Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 583 - 50 Hunting and Being Hunted_1

Chapter 583: Chapter 50 Hunting and Being Hunted_1

The rustling sound quickly started up again, with a faint blood scent drifting over from the direction of the crack. The giant millipede twisted its body and waved its near hundred feet, preparing to return to its nest in great satisfaction. It was particularly lucky today - although the irritating ancestors of the Terror Beasts had quickly fled at the sound of rustling, as soon as it emerged from the cave, it encountered a medium-sized magical beast passing by. The giant millipede had bitten its prey in half in just thirty seconds, rapidly devouring the prey until nothing was left. After its hunger was sated, it probed the air with its antennae for a while before turning and burrowing back into the crack.

Not much later, it returned to the spot where it had discovered its prey, waving its antennae at the place, as though dissatisfied. For these large insects, once they’ve eaten their fill, they can live normally for more than ten days without eating, so the millipede didn’t need to hunt now. However, the naturally ferocious giant millipede was still guided by its instincts, wanting to kill every creature that appeared before it. But, once again, it was disappointed; there was no trace of prey around. Given its understanding abilities, it couldn’t possibly comprehend the meaning of magic and arrays. Perhaps the fruitless millipede was a bit agitated as it smacked the ground hard with its forked tail, then once again twisted its body and began to move. After its stomach was full, returning to its nest to take a nap would be the most important task. All other matters had to make way for this.

But, just as it started to move again, a dark shadow suddenly fell from the sky upon it without warning. The shadow had been lurking directly above the millipede, waiting for an opportunity to attack. At the sight of this shadow, Lina and Freya both let out a quick gasp. They quickly covered their mouths; fortunately, the presence of the Concealment Array meant the sound couldn’t reach the two magical beasts entangled outside.

The attacking shadow was another huge insect—a giant grey-black spider. The spider was enormous, and just measuring its round body, it was two meters in diameter. Its eight terrifying long legs could reach six meters when splayed out as it crawled. Short and hard bristles covered the entire body of the spider. Its whole body was grey-black save for a hint of dark red at the very end of its abdomen. Eight strong legs were neatly arranged on both sides of the spider. Its legs were covered with sharp barbs amid their sharp serrations, resembling a long saw. On the proportionally smaller head of the spider were eight red eyes scattered across various parts. At the front, two sharp fangs protruded from under the upper jaw, even these covered in grey-black bristles. Its abdomen was much larger than the head, looking rounded. At the end of its body trailed a thin white thread dangling from the roof of the tunnel. Under the illumination of the crystal, it was barely discernible. If it were dark, no one would be able to spot the thread.

"Such a giant spider?" Lina exclaimed in a low voice: "Denia, isn’t the largest spider among those found outside the legendary forest spider from the Forest of Death? They are said to hunt wild sheep and deer. But even so, they are said to be less than two meters in size, including the width of their splayed legs. If one is to consider the body alone, it is just over half a meter or so. But this one, this is way too huge. It’s multiple times bigger."

"The millipede we saw was four times larger than the desert millipede," Pannis remarked, "Spiders, of course, can get bigger."

"The magical beast you mentioned earlier is this very creature, isn’t it?" Catherine looked upwards with some apprehension: "Because of the one-way Concealment Array in place, the light inside couldn’t shine outside, and hence the tunnel above appeared pitch black. The effect of the unknown is bound to make people uneasy. Especially after a giant spider like this one has just descended from the cave ceiling, it intensifies this unease. This spider wouldn’t also be poisonous, would it? That would make it even more dangerous. It seems like we need to be very cautious about the space above falling objects while we move about here."

"Most spiders with vertical fangs are extremely venomous," Pannis explained. "Spiders are some of the most fearsome hunters in the world. They are silent, swift, and precise. Their fangs contain a natural armor piercing attribute. Unless you put up a shield, even a Gold Rank spider could easily puncture the skin of a Legendary Rank professional, let alone this creature before us which is a Legendary Rank predator. If you come under attack from it, the best way to handle it is to kill it as quickly as possible."

"Can you hear them move?" Catherine asked tentatively. "Although we can’t hear it, surely you could."

"No, unfortunately," Pannis shook his head. "Spiders are one of the few creatures whose movements I can’t hear. The sound they make when they move is extremely faint. A spider as large as the one we’ve seen makes no more noise than a small flower petal falling. Combined with the surrounding sounds, it’s really hard to distinguish."

"Then is there no way at all?" Catherine, having an epiphany, exclaimed, "No, I got it! Although they don’t make a sound when they crawl, large spiders create quite a noise when they begin to attack. So it appears that as long as we hear an odd sound in the breeze, we need to put up a shield immediately."

"Right, it’s that simple." Pannis glanced appreciatively at Catherine before he went back to observing the giant spider: "Their mode of attack with their fangs is consistent. They first lift up their upper body and, after they accumulate strength, focus their fangs onto the body of the prey. They then thrust them down strongly, penetrating the skin of the prey and injecting venom. The larger the spider, the greater the sound it makes in action. So for those who have keen senses, larger spiders are not as frightening as the smaller ones. Hmm, perhaps spiders as big as these are the exception."

"The threat from large spiders is not as high as that from the smaller ones?" Catherine repeated Pannis’s words, sinking it deep into her memory. She made a mental note of every piece of advice Pannis had ever given her during their adventures in this world. They might help save the lives of her and her companions someday.

"Yes," Pannis affirmed, "I once heard a story. Many years ago, there was a legendary-ranked professional who was close to becoming a Demigod. It was almost certain that within a year, at the most, he would step into the realm of Demigods. However, he ventured into the Forest of Death for an adventure with a few Demigods. As they were passing by a small spider, inadvertently, the spider attacked. It was a very small spider, about the size of a thumb."

"Then what happened?" Lina asked curiously, "Was he attacked by a spider?"

"And then? Then he died." Pannis shrugged, stating innocently, "He just died, without a sound, let alone defense."

"You can’t tell a story like that." Lina complained, "At least you should clarify how he died."

"He died from poison, but the problem is no one knows how he died." Pannis spread his hands, "Some speculate that he was attacked by a spider. However, none of the demi-gods in his vicinity noticed when the spider launched its attack. But others think he bumped into a floating spider web. This speculation is even more terrifying because no one has ever heard of a creature that could poison a Legendary Rank being with just a single strand of a spider’s web."

"Nevermind, stop talking." Freya rubbed her arms, feeling a chill, "If I can avoid it, I absolutely do not want to deal with them, I detest spiders."

"I don’t want to either, who would want to deal with these predators," Pannis said, "But there’s no other choice, this is our profession, and even if we hate them, we have to face them."

While the group was conversing, the battle between the spider and the giant millipede had reached its most intense stage. The spider fell from the sky, directly landing on the front half of the millipede that was completely unprepared. The spider’s eight long legs curled tightly, locking onto the millipede’s body, then it violently lunged downward aiming for the millipede’s relatively vulnerable head. The millipede, a predator itself, was taken by surprise but managed to twist its head away and block the spider’s attack with its poisonous fangs. It retaliated with a bite of its own, its strong mandibles threatening to crush the giant spider’s head. But the giant spider swerved, avoiding the millipede’s mandibles, then clung tightly to the millipede’s back, restricting its movements and forcing it to use its strength continuously as it thrashed and struggled.

For a time, the tunnel was like a scene of a storm had passed. Shattered rocks were everywhere. The millipede, although at a disadvantage, but aside from its relatively weak underbelly and head, the rest of its body had external skeletons that the spider could not penetrate. The spider, while not as hardy, was more flexible and had positioned itself on the millipede’s unreachable back, giving it a significant advantage. The two colossal creatures rolled back and forth in the tunnel, unable to inflict any critical injury on one another. The battle was at a stalemate, the millipede desperately trying to flip itself over to bite the spider, while the spider was determined to attack the millipede’s head or underbelly. Neither party could gain the upper hand.

"Who do you think will win?" Lina asked quietly.

"The spider will win." Pannis said confidently, "I believe the one that will survive in the end is the spider."

"Why?" Lina questioned, "It does not seem like there is much difference between the two."

"But the spider has not used its silk yet." Pannis explained, "Don’t forget. Spiders can spin silk."

As expected, the predicament soon moved to the final stage. After lots of struggle, the millipede finally managed to shake off the spider from its back. But the spider immediately sprayed a large amount of silk from its abdomen, binding the latter half of the millipede and seriously hampering its movement. However, the millipede did the most surprising thing at this point. It bit its own body, its sharp fangs easily severing the trapped rear half. Leaving the trapped section behind, it quickly escaped deeper into the tunnel.

The victorious giant spider did not chase after it. Instead, it tightened its bind on the discarded section of the millipede, which was approximately one-third of its body. The spider then slowly retreated back into the tunnel, dragging its prize behind it. (To be continued. If you enjoyed this story, I invite you to come to qidian.com to vote and recommend it. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users can read at m.qidian.com.)