"It's just a tiny bug that's all. It won't hurt me!"

This thought kept repeating in my head as I was trying to stop my body from shaking in fear. Ever since I was a kid, I've been deathly afraid of spiders. I was born with this arachnophobia much like other people. I believe I am the only one in my family who is afraid of spiders. Everyone else is afraid of snakes. My fear of these creepy crawlies got even stronger when… No, I shouldn't think of that… or else this situation will be even worse. If I so much as look away from the fight for one second, then I will surely be killed.

Based on boss fights I've done previously, monsters usually have an attack algorithm that they follow. This spider however has such a complex one, I can't fully remember all of its attacks and how it does them. I'm starting to think that it doesn't even have a set attack pattern that it follows. An advanced AI that adapts to the challenger's play style and uses it to come up with new attacks. Now that's scary.

Regardless, the spider's attacks aren't too powerful, even with its massive size. The Black Widows's defense is formidable indeed, but the only thing dangerous about it right now is its mandibles which are constantly trying to bite my head off. And as I continued to bring its health down bit by bit, its attacks began to slow.

Suddenly, hundreds of smaller spiders came out from the ceiling and started surrounding me. They weren't as big as the ones outside. Probably the size of the biggest spider in the real world. The one that eats birds. The Goliath Bird-Eating tarantula is what they are called if I remembered correctly. Even though there are hundreds of these guys around me, I was more afraid of the gigantic black widow spider in front of me.

I would ignore the smaller spiders and concentrate on fighting the boss. Whenever a spiderling would get too close to me, I either kick it away or simply kill it with one clean strike. I tried to do multiple things at the same time in order to get my adrenaline pumping. If I keep doing so, then I'll be able to ignore any irrelevant stimuli such as my arachnophobia. I seriously just hope this will be over soon.

Ten minutes later

The boss is at its last health bar. It took way longer than I wanted, but I guess ten minutes is a standard for most MMORPG boss raids. However, I am also in a bad spot, as I am getting extremely fatigued. I'm a little bit below half of my maximum health, which is both surprising and dangerous. Surprising because I am soloing a boss. Dangerous because I may die or trigger the still unknown Yami no Saji.

Fortunately, the spiderlings all ran away, allowing me to fully concentrate on my main goal. The spider boss became more concentrated as well, slowly moving around cautiously instead of going on the offensive like it has been doing. The two of us circled around the room, waiting for the other to make a move, but neither of us did. However, by the time I realized what was going on, it was already too late.

My foot landed inside a small circle of web. The circular web wrapped tightly around my foot, and lifted me up into the air. I dropped my sword due to the velocity at which I was raised into the air. It was enough to make me slightly dizzy due to the sudden rush. I looked down and saw the reason the spider didn't make a move until now.

The path we took while circling around the room was covered with web. From up here, I can see the spider as it produces its spider silk from its behind. I followed the trail of web that it continued to leave behind and saw that it connects to the web which held me suspended in the air. The spider let out a shriek of accomplishment and slowly lowered me. Before I could even react, the spider quickly impaled me with its stinger, paralyzing my body with some neurotoxin.

The spider cut the web that suspended me and picked up my body with its eight legs. My mind started breaking down as I helplessly watched myself get cocooned. Not able to look away, I had to look at the grotesque sight of sticky webs coming out of the gargantuan's body. The adrenaline that helped me fight my phobia during the fight disappeared completely, leaving me to deal with my fear head on.

The spider wrapped up my legs completely but my arms were still somewhat free. Free enough for me to be able cut the web bindings if I get my hands on a weapon. However, none of that will happen if I'm paralyzed like this. The only problem is that I have no clue how long this paralysis will last. If the spider manages to cocoon my arms, then it's game over for me. Until then, I need to think up of ideas.

I closed my eyes and began searching through my head. Any information could be useful to me right now. MMORPG boss raid strategies. Survival tips. Arachnid science. I tried to remember things as fast as I could as I didn't have much time left. I became so focused on trying to escape, that I accidentally used my Cloak of Darkness turning myself invisible.

The spider shrieked and dropped me on the ground. I landed on my butt, which was protected by a small layer of webbing, cushioning my fall. I looked at the spider who seemed to be scanning its surroundings. The spider crawled around the room, but didn't seem to detect me. Had it been smarter, it would've known I can't move. I guess this Cloak of Darkness ability really is useful.

My one-minute timer for the ability started ticking, and the paralysis wore off on me, which relieved me completely. If that neurotoxin lasted any longer, I would be spider food. I quickly opened up my inventory and equipped a dagger. The dagger was nothing special, but I'm confident that it is enough to cut these web bindings. I started cutting through the web and my invisibility wore off.

I got my legs free from the sticky substance and faced the spider, who is now also facing to my direction. I spotted my sword under one of the spider's eight legs, lying there and building up dust. I was tempted to recklessly dive for it and kill the spider with one strike, but I knew that not even I can do that. I held the small dagger in my hand, planning to use it to fight instead of using my bare hands. I began circling the room again and the spider followed.

While we did this, I kept moving closer and closer to my fallen sword. I glanced at it to see that I could make a safe run for it. However, the spider seemed to notice where my eyes were gazing at, and ran back to the sword. It stood right on top of my sword, right below its abdomen. The level of intelligence this monster has is far greater than anything I've ever faced. Its eight glowing eyes is also playing a role in helping its awareness… Wait, that's it… The eyes!

I held the dagger by the blade now and concentrated on my aim. I haven't spent a Skill Slot on Blade Throwing which means that this won't do so much, but it is the only plan that I've come up with. Using all my strength and technique, I threw the dagger straight to the spider's head. It found its mark on one of the eight red eyes the spider has. The spider shrieked and crawled around in rage. One down, seven more to go.

I materialized a whole bunch of random items I picked up during my time here. Usually it is rare to get item drops from monsters, but the monsters here seem to disobey the rules of SAO. Although, the items they do drop are worthless to me, as the weapon stats are completely inferior to the ones that I have. They would probably be useful in the first few floors, but now not so much.

I began throwing random junk at the spider, hitting one of its eyes occasionally and blinding it. The spider now couldn't even attack me, as it was in complete agony. I also doubt it can attack accurately since it now only has one red eye. Showing no mercy, I picked up a small metal buckler and threw it like a Frisbee. The shield found its mark and planted itself on the spider's head, destroying the final eye.

The spider shrieked in agony, stumbling around aimlessly and losing its balance despite having eight legs. I began running over to retrieve my sword, but the spider turned around and faced me. It then came blindingly charging at me. I barely stepped aside since the spider moved a bit faster than before. Not only that, it seems it has very good hearing. That means that I have to be as quiet as possible, or else I won't be able to kill it safely.

I silently creeped towards my sword and picked it up off the ground. Utilizing the bonuses, I got from Darkness Blade, I began sneaking towards the spider. I carefully creeped ever so slowly to the spider until I was literally right in front of it. My arachnophobia didn't seem to kick in, giving me more confidence. I looked at its head and noticed a small red hourglass right next to its bleeding eyes. A weak spot?

Before I could doubt myself, I mercilessly impaled the red hourglass, making the spider drop dead. It didn't even shudder or make a sound. It was if all of its muscles just failed the spider completely. I pulled my sword out of the corpse, and the wound started spraying out a black liquid. When the black substance touched me, I saw me health begin rising. Does this black stuff heal me?

I got closer to the corpse and cut open a bigger hole out of curiosity. The black blood leaked out like a waterfall. I cupped my hands and splashed some of the substance on my face. Sure enough, my health went right back up. Out of curiosity, I took a sip of the spider blood and I felt energy surging through my body. The blood reinvigorated me completely, as if I had just been hit by defibrillators. After the adrenaline rush, the spider's body broke down into pixels and disappeared.

The post-fight screen appeared before me. A hell load of Cor, and enough experience for me to level up twice in just one fight. I guess that's my reward for soloing a boss that is supposed to be in the upper floors. Even so, the most surprising part is the message that was written at the bottom of the post-fight screen.

"You have successfully defeated The Black Widow and consumed its magical blood. VIT increased by twenty-five. Lethal poisons will damage you, but will never kill you." I read from the screen.

My jaw dropped down as I was in complete awe. Not only did I go up by two levels, but that spider blood gave me two bonuses, one of which is supposedly making me immune to poisons. I have never seen such a bonus in any MMORPG. Usually these type of bonuses lasts only for a certain amount of time, but I saw no time limit. I am curious and want to try it out, but if something goes wrong, then I will be dead. Not only that, the Yami no Saji will trigger.

The room around me became a bit brighter. It was bright enough that I could now see the ceiling above me, which was completely covered by spider webs. Not only that, one side of the room began glowing white and the spider webs that covered the glowing area started burning away. When the webs were completely gone, a black iron door was revealed. That must be the exit of the boss room. The door glowed blue, just like the boss room entrance. Cloud must've finished his fight on his side as well.

Before heading to the door, I put my sword down and stretched my muscles as I was tired. This is only going to get harder. Each floor will be harder and longer than the previous one. Even on this floor, the closer I got to the boss room door, the harder the monsters seemingly became. I can't give up. Even if I tried, there is no way to safely escape this dungeon. I picked up my sword and put it back in its sheathe. I approached the door and pushed it open