Oliver walked deeper into the cave with Nyx. Along the way, they barely encountered any spiders. Only one or two Arachix here and there.

"Master... why did you... use that... skill... to save me?" Nyx asked.

"I... don’t know either," Oliver replied. He couldn’t find a clear answer himself. Earlier, he had refused to use Synchronization before reaching the boss. But when he saw Nyx struggling against that overwhelming swarm, he simply couldn’t let his companion remain in that situation.

Now, he stood in front of the boss room door, without Husk by his side to guide him.

He didn’t know if he could defeat this boss, one that would surely be in a mutated form.

Oliver glanced at Nyx.

"Nyx, this will be our first time fighting together. Let’s do our best," Oliver said with a smile.

"Yes..." Nyx replied shortly.

Oliver pushed the door open. It brushed aside thick layers of webbing as it moved, telling him that no hunter had entered this room for many years.

Inside, the entire chamber was filled with interwoven webs. To move forward, Oliver had to constantly wave his hands to clear a path.

Above the tangled webs, countless corpses hung suspended, both human and monster. All reduced to nothing but skeletons.

Then, his eyes locked onto one of them.

Its clothing was still partially intact. Even so, Oliver could recognize it. It was a priest’s robe.

"Is this the man who wrote the diary? It seems he met a tragic end. He never got to see his daughter before his last breath." Oliver muttered.

"A human... and an insect. What a rare and protein-rich meal."

Suddenly, Oliver heard a voice from above. He immediately stepped back and looked up. A massive spider crawled down from the ceiling.

Its lower body was that of a spider, but its upper body was that of a woman. Its total size reached nearly seven metres.

But the most shocking thing was...

"The boss can talk?!" Oliver exclaimed in disbelief.

Usually, only monsters he had tamed were able to speak. This was the first time he had ever heard a boss monster speak on its own.

He activated his Overlord Eye.

---

[Arachqueen, The Broodmother (mutated)]

Rank: A

---

<Arachqueen>

"I learned to speak the human tongue from my previous victims. They all said such meaningless things when facing death. Hehehe..." the Arachqueen giggled.

"So, it seems you two are the ones who killed all my spawns. No wonder it has become so quiet outside."

She then tossed something onto the ground. Oliver looked at it and saw a severed spider leg.

"Cannibalism? You eat your own kind?" Oliver shouted.

"What did you expect? Hardly any hunters come here anymore. I have no choice but to feed on my own kind. But luckily, today is my lucky day..."

Her eyes gleamed as she stared at them.

"I finally get to eat proper meat."

She immediately leapt down and crawled toward Oliver and Nyx. Her massive front leg rose high before slashing down at them.

Oliver activated Quickstep and dashed to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack.

Nyx, however, did not move. His heavy body made his hovering slower in close combat. Instead, he raised his cannon and fired back.

Bang!

The bullet struck Arachqueen’s front leg, causing her to stumble slightly.

"Nice, Nyx!" Oliver shouted.

He rushed toward the boss’s side and unleashed Assault Strike.

Swoosh!

Blood splattered from the Arachqueen’s massive body. But in the next instant, one of her legs swung with terrifying speed. Even with Triple Instinct, Oliver reacted too late.

BAM!

He was struck in the arm. The pain surged through him, forcing him to drop his dagger. The Arachqueen immediately turned toward him, raising her leg to impale him.

Click!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Nyx fired a barrage using Rapid Barrage. The relentless shots forced the Arachqueen to defend herself as she leapt back onto the web-covered wall.

"A shooting insect! What a nuisance!" the Arachqueen hissed in irritation.

"Is... Master... alright?" Nyx moved closer to Oliver, who was grimacing while clutching his right arm. Blood was still dripping from the wound.

Oliver quickly pulled out a [Small Rejuvenating Potion] and consumed four out of its five charges as his health had already dropped below 20%.

"I’m fine, Nyx," Oliver replied.

At the same time, his mind was racing. He was desperately thinking of a way to defeat this boss.

’It was fast and possess high intelligent. A normal strategy wouldn’t work against her.’ Oliver thought.

After the pain started to subside, Oliver stood up and faced the boss. His expression turned serious.

He still had no idea how to defeat her, and he needed to figure it out quickly.

"Let’s see how you handle a group of Arachcrux!"

Suddenly, spiders began to emerge from her body. These were high-tier monsters. About five of them landed on the ground, facing Oliver and Nyx.

’She can summon other spiders to fight for her. That’s a powerful ability... It was the right decision to come here.’

Oliver’s expression slowly change.

’I will tame her and add her to my roster!’

A greedy smile slowly spread across his face as he looked at the Arachqueen.

She noticed his gaze and she hated it. A mere human looking at her without fear. It felt as if he was mocking her very existence.

"Attack, my children!" she commanded. The Arachcrux charged forward.

"Nyx! Listen to me. If you follow my lead, we can win this battle, and you will become stronger."

"Stronger... yes! I want... to be... stronger!" Nyx replied.

Oliver quickly explained the plan. After that, he leapt behind Nyx as Nyx advanced to meet the Arachcrux head-on.

"Shoot them!" Oliver shouted.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Each shot struck the spiders directly. It only took one or two bullets to bring each one down.

Arachqueen did not stop. She summoned another wave of spiders, this time a mix of Arachoid and Arachcrux.

Their numbers approached thirty.

"Good!" Oliver smirked. Everything was going according to his plan.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

[Familiarity with Cannonyx (Nyx) increased by 2]

[Familiarity with Cannonyx (Nyx) increased by 1]

Each time Oliver gave an order and Nyx executed it, their Familiarity rose.

His plan was simple.

He wanted to synchronize with Nyx and defeat the Arachqueen in that form.