Dance Of The Dragons
Chapter 370 : Demon Trap (3)

Chapter 370: Chapter 370 : Demon Trap (3)

The sticky substance solidified upon its exposure to air. The translucent liquid turned into strands of smooth, silky but also strong fiber that wrapped themselves around their targets.

Qiao Wei just had enough time to cast a protective barrier around himself, causing the strands of fiber to deflect against the barrier’s surface with a series of repetitive thuds.

Behind him, the two shidis did not have that much luck. They were quickly swallowed into two white cocoons without any chance to toss out a scream, let alone resist the attack.

"Spider demon," Qiao Wei hissed through his teeth.

The beautiful demoness before him let out a high-pitched laughter. She reached out to a string of spider thread and used it to land on the ground.

"It has been a while since we had some cultivators," she mused as she observed Qiao Wei with increasing interest. "My beloved children are going to enjoy the nutritious treats."

A rasping symphony of tiny legs skittering over damp earth slithered into Qiao Wei’s ears. He flinched, his hand instinctively tightening around his sword hilt.

Then, they erupted from the undergrowth. Hundreds of grotesque figures of varying sizes, a horrifying fusion of human children and spiders, swarmed into the clearing. Their hunched forms, no taller than Qiao Wei’s knees, were draped in a fluffy coat the color of storm clouds. The same grey-black fluff covered their human ears.

Two wicked, pointy horns jutted from their human heads.

Some sported eight lidless orbs as eyes, glistening like black jewels in pairs down their cheeks, while others had only two cyclopean eyes peering from beneath curved, matted brows, giving them a disconcertingly human look.

Most of them clicked with their mandibles in order to communicate with each other, while the ones with more advanced forms were able to communicate in human language.

When they spoke, they sounded exactly like a human child.

"Mom," one of them called out with an eerily innocent voice that drove chills down Qiao Wei’s spine. This spider child was one of those whose cries attracted them to the spider lair. "Mom, we are hungry."

The spider demoness clicked with her tongue while wagging her finger before the child.

"There, there, my babies, please be patient. Let me catch some easy food for you first. These cultivators are very precious. You want to let them cook inside the cocoons for three days and three nights before they are ripe for pickings.

After devouring these three cultivators, some of you babies can finally gain human forms."

"In your wildest dreams!" Qiao Wei cried out. He launched an attack at the spider demoness, but she easily dodged his attack.

"You are fierce," she said. "I like. Don’t worry, my sweet cultivator. I am going to let you die quickly. I don’t typically torture my food."

"After you!" Qiao Wei hollered as he landed a series of attacks at the spider demoness. One of his attacks eventually grazed the demoness’ shoulder, ripping a ghastly wound on her fair, porcelain-like skin.

The demoness’ face crumpled as she pressed a hand against her wounded shoulder.

"My, my. Dear cultivator, did your shizun not teach you that you need to be gentle with women? Children, do teach our cultivator here a lesson."

The tide of spider children crashed against the flickering dome of Qiao Wei’s barrier. Tiny claws, like obsidian needles, scraped and tore at the shimmering sphere, driven by a primal hunger. Their grotesque faces pressed against the barrier, their beady eyes gleaming with malicious glee.

Overwhelmed, Qiao Wei sank to the damp earth, forced into a desperate meditation to maintain the integrity of his protective barrier.

The only sound that pierced the cacophony of clicks and his own ragged breaths was the demoness’s laughter.

"My good children, keep our guests entertained, will you? Mother is going to get some food from the nearby village. I will be back soon."

The Dong Village!

Qiao Wei gritted his teeth in frustration.

Focus, he told himself. Do not let your emotions get the upper hand. You need to focus.

He was one of the senior disciples of the Wushan Temple Sect.

He was the right hand of the sect leader, one of his most trusted subordinates.

He was Master Qiao Wei, the Venerable Sword Saint of Wushan!

With a roaring battle cry, he raised his sword above his head and sliced through his barrier. At the same time, he cleaved the flesh wall made of the spider children into two.

"AAAAAHHHHH!!!"

"EEEEEEEEKKKK!!!"

A cacophony of cries pierced the air.

Some crumpled to the ground, felled by Qiao Wei’s desperate blow, but the others quickly swarmed him.

The man fought bravely against the hundreds of spider children. They clawed and bit at him with all their might before they were sent flying into the air.

For each fallen spider child, two more surged forward, their hunger a ravenous chorus that gnawed at the young man’s confidence.

Qiao Wei’s vision started to swim at the edges. The venom from their teeth and claws, a cold tendril slithered through his veins, numbing his limbs and dulling his senses.

His world narrowed to the glint of his blade, the flash of spider mandibles, and the crimson blossoming on his skin.

He tasted the metallic tang of blood as he bit down hard on his lip, the sharp sting a desperate attempt to stay awake. The venom was dragging him towards the seductive embrace of oblivion, but with each rasping breath, with each parry and riposte, Qiao Wei fought back.

Until he couldn’t anymore.

There were simply too many of them.

The last thing he saw before his consciousness dwindled was one of the bigger spider children, his mouth open in an attempt to sink his venomous fangs into Qiao Wei’s neck.

Qiao Wei gathered all remaining spiritual power in his body to launch one final attack.

If he could not survive this day, then at least he must drag as many of these monsters as possible with him to the afterlife!