Chapter 23: Spider Silk
The edge of this enormous underground cave is flat, and one can occasionally see traces left by sharp objects. Furthermore, even from the outside, it appears that this concealment is seamless. If it weren’t for the magical connection between Fisher’s staff and carriage, he might not have discovered that there was originally a passageway leading underground.
However, the sense of vigilance needs improvement; despite someone entering the cave, none of them noticed anything unusual.
Fisher walked deeper into the cave. The walls around were lined with glass bottles containing lightning bugs, a variant of fireflies native to the Southern Continent, so the visibility inside the cave was very good.
Following the direction of the light, it turned out that there were several connected caves beyond the hall in front of him. Although he had guessed that subhumans had attacked them, he didn’t know there was actually a spiderfolk inside.
In a small cave ahead, white spider silk was hanging down everywhere. The silk was very soft and orderly, resembling a lady’s lace-soft bed. However, there were no creatures present in that cave.
“Bang!!”
At that moment, a firelight and gunshot erupted behind Fisher.
Before the sound occurred, Fisher had already dodged out of the way, his ears catching the sound of the trigger being pulled, allowing him to react in advance.
Before studying dragonkind, he would never have been able to respond like this; one could only say that the physical enhancement of the dragon race is indeed exaggerated.
But it wasn’t the time to analyze physical enhancements. Fisher pressed himself against the inner wall of the silk room and caught a glimpse of the giant spider lady standing in the center of the cave passage.
“I didn’t expect a human like you to dare come here alone. Are you seeking death?”
Fisher leaned against the wall, picked up his staff, and moved his ears slightly but did not react.
He could not understand the language of the spiderfolk; the language systems of subhumans are complex and varied, with many races having their own language systems, while others are regional dialects. Fisher was not familiar with many of the languages.
But he had no intention of communicating anyway.
He lifted his staff and suddenly lunged out, pressing his left hand on his hat to prevent it from falling, constantly changing his body to avoid being hit by bullets.
Xiya fired a shot and, to avoid reloading, threw away the firearm in her hand, pulling out another new one. After switching several times, she had yet to hit him, and the distance to that gentleman was closing in. Just as it seemed he would be right before her, a smile appeared on Xiya’s face.
“Whoosh!”
Suddenly, the ground behind Fisher cracked open, and two massive claws emerged. A girl wearing goggles burst forth from the earth, heading straight for Fisher’s back.
There was no doubt about the consequences if those claws that could drill through rock penetrated a human body. Fisher threw her a glance, and his staff, reflecting his expression, began to glow.
Three deep white rings of light appeared. He had previously demonstrated this three-ring magic to Raphael, but at that time, there was no need for a complete casting.
Three-ring magic, “Dance of the Bees.”
At the moment the three rings lit up, a buzzing sound, dense like that of bees, filled the cave, but upon closer inspection, it was a sign that the rings were rotating at high speed.
“Buzz buzz buzz!”
The two rings surged towards Famasi’s neck as she was rushing towards him. Famasi instinctively tried to dodge but was struck by one of the rings, which effortlessly pierced through her armored scales, entering her body and crashing into the wall behind her.
“Famasi!”
A burst of blood mist exploded from behind Famasi, and her face turned pale as she collapsed to the ground. Xiya’s expression changed drastically, knowing that trying to draw her gun at this distance was foolish. She moved her spider legs to slash at the wrist of the person holding the staff to stop them from casting more magic.
But Fisher had no reason to cast more magic. He flicked his fingers holding the staff, sending it soaring upward with great force, driving it into the rock wall above and perfectly dodging her attempt to cut his wrist.
In the next moment, his gaze darkened, just as his body sank.
The spider leg rose, exposing all her vulnerabilities. He took a fighting stance and delivered a swift punch to her abdomen.
“Bang!”
After a sound of tearing wind, Xiya vomited, and the entire massive spider body flew back.
Just like when he struck Raphael, Fisher showed no mercy this time. His gaze was calm as water, and he tightly seized her arms as she flew back, pulling her closer, followed by two or three punches to her already injured abdomen.
Her fair belly instantly showed bruises from the punches, and beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. By the time Fisher landed a few more punches and she finally fell, she seemed to want to vomit again. Instead, with a mouthful of blood, she spat it on the ground.
“Famasi. Go.”
“…”
Xiya seemed to want her fallen companion to escape quickly. In front of her was a human who was like a monster, with no possibility of victory. Her pale face showed despair as she called out to Famasi, but Famasi’s body lay still, a pool of blood gathering beneath her. It was uncertain whether she was dead.
The human silently reached for his staff, glancing at the two of them as if examining corpses. He flipped the subhuman over; she was bleeding, but at least still breathing.
Seems not dead.
Fisher emotionlessly dragged the tail of the mountain-armored subhuman behind him, gripping the neck of the spiderfolk he had lifted, step by step, returning to the previous hall.
“Mr. Mr., save me! Help. Help… save me.”
In the prison cell, the gentleman saw Fisher coming back and became excited, reaching out to wildly wave from his cell, but upon seeing the sorry state of the two half-dead subhumans, his cries for help diminished and eventually vanished.
Why does this human feel like an even fiercer thug?
Rather than being killed by him, it might be better to stay locked up here.
Raphael looked complex as she stared at the terribly beaten spiderfolk, biting her lip. She and Keshil and Fashir exchanged glances, reflected in each other’s faces.
If she hadn’t admitted to the assassination failure back then, would that guy have beaten her up like this?
“Is my wallet with them?”
Fisher did not ask the two subhumans, but since they could not be understood, he turned to ask Raphael and the others.
“Yes! She also said Fisher you are a pauper!”
Ral pouted, her tiny finger pointing at the pale spiderfolk, Xiya.
A black line appeared on Fisher’s face. He looked down at Xiya, whom he had thrown on the ground. Even though he knew she couldn’t understand, he still reached out a hand towards her, demanding she hand over her wallet.
But she not only ignored him, but also tried to spit at Fisher with blood-covered saliva. However, her body ached too much, and she couldn’t manage to spit; instead, blood and saliva dribbled down from the corner of her mouth.
Fisher’s gaze grew increasingly cold, and for some reason, Raphael shivered.
This expression means that human must be angry.
“The spiderfolk love to store their nest-building silk. To a spiderfolk, silk is their most precious possession.”
Fisher spoke while retrieving a small glass jar from the carriage, words that Xiya couldn’t understand.
He quietly approached the rear end of the spiderfolk’s body, patted her massive spider body, and placed the glass jar beneath her.
“Wait! Human, what are you doing? Ugh.”
Xiya’s compound eyes suddenly brightened. She had just tried to yell in anger, but her entire body felt like it had been electrocuted, weakly hanging her limbs. Her face also turned bright red.
Behind her, the strength of that human’s big hand kept kneading, causing her uncontrollably to release spider silk, all falling into the jar on the ground.
Though there was a lot of silk being produced, once it fell into the small jar, it became like tiny dust.
This jar had been imbued with spatial magic, just like the one on the carriage.
“No! Don’t take my silk!”
Xiya trembled. Losing her silk was undoubtedly a painful affair, but as she was forced to expel it, apart from pain, she felt a strange pleasure.
“No!”
By the end, her upper body weakly collapsed to the ground, and only her richly colored compound eyes turned back, hesitatingly looking at the human behind her.
Raphael opened her mouth, and the blushing Mill covered her face, while Fashir and Keshil covered their faces in silence.
“I want to see! That detestable spiderfolk actually pointed a gun at Ral!”
“You’re still young, Ral… Such things…”
After quite a while, Fisher finally held the small jar full of spider silk in his hand, looking at Xiya, whose heart was like dead ashes, revealing a hint of satisfaction.
Let her experience the feeling of having everything taken away, too.
“Kill me.”
Xiya’s eyes were blank, the flush on her face never fading, creating a contradiction that made her unable to face herself.
“Heh, where is my wallet?”
Fisher silently sought justice for the thousands of euros in his wallet, but in just a second, he realized something was wrong: why could he suddenly understand her words, and why had the spiderfolk’s speech turned to Nali language?
Fisher made no move, and his staff glowed again, aimed at the spiderfolk on the ground.
The surrounding environment suddenly fell silent, and then, from somewhere, a sigh emerged.
“Please stop. Let them go.”
A semi-ethereal figure appeared in the cave, quietly observing Fisher holding the staff. Who else could it be but the mind mage, Ke Lili?
“On what grounds?”
Fisher’s words were as cold as iron, and his gaze turned to the illusory figure. If he wished, he could instantly pierce the heads of these two subhumans.
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(End of chapter)
