The Spider Queen

[Ninth Wave Completed!]

[Five-minute Rest Period Will Commence]

[5 minutes 59 seconds… 5 minutes 58 seconds… 5 minutes 57 seconds…]

Sophie sat down on the ground and gazed upwards at the sky. The arena was now in a state of almost total collapse.

Corpses, blood and the remains of mechanical weaponry lay scattered all across the ground. She had just survived nine waves of enemies with each being tougher than the last.

The first couple of waves consisted of fully organic lifeforms while every wave after the sixth brought mechanical horrors.

Floating drones with armour and high-tech weapon systems, intelligent AI units capable of copying and replicating her fighting style and good old fashioned plasma rifles.

Still even with all these challenges… Sophie had yet to break a sweat.

Everything was too easy.

Maybe an ordinary candidate would be afraid in a life and death situation but Sophie had been through too many to count.

Huh… when she thought about it like that…

It actually sounded kind of sad…

Still there was no use dwelling on the trials that she had managed to overcome.

As the vessel of the Hunter Goddess, Sophie knew that more challenges would await her in the future.

Great power always came with a price.

In exchange for the gifts of the Hunter Goddess, she would be forced to obey her commands and seek out worthy prey.

Maybe someday she would find out a method to sever the link…

"I wish…" Sophie whispered softly as she cracked her knuckles and lazily gazed at the timer floating above her.

Three minutes left.

The hybrid girl yawned sleepily and rubbed her eyes. She could use a nice rest in her hotel suite once this stage was over.

She really hadn\'t been sleeping properly lately.

Every time she closed her eyes, she kept feeling that something was missing… or perhaps someone.

Sophie didn\'t know what was causing this feeling, but it was interfering with her sleep. She needed her beauty rest to function!

The crowd of spectators in the stands around the arena waved their tendrils in the air and a fresh round of cheers echoed through the coliseum.

Their ghostly bodies of light jiggled from side to side as they violently bumped into one another and cause collisions that shook the air.

Sophie curiously gazed at the strange creatures and tried to figure out why on earth had someone decided to put them as spectators in the second stage.

As far as she could tell… they were only cheerleaders and not even pretty ones.

Still that thought would have to wait since the timer on the holographic projection finally began to approach zero seconds.

[10 seconds… 9 seconds… 8 seconds…]

Sophie got up from the ground and dusted off her black track pants that were stained with blood and pieces of flesh.

She reached into her storage bag and pulled out another whip. This one was made from a carbon fibre alloy and had jagged spikes running along its edges.

[3 seconds… 2 seconds… 1 second…]

Sophie\'s golden eyes trembled and a faint crimson mist began to spread outwards from the corner of her eyes.

[The Tenth Wave Will Begin!]

A large metal disc rose up from the ground to reveal a concealed underground space that was hidden beneath.

Sophie bent her knees and assumed a stable posture. Her blade-like appendages extended outwards, and her fangs gleamed under the sunlight.

She waited patiently but… nothing happened.

Unlike the previous waves there were no signs of movement and no creature emerged from the underground space.

What was going on?

Danger!

Sophie\'s arms erupted in goosebumps and without even thinking her body moved automatically to the side.

A massive jaw filled with razor-sharp teeth emerged from the sand where she had been standing just moments ago.

The jaw snapped shut but all the creature got was a mouthful of sand.

Sophie flung her whip at the mysterious attacker to launch a counterattack but the creature disappeared once more into the ground.

An underground enemy… a tricky opponent.

Even though the encounter only lasted for a few seconds, Sophie\'s enhanced vision was able to clearly capture details about the mysterious attacker.

The monster had purple armour-like scales covering the edges of its jaw and the upper part of its body resembled a worm.

Sophie furrowed her brows and extended her senses. She took off her shoes and placed her bare feet on the sand.

This would allow her to better feel the subtle vibrations of the ground as the enemy approached her location.

There was another brief lull in action as Sophie waited for the creature to reveal themselves and attack again.

She didn\'t have to wait for long as the grains of sand beneath her feet started to shift and she could feel a faint tremor.

Sophie jumped to the side just as the jaw once again emerged from the ground. This time she was ready.

Asura Whip Art- Death By A Thousand Cuts!

Sophie flung her whip forward and the jagged edges along the length of her weapon extended unnaturally into long spikes.

The tip of her blade entered the creature\'s mouth and Sophie moved her whip from side to side in order to tear apart the monster\'s fragile fleshy insides.

The monster shrieked in pain as dozens of sharp spikes tore apart the inside of its mouth.

Sophie mustered up all the strength in her body and then used her left hand to punch outwards which caused a shockwave to erupt from her fingertips.

BANG!

This wave of air slammed into the creature\'s body with so much force that its head was separated from the rest of its neck.

A tidal wave of blood spurted out from the monster\'s severed neck and Sophie was forced to run away as a rain of crimson liquid fell from the corpse.

[Tenth Wave Completed!]

[Second Stage… Over! Congratulations Candidate 024!]

[You Are Officially The First Student To Complete This Stage! Bonus Points Will be Awarded For Your Valiant Efforts!]

Sophie let out a heavy sigh and allowed her lips to gently curve upwards.

She had done it.

The second stage was over, and she had maintained her rank as the top student.

It was unlikely that anyone would beat her in the rankings considering that she finished first and had been awarded bonus points as well.

The lively spectators in the stands all rose to their… feet? And started to cheer wildly by slapping their tendrils together.

Sophie waved her hand at them and some of the creatures waved back with great enthusiasm.

The heavy iron doors that led to the coliseum swung open to reveal a pathway back to the beach.

Sophie walked towards the exit and casually powered on her wrist communicator to check the Virtual Net.

Cleo and the rest of her friends would probably be done later in the afternoon or evening so she had a few hours left to kill.

Hmm… how should she spend that time?

Relax on the beach? Watch a few cheesy dramas? Hop back into the Virtual game that she had just started?

Decisions… decisions…

Sophie hummed softly as she walked through the jungle and brushed her fingers along the leaves of the green tropical plants.

She tilted her wrist communicator upwards to get a better look at the screen. She typed in \'NPC In A Fantasy World\' and began to look up walkthroughs and guides.

Yeah, it was cheap but… Sophie didn\'t mind getting spoiled when playing a game. The hybrid girl walked for several more minutes and then abruptly stopped.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

Messages one after the other began to flood her inbox at a breakneck pace. Sophie furrowed her brows in confusion since she didn\'t understand what was going on.

Katarina… her professors… her dad\'s servants…

The administrators of several planets under House Peterlor\'s control…

Even some of her dad\'s noble friends that he had introduced to her had all sent her messages at the same time.

Sophie moved her finger to tap on the inbox icon but then froze as a shocking announcement appeared on the Virtual Net newsfeed.

[BREAKING NEWS!]

[THE YOUNGEST GOD STAGE CULTIVATOR OF THE EARTH FEDERATION…. DUKE PETERLOR HAS BEEN CONFIRMED AS KILLED IN ACTION!]

[THE FORMER COMMANDER OF THE IMPERIAL ARMY WAS KILLED DURING A SKIRMISH WITH THE INSECTOID EMPIRE!]

"No… what… what kind… of…" Sophie stuttered in disbelief as her fingers trembled violently above her wrist communicator.

She saw the words on the screen but could not understand their meaning. It was as if she had suddenly lost the ability to read.

"Killed… no… I…" Sophie kneeled down on the ground and clutched her heart as she felt the familiar sharp bursts of pain erupt across her body.

"Not now… I… need to…"

Sophie gasped for breath as the corners of her vision slowly turned dark. The last thing that she saw was the ground rapidly rushing towards her face as she fainted in pain.