Chapter 101: Chapter 98: What Can I Say? A One-Shot Kill.
Allen had kept his crosshairs locked on the giant lizard the entire ti but hadn’t fired.
He needed to evaluate the autonomous combat effectiveness of the Spider Slayers when unassisted, and the results were highly satisfactory.
DSeek’s analysis showed that the coordinated attack efficiency of the two chanical Bodies was 17% higher than in the simulation, and their strikes against weak points like joints and nerve centers were perfectly accurate.
He erged from behind the rock, his face hidden by a tal mask that betrayed no emotion. He crouched, and the Craftsman’s Hand, gripping a small knife, began to swiftly dissect the Rotting Swamp Lizard’s corpse.
The poison sac, a still-intact patch of hide, and a small, energy-infused Heart Core—all valuable materials—were processed and stored in his Space Ring.
"Let’s keep going," Allen said, turning to Lina. "We haven’t found our target yet."
They walked for about another half hour without encountering any more danger; the nearby Magical Beasts had all been scared off by the sounds of battle.
"It should be right around here." Lina stopped, her voice tinged with excitent and a hint of dread.
Following her directions, Allen saw a patch of peculiar plants growing beneath the roots of a dead tree.
They were a deep blue all over, the edges of their leaves emitting a faint fluorescent glow, like slumbering stars in the dim environnt.
Princess Jingmi, a key ingredient for crafting High-Level Spirit Calming Potions, was the objective of a side quest they had accepted.
And the environnt where this plant grew was also the Shadow Demon Spider’s preferred nesting site.
Allen imdiately beca alert.
The Shadow Demon Spider could briefly travel through the gaps between the Material Realm and the Shadow Realm. It was an extrely dangerous Magical Beast; often, by the ti you noticed it, its venom would already be in your neck.
He looked up and scanned his surroundings. This was a relatively open area, the ground covered in a thick layer of moss like black velvet.
Dozens of giant, dead trees stood askew, with grayish-white spider silks, thinner than a strand of hair, stretched between their trunks.
These silks weren’t sticky. They were beacons the Shadow Demon Spider used to sense environntal vibrations and mark spatial coordinates.
Allen didn’t rush forward to gather the Princess Jingmi.
He thought for a mont, then retrieved the corpse of a Swamp Shadow Cat he’d hunted earlier from his Space Ring. With the Craftsman’s Hand, he hurled it into the distance, aiming for the center of the densest web of silks.
The corpse arced through the air, and just as it was about to land, the unexpected happened.
The space in front of it suddenly distorted.
A jet-black spider the size of a hound erged from the void.
Its eight compound eyes glimred with a violet light, and its eight jointed limbs were long and slender, ending in pitch-black tips.
It pounced precisely on the falling corpse. Its mandibles opened and closed, injecting venom instantly, and then it vanished back into the rippling space.
The entire process was incredibly fast, lasting less than a second from its appearance to its disappearance.
"So there really is a Shadow Demon Spider here."
"Its color is fractured,"
Lina whispered. In her emotional-spectrum vision, the scene she had just witnessed was like the swamp’s murky, grayish-purple canvas being instantly snipped open by a pair of violet-black scissors, only to be swiftly sewn shut again.
"Part of it is here, and the other part... is in another place. It’s like looking through a thick layer of glass. It’s very strange."
"The Shadow Realm. A dinsional rift that overlaps with the Material Realm."
Allen explained succinctly, "We only get one chance. The mont I fire, if it doesn’t die, it will imdiately use Realm Shuttling to escape, or... appear behind us. I need you to control it the instant it appears and give
a warning right before it materializes."
"Can you do it?"
Lina nodded firmly. She understood the significance of this collaboration; it was the first ti her talent was being used like a precision instrunt.
Allen hesitated no longer.
He took another piece of flesh from his Space Ring, cast the Witchcraft spell [Scent Concealnt] on it, and placed it on the ground.
He and Lina retreated further away. He then knelt, becoming one with his "Judgent" sniper rifle. A Spider Slayer set up near him, also activating its sniper mode.
Next, he ordered the other Spider Slayer to carry the piece of flesh and slowly approach the open area.
"Lina, get ready."
Lina closed her eyes. In her world of perception, everything around her lost its physical form, dissolving into flowing colors and lines. And the Shadow Demon Spider was a stubborn, cold, violet-black crystal, hidden beneath a deep lake.
Ti passed, second by second.
The Spider Slayer had already tripped the silk threads, and the [Scent Concealnt] on the flesh it carried had worn off.
The wind whimpered through the dead branches of the swamp.
Allen’s breathing was steady and long, his entire focus imrsed in his scope.
"It’s moving." Lina’s voice was soft, yet incredibly clear.
Allen’s scope didn’t waver, still locked on the area near the bait.
"It’s circling... circling your spider from behind that thick pane of glass. Its violet light is flickering, like it’s thinking."
Lina’s descriptions grew faster. "No, its curiosity is gone, replaced by wariness. The violet light is dimming."
Allen’s heart sank. ’Is the plan going to fail?’
"Wait!" Lina’s voice suddenly rose. "It’s drawn to the scent! Its wariness is fading, and greed is taking over!"
Allen’s finger tightened slightly on the trigger.
"It’s coming out!" Lina’s voice held a slight tremor. "Position is directly behind your spider, half a ter!"
Now was the mont!
Allen didn’t look for the spider’s physical body; his eyes were fixed only on the position Lina had described.
The space behind the Spider Slayer abruptly distorted, and the jet-black Shadow Demon Spider broke through from the other realm, its form just shifting from illusory to solid.
Lina reacted instantly, casting [Mind Echo: Chaos]. The Shadow Demon Spider stiffened for a mont.
’A perfect chance!’
Allen’s finger imdiately squeezed the trigger.
PFFT! PFFT!
Two beams of light from different directions precisely drilled into its head. Allen and the nearby Spider Slayer had fired in sync, instantly destroying its brain and central nervous system. Violet-black blood and brain matter burst out, splattering onto the rocks below.
The Shadow Demon Spider’s massive body stiffened in mid-air, its Realm Shuttling ability going completely out of control upon death.
Part of its body remained in the Material Realm, while the other part began to blur and dissipate, as if it was being torn apart by two worlds at once.
The battle was over in a second.
Allen slowly let out a long breath and rose from his sniping position.
Lina opened her eyes, a happy expression spreading across her face as she looked at the grisly remains of the Demon Spider.
Allen didn’t delay. He strode forward to examine the Demon Spider’s corpse.
Because its ability went out of control, half of the Shadow Demon Spider’s body had vanished, but thankfully, its gland was still there.
He manipulated the Craftsman’s Hand, carefully extracting a fist-sized, grayish-black gland from the Demon Spider’s body. This was the ultimate goal of his trip, and he finally had it.
All that was left was to gather the Princess Jingmi, complete their side quest, and head back.
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