The Third-Tier Mother Spider and the Steel Storm

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The five repeating crossbows fired in rapid succession. Row after row of heavy bolts tore through the air, then fell like rain.

The black venomous web the Spider Queen had spat out should have smothered the entire high ground.

But against that hail of bolts, it did not last even a moment.

The first few heavy bolts tore open the web, and the bolts behind them punched straight through.

Layer after layer of thick, tough silk snapped and burst. In the blink of an eye, the web had been shredded into black scraps that flew everywhere.

Before the strands dripping with corrosive venom could land, the next wave of bolts scattered them across the rocks, setting off a dense chorus of hisses.

The web had barely torn apart when the second volley bore down.

This time, the bolts were aimed not at the sky but at the Spider Queen herself, just as she landed.

She had clearly sensed the danger. Her eight jointed legs drew in sharply, and her massive body lunged sideways.

But all five crossbows were firing now, volley upon volley. Heavy bolts hammered down like a forest of nails, leaving her no room to dodge.

When the first bolt struck her carapace, it made only a dull crack. The dark-purple sheen of resistance across her shell flickered violently.

Then the second, third, and fourth bolts struck in succession. The sheen wavered, held out for a few more hits, then was torn apart.

Her black carapace began to shatter.

Heavy bolts struck one after another. The thick shell that could have withstood a Third Tier Battle Aura slash crumbled bit by bit beneath the sheer force of their impact.

Cracks burst from her chest and abdomen all the way to her back. Black fragments flew in every direction, mixed with foul-smelling fluid.

The Spider Queen reared up and let out a shriek so piercing it broke into a ragged screech.

Her eight long legs clawed wildly, scraping harsh lines across the rock and sending stones flying to either side.

But it was too late for her to save herself.

The bolts that followed drove deeper through the holes the first ones had made.

One punched through. Two more sank in. Three pierced straight through her torso.

The force of the bolts drove her massive body backward. Her mouthparts opened and closed, each shriek more agonized than the last, as though the barrage would tear her apart on the spot.

When the final hail of bolts fell, the entire Spider Queen was pinned to the charred rock wall behind her.

The Third-Tier Mother Spider that had charged out so fiercely moments before had become a mangled mass pinned to the wall. She would never move again.

Thick green fluid ran down the bolt shafts, staining the Frozen Tundra beneath her a filthy black.

For a while, no one on the high ground spoke.

Fabien still had his sword half-drawn. He stared at the Spider Queen's corpse pinned to the rock wall for several breaths before finally lowering his hand.

Under normal circumstances, even in daylight, bringing down a Third-Tier Mother Spider like her would have taken more than a dozen full-fledged knights fighting together.

The front line would have had to hold her in place with shields while the flanks looked for chances to hack at her legs. The rest would have worn her down little by little, risking contact with Venom Threads and venom the whole time. One misstep could have left several of them dead.

But under the repeating crossbows' assault, she had never even gotten close. The five Steam Repeating Crossbows had blasted her to pieces the moment she emerged from the cave.

Fabien turned toward the lord who had planned it all. Wind swept up from the mouth of the canyon, whipping the hem of Shien's coat.

Shien glanced at the corpse, then looked down at the notebook in his hand and jotted down a few lines.

A moment later, he closed the notebook and looked toward the still-smoking slope below.

"Collect the corpses. Don't let the spider silk burn."

The knights put on thick gloves, picked up hooked knives and wooden crates, and hurried down the gentle slope. They turned over the charred spider corpses one by one.

Once a Night Spider was completely dead, the Venom Threads in its abdomen and glands were actually easier to extract.

A few cuts were enough to draw out strands of gleaming silk. Cold and damp, they hung from the hand like fine silver wire, yet were tougher than Refined Steel wire.

What the Steam Repeating Crossbows lacked now was a bowstring material that could withstand sustained fire under high tension.

Demonic beast sinew was tough enough, but not stable enough. Pull it to its limit and it would snap. The Shadow Venom Silk spun by Night Spiders was different.

It naturally resisted stretching and wear, and magical disturbances barely affected it. Once alchemically detoxified and tanned repeatedly, it would be ideal for Composite Bowstrings.

As soon as the Workshop processed this batch of silk, the next generation of repeating crossbows could gain a marked improvement in firing speed, pressure tolerance, and lifespan.

And that was not its only value.

The silk was fine enough to be almost invisible when stretched between trees or across the mouths of trenches.

For tripwire nooses, warning lines, and hunting traps, it was lighter than iron wire and harder to spot in advance.

Add a little alchemical venom, and even a scratch would be enough to deal with most demonic beasts.

It could also be used for the wrist crossbows of the Heavy Cavalry Knights, the winch-launched ropes on the city walls, and even certain underhanded traps.

For a frontier territory like Blackpine Fief, which lacked almost everything, it was an enormous haul.

On the slope, the knights stripped out the silk and packed the intact glands into separate crates, working with great care.

Fabien went up to the Spider Queen's corpse himself. He planted a foot on her cracked carapace, gripped his sword with both hands, and drove it down. Then he wrenched it sideways, forcing her chest cavity open.

Green-black fluid spilled across the ground.

Once the stench had faded a little, he bent down and reached inside. After feeling around among the mangled flesh and glands, he pulled out a fist-sized Tier Three Sourceblood Magic Crystal and carefully presented it to Shien.

It was still warm. Dark red currents swirled beneath its surface like blood and fire churning inside a crystal shell. Even in the hand, the restless energy within seemed to pulse and swell.

Shien studied it for a couple of breaths before taking it.

In this age corroded by the Blood Moon, High-Tier Primordial Blood was one of the most dangerous and expensive strategic resources in existence.

It could serve as high-pressure fuel for heavy alchemical machinery or as the core catalyst for large Rune Arrays.

Whether the Sacred Flame needed to run beyond its normal limits for a short time, certain Constructs had to be forced past their material limits, or armor-piercing weapons and explosive agents were needed against High-Tier Demonic Beasts, they all depended on it.

Put more plainly, many things that seemed impossible on the frontier were ultimately made possible by the brute force of High-Tier Primordial Blood.

In the Inland, a Tier Three Sourceblood crystal of this quality could genuinely be traded for a decent small castle, or support a regular company of knights for an entire year.

But in Blackpine Fief, its value clearly went beyond money.

Shien lightly rubbed the still-warm Magic Crystal with his fingertips. He was already running through several of the Workshop's blueprints in his mind.

Victor had been buried in those blueprints lately.

Should they use Tier Three Sourceblood to drive the main boiler of the Heavy Steam Repeating Crossbow? Should they upgrade the outer wall's offensive array as a whole...

Until now, those plans had remained at the stage of perhaps someday.

But with a fourth Tier Three Sourceblood crystal in hand, many of them could finally become reality.

The question was no longer whether they could build them. It was how to get the most value out of all four Tier Three Sourceblood crystals.

Before anyone had recovered from the excitement of that haul, a startled cry suddenly rang out from deep inside the cave.