The Spider Queen was enormous. From the tip of her head to her rear, she was nearly three meters long.
Her eight sharp legs were even more terrifying. They punched deep holes into the ground and stones as she went.
As her legs moved in turn, the massive Spider Queen seemed to drift on the wind, not looking heavy in the slightest.
Her body was covered in scorched, mottled patches. She was so furious that even the nine blood-red eyes on her head seemed twisted, while her vicious mouthparts opened and closed, emitting one shrill cry after another. Who knew how many Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders Ji Ruo had burned to death? There was a reason these Demonic Beasts feared fire: they had very little resistance to it.
Their webs were extremely flammable. Once even a spark caught on one, there was no stopping it—it would keep burning!
And unlike Monster Beasts, Demonic Beasts didn't gain a boost to all their physical attributes and resistances upon reaching a certain rank.
Their evolutions did improve certain relevant resistances, but comparatively speaking, the increase wasn't much.
If they feared fire, they feared fire. If they couldn't withstand burning, they couldn't withstand burning.
Judging by the Spider Queen's battered appearance, she had obviously forced her way out through the sea of flames.
And for this fire-fearing Demonic Beast to charge through a sea of flames just to hunt down Ji Ruo and the others, her offspring must have suffered devastating losses—enough to drive the Spider Queen out of her mind.
The cave had been choked with webs, and the fire had been fierce. The low-rank Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders had probably all perished in the flames, and it went without saying that few spider eggs had survived.
Ji Ruo lay on his back in the mud, making a quick assessment.
The Spider Queen had reached the edge of the swamp and was standing right beside Ji Ruo and the others.
But she still hadn't spotted them.
They were so well hidden, it was as if they'd completely blended into their surroundings. Of course, that wasn't the only reason.
In the middle of the swamp, the tentacles swayed in apparent confusion, as if wondering where the disturbance it had just sensed had gone.
Perhaps the spider venom had left it a little sluggish.
The furious Spider Queen couldn't find Ji Ruo and the others, but she sensed the lingering scent of her offspring on those tentacles.
Then she noticed the faint purple tinge on them. How could she not realize some of her offspring had become her enemy's meal?
Under normal circumstances, the Spider Queen might not have cared much. But her offspring had just suffered grievous losses, and she was already burning with rage.
With Ji Ruo and the others nowhere to be found, the scent of her offspring lingering on those tentacles gave her fury an outlet.
"Hiss!"
She let out an angry shriek. Lying beside her, Ji Ruo almost couldn't stop himself from clapping his hands over his ears.
Fortunately, he held back.
The Spider Queen leaped high into the air and spun around. A deep-purple web sprayed from her rear, spreading across the entire swamp in the blink of an eye.
Lying in the mud, Ji Ruo's eyes widened as he thought, You can't even tell whether it's male or female.
In the next instant, the incredibly tough threads dropped down and stuck precisely to the tentacles reaching out of the swamp. At the Spider Queen's shriek, the thick, deep-purple strands tightened, dragging a fat catfish out of the swamp by force!
Those thick tentacles were the whiskers of the fat catfish!
As it was dragged out, the fat catfish's eyes still looked a little dazed. It seemed to have let itself get poisoned on purpose. Perhaps, to it, the Nine-Eyed Demon Spider's venom was like intoxicating wine.
The Spider Queen was already too worked up to care about anything else. With another shriek, she yanked the web tight, trapping the fat catfish in midair before opening her vicious mouthparts and biting down hard.
"Mm?"
The fat catfish glanced at the Spider Queen with its slightly hazy eyes, as if it still couldn't make sense of what was happening.
Perhaps because it was so fat, its thick layer of fat meant it didn't feel much pain.
A fierce glint flashed in the Spider Queen's nine scarlet eyes. Venom—inject!
"Hiss~ hiss~ hiss~"
The sound of a bottle of fizzy soda being opened rang out as the highly corrosive venom instantly dissolved a gaping hole in the fat catfish's body.
The pain finally woke the fat catfish. Roaring, it began to fight back.
And so, the two powerful Demonic Beasts began battling on the web.
The fat catfish was forced to fight in midair, away from its home turf, but it still held its own. If anything, it seemed a little stronger than the Spider Queen.
Liang Shixian had already closed his eyes, waiting to die. But the agonizing pain he'd expected never came. All he heard were angry shrieks and muffled cries.
Confused, he tentatively opened his eyes and saw two Demonic Beasts battling overhead.
Liang Shixian was stunned.
"Ji Ruo?"
He didn't dare move and wasn't sure whether his companions were still alive. He tentatively called out in a whisper.
"Shh! You're not supposed to talk during hide-and-seek!"
Ji Ruo whispered.
Liang Shixian breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, the whole situation felt absurd beyond belief.
They'd actually managed to hide right under the noses of two Demonic Beasts!
He couldn't make sense of how it had happened, and could only chalk it up to their extraordinary luck.
Ji Ruo's voice had let Liang Shixian know he was lying right beside him. So, while keeping his eyes on the two powerful Magic Beasts fighting overhead, he quietly turned his head to see if Ji Ruo was all right.
Then Liang Shixian froze.
Ji Ruo was lying in the mud just like him, covered from head to toe in sludge. But at some point, he'd propped his hands behind his head and crossed his legs, lounging in complete comfort!
"These Demonic Beasts really don't get along with their neighbors," Ji Ruo murmured with a click of his tongue.
Liang Shixian: "..."
Are you seriously treating this like a countryside picnic?!
Demonic Beasts didn't fight with any notion of pulling their punches. Once a conflict broke out, it was a fight to the death.
Higher-level Demonic Beasts might be smarter and know when to cut their losses.
But the Spider Queen was already blinded by rage, and the fat catfish had been attacked out of nowhere. Neither of them was in a good mood.
And with injuries inevitable in a fight, the pain only made both sides angrier. How could either of them think about cutting their losses?
They'd both lost their heads.
But if he had to say, the fat catfish was probably feeling rather aggrieved.
After all, it had no idea what was going on. One moment it was minding its own business, and the next, the Spider Queen had hoisted it into the air and attacked it.
Sure, it had eaten a few Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders, but that was no reason to go this far!
It had often eaten its neighbor's offspring before, and the Spider Queen had never gotten angry when it used the low-rank Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders' venom as a nerve-numbing drink!
The fat catfish's eyes were red and it was all worked up, but it also felt a little wronged.
So it couldn't—and wouldn't—stop attacking.
The fight had come right to its doorstep. Sure, it had been in the wrong, but the Spider Queen didn't need to be this furious, did she?
It would be fine if it won, but if it lost, that'd be humiliating!
Liang Shixian whispered through gritted teeth, "Ji Ruo, we're still in danger. Could you stop sitting there analyzing the two Demonic Beasts' inner thoughts?"
That's right. Everything above about the fat catfish's thoughts had been Ji Ruo's own speculation, spoken aloud.
Ji Ruo replied in a grumbling whisper, "Then what should we do? Just lie here? Besides, don't you know that these kinds of high-level showdowns put on for an audience always have a live commentator nearby to help the viewers understand what's going on?"
Liang Shixian: "..."
What do you mean, "high-level showdowns put on for an audience"?! And what do you mean, "live commentator"?!
Zhang Quan and Liu Neng listened to the two of them talking nearby, not daring to so much as breathe loudly.
Neither of them had much courage, and they didn't dare speak at a time like this. They were afraid the two Demonic Beasts, already worked up according to Ji Ruo's analysis, might notice them
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