Time slowed down in Carlos's eyes, and he saw everything with terrifying clarity, the spider's dazzling, alluring eyes, her massive and savage body, her grotesque mouth, and most importantly, the torrent of venom rushing straight toward him, vaporizing everything it touched.
With the last remnants of his consciousness, he wanted to run, or at least defend himself.
But his body refused to listen. He remained frozen in place, waiting for death to reach him.
Whoosh!
At the final moment, just before the acid attack fell upon him, Willard arrived at his side in a flash.
He swung his sword, releasing a powerful wave of wind that pushed the acid aside and altered its trajectory slightly. It crashed into the ground right next to them, instantly melting it and leaving behind a massive crater.
"AARGH!"
Unfortunately for Carlos, several stray droplets and splashes still struck different parts of his body.
The moment they touched his skin, they began to melt it away. A large portion of his beard and armor was burned off, and his left ear along with part of his head turned into soft, sticky flesh.
Even so, the rest of his body remained unharmed. That small amount of acid wasn't enough to pierce through his steel armor.
The pain of his flesh and bones being corroded snapped him back into control. Acting quickly, he activated his defensive and healing Skills, forcefully suppressing the raging acid.
But it didn't end there.
The spider, radiating pure killing intent, had already reached them.
She raised her four massive front legs and slammed them down, trying to crush both of them and turn them into minced meat.
Willard raised his sword horizontally, and Carlos did the same in haste. Together, they blocked the descending legs, crashing down like a mountain.
Crack!
The ground beneath them shattered, and their bodies were crushed into the soil.
Without giving them a single moment to resist or break free, the spider lifted her legs again and slammed them down once more, and again, like a hammer driving stakes into the earth.
"Damn it."
Crack!
Willard's and Carlos's faces twisted in agony. Their bodies were compressed until blood poured from their noses and ears.
Bones cracked, muscles tore apart, dirt covered them from head to toe as they were buried alive.
She smiled viciously and continued stomping on them, partially venting her hatred.
She knew they were tough like cockroaches and wouldn't die easily, so they had to be crushed properly.
Just as she was about to finish them off for good, she sensed someone approaching.
She turned to her left and saw Alvin charging toward her at an absurd speed.
The moment he closed the distance, he swung his sword with full force, unleashing a blade of energy at her legs. It struck true.
Whoosh!
Her three front legs were severed cleanly in half and fell beside her, blue blood gushing from the wounds like a waterfall.
But Alvin didn't stop there. He leapt high into the air and dove toward her head like a predatory bird.
Stumbling, she retreated dozens of meters back and narrowly avoided him. Before she could even catch her breath, Selene, who had just arrived, bombarded her with hundreds of fireballs.
The spider clenched her teeth and, without hesitation, channeled her mana and cast a defensive spell.
Above her, a massive canopy of interwoven webs formed, blocking the barrage of fireballs.
However, the hastily formed defense quickly showed signs of collapse, beginning to burn and melt away.
Even so, she didn't panic. All she needed was a single second.
Her severed legs regenerated at a terrifying speed.
Then she leaped away, narrowly evading the barrage of fireballs that tore through her broken defense.
High in the sky, three hundred meters above the ground, she looked down at the land that had been reduced to ruins.
Then she focused all her attention on the group of humans below.
Without holding anything back, she burned an unbelievable amount of mana and cast the strongest wide-area destructive spell she could use.
All around her, across hundreds of meters in the sky, thousands of gigantic white spears formed—and then fell one after another like rain.
"Damn it!" Selene's face twisted. She hurriedly erected a massive barrier that shielded herself and the others.
At the same time, Alvin pulled the crushed Willard and Carlos out of the soil.
Bang!
Crack!
Under the sheer density of the attacks, the barrier couldn't hold. It cracked within moments. Even when Selene tried to repair and reinforce it, it still wasn't enough.
She was drenched in sweat, her mana rapidly running dry. That was when she realized defending any longer was pointless.
She clenched her teeth, glanced at the nearly dead Willard and Carlos, then said bitterly:
"Alvin, defend yourself."
Alvin understood what she meant; once the barrier shattered, defending their comrades would become extremely difficult, or rather, impossible.
Sighing deeply, he was forced to activate his most powerful defensive skill.
He stood upright and drove the tip of his sword into the ground.
Then, incredibly, both he and his sword turned into stone, becoming like an ancient statue rooted in place.
Unlike him, Selene didn't manifest any miraculous new skills. She simply surrounded herself with a small, highly concentrated transparent barrier.
Bang!
The massive barrier shattered. Dozens of giant spears rained through, piercing the ground as if it were melted butter.
They impaled the bodies of Willard and Carlos, scattering their remains everywhere.
Even those remains were struck by more spears until not a single trace of them was left.
Boom!
As for the others, they fared better. Selene's barrier served its purpose and blocked the spears, though it consumed every last drop of her mana.
As for Alvin, several spears struck him directly, but instead of harming him, they shattered into fragments while he remained standing tall.
Seeing the bodies of her two companions turned into shreds made Selene tremble with fear.
Her heart pounded madly, and panic began to take hold of her. She clutched her head and muttered:
"How! How is this possible? She's only a B-Rank, why is she this strong?"
Her thoughts were a mess, chaos spreading through her mind. It wasn't just fear, casting so many spells had drained a huge portion of her mental energy.
On top of that, her confusion was understandable. The power gap between them and the spider made no sense, they were supposed to be the same Rank.
Boom!
The spears stopped falling from the sky. Along with them, the deafening explosions ceased.
Calm returned to the area, and Selene regained a bit of composure, restraining her racing thoughts. She looked around and saw the ground completely leveled, except for one thing still standing proudly: stone-like Alvin.
Crack.
Alvin's stony body suddenly cracked, the rock layer breaking apart, and he returned to his natural form.
Instead of continuing to stand, he collapsed onto one knee, coughing up blood. He removed his helmet, revealing his fair handsome face and slightly long brown hair.
He sighed with sorrow:
"We have been defeated, but the fight isn't over yet."
From a distance, the healer who had hidden at the start of the battle ran toward them. Upon arriving, he immediately began healing them quickly.