Giant Spider
In the crevices of the rocks, you can see some dark purple moss, and some white down grows on the surface of the moss. There are basically no weeds in the whole Pine Forest. The cold south wind blows from the mountain pass, and only the tall and straight Red Pine stand on the three passes.
Upon entering the Pine Forest, one discovers that many pine trees have deeply embedded their roots into the cracks in the rocks.
Roy followed the Adventure Group into the woods and discovered that there were still some broken stone walls built with stones. Although many of them were only foundations left, it was clear that some buildings had once stood on these ruins.
The elves didn't like living in stone houses, and these foundations suggested that the houses must have been quite large.
The ruins were located in a clearing in the Pine Forest, in the center of Aperture No.3. Roy looked along the foundation of these stone walls, which stretched all the way to the mountains on both sides, making it look more like a City Wall, with military outposts built behind City Wall.
Only the outline of the foundation remains.
Looking up at the mountain peaks on both sides from here, you can see some griffins circling on the summit; those are their nests.
"When we were at the foot of the mountain, we didn't realize how far the pass was from the summit..." Roy whispered to Sabrina.
Guide Majeri and Instructor Nora were already standing on the south slope of the pass, gazing towards the other side of Griffon Bulwark Mountain. They didn't say a word, their eyes filled with awe.
The members of the Adventure Group walked over and stood on the rocky slope, looking south towards the Bulwark Mountain Range through the sparse Pine Forest.
Before me lay a vast expanse of jungle. Looking down from above, the jungle resembled a lush green meadow. Several winding rivers divided the jungle into sections, and further on, a stretch of azure sea could be seen.
As far as the crowd could see, they could only see the edge of the sea; everything beyond that was shrouded in a thin mist.
"The Pattington Plane is truly vast. It turns out that the area we currently occupy is merely a tiny corner of this plane," Instructor Eleanor remarked with deep feeling.
"Unfortunately, the Bulwark Mountain Range stand in our way. It won't be easy to cross them. If we want to take a detour, we'll have to open a passage through the Blackwater Swamp first." Instructor Nora clearly had a very detailed understanding of the area around the Bulwark Mountain Range.
Roy turned and looked north; the Bulwark Village at the foot of the mountain was nowhere to be found.
However, he knew the location of that mountain hollow. The territory of the Lapis Lazuli Beast, the territory of the Dire Wolf, and those elven villages were almost all part of this jungle. Apart from the lush greenery, there was nothing else to be found.
He could no longer see Padesto City; he had climbed above the clouds, and the distant white clouds seemed to be beneath his feet.
Amidst the howling wind, a rustling sound suddenly rang out, followed by the crisp snapping of pine branches. Everyone looked towards the source of the sound and saw that the strong south wind had swept away the broken branches, while a Giant Spider, even larger than a griffin, was rapidly crawling towards the Adventure Group.
It has eight legs, each several meters long, thicker than an adult's thigh, and covered with fine white down.
The Giant Spider has a ring of ferocious compound eyes on its head, two huge black fangs that are a full meter long, and a round, bulging rear end. It moves swiftly through the Pine Forest. Because of its enormous size, it always breaks some branches as it moves, which is why it makes a crisp sound.
It looked extremely excited, probably because it had been starving for a long time, and charged straight at its prey as soon as it saw it.
"It's Black Jaw Spider! How could there be such a thing here? Prepare for battle, Scarlett..." Instructor Nora shouted.
Magician Scarlett immediately replied, "This guy isn't afraid of Ice Magic at all!"
Instructor Nora quickly said, "Use the Ice Wall to block it, Gelu, before it charges, shoot it in the eyes..."
Before Instructor Nora could finish speaking, an Ice Wall crashed down from the woods twenty meters away, followed by another Ice Wall with a loud bang.
Magician Scarlett didn't even cast a spell; she simply tore open the two Magic Scroll, released two Ice Magic, and then set up an Icy Path full of ice shards behind the Ice Wall. However, Roy thought that this icy path would probably be useless against the big guy in front of him.
At this moment, Instructor Gru had already jumped onto a pine tree, stepping on a horizontal branch, leaning against the trunk, and drawing back his Battle Shortbow.
A white light carrying the Wind Elemental Power swept past, and another Piercing Arrow out.
Just then, the Giant Spider crashed through the Ice Wall. Amidst the spreading ice mist, the Giant Spider charged forward without stopping, the friction of its limbs extremely grating.
Under the white light, the arrow accurately struck a compound eye the size of a fist, then disappeared into its massive body.
This was just one of its twenty-odd compound eyes. Although the arrow pierced the Giant Spider's body, it did not affect it. On the contrary, it made it even faster. It didn't even try to avoid the big tree in front of it and charged straight at the Adventure Group.
Instructor Nora, Instructor Eleanor, and Instructor Virgil formed a formidable trio to confront the Giant Spider. The three dared not be careless in the slightest and each displayed their full power.
Miss Christine followed Instructor Gru's example and fired a wind arrow at the Giant Spider. The arrow accurately struck the Giant Spider's other compound eye, but it caused the compound eye to burst out of a puddle of liquid, and the arrow remained stuck in the eye socket.
The Giant Spider became enraged. It suddenly stopped in place, raised its body with its eight legs, and exposed its huge abdomen from below, revealing the spindle-shaped spinneret behind it. It then sprayed countless strands of white spider silk at the crowd.
Some of the spider silk stuck to the pine trees, some to the rocks, and much more covered Instructor Nora and her team.
Without Instructor Nora's prompting, the longswords in the hands of Instructor Eleanor and Instructor Virgil emitted a dark red light, and even the Magician Scarlett released a fireball that exploded against the spider silk.
Spider silk is quickly burned when it comes into contact with fire.
Instructor Eleanor and Instructor Virgil's longswords seemed to be engulfed in flames, and some spider silk stuck to them melted away instantly.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Giant Spider rushed in front of Instructor Nora, and a hairy white leg more than five meters long stabbed down at her body. Instructor Nora did not resist at all, and decisively rolled on the ground to avoid the Giant Spider's attack. She then quickly approached the Giant Spider and slashed at the joint of one of its legs.
With a clang, the longsword did not sever one of the Giant Spider's legs, but only cut off a sharp spike at the joint.
Instructor Nora twisted her body, nimbly dodging the Giant Spider's next few attacks.
On the other side, Instructor Virgil executed almost the same combat plan as Instructor Nora. As a swordsman, Instructor Virgil successfully cut the joints of the Giant Spider's legs, revealing glistening tender flesh encased in its hard exoskeleton.
The Giant Spider was in pain, and its dozens of compound eyes stared at Instructor Virgil at the same time, making Instructor Virgil feel dizzy.
An ice arrow exploded in front of the spider's compound eyes, and countless icy mists spread out. Instructor Virgil immediately regained his senses and nimbly jumped away... A leg slammed into the spot where Instructor Virgil had been standing, and the rocks on the ground shattered into pieces.
Instructor Eleanor took the opportunity to circle around to the Giant Spider's tail, its weakest point, out of sight, and where it dragged its enormous abdomen.
Unfortunately, the leather on its abdomen was both soft and tough, and Instructor Eleanor's longsword couldn't penetrate it at all. The Giant Spider sensed that it was threatened from behind, so it quickly turned around and pounced on Instructor Eleanor.
Taking advantage of the moment when it raised its body, Instructor Gru fired another arrow. This time, Instructor Gru did not use Piercing Arrow; the arrow precisely grazed the Giant Spider's two eyeballs.
Miss Christine's second arrow missed its mark, hitting the Giant Spider's hairy back instead.
Sabrina and Roy stared intently at the battlefield, not joining the fight, but instead protecting Instructor Gru and Miss Christine respectively.
The Giant Spider Giant Spider then realized something was wrong. Although it had only suffered minor injuries, it was already considering retreating.
Instructor Eleanor retreated towards a pine tree. As she retreated, her body gradually faded until she completely disappeared. The Giant Spider not only missed its target but also lost its prey entirely.
Instructor Nora and Instructor Virgil charged in again from both sides, slashing at the joints of the outriggers.
This time, Instructor Nora also cut a wound on the Giant Spider's leg joint, and the Giant Spider immediately retracted the injured leg.
On the other side, Instructor Virgil was spotted by the Giant Spider's eyes. The Giant Spider raised its leg and stabbed at Instructor Virgil Instructor Virgil, forcing him back.
Upon seeing Instructor Eleanor's body disappear, the Giant Spider immediately extended its legs and began to climb up the pine tree.
For Giant Spider, the sparse Pine Forest provides just enough space to climb everywhere. Their climbing method is also unique. Due to their enormous size, they insert two legs into the trunk of one pine tree and the other two legs into the trunk of another. As their bodies rise rapidly, countless strands of silk, which are light, tough, and sticky, are sprayed out from the spinneret at their abdomen.
Although Miss Scarlett cast another Fireball Spell, its range was very limited.
There's no way around it; it's already quite remarkable that an Ice Magic can even throw a fireball...
Instructor Virgil ran out of the area covered by spider silk, while Instructor Nora ran to a tree, nimbly climbed the tree, and chased after the Giant Spider.
Instructor Eleanor's body appeared next to a pine tree, but she was unlucky; a bit of spider silk stuck to her shoulder, and she was stuck firmly to the pine tree.