.
The New Recruit Camp deserters rushed all the way to the outskirts of the base without meeting any resistance. They thought they were just moments away from escaping, and each of them was thrilled.
But just as they were preparing to climb over the perimeter fence, they discovered that an incredibly eerie curtain had sealed off the outskirts of the base.
Some hotheaded fools thought it was just an optical illusion and refused to believe it. They charged straight into the curtain, which looked half like mist and half like something real, only to be swallowed up. Seven or eight of them were stuck to it in an instant, then quickly wrapped in strange, invisible threads and cocooned into enormous bundles.
The eerie curtain was actually made of countless fine, resilient strands. It looked just like an absurdly huge spiderweb.
In theory, it was only a spiderweb. With the abilities of these Awakened, breaking through one should have been easy.
But they had clearly overestimated themselves.
The spiderweb was far tougher than they had imagined. They couldn't break through by crashing into it; instead, the strands swiftly wrapped around them, turning them into giant cocoons. Swords and blades felt soft when they struck the web, yet their keen force seemed to be neutralized by some mysterious power. They couldn't cut through it, or even leave a mark.
If an attacker was too slow to retreat, the strands could even reach out on their own, trying to ensnare anyone who approached to attack at close range.
If those fools hadn't been quick to run, the New Recruit Camp might have lost more than half its people in the first wave. Even so, several close-range attackers were wrapped up.
The Awakened with ranged attack abilities tried a different approach. They decided