Crimson Overlord

After Orpheus, together with Lily, joined Illya and Hellion, the four-headed toward the forest where the ruin they would be exploring was located.

The forest was endless, gloomy, and diverse. Its canopy was contested by pine, cypress, and cedar, and ample openings let enough dancing beams of light through for a hodgepodge of mushrooms to grow in the rich grounds below.

Silent vines embraced many a tree, and a potpourri of flowers, which desperately tried to claim the last remnants of light, added some color to the otherwise jade backdrop.

A tumult of beastly noises, belonging mostly to birds and vermin, filled the air and formed a chaotic orchestra with the barrage of noise coming from a waterfall in the distance.

They moved deeper into the gloomy forest before finally stopping at the entrance of the ruin.

A tall broken statue in the middle of the gloomy forest marks the entrance to this ruin. Beyond the broken statue lies a large, dank room. It\'s covered in broken pottery, dead vermin, and cobwebs.

Upon checking one could see a broken statue part of a fountain, battered and desolated by time itself.

Further ahead are three paths, they took the left under Lily\'s insistence. Its twisted trail leads passed collapsed rooms and pillaged treasuries and soon they entered a clammy area but there was nothing there.

The group was forced to move onwards, deeper into the ruin\'s expanse. They passed dozens of similar rooms and passages, they all look so similar, this whole place is a maze. They eventually make it to what is likely a different room. A massive granite door blocked their path. Various odd symbols are all over it, somehow untouched by time and the elements. It was truly a mystical sight.

Illya stepped closer to inspect it and found out that there was a light coming through the gap below the door, this was the real entrance to the ruin.

\'\'Let\'s go down,\'\' Illya suggested taking the lead, her brother followed after her then Lily, and finally Orpheus. He understood that Illya was trying to impress them, more precisely, she must have a hidden agenda just like him.

This ruin is not a high-level one but at the same time it\'s not a weaker one, it could be said to be a middle-rank Ruin, only suitable for level 5 origin masters, and must act cautiously not to lose their life because this ruin many others was unpredictable.

Finally, the group arrived at the first floor where a giant forest surrounded them, the trees were truly giant with larger leaves and those trees gave an ancient aura and the origin here was thicker and richer than on the outside.

In the middle of this ancient forest was a giant stone, everyone\'s eyes were drawn to this giant stele.

Suddenly, a considerable amount of origin gathered from all over the forest toward the giant stele making it shine dazzlingly before words appeared on top of this stele.

[Defeat the Queen Spider to move onto the next floor.]

"The Queen Spider is the very first floor…" Illya declared with a sigh.

"There\'s no way the Striped Ants are here too right?" Her brother wondered before adding.

"I have a bad feeling."

After the sigh, they began to worry if the worst-case scenario that they had envisioned would come true.

"Hey, it\'s a tunnel." Lily spotted something ahead.

"Doesn\'t that look like an ant nest?" She asked with her voice filled with concern.

And that concern soon became a reality.

"Is it really the combination of a Queen Spider and Striped Ants?"

"It\'s the worst combination."

It was at the moment when Illya and Hellion realized that they would have to encounter the combination of the Queen Spider and the Spider Ants on the very first floor of the ruin, it was different from the records, this should have happened on the deepest floor.

Of course, the situation still wasn\'t the worst it could be. Orpheus was calmly watching everything and his confidence successfully calmed down the others and Lily wondered.

"Then what will we meet on the second floor? Still, it\'s best to face it on the first or second floor."

"It\'s best to fight them in our top condition. If your condition isn\'t good, you might get affected by the Queen Spider\'s pheromones." Illya warned.

The only positive factor was the fact that they would be able to face this challenge while in their best conditions.

Above all, they knew they could pull out of this as none of them was that weak.

"Well, it doesn\'t change the fact that we have to fight them anyway." Lily declared.

"Right. We can\'t stop on the first floor can we?" Hellion wondered, seeking Lily\'s approval but she ignored him, Illya chuckled when she saw her brother\'s dejected face, she wanted to tease him further but stopped.

Regardless of whether it was the worst combination or not, it didn\'t change the fact that the dungeon attack couldn\'t be stopped after they entered the ruin.

Illya recalled records about these types of origin beasts. They are feared by many origin masters, the low-level ones, though.

The reason why the combination of the Queen Spider and the Striped Ants was so troublesome was because of their characteristics.

The Queen Spider could use their pheromones to enslave monsters, and the Striped Ants were proficient at making tunnels.

There was no place the Queen Spider\'s pheromones would be more effective than an ant nest, which was, in essence, a large maze.

Moreover, there was something that set the Striped Ants apart from other ant species.

Striped Ants had a habit of paralyzing their prey with the paralyzing venom they had, and then bringing them alive to their queen.

This didn\'t mean that they wouldn\'t occasionally kill their prey to eat, it was just that stockpiling food was something that they generally did.

For this reason, many low-level origin masters tend to fear them as the combination of those two can be dreadful.