Chapter 90 – Illusion Great Spider

Facing the sudden enemy descending from above, Punk had no time to look up. His first reaction was to immediately cast a Conjuration school Formal-Level spell—Velocity Burst.

Velocity Burst: Converts vast amounts of ethereal energy into kinetic force, attaching to an object to make it dash in any direction at ten times the speed of sound!

Using this short-term acceleration spell, Punk easily dodged the attack from above. His excessive speed caused him to crash through several trees before stopping, but this successfully created distance from the enemy.

During the dash, Punk still managed to glance at the transparent threads appearing on the tree trunks. Without hesitation, he unleashed a Kinetic Burst to destroy several large trees.

Clearly, these threads had been hidden by illusions earlier—the enemy had been lurking right above him!

Protected by Mage Armor, he didn’t even get a single wood splinter on him. The flames created by Spellfire had already dissipated with time, so he emerged completely unscathed from this attack.

Rising from the scattered wood fragments, he instantly cast Swiftness Spell and Deflection Field on himself, then ordered the still stationary Golem Number One to intercept the enemy. Only after completing these defensive measures did Punk have time to observe the monster.

The enemy’s sharp fangs had deeply pierced the ground, tearing cracks in the rocky surface. As the damp dust settled, the monster’s form gradually became visible.

It was a deformed giant spider standing over three meters tall. The spider resembled an enormous fatty with a massive body but abnormally short limbs. If not for the characteristic eight eyes, Punk might have mistaken it for some oversized caterpillar.

Despite its bloated body, the fatty spider moved with surprising speed. Seeing its attack had missed, it immediately withdrew its fangs and charged toward Punk with a low growl.

However, it clearly overlooked the nearby flesh golem.

Seeing the fatty spider charging furiously toward him, Punk immediately commanded Golem Number One to advance and block it.

Upon receiving Punk’s order, Golem Number One roared savagely. Its claws wreathed in faint crimson Abyssal energy, every muscle in its body tensed as it met the charging fatty spider head-on without evasion.

“BOOM!!!”

The massive shockwave overturned surrounding trees and rocks. Stone fragments flew at bullet-like speeds, leaving deep holes in the thick tree trunks.

Golem Number One and the fatty spider collided violently. Though the spider’s impact force was tremendous—pushing the golem back several meters and carving deep grooves in the ground with its sturdy legs—the fatty spider suffered worse. Large cracks appeared in the armor on its head, oozing green blood as it let out loud, agonized screams filled with boundless rage and a hint of fear.

Yet, surprisingly, the piercing shrieks didn’t disturb any birds or beasts in the forest.Punk calmly watched the giant spider blocked by Golem One. He wasn’t worried at all about the battle noise alerting enemies—long before the opponent’s ambush arrived, Punk had already cast a spell to block sound transmission.

Conjuration Spell—Silence Field: Forms a vast spherical area covering a large expanse, where ordinary sound vibrations cease at the field’s boundary!

With this field in place, Punk could confidently deal with this monster.

Judging from the giant spider’s Charge, its attack power wasn’t high—at least its massive pincers weren’t imbued with any energy, relying purely on brute force for the assault. Its defensive measures seemed limited to an unimpressively sturdy exoskeleton.

Most importantly, Punk noticed that the Spider Cave hidden by illusions had been revealed. The mysteriously dark Cave was concealed in an ordinary Corner of the Woodland, its entrance thickly layered with spider webs. These webs surprisingly shimmered with traces of flowing runes. Based on the runes’ patterns, this formation appeared to be a composite defensive and enhancement array, connected to a triggered alarm formation nearby. Remarkably, it also incorporated an internal silence formation!

The defensive formation had likely blocked Punk’s spellfire attack earlier, while the alarm formation remained untriggered since it wasn’t breached. As for the enhancement formation…

Punk carefully observed the fat spider currently sizing up Golem One with its blood-red eyes…

“It seems the enhancement formation is meant to boost this giant spider’s abilities. But what exactly is being enhanced…”

Punk gently raised his Emerald Staff.

The fat spider, frustrated by Golem One, let out a couple of threatening hisses. Suddenly, a brilliant spell pattern flashed across its exoskeleton as the enormous spider split into two identical copies—the monster had actually cast the Formal-Level spell Mirror Image!

Formal-Level Conjuration Spell Mirror Image: Creates two identical physical forms to confuse opponents, though the copies possess only one percent of the original’s attributes and are extremely fragile.

Note: Nearly half the caster’s mana is consumed for an ultra-short-range spatial displacement during the duplication process.

Seeing this cumbersome monster actually employing spells surprised Punk somewhat. Not because it could cast spells—many monsters could do that—but because this creature used spells so skillfully!

With True Seeing activated, Punk scrutinized the three identical fat spiders, but even using System analysis, he couldn’t distinguish the real spider from the illusions.

This situation made Punk frown. Judging from the spider’s clearly modified yet discordant life energy, whoever “created” this being was no grandmaster. Many modifications on the giant spider seemed like mere filler, making this creature arguably the weakest Formal-Level being Punk had ever encountered. Truth be told, aside from its remarkably potent illusion abilities, the monster’s various attributes were practically worthless.

Yet this peculiar illusion capability was truly powerful—far superior to the glabrezu they’d encountered in the Abyss. From beginning to end, Punk hadn’t detected any flaws in the illusions.”As expected, this fellow is a specialized ‘gatekeeper’ responsible for concealment. His combat ability is mediocre, but with the magic circle’s specific enhancement for illusion abilities, he’s quite adept at ambushes and hiding.”

While silently analyzing, Punk began preparing his spells.

Through observation, Punk noticed the magic circle engraved at the entrance of the Spider Cave was continuously transmitting energy to the large spider. Yet the fat spider’s combat capability remained utterly pathetic, making it easy for Punk to deduce that the circle’s enhancements were specifically tailored to the fat spider’s illusion-creating abilities. This also explained the source of the large spider’s extraordinary illusion power.

“So it’s just relying on the power of the magic circle.”

He breathed an internal sigh of relief. If the master of the Spider Cave could easily grant flawless illusion abilities to a monster, Punk would have to consider turning around and fleeing. A powerhouse capable of casually creating such a powerful monster to guard the entrance wasn’t someone Punk could afford to provoke at his current level.

However… since the large spider before him was merely a paper tiger…

Then there was nothing more to say.

Controlling his prepared magic, Punk chuckled coldly in his heart.

(End of Chapter)