"Fire Beam."

Selene directed her staff toward the spider’s nest, then released a massive beam of intensely hot compressed flames.

The beam surged forward at a frantic speed, like a laser, it pierced the silk threads with extreme ease and wherever it passed flames ignited.

Little by little, it lost its power, and its size shrank. As the difficulty of penetrating the silk threads—which surpassed metal in hardness and cotton in softness—increased, the beam gradually weakened, and after six hundred meters, it dissipated.

"That is not enough. Again." Alvin commanded strictly.

Selene responded immediately, and released a second fire beam. The beam passed through the same path, and continued from where the previous one had stopped.

It too pierced the silk threads, and ignited flames along the way, but it dissipated the moment it covered a distance slightly over three hundred meters, the threads were denser deeper in.

When she had opened the way before them, Alvin turned and looked at his companions. Unlike his usual self, his eyes did not contain that familiar strictness and coldness.

"Listen to me carefully, capturing the spider is our top priority, but do not forget, completing the mission will be tasteless, if we do not all return home safely."

He was silent for a moment, then added in a tone tinged with concern: "Be careful in there, and cover each other’s backs. Baldwin, you know what you have to do."

Everyone nodded in agreement with his words, even the reckless Carlos acted with great seriousness. So as not to prolong this gloomy atmosphere, Baldwin broke the silence.

"Well then everyone, lower your mental resistance." He raised his hand full of Arcane Items, and boosted them with his skills.

He raised their physical abilities, improved their Mana reserves, and placed a barrier on them that reduced damage. Since each one had different characteristics, the boost percentage was also different.

For example, Selene with her weak body and large Mana reserve, her physical strength increased by 55%, and her Mana rose by only 4%.

As for Carlos with his solid body and average Mana, the opposite happened approximately, a 2% increase in physical strength, and 14% in Mana, and so on with the rest.

Baldwin’s specialty was support and healing, and this was a rare combination, the only problem was that he was the weakest member, his Rank was only C, unlike the rest who were B-Rank.

"Let’s go." Selene drank a Mana potion, then surrounded them with a magic barrier, which kept the flames and smoke away, and without any hesitation, they headed toward the spider through the path they had opened.

At the front was Carlos, followed by Alvin and Willard, and behind them was Selene then Baldwin at the rear.

Far away in the center of the nest, the ground shook beneath the Calamity Spider, and despite the Dissonance poison, she smelled the repulsive smoke, and felt a little warmth, and also saw darkness filling the sky before her.

"Damn?" She realized they were getting closer to her, and was overcome by a feeling of panic. This was understandable, given that she had bad memories of humans, and fire.

This was the second time she had fallen into such a situation, and even after going through the same experience twice, her reaction was still the same, fear, and not knowing what she would do.

She was not smart enough, or strong enough, or even fast enough to escape, there were solutions, but she simply was not able to find them.

She steadied her mind and got rid of as much of the Dissonance poison’s effects as possible. White silk surrounded every part of her body, and hardened forming a thick layer, like battle armor.

"Today will be your end, humans." She gritted her teeth hard, the seconds passed very slowly, then suddenly, her senses warned her of an imminent approaching danger.

Quickly, she retreated backwards, and a massive, extremely sharp blade formed from concentrated energy alone passed before her, it was capable of cutting everything in its path.

Before she found enough time to think of a response, she felt danger again. She moved automatically, pushed herself with her eight legs and jumped high into the sky, and the blade passed beneath her.

On the ground Alvin looked at her coldly, tightened his grip on his sword which was surrounded by a dark aura, and swung it again, releasing a third blade no less powerful than the previous two. Beside him, Selene raised her staff, and released a volley of fireballs.

Her eyes widened, and she realized she had made a foolish move. In the open sky, she was like a glider, waiting to be shot down.

But, clearly, she was not that weak and fragile, she unleashed her skills. Before her, a massive white shield of hardened silk formed, and around it dozens of sharp spears appeared.

Boom!

The sharp blade collided with the shield, it shook and a massive crack appeared in its center, then the fireballs struck it, and it exploded, turning to pieces, heat filled the sky, and a violent shockwave spread, pushing her hundreds of meters away.

At almost the same time, the spears were released toward them, some of them collided with a few fireballs that had lagged behind, scattering both attacks, while the remaining spears rained down on the ground like projectiles.

Quickly, Selene formed a barrier around herself, Alvin, and Baldwin, while Carlos and Willard had separated from them a short while earlier.

The Calamity Spider fell on her legs, and slid dozens of meters dragging soil and silk threads before stopping.

She raised her head, and looked forward, and saw Carlos running toward her, with a strange smile on his face.

Her eyes glowed red, and Carlos averted his gaze from them, anger overtook her, she opened her mouth wide, and spat a flood of intensely acidic green poison.

Without any hesitation, Carlos unleashed his signature skill. Again a massive projection with the same form and features as him formed around him. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The acid hit the projection, and part of it dissipated, but it quickly regenerated. Carlos stood within the projection, completely unharmed, he tightened his grip on his axe, and the projection did the same.

"Let us fight." He let out a thunderous laugh, then surged forward, every step he took shook the ground. He swung his axe hard, and attacked the spider.

The spider did not stand still, she reinforced the hard armor around her front legs, then blocked the axe with one of her legs. Sparks flew, and the sound of metal clashing rang out, as though they were fighting with swords.

Carlos tightened his other fist, then punched her in the face. She let out a pained scream, and bit him in the chest. She injected her lethal poison, part of the projection dissolved, and again it regenerated.

They stepped back, then exchanged blows again, Carlos unleashed a volley of punches on her, once in the chest, and once in the face, he tried to stab her with his axe, but she blocked him every time.

She too struck him with her legs, and bit him several times. Their heights were similar, with a slight advantage to Carlos, and this made their fight a true battle of giants.