GLOBAL AWAKENING: My 10,000x Exp Multiplier-Chapter 10: []Slaying the Spider Queen, The Global Echo

Chapter 10: [10]Slaying the Spider Queen, The Global Echo

The air inside the final chamber of the Labyrinth was thick with the stench of rotting flesh and acidic venom. The walls were slick with a sickening layer of purple slime, vibrating with a low and rhythmic thrumming. It was the sound of a predator!

Vahn stood in the center of the cavern, his breath coming in measured and controlled gasps. His eyes glowed with a faint and unnatural green light as they tracked the movements of the monstrosity lurking in the shadows above.

The Spider Queen!

A Level 15 Labyrinth Boss. Her body was the size of a military transport vehicle, covered in jagged obsidian like armor plates that glinted maliciously in the dim light of the dungeon. Eight massive legs ending in razor sharp scythes gripped the cavern ceiling with terrifying ease. Clusters of crimson eyes stared down at him, burning with predatory intelligence.

’Her aggro is entirely focused on me.’ Vahn thought, his mind racing through calculations at a speed no ordinary player could fathom. ’Good. That means no unpredictable area of effect attacks targeting random zones.’

But there was a massive problem.

Vahn glanced at the bottom left corner of his vision. His mana bar was flashing a dangerous deep red color.

[Mana: 45 / 350]

His weapon, the Legendary Growth Item known as the Soul Bound Shadow Blade, pulsed in his right hand. It was a masterpiece of dark energy, a blade that seemed to absorb the light around it. But its power came at a steep and almost unbearable cost. Because the weapon was vastly over leveled for his current Tier 1 status, merely keeping it manifested drained his mana at an alarming rate.

Every second he held the blade, five points of mana vanished into the ether. Every swing cost fifty!

He didn’t have the luxury of a prolonged fight. He had less than ten seconds before the blade forcibly de manifested, leaving him barehanded against a creature that could slice through reinforced steel.

"HIIISSSSSS!"

The Spider Queen dropped from the ceiling, her massive bulk hurtling toward him like a falling meteor.

Vahn didn’t flinch. He didn’t back away. He waited until the exact millisecond her fangs dripping with green and corrosive venom were about to pierce his skull.

"Temporal Step," he whispered.

[Ding!]

↳ Skill ’Temporal Step’ Activated!

↳ Mana Cost: 20. Remaining Mana: 25

The world around Vahn blurred into a smear of grey and black. Time didn’t exactly stop, but his perception of it combined with his physical speed accelerated to an impossible degree. The descent of the Spider Queen slowed to an agonizingly sluggish crawl. He could see the individual droplets of venom suspended in mid air, inching toward the stone floor.

He sidestepped the massive fangs, his boots sliding silently across the acidic ground. He didn’t just dodge, he positioned himself perfectly beneath the armored thorax of the creature, right where a faint pulsating blue light indicated her mana core. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

The grey world shattered. Normal time slammed back into place.

"BOOM!"

The mandibles of the Spider Queen crushed the stone where he had been standing a fraction of a second earlier, sending a shockwave of debris flying through the air. But Vahn was already in motion.

He poured every single ounce of his remaining 25 mana into the Soul Bound Shadow Blade. The dark metal ignited with a blinding violet aura, humming with a frequency that made his teeth ache.

’One strike. That is all I get.’

With a brutal and specialized grunt, he drove the blade upward. He didn’t aim for the thick obsidian plating. He aimed for the tiny and unarmored gap between the thorax segments, relying purely on the muscle memory of a veteran who had fought this exact boss thousands of times in his previous life.

The blade pierced the flesh of the Queen!

It didn’t just cut, the dark energy within the Legendary weapon erupted, acting like a localized black hole. It devoured the internal organs of the monster, shredding her mana core in a single and devastating surge.

"SKREEEEEEEE!"

The Spider Queen let out a sound that defied description. It was a high pitched shriek of absolute agony that echoed through the entire Labyrinth. Her massive legs thrashed wildly, cracking the cavern walls, before her entire body stiffened.

The violet energy from Vahn blade consumed her from the inside out. With a wet and sickening crunch, the Spider Queen collapsed into a pile of dissolving pixels and ash.

He fell to one knee, the Shadow Blade instantly dissipating from his hand as his mana hit absolute zero. His lungs burned, and his avatar muscles screamed in protest.

But a cold and satisfied smile spread across his face.

Just as the silence returned to the cavern, the system went absolutely berserk!

[Ding!]

↳ You have successfully slain the Level 15 Labyrinth Boss: The Weaver of Torment, Spider Queen!

↳ First Clear Bonus applied!

↳ Solo Kill Bonus applied!

↳ Base Experience Gained: 1,000

Vahn didn’t even blink at the pitiful base number. He was waiting for the real prize. The hidden modifier of the [EXP Architect] class.

[Ding!]

↳ Class Modifier Activated: 10,000x Experience Converter!

↳ Calculating new rewards...

The blue interface in front of him shimmered, the numbers rolling rapidly like a slot machine hitting the ultimate jackpot.

[Experience Gained: 10,000,000 EXP!]

↳ 10,000,000 EXP has been stored in the ’EXP Pool’.

Ten million!

In the early stages of the game, a regular player would need to grind for six months for twelve hours a day to amass even a fraction of that amount. It was an astronomical and game breaking figure.

But the system wasn’t done. The magnitude of his achievement of soloing a Labyrinth Boss at such a low level triggered a mechanic Vahn had anticipated.

A sudden and deafening chime echoed not just in the cavern, but across the entire server.

[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT!]

↳ Congratulations to the player ’Anonymous’ for achieving the World First Solo Kill of a Labyrinth Boss!

↳ Their name shall be etched into the Hall of Legends!

[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT!]

↳ Congratulations to the player ’Anonymous’ for achieving the World First Solo Kill of a Labyrinth Boss!

↳ Their name shall be etched into the Hall of Legends!

[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT!]

↳ Congratulations to the player ’Anonymous’ for achieving the World First Solo Kill of a Labyrinth Boss!

↳ Their name shall be etched into the Hall of Legends!

The announcement repeated three times, its golden text blazing across the virtual sky of every single zone in Aetheria. From the bustling merchant hubs to the deepest grinding zones, every player paused.

Millions of players looked up in stunned silence.

The Labyrinths were designed for 20 man raids. The top guilds known as the ’Elites’ who spent millions of real world credits on gear were still struggling to clear the first floor with full squads of healers and tanks. And someone had just soloed the boss?

The world chat exploded in a torrent of text!

[Global] SkySunder_Tank: What the hell?! Solo?! Is this a bug?

[Global] CrimsonMage: A Labyrinth boss? Are you kidding me? The Spider Queen wipes our 20 man group in five minutes!

[Global] Kael_The_Lord: This is obviously a glitch. I will be reporting this to the developers immediately. No one is better than my guild.

[Global] RandomNoob12: Praise the Anonymous God!

Vahn swiped the global chat away with a dismissive flick of his wrist. He didn’t care about the fame, and he certainly didn’t care about the disbelief of players like Kael. Let them think it was a bug. Let them waste time complaining to customer service.

He had exactly thirty days before the Convergence hit, before this game became terrifying reality and the monsters poured into the streets of Earth. Fame was useless. Raw and unadulterated power was the only currency that would matter.

Vahn pushed himself off the cavern floor, his eyes fixed on the massive pile of glowing loot left behind by the corpse of the Spider Queen.

"Step one complete," he murmured to the empty cavern, his voice devoid of exhaustion. "Now, let us see what ten million experience points can really do."