Chapter 91: The Dungeon Boss Appear

Chapter 88

Katherine didn’t need the blaring danger warnings from her system to know she was in danger. Her senses and instincts were already screaming the same thing, warning her that she was facing a threat far beyond anything she could afford to underestimate.

The figure emerging from the dark rift finally stepped forward, revealing its entire form.

It was a Webfiend, but its aura was far deeper and more oppressive than that of any monster that had emerged before it. Calling it stronger than the others was an understatement. Its presence dwarfed theirs by an enormous margin, making the difference between them seem like more than a simple gap in strength. It was as though they belonged to entirely different levels of existence.

Unlike the other Webfiends, most of its body resembled that of a human. Its legs were humanlike, as was the greater portion of its torso, giving it a relatively ordinary silhouette from a distance. Its grotesque nature only became apparent when one looked from its hands upward.

The creature possessed two normal-looking hands, both clean and unblemished, with no visible deformities. Behind its back, however, were several additional hands, each unnaturally thin and stretched far beyond what any ordinary human limb should have been capable of reaching. There were ten of these elongated hands, and when combined with the two normal ones, the creature possessed a total of twelve.

Yet even that wasn’t its most disturbing feature.

That distinction belonged to its head.

The creature’s skull was partially human in shape, but almost nothing about it could truly be called human. Its entire head was covered in numerous eyes, each glowing with a cold, eerie light. They crowded together across its skull, leaving no room for a normal face. There was no visible mouth, no nose, and no recognizable human feature beyond the general shape of its head.

The countless eyes stared in different directions. Some remained fixed on Katherine, while others shifted restlessly, seemingly observing everything around the creature at once. The sight alone was enough to make its appearance deeply unsettling, and its oppressive aura only made the creature seem more horrifying.

It was a creature worthy of a place in the most hellish of nightmares.

Despite the dungeon boss’s appalling appearance, however, Katherine didn’t falter. Even its dreadful aura, heavy enough to make the surrounding air feel suffocating, failed to force her gaze away. She kept her attention fixed on the creature, her expression eerily calm and cold despite the danger standing directly before her.

Taking a controlled breath, she activated her scanning ability.

The results appeared before her eyes.

Name: Webfiend Lord

Level: 20

Physical Attributes: 280

Mental Attributes: 150

Katherine’s pupils contracted as she read the information.

Even after seeing the results with her own eyes, she struggled to suppress the shock that surged through her mind. The numbers alone were enough to reveal just how dangerous the creature was.

This dungeon boss stood at the very peak of the Elite Level.

Katherine’s physical attributes stood at 200, already placing her among powerful Elite-Level warriors. However, the Webfiend Lord possessed a physical attribute of 280, bringing it dangerously close to the maximum of 300 that human warriors could normally reach at this level.

The gap between them was enormous.

And that was before considering the monster’s other abilities.

Although human attributes might ordinarily cap at 300, monsters were a different matter. Their physical limits could exceed those of humans, with some possessing attributes of 350 or even 400 while still within the Elite Level.

In other words, the creature standing before Katherine wasn’t merely a monster with superior numbers. Its very existence challenged the limits of what a human warrior could normally achieve at the same level, making the difference between them even more concerning than the scan results initially suggested.

"You stare too much."

The Webfiend Lord’s voice suddenly rang out.

Before Katherine could respond, the creature moved.

There was barely any warning. Its posture seemed unchanged, and Katherine had almost no time to register what was happening before the attack came rushing toward her.

All she caught was a flash.

Then something struck directly toward her belly.

No... it came dangerously close to hitting her belly.

Katherine reacted at the very last possible moment, instinctively bringing her sword down to intercept the incoming attack.

CLANG!

A deafening metallic crash erupted through the air.

The impact sent Katherine flying backward as though she had been struck by a siege weapon. Her boots left the ground, and her sword vibrated violently in her grasp, producing a sharp, ringing sound that seemed to tremble on the verge of breaking.

Katherine’s expression shifted slightly.

She had successfully blocked the attack, but the force behind it was far beyond anything she could casually withstand. Even with her sword positioned perfectly to intercept the blow, the sheer power behind the strike had nearly overwhelmed her defense.

Still, she refused to lose control.

While flying backward, Katherine twisted her body, brought her feet beneath her, and drove her heel into the ground to stop her momentum.

BOOM!

The earth cracked beneath her boot as she finally came to a halt.

Despite the terrifying force she had just endured, her movements remained smooth and almost graceful. For a brief moment, she stood upright with her sword held firmly in her hand, her posture appearing as composed as ever.

Then, a second later, her body betrayed her.

"Kh...!"

Katherine bent forward and coughed out a mouthful of blood.

The red liquid splattered onto the ground, staining the earth beneath her feet. Pain spread through her abdomen and into the rest of her body, leaving her chest tight as she struggled to steady her breathing.

The impact had shaken her internal organs. Although she had managed to block the blow with her sword, the force hadn’t disappeared upon colliding with the weapon. Instead, much of it had traveled through the blade and into her body, leaving her injured despite successfully defending herself.

Katherine wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, never taking her emerald eyes off the creature before her.

That single attack was enough to make the difference between them painfully clear.

Her grip tightened around her sword.

Its strength is beyond anything I can easily handle.

"Oh? You actually managed to block that."

The Webfiend Lord tilted its head slightly, its countless eyes narrowing with a trace of genuine surprise. For a brief moment, it seemed impressed that Katherine had managed to defend herself against its attack.

That surprise quickly faded, however, and a strange chuckle escaped the creature.

The sound was particularly unsettling because there wasn’t a single visible mouth on its grotesque head. Whatever part of its body it used to speak had produced the noise, leaving Katherine with yet another reminder that the creature standing before her was far removed from anything human.

"But you’re still too weak."