Scepter

Part 15

All of a sudden, everyone was startled by Lily's scream. Yannick, being the closest, was grabbed tightly by her arm, nearly being pulled into her.

Feeling her ample bosom pressed against his arm, Yannick couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed, knowing it was an instinctive reaction in her panic. Before he could say anything, the dark mage forcefully pulled Lily away and dumped her into Daniel's arms, a rough gesture that made Yannick twitch his mouth involuntarily.

Honestly, as much as he respected his mentor, his territorial awareness was a bit too much. Since they entered into their contract, it seemed like he couldn't do anything without his watchful eye. The problem was, they signed a mentor-student contract, not a partnership contract!

While grumbling to himself, the cleric kindly asked Lily, "Are you okay?"

Lily, still shaken, didn't react even when pushed away by Chris. But because her body was moved aside, everyone finally saw what was behind her.

A spider the size of half a person, with colorful patterns all over its body.

Its eight claws, blue tinged with darkness, were covered in fine fur, and upon closer inspection, tiny barbs could be seen on the fur. Its chest and abdomen were adorned with various colored patterns, which might be considered aesthetically pleasing if painted on a canvas, but on a spider, it was utterly horrifying.

At the spider's head, a large single eye was set above its mouthparts, staring motionlessly at them. Their figures were reflected in its eight eyes, eerie and sinister.

Even Lily and Afra, female mages as they were, along with Feizel and the others, felt their entire bodies bristling with fear from this sudden intimate contact.

"My god, it's a Hellfire Spider!" someone exclaimed in horror.

The spider seemed to be disturbed, hissing twice before crawling towards them. Its speed was unlike that of ordinary spiders, and its eight eyes had turned blood-red at some point, gleaming with a bloodthirsty light.

At times like this, the importance of combat experience became apparent. Lily and her companions had been following Chris all this while, and though they had experienced one or two minor crises, they lacked the keen reflexes honed by countless dangerous encounters that Feizel and the others possessed. They brandished their staffs but couldn't cast any useful spells.

Water fetching spells, mist spells, earth spear spells - all landed on the spider like scratching an itch, doing nothing to slow it down. Instead, Feizel and a few other swordsmen drew their swords and swung at it, just managing to block the threads spewing from the spider's mouthparts.

Several swords were firmly stuck in the sticky threads, unable to be pulled out. The spider's head lifted slightly, catching Feizel and others off guard, their swords still in hand. They were almost pulled into the spider's mouth along with their swords, becoming its meal.

"Think of something quick!" Feizel shouted, his face pale, disregarding the etiquette of a swordsman. He gripped his sword tightly with both hands, engaging in a tug-of-war with the spider, but it seemed like they were losing.

God knows why they had encountered such a creature, usually found deep within the forest, when they had only entered the forest not long ago!

But no one knew why Hellfire Spiders would come here. As they watched the spider widen its mouthparts slightly, someone among the swordsmen cried out, "Oh no! It's going to spew venom!"

Before the sentence could be finished, a stream of blood-red liquid shot out from the spider's mouthparts, accompanied by viscous threads, aiming at the swordsmen standing in front.