The Garbage Collector Who Stumbled Upon Mythical Weapons! - Chapter 24

“What’s going on? Something’s wrong!”

Van, who was leading the party, frowned in confusion. The concentration of magical energy had thickened, and now, explosions could be heard from deeper within the cave.

“It’s because Garm and Clay keep fighting! We got delayed!”

“Don’t blame me! Sophia, you freaked out when those bugs showed up and ran around screaming! That’s why we’re so late!”

“What!? Are you saying this is my fault!?”

“What’s your problem!?”

“Enough! This isn’t the time for that!”

Van stepped in between Garm and Sophia as their argument escalated.

“With those two teams here, they should be fine… but I have a bad feeling about this. Let’s hurry!”

Following Van’s lead, they picked up their pace and rushed deeper into the cave. The scene that awaited them was beyond belief.

“What… is this?”

Garm was speechless.

A vast space was dimly illuminated, revealing the ceiling covered with an overwhelming number of spiders. On the ground, Maria was kneeling, her head hanging low.

In front of her, flames raged across the battlefield.

Garm searched for the other party members, but the only ones he saw were the collapsed bodies of Macaus, Rosa, and Calvan.

“Did… did they all get taken out?”

No one responded. Everyone was in shock.

“A-Anyway! We need to back Maria up!”

Van’s voice snapped the team out of their daze. They quickly moved into action, each fulfilling their roles.

“Are you okay? I’ll heal your wounds now!”

Sophia knelt beside Maria and cast a healing spell. Van drew his sword and kept the surrounding spiders at bay.

Clay raised his shield, guarding Maria and Sophia while analyzing the situation.

Amber channeled magic through her staff, preparing to cast a spell at any moment.

However, one person—

“Whoa! There sure are a lot of them! No worries, I’ll take them all out!”

—was completely carefree.

It was Garm.

As he took a step forward, a white spider suddenly appeared right in front of him.

Garm raised his fist to strike it down in one hit, but before he could move, the spider spat a sticky thread at his feet.

“Huh!?”

He tried to pull his leg free, but the strong adhesive kept him stuck in place. More spiders fired their silk, wrapping him up even more.

“Wait, hold on a second!!”

In an instant, Garm was completely entangled in spider silk.

He struggled, rolling on the ground in an attempt to break free, but the more he moved, the tighter the silk wrapped around him. Before long, he was fully cocooned, unable to move at all.

“Ughhh!! No good! I can’t move at all!”

“Ugh!? What the hell are you doing!? You’re totally useless!!”

Clay glared at Garm in frustration.

“Amber! Help meee!”

“O-Okay! I’ll save you now…!”

Garm’s pathetic cries for help made Amber hesitate for a second, but she quickly prepared a fire spell to burn away the silk.

However, before she could cast it, the spiders fired more webs, sticking to Van and Clay’s arms and legs.

“Forget about that idiot, Amber!! Burn the webs off us first!”

“O-Okay!”

Amber focused on Van and Clay, casting fire magic on the webs binding them. The sticky strands burned away, losing their grip.

“Just as I thought, fire is their weakness!”

Van confirmed as he watched the flames destroy the webs.

“Amber is the only one who can use fire magic. Burn them away as soon as they spit their webs!”

“I-I’ll try my best!”

Van grabbed Maria’s arm and forcefully pulled her to her feet. He gave a signal, and the group sprinted toward the exit.

“Clay! Take care of Garm!”

“Tch! Fine, whatever!!”

Clay ran toward Garm, who was still rolling around in his silk cocoon. He took a deep breath—

—then kicked Garm as hard as he could.

“GAHHH!? What the hell, you bastard!!”

Garm tumbled and bounced across the ground, rolling all the way to the exit.

“I’m helping you, so stop complaining!!”

Van and the rest of the “Great Eagle” party rushed toward the exit.

But before they could make it, countless spiders descended from the ceiling, blocking their way.

“Dammit!!”

Clay gritted his teeth in frustration.

The spiders clicked their jaws threateningly as they surrounded them.

And then—

The ground trembled slightly.

“Huh…?”

Van looked up toward the deeper part of the cavern. Something was coming.

A shadow stirred in the darkness, moving closer and closer.

Van, Sophia, Amber, Clay, and even Maria—all of them saw it.

A monster.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

Clay’s eyes widened.

It was a white spider, but its size was on a completely different scale.

It was hundreds of times bigger than the others.

Standing over ten meters tall, its body was covered in strange markings.

The massive spider opened its mouth—

—letting out a high-pitched roar that shook the entire cave. Rocks crumbled from the ceiling, falling like rain.

Faced with such a terrifying sight, the adventurers were left speechless.

“Dammit…!”

Clay bit his lip and scanned the area, desperate for a way to escape.

“Van! What do we do!? If we stay here, we’re done for!!”

“Y-Yeah… We have to find a way out…!”

No one even considered fighting the enormous spider.

They could feel that it was an absolute monster, far beyond anything they could handle.

Van and the others made a break for the exit.

“Amber! Burn Garm’s silk off!”

“Okay!”

Amber responded to Van’s shout and aimed her staff at Garm, preparing to cast fire magic—

But at that moment—

Dozens of spiders in front of them began gathering magical energy in their foreheads.

One after another, magic circles started to appear.