"It’s over."
Maggie’s body was stuck on the spider web, suspended in mid-air and unable to move, like a moth caught in the web. No matter how she struggled, she couldn’t escape. Instead, the threads, which released strong adhesive power, tightened around her.
Her pupils trembled greatly, as she could only look in horror at the monster in front of her. It paced effortlessly and silently along the trembling web, approaching her unhurriedly.
The distance between them was so close.
So close that she could smell the strong stench emanating from its body.
It finally stopped.
On either side of its head were two rows of compound eyes, totaling eight black eyes.
Those eight black eyeballs stared at Maggie unblinkingly from different angles.
Yet, its face showed a human-like expression of pleasure, as if it was thoroughly enjoying the fear emanating from its prey.
Its body was covered with eerie gray hair, and its abdomen was round and swollen like a huge ball, from which the web was being ejected from its glandular organs.
Seemingly having had its fill of her terrified expression.
Its bulging abdomen, as if pregnant, shot out gray-white spider silk.
The silk seemed to be alive, wrapping precisely around Maggie’s neck.
"Uh... uh..."
The silk slowly tightened around her throat, gradually increasing its pressure, making Maggie feel as if she were suffocating.
Her vision gradually blurred.
Suddenly, a flash of azure light crashed into her peripheral vision.
"Boom!"
"Crack!"
The silk that perpetually twined in front of her was precisely severed by a sudden flash of azure light.
The broken strands loosened the pressure around her neck.
"Ha—ha—"
She instinctively gasped for air, like someone rescued from drowning.
Her mind went blank.
"Made it."
A clear male voice came faintly from beside her.
She turned her head with difficulty to look.
The foggy environment had unknowingly dispersed.
In the air beside her stood a tall male figure, hovering in mid-air.
Was it him who saved her?
Although Maggie and he were strangers, she quickly felt at ease.
He seemed to possess a magical power that made her instinctively trust him even on their first encounter.
Like experiencing a long bout of gloomy weather, only to suddenly face a bright sun.
"Now it’s your turn."
The man’s gaze shifted from her to the monster nearby, his eyes gradually becoming sharp.
The newcomer, who had arrived quickly by using the Flying Technique, was Gauss.
"Hiss, hiss!"
The Eit Monster standing on the web was stared at by Gauss. Its former arrogance in toying with its prey vanished, replaced by a soul-deep astonishment.
Even just by staring at it, Gauss made it feel a strong sense of crisis, its hair standing on end.
It tried emitting hissing sounds from its spider-like mouthparts, attempting to intimidate this mysterious enemy with noise.
But Gauss remained unfazed.
He merely glanced around.
With the fog dissipated, the swampy ground and the area around the withered trees became visible.
Spiders, both large and small, were everywhere.
No other Eit Monster could be seen.
But Gauss could deduce from the environment that this swamp was unlikely to house only the Eit Monster in front of him.
Were there others occupying different territories?
Gauss swiftly considered.
After confirming he couldn’t draw out any other Eit Monster, he didn’t delay any further.
Time was short, and the task was heavy.
Today, he hoped to initially establish an advantage in the rankings.
"Magic Missile."
He slightly opened his mouth.
An azure Magic Missile, which was prepared in advance, burst from his mouth.
The Magic Missile rapidly expanded upon entering the air.
Trailing a beautiful yet deadly blue light, it shot towards the Eit Monster.
The attack was so sudden, and the Magic Missile’s flight was very fast. So, despite the Eit Monster’s sustained attention to Gauss’s movements, it failed to react the moment the blue light appeared.
And this momentary delay was enough to cost it its life in battle.
"Boom!"
Gauss’s Magic Missile hit its ball-like abdomen, which covered most of its body.
"Crack!"
Its once-proud hard abdominal carapace shattered like a fragile eggshell under Gauss’s Magic Missile.
"Bang!"
Dark green foul-smelling body fluids mixed with a large quantity of unformed sticky silk splattered in all directions!
In an instant, its lower half had vanished, but fortunately, its claws clung to the web below, preventing it from falling to the ground.
Was it not dead yet?
Gauss noticed it only had a small part of its body left.
"Hiss, hiss!!"
It emitted continuous sharp howls.
Clearly, the explosive destruction of its lower body caused it prolonged and intense pain.
Gauss ignored it.
His gaze turned to the ground where spiders crawled everywhere.
They looked somewhat different from ordinary spiders.
Their body color was a dark purple, close to black, similar to the Eit Monster.
The spiders serving the Eit Monster were raised almost like children by it.
So, their relationship far exceeded that of a typical monster tribe leader and its minions.
Watching the Eit Monster atop the web emit waves of painful and sorrowful cries.
The spiders below seemed to boil over.
They rapidly crawled onto the web, in a desperate "save mother" manner.
Even with such a clearly powerful enemy present.