DxD: The Plunder System Chapter 68

Chapter 68: Trial of the Oni

<<Hidden Quest Completed!>>


<<Free the Cat Deity, 'Maneko', of Good Luck!>>


<<Rewards Obtained: Points ×400, {Wisker Saviour (A+)}>>


<<Wisker Saviour (A+): A passive skill that allows the user to always be favored by any being with feline characteristics.>>


'That's sweet.'


"This is the path, meow." Maneko said, pointing toward a glowing portal.


Kento stared down the purple portal, going through the million possible enemies that he might have to face.


'It won't be an Oni, right?'


He hoped that it wasn't an Oni, especially when the trial was named `The Trial of the Oni.`


"I can't go past this, meow." Maneko sighed, "I am forbidden to, meow."


Maneko had already explained that he would be teleported to the other side once Kento enters the portal.


"I wish you luck, meow," Maneko said, "I will see you once you complete the trials."


"That I will, Maneko," Kento assured, "A lot has changed in the recent years, so I know you will be impressed by the outside world."


Maneko nodded vigorously, "I know, meow! That's why I am excited!"


"I will take my leave then," Kento said, making the cat deity smile.


"I know you can do this, meow!"


Kento smiled, "Thank you."


And with that, he was prepared.


<<Quest Alert!>>


<<Quest: Complete the Trial of the Oni without the use of any magic or elemental based skill:0/1>>


<<Note: Enhancement, weapons and analysis type skills are permitted.>>


<<Rewards: Points ×500, [Key×1]>>


This was the quest that popped up in front of Kento the moment he stepped foot into the portal.


And it caught his eye immediately.


"This will be tough…"


Being unable to use his elemental skills was a major setback, especially when he recently got the intangibility skill and now he wasn't allowed to use it.


And besides that, there was something else that caught his eye as well.


"A key?"


He had noticed the recent increase in the amount of points he got from quests, but it made sense to him as the quests were getting more difficult and at the stage where he stood, he needed a lot of points to reach the next one.


But, the key still had him curious.


It had nothing else written about it. Not even what type of key.


'If it had something like the word treasure or dungeon attached to it, it would have been easy to understand its purpose.'


But there was nothing, and above all else… It didn't have a rank attached to it.


Till now everything that he had seen had a rank other than the sexual skills.


So, in his mind there were two possibilities.


One, it was a perverted item.


Or two, it was an useless item.


And he wasn't sure if he preferred either.


"Let's not worry about it for now," He mumbled, "The points are the main priority."


And so, he walked forward not worrying about the key for the moment.


The path that he walked on was slimy, covered in moss and nasty fluids. The roof was filled with cobwebs and insect excrements with a stench that made him squint his nose 


"Definitely a place where you might find orcs…"


If it was an orc, he had to be more dependent on his speed as orcs were known for their strength and defense.


But there was something that told him it might not be an orc after all.


The place was filled with bugs, which did serve as a hint that it might be an insect themed area.


And he honestly couldn't tell which was worse, orcs or insects.


"Definitely insects…"


As he walked, the noise of rubbing something together grew loud.


It was similar to the rubbing of hands, legs or possibly even wings.


And after a while of walking, he figured what it was.


The sound was from countless insects moving around the place.


Kento almost used his skill to burn down the flies, but stopped himself as it would be considered as the usage of an elemental skill.


And as he reached the place where insects were crawling out the most from, he was left baffled.


"You have got to be kidding me…"


The opponent that he had to face was not an orc or even an insect.


"It's humongous!"


The opponent he had to face was a massive arachnid.


"A damned spider…"


In front of him was a massive brown spider, one that was the size of an African Savanna elephant, big enough to crush him with its body alone.


"And you are telling me that I am unable to use elemental abilities against it?"


{Inspect}


{Name: Jorōgumo


Age: 3000+ Years


Class: Peak High Youkai


Skills: Unbreakable Defense (S), Webbing (S+), Crawl (A), Shockwave (B-), Monster Strength (B+), Rumbling (A+)


Special Trait: Jorōgumo are Youkai with an extremely strong exoskeleton and an ability to create webs capable of sticking even massive boulders together.}


"This is one annoying enemy…"


Thankfully unlike every cliche enemy, there were no foot soldiers with the Jorōgumo.


The only enemy he had to face was the spider inside the cave that was barely big enough to hold it inside.


But that also meant that the fight might cause massive damage to the surrounding area, and it wouldn't be pretty.


'I don't think I can take it down in one shot, at least not without my elemental abilities… But I will have to deal as much damage as I can on the first shot as it is still unaware of my presence and has its defense lowered.'


Now, he has a few options.


He could use his enhanced skills to launch a strong attack or…


He could use a weapon.


'Do I have a weapon like that?'


He couldn't use his bow as it focused on elemental usage, nor his sword as it won't be able to damage the spider enough. So, did he have a weapon that could dish out an insane amount of damage from a long range?


Of course, he did.


<<Mother's Chancla (S): Dishes out striking damage; enough to paralyze most Middle to High class enemies and possibly crack strong defenses. 


Has a slight chance of leaving the enemy in an unconscious state.>>


{Enhanced Physique}


{Blindshot}


With hundred percent accuracy and an increased throwing strength, the effect of the Chancla was amplified.


Especially with the application of a special skill.


{Kama's Path}


Kento was not going to let this free shot go to waste, and as such he made sure to inflict as much pain and damage as he could on the spider.


"And… there we GO!"


With his entire might, Kento threw the chancla –aiming straight at the joint between the spider's head and lower body.


**SMACKKKK!**


The Chancla made a ground shaking sound as it made contact with the spider, causing it to collapse.


<<Critical Hit!>>


<<Opponent has been paralyzed for 7 seconds!>>


<<Failed to turn the enemy unconscious!>>


Kento didn't waste a second and immediately swooped in with his sword and dagger.


He threw the samael's dagger, inflicting the stat debuffs onto the spider before dashing towards the area where he hit the spider with the chancla.


[Tessaiga]


He landed a critical hit on the same spot, sending vibrations throughout the spider's body.


But… to his dismay, the exoskeleton didn't crack.


"What!"


He thought of jumping back, but there were still three seconds before it could move again.


So, he tried once again.


This time, with a force even greater than before.


"Fucking die!"


He jumped down onto the spider, with the tip of the blade pointed straight down –ready to plunge it deep into the spider.


*CLANK!*


The tip landed a perfect vertical strike on the spider–


–Yet it didn't even leave a dent.


And with that strike, the paralyze effect wore off.


<<Jorōgumo's paralyze status has been removed>>


*SCREECHHHHH!*


The moment the spider regained its ability to move again, it launched an immediate screech at Kento.


<Opponent has racial advantage over host!>> 


<<Herculean Strength Activated!>> 


<<Hermes' Celerity Activated!>>


<<Atlas' Will Activated!>> 


<<Athena's Insight Activated!>> 


<<Coeus' Perspicacity Activated!>>


As it drew its aggro towards Kento, the passive activated, giving Kento an increase in his capabilities.


And thankfully because of the passives, he was able to dodge the massive string shot that flew towards him at lightning speed.


If not for <<Hermes' Celerity>>, it would have hit him.


Jorōgumo didn't stop as it kept shooting webshots towards Kento, almost covering the entire cave in its webbing.


'Fuck! If this continues I won't be left with any place to move!'


The webbing was sticky and if he got caught in it, it would be almost over for him.


To make matters worse, Jorōgumo was using its skill to create shockwaves that surrounded the webbing and in order to make Kento fall into them, it was using its {Rumbling} skill to make him trip.


'Think! Think! Think!'


Jorōgumo sprung its strong and sharp legs at Kento, trying to impale him and without Kento's skills, he would have been dead by now.


'What is the weakness of spiders!'


He wasn't able to use fire because of the restrictions, so he had to think of something physical.


Surprisingly, Kento noticed that the spider was missing its shots a lot.


And that led him to remember something.


Something that he learnt in basic anatomy class.


'Spiders don't have complex eyes!'


Spiders do not perceive images in a detailed fashion like humans do, and often rely on the hair on their legs and body to sense change in the air currents.


But since Kento wasn't stuck to any web, he was able to eliminate that ability of the spider entirely.


This allowed him to keep dodging the Jorōgumo's attack, however there was a limit to what he could dodge as once the place was covered entirely in webbing, it would be impossible for him to move.


So, he tried to remember what else he learnt in those classes.


He tried to go through every memory that he had, flipping through them like pages.


Until…


Until he remembered a certain point.


"Its legs!"


In the blink of an eye, Kento resummoned Tessaiga and jumped straight towards the Spider.


Remembering very well that spiders did not have protection over their leg joints.


The joints were strong and extremely flexible, but unlike every other part of the body they were not shielded.


"Take this you eight legged bug!"


With his full strength, he swung his sword at the spider and for the first time, he was able to deal a flesh damage to it– as the moment the sword touched the leg joint, it went through the muscles and other solid parts to slice it off cleanly from the spider. 


*SCREEECCH!*


It screeched in agony, losing the sense of rationality as the pain overtook its consciousness.


It started randomly shooting all its skills and Kento knew he had to end the spider before it made contact with him.


So, he swooped in at lightning speed, slicing through each and every one of its legs.


*SCREECHHHH*


Making it cry out in pain.


With the final slash, Kento was able to cut off the eighth and final leg of the spider, making it fall down and wriggle around in pain.


With a deep breath, Kento walked towards its head.


"Turns out… It was not just a test of strength, but a test of quick thinking, analysis and adaptation."


With this, he moved Tessaiga towards the Jorōgumo's mouth as it looked at him in a hopeless gaze.


"Legs are not the only weakness of spiders," Kento muttered, "Their mouths are too."


And with that, he stabbed the spider through its mouth, moving straight through the insides towards its brain –impaling it and taking its life on the spot.


"And with that, I have just one more trial to complete."


<<Quest Completed!>>


<<Quest: Complete the Trial of the Oni without the use of any magic or elemental based skill:1/1>>


<<Rewards Obtained: Points ×500, [Key×1]>>


<<Key: The Key to Marcellus Hanley's library.


Requires the [Lock] to enter the library.>>


<<Plunder Failed!>> 


<<Failed to plunder essence from the opponent!>>


'Fuck my luck!'
______________________________________________________________________________________________________


[[A/N: DING! DING! DING! The key is a key item in this story.

Insane power up coming soon.


As for why he didn't increase his strength to a thousand and then try to smash the exoskeleton… It's because it won't work.


The toughness is not just from its stats but from its skill. To negate the Absolute Defense skill, he will need a skill that counters the defense, which he does not have.]