Murim Login - Chapter 638

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 638
A spider?
I’d seen them so many times throughout my life that I’d grown sick of them. Even during the Great Cataclysm’s chaos of war, the Hope Gosiwon that stubbornly endured was teeming with all manner of insects, and among them, spiders were an indispensable regular visitor.
Elder Brother Jin Ho had even made a comment about it.
“Could the building owner’s name possibly be Fabre?”
The insect density was such that one might believe in the reincarnation theory of an entomologist who’d been dead for nearly two hundred years.
But someone once said it: humans are creatures of adaptation.
I, who had initially detested the spiders that appeared at all hours, grew accustomed to them in less than a year, and within a few years, I’d developed enough discernment to identify different spider species.
“Brother, say hello. This one’s a ghost spider. And that one next to it is a Wudang spider.”
“Don’t talk nonsense. I understand—just get rid of it.”
“And this one’s a Brazilian wandering spider.”
“I said get rid of it… But why in the world is a Brazilian wandering spider roaming around Hope Gosiwon? Does any of this even make sense?”
“Nothing’s impossible. I fought a goblin yesterday and came back.”
“Right.”
“And this one’s a tarantula. Looks like a new arrival.”
“Is this a nightmare? How did a tarantula even…”
Truly a mysterious Gosiwon ecosystem. I spent my vibrant youth there among countless spiders, and later came to live with them like neighbors.
But I can say with certainty: I had never seen anything more grotesque and massive than the spider that had just appeared before my eyes.
“…A Thousand-Year Spider?”
The unfamiliar name that flowed from Beast King Miao Wang’s lips was something I’d never heard before, and its nature was on an entirely different level from tarantulas or Brazilian wandering spiders.
‘What in the…’
If someone asked whether I’d ever seen a spider larger than a bear, I would nod without hesitation.
I was witnessing it clearly with these very eyes right now.
And there were five of them.
Ssssshhh!
Ghostlike movement. Each time the eight stiff, hair-covered legs stirred, the colossal body slid down the massive tree trunk.
The moment our reflections appeared in the eyes of the large and small monsters, Beast King Miao Wang unleashed a thunderous cry.
“They’re coming!”
And the next instant.
Shhhhwooosh!
A pale, viscous liquid poured down from above, covering a radius of roughly ten meters.
Thanks to Beast King Miao Wang’s warning, I narrowly escaped the attack’s range, and upon witnessing the scene unfolding before me, my eyes widened.
Sizzzzle!
The ground, rocks, grass—even the corpse of an unnamed White Tribe warrior we’d been forced to leave behind.
Everything touched by the viscous liquid was melting away with a foul stench, as if someone had poured sulfuric acid.
‘Acidic?’
Had I not known its nature and failed to evade, or had I been touched even slightly, parts of my body might have dissolved instantly from the liquid.
A sight that chilled my spine merely to witness.
Yet there was no time to be shocked—our current situation was far from favorable.
Ssssshhh!
Among the dense grass thickets. Beyond the thick fog. Atop the towering ancient trees that obscured even the sky itself.
Five venomous spiders, each larger than a bear and grotesque beyond description, were closing in on us from all directions, tightening their encirclement.
“…They’re forming an encirclement?”
Beast King Miao Wang drew upon his inner energy in response to my bewildered murmur.
“The Thousand-Year Spider King is called the sovereign among the countless venomous creatures of the Southern Wilderness. Before its ferocity, it is a cunning being—there are records that a thousand warriors once sought to slay it, yet it slaughtered half of them over ten days and nights before vanishing.”
“What kind of spider would dare… No, I suppose when they’ve lived a thousand years, such things are to be expected.”
“They are called Thousand-Year Spider Kings precisely because they can live up to a thousand years. No one knows exactly how old these creatures are. And this is the first time multiple ones have appeared simultaneously like this.”
Countless venomous creatures inhabit the Southern Wilderness. Yet for five of them—creatures called sovereigns among their kind—to appear at once.
I gazed at the viscous secretion still melting the surroundings and muttered inwardly.
‘Damn it, we’ve walked right into their trap.’
The corpses of the other Southern Wilderness warriors we hadn’t discovered earlier. I finally understood why their beasts had vanished without a trace.
After satiating their hunger through hunting, they must have moved deep into Poison Blood Land to store their provisions.
‘Wrapped tightly in spider silk, just like the White Tribe warrior who died before.’
They were surely employing the same strategy to ensnare us.
But….
‘That’s what you think.’
I watched the creatures tightening their encirclement with their unsettling sounds, and stretched my empty hand into the void.
‘Inventory open. Summon.’
Ding.
With a small bell’s chime answering my command, the boundless Storage Warehouse of infinite capacity opened its doors of its own accord.
Countless weapons and armor I had gathered in preparation for emergencies. From among them, a single spear emanating pure white light was seized in my grasp.
“Did I just see something wrong….”
“You did see correctly. It’s a three-section folding spear, so I usually keep it in my sleeve.”
In that instant, leaving Beast King Miao Wang’s eyes full of doubt behind, I channeled my inner energy toward the slanted blade of the White Flame Spear.
Shhhhh.
Above the spear blade, which exhaled a piercing sharpness, materialized flames of energy began to bloom.
As the azure flames kindled by the Scorching Yang Energy rose and flickered, even the thick poison miasma surrounding us and the five Thousand-Year Spider Kings that had been slowly constricting from all directions flinched as if burned by fire.
Hisssss.
Cautious cries and movements. Their large and small eyes, like those of beetles, rapidly scanned in all directions.
But it was too late to retreat now.
Neither for them. Nor for us.
The die had already been cast, and all that remained was for one side to perish and the other to survive.
And today, on this battlefield, it would not be us who became the hunted.
“What are you waiting for.”
I continued, aiming the spear blade flickering with azure flames.
“Come on then.”
That single phrase was the signal.
Sploooooosh!
Toward the waves of pale viscous secretion pouring down from front, back, left, right, and the empty space above, Beast King Miao Wang and I shot forward, tearing through space itself.
Shrieeeeeek!
A wind swept across my entire body. The toxic miasma that had seeped through my respiratory system and skin dissipated helplessly, while the flames coiling around the silver spear blade burned ever more fiercely.
‘Now.’
A whoosh. Roooar!
A single swing.
The viscous liquid that had covered all directions evaporated from the horizontal strike I unleashed in a circular motion from where I stood.
And before that, there was the punch Beast King Miao Wang had fired through the empty air.
Boom! Sizzzzle!
With a tremendous explosion, the viscous liquid burst in all directions.
An acidic downpour covering a radius of dozens of zhang. Yet neither I nor Beast King Miao Wang, not a single hair harmed, pressed forward relentlessly, leaving all that melted matter behind.
Screeeech!
Beast King Miao Wang charged toward the thousand-year-old tree blocking the front. I launched myself toward another creature hanging from the massive tree above.
There was no promise or plan between us, yet we read each other’s intentions in a single glance of our eyes.
A solid contact.
A massive palm met the tip of my foot just as it pushed off the empty air.
When the rippling muscles, belying his age of over eighty years, tensed with tremendous force, a thunderous shout accompanied an incredible power that propelled my feet like a shot put.
“Go!”
Whoooosh!
A sensation of weightlessness coursed through my entire body.
I was shot through the air with a speed and ferocity incomparable to ordinary void stepping, hurtling toward the very face of the colossal creature with eight legs.
–
…!
Various emotions readable in its multiple eyes, both large and small.
I brought my spear blade down upon the thousand-year-old tree, which recoiled in alarm like a human would.
Slash, crackle!
Sticky blood sprayed forth alongside a streak of flame cutting through the air.
Simultaneously, the thousand-year-old tree, having sacrificed three of its eight legs—harder than steel—to survive, desperately spewed forth viscous liquid.
Splash! Sizzzzle!
I evaded the viscous liquid with my heat-yang technique, which countered poison, and swift movements, but the distance had been too close—a fatal mistake.
A searing pain rushed in from merely brushing my skin and clothes.
Yet instead of groaning in agony, I seized the moment and drove my spear blade into the creature’s massive body as it tried to flee.
Crunch, gush!
Unlike ordinary insects, spiders, being arthropods, have thin exoskeletons and lack rigid bodies.
No matter how much the thousand-year-old tree was called the king of poisons, it could not withstand my inner force.
“You think I haven’t killed a spider or two? If you’d lived at Hope Gosiwon, my relatives down to the eighth degree would all be dead by my hand.”
–
Screeeech!
The massive body thrashed about with a cry like a scream.
I dodged the viscous liquid shot forth once more, seized the leg swung toward my flank with my bare hand, and tore it off.
Crunch!
–
Kieeeek!
One may fall for a trick once, but I would not fall for the same method twice.
I drove my spear downward toward the convulsing head of the thousand-year-old tree spirit, moving beyond mere thrashing.
Thwack!
Its legs, which had been flailing aimlessly, lost all strength, and the colossal body went rigid.
Simultaneously, a notification arrived that transformed my suspicion into certainty.
Ding.
–
[Lv.117 Thousand-Year Tree Spirit]
has been defeated!
– You have acquired a substantial amount of experience and renown!
–
[Thousand-Year Tree Spirit]
is a special existence among countless venomous creatures. Additional rewards are granted accordingly!
– Rare Achievement,
[Indiscriminate Bug Hunter]
has been unlocked!
– When facing insectoid enemies in the future, you will gain additional stat bonuses!
System notifications poured in as if they had been waiting for this moment.
But now was hardly the time to leisurely examine each notification floating in the holographic window before me.
Beneath the ancient tree where I stood, Beast King Miao Wang was engaged in a desperate one-against-many blood battle.
Screeeech!
“I’d tear these wretches to shreds and still not be satisfied! How dare they touch my hair!”
“….”
Even in such a dire situation, he was concerned about his hair.
Beast King Miao Wang’s garments had already half-melted away, exposing patches of skin beneath, and his once-luxuriant hair had nearly dissolved in the viscous secretions.
Yet, living up to his title as one of the Ten Kings, Beast King Miao Wang had already defeated one creature and was simultaneously contending with three others.
Boom!
Correction. Now two.
And the moment Beast King Miao Wang’s ferocious punch obliterated another thousand-year-old tree spirit, I—anchored to the ancient tree—descended toward the ground like a bolt of lightning.
Whoooosh! Crack!
My spear pierced through the creature’s torso as easily as tofu.
Simultaneously, the formidable heat energy I drew from my core surged forth within its body.
Rumble. Boom!
With an explosive roar, the massive body shattered into fragments.
An enormous volume of bodily fluid sprayed forth and evaporated instantly, leaving nothing but a new system notification above the unrecognizable remains.
Ding.
–
[Lv.109 Thousand-Year Tree Spirit]
has been defeated!
– You have acquired a substantial amount of experience and fame!
– Bonus experience acquired for defeating an exceptionally rare entity!
– Level Up!
Ssssshhhhh.
An invisible light of healing swept across my entire body.
The skin that had been melted away by the viscous secretions and my depleted inner force were restored, and the flickering flames dancing across my blade surged forth with renewed ferocity as if they had never faltered.
Whoosh.
– Hisssssss….
And the final thousand-year-old tree spirit, trembling before the azure flames in the darkness, chose the only path available to it: escape.
Thud-thud-thud!
Eight legs simultaneously struck the ground. The massive body leaped into the air and descended gracefully, treading upon something invisible before settling down lightly.
It was at that very moment. Beyond the flames illuminating the darkness, something glimmering caught my eye.
‘A spider web?’
With that fleeting thought crossing my mind, Beast King Miao Wang and I gave chase to the fleeing thousand-year-old tree spirit.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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