Chapter 91 – Kill the Illusion Spider

The two illusory clones of the fat spider were incredibly lifelike, leaving Punk with no way to distinguish the real from the fake. To be safe, he had no choice but to treat all three spiders as real and attack them accordingly.

Punk first ordered Golem One to cast Iron Shackles on the leftmost spider. No matter what, he had to prevent all three monsters from charging at him simultaneously!

Amid the screeching sound of twisting metal, numerous steel bars materialized around the spider. Each bar contoured tightly to the spider’s body, bending and spreading until the entire creature, along with the surrounding trees and ground, was completely bound together.

The close-fitting steel cage successfully restrained the first fat spider’s movements. While the other two spiders charged toward Punk, this one could only struggle frantically in place, unable to move.

Iron Shackles lasted for a full fifteen seconds. In that brief window, Punk could focus on dealing with the remaining two giant spiders.

Both spiders charged forward with remarkable mindlessness. Their attacks seemed limited to relying on their massive size and moderate brute force for collisions, devoid of any discernible tactics. Still, their relentless momentum was undeniably imposing!

Unfortunately, momentum alone was far from enough. Before the two spiders could even cover half the distance, Golem One leaped forward to intercept the middle one. Unaware that its “companion” could no longer assist, the final spider continued its charge unabated. Its massive claws sliced through the air with a hiss, its eight crimson eyes blazing with bloodlust.

But it never reached Punk.

With a sharp sonic boom, Punk unleashed a pale purple energy cone aimed directly at the head of the middle spider.

Formal-Level Conjuration Spell—Kinetic Cone: Create a high-velocity, rapidly rotating cone of kinetic energy capable of piercing through enemies!

In a thousandth of a second, the Kinetic Cone crossed over fifty meters and struck the fat spider’s head with brutal force.

The compressed, spinning kinetic energy shredded the spider’s carapace, producing an incessant, grating screech. The powerful cone effortlessly drilled through the spider’s thin armor, leaving a bowl-sized hole before plunging deep into its body.

Immediately, torrents of green blood, mixed with pulverized flesh and finely ground shell fragments, gushed from the opening. The green fluid quickly saturated a large patch of woodland ahead.

The spider let out a frenzied shriek, but it was powerless to stop its shredded internal organs from being expelled like a fountain under the cone’s reactive force. The ravaging kinetic energy inside its body even caused extensive cracks to form across its external carapace.

The Kinetic Cone didn’t fully penetrate the spider, but it had undoubtedly burrowed deep into its core, violently obliterating the fat spider’s internal organs.

Without a chance to utter a second cry, the spider collapsed heavily onto the grass, now littered with a mess of green gore. Its eight glowing red eyes quickly dimmed.

It was dead.On the other side, as the large spider died, the clone still struggling within the Iron Shackles and the one confronting Golem Number One both dissolved into black mist and vanished. It was clear that Punk had killed the fat spider’s true body.

“So fragile? Couldn’t even withstand a single attack?”

Punk didn’t let his guard down despite the enemy’s death. He cast several Divination Spells in succession, only relaxing after confirming that his actions hadn’t been detected by any enemies.

After replenishing the energy for his Silence Field, Punk looked at the fat spider whose remaining limbs were still twitching sporadically. Though curious about its bodily structure, he didn’t rush forward to “examine the corpse.” To ensure the enemy was truly dead and incapable of any counterattack, Punk relentlessly unleashed two or three Kinetic Bursts, completely shattering the spider’s limbs and head before cautiously ordering Golem One to investigate.

No mage would recklessly approach such an obviously heavily modified creature, as no one could guarantee its creator hadn’t installed some insane self-destruct mechanism. Countless careless mages had been killed by enemy corpses detonating—only the cautious survived long!

Though he didn’t approach personally, through Golem One’s eyes, Punk closely observed the dismembered fat spider.

Under Punk’s command, Golem One tore open the large spider’s abdomen with its crimson claws. A mass of shattered organs spilled out from the gash, spreading a pungent stench throughout the woodland.

Golem One carefully examined the broken organs stained with green, viscous blood. Using several Divination Spells alongside Golem One’s “precise” vision, Punk discovered that aside from the spell matrix solidified on its back and the energy receptor implanted in its heart, most of the creature’s internal tissues were malformed and bloated. Even though most had been shredded by the Kinetic Cone, he could still determine that at least fifty percent of the fat spider’s internal organs were useless burdens.

Punk gloomily stroked his smooth chin. This monstrous spider didn’t resemble an alchemical creation so much as something mutated by some unknown corruption. It was precisely this clearly catalyzed mutation that had dramatically enhanced the spider’s illusion abilities while… dramatically weakening its other bodily tissues.

A normal Formal-Level creature, even with extreme specialization, shouldn’t be as pathetically weak as this thing. No intelligence, no speed, no effective strength, no defense… Aside from passable illusion abilities aided by spell formations, it was completely useless—no wonder it was posted as a gatekeeper!

But what truly puzzled Punk was the complete absence of any traces of abnormal influence on the mutated spider’s body. If not for the clearly residual implanted life energy, he might have suspected it was congenitally deformed.

So the question remained… Where did this corruption come from that mutated the spider into its current form?

“Still too little information.”Punk shook his head helplessly. With the limited information he had now, he couldn’t even begin to make educated guesses.

“It seems… there really is something unusual about this Spider Cave”…

The eerie corruption on the phantom spider had piqued Punk’s interest in the Spider Cave even more. Without further delay, he deftly maneuvered around the spider’s corpse and large chunks of flesh on the ground, leaping several times before reaching the cave entrance.

The warning magic array at the entrance posed little obstacle. With his excellent alchemical knowledge, dismantling an ordinary magic array required no particular skill. Punk simply used his magic power to simultaneously disrupt the connections of three key runes, rendering the triggered warning array completely useless.

Driven by heightened curiosity, Punk cautiously stepped into the Spider Cave.

The entrance to the Spider Cave was a long slope covered with jagged, uneven rocks. Patches of pale purple moss squirmed on the rock walls. The Spider Cave was devoid of both light and sound, its deep, dark maw seeming to grin like a predator ready to devour any unfortunate adventurer who dared enter.

“Looks like we’re finally getting that dungeon-crawling vibe, don’t you think?”

Punk muttered this sarcastic remark about the Spider Cave to himself while casting Night Vision and Muffle Sound on himself without hesitation before striding into the cave… Of course, Golem Number One went in first!

(End of Chapter)