Speed Is King

"And judging by how contained the Mythical Spider's carcass is, it looked like there was only one winner. The most powerful Brood Mother must have successfully killed the rest of the little spiders and the other two Brood Mothers. Their bodies must be nearby…" Elliot turned around and gave the chamber a casual search.

"There they are." Elliot found the two dead Brood Mothers easily. Their carcasses were extremely large.

As Elliot pieced together how the battle went down in the chamber, one glaring question began to loom bigger and bigger in his mind.

"The Mythical Spider did not move an inch during the battle. It was already dead when the spiders started battling. The question is… How did it die? Or more specifically… Who killed it?" Elliot thought aloud.

He quickly made his way to the Mythical Spider and reverted his human form to touch it with his hands.

[Failed to acquire data. Target has been dead for too long.]

Elliot was stunned once more.

"What do you mean too long? How long is too long? The apocalypse had only just begun!" Elliot exclaimed to Hawk the AI.

[I am unable to process data after a creature has been dead for over six hours.]

"If this Mythical Spider has been dead for over six hours, then it means that it died almost straight after it was released!" Elliot couldn't believe it.

"The Mythical Beasts didn't even exist in the last iteration. But they're dying like meaningless pawns here in the second iteration. Could it be that Mythicals aren't the strongest tier? Did the Game Masters release even more powerful beasts than Mythicals this time around? Hawk, what grade is above Mythical?" Elliot asked.

[Above Mythical is Ancestral.]

"Is Rak'Tharos an Ancestral grade beast?" Elliot asked.

[It is very possible that Rak'Tharos is an Ancestral grade Beast. Not many beasts below Mythical Grade can reach above level 400, which is the Emperor level.]

"So beast grades refer to their rarity while beast levels refer to their current strength level?" Elliot asked to confirm.

[Affirmative. Beast grades refer to the depth of their innate potential, and the cap of their strength.]

[For example, common monsters do not have any skills, that is why they can never reach above level 100, as they would be hopelessly outmatched by uncommon monsters who have one skill.]

[Likewise, uncommon monsters will find it difficult to reach level 200 as they would be outmatched by rare monsters who will have two skills instead of one.]

"I see. So this Mythical Spider must be a low level Mythical beast for it to die so easily, right?" Elliot asked.

[Negative. It's size suggest that it was at least level 200, a Lord Level beast.]

"So what do you think killed it? It looked like it barely struggled against its assailant before it died." Elliot asked again.

[In general for such a powerful Lord Level beast to die so quickly, its assailant but be at minimum, a level 300 beast. However, it could also be a beast with a potent stealth skill and a powerful attack.]

"An assassin type beast."

[Affirmative.]

Elliot sighed deeply and felt the weight on his shoulder grow heavier.

(Author's Note: Reminds me of the Thai horror movie called Shutter lol. Comment if you've seen it! Watch it if you want to lose sleep for a few months.)

He transformed into his Primal Feline Warrior beast form and slashed at the Mythical Spider's upper body.

His slash failed to penetrate its powerful exoskeleton armor!

"Damn, it's armor is so thick!" Elliot thought. "Let's see if you can resist this one."

Lightning Slash!

Crack!!

Elliot narrowed his eyes grimly as he slowly tore open its carapace and looked for its Beast Core. Only the Mutated Purple Brood Mother's own beast core and two other Brood Mothers' beast cores were found earlier, and there was a chance that the Mythical Beast's beast core was still in it.

And if it was still in it, then it would be a huge steal for Elliot, as well as a very important clue in piecing the mystery of how and who killed the Mythical Spider.

After digging around in the extremely tough carapace full of disgusting spider innards for a minute or so, Elliot finally found the beast core!

"Excellent! This beast core would be perfect for evolving my Legendary Grade and Mythical Grade beasts. Would it be useful for the Archaic Kaijin, Hawk?"

[Affirmative. Mythical Grade Spider Beast Core has a 75% chance of being compatible with the Archaic Kaijin.]

"Prefect. And this also means that the assailants aren't motivated by the Mythical Spider's beast core. It couldn't be a random passing beast then, as they would never give it up. The Mythical Spider must have died to a power that does not need or even want a beast core… The Shadow Parasite??"

"If it was really killed by the Shadow Parasite, then the Shadow Parasite is definitely not on the side of the aliens, as the aliens needed this Mythical Grade Spider to be alive to raise the difficulty of the Game."

Elliot's mind began to race once more as he pondered and considered the possibilities. He was so caught up in what he was doing that he totally forgot about the time!

"Hey Elliot. Are you alright in there?" Camelia's voice rang out from his communicator.

"Huh? Oh sorry, I must have spaced out. I'm done here. Coming up now!" Elliot immediately replied.

"Thank God you're okay! You've been down there for so long!" Camelia said with an extremely relieved voice.

"Really? How long have I been here?" Elliot asked in surprise.

"Almost one hour!" Camelia said.

"What? That long? I must have been really deep in thought. Sorry for making you worry!" Elliot said slightly apologetically as he rushed back out of the hole.

"No worries. Everything is fine here. In fact, it's more than fine! There's actually a survivor in the city! She's a really pretty fifteen year old girl!" Camelia said excitedly.

"Wow, that's awesome! How is she? What's her name?" Elliot smiled warmly at the thought of finding a survivor.

"She's fine! She said her name is Kara. Kara Rose." Camelia replied.

Elliot was stunned yet again. He recognised the name Kara Rose!