As the first rays of sunlight appeared, a gentle breeze swept across the lake, causing ripples to spread across its calm, emerald-green surface.
Puff!
A massive figure burst forth from a cave in the hill and hovered in mid-air.
"Pah, failed again, and almost got caught in the crossfire. No wonder it's a poison that can attack the soul; even gravity can't hold it back." Gustavo looked down into the cave with lingering fear. The originally snow-white spider silk instantly turned pure black, and then with a bang, it shattered into dust.
The vegetation around the cave had long since turned to ashes, as if it had been naturally weathered by wind and rain over thousands of years, making it look quite terrifying.
These past few days, Gustavo has been quietly working on Hades, and the other steps have gone smoothly without any major setbacks.
Gustavo attempted the final step—the fusion of the Legendary Dark Nightmare Beast's blood—three times, all ending in failure.
During his first failure, due to insufficient preparation, he was enveloped by an invisible and intangible poison gas, which shook his soul.
Fortunately, Gustavo ran fast, and thanks to the increased soul strength after the Soul Devourer awakened, as well as the powerful poison resistance of the Dragon-Hunting Spider itself, nothing serious happened.
After this incident, Gustavo became even more cautious. He was extremely careful with the second allocation and fled immediately if anything went wrong.
This is the third failure, and it feels like they've gotten quite used to it.
"The Legendary Dark Nightmare Beast's blood is running low, enough for about two or three more uses. But the blood itself is a minor issue; we can always ask Spider Mom for more. The real problem is these materials..." Gustavo pondered, feeling a bit of a headache.
It took him a long time to collect all of the more than one hundred materials, several of which were extremely rare. If it weren't for his high luck, Gustavo would never have come across them.
"There's also poison resistance; we overlooked this issue before."
In the past, when preparing simple poisons, there were basically no problems. Even if there was an occasional gas leak, Gustavo's poison resistance could withstand it.
Hades, however, is different.
The four-star poison involved the processing of Legendary materials. Gustavo's skill was insufficient, so mistakes were inevitable. Moreover, even a flawed version of this high-level poison could deal devastating damage, and Gustavo couldn't withstand it for long.
It was only then that he suddenly realized a problem.
The biggest obstacle to becoming a poison master may not be just talent.
Damn it, poison resistance is also very important!
If his resistance to poison isn't high enough, he might die from the poison he concocted himself during one of the experiments.
"No, I have to get the poison resistance talent sorted out too. I don't want to die from the poison I concocted myself!" Gustavo muttered, preparing to collect some poison resistance gene fragments to synthesize a new talent.
Toxin resistance gene fragments are not difficult to find. Generally speaking, venomous organisms themselves have high venom resistance and definitely possess toxin resistance gene fragments in their bodies. Examples include venomous snakes, scorpions, centipedes, and even venomous spiders.
Furthermore, high-level bloodline creatures possess considerable poison resistance; for example, the Dragon-Hunting Spider has a very wide range of prey to choose from, including True Dragon, giants, and High Elf.
As time passed and the poisonous gas gradually dissipated, Gustavo used his Spider-Sense to confirm that there was no danger before cautiously entering the cave and beginning the four-stage preparation.
Having learned a great deal from his three previous failures, Gustavo had a feeling that he would have a high chance of success this time.
About 300 kilometers south of the Land of Falling Stars, at the foot of a mountain, a group of mercenaries were resting.
Clad in dark red battle armor, with disheveled hair and her body covered in mottled scales, resembling a cyborg, Elia roared at the fairy race member who was barely thirty centimeters tall in front of her, "Why don't you go straight? Why do you have to take a detour? What if that spider monster gets away because you've wasted time?"
Lennar picked at his little ear, his six pairs of small, delicate wings flapping rapidly behind him. A hint of helplessness flashed across his face. "If we travel in a straight line from east to west, we'll pass directly through the Core Zone of Land of Falling Stars. There, let alone us, even the leader of Legendary being wouldn't dare to trespass. Are you trying to send all 106 of us to our deaths?"
Elia was speechless, caught off guard, and could only sit on the ground in frustration.
In truth, she was well aware of what Lennar had said, but the burning desire for Revenge urged her to hurry. Elia only wanted to find the spider monster as soon as possible and smash it into mincemeat with her octagonal warhammer.
Twenty meters away from Elia, four people were sitting together eating jerky, with Rig among them.
"Hey, Rig, why is Elia in such a hurry?" A petite woman nudged Rig's right arm and whispered.
Her Trisha, Tier Seven assassin skilled in tracking and killing. She was only assigned to this mercenary squad before the operation and only knew the details of the mission, not the inside story.
Gossip is a woman's nature, and along the way, Elia's unusual reactions ignited the gossip fire in Trisha's heart.
Unexpectedly, Rig just rolled his eyes at her and said nothing, only lowering his head to gnaw on his jerky. In the past two months, although he had not been in any life-threatening danger, he had been beaten up by Elia every few days on some pretext. Rig now avoided anything related to the latter as much as possible.
"Tch!" Trisha, having found herself unpopular, stopped pursuing the matter and instead shifted her attention to the small, skinny ratman, April, standing beside her.
The latter glanced at Elia in the distance, then took out a mechanical device shaped like an earphone, tossed it to Trisha, and gave her a wink.
Trisha was overjoyed, and like a thief caught doing something wrong, she took the mechanical device and put it on her ear.
Then, April's shrill voice reached her ears.
But April himself didn't move his mouth.
"Well, that's a long story... You joined our Brooks Mercenary Corps a bit late, so you might not know the inside story. Apparently Elia and a Mage Tula Rig were lovers when they were young."
"What?" Trisha's eyes widened, and she quickly turned her head to look at Elia was sitting there and was taller than her when she was standing, with broad shoulders and a thick waist.
The implication is self-evident: does this Tula have such extreme tastes?
April glanced at Trisha and said irritably, "Don't let Elia's current appearance fool you. When she was young, she was supposedly ranked as one of the top ten beauties in Night City. Of course, that's by your human standards. In my opinion, Elia is much prettier now. Look at her big butt, so sexy, and those arms..."
"Stop! Stop! Stop!"
Trisha quickly reached out to interrupt April, giving him a disapproving glare.
The rat-man coughed twice, gave an awkward smile, and got back to the main topic.
"The two had already begun discussing marriage, but at this time, Elia's entire family was slaughtered by a High-Rank Transcendent. She was also insulted, had her throat slit, and was thrown into a stinking ditch."
"And then?" Trisha quickly pressed.
"Tula thought Elia was dead, and of course he was furious, but what could he do? At that time Tula was only at the Tier Two, so he could only study magic like a madman."
"What about Elia? Her throat was slit, how did she survive?"
"I'm not entirely sure about that either." April shrugged, then added, "But it's said that Elia was rescued by a passing wizard. Later, seeking Revenge, she begged the wizard to modify her bloodline. When she reappeared, Elia was already Mid-Rank Transcendent, her appearance drastically changed. It was around that time that she joined the Brooks Mercenary Corps!"
What about Tula?
"Tula was overjoyed to learn that Elia was still alive and came to the Brooks Mercenary Corps to look for her, but Elia avoided him..." April shrugged.
"If it were me, I wouldn't go either," Trisha murmured. Women dress up for their lovers, and no one wants their beloved to see them looking like that.
"After that, Tula joined the Brooks Mercenary Corps so that he could be closer to Elia, but it is said that the two never saw each other again until his death."
"I see." Trisha understood why Elia had been so anxious; the power of hatred was driving this woman.
Not far away, Elia sat on the ground in a daze, her hand unconsciously stroking a faint scar on her neck.
The Ratman April isn't entirely right either.
Elia wasn't saved by a passing wizard; she awakened her family's innate talent—a restorative ability—while on the verge of death, which allowed Elia to survive.
After that, she took the initiative to find the wizard and asked him to modify her bloodline, in exchange for her voluntarily becoming the wizard's experimental subject.
"I survived the most difficult years, and after Legendary, I will regain my original appearance, but you left before me..." Elia whispered in her heart, extreme sorrow brewing within her, but she did not shed a single tear.
This woman's tears had already been drained that night.
Five minutes later, Elia stood up, her eyes filled with madness and hatred.
"Revenge!"
The mercenary team set off again.