Chapter 136
Shiver and Shake.
“What’s this? Something feels off. My body won’t stop trembling.”
Valdes shivered as he looked up at Yan.
Yan returned his gaze with wide, surprised eyes.
‘He shouldn’t have any mana left. Could it be that he sensed that presence?’
[Sensory threads are distinctly different from mana perception. Master them fully, and you may glimpse even the future, albeit briefly—a supernatural ability.]
“Impressive.”
Had Valdes not grasped his hand, Yan might have faltered.
Yan calmed Valdes’s heart by infusing him with mana.
“Don’t worry, he’s my target. Hurry back to the village and rest.”
“Are, are you sure you’ll be alright?”
Yan cracked a confident smile.
“Of course. Now keep running that way. I’ll make my exit through the entrance we came from.”
Set had no doubt Yan would get lost in this forest.
But the idea of Yan, who had stepped into the realm of superhumans, losing his way was preposterous.
Despite Yan’s assurance, Valdes couldn’t shake his unease but eventually started running in the direction Yan pointed.
Once Valdes disappeared, Yan took a deep breath and his eyes sparkled fiercely.
“It’s time to meet the master of this forest.”
After all, entering this forest was meant to vanquish him.
Eliminating the one who occupied more than half of this forest would reduce the monsters’ need to leave it.
Then, even in his absence, Yan could rest easy.
Yan rolled on the ground.
Thud!
And with that, his form vanished into a streak of light, heading towards the ominous aura.
* * *
“Sa, save me.”
“Set, you damn fool, if only you hadn’t spouted nonsense!”
“Damn it all! Is this my fault? You all agreed, that’s why you followed me!”
“Shut up, it’s all because of you!”
Set and the other knights found themselves trapped in a cave.
They couldn’t move their hands or feet, and even Set, who could usually summon sword energy, was inexplicably unable to muster any mana.
‘Damn, to think I’d die here.’
Set ground his teeth in frustration.
Their plan to use the monster to assassinate the lord had gone awry, and now they were the ones captured by the beast.
They felt something slithering up behind their necks.
“Arghhh! What the hell is this shit!”
“Aaargh! It hurts! It hurts!”
The knights, who always prided themselves on their dignity, cast aside their pride and screamed at the top of their lungs.
Something was embedding itself into their necks and shoulders.
They struggled to free themselves from the grip that bound them, but to no avail.
The mana that had never failed them before was now tightly concealed, nowhere to be found.
Without their mana, they were no different from slightly more robust commoners.
Having been in the cave for so long, their eyes began to adjust to the darkness.
And with the clearing of their vision, Set could only despair.
“…Ha.”
Countless white figures were squirming towards them.
* * *
In the Lair of Shadows and Schemes
Set and his knights were ensnared within the cavern’s maw.
Yan, arriving at the entrance, surveyed the surroundings.
The forest had been teeming with monstrous auras, but here, not a single trace was felt.
Even the fiercest of beasts dared not tread near this place.
The reason was clear to him.
They had shifted their territories, unwilling to be prey to the creature lurking within the cave.
Yan clicked his tongue in distaste as he peered into the gloom.
“Tch. I loathe to enter.”
The filth was repulsive, but more so was the thought of entering the very den of the beast.
Yet, no matter what he did outside, the creature would not emerge.
“Light.”
Summoning an orb of light, Yan floated it ahead and stepped into the cave, Ascalon drawn, ready for unforeseen calamities.
Thud, thud.
His footsteps echoed through the cavern.
Illuminated by the orb, the sight was grotesque.
The walls were webbed with pale threads, as if scribbled upon, and bones—of monsters, animals, and humans—rolled about.
The stench was vile.
Yan’s face twisted in disgust.
“Such filthy taste.”
Though he could slice through most monsters with a single stroke, the one inside was different.
He could not shield himself with mana from the stench or close his eyes.
One misstep and he would be captured before he could react.
With tension coiling within, Yan stepped slowly, deliberately deeper into the cave.
Then, it happened.
A blood-curdling scream!
From the depths, a rough cry pierced the silence.
It was one of the knights who had sought him out.
Yan’s lips twisted into a sneer.
“They intended to use this creature against me.”
Had it been earlier, the creature might have moved at the knights’ bidding, but now, it was different.
Yan moved deeper, attuned to every sound.
Screams and shouts filled with a myriad of emotions grew louder.
Suddenly, something tugged at Yan’s senses.
‘Left.’
Without hesitation, Yan swung Ascalon to the left.
Slash!
Something was cleaved in two, falling to the ground.
Thump!
The light revealed the culprit—a white spider the size of a child’s head.
Green ichor oozed from the split, and though the spider writhed briefly, it soon lay still.
Yan frowned at its tenacity and continued on.
Deeper in, more white spiders lunged at him, and he dispatched them with mechanical precision.
After a while, he came upon them.
“Lo, Lord?!”
“Over here! Here!”
“Please, save us.”
Set and another knight, cocooned in white, protruded only their heads.
Beside them lay knights, shriveled like mummies, seemingly lifeless.
Yan sneered at the sight.
“I didn’t expect to meet you here. How did you end up in such a place? Weren’t your duties to guard outside the monster’s forest?”
Set and the knights clamped their mouths shut, lacking excuses.
But then, Set, grasping at straws, cried out.
“Lord! We heard you entered and came looking for you!”
Yan glanced at the other knights.
Desperately, they nodded, affirming Set’s claim.
Yan cocked his head.
“You say you came looking, yet you said nothing?”
“…Yes?”
“Weren’t you watching us from behind before the sun set?”
At Yan’s words, Set’s pupils shook violently.
He hadn’t realized Yan was aware.
“Since when?”
“I knew from the start. You hid hastily upon seeing me and Valdes. Quite noisy, weren’t you?”
Set’s face went blank.
“Then why didn’t you say anything…?”
“It was obvious you were up to something, so I watched.”
Yan looked around and chuckled.
“But to think you’d come all this way to lure ‘it’ out. One might think I’m your enemy. Hahaha.”
Each word dripped with lethal intent.
“But you chose the wrong day. Entering its territory on the day its offspring hatched. Isn’t that just begging to be eaten?”
Realization dawned on Set why the creature had been so formidable today.
It had grown stronger to protect its newly hatched young.
Chitter, chitter.
Scuttle, scuttle.
The white spiders that had devoured the other knights now crept towards Yan.
“Do I look like prey to you?”
As Yan unleashed his mana, the spiders trembled.
They recognized a formidable predator.
They halted, turned, and began crawling towards Set and the cocooned knights.
The knights’ faces turned ashen as they pleaded.
“Please, save us. Lord! We swear loyalty! Or take all the wealth I’ve amassed!”
“Just please… save us.”
“Rather die than be eaten!”
Yan scoffed at their cries and pulled out a mana stone and several tools.
Matches, an unknown herb, and a handful of mana stones.
“Indeed, better to die in an explosion than be eaten.”
At Yan’s words, Set and another knight glared at the one who had begged for death.
But Yan had intended this from the start.
There was no mercy for knights who had bared their fangs at him.
He began scattering the mana stones around.
Then, he tore the herb and scattered it too.
As the spiders nearly reached them, Set and the knights screamed.
Yan lit a match and grinned.
“Survive this if you can.”
He dropped the match where the mana stones lay and sprinted back the way he came.
And soon after.
Boom!
A massive explosion rocked the cave.
Yan, having dashed out, stroked his chin as he watched the cave collapse.
“The versatility of mana stones is truly boundless.”
A few herbs and fire turned the mana-infused stones into a formidable bomb.
Yan watched the explosion with satisfaction.
The many spiderlings must have turned to ash with that blast.
At that moment.
A deep, ominous growl.
An immense aura emanated from behind.
Yan turned.
Through the dense forest, a colossal spider emerged.
Its size was such that it couldn’t fit in any ordinary cave.
And on its back, human and humanoid monster faces were densely packed.
No… My… children….
Ah… Save us… Save us… Save us…
The faces on its back uttered these voices.
It was truly bizarre and repulsive.
Those voices were produced by the creature manipulating the vocal cords with its webs.
The creature was the Human-Faced Spider.
A psychopathic monster known to collect human faces and rumored to live for centuries.
And.
A golden spider with an immense inner elixir.
Yan crouched, facing the Human-Faced Spider.
In one hand, Ascalon, in the other, a dagger, his lips curled into a smirk.
“Do you think anyone would want to help with other species’ faces plastered on your back?”
The creature’s six blood-red eyes glared at Yan.
“Time to follow your offspring to the heavens.”
Yan aimed Ascalon and declared.
“Spider bastard.”
Screeeeech!
The Human-Faced Spider shrieked.
Yan had succeeded in making it lose its composure, just as planned.