Chapter 130
Chapter 130
Suer carefully staggered back along the route by which he had come, using the sparse moonlight to find his way.
As he passed through one stretch of woodland, his expression grew grave and he stopped.
Something had been following him with a constant rustling sound.
“Fang? Is that you?” Suer called tentatively, but the answer was neither Fang’s familiar whine nor his bark.
Panic rose from nowhere. A voice seemed to urge him onwards.
Keep walking. Do not stop. Go!
He could go no farther…
An enormous creature hidden in the darkness blocked the path not far ahead.
Sharp pincers covered in black spines pierced the earth, while eight vertical, fluorescent-green pupils gleamed ominously in the dark.
Click… click… It was the signal that the hunt had begun, and the excitement of a predator discovering prey.
At one glance, Suer recognised exactly what the creature before him was.
An Acromantula! How had he forgotten that such terrifying creatures lived on the outskirts?
Was there only one? If so, escape might still be possible. Suer drew his wand and surveyed the surroundings from the corner of his eye, silently judging whether there was a route by which he could escape alive.
During the short journey back, a little of his magic had recovered, enough for one spell of limited power — perhaps Transfiguration to restrain the spider briefly.
During the few seconds he spent considering his options…
Whoosh! Something cut through the air. Suer’s body instinctively swerved to the right, and from the corner of his eye he saw a pincer shoot past his face.
Suer’s pupils contracted.
There was another!
Two! Suer’s heart sank, but he did not despair. If there were only two, he could still turn into a small badger and use his size and speed to escape.
Unfortunately, Merlin was probably annoyed that Suer had not offered up any stockings. Luck did not appear to favour him now, for a third Acromantula emerged.
One blocked the way forwards, one sealed the path behind him, and the third waited for an opportunity to ambush him.
Even with their target visibly exhausted, the monsters remained cautious enough to use tactics. The situation was utterly desperate.
With his back against a thick tree trunk, Suer took several breaths and looked at the three spiders a short distance away. They had formed a triangle and sealed every possible path. Despair flashed through his eyes.
Was he about to die again?
An unbroken series of clicks sounded. Apparently convinced that Suer no longer posed a threat, all three spiders stepped forwards together.
“Incendio!” Fire spewed from the tip of Suer’s wand. It was the final spell he could cast. The Acromantulas had tested him several times already, and although he had dodged their attacks, they had left several wounds on his body and made him even more bedraggled.
Spiders were patient hunters. Faced with the flames, they chose to watch and wait.
Suer could sense that once the effects of the fire spell faded, he would inevitably face a brutal combined assault from all three Acromantulas.
Ha. He had finally mastered Animagus transformation, one of the ultimate branches of Transfiguration.
And now he was about to die before he had any chance to display its power.
The flames gradually weakened, and the three spiders outside began growing excited.
Click… click-click…
But Suer had no intention of surrendering. Even if he died, he would take at least one Acromantula with him.
He could already see one leg extending into the flames.
Ignoring the stabbing pain from the depths of his soul, Suer desperately forced magic to gather in his wand. Wave after wave of emptiness washed over him.
To remain conscious, he bit his tongue hard. The salty tang of blood filled his mouth as one impatient Acromantula charged through the flames.
Suer lunged forwards with all his strength and drove his wand straight into the Acromantula’s mouthparts, spread wide in excitement. The hard spines covering its body tore Suer’s hand bloody.
He used the last of his strength to speak the incantation. “Confringo!”
“Screech…” The spider shrieked in agony. Dark green blood sprayed everywhere and its sharp pincers thrashed wildly. Suer could feel that a spine had already pierced his arm.
“Heh. Come down with me,” Suer murmured. His vision went black, and his body collapsed powerlessly.
The other two spiders showed no reaction whatsoever to their companion’s shattered body. They watched the scene coldly as the unlucky, overeager creature convulsed for a long while before falling stiffly to the ground.
Suer’s body fell with it.
They waited cautiously in place, apparently making certain the prey would not suddenly spring back to life and strike them.
Of course, that did not happen. The two spiders looked at each other and clicked with eagerness and excitement.
Ha! They had been worried there would not be enough food to share. Now both could eat their fill.
They had included their own kind as part of the meal.
This was perfectly normal and thoroughly spider-like. In the eyes of such cruel creatures, their own kind were not companions, but food — a necessity for survival. Any temporary cooperation existed only to ensure a successful hunt.
Just as they opened their mouthparts wide and waved their sharp claws, preparing to approach…
A golden-red light suddenly shone from the pocket of Suer’s robes. Strands of flame began spreading around him.
The two spiders stopped uncertainly, all eight eyes on each fixed upon the motionless Suer.
But the flames merely flowed around Suer. They neither attacked the spiders nor disappeared.
Food was directly ahead, only a claw’s length away. The delicious temptation obscured the reason of the two starving spiders.
Click… hiss… click… The two briefly exchanged a look.
They decided to ignore the tiny flames, which probably could not even singe the hair on their legs.
What caught them unprepared was that the few strands of flame leapt onto them the instant their pincers were about to touch the young wizard.
“Screech…” They managed only a single cry before the flames clinging to their legs flared like leaking gas meeting an open flame.
Whoomph… Two enormous balls of fire flashed through the woods.
In the blink of an eye, the two great spiders vanished, completely reduced to nourishment for the forest.
The flames surrounding Suer disappeared as well, and the golden-red light gradually dimmed. Had any living creature been present, it would certainly have heard a phoenix’s cry at the instant the light vanished.
Suer and the spider he had blasted apart lay quietly in the grass. Moonlight filtered through the dense foliage, leaving mottled patches of white across the ground.
“Pant, pant… whine… woof!”
Before long, a powerful great dog appeared, panting heavily, both ears standing erect.
“Woof! Woof-woof!”
Fang discovered Suer lying in the grass, his condition unknown, but the black mass of the enormous spider, utterly out of proportion beside little Suer, made the dog hesitate. Fang looked back and barked loudly, seemingly both calling and urging someone onwards.
“Wait! Slow down, Fang!” A giant more than three metres tall complained as he strode into the clearing. “What in the world happened?”