Fairy Tail: I Don't Want to Be the Guild Master-Chapter 481: Defeating an army with one move?

The pendant hanging from Rhodes’ neck flared with a deep, ominous purple-gray light. In the next moment, a massive magic circle erupted in front of him, etched with ancient runes, pulsing with dark energy.

Terrifying waves of magical pressure poured out of it, like a gate to the abyss had been thrown open.

The charging beast, Legion, stumbled slightly as its pace slowed. Its wide eyes filled with hesitation and alarm.

Even Erza Knightwalker, riding atop Legion’s head, couldn’t hide her shock.

"I always knew mages from Earth Land possessed powerful magic," she muttered, tightening her grip on her spear, "but to unleash this kind of force in an instant... are humans really capable of such magic?"

But what she saw next made her expression freeze entirely.

From the heart of that massive summoning circle, something emerged, a hulking, spider-like monster, bathed in shifting purple shadows.

Its bloated oval abdomen dragged along the ground, easily large enough to hold dozens of people inside. The surface was covered in jagged protrusions, uneven spikes, like the stalactites of a cursed cave, all glowing with an eerie violet hue.

Its long front legs were coated in hardened purple chitin, their ends tipped with thick, flat black thorns. Even after they plunged deep into the earth, they still towered higher than a man’s full height.

Those gleaming thorns shimmered with a metallic sheen, each one razor-sharp, just a glance made it clear: one touch could slice a body clean in half.

And yet, compared to that, its glowing yellow compound eyes and fanged, drooling maw seemed almost tame.

"Hsssshhh—"

The monster let out a screeching roar toward the heavens, a warped, inhuman shriek that echoed like claws scraping against the soul.

The sound rippled out in waves, concentric rings of grayish-purple force emanated from its mouth, distorting the air like a heatwave.

Legion, the proud beast of war, trembled. It instinctively stepped back, then flapped its wings in unease, as though preparing to flee.

The sheer force of the roar whipped up a violent gale. Erza and Sugarboy shielded their faces with their arms. Further back, Royal Army soldiers staggered, clothes whipping around them in the wind.

Several panicked soldiers activated the magic shields embedded in their gauntlets. Translucent, shimmering barriers flickered into place, suddenly giving the battlefield a strange, sci-fi glow.

When the roar finally died down, the silence that followed was deafening.

The soldiers slowly lowered their arms. Those who had triggered their shields quickly and awkwardly deactivated them, cheeks burning with embarrassment as they waited for a scolding from their squad leaders.

But none came.

Because even the captains were shaken.

’A roar like that... how strong must this monster be in combat?’

"That thing’s HUGE! Wait, Rhodes, when did you get a spider that massive?!" Natsu shouted, equal parts amazed and alarmed. His sense of focus was, as always, off-kilter.

Wendy’s eyes sparkled with awe. "It feels... so strong."

Lisanna stood in the guild’s doorway, lips parted in astonishment. She had seen so many unbelievable things today, but this... this man...

’Just who is he?’

Rhodes could feel it too. The VileMaw, his strongest summon yet. Summoning it had drained more magic than even the dragon.

He didn’t waste a second.

"There are enemies ahead," he said calmly. "I’m counting on you."

"Haahhh..."

The Foul Maw responded with a soft, rumbling sigh. But to everyone on the other side, it was anything but gentle. It was a foul gust, reeking of decay and dread, sweeping over the battlefield.

Erza, Sugarboy, and Legion instinctively flinched. That stench, that presence—

’How many souls were buried in this creature’s belly?’

Even in the face of overwhelming pressure, Erza Knightwalker’s pride refused to bend. Her eyes were sharp, voice like steel, as she drove the barrel of her spear against Legion’s armored head.

"Who said you could retreat?"

Her words cut like a blade.

"As a soldier of the Royal Army, you do not hesitate. No matter who the enemy is, if they stand in the Empire’s way, they must be eliminated!"

Legion trembled, but obeyed. It let out a low snarl and pushed forward again, forced to act like it was about to tear the summoned horror apart.

But Vilemaw, the nightmarish spider Rhodes had called forth, didn’t even acknowledge its advance.

It merely opened its jaws and calmly spat out a white orb.

The moment the orb left its fangs, it unfurled in midair, expanding with terrifying speed into an enormous spiderweb that blanketed the sky and ground in front of it like a living net of death.

Legion, Knightwalker, Sugarboy, and the thousands of Royal Army soldiers behind them were all caught in its path.

"What is?!"

"This is...!"

"A web?!"

"Damn it, I can’t cut through it!"

The web’s expansion was so fast, most soldiers only had time to glimpse the glowing orb before it engulfed them. They were caught almost instantly.

And once caught... there was no escape.

The sticky silk held them fast. Blades bounced uselessly off it, spears became stuck at contact, and every desperate struggle only entangled them further.

No matter how they pulled, sliced, or screamed, the more they fought, the more the web clung to them.

Thousands of soldiers flailed like flies in a trap, or like helpless fish caught in a net. Their struggles only fed the futility. Panic began to overtake them. freewёbnoνel.com

Back at the guild entrance, even those who had peeked out despite orders, like ’Gray’ and the other Edolas guild members, were completely stunned.

"Th-they’re already..."

"Resolved?!"

"You’ve gotta be joking..."

"One move... took out an army?!"

"Is Earth Land’s magic really that powerful?!"

Wendy softly mumbled behind them, slightly embarrassed, "N-not all magic is that powerful..."

Meanwhile, Legion was putting up the fiercest resistance.

Thanks to its sheer size and brute strength, it tore through a dozen strands of webbing, muscles flexing, roaring in frustration.

But with every strand it broke, dozens more wrapped around its limbs.

Legion let out a furious roar, trying to rip off the spider silk clinging to its body. But the sticky strands only tangled in its fangs, caught between its teeth and stuck stubbornly to its chin like tarred rope.

Erza Knightwalker gritted her teeth and tried to cut herself free, but even her spear couldn’t pierce the webbing.

With a flick of her hands, the spear split apart, transforming into a pair of glowing firearms, one crimson, one cobalt.

"Ice Flame Guns!"

With a sweeping motion of the red gun, she carved a flaming arc through the webs binding her body. The silk burned away instantly, sizzling as the flames consumed it.

"Don’t panic!" she shouted. "Fire works on the webs!"

But that was easier said than done. Her weapons were high-grade enchanted gear. The average soldier, clad in standard-issue armor, had nothing that could easily produce flame, not to mention, they were too entangled to move properly in the first place.

And the Vilemaw had no intention of letting her help them.

It reared back one of its massive forelegs, coated in hardened violet chitin, and brought it crashing down.

BOOM!

The ground shook violently.

The impact rippled outward like a line of underwater mines detonating beneath the surface, sending dirt and debris spraying into the air in perfect, terrifying symmetry.

Legion howled in pain as the blow shredded through its abdomen, blasting open deep wounds. With Knightwalker still on its back, it was flung through the air and slammed into the webs further behind, disappearing into a cloud of dust and silk.

Without a pause, the Vilemaw raised its second foreleg and brought it down on Sugarboy.

The impact cracked his ornate pink armor, and the shockwave launched him upward, even tearing through the web for a moment.

But it wasn’t enough.

As he plummeted back down, coughing blood, he fell right into another webbed section, and this time, he lacked the strength to lift his sword.

Rhodes eyes locked on the weapon Sugarboy had let go.

It was a broad, round-headed sword, gleaming faintly with magical energy. A high-quality enchanted item, Rhodes could feel it.

He reached out to nudge Natsu and ask him to retrieve it, but his knees gave out, and he staggered, leaning heavily on Natsu for support.

’Days without being able to summon the Blue Sentinel... it’s catching up to me.’

Just then, a voice rang out from inside the guild:

"Teleportation magic is ready!" shouted Levy.

The Veilaw’s form began to shimmer, becoming hazy, like smoke dissolving in wind. But before disappearing, it turned slightly, its many yellow eyes glinting with eerie intelligence as it looked back at Rhodes.

It raised a hooked foreleg, gently snagged one of the web’s strands, and gave a soft tug.

Schink!

Sugarboy’s sword peeled free from the web and flew back, gliding through the air like a thrown boomerang.

Not just the sword, several pairs of magic arm guards, still glittering with enchantments, also ripped free from the webs and trailed after it.

By the time the Veilmaw vanished completely, the cluster of stolen gear slammed down at the guild’s doorstep with a loud clatter.

Rhodes, despite his exhaustion, couldn’t help but smile.

It looked like a nightmare. But that spider... really had a good heart.

At that moment, Lucy came sprinting to the door.

"Don’t just stand there like idiots, get in! I’m about to activate the portal and..."

"Huh?"

She froze.

The entire Royal Army, thousands of soldiers, had been reduced to twitching figures tangled in webs. Not one of them could move.

’What the hell had just happened?!’

And those strange thread-like things... they weren’t normal ropes. They pulsed with magic.

’Were they spiderwebs?’

Her eyes dropped to the pile of glowing equipment near the door.

Wait a second, weren’t these all Royal Army gear?

That sword....wasn’t that...

"Isn’t that Sugarboy’s Rose Sword?!"

...

BOnus @2000K

Read 40 Chapters ahead @patreon.com/Keepsmiling818

New novel chapters are published on fr(e)ew𝒆bnov(e)l.com