty. Moving with practiced, fluid motion, I quickly reloaded the weapon with a fresh set of shells, snapping the barrel shut just as the last of the embers died down.
Silence returned to the cave, save for the crackle of burning webbing. Just like that, the immediate threat was neutralized, and the first wave of the job was done.
We continued our march deeper into the subterranean gloom until the tunnel opened up into a massive, hollowed-out chamber. The sandstone walls here were completely honeycombed, riddled with several dark, yawning holes that burrowed deep into the earth. It was obvious that one of these tunnels led directly to the heart of the infestation.
Alta stepped forward, her expression hardening. Deciding not to play guessing games, she raised both of her hands high above her head and began channeling an immense amount of mana. The air around us grew suffocatingly hot as she cast a high-tier fire magic spell, unleashing a torrent of roaring, localized fireballs that shot straight into every single one of the holes simultaneously.
Within seconds, the agonizing, high-pitched screams of thousands of baby neospiders echoed from the depths, accompanied by the wet, rhythmic popping sound of hundreds of eggs cracking and bursting under the intense heat.
The slaughter quickly provoked the master of the nest.
A deafening, earth-shattering roar erupted from the largest tunnel, vibrating violently through the soles of our boots. The sandstone walls literally shattered as a gargantuan, horrifying figure burst into the chamber, it was the Neospider Queen herself. Enraged by the destruction of her brood, she immediately unhinged her massive mandibles and began violently throwing massive globs of bubbling acid spit directly at us.
Having fought a previous spider queen in my past bounty hunting days, I knew from experience that this mutated acid spit would instantly corrode our flesh and armor if it touched us.
"Scatter!" Alta shouted.
We both dove in opposite directions, the deadly acid slamming into the stone floor right where we had been standing, hissing violently and eating through the solid rock. Rolling back onto her feet, Alta immediately began casting rapid-fire spells, hurling concentrated arcs of flame that blasted against the Queen's armored carapace.
Using the distraction, I slid across the sand to get a clear angle. I raised the Death Chant Shotgun, aiming directly at the creature's thick, hairy joints. I squeezed the trigger, letting the weapon gorge on my blood to manifest high-impact crimson ammunition.
BOOM! BOOM!
The heavy blood bullets blasted directly into the Queen's front legs at point-blank range, shattering the exoskeleton and blowing two of her limbs completely off in a spray of dark, foul ichor. The massive Neospider Queen buckled to the side, screaming in absolute agony as the cavern echoed with her shrieks.
With the Queen off-balance and shrieking in pain, I moved in for the final blow. Reaching down to my thigh where the lantern was strapped, I navigated the shadows and positioned myself right under her flank. I racked the slide of the Death Chant Shotgun with a heavy, mechanical snap and blasted another one of the spider's remaining legs at point-blank range.
With three of her main legs completely blown into green mist, the massive Queen collapsed heavily onto the cavern floor, utterly immobilized and unable to move.
"Step back, Eirene!" Alta shouted, her deep voice booming through the chamber.
She raised both hands, her orange mana flaring wildly as she shifted her affinity. Instead of fire, she cast a high-tier gale magic spell. A localized, razor-sharp crescent of compressed wind tore through the air with a deafening howl. The strong current sliced cleanly through the monster's thrashing head, cutting it perfectly in half.
The massive carapace slammed into the sand, twitching weakly before going completely still. The Neospider Queen was dead.
I backed away from the carcass, lowering my shotgun as the adrenaline began to fade. Alta let out a breath, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead, and looked over at me with a proud smile.
"Good job, Eirene. Your teamwork is as lethal as they say."
Walking over to the massive, severed torso of the beast, Alta pulled a small, silver hunting dagger from her belt. She knelt down beside the chest cavity, expertly slicing through the thick exoskeleton, and carefully cut the beast's mutated heart out.
She held up the glowing, dark organ, letting it drain into the sand before wrapping it securely in a piece of cloth.
"The Bureau requires absolute proof of the kill for an S-rank contract. This will guarantee our reward and ensure no one doubts the Petrivna Tribe is safe."