Shadow Giant Spider

Roland and his party planned to travel along Old Forest Road, heading north along Swift River towards Lonely Mountain. This route had the advantage of bypassing the Woodland Realm, thus avoiding conflict with the woodland elves living there. Moreover, even if a fight broke out, Roland's side would be the one getting steamrolled. The elves' mastery of jungle guerrilla warfare would completely overwhelm Roland's army, which lacked ranged attacks. Furthermore, nearly half of Roland's forces were cavalry, and traversing dense forests was incredibly painful for them. After all, not everyone's cavalry were elven Moon Deer Knights.

Thus, Roland and his party set off grandly onto Old Forest Road. The Swift River Infantry, holding large shields, marched on the outermost flanks of the formation. Lagrange Knights and Bannaria Archers were positioned in the middle, with Reno and Roland leading the vanguard. Caslo, as always, was assigned to the rear guard.

"Ugh, why are there so many spiderwebs on this road!" exclaimed a Swift River Infantry soldier, frustratedly trying to clear the webs from his Anti-cavalry Pikes.

"Who knows! These webs are so big, could they be the work of spider-type beasts?" a Swift River Infantry soldier behind him replied.

"Maybe... Be careful! What's there to be afraid of! We have a whole hundred knights with us!"

"Speaking of which, doesn't the environment around us feel a bit off?" a Swift River Infantry soldier asked warily.

"Hmm?" Roland heard the commotion behind him and couldn't help but look around.

"Reno, what do you think?" Roland asked.

"Do I even need to look? It's obviously problematic! My lord..." Reno said speechlessly.

"Then why are you so relaxed?" Roland's eyes widened. He knew that Mirkwood was occupied by a group of giant spiders. Did Reno intend to let them charge in and feed the spiders?

"Sigh, it's just a low-level beast, a Shadow Giant Spider... Is it that big of a deal?" Reno rolled his eyes.

Let's explain the classification of beasts here. Like other professions, beasts are divided into six tiers: Beginner Beast, Low-level Beast, Intermediate Beast, Advanced Beast, Super Beast, and Cataclysm-level Beast. Beasts with terrifying strength like Wyvern Giant Eagles are classified as Super Beasts, while epic creatures like Great Dragons and Leviathans belong to the Cataclysm-level Beasts.

"Uh... even low-level beasts can be troublesome, you know. Do you think everyone is a Knight Captain like you?" Roland retorted.

"Hawthorn, pear..." Roland, upon hearing that the giant spiders were only low-level beasts, felt relieved and started humming a tune.

"My lord! The spiderwebs are getting more numerous!" a Swift River Infantry soldier leading the way reported, jogging back.

"Did we just charge right into a spider's nest?" Reno asked, his face pale, looking at Roland.

"My lord, are you sure the path you're leading us on is correct?" Reno asked, baring his teeth and confirming with unease.

"What's with that look?" Roland seemed provoked.

"If there's a problem, it's Elrond's fault. I'm not taking the blame!" Roland said irritably.

"Or perhaps it's not King Elrond's mistake, but the spread of evil forces here has exceeded our imagination... The fact that they can weave webs on Old Forest Road indicates that the east and west haven't communicated in a long time... Old Forest Road has been abandoned..." Reno suddenly proposed this idea with a grim expression.

"Heh, I'd rather Elrond was unreliable right now..." Roland gave a dry laugh.

"Deploy into combat formation!" Roland took a deep breath.

"What's going on? Are we fighting again?" Caslo, seeing the formation change instantly, hurried over from the rear.

"This road has been taken over by spiders... We need to break through it now!" Roland explained helplessly to Caslo.

"Can't we just detour?" Caslo frowned.

"There's no time! We're running out!" Roland sighed, Durin's Day was fast approaching.

"What are you afraid of! You're a Wyvern Knight, and there are no outsiders here. Why don't you bring out your dragon and deal with them!" Roland suddenly remembered that he still had a Wyvern hidden away.

"Slap!" Caslo slapped himself. He had been riding Shire Warhorses for so long that he had forgotten he was a Wyvern Knight.

Caslo nimbly dismounted, pulled out a Dragon Flute from his collar, and a melodious tune echoed. A strong wind immediately swept through the sky, tearing space apart, and a green Wyvern flew out.

"Roar!" A clear and resounding dragon roar echoed through the sky.

"Boom!" The Wyvern heavily impacted the ground, causing countless Shire Warhorses to neigh and whinny in alarm.

"Caldo, long time no see." Caslo happily patted his Wyvern's head.

"Roar~" The Wyvern immediately responded to Caslo, its slender dragon tail happily sweeping back and forth, making Roland feel for a moment that it was a dog rather than a dragon.

"Go up and scout the sky, and we'll carve a path!" After several bloody battles, Roland was filled with aggression. After all, why use your brain when you can do things simply and crudely?

And so, the giant spiders that had nested and hunted on Old Forest Road today were in for a terrible time. From time to time, Wind Blades would descend from the sky, giving them a full-body "massage," shredding them to pieces.

Hundreds of people, holding torches, burned the webs along the way, scaring the remaining spiders into scattering in all directions. "Damn it, even though we Shadow Giant Spiders aren't human, you guys are truly dogs! Not only do you kill us for our cores, but you also burn down our homes! This whole journey was like a demolition crew, leaving no spider alive, no web intact..."

The spiders that were lucky enough to survive looked up at the sky with their eight small eyes and immediately felt tears welling up... This was their first time seeing someone bully spiders with a Wyvern. Forget fighting, they couldn't even touch them... The humans below could be touched, but only if they had the life for it. Look at those Mithril Fir Bows drawn like full moons? Look at those 5-meter-long Anti-cavalry Pikes held steady? Or perhaps those two Paladins radiating holy Battle Qi? Or the shield wall that was like a moving Great Wall... There was simply nowhere to attack! Even using their skills was useless. Shadow Stealth was a joke in the eyes of the Paladins, and not even a funny one. Within a hundred meters, they were as bright as light bulbs in a Paladin's perception. They didn't even need to charge; they just needed to swing their weapons and unleash a spear or sword energy filled with holy Battle Qi to dismember a Shadow Giant Spider...

They were truly beings that couldn't be provoked and could only hide. Thus, the spiders of Mirkwood suffered greatly these past few days! Their suffering was bone-deep, as any rustle of leaves could trigger a deathly howl from the sky.

It must be said, Roland and his group were quite lucky. They didn't know that they had narrowly missed an Orc army from Dol Guldur while traversing Mirkwood. They left just before the Orcs passed behind them...

"Wyvern?" Azog looked at the sky in surprise. After so long, he only now realized there was a Wyvern hiding here. However, unfortunately, he didn't see a dragon saddle or a rider on this dragon. If he had seen this, he would have definitely reconsidered his attack plan, or at the very least, brought a few Dragon Slayer Crossbows (the most effective dragon-hunting weapons in Middle-earth, capable of dealing fatal damage to dragons when used with special arrows).

"Forward!" He shook his head, no longer thinking about the Wyvern, and instead fantasized about tasting the blood of the Dwarf King.