"It's over."
Maggie's body was stuck to the web, suspended in midair and unable to move. Like a moth caught in a spiderweb, no matter how she struggled, she couldn't escape. Instead, the strands that released a powerful adhesive were wrapping tighter and tighter around her.
Her pupils trembled violently as she could only watch in terror while the monster approached, stepping lightly and almost silently along the trembling strands.
They were so close.
Close enough that she could smell the overpowering stench coming from its body.
It finally stopped.
Two rows of compound eyes lined either side of its head, eight black eyes in total.
All eight black eyes stared unblinkingly at Maggie from different angles.
Its face, however, wore a humanlike expression of delight, as though it greatly enjoyed the fear its prey was giving off.
Its whole body was covered in hair-raising gray fur, and its belly bulged like a giant ball. The web strands were shot from the glandular organs in its abdomen.
It seemed to have admired the terror on her face enough.
Its plump lower abdomen, round as a pregnant woman's belly, shot out grayish-white webbing.
The webbing seemed almost alive as it precisely wrapped around Maggie's neck.
"Hhk—"
The webbing slowly constricted around her throat, tightening its hold. Maggie felt herself gradually suffocating.
Her vision began to blur.
Suddenly, a flash of Azure Blue burst into the edge of her vision.
"Boom!"
"Crack!"
The strands coiling around her body were precisely severed by a fleeting flash of Azure Blue light.
The web strands snapped, and the tightening pressure around her neck suddenly eased.
"Hah—hah—"
As if she had just been rescued from drowning, she instinctively gasped for air.
Her mind was completely blank.
"Made it in time."
A clear male voice came faintly