Yi Luo tossed a lighter to He Wuning. He Wuning reached out and caught it, flicked it open, lit the flame, and—with a smooth, stylish motion—was about to toss it away. Yi Luo reminded him, “There are only two in total, so use them sparingly.”
He Wuning froze mid-throw, turned his head with disbelief. “Only two?”
Yi Luo shrugged innocently. “I don’t smoke. These are just emergency backups. If you throw them all, I’ll have to go prehistoric and use flint and steel.”
He Wuning’s expression turned rather complicated. Yi Luo chuckled. “Can’t be helped. She’s shrunk the battlefield too much. If we use incendiary grenades, the three of us will be roasted together. Manual fire-starting is the only option.”
He raised a hand and demonstrated, lighting a strand of spider silk beside him. The moment the flame touched it, the silk ignited and quickly burned along its length.
The spider woman, who had been hanging upside down and feeding, finally reacted. She leaped down and lunged for Yi Luo, clearly aiming to snatch the lighter from his hand.
Yi Luo dodged her strike and flicked the lighter at her spear-like, barbed spider leg. The hard bristles instantly curled and shriveled—an impressive result.
Yi Luo arched a brow. No wonder they were so eager to destroy the thermal weapons on the milk tea car.
Seeing that she was focused on Yi Luo, He Wuning casually lit another section of web. The webs she had laid earlier to restrict their movement now became perfect fuses—they didn’t even need to pick angles; any random flick of the flame would spread the fire.
Tiny sparks bloomed across the white webs, then spread uncontrollably outward, turning the entire webbing network into a blazing net.
He Wuning tilted his head back, watching the fire turn the webs into a sheet of flame. He tossed the lighter lightly in his hand. “Much easier on the eyes now.”
Fire climbed along the spider silk attached to the spider woman’s tail, quickly approaching her. She instantly severed the silk, spat venom to extinguish the fire beneath her, and landed lightly on a patch of ash.
Her pitch-black compound eyes fixed on the two men. She sighed as if troubled. “Oh dear. The webs are destroyed. The signal interference is gone. You can leave now.”
She tilted her head, glancing at the flames creeping toward them—flames they didn’t care about at all. “You’re not planning to escape?”
“No,” He Wuning said, lifting his gaze. “You brought us so many fragments. It would be rude not to accept them.”
Her true mouthparts were still clamped around the liquefied remains of a companion as she spoke, eating while toying with them. She sounded delighted. “That’s wonderful.”
“I was just worried you’d run.”
Even while feeding, she had no problem raising her two scythe-arms. “Then here I come.”
She darted toward them, skimming the ground with incredible speed, spewing venom to extinguish flames in her path. She clearly understood her weakness was fire—she hadn’t come unprepared.
She was probably the most troublesome monster they had faced so far.
Fast, high attack, huge health, and—worst of all—intelligent and cautious. He Wuning still hadn’t detected a fixed pattern in her attacks. He couldn’t kite her like the mindless ones.
It felt like he was fighting a real monster.
He narrowed his eyes as she charged. He dropped his stance to meet her scything strike. Yiluo seized the chance to strike from behind, aiming to club her—but her insect compound eyes gave her a much broader field of view. With an impossible angle, she dodged Yi Luo’s attack and sprayed venom at both of them.
They dodged back. Yi Luo irritably rubbed his nose. “Is her venom bottomless? Even a fire truck doesn’t have this much to spray!”
He Wuning shot him a glance. “Attacks like that—similar to spells—are probably tied to mental power.”
The spider woman giggled, crossing her scythes and lightly grinding them together. “Don’t be scared~ Play with me just a little longer…”
She leaped high and dove toward He Wuning again.
He Wuning swept his blade across the ground, flinging burning spider silk upward straight at her face. The spider woman, who had tanked most attacks head-on, jerked stiffly to a stop and narrowly dodged.
Seeing the tactic worked, He Wuning intensified it, wrapping burning silk around his blade and swinging the flaming sword at her.
YI Luo almost burst out laughing. He immediately copied him, wrapping burning silk around his copper staff—manually adding a fire-attack buff.
The spider woman screeched in fury. “You cunning little pests!”
Seeing she couldn’t avoid them, she charged directly into the flames, desperate to end things quickly. Her attacks sped up at a terrifying pace.
He Wuning glanced at YI Luo’s copper staff and asked mildly, “Doesn’t that burn?”
“It burns,” Yi Luo replied without changing expression. “But is this the time to scream?”
He Wuning let out a quiet laugh. Their movements grew more synchronized. Yi Luo swept the spider woman off her feet, forcing her to roll through burning webs. The once-elegant, lofty three-in-one elite boss was reduced to a soot-covered mess, retreating step by step in utter humiliation.
He Wuning and Yi Luo were both slightly marked from the battle. The spider woman’s scythe grazed He Wuning’s cheek, slicing a fine line, and tiny beads of blood trickled down. He didn’t even wipe it off; instead, he immediately returned the favor, slashing her face in retaliation. Yi Luo went further, swinging his staff and smashing her compound eyes full-on.
“Don’t hit the face—have some manners!”
He even commented.
The spider woman let out an enraged roar. Her health bar steadily dwindled; this long, grueling battle was finally nearing its conclusion.
Covered in numerous wounds, with her oddly-colored blood dripping, her compound eyes fixed on them. “Why?”
She finally asked, struggling to understand. “Why… we were fully prepared! Nearly all the abilities you rely on were neutralized by us! How can you still win?”
YI Luo chuckled. “Do we even need to ask?”
“You’re just too weak.”
Abilities she relied on.
He Wuning glanced at the battered milk tea car sprawled on the ground and at Q-chan peeking from the tree, and laughed. “Because even when we had no abilities, we still kept winning.”
“Tell those three big ones in the dungeon that I’ve had my eye on the fragments they carry for a long time.”
“Oh.” He Wuning seemed to recall something, a rare smile breaking across his face. The sword in his hand reflected the flames around him, a symbol of high battle spirit. “I forgot… you probably can’t go back.”
He crouched low and charged forward.
The spider woman, already missing a leg, had lost her speed. She could only shoot webs and venom to slow him, but he moved like a shadow along the ground, dodging every attack perfectly. With a flash of cold steel, the Tang broadsword plunged directly into her abdomen.
—The final blow.
“Ugh!” The spider woman trembled stiffly, her health bar immediately hitting zero—but she suddenly smiled.
Her true mouthparts still held a piece of a companion’s limb, which she immediately swallowed. Her health bar shivered and rose slightly. Her spider body straightened, clamping down on the sword with her mouthparts, raising her black scythes and sharp legs, as if delivering a deathly embrace to the approaching He Wuning.
“Bang!”
Yi Luo shoved himself into the spider woman’s narrow embrace, bracing against the familiar minotaur shield on his back. The black scythes and legs struck the shield instead.
Yi Luo chuckled. “See? I told you, shield’s useful.”
He pulled He Wuning close. Instinctively, He Wuning loosened his grip on the Tang Broadsword. Yi Luo held him against the shield, lifted his leg, and stomped down on the sword’s hilt, eyes sharp with intent. “Take a few more slices. Don’t hold back.”
“Ah—” the spider woman let out a final, pitiful scream and collapsed heavily to the ground.
He Wuning glanced at the shield they were leaning on, then couldn’t help but look at Yi Luo. The ferocity in Yi Luo’s fleeting expression seemed almost like an illusion. He turned to He Wuning with a bright smile: “How’s that? Am I looking handsome enough?”
Even if He Wuning for a fleeting moment, thought so, he would never admit it. He snorted. “I’m just surprised you came up with that tactic—shield on your back. Inspiration from a turtle?”
He brushed the ash from himself, rose from the shield, and looked down from above at the spider woman, who would soon turn into cyber ashes. “Got any villain lines left?”
The spider woman twitched, moving her limbs, speaking begrudgingly: “We won’t lose… pitiful humans, enjoy your last game time before your species faces extinction… hehe, hehehe…”
YI Luo crouched before her. “Can you leave a last message for your teammates?”
He Wuning guessed: “Probably. That tree demon sent a message before.”
The spider woman stared at them but remained silent.
Yi Luo didn’t need her approval. He had already thought ahead. “If you can, tell them: best to surrender early. Peaceful ending, and maybe we’ll find you a class at the Monster Museum.”
“Cough cough!” Strange-colored fluid dribbled from the corner of her mouth. He Wuning suspected it was from Yi Luo’s intimidation.
Yi Luo glanced at the fragments of admin permission she dropped—30% might not even be called fragments; it was practically a solid slab.
Feeling the thrill of overnight wealth after hard-fought struggle, Yi Luo braced to stand—but suddenly felt his body wobble uncontrollably.
Falling face-first, his first thought: ‘Oh no… joy turns to disaster.’ His second reaction was: ‘Will He Wuning pull me up? He wouldn’t just watch me collapse on top of this spider, right?’
He Wuning pulled him up, voice oddly anxious: “Hey! What’s wrong with you?”
He instinctively tugged at Yi Luo’s clothes, checking for injury.
Yi Luo grasped his hand. “I’m fine. Not hurt…”
He knew his poison immunity had expired, but he was careful—and indeed, he wasn’t injured.
He even had the leisure to joke: “Maybe it’s old age… got dizzy in a hurry…”
His voice gradually faded. Before darkness enveloped him, he thought: No way… did I really get poisoned? What effect did Tang Yu say that spider venom had again?
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The author has something to say:
Mini bonus skit (not canon):
Yi Luo opens his eyes. Q-chan: You’re awake! The sterilization surgery was a success!
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