Universal Slave

Luke used all his energy reserves and activated his movement technique.

The cave walls were receding at high speed in his peripheral vision, and the spider queen was hot on his heels.

For a moment, the magical beast had been lost in its own fury, making its movements clumsy and exaggerated. When had it last been hurt? It was used to dominating its territory without anyone daring to confront it. It had been almost two hundred years since it had last entered into combat.

Luke did not dare to look back. He was concentrating his entire being on escaping, the terrain was unfamiliar to him, so he had to pay even more attention to the details of the path ahead of him.

Finally a large chamber appeared in front of him. There were at least a dozen tunnels ahead. Luke concentrated his spirit and immediately found the right path.

That's right, Luke was not running away aimlessly. The reason he had decided to escape into the cave instead of going out was because he had noticed that inside the cave there was a presence even more monstrous than the Spider Queen!

However, it seemed that this entity was in a state of unconsciousness.

Right now, Luke was gambling. Gambling that whatever was at the bottom of this cave could help him solve the problem that the Spider Queen represented.

Obviously, he didn't expect that entity to actively help him, as long as he could generate a conflict between the Spider Queen and that entity, that would be enough. Or even if he could use the presence of that entity to scare the Spider Queen it would be enough for Luke to survive the ordeal he was in for.

Even though it was a risky bet, right now Luke had no other choice. From the moment he had decided to save that Lunari child and his siblings, his life had been hanging by a thread.

The Spider Queen saw the direction Luke was running in and a bit of clarity returned to her mind.

"Human! Stop right now! If you surrender now I promise I will give you a quick death!"

Seeing the Spider Queen's reaction, Luke became more confident in his bet.

"Damn human! What are you planning to do if the dragon goddess awakens?! It will be the end of at least half of the sacred forest!" The Spider Queen screamed inwardly.

The Spider Queen, completely alarmed by the suicidal behavior of the human in front of her, decided to attack madly.

Four of her legs had been cut off by Luke previously. Now, these legs were regenerating at a high speed, and had already recovered half of their original length. The endurance and life force of insect-type magical beasts were second to none.

From her remaining four legs, thin threads composed of condensed spiritual energy materialized in an instant. With a quick wave of her hand the threads shot out at a tremendous speed!

"Damn, that skill is a pain in the ass!" Luke exclaimed, dodging the threads with agile movements. However, the queen continued to produce more and more threads. Finally, it reached the point where Luke could no longer dodge all of the spider queen's attacks. He had no choice but to minimize the damage as much as possible.

A large number of deep wounds began to appear all over his body. None of the wounds were fatal, but the sum of them was consuming Luke's vitality at a great speed.

Within a few moments, Luke was covered in blood from head to toe, and the spider queen's attacks did not stop for a second.

Even so, it was not Luke who was most worried at this moment, but the spider queen herself. The human was about to reach the dragon goddess's chamber!

Finally, the legs that had been regenerating completed the healing process. The spider queen immediately doubled the amount of spiritual threads she could use to attack.

"Die, human!" The beast screamed madly

This time Luke couldn't dodge the attack.

He covered his vital points as best he could and gritted his teeth.

The resulting scene was horrifying. Blood exploded into the air, and at the same time a pair of limbs flew through the air.

The spider queen had paid him back in kind.

Luke fell to the ground violently. His right arm and leg had been torn from his body and now lay on the floor of the damp cavern, far from where the rest of his body had landed.

Luke watched the blood flowing from the stumps left behind when the spider queen severed his limbs, and could only sigh.

This was as far as he could go with the power he currently had.

"There's no other option," Luke said with resignation.

The spider queen saw that the human had finally stopped his march and felt a great relief. She had not yet accumulated enough power to be able to face the dragon goddess, it did not matter that it was only an afterimage, a god was still a god.

She smiled haughtily, exposing her complete derision.

"What is it, human? Are you not going to keep running?" she said, and began to laugh. Watching the insect writhe in front of her gave her a feeling of pleasure. However, Luke did not respond to her mockery, nor did he even show a hint of fear.

The spider queen was enraged at being ignored, and immediately her tone became more somber.

"If you think I am going to let you die so easily, you are very naive. A world of pain awaits you. When I am done playing with you, you are going to beg me to end your life."

"Silence. I do not feel like listening to your stupid second-rate villain speech," said Luke impatiently. He was also irritated. More than anything he was angry at the situation he was in, but he couldn't complain because he had put himself in that situation to begin with.

"Syzy, start berserk mode" Luke said in his mind.

*The Host does not meet the requirements to enter berserk mode*

"Start it anyway"

*If berserk mode is started, the Host will suffer great damage. Also, upon ending berserk mode, the system will enter a state of suspension for an indefinite time. Are you sure you want to enter berserk mode? Yes/no*

Luke selected the affirmative option. Now, he had no other choice. If he survived he could consider how to solve the rest of the problems later.

The system screen began to turn red. At the same time, Luke began to feel a massive energy invading his body.

Berserk mode. It was one of the improvements to the system that had been added in its second version. It was an emergency mechanism through which he could gain a large amount of power for a short period of time. This power was provided by the system itself. However, the amount of power he gained was not unlimited. The system would never give him more power than his body could handle. Perhaps it would give him enough power to paralyze him, but never enough to kill him in a burst of spiritual energy. The system had to prioritize his survival after all.

In addition to giving him a large amount of spiritual power, the berserk mode provided him with mana and increased the physical power of his body. It was an extreme state of increased power.

Luke stood up with the help of his stick. Standing on one leg, he observed the spider queen carefully. Despite being in a berserk state, his mind was not affected. His mind, which was as clear as ever or even a little more so, was calculating the course of action he should take to make the most of his current state of power.

The spider queen felt a sense of discomfort running through her body. The look the human in front of her was giving her was not that of a prey looking at its predator. There was no trace of emotion in his deep blue pupils. That made her a little nervous.

Luke cauterized his wounds using an advanced healing spell. Now that he was in this state, he could show off his true abilities a little more.

He had lost the ability to observe the system screen, which was now completely red. But from the amount of spiritual energy, he knew he was at level four of cultivation. Even with berserk mode, his cultivation level could not reach that of the spider queen. After all, she was the ruler of a region. It was as if he were facing the queen of the Lunaris.

Luke remembered the sexy queen he had once seen, and his body began to heat up involuntarily. In berserk mode, his body was even more powerful, and the changes that occurred were more violent!

The spider queen looked with her dark black eyes at the carp that had appeared spontaneously, and could not help but show an expression of surprise. However, her expression quickly changed to one of disdain and ridicule.

Luke felt a little embarrassed, this was no time for sensual thoughts! Seeing the spider queen's expression of scorn and contempt, which seemed to scream "a pervert!" Luke decided not to waste any more time and begin his counterattack.

He brandished his stick, which continued to absorb his spiritual power like a bottomless barrel. Unfortunately he had not practiced to the level of perfection with weapons other than the sword, so he could not emit energy like he did when using sword energy.

The spider queen formed a barrier with her threads, which stopped Luke's attack before it could reach her.

Luke began to continuously chant intermediate-level spells, and various spells of different attributes began to bombard the magical beast's barrier. The spells that dealt the most damage to the threads were those of the fire and ice elements. Seeing that this was the case, Luke began to expend large amounts of mana to cast advanced-level spells.

The queen watched in surprise as numerous fireballs crashed into the thread barrier, completely shattering it. Large ice stalactites began to rain down in her direction.

Using her agile movements and powerful spiritual threads, the spider queen managed to avoid Luke's attacks. However, the attacks continued to increase in number. Luke was casting three or four spells simultaneously, and his speed continued to increase as the battle progressed.

If a human sorcerer were present to see Luke's aberrant display, they would surely have their mouth open wide enough to fit a potato in.

Casting two spells simultaneously was considered a feat by even the most powerful sorcerers. Mainly, the difficulty lay in the fact that it consumed a great amount of mental energy. But Luke, who had a completely monstrous "spirit" attribute, did not have that problem. Luke's only obstacle was the amount of mana he had. In theory, if Luke had an infinite supply of mana, he could be completely invincible on the great continent. No one could withstand an endless succession of spells falling upon them like a torrential rain.

Right now, the spider queen was experiencing that feeling. She wanted to eliminate the hateful human who gave her a continuous feeling of unease, but she was trapped under the rain of spells and could only defend herself.

Luke began to retreat deeper into the cave as he continued to cast spells. His original plan had not changed. Right now his mana was not infinite. Even though the system was continuously supplying him with mana, the berserk mode would end before he could eliminate the spider queen.

His cultivation level was still no match for the sovereign of the territory.

The only option left to him was to continue with his initial gamble, and seek the help of the entity deep within the cave.

Despite it being a gamble on his part, he now felt much more confident than he had a few moments ago. The reason was simple. The moment he had entered berserk mode and increased his cultivation level, he began to feel something. He couldn't explain it well, but he felt as if something was calling him.

There was no hostility in the mysterious call. On the contrary, Luke felt a strange feeling of nostalgia and longing. He wanted to go there as soon as possible. He had to answer the call!

The spider queen realized the intentions of the damned human when she saw that he began to advance again towards the depths of her territory. She immediately began to despair and decided to use all her power.

The spider queen's body began to shine, as if a seal had been broken and a lot of spiritual energy had begun to gush out uncontrollably.

The energy enveloped her and her body began to grow at great speed. Within a few moments her body, which had previously been the voluptuous and sensual body of a woman, had now become a gigantic black and purple spider, covered in portions by golden fur.

And not only had her appearance undergone tremendous changes, her spiritual power had increased too!

Luke was unfazed. He continued to concentrate on his task. During the battle he had discovered that his stick, in addition to being able to be used for hand-to-hand combat, had another wonderful function, it could accelerate the speed of his spells and slightly increase their power. However, those functions consumed spiritual power, so most of the spiritual power he had obtained through berserk mode was now being poured into the stick at great speed.

Luke continued to advance into the cave, and finally saw the entrance to a gigantic chamber. A divine power was emitted from its depths, and the stick he had obtained as a reward from the system for a quest had begun to resonate with said energy. The stick vibrated and seemed to be demonstrating joy. The joy of reuniting with an old friend.

Luke had no time to consider the changes that were happening with the stick, he was too busy casting spells. Now that the spider queen had returned to her original form, her attack power had increased so much that Luke was on the verge of death. Her powerful and giant legs could dissolve advanced level spells as if they were simple fireworks, and the spiritual threads had multiplied. Luke had begun, again, to receive damage from the spider queen's attacks.

But now that he was so close to his target, he only needed to take one more step.

The spider queen opened her mouth and spat out a violet mist that flooded the entire tunnel in which they were fighting.

The change happened so quickly that Luke could not help but inhale the gas. Immediately, the poison began to take effect on his body.

His attacks became erratic and he even began to lose his vision. If he hadn't been in berserk mode, which increased his body's resistance, he probably would have died as soon as he inhaled the first breath of poison.

The spider queen advanced excitedly, her attack had worked! It had been worth waiting until the last moment, when the human relaxed his defenses and let his guard down a bit.

Luke saw that the situation was turning dark and made a decision without hesitation. He consumed all the available mana in his body and cast a fire spell of a higher level than all those he had used before. Then he hit the ground with the stick and emptying his energy reserves he flew towards the large chamber, where a melodious voice could be heard in the distance.

"You've finally come!"