Chapter 88 : Chapter 88
Chapter 88: The Strangler
However, before they could finish activating the formation, the elven warriors surrounded them.
It turned out that the elves had already made preparations in advance and had destroyed two of the metal plates beforehand, weakening the formation’s power by more than half.
When the humans saw that their plan had been exposed, they no longer kept up the act. They ordered the humans to resist, took out the weapons hidden in their luggage, and released black magic projectiles.
The battle lasted for more than half an hour.
The elves were familiar with the terrain of the forest, so they counterattacked with bows and natural magic. The humans’ magic was suppressed in the forest, and they quickly fell into a disadvantage.
In the end, the other humans were either killed or injured by arrows and captured alive.
Only after the interrogation afterward did the elves learn that they were not merchants, but members of a certain dark magic organization among the humans.
The organization wanted to seize the Heart of the Sacred Tree of the Elf Race and use it to cultivate forbidden magic. That was why they had planned this whole scheme. They pretended to be guests, but in reality, they were setting up a formation, intending to wipe out the entire Elf Race in one sweep before taking away the Sacred Tree.
The Elf Race executed all the surviving humans, burned everything they had brought, dug out the remaining metal plates, and used the sap of the Sacred Tree to purify the polluted land.
From then on, the Elf Race established a new rule: outsiders were no longer allowed to remain in the village for more than ten days, regardless of their identity, even if they belonged to a race that had old ties with them.
Moreover, during their stay, they had to be watched by at least three elves at all times and were not allowed to approach any ancient tree or sacred object.
This rule had been passed down to the present day. The elves of Tree Sea Village were all very wary of the races outside, especially humans.
“Erich, you!”
Lia glared at Erich.
Facing Lia’s gaze, Erich did not retreat in the slightest.
He had brought up the rules of the race precisely to make Ryan and the others leave as soon as possible.
That was because he had noticed that Lia looked at Ryan differently.
In his eyes, Lia was his future partner.
Although Lia had never once acknowledged that.
However, Erich did not want any accidents to happen.
After learning that Lia had brought humans back with her, he had rushed over immediately.
His goal was to drive away the people Lia had brought as early as possible.
Humans!
Especially human men. They were the best at using sweet words to deceive others.
Every elf in the entire Elf Race was extremely guarded against humans.
Therefore, what Erich did would definitely gain the support of the other elves.
After Lia saw Erich bring up the rules of the race, she no longer argued with him.
“Father!” Lia advised him earnestly. “If the barrier is damaged and a monster tide appears to attack the village, what are we going to do?”
“Father, have you thought about whether we can resist a monster tide’s attack relying only on the strength of the Elf Race?”
“A monster tide...”
Kurt murmured to himself.
A monster tide was an enormous threat to anyone.
When a monster tide appeared, the best method was to run away.
One must never try to clash head-on with a monster tide.
This was the advice left to future generations by everyone in history who had experienced a monster tide.
As for those who had experienced a monster tide before and wanted to confront it head-on, the grass on their graves had already been growing for who knew how many years.
The Elf Race had lived here for several hundred years and could not easily move away.
If it was truly as Lia said, and they encountered a monster tide, then Tree Sea Village’s losses would be far too severe.
“Lia, what are you trying to say?” Kurt asked.
“Father, what I mean is that if we have Mr. Ryan’s help, we will definitely be able to resist the monster tide with relatively low losses!”
Lia stated her thoughts.
“This group of young people?”
Kurt frowned and looked at Ryan and the others.
In his eyes, Ryan and the others were all children, and they did not look like powerful people.
How could he possibly believe that Ryan was a powerful adventurer?
“Could there be an S-rank Adventurer among them?” Kurt asked curiously.
If there was an S-rank Adventurer among Ryan and the others, then it would make sense.
Lia turned back and looked at Ryan.
Ryan shook his head. “No. There are no S-rank Adventurers among us. The one with the highest adventurer rank among us is me, a B-rank Adventurer!”
“Hmph!”
Erich sneered. “A B-rank Adventurer? This is the powerful adventurer you spoke of, Lia?”
Lia: “......”
Ryan looked around. Seeing Lia left speechless, he knew it was time for him to step forward.
He had his own pride as well.
Each and every one of these elves was terribly arrogant.
They even looked down on him.
He definitely had to show them what he was capable of.
Leaving was impossible.
After all, he was still waiting to complete Lia’s commission and obtain the treasure.
A treasure that could increase lifespan.
The moment Ryan saw it, he had already decided that he would take it.
“Mm, Village Chief Kurt, and this... Eri... Eri...”
Erich frowned and said coldly, “My name is Erich!”
“Heh, it doesn’t matter. Call yourself whatever you like.”
Ryan chuckled softly.
When Erich heard Ryan’s light laugh, he flew into a rage, but he still held himself back.
“As long as I prove our strength, you will allow us to stay in Tree Sea Village for a while longer, right?”
“Mm...”
Kurt was somewhat curious as to why Ryan was so confident.
“All right. If you can prove that your strength is comparable to an S-rank Adventurer, then I will agree to let you stay in Tree Sea Village. Lia will decide the length of your stay.”
“Of course, while you remain in Tree Sea Village, you cannot run around as you please. Your movements must be under the Elf Race’s surveillance.”
“Even so, do you still want to stay here?”
Kurt’s tone was deep and faint.
“No problem!”
Ryan nodded.
Lia looked at Ryan, her eyes filled with apology.
She was clearly the one who had invited Ryan to the Elf Race as a guest.
Yet she had never expected Ryan to be treated like this.
She blamed herself deeply.
Ryan shook his head at her.
He did not care about the Elf Race’s attitude toward him.
In Ryan’s view, this was simply a normal adventurer’s mission.
Lia had issued the mission.
Ryan would complete the mission and obtain the treasure.
Now that the mission issuer was questioning his strength, that was also perfectly reasonable.
He only needed to shatter the other party’s doubts.
“Then, how should I prove it?” Ryan asked.
“Fine. I will make you give up. Since you want to prove your strength, then as long as you can kill the S-rank Monster east of Tree Sea Village—the Strangler—I will acknowledge that you possess the strength of an S-rank Adventurer. Well? Do you dare?”
Erich sneered, then spoke.
“The Strangler? What kind of monster is that?”
Ryan turned back and looked at Lia.
“Erich, are you insane? How could the Strangler possibly be defeated with so few people?”
Lia roared at Erich.
Mira continued explaining to Ryan.
The Strangler was a terrifying giant spider monster that existed in the forest east of Tree Sea Village.
An adult individual could reach eight meters in body length, and when its leg span was included, it exceeded fifteen meters. Its body was spindle-shaped and divided into two parts: the cephalothorax and the abdomen.
The cephalothorax was covered in a black-brown carapace. Irregular yellow markings were scattered across the shell, and sawtoothed protrusions lined its edges.
Its eight walking legs were thick and powerful. The leg segments were covered in black bristles, and the ends had black hooked claws. Those claws were as sharp as blades and could easily dig into tree trunks or rocks.
Its abdomen was large and oval-shaped, with gray-white ring patterns on the surface. At the end were spinnerets, which could continuously secrete spider silk.
Its eyes were located at the front of the cephalothorax. There were eight in total, arranged in two rows. All of them were red and could emit a faint crimson glow in the darkness, with a field of vision reaching three hundred meters.
Its most outstanding abilities were silk-spinning and poison.
The spider silk it secreted was divided into two types.
Ordinary spider silk was three times tougher than steel. It was about five centimeters in diameter and could be used to weave enormous webs. The diameter of such webs was usually between fifty and eighty meters. They were often set up between great trees, with irregular circular gaps about one meter wide. The surface of the spider silk had an adhesive substance. Once someone was entangled, even a warrior wearing heavy armor would find it difficult to break free. It had to be burned apart with an enchanted flaming weapon.
The other type was razor spider silk. It was transparent and only one centimeter in diameter, but it could cut objects like a thin wire blade. The giant poisonous spider would conceal it above forest paths. Once passing creatures touched it, they would be cut, or even sliced in half at the waist.
In terms of toxicity, the venom glands on both sides of its mouthparts could secrete highly poisonous venom. The venom was dark green and was injected into the target’s body through its fangs.
After being bitten, the target would experience muscle spasms within one minute, difficulty breathing within three minutes, and organ failure within ten minutes. Without a timely injection of a specially made antivenom serum, death was inevitable.
In addition, its abdomen could spray poisonous mist. The mist covered a range of twenty meters and contained paralytic particles. After inhaling it, living creatures would become dizzy and sluggish, with the effect lasting roughly fifteen minutes.
It was also skilled at lying in ambush. It could use its body color to blend into the forest environment, and when motionless, it could perfectly hide within the tree canopy or behind a rock wall.
The hooked claws at the ends of its walking legs allowed it to move rapidly along vertical tree trunks, reaching speeds of twenty-five kilometers per hour, while making almost no sound as it moved.
At the same time, it could sense the vibrations of spider silk through its walking legs, accurately judging the location of prey inside the web and the intensity of its struggles. It could even distinguish the prey’s body size.
Because it often used giant webs to strangle its prey and moved with great stealth, it was called the Strangler.
Its level of danger was extremely high. A single individual could turn an entire region into forbidden ground.
Once its enormous web formed, it would remain there for several months. During that time, creatures would constantly wander into it by mistake.
Eventually, a large number of bones would pile up around the web, with clothing that had not yet fully decomposed still hanging from the remains. The sight was extremely shocking.
There had once been a twelve-person adventurer squad that mistakenly entered its territory.
Apart from one person who escaped by sheer luck, all the others were entangled in the web.
According to the survivor’s description, the prey within the web would be wrapped in spider silk by the giant poisonous spider and turned into cocoons, stored away to be slowly eaten.
Some of the creatures inside the cocoons were not even fully dead.
In addition, its poisonous mist and razor spider silk made exploring the forest extremely dangerous. Even if one did not touch the web, one could still lose the ability to move after inhaling the poisonous mist or being cut by the razor spider silk, ultimately becoming its prey.
The other creatures in the forest feared it greatly. As long as they sensed its aura, they would swiftly flee. Therefore, within several kilometers of its habitat, there were usually no signs of other living creatures at all.