Tales of the Endless Empire
Chapter 196: Killing More Spiders

The web trembled, vibrating more and more, until Thalion spotted the cause. Three massive black spiders were charging toward him, their presence exuding an aura of raw menace. But even their overwhelming size paled in comparison to the small, shadowy figure scuttling alongside them—a spider much smaller in stature yet radiating an authority that sent a shiver of anticipation down Thalion’s spine.

The three larger spiders were monstrous, each the size of a small school bus, their thick, bristling legs covered in dark, wiry hairs. Their elongated fangs dripped with a sickly green venom, and wherever a single drop touched the ground, the earth sizzled and withered, leaving only scorched remains in its wake. In contrast, the smaller spider moved with an eerie, unnatural grace—its sleek body devoid of hair, its limbs slender yet disturbingly agile. Unlike the behemoths beside it, it lacked any visible chitinous armor, appearing almost fragile. And yet, Thalion knew instinctively that this one was the true threat—the mastermind behind the approaching onslaught.

The monstrous trio was still about a hundred meters away, but they closed the distance with terrifying speed. Thalion wasted no time preparing the battlefield. Shadowy tendrils, spawned from the Abyssal Devourer, surged outward, tearing apart more of the massive web, while he exhaled a thick, suffocating cloud of Umbral Miasma, cloaking the entire area in swirling darkness. The reaction was immediate. The appearance of these four formidable creatures had drawn the rest of the spiders from their hiding places. Hundreds of gleaming, multi-eyed horrors now scuttled along the shimmering strands of silk, the tension in the air thick enough to cut with a blade.

Thalion smirked, summoning a charged umbral spike to instantly take down one of the larger spiders. However, before he could unleash the attack, the small spider reacted with startling speed, launching a razor-sharp black thorn directly at him. Though the projectile lacked the raw power to wound him, it was clearly meant to disrupt his concentration. Without even shifting his stance, Thalion summoned a wall of enchanted shadows, deflecting the attack with ease.

What happened next caught him off guard. The smaller spider seemed to give a silent command, and its three hulking allies immediately changed their approach. Instead of charging recklessly, they withdrew slightly, attempting to use the trees as cover. At the same time, multiple spiders darted away—not to attack him directly, but to repair the web behind him.

"So, you're more than just brute force," Thalion mused, his amusement tinged with admiration. The level of coordination these creatures displayed far surpassed his expectations. If he allowed them to regain control of the battlefield, they would trap him within the dense webbing, limiting his movements. He couldn't allow that.

Without hesitation, he lashed out at the repairing spiders with shadows sharpened by Shadow Claw, slicing through their fragile bodies with terrifying efficiency. Limbs and bodies tumbled through the air as Thalion rampaged through the dense jungle, cutting down anything that dared to restore the web. Until now, he had barely moved, confident in his ability to annihilate the spiders without the need for evasive maneuvers. But this had changed. Now he had to move—darting, leaping, and twisting through the battlefield, cleaving through spiders as he fired multiple spikes in rapid succession.

One of these spikes, the fully charged one, shot toward the nearest of the giant spiders. But the beast was too fast. In a blur of motion, it sidestepped the attack, evading it entirely.

Sensing his attempt to retreat toward the open jungle, the small spider reacted once again. Instantly, the entire swarm shifted, their aggression escalating to a suicidal frenzy. They hurled themselves at him without hesitation, their desperation revealing just how badly their leader wanted to keep him contained.

This was when Thalion truly felt the power of surpassing the seven-hundred strength threshold. With each slash of his claws, spiders were torn apart like paper. Their bodies crumpled under his strikes, their attempts to overwhelm him proving utterly futile. Even without his advanced abilities, he doubted they could have pinned him down. His agility, dexterity, and sheer brute force allowed him to weave through them effortlessly, and even those that managed to close the gap found themselves obliterated in a single punch.

Of course, he couldn’t be certain how much of this was due to his own speed and how much was the effect of the Umbral Miasma. The oppressive darkness slowed the spiders significantly, leaving them sluggish and vulnerable. More importantly, they had no answer to his mist. Unlike him, they had no ranged attacks—no way to strike back at the suffocating cloud that corroded their bodies with each passing second. The webs, which had begun to annoy him, were slowly dissolving under the effects of the mist, further shifting the battle in his favor.

Meanwhile, the Abyssal Devourer’s tendrils continued their relentless assault, consuming spider after spider. However, this created a new problem—many of the tendrils were now focused on feeding, rather than dismantling the web. Thalion found himself compensating, using shadow-infused claws to tear through the silk, a process that demanded more concentration than he would have liked.

The strain of multitasking so many abilities at once was beginning to weigh on him.

And that was when the larger spiders made their move.

Up until now, Thalion had assumed that they, like the others, were melee combatants. He was wrong.

One of the massive spiders suddenly plunged its legs deep into the ground, its entire body vibrating as a crackling charge of electricity erupted along its form. Before Thalion could react, a bolt of lightning blasted toward him with blinding speed—an attack far faster and stronger than he had anticipated.

At that moment, he had just begun conjuring another spike, focused on interrupting the spider’s next move. He hadn’t expected it to strike this early.

And now, the bolt was coming straight for him.

Thalion didn’t have enough time to dodge. The attack struck him square in the chest, its force strong enough to obliterate powerful creatures. Though still weaker than Eagle’s charged lightning beam, the impact was immense. The bolt crashed against Thalion’s crystalline-like skin, sending him skidding several meters backward. Smoke curled from the point of impact, a brief flicker of heat and static dancing over his chest—before it was instantly snuffed out by the darkness pulsing from within him.

He blinked.

That was... nothing.

He had expected pain, maybe even a wound to trigger his absurd healing factor, but neither happened. No injuries. No residual electricity burning through his veins. He had just tanked an attack of this magnitude without a scratch.

Before he could dwell on the implications, he retaliated, firing a black spike straight at the thunder spider, which was still anchored to the ground. The projectile shot forward with lethal intent—only for a dark barrier to materialize in front of the beast. Thalion’s spike pierced through the shield, but by the time it reached its target, it had lost too much force. It skidded off the spider’s chitinous armor, leaving no visible damage.

His eyes flicked upward.

The barrier hadn’t been conjured by the thunder spider. It had come from the small one—the creature still hanging upside down in the web beneath the dense jungle canopy, watching him with eerie stillness.

Thalion quickly regained his footing and resumed tearing through the swarm, cutting down the spiders desperately trying to repair the colossal web or launching reckless attacks at him. They were relentless, but not enough to trouble him. The smaller ones fell in droves, their bodies reduced to twitching husks as he carved his way forward. Only the larger spiders presented any real challenge.

Wait.

Where were the other two?

A cold realization crept down his spine. He severed another spider with Shadow Claw, the crunch of its armor shattering beneath his strike oddly satisfying. Then he turned—and spotted the second one.

Just in time.

The massive spider burned with raw power, its body pulsing with energy. Thalion barely had a moment to react before the creature released its spell.

A portal ripped open in the air above it.

From within, a toxic green mist came billowing out in a wide, roaring jetstream. Leaves and vines shriveled and died on contact, the very life drained from them in seconds. Even the ground where the mist settled turned barren and lifeless, the corruption spreading outward like an unstoppable plague.

Everything the mist touched perished.

Everything except for his Umbral Miasma.

The instant the two forces collided, the green fog was shredded apart, dismantled by the overwhelming presence of his darkness. A small portion of his domain was consumed in the process, but it was a trivial loss—one he could restore in a heartbeat.

"Alright," Thalion muttered. "One thunder mage. One poison mage. And the last one..."

A surge of danger shot through his senses.

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From below.

There!

The ground beneath him erupted, and in that split second, Thalion made his move first. He slammed his fist into the earth with all his might.

Just as the third spider lunged upward from its burrow.

The impact was simultaneous. Its razor-sharp, unnaturally robust fangs scraped against his skin, emitting a horrible screech as they failed to pierce his body. At the same time, Thalion’s fist obliterated its skull, driving through its head like a hammer through glass.

A clean kill.

Or at least, it would have been—if not for the second lightning strike.

The thunder spider fired again, this time catching him off guard. The blast struck him full force, sending him hurtling sideways. He landed in a controlled roll, his body already adjusting, but before he could rise, three of the remaining smaller spiders lunged at him.

Fools.

His shadow surged outward. Shadow Claw carved through them with ruthless efficiency, their shredded remains collapsing before they could even touch him.

Meanwhile, his Abyssal Devourer had fully taken over the battlefield. Six writhing tendrils of pure darkness roamed freely, consuming everything that had recently died. The sheer number of spiders he had slaughtered meant fewer and fewer were left to repair the web.

The tide was turning.

Still, the thunder spider remained a nuisance from afar, and the small one had yet to make its move.

Enough playing defense.

Thalion surged forward, shadows ripping apart every spider in his path. He closed in on the electric spider—but at the last moment, he paused, summoning a black spike in his palm.

His gaze flickered to the small spider.

It was still there. Watching. Waiting.

Thalion pretended to aim for it, letting the spike hum with lethal intent. He saw the small spider tense, poised to dodge. With its speed, it would have no trouble evading a direct hit.

But Thalion had never intended to hit it.

At the last moment, he twisted his aim—and fired at the poison spider instead.

The creature barely had time to react. Its focus had been entirely on maintaining its poison portal, likely draining a massive amount of mana to sustain it. Its attention had been split.

And that cost it dearly.

The spike pierced through its skull, bursting out the other side in a spray of blackened gore. The spider’s body twitched violently, already consumed by his darkness before it could even fall. Its corpse dangled uselessly, caught in its own webbing.

Thalion exhaled, already shifting his focus.

The remaining thunder spider wasted no time retaliating. Another bolt of lightning shot toward him.

Thalion simply sidestepped, letting it miss him entirely, and used the momentum to accelerate forward—rushing straight for his final target.

The thunder spider realized its mistake. It unlocked its legs from the ground, scrambling to climb higher into the web.

But it was too late.

That was the moment the small spider finally acted.

A dark spike shot toward Thalion with blinding speed—not particularly powerful, but fast and annoyingly precise.

Thalion twisted to avoid it, seamlessly dodging as he slaughtered another spider mid-step, a spike of his own spearing through its body.

Immediately, a shadowy tendril burst from his chest, coiling around the fresh corpse and dragging it into the abyss.

His Abyssal Devourer was insatiable.

And so was he.

The battle wasn’t over yet.

Thalion didn’t mind. In fact, he found it convenient that his Abyssal Devourer was handling the clean-up, sparing him the effort.

A dark spear struck the ground beside him, but he easily sidestepped, barely acknowledging the attack. As he moved closer to the thunder spider, he noticed that many smaller spiders still lurked within the vast webbing around him. Yet, curiously, they no longer attacked. They kept their distance, skittering between the silk threads as if waiting.

Only the small black spider continued its assault, occasionally launching shadowy spikes at him.

Then, without warning, the thunder spider severed one of the thicker strands of webbing and swung away, moving fluidly through the air like a twisted version of a certain masked superhero. Landing gracefully on the forest floor, it immediately sprinted deeper into the nest, vanishing between the interwoven strands of silk.

Thalion followed.

He fired a few projectiles at it, testing its reactions, but held back from using his full speed. Something was off. The spiders were up to something, and he intended to find out what. Besides, the experience gain wasn’t bad—he was already a sixth of the way to the next level.

The small spider had barely tapped into its power, only throwing the occasional attack at him. But that didn’t matter. Thalion had already seen what the spiders were capable of. More importantly, he now understood his own strength. Even within their domain, they couldn’t deal any meaningful damage to him.

Yet despite their lack of aggression, he could feel it.

Something was waiting ahead.

His title gave him a faint warning—a small, creeping sensation of danger, like the first droplets of rain before a storm. Nothing overwhelming. Not yet.

Thalion slowed his pace.

Instead of blindly charging forward, he raised a hand, and the Abyssal Devourer pulsed in response. Its tendrils slithered outward, consuming more and more of the webbing around him, expanding the battlefield. He refused to let these creatures trap him. He needed space to move, space to fight properly. If they were trying to lure him somewhere, he would make sure it was on his terms.

As he continued destroying the web, he felt something shift in the air.

The elemental inside him noticed it too.

Its core pulsed, an eerie heartbeat of shadow, and the darkness around him thickened, spreading wider, denser.

Then, at last, his patience was rewarded.

A larger spider emerged in the clearing ahead.

It was massive, even bigger than the thunder spider, which had by now climbed into the treetops, lying in wait. The aura radiating from this new arrival dwarfed that of the others, its sheer presence sending a ripple of unease through the surrounding swarm.

All except for the small black spider.

That one still watched in silence.

Thalion felt a flicker of disappointment. He had expected something more, but the thrill of battle was already surging through his veins. No point in hesitating now.

His Umbral Miasma unleashed, a creeping wave of darkness rolling toward the beast.

The spider didn’t even flinch.

Instead, it lunged.

Fangs bared, it tried to end the fight in a single bite.

Thalion almost laughed.

He swiped his left hand, releasing a Shadow Claw mid-motion. The two forces collided in midair. For a moment, he expected the spider to be ripped apart, shredded into nothing like all the others before it.

But it wasn’t.

His attack clashed against its armored body. Some portions of its exoskeleton cracked, breaking apart beneath his power, but others simply deflected the blow entirely.

This was a first.

No spider had ever survived a direct hit from him before.

And as if that had been the signal—all hell broke loose.

The thunder spider began charging another attack.

The small one unleashed a wave of dark energy, rippling outward in a surge of power. Every spider in the area began to glow, their forms pulsing with newfound strength. A buff spell.

Thalion acted immediately.

His body flickered as he dodged to the side, effortlessly avoiding the large spider’s next strike. His hand shot out—grabbing one of its legs—and with an almost casual motion, he ripped it clean off.

The beast shrieked.

Meanwhile, the surrounding spiders surged toward him, but they never reached him.

The shadows themselves rose to meet them.

Empowered by Shadow Claw, tendrils of darkness lashed out, ripping through the swarm.

At the same time, Thalion's gaze snapped toward the thunder spider. It was close enough now.

A spike erupted from the spider’s own shadow, spearing through its thorax before it could unleash another blast.

It twitched violently, electricity crackling through its body as its legs spasmed.

And then, it stilled.

Thalion barely spared it a glance.

The real fight was still happening.

The larger spider tried to retreat, its massive body shifting to reposition—but Thalion didn’t let it. He snatched another leg and with a single powerful motion, hurled the entire creature back into the clearing.

The sheer force of the throw was staggering.

Even he was a little impressed.

The spider crashed down with a deafening thud, dust and debris exploding outward.

Thalion didn’t give it time to recover.

Before it could even think about getting back up, he was already there—above it, descending like a shadowed executioner.

His right hand pulsed with power, darkness twisting and curling around his fingers, forming razor-sharp claws.

This time, he wouldn’t hold back.

With a final, decisive swipe, he brought Shadow Claw down, intending to end it in one blow.