The Omniscient Wall activated and pages began turning in my head.
[The attack patterns of the plague spider was very simple.
Firstly, the spider attacks with its two front legs as its main weapon. Although it was fast, the trajectory of spider's attacks can be predicted.
Secondly, the spider can attack using its webs but considering it was weakened, there was no need to worry about a sudden web attack.
And finally, when the spider entered a critical condition, it opens its mouth and spew out its acid-like digestive gland as a last resort.]
It sounded simple when reading but in reality, it was far from easy.
"Left."
Slam!
"Right."
Kwang!
"Left, right, left, right."
Slam! Kwang! Slam! Kaboom!
The spider's legs rained down as if to completely crush me and holes continued to appear on the poor, blameless ground.
Somehow, I managed to dodge all the stabs and swung the sword in an arc.
Puuuookk!!
Another one of the spider's legs was severed and it screamed in pain.
Normally, fighting against a grade 7 monster at this stage would have been impossible. But since I was prepared, such an impossible thing was now possible.
"?!"
Seeing me getting closer and closer, the plague spider panicked and spew out its disgusting fluid. However, since I already predicted its next move, I evaded and pounced on top its head.
A sword stabbed into its eyes.
Stab!
Rooooaaaar!!!
The earth trembled.
The spider rampaged around, trying to shake me off. But I gripped the sword and managed to stay on top its head somehow.
"Keu-ru-ruk—"
Now the spider moved very dangerously and slammed its body against the walls over and over. Was it trying to bring down the whole place?
I hurriedly moved the sword and stabbed the exposed eyes repeatedly.
Stab! Stab! Stab!!
Eventually...
Thud!!!
The plague spider crumbled on the ground with a heavy sound. At the same time, multiple messages arrived.
[The grade 7 'Plague Spider' has been killed.]
[A grade 7 monster has been hunted for the first time!]
[An impossible feat has been accomplished.]
[10,000 coins will be given as compensation.]
[You killed the 'Plague Spider' without a party.]
[500 coins will be given as additional compensation.]
A steam of notifications.
Because I killed the grade 7 Plague spider without a team, I received a total of 15,000 coins. In the end, I received a great reward, didn't I?
[A few constellations are doubting their eyes.]
[A few constellations question the fairness of the scenario.]
Why are you unhappy? Didn't I give you a great show?
[A few constellations asks how you obtained a superior sword energy.]
I nonchalantly shrugged my shoulders and answered.
"It's nothing special. I just bought it from the shop. I went through a great ordeal, you know. So I have alot of coins to spare."
[A few constellations nods their heads in understanding.]
[A few constellations wonder how you gained that much coins without a supporting constellation.]
[The constellation 'Primordial Evil Dragon' says she enjoyed the violence.]
"You are going to get it."
* * *
"I see. So that's what happened."
Everyone wore a dark expression. It was because of the story that Gyeong just told. At this point, she was already freed from the wall.
The story was simple. Before I arrived at the safe zone, Minhyuk had begun to take an active role, and started creating a group of followers. Gyeong and Manshik were among them.
All of them joined the mainframe group simply because they wanted to survive using the power of a goddess.
"Minhyuk is the apostle of the goddess Athena?"
I was visibly confused. From what I knew about Athena, it would be strange if she picked someone like Minhyuk as her apostle.
Incarnations were the faces of the gods. To pick someone like Minhyuk as her incarnation didn't really suit Athena's image as the goddess of War and Wisdom.
In any case, it was something I can find out by questioning Gyeong.
"What happened after that?"
"You know those guys that didn't make it back."
"Yes. What about them?"
"Minhyuk sacrificed them to the monsters. No, I'm sure that's what happened. It happened again and again."
"That bastard, I already knew he was a terrible person. But to sacrifice his own people as well."
Jongho clenched his fists tightly.
It seems my initial suspicions were right from the get-go.
There were several cases where certain individuals would encourage people while pretending to act like a noble hero, but when they served their purpose, they would be sacrificed.
But to what end? Why did Minhyuk sacrifice all those people? He wasn't a fool. At least, he didn't seem like one. So why did he intentionally reduce his manpower? There has to be an end game.
I suddenly remembered something and opened my mouth.
"You said something about Minhyuk having a skill that allowed him to share power. What was that about?"
"Oh, that..."
Lee Gyeong didn't answer immediately.
Athena, also known as Minerva, was the goddess of wisdom, war and justice. She's a very famous constellation in the Greek mythology and her divine rank was [Myth grade] which was above [Heroic Spirit grade].
However, Athena only possessed authorities relating to war. Meaning, the ability to command an army. She had nothing that would allow someone to transfer power. In fact, there was no power in Nightmare that allowed anyone to transfer power.
In other words, Minhyuk not only lied about being Athena's apostle, he also lied about having an ability to share power with others as well.
There was only one possibility that I could think of.
"If you don't want to answer, that's fine. But you're completely on your own."
"No... It's not that."
Lee Gyeong shook her head and slowly raised her sleeve. revealing a tattoo on her left arm. It was shaped like the Seal of an Owl.
Once I laid my eyes, my suspicions were finally confirmed.
Lee Jong-ho titled his head and asked.
"What's that? A tattoo?"
"No, its not a tattoo. It's a stigma belonging to the goddess. That bastard Minhyuk said the power of the goddess can be shared through this seal."
Angelica moved closer to Lee Gyeong and crouched infront of her, studying the seal very carefully.
"Huh? This looks wrong."
"What is it?"
"This seal looks wrong. The Seal of Athena doesn't look like this. The bird representing Athena is a tawny owl, not a true owl. Although it is similar here and there, it doesn't look like the seal I know. It looks like someone did a messy job while trying to imitate the seal."
Angelica explained while thoroughly moving her eyes here and there.
"Angelica, how did you know this?"
"Didn't I tell you before? I did alot of reading online, you know. The mythology of the gods just happened to be my favourite topic to read about."
Oh, that's right. I forget Angelica used to be a reader as well. Maybe she was more knowledge than me when it came to the gods.
Lee Gyeong seemed to have realised something. She shot a gaze to her left arm and asked while trembling.
"Wait, are you saying this is not the seal of the goddess?"
"It's not stigma."
"Then what is it?"
This time, Angelica did not answer. Instead, it was me that opened my mouth.
"That's the mark of a demon."