Spider King

Black Brother pulled out his blade and flicked off the bodily fluid. His breathing remained steady, but his expression was still grim.

He looked up at the densely spreading spider silk across the ceiling and listened to the faint, incessant crawling sounds coming from deep within the passageway. He shouted in a low voice, "Don't just stand there! There's more than this! A whole swarm is coming from behind!"

Lin Yun snapped back to his senses as well. Activating the Wind-Treading Step beneath his feet, he rushed toward two Shadow Spiders pouncing on an injured hunter.

Rather than taking the spider silk head-on, he twisted aside and slid low across the ground. He drew back his right fist and slammed it viciously into the Shadow Spider's abdomen.

Bang! The force of the Vajra Fist penetrated its carapace. The Shadow Spider let out a shrill hiss, its massive body swayed, and its eight legs went limp as it collapsed to the ground.

The other Shadow Spider turned and spat silk at him. Lin Yun pushed off with the tip of his foot and flipped into the air. The silk brushed past the soles of his shoes and struck the wall, instantly corroding a deep dent into it.

The instant he landed, his short blade left its sheath. He drove it hard into the gap between the Shadow Spider's leg joints, twisted his wrist, and crippled half its mobility.

With Lin Yun and the other hunters clearing out the scattered Shadow Spiders, Black Brother was free to target the larger elites.

Blade flashes and fists crisscrossed through the hall as the sounds of snapping silk and shattering carapaces merged into one.

But there were simply too many Shadow Spiders. They continued pouring out of the underground passage, as if the entire nest had moved here through the tunnels.

After cutting down the fourth peak first-rank Shadow Spider, Black Brother finally let out a slight breath.

He knew they could not drag this out any longer. If they delayed until more Shadow Spiders surrounded them and wove a massive web, everyone would be trapped here to die.

"Everyone, fall back to the entrance! Abandon the stronghold! Move now!"

The group fought as they retreated, finally charging their way to the main entrance of the abandoned mall.

The bearded man cleaved away a Shadow Spider that had lunged close, then grabbed the iron handle of the door and pulled hard toward himself.

But the heavy alloy doors did not budge, as though they had been welded into the frame.

"Something's wrong!" He frowned. "It looks like something sealed the outside!"

Lin Yun strode forward and peered outside through the crack in the door.

The outside was covered in a dense layer of grayish-white spider silk, piled layer upon layer until it was as thick as a forearm. It looked like a solidified mass of glue, sealing the doors and surrounding walls airtight without leaving even the slightest gap.

"It's spider silk."

Lin Yun drew the short blade from his waist, aimed it at the silk in the door crack, poured his full vitality and blood into it, and slashed down viciously.

Hiss!

The blade cut into the silk, but it felt like slicing into an exceptionally tough tendon, meeting tremendous resistance.

Even with all his strength, he only cut a gash less than half a foot deep. Worse, the silk around the wound was slowly wriggling, showing signs of fusing back together on its own.

Ordinary Shadow Spider silk would snap with a single stroke from his blade. It could never be this tough.

Lin Yun's heart sank. He turned and shouted toward Black Brother in the depths of the hall, "Black Brother! This silk is too tough. It's most likely from a second-rank Spider King!"

"A second-rank Spider King?!"

The words landed among the crowd like a thunderclap. The surrounding hunters instantly changed expression, and terror filled many of their eyes.

Second-rank beasts were equivalent to human Martial Masters.

Most of the hunters present were in the middle to late stages of the Martial Apprentice realm. They already struggled against peak first-rank beasts, let alone a second-rank spider king.

Shadow Spiders were already notorious for being sinister and difficult to deal with. Once one became a king, it would only be more terrifying.

Black Brother's face darkened as well. He swung his blade to force back the two Shadow Spiders before him, his gaze sweeping over the impenetrable doors before shifting to the underground passage that continued to spew out beasts.

He knew Lin Yun was right.

Ordinary Shadow Spiders possessed only hunting instincts. They would never understand tactics such as sealing the doors in advance and cutting off their enemies' retreat.

Only a more intelligent Spider King could have orchestrated such a death trap from behind the scenes.

"Damn it, those Black-Iron Ants could've fled anywhere, but they just had to lure these things here!"

Black Brother spat, but he did not panic too much.

Even against a second-rank Shadow Spider King, he still had the strength to fight.

But as the leader of the stronghold, he had to be responsible for everyone's safety.

Otherwise, he would have no right to establish a stronghold again.

"Don't panic! It's only second-rank. We're not at a dead end yet!" Black Brother reassured everyone.

But the situation worsened faster than expected.

More and more Shadow Spiders poured from the underground passage, lunging forward one after another.

Although Black Brother killed one with every swing, his killing speed gradually failed to keep up with the rate at which they emerged.

Several Shadow Spiders that slipped through circled around the side and sprayed silk at the crowd. Two more hunters had their legs caught, their movements restricted as danger closed in instantly.

If this continued, the Spider King would not even need to act. The swarm alone could wear them all to death.

Lin Yun made his decision at once. He dodged a strand of silk to the side, then shouted at the bearded man beside him, "Take three strong brothers and pry at it with blades, burn it with fire—whatever it takes, get the doors open as fast as possible! The rest of you come with me and hold them back. We'll buy you time!"

His tone was decisive. The bearded man froze for a moment before immediately nodding. "Alright! Brother Lin, hold on!"

He immediately picked three hunters. The four retreated to the doors, took out daggers and fire starters, and began working over the thick web in turns.

Lin Yun led the remaining dozen or so hunters to meet the incoming swarm of Shadow Spiders.

He pushed the Wind-Treading Step to its limit, his figure darting through the spider swarm like lightning. His Vajra Fist struck joints and weak points, while his short blade finished them off. Every attack sent a Shadow Spider crashing down.

With him, a peak Martial Apprentice, holding the front line, and Black Brother guarding the other side, the crumbling defense line was forcibly stabilized.

The corpses of insects piled ever higher in the hall. Dark green bodily fluid covered the floor, and the stench was nearly enough to make them vomit.

But no one dared relax.

Everyone understood that this was merely an appetizer. The true killing blow had yet to reveal itself.

Just then, a scream rang out from the left side of the battlefield.

An old hunter with graying hair was swinging his blade at the Shadow Spider before him, unaware that a massive black shadow was silently descending from the darkness above.

The black shadow moved with astonishing speed. Eight long legs flashed with cold light. Before the old hunter could even turn around, his body was cleanly sliced open from shoulder to abdomen, the cut as smooth as a mirror.

Blood sprayed out, splattering the hunter beside him.

The massive figure landed beside the corpse, its eight long legs planted firmly on the ground with a dull tap.

Everyone's movements froze for an instant. It was a colossal beast far larger than an ordinary Shadow Spider.

It stood nearly three meters tall, and with its legs included, its body stretched four meters long. Its entire body was covered in deep black carapace that gleamed with a jade-like chill.

The ends of its eight thick legs were sharp as awls and shone with a metallic gleam, no less deadly than second-rank combat weapons.

A ring of dark purple patterns covered its abdomen, slowly writhing. Its eight compound eyes swept coldly across the hall, carrying the indifference of a superior being.

A second-rank beast—the Shadow Spider King!