Things escalated soon after that.
With Alexia immobilized, Kang rushed forth to protect her.
But instead of taking a defensive stance, he charged at the creature head-on with untamed aggression.
The white-haired boy moved with blurring speed and leaped high into the air.
One of his arms bulged slightly and thick white fur sprouted along his skin. His nails lengthened and sharpened, transforming into sharp claws.
Kang descended like a predator pouncing on its prey, his clawed hand slashing downward with feral precision.
The creature reared back, one of its obsidian-like legs rising to intercept the attack.
Kang’s claw met chitin with a sharp crack, rending through the glossy armor and carving a deep gash into the leg.
The spider screeched again, a chorus of its twisted faces writhing in unison, their eerie screams somehow amplifying the already unsettling sound.
Not giving the creature even a single moment to recover, Kang landed lightly on the ground and immediately darted forward again.
His movements were wild but somehow calculated, each slash of his claws aimed to cripple the abomination.
But the creature adapted quickly.
One of its remaining legs whipped out at an impossible angle, catching Kang mid-strike.
He managed to block with his enhanced arm, but the sheer force of the blow sent him skidding across the ashen ground, his feet digging shallow grooves into the soil.
“Kang, fall back!” Michael’s voice rang out, sharp and commanding.
But Kang didn’t listen.
Instead, he bared his teeth in a snarl, his partial feral transformation pushing him further into his animalistic instincts.
His muscles tensed as he prepared to attack again, even as the spider’s focus shifted entirely onto him.
This was a problem even in the game.
Squad 9 was strong. Incredibly strong.
But they had no team coordination. Most of them were arrogant, snobbish, and unwilling to follow anyone’s lead.
Kang, for instance, wouldn’t take orders from anyone except Alexia, his mistress.
So, completely ignoring Michael’s earlier call, the white-haired boy charged forward once more.
However, the creature wasn’t going to let him get close to it again.
One of the grotesque humanoid faces on its torso opened its jaw and spat a glob of sticky white substance at him.
But Kang was faster.
He rolled to the side, evading the glob with ease, only to see another one heading straight for him.
Again, he rolled to the side, dodging the attack and closing the distance between him and the creature.
Springing to his feet, Kang rushed in again.
The spider fired another glob at him, but this time, it burst into a wide web mid-air, similar to a fisherman’s net.
Caught off guard, Kang was trapped in the sticky web that clung to his limbs and halted his advance.
The spider shot one of its spiky legs at Kang, but Michael swiftly jumped in between to shield him from the blow.
He used his sword to deflect the incoming attack, though the force of the strike still sent a jolt up his arms.
Now even the beast seemed wary of Michael as it tried to retreat.
But Michael was thirsty for blood. He pursued the creature and swung his sword in a wide slash.
And now it was the spider’s turn to deflect his blow with one of its chitinous legs.
They exchanged a few more strikes, and I found myself thoroughly impressed by Michael’s skill.
His sword moved with an almost fluid grace, striking with surgical precision.
Whether for offense or defense, his blade was always exactly where it needed to be.
“Sam,” Lily’s voice cut through the chaos, uncharacteristically firm.
I turned to her and saw her eyes glowing with a bright violet hue.
There was a distant look in them, as though her mind was no longer fully present in the here and now.
Without waiting for my response, she pointed toward the distance.
I followed her finger, but there was nothing there — nothing, except for Alexia who was still glued to the tree several steps away from where Lily was pointing.
“The beast will move there in the next three seconds to target Alexia,” Lily warned.
And before I even had time to completely process it, I was already running.
Despite my reserved disdain for Lily, I knew better than to disregard the words of a sibyl.
There were many Awakened who could glimpse into the future with varying degrees of accuracy.
The strongest of them could predict the future that was almost always accurate.
But Lily’s foresight was undeniably correct every single time. She had a hundred percent accuracy.
That was why many noble houses and the Hunter Associations in Luxara city were so interested in her talent.
It was also why Samael had started dating her in the game — despite her being of far lower status than him.
Right now, though, she was only a [C-ranker], able to glimpse three seconds into the future.
In the grand scheme of things, she was considered weak — far weaker than other Awakened of the same rank with similar powers, since many could see a full minute ahead.
Of course, the further one could see, the less accurate those glimpses became.
Still, one thing was certain — if Lily foretold a warning, it would most certainly come true.
And it did.
The spider disengaged from Michael and lurched back to target Alexia.
The blind girl was still struggling to free herself from the sticky white mold that held her to the tree.
Kang was still trapped in the web, unable to move properly.
And Michael was too far away to intercept the beast from the opposite direction.
Confident it had found its prey, the spider lashed forward with a spiky leg, aiming to impale Alexia.
But before it could land the blow, I summoned my Flame Lash and snapped it forward.
With a sharp crack, the Flame Lash wrapped around the limb, and I pulled it back with all my strength, yanking the leg off course.
The spider screeched, its leg missing Alexia by a good margin as the heat from my fiery whip sizzled through its chitin.
But the creature wasn’t done.
It immediately reared back, its many faces twisting in frustration.
Then, with a sudden, jerking motion, it spun around and lunged at me, its remaining limbs flailing.
But before it could even reach anywhere near me, Michael charged at the beast from behind.
He dove under the creature and plunged his sharp blade into its belly.
The spider and its countless twisted faces let out a horrible, bone-curdling scream as Michael ran along its length, dissecting its exposed underside like the insect it was.
Dark blood and viscera spilled from its wound, staining the ashen soil beneath in a sickening pool.
The abomination’s screeches faded, dying down to nothing as it collapsed, its massive body falling lifelessly to the earth.
By the time Michael emerged from under it in a roll, the beast was no more.
