Venom Spider

He looked at Joey in puzzlement and asked, "Joey, where did you encounter such a powerful magical beast?" "In Silverpine Forest. I never want to go back to that damned place." Allen patted his arm reassuringly. "Joey, this is Tirisfal Glades. There are no monsters like that here. Blood Spiders live in hotter regions. The nights in Tirisfal are far too cold for them."

Joey immediately protested, "Impossible! This venom..." Allen cut him off at once. "Joey, don't let fear take over your heart. The venom only looks similar. Some other creature might have left it. That doesn't prove anything." Joey wanted to say more, but after thinking it over, he felt Allen seemed to have a point. Once Allen saw that he seemed a little better, he returned to the group.

Meanwhile, Kels had finished making arrangements. He formed the group into a circle, with himself in the middle and the mercenaries on the outside, so he could come to their aid more easily if they were attacked. Allen was assigned a position toward the rear.

Although he did not think it was the Blood Spider Joey had described, he would not let his guard down. All they knew so far was that the monster was venomous. But judging by the silent road ahead, it was certainly no ordinary beast. No ordinary beast could exert such an intimidating presence that it drove away all the nearby creatures. It was probably some venomous magical beast, most likely a bug such as a spider or centipede.

His guess proved correct. It was indeed a bug-a Venom Spider. Venom Spiders could be considered distant relatives of Blood Spiders, a subspecies of sorts, but they lacked the strength and speed of Blood Spiders. They relied on venom to kill their enemies for food, whereas Blood Spiders used their venom only to paralyze their enemies before tearing them apart with their powerful fangs and jointed limbs. Although a Venom Spider was weaker than a Blood Spider, it was more than capable of dealing with their entire group.

However, this Venom Spider seemed smaller than those in the books, and its coloration was not yet dark enough, being a pale green. It looked like a juvenile. This Venom Spider had probably escaped from Venom Spider Canyon. He could not understand why a juvenile would be here when Venom Spiders lived in groups. He looked around and found that there really seemed to be only one Venom Spider here, but he still dared not take it lightly.

Seeing the Venom Spider surrounded by them, the group actually felt relieved. The Venom Spider had noticed them before they arrived, and it clicked its pair of fangs at them in warning.

Then Kels told everyone, "Don't be afraid. It's only a juvenile Venom Spider. Attack its abdomen-that's its weak point. Spread out as soon as you hear my command. Keep it occupied from the sides, and I'll deal with it." With that, Kels roared and charged. The mercenaries near him also spread out, trying to surround the spider. Seeing that its warning had been useless, the Venom Spider let out a piercing screech, opened its mouth, and spat a stream of venom nearly seven meters long at Kels. The dark green venom looked more terrifying than any deadly poison. Naturally, Kels would not test his body's toughness against it. While moving at high speed, he forcibly twisted his body at an unbelievable angle and dodged the venom.

The surrounding mercenaries began attacking the Venom Spider. A burly mercenary swung his hand axe hard at it. The Venom Spider raised its two front legs, and an ugly metallic screech immediately rang out. The man clearly had not expected his full-strength blow to do no damage whatsoever. He froze for a moment, and that moment of distraction cost him his life. The Venom Spider whipped its front legs forward, and before the mercenaries could react, its sharp legs had slashed him. The blood at his wound quickly turned green and streamed out in thin trails. Abandoning everything else, the man ran back to the camp, trying to get an antidote. Unfortunately, the low-grade antidotes sold on the market were completely useless. He watched helplessly as his body grew weaker and weaker, desperately begging anyone he could see to save him. "Lord Kels, please, hurry and save me! No, I'm going to die! Lord Aris, save me, save me! I don't want to die..."

The burly man crawled toward Aris, the Mason Family's steward. Without even looking at him, Aris brought his sword down, and the man could no longer make a sound. "I'm sorry. I can't save you. I hope this will spare you any more suffering."

The mercenaries surrounding the Venom Spider felt a chill at the sight and involuntarily took a step back. Kels hurriedly roared, "Coward! That coward deserves no sympathy! Get in there and kill this beast! I'll reward each of you with a gold coin! For gold-kill!"

Hearing Kels's furious roar, the mercenaries knew they had no way back and charged together. Allen charged too, but instead of rushing straight at the Venom Spider, he circled behind it. He knew that the huge sac at its rear was its weak point. Several others had the same idea, and they circled behind it faster and earlier than Allen did.

Just as they were about to attack the Venom Spider's sac, the spider, which was locked in combat with Kels, acted as though it had eyes in the back of its head. Using the force of Kels's attack, it spun around and spat a great mouthful of dark green venom straight at them. Terrified out of his wits, Allen could only hold his sword crosswise in front of his chest in desperation. Fortunately, he was not at the very front, and only a little venom splashed his way.

The blade began giving off white smoke the moment it touched the venom. Allen rolled on the spot to evade the Venom Spider's attack, then hurriedly stripped off the leather armor he had bought. Sure enough, the armor also began smoking before a large hole burned through it.

Allen was undoubtedly lucky, but the others had not fared so well, especially the mercenaries closest to the spider. They were now lying on the ground, howling incessantly as the venom ate away at their bodies like strong acid.

Allen shrank back in lingering fear at the sight. Kels ignored the fallen mercenaries and instead seized the opportunity, desperately swinging his greatsword at the Venom Spider. By giving up the initiative against Kels to kill the mercenaries, the Venom Spider had been forced onto the defensive. Even so, Kels had only inflicted minor injuries and had no way to kill it.

The battle quickly became a desperate struggle. The mercenaries were dead or crippled, and those left had almost been frightened out of their wits by the slaughter. Allen did not understand why this Venom Spider was so powerful. Even an adult Venom Spider would probably be no stronger than this. On closer inspection, its coloring also seemed somewhat brighter than the books described. Ordinary Venom Spiders relied mainly on venom to hunt, so they were generally not very fast. Yet this one's speed and reflexes were many times greater than those of a normal Venom Spider. Allen was almost certain now that this was no ordinary Venom Spider.

Why was this clearly unusual spider so powerful, and why had it appeared here alone? He did not want to imagine conspiracies, but given the circumstances, who the hell would believe there was no plot behind it? Although he did not know who was responsible, they must have a grudge against the Mason Family, as well as considerable power.

He simply could not understand why someone capable of controlling such a powerful Venom Spider would not act directly. Unless they could not act directly and had resorted to this method instead. But that raised another question: why would the enemy go to such lengths to target a caravan like this? Could the caravan be carrying something they needed, or someone they wanted to deal with? Whatever the case, the mastermind must be a noble. Only nobles had such great resources at their disposal. But knowing this was useless. With his current abilities, even staying alive would be difficult. How could he dare get involved?

Allen was already planning to flee the battle. As soon as Kels could no longer hold off the Venom Spider, he would run into the forest beside them. There should be a river branch nearby. Once he reached it, he would be safe. Venom Spiders could not dive underwater.

Ten minutes later, Kels's situation could only be described as precarious. If he relaxed for even a moment or failed to react in time, death would be all that awaited him. Kels certainly had plenty of combat experience, but this Venom Spider was simply too fast. Since he could not afford to touch even a drop of venom, and the mercenaries were no longer there to keep it occupied, he could only defend.

Sure enough, a prolonged defense inevitably left an opening. Soon, the Venom Spider seized the moment when Kels's strength began to fail and lunged at him. Kels no longer had the strength to raise his sword to defend himself. Just as he was about to die in the spider's jaws, a huge fireball flew out from the caravan. There was a tremendous boom, and the Venom Spider, which had seemed so powerful moments ago, immediately exploded. Kels reacted at once, rolling out of the way of the venom splattering from the dying spider.

Allen and the surviving mercenaries all looked toward the other side of the caravan. There stood a plainly dressed girl with ordinary features and even a few freckles on her face. Nothing about her suggested that she was such a formidable mage. She looked far more suited to being a noble young lady's maid. The young mage stood beside the carriage, holding a wooden staff, her gaze sharp and utterly emotionless.

Allen looked closely. He had seen that girl before. Shortly after the caravan set off, he had seen her enter the carriage. It had never occurred to him that she might be a powerful mage. He had thought she was an ordinary maid there to attend to Kels inside the carriage. Now it seemed that Kels was probably the girl's attendant instead.

How could he fail to understand now? Even without thinking, he could tell that the girl was probably the person those masterminds were targeting. They had likely brought the Venom Spider here to test her strength. The girl was probably also a member of the Mason Family, and a core member at that. At this thought, his heart involuntarily sank. He had to find an opportunity to escape. With a conspiracy like this, neither the young mage nor the mastermind behind the Venom Spider would let them live. This already involved the nobles' secrets. Weak people like them would only be silenced.