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“Humph! Foolish human! Since you have come into this queen’s home, don’t leave and just become food for my kin!”

 

As if guided by her will, the spiders immediately resumed their attack. But Add was also ready; he threw a bunch of incendiary grenades which lit dozens of spiders on fire, and retreated, since they were everywhere, he knew that it would not be so easy to get out of this situation. However, the spiders were only a minor problem. The real threat was the King class Arachne standing behind them, he could deal with Knight class magical beasts, but going against a king class head on like this was probably not a good idea for now. The spiders shrieked in pain, as they were burnt but more and more still rushed towards him.

 

The Arachne just stood behind waiting for her minions to deal with Add. She did not have much compassion for the spiders, they followed her and obeyed her out of their instincts, and since there were thousands of them, with more being born every day, the deaths of a few hundred of them was not much of a loss at all. However, she quickly realized that the human before her was not that simple. Even though he was being besieged by thousands of spiders, he was still able to defend himself and the spiders had not been able to hurt him at all. She did not know what strange sorcery the human was using, his strange attacks, killed dozens of her spiders, and not allowed them to approach him.

 

“I’ve had enough… God damned bugs, you kill one and there's ten more to take its place…”

 

 Mean while Add who was being besieged from all sides by the spiders, was finally running out of patience. The spiders just kept coming no matter how many he shot or burned to death. However, he did manage to clear a path of retreat gradually. As he was slowly getting away from her grasp, the Arachne frowned. He devoted followers were unable to take care of a single human, and were dying by the hundreds while the human was escaping. Finally, she had enough. ‘These spiders are just insects in the end, looks like I was expecting too highly of them.’

 

She chose to act herself and ordered a large group of spiders to swarm before her, becoming a meat shield, and then rushed towards Add, her speed quite high for her size. The later who was almost out of the encirclement of the spiders, felt really annoyed. A water bomb responded her aggression and blew up right in the wall of spiders, obliterating it and causing damage to the Arachne as well. Although she was largely unscathed by the explosion thanks to her innate physical defence and the spiders taking the brunt of the force,  the shockwave and heat still managed to injure her slightly and this made her even more angry. Although using such powerful bombs also put Add at some risk of being caught up in the explosions, he had little choice, now that the Arachne was actively engaging him.

 

“You dare act wantonly before this queen? Good, very good, now see how this queen will punish you!”

 

The Arachne was fuming now. Initially she wanted to feed this rouge human to her spiders, but now she wanted to catch him alive and ear him into pieces herself. But before she could retaliate, two more bombs were hurtling towards her, by now she had seen enough of these small but deadly objects and was forced to retreat as the explosions killed even more spiders. Taking this opportunity, Add increased his distance from the swarm of spiders and continued using these powerful bombs, to clear any spiders in pursuit. He was already out of the Arachne’s territory by now, but they still chased him.

 

“This human! What sorcery is he using!? I feel no magic from him, but then....what in the world is that human doing?”

 

The Arachne was really shocked. The human before her was so frail and so vulnerable, and she did not sense a shred of mana from him, yet he had such devastating means at his disposal that he could actually push back a full assault from so many spiders, and even she herself had been forced back! Her spider followers had also taken huge damage, and hundreds had been killed by now. She realised that the human was not at all the easy target she was thinking it to be, instead he was a formidable opponent, and a very dangerous one at that. She had to make a choice, whether to keep chasing him and risk the lives of more of her followers and herself, or to give up her pride and retreat back into her lair. While she was torn between the two, a shrill sound reached her ears.

 

*HISS*

 

At once, her expression turned gloomy and all the spiders around her became erratic, they began surrounding her, and shrieking towards a group of trees from where the sound was coming from. Even the spiders that were still following Add stopped and then hurriedly returned to the Arachne’s side. Add who was hundreds of metres away from the Arachne by now, found this awfully suspicious and stopped in his tracks. He kept his vigilance to the maximum as he saw the horde of spiders retreating hurriedly. He hid himself in the foliage, and the cameras zoomed in, displaying what was going on back with the Arachne and spiders.

 

Back at where the Arachne was, hundreds of spiders were gathering all around her, as she looked at her new foe with a tensed gaze. The new arrival flicked its tongue in the air, as its greenish yellow eyes stared at the Arachne like a hungry wolf looking at a juicy piece of meat. Slowly, from within the thickets of trees, a large creature slithered out. This was another magical beast, a giant snake monster called the Laika Stone Serpent. It was also a King Class monster. Its body was over twenty metres long with a diameter of over two metres. Its head could easily swallow a large cow whole in one gulp.

 

Its body was covered in reddish brown scales and on its back two rows of spine like scales also ran across the length of its body all the way from the base of its head to the tip of its tail. This serpent was not poisonous; it killed by crushing and its prey to death by using its powerful muscular body. The mouth was filled with hundreds of nail like teeth, each the size of kitchen knives which were curved inwards. It got its name due to its tough scales which were very hard and it was said that armour made from these scales was able to withstand attacks from rank 6 warriors without getting much of a scratch. It was a tough and fearsome predator, and currently a solid threat to the Arachne.

 

However, another king class monster appearing at the outer regions was quite a surprise and it seemed that the Arachne was unlucky, first a strange human caused so many losses to her followers, and now such an enemy had appeared. What she did not know was that the serpent had been wandering some distance away and would have passed by her domain without any problems, but it was attracted by the explosions which Add continuously caused. Who knew what she would have felt if she knew this. Although both the Arachne and the Laika Stone Serpent were classified as King class magical beasts, but that was just a term humans used in a general sense. In reality, although the Serpent was not sentient like the Arachne, it was quite a lot stronger than her and she knew this as well. The serpent dwarfed her in size, her body was less than half of its in length, and the mana she possessed was also slightly less compared to it. The situation was dire.

 

The large snake hissed and the rows of its teeth peeked out of its mouth as it gazed at the Arachne. Its eyes clearly showed its intention of wanting to kill. She signalled her fellow spiders to take and aggressive stance and she raised her front legs, showing the sharp pike like feet as a threat display. Unfortunately, the snake was not intimidated by this and instead chose to attack. Its huge body moved very fast as it tried to ram into her. The Green Bellied Huntsman spiders in its way were crushed into paste, and the ones that tried to bite it, were unable to even tickle its tough scales; the gap between an A rank monster and a King class magical beast was just too great. They also used their silk in order to trap and slow down the serpent, but the thing just bulldozed its way through them tearing the webs and crushing the spiders into mush, those strong webs were nothing but mere threads of cotton before the serpent’s strength.

 

When the serpent reached near, the Arachne tried to attack using her legs, but her strong legs could only put some minor wounds in its tough and smooth scales. The serpent tried to bite her, and she barely managed to dodge attacking it once more, but the results were the same. The snake was stronger than the Arachne, but she was more agile. This game of cat and mouse continued for a while, the snake using its strength to catch the Arachne, while she kept evading its attacks and tried to hurt it in return. Many small trees were snapped in half, while some larger trees were uprooted as the two rampaged about. The Emerald bellied huntsman spiders were also trying to help, spitting their poison and webs onto the serpent, trying to slow it down. Although they were ants when compared to the serpent, their numbers finally had an effect.

 

The serpent was covered in patches of sticky webs which accumulated sticking to trees and debris, hindering its movement. Some poison also went into its eyes and mouth, which did not cause any damage, but irritated it. The spiders kept sticking more and more web onto it, binding it to trees, rocks and the ground itself, while the Arachne kept attacking it, gradually small wounds appeared all over its body, with broken and punctured scales. Add was watching all of this unfold with calm eyes. It was his first time seeing two magical beast battle each other like this. When it seemed that the Arachne and the spiders would be able to tire the serpent out, its body began glowing, and it hissed loudly. Immediately its speed and strength increased greatly, and it tore free of its bindings. It was using mana directly to increase its power! The Arachne realised this and retreated quickly.

 

 

 

Magical beasts seldom use their mana directly like that, since it takes them a lot of effort to absorb it in the first place. Only when they deemed it really necessary will they be willing to spend this precious resource that they gathered in their mana cores. The serpent was enraged now, these insects had been hindering his meal for quite a while. It swung its heavy tail, swatting dozens of spiders to death with each strike. The Arachne’s expression became completely pale, and she too began to use her mana her body glowing slightly, but it was not much compared to the serpent. But she had no other choice, the situation was desperate. Fighting the serpent was no longer possible, so she began to escape, she believed that she was still faster than the serpent and could outrun it in the long run.

 

The remaining spiders also followed her and began retreating. But the serpent was not going to let her go. It moved with speed impossible for its huge body and quickly closed in on the Arachne to her despair. The serpent used its head like a battering ram and swung it at the Arachne’s side hitting her abdomen, the blow was so strong that she was unable to balance the force of the impact, her legs buckled and sent her body crashing onto the ground. Taking this opportunity, it began coiling around her, and its mouth tried to bite her frail Elven upper body. The two fell to the ground in a pile of tussling beasts, the snake trying to bite, and the Arachne defending with her front legs. But she was clearly fighting a lost battle.

 

The odds were completely against the Arachne now; the serpent had managed to coil around her body and was crushing her with her amounts of force. Since her lower body was that of a spider, and it was quite large compared to the Elven body, it was at a greater disadvantage. As the hold of the serpent grew stronger, her body was being crushed, and cracks began appearing in her carapace. The spiders were helpless, they were trying everything they could do, but unable to save their queen. Finally, one of her spider legs was unable to bear the force and snapped in half from a joint.

 

“AAaaaaaaa!!!!!”

 

She screamed in agony as light pink coloured blood oozed from the stub of her leg. The serpent took advantage of her distraction and bit onto one of her sharp front legs and tore it off with a jerk. The horrendous pain assaulted the Arachne; her body was losing strength and being crushed, her wounds bleeding badly. Her strength was rapidly leaving her and everything seemed hopeless. The serpent, assured of its victory raised its large head and bent its body in an S shape, preparing to bite her un protected upper body, as its wide mouth opened o devour her, despair and unwillingness filled the Arachne’s mind.

 

“Is this the end? Is this queen going to perish here today? No! This queen does not accept this! I have not proven myself yet! I cannot die here, not like this!”

 

But no matter how unwilling she was, no matter how much she struggled, she was unable to free herself from the grasp of the coiling serpent or defend herself. The serpent was not going to have any mercy on her either. As its mouth came closer and closer, the queen of the spiders lost all will to resist, the crushing force and pain and the reality of her situation had broken all her resistance and she closed her eyes thinking, “Just end it already”. But then right at the last moment just as the snake was about to bite the Arachne's upper body ready to end her once and for all it suddenly paused...

 

*Thud*

 

*Thud*

 

The ground trembled, as something heavy made its way towards the two beasts. A large form emerged from behind a line of trees, tearing them down and crushing them under its feet. An intense burst of light came from behind the snake making the Arachne cover her eyes with her hands. The snake turned its head to look at the source of the light, trying find out exactly what was disturbing its meal time. As it tried to look through the light, reflected in its eyes was a large creature moving towards itself. The snake had never seen such a creature before. Its large body coloured in obsidian black merging with darkness itself, as it stood tall among the trees, its two 'eyes' glowing brightly with light. The snake was alarmed, for it felt threatened encountering such an unknown creature which it had never seen before. Its body uncoiled itself from the Arachne, which it considered defeated already, as it prepared to face its new foe.

 

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