Staring up at the dungeon core that essentially floated high above like a small sun of the underground world, Scaly was about the examine it more closely when the monster horde she had been chasing behind suddenly came rushing back towards her with overwhelming momentum that almost caused her to stumble backwards before she just barely flapped her wings and avoided the monster horde that had changed direction for no discernable reason- or that was what she wanted to say before she spotted what looked like a group of massive spiders charging towards the monster horde filled with killing intent.
[Silk Wizard, lvl 151]
[Soft Silk Spider, lvl 131]
[Soft Silk Spider, lvl 120]
[Soft Silk Spider, lvl 104]
[Soft Silk Spider, lvl 128]
[Soft Silk Spider...]
Other than the one in the lead that had reached the SS Rank, the other large spiders had all reached the S Rank in terms of strength. Making it understandable why the monster horde started panicking and turning the other way, the second they came charging forth towards them. After all, these spiders were far more numerous and threatening compared to a lone dragon like Scaly.
To the point where they even directly ignored her when turning around, something that in turn had almost ended up with her getting stomped to death by the large monster horde, a fate worse than death given just how much weaker than her the different monsters that made up the monster horde was...
Her own brush with death aside, Scaly was about to join the spiders that had suddenly emerged from what looked like a nearby forest and kill off as many of the weaker monsters she could before switching her attention towards these stronger monsters that had willingly decided to jump out-
Swish~!
When the leading spider carrying the rather unique moniker attached to its name decided to shift its attention towards her by launching what looked like a ball of silk aimed at her wings. Making it clear that it intended on bringing her down to the ground where it and its companions would have an easier time fighting her.
Not just the leading spider, but the rest of the spiders that seemed to be under its command also abandoned the weaker monsters they had been chasing and instead shifted into launching similar bolts of spider silk up towards her in an attempt to entangle her wings and force her to the ground like their leader.
The entire turn of events almost made it look like these spiders had never really cared about the weaker monsters but had instead just attacked them to distract her long enough that they would be able to launch their attack without her being able to respond in time.
And to be honest, she truly couldn’t react in time to the sudden ambush cooked up by the spiders below.
Dodging the first of the spider silk balls that came flying towards her was simple enough, but dodging the close to dozen other balls of silk wasn’t easy. Not to mention, even if she avoided all the spider silk thrown towards her by the spiders below, their intention was never to hit her directly in the first place, as the balls of spider silk she had just barely dodged earlier exploded into a vast net that was essentially impossible to stop once it was joined together with the other balls of spider silk that caused the net to expand to cover an area somewhere between a hundred to a hundred and fifty meters.
An area that would have been simple enough for her to escape, had the spiders at the edge of this area not already pulled down on threads they had connected to the vast spider net above her. Yanking it down towards the ground, giving her little time to react in the face of the incoming spider net that quickly stuck to her wings and back trying to pull her down towards the ground.
Everything so far had gone exactly as the spiders below had predicted. Showing how skilled they were in dealing with flying enemies.
Problem was, when they attempted to pull on the spider net that had already been tangled up in Scaly’s wings, they found themselves unable to pull her down towards the ground.
Not because Scaly was far stronger than other flying monsters they had fought, but instead because Scaly was directly making use of her wind magic to hold herself up while at the same time also attempting to make use of her sharp teeth and claws to tear through the spider silk that had started getting tangled in her wings.
Of course, though Scaly tried to bite and claw through the spider silk, it was far tougher than she had originally anticipated and simply chewing through it was easier said than done, as even her magic seemed to have little effect on the silk that she now came to understand had some kind of magic resistant capabilities.
Still, it was only a matter of time before she managed to free herself and the spiders below understood this.
Rustle~
And so, without the slightest bit of hesitation, the leading spider let go of the thread it had been trying to use to pull Scaly down from the sky and moved over to two nearby spiders and began ascending the threads they were holding on to. Having decided to head up to deal with Scaly itself after seeing how she wasn’t easily pulled down. The ascend itself looked almost comical as the more than three-meter-tall spider balanced on two thin threads that by no means should have the ability to support a spider of that size.
Still, unbelievable as the spider looked, it was far from slow and, within only a few short seconds, it had already crossed more than half the distance to Scaly. Leaving Scaly herself utterly bewildered looking at the massive spider that was now rapidly closing n from below. Unable to understand how such a large spider was seemingly flying upwards towards her at such speed that made it look no different from a flying monster taking off from the ground.
Different from any monster she had faced in the past, this spider made it clear from the beginning that it wasn’t a simple one to deal with. Even then, she had no intention of escaping from the spider and its friends below. Not intending to give up this challenge that had been presented to her by the spider or silk wizard as it was named.
Snap~
With that in mind, she put all her strength into her wings and managed to forcibly break the thin spider threads that tangled them and kept her in place for the rapidly approaching spider. Not wasting a second, as she just barely used her wind magic to move herself out of the way as the deadly spider legs reached out for her. Avoiding what would undoubtedly have been a deadly clash, as she understood full well how dangerous a monster that had managed to reach the SS Rank or rather surpassed level 150 was. Even more so for a clever spider like the one she found herself dealing with.
Confident as she was in her own strength, she didn’t dare to underestimate the clever little silk wizard.
Whoosh-!
But as she thought she had successfully managed to escape from the silk wizard spider, she suddenly realized that a small thread had attached itself to one of her back legs at some unknown point in time- and the large spider had managed to get a hold of that one thread and was currently dangling dangerously above the other spiders as she unknowingly dragged it along with her during the fast escape.
Not that the spider in question seemed to mind the deadly situation it found itself in, as it moved like everything that was happening went exactly as planned. Slowly using the one thin thread to drag itself closer to her with each passing second, she found herself staring speechlessly towards the large spider dangling behind her. The entire situation developing far beyond anything she could have ever predicted upon first laying eyes on these spiders.
Still, the situation was dangerous, as the spider wizard slowly got closer to her and would soon enough get close enough to attack her.
So, with that in mind, she did the most obvious thing and used her teeth to bite through the thread that the spider wizard used to drag itself up towards her as she glided through the air.
Something that was far harder than anticipated, but she ultimately succeeded in just before the spider got to her for a second time... And this time she made sure to keep an eye on the spider as it fell towards the ground below. Lest it had some other thread connected to her that it could then use to reach her while she looked away...
Thud~
Luckily, that wasn’t the case, as the only hidden trick it displayed this time around was the ability to create some kind of spider silk parachute midair to ensure a safe landing.