Prisoners of VR

Indigo Realm, Giant Tarantula Dungeon!

It was a Dungeon located deep in the wilderness of the Indigo Realm, at least twenty days away from the closest beginner village on foot. This was one of the Dungeons being raided by the Byte Cult, the organisation worshipping Manav Sastry as the Cyber God.

The Spade Branch in the Byte Cult was responsible for combat. Currently, a team of twenty Arachmen had entered the Giant Tarantula Dungeon to train their stats.

The average Giant Tarantula spanned a size of thirty centimetres, massive for a spider. They worked tirelessly to spin expansive webs throughout the stalactite caves that formed the Dungeon.

The Giant Tarantula Dungeon was a functioning ecosystem, as all Dungeons were. There existed a variety of bugs that ate the moss that grew around the moist regions in the cave. These bugs were then preyed upon by lizards.

There also existed mosquitoes and a bunch of flies to buzz around and do their thing. Finally, at the top of the food cycle here were the Giant Tarantulas. By trapping their prey in the expansive webs they weaved, they gathered their food.

Moreover, only a select few among the Giant Tarantulas possessed an Invoker Crystal. First among their kind was the Elite Giant Tarantula. And standing at the peak of the ladder, controlling the entire Dungeon like a king was the Giant Tarantula Boss.

The twenty Arachmen part of Spade entered this Dungeon and stopped after walking for a dozen metres. The one at the lead, captain of the group, raised his hand and motioned for them to stop, "This is enough. Let's begin the resource collection."

The captain gently placed his hand on the closest web cluster and activated his Skill.

Skill-Silk Bomb!

[Skill: Silk Bomb]

[Grade: Inferior]

[Brainpower: 10]

[Willpower: 3]

[Empower: 1]

This was the basic Skill handed to all the Arachmen users. And as the captain activated the Skill, the cluster of web surged into a thumb-sized capsule that he pocketed.

Silk Bombs were storable items. When thrown on a target, they explode upon impact as the sticky silk spreads out a metre radially and constricts whatever existed in their range. It was a trap-type Skill.

Even though this was a beginner Skill on the likes of Grass Stick used by the Elven Race, it was slightly more useful due to its nature of being able to trap the target. In contrast, the Grass Stick Skill just created a stick.

Any random tree branch could outclass it.

That wasn't all. Grass Stick, as an object, wasn't naturally occurring. It was created by coiling around the grass in a compressed form. Therefore, it had an expiry time. After all, grass was a product of nature that was alive. If plucked out, it begins to wilt over time.

In contrast, spider silk doesn't degrade over time. Rather, it develops microbe growth on the silk, creating a stable ecosystem of microbes. As a result, the structural integrity of silk, in ideal conditions, is maintained forever.

Moreover, Silk Bomb only compresses the silk. Adding onto their adhesive and elastic nature, this was naturally possible. As a result, as long as they were preserved properly, the shelf life of Silk Bombs was forever.

The captain of the team motioned for them to take a break after an hour had spanned, "We have expended all our Brainpower. Get some rest now."

The group plopped on the ground and took out jerkies that they had brought as rations. Following that, they took a break. As long as they were in Worldcraft, they needed to eat, shit, and sleep to maintain the function of their Worldcraft bodies.

But the only way to recover their stats was to rest and recuperate in reality. And considering how they were far away from a beginner village, they couldn't just log out. That would bring them back to the beginner village.

"I'm exhausted, captain." One of the people complained, "I have been living here since the opening day."

"I understand, but remember that we cannot rest until we set up a base here." The captain said, "Once we create a village here, we can log out. Otherwise, every log-out and log-in session would cost us twenty days. We can't afford to be delayed that much."

While they were resting, another group entered the Dungeon and began to create Silk Bombs. Many groups were working on the collection task.

Finally, once they had accumulated more than a thousand Silk Bombs, a team of six entered the Dungeon, brought on a palanquin carried by people. They had been transported from the beginner village.

The palanquin was neatly decorated with silk to give as much comfort as possible while travelling. The people travelling on it had also been provided with the best meals possible in the current Worldcraft settings.

Everything was done to ensure their fighting condition was optimal.

Spade-Attack Squad!

Six people with stats in the thousand, elites among elites. They were tasked with killing the Giant Tarantula Dungeon's Dungeon Boss.

"We'll be camping here for ten days." The Attack Squad's captain, named Enrigen spoke once the squad descended from the palanquin. "Our goal is to kill the Dungeon Boss ten times, got it?"

"Let's get it done quickly," Dora, the youngest of the Attack Squad said in disgust, "Spiders give me the creeps."

"Then, wait here for a minute. Let me make preparations." Saying so, Enrigen met with the six captains that had been making Silk Bombs in the Dungeon by leading a group of twenty Arachmen each.

"Captains, how many Silk Bombs do we have?" Enrigen asked.

"Around eight thousand," One of the twenty-man team captains collated their gains, "All the Spades have exhausted their Brainpower. So, this is our limit. After this, we'll have to manually gather and clump the webs into usable clusters. But they won't be as useful as a Silk Bomb."

"Eight thousand," Enrigen muttered, "We might quickly burn through it once the battle starts."

"If need be, you can use our bodies as bait." Another captain said, "But our number too is limited. We're tasked by the Ace to follow your orders without question. So, please plan accordingly."

"Got it," After some thought, Enrigen began to lay down a plan, "We'll establish a supply line for the Silk Bombs. One group will act as a supple line while two groups will defend them on each side. Place sixteen Silk Bombs in a bag each and transport them accordingly. I want all preparations to be done in two hours."

"Get everyone to work on that."

"On it," The captains nodded and dispatched their teams to begin production.

Following that, a captain pointed Enrigen towards a cave floor on which his team used a sharp stone to make a map of the cave. He pointed at the deepest spot, "This is where the Dungeon Boss had spread its net. It's a cylindrical cave system with twenty metres radius and a height of ninety metres."

He pointed at the diagram nearby where the Dungeon Boss's location was drawn in detail, "There's only one entrance and it's positioned at the bottommost part of the cylinder. The Dungeon Boss is close to the ceiling and along the way, more than fifty Elites stand guard."

"What about their homes?" Enrigen asked. By homes, he meant the expansive web every spider weaved.

"There's at least seventy of them." The captain said, "We lost ten men trying to obtain this information. The spiders here are loyal to the Dungeon Boss to a fanatic level. When we set fire to the bottom of the cylinder in order to smoke the Dungeon Boss out, a group of spiders fell on the fire and used their blood to douse it."

"Well, fire isn't always an answer," Enrigen muttered, "Besides, we're not trying to exterminate them. The web they weave is superior in nature. So, harvesting that takes priority."

The captain pointed at a route in the cave, "We have traversed through this path the most and have set up checkpoints at regular intervals. There's water, ration, pebbles, and Silk Bombs placed securely in these checkpoints. There's also a team of four standing guard. So, if the Attack Squad proceeds in this route..."

"We'll reach the Dungeon Boss the fastest." Enrigen nodded, "Thank you for your input. I have judged everything to be perfect for the raid. Once we're done preparing, we'll commence."

"Everything's as the Cyber God dictates!" The captain saluted.

"Everything's as the Cyber God dictates!" Enrigen saluted in response. He returned to face the five people forming his Attack Squad, speaking, "Get ready. We'll be taking action shortly."

He grabbed a bunch of Silk Bombs and crushed them, watching them transform into a pair of gauntlets covering his hands.

Skill-Silk Gauntlet!

The gauntlet was pretty soft but it had spectacular shock-absorbing capabilities. Moreover, it was coated with the same substance that spiders secrete on their legs to not be stuck to spider webs. With it, none of the spider silk would stick to him.

Enrigen then placed a bunch of Silk Bombs on his legs and transformed them into a pair of shoes that were slightly springy, allowing him to jump higher than usual.

Skill-Silk Shoes!

Both the Silk Gauntlet and Silk Shoes had one more property that was useful here. They can stick onto surfaces when he wishes, actively affected by his Willpower. Meaning, it allowed him to climb the walls of the cave.

Two hours later, the Attack Squad was accompanied by more than a hundred Arachmen Race users as they made a beeline towards the Dungeon Boss.