SWDnovel Chapter 54 Phase Spider!
Chapter 54 Phase Spider!
Dusk was falling.
The Howling Mountains were deathly silent, save for the occasional low growl of a wild beast from the far distance, like the snoring of the earth as it slept.
The thief Maurice led the way, following the trail left by the army of the supreme god.
Sister Sharon followed closely behind Li Ang, her deep blue eyes scanning uneasily the distorted shadows of the trees and the jagged rocks around them.
Although she was a high-ranking nun in the church, she was of noble birth and grew up in Waterdeep, almost never leaving the city shrouded in magic and order.
Not to mention, like now, following a team of adventurers deep into the perilous wilderness for an adventure full of unknowns and death.
Avel, standing behind Sharon, keenly noticed her unusual behavior. A strange smile suddenly appeared on his face as he cast a feigned expression of concern at her.
"I almost forgot, Sister Sharon is a venerable clergyman; she probably has never ventured out on adventures before, has she?"
"Since that's the case, why not stay in Blackrock Town and keep watch? Why force yourself to make the trip?"
Sister Sharon's azure eyes flashed with anger upon hearing the undisguised sarcasm in Avel's voice.
But she suppressed the turmoil and unease surging within her, took a deep breath, and maintained her usual calm and serene expression.
"Thanks to the protection of the Lord of Dawn, we servants have nothing to worry about."
"You'd better take better care of yourself."
Listening to the two men's barbed and sarcastic exchanges, even the usually oblivious paladin Kro could sense that something was amiss.
However, he was unaware of Avel's identity and simply assumed that the two still harbored resentment due to their past conflict.
Seeing that Li Ang did not react at all, as if he had not heard, Kro wisely chose to remain silent and did not interrupt the verbal exchange between the two.
at this time
The thief Maurice, who was walking at the front, suddenly stopped.
Before him lay a pitch-black cave, gloomy and eerie, as if it could swallow up all light.
The entrance to the cave was partially obscured by dense vines and hanging moss, resembling the gaping maw of a giant beast, exuding a damp and decaying atmosphere.
His professional thief instincts and the intuition honed by years of walking the line between life and death sent a frantic warning to him that there might be some kind of hidden predator lurking in the shadows.
"Be on guard."
Li Ang's deep voice broke the brief silence.
He raised his right hand, and the sacred light in his palm began to gather, transforming into a fist-sized sphere of light radiating a soft white glow.
Magic tricks, light magic.
The ball of light hovered above his palm, like a moving lantern, illuminating an area several feet around him.
Using the light, the group carefully stepped into the cave.
The cave was dark and cold.
But unexpectedly, it was a completely different world inside, exceptionally spacious, like the belly of a hollowed-out mountain.
The cave is surrounded by rugged rocks covered with slippery moss and dark green fungal patches, clearly a naturally formed cave.
On the stone wall, cold water droplets continuously dripped from the tips of stalactites, making a faint and regular dripping sound that echoed in the empty cave, adding to the unsettling silence.
The group slowed their pace, observing their surroundings with wary expressions.
Sister Sharon instinctively gripped the sun emblem on her chest; the cool touch calmed her slightly.
Avel noticed her actions, and a complex emotion flashed in his crimson eyes.
Although they usually clashed, when it came to the crucial moment, she put aside her grudges, quietly moved her feet, and stood half a step in front of Sharon to protect her.
call--
From the depths of the dark cave, a sudden burst of rapid, dense flapping of wings echoed, accompanied by the squeaking of something like a mouse.
The bats hanging upside down in the cave were startled. From the top of the cave, hundreds of bats hanging upside down were startled by the light and footsteps and flew over in groups.
"Are you sure... the army of the Supreme Gods came from this direction?!"
Kro couldn't help but turn his head and look at the thief Morris who was leading the group. The paladin, who had been so confident just moments before, couldn't help but have some doubts about his teammate.
The other person just gave him a deep look and continued walking forward.
Kro was slightly taken aback, then realized that his questioning seemed to be somewhat disrespectful to his teammate's professionalism.
He awkwardly touched his nose, said nothing more, and quickly followed.
The group waded through an underground stream within the cave.
The water was clear and slow-flowing, only ankle-deep, but the pebbles at the bottom were extremely slippery, making it quite difficult to walk.
The surrounding stone walls were covered with thick, cotton-like gray-white spider webs.
The spider web was extremely large, like a giant fishing net stretched out by an invisible giant hand, enough to cover and bind the entire adventure team.
Moreover, these spider webs are crisscrossed and layered, and they don't look like they were formed naturally, but rather like carefully laid traps.
Something's not right...
Li Ang lowered his voice, his pale golden pupils scanning his surroundings warily.
He vaguely heard a very faint, cracking sound, like gnawing on bones, coming from deeper into the cave.
"Sharon, can you sense anything?"
Sharon's Light Priest level is higher than his, and her Perception attribute is also superior.
Normally, the slightest noises that Li Ang could detect should be exceptionally clear to her ears.
"Yes...there are some...strange noises..."
Richard noticed a slight tremor in Sharon's voice.
Turning around, Sharon was clutching the Sun Emblem tightly in her hand, her azure pupils reflecting the light, her eyes revealing a hint of unease.
"It's fine."
Li Ang's voice was unusually soft and gentle, as if he were soothing a frightened little animal.
"Stay close to me."
He knew that Sharon usually stayed in churches and temples, and it was understandable that she was a little nervous to suddenly come to such a place full of unknown dangers.
"Um……"
Sharon looked at Li Ang's broad and steady back and nodded vigorously.
Li Ang's calm voice seemed to possess a certain magic, slightly easing the unease in her heart.
She took a deep breath, gripped the Sun Emblem tightly, and followed closely behind Li Ang.
The group continued deeper into the dark cave.
I don't know how long it took.
The thief Maurice, who was walking at the front, suddenly stopped.
His body was taut like a fully drawn bowstring.
"There's some noise ahead!"
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately became alert.
With a clang, Kro drew the Dawnbreaker longsword from his waist, the sacred runes on the blade glowing faintly in the darkness, and gripped it tightly in his hand.
Avel instinctively took half a step forward, blocking Sharon's path, his staff held horizontally in front of his chest.
Li Ang lowered his pace and quietly stepped forward.
The luminous magic orb in his hand slowly floated forward, gradually illuminating the unknown darkness ahead.
As the light gradually spread.
At the corner of the cave, a hunched human figure was squatting in the corner, with a goblin corpse lying at its feet that was already cold and stiff.
Its head was buried deep in the corpse's chest cavity, and the chilling sounds of gnawing could be heard all around.
"..."
Li Ang and Kro exchanged a glance.
The monster blocking our path must be dealt with silently to avoid alerting more monsters.
But assassination is clearly not a suitable method for these two who are used to a brutal fighting style of head-on confrontation.
The thief Maurice was an expert in this matter.
He drew two daggers gleaming with a ghostly green light from his waist, lowered his body, and moved with the lightness and silence of a feline.
He seemed to blend into the surrounding darkness, silently stealthily moving towards the monster that was feeding.
Once he had successfully reached the monster's back, the poisoned dagger in his hand flashed with a cold light, ready to strike precisely.
"Danger--!"
Li Ang's roar echoed like thunder in the cave.
He almost instinctively raised his right hand, and the sacred flame in his palm instantly gathered, transforming into a blazing white line of fire.
Magic trick, the sacred fire spell!
The flames were not aimed at the monster that was feeding.
It was behind the thief Maurice.
Almost simultaneously.
A monster that had always been hidden in the shadows of the stone wall, almost blending into its surroundings, revealed itself.
From the swollen silk glands below its abdomen, it suddenly shot out a thick, grayish-white spider silk, about the thickness of a thumb, with a viscous sheen.
The spider silk, like a bullet fired from a gun, went straight for the thief Maurice's back.
But Li Ang's Sacred Fire Technique struck first, accurately hitting the spider silk.
call--
The spider silk was instantly ignited!
The flames spread rapidly along the spider silk, igniting the monster's silk glands as well.
"Hiss—!"
The monster let out a sharp, painful screech.
The thief Maurice was suddenly startled and quickly rolled forward, narrowly avoiding the burning spider silk.
His back was instantly soaked with cold sweat. As a professional thief who would stealthily attack, he almost became someone else's prey.
The commotion thoroughly alerted the monsters deep within the cave.
A tooth-grinding scraping sound came from all directions.
Under the illumination of the light spell, dozens of figures slowly emerged from the shadows.
They are about seven feet tall, with a large and stout body, like a twisted combination of a spider and a human.
Its arms were unusually long, almost touching its knees when hanging down, and ended in sharp, scythe-like claws.
Its head has two rows of spider-like, eerie green compound eyes, and a round mouth covered with fine fangs.
As a learned mage, Avel recognized their identities at a glance.
It's weird!
A humanoid spider that typically lives deep in dark caves, tending to and feeding its colonies like a shepherd.
"Watch out for their spider silk!"
"And be careful not to get scratched, their claws are poisonous!"
Avel reminded everyone.
Seeing that their ambush had been exposed, all the lurking hunters revealed themselves.
Richard and Paladin Crow, the two main damage dealers in the team, exchanged a glance.
Kro raised the Dawnbreaker sword high, and the sacred runes on the blade lit up one by one, their blazing white light, like the rising sun, converging wildly.
Unleash the blessing of the sacred weapon!
A sacred, crimson-gold flame erupted from Richard's fine iron gauntlets.
Like beasts unleashed from their cages, the two pounced on the monsters before them.
Sharon suppressed the surging fear in her heart, her azure pupils filled with absolute focus.
She clutched the sun emblem on her chest, silently reciting ancient and solemn sacred prayers.
First-level spell, Blessing!
A warm, pale golden halo, like the morning light of spring, spread out from Sharon and precisely enveloped Leon and Chloe.
The blessing from the Lord of Dawn fell upon the two of them like sweet rain.
"hiss--!"
The monsters emitted piercing screechs.
At the same time, the swollen glands on their abdomens contracted, and dozens of spiderweb rays, as thick as a thumb and with a viscous grayish-white sheen, shot out like a torrential rain.
The target was Leon and Clooney's legs.
They tried to keep them tied to the spot, making them lambs to the slaughter.
However, Li Ang and his companion had already taken precautions against the methods that had been used.
Kro snorted coldly, then suddenly exerted force with his feet, sliding his body to the left.
The spiderweb-like rays grazed past his armor and embedded themselves in the rock wall behind him with a soft thud, quickly solidifying into a tough, grayish-white spiderweb.
The Holy Slash!
Kro rushed to the nearest Ete monster and brought his fine iron longsword down heavily. The holy light on the sword condensed to its maximum at this moment, transforming into a blazing white beam of dawn, as bright as the sun.
The sharp greatsword sliced through the monster in two with the smoothness of butter, its foul-smelling organs spilling onto the ground.
On the other side...
Leon grabbed an Itt monster by the neck with one hand, pressed it firmly against the rock wall, and suddenly unleashed a punch from his iron fist, which was burning with holy flames.
The monster's enormous body exploded instantly, like a watermelon being smashed by a giant hammer.
Dark green fragments of flesh and bone flew everywhere like fireworks.
On the rock face, there was a terrifying crater, about a foot in diameter and several inches deep, filled with sticky, still slightly twitching bits of flesh.
"Magic Missile!"
As a mage, Avel stood protectively in front of Sharon, waving her staff.
Three fist-sized, dark purple missiles made entirely of arcane energy shot out from the top of the staff!
The missile traced three intersecting arcs in the air, as if it had eyes, and shot precisely at the Eto monster in front of it.
boom! boom! boom!
The missile struck its head and body simultaneously.
Before the monster could even scream, its head was smashed by a missile, splattering white fluid everywhere. Its neck bones cracked with a crisp sound, and its body collapsed limply.
The thief Morris, like a silent assassin, relentlessly slashed at the throats of the Ete monsters with his poisoned dagger.
The team worked together seamlessly.
In no time at all, they wiped out the group of spider-men.
Kroh sheathed the Dawnbreaker sword at his waist, looking at the goblin corpse that had been devoured beyond recognition by the Ete monsters.
"It seems we've definitely found the right direction!"
Li Ang nodded, a cold glint flashing in his golden pupils.
Just as everyone lowered their guard and prepared to take a short rest.
A huge black shadow suddenly crashed down from the shadows above the cave.
The figure vanished in an instant, as if teleported.
People didn't even have time to see what it looked like.
When they reappeared, they were already in front of Avery and Sharon.
It was a gigantic spider with a bizarre pattern of dark purple and deep black interwoven on its carapace, like some kind of blasphemous rune.
Eight long legs, as if cast from steel, with sharp, spear-like spikes at their ends.
Two rows of compound eyes on its head gleamed with a cunning and greedy light in the darkness.