Chapter 31: Slaying the Giant Spider

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Should I go or not?

With almost no hesitation, Li Xia changed direction and headed toward the location marked on his mini-map.

With a map, specific coordinates, and a clear guide, he had every possible advantage. If he couldn't even risk it under these circumstances, there was no point in staying in the Hall.

Li Xia suddenly remembered something and pulled a compass out of his emergency kit.

Logically, a compass relies on Earth's magnetic field to point north. This Middle-earth world was definitely not Earth, so it shouldn't work. But since this compass was an item he brought into this world rather than standard equipment, who knew if it was imbued with some kind of "black tech" or black magic from the Hall of Light?

As Li Xia watched, the needle wobbled erratically, then began spinning like a fan as if it were short-circuited. Clearly, it was useless.

That’s fine, he thought. One more advantage to rely on.

...

If one were not deep within it, it would be hard to believe that such a vast, dense forest was not flat, but filled with jagged elevation changes and bottomless ravines.

Sometimes, he had to climb up tree branches to navigate over broken layers of earth, and more often, he had to be extremely careful to avoid the occasional "fissures."

This had once been a flat highland, but it had subsided under the curse of Morgoth. The originally lush and vibrant "Great Green Forest" had become this eerie, dense woodland filled with shadow energy, home to all manner of monsters.

Carefully brushing aside a hanging vine, he watched as a clod of dirt slipped from under his foot and tumbled into a bottomless crevice.

Li Xia slowly exhaled, but instead of inhaling immediately, he paid even closer attention to the path beneath his feet.

A burning pain radiated from his lungs, but after getting used to the breathing technique, this minor discomfort from oxygen deprivation was like a daily routine. Based on his previous experience with the encroachment of "shadow energy," his moments of lightheadedness mostly occurred when he took a breath.

Only after crossing this dangerous ravine and reaching a relatively open patch of ground did he use his breathing technique to take a deep breath.

The air, heavy with the stench of decay, rushed into his abdomen. Li Xia felt a buzzing in his head, and the scenery before his eyes flickered like a glitchy slideshow before the strange sensation gradually faded.

This was the final stretch of the dangerous path. With a flicker of excitement, Li Xia climbed over a strangely grown, fallen trunk wedged between two trees.

He felt as if he were playing a game and had just discovered a hidden treasure—no, the feeling was even more intense and visceral than that.

He didn't even need to search. At a glance, Li Xia spotted the round cocoon hanging from a branch ahead, wrapped in spider silk.

It was as if an invisible boundary line existed here; the entire Mirkwood seemed to have turned white, with dark grey cobwebs covering everything within his line of sight. Countless cocoons hung suspended, like the grotesque fruit of this bizarre forest.

The glowing cocoon was right beside those "fruits."

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After a moment's thought, Li Xia picked up a piece of rotten wood from the ground and threw it forcefully at the cocoon more than ten meters away.

The white webs rippled like waves. A moment later, accompanied by a rustling sound, a spider the size of half a man scurried toward him along the web, its chelicerae twitching rapidly.

It searched the center of the vibration with confusion, its disgusting four-part mouth opening and closing with a "click-clack" sound.

Data immediately appeared on Li Xia's monocle:

[Shelob-spawn Giant Spider Combat Power: 3]

Three points of combat power... an average adult’s combat power was only about 2. For a half-man-sized spider to have such a high rating, it was likely due to its venom.

Li Xia watched as the spider, finding nothing, slowly wandered away. After a few minutes, he picked up another stone from the ground, this time throwing it with much more force than before.

The white webs shuddered. This time, five or six spiders arrived, circling the rock he had thrown, clicking their mouths in confusion. Finally, the spiders seemed to get annoyed; one of them nudged the stone off the web.

Before they could leave, Li Xia picked up another stone and weighed it in his hand.

"Ssssss—" A massive intake of air rushed into his lungs.

Li Xia threw the stone at the spiders with all his might.

The stone whistled through the air, turning into a streak of white light that smashed into one of the spiders.

The half-man-sized spider shattered without warning, spraying disgusting, viscous green fluid everywhere. Its segmented legs twitched involuntarily for a few moments before it fell from the web.

[You have killed a Shelob-spawn Giant Spider. Obtained 0.2% Transcendence Opportunity.]

There was a reward? Li Xia looked at the now agitated giant spiders; for a moment, symbols seemed to appear above their heads. They represented how much Transcendence Opportunity each was worth.

More spiders swarmed in from all directions until the webs were covered in them. They clicked their four-part mouths, seemingly engaged in a heated discussion.

Over twenty of them. Was this all the giant spiders in the vicinity?

He had expected a creature with such high reproductive capacity to number in the hundreds, but he quickly realized that in a resource-poor place like Mirkwood, the giant spiders couldn't overpopulate.

His hiking boots crunched on the fallen leaves and branches. In his open palm, a pitch-black spear materialized out of thin air.

The giant spiders stopped clicking and turned toward him.

With a flick of his wrist, his fingers nimbly manipulated the shaft of the spear, and "Night Silence" obediently traced one circle after another.

"Click-clack, click-clack." The sound of their mouths clashing together rang out like a dense, rhythmic downpour.

Li Xia stood with the spear in one hand, adopting a firm stance, the tip pointing obliquely at the ground. There was an elegant, murderous intent about him.

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"Come!"

The spiders, trembling with excitement at finding such fresh, succulent human prey, intensified their clicking. What had started as a light drizzle of sound now merged into a roar.

They let out strange hissing noises, their eight long, segmented legs twitching as they lunged toward Li Xia.

"The spear... is a lock that wraps around the waist. If you cannot channel power through the tip, the spear is practiced in vain!" The stern words of his old master seemed to echo in his ears.

Li Xia’s gaze swept rapidly over the charging spiders, his spear already raised to his waist.

Facing the lunging spiders, he simply straightened his wrist, relaxed his shoulder, and twisted his waist. The thrust of his spear was as gentle as a breeze, but just as his arm was about to fully extend, his muscles tightened instantly, and a terrifying force erupted.

The tip of the spear seemed to come to life, darting forward like a venomous snake before snapping back just as quickly—the speed was so great that it seemed as if it had never left its original position.

The giant spider let out a pained hiss and tumbled onto the dead leaves, its eight legs curling up as thick, foul-smelling green fluid spurted from its pierced mouthparts.

Li Xia acted as if he hadn't seen it. He slightly adjusted his stance, his spear darting forward and retracting in a blur.

In this narrow clearing, it was as if cold, shimmering pear blossoms were blooming.

Over the past two months, Li Xia had spent almost all his spare time practicing spear thrusts. He had never been so diligent, nor had he ever thrown himself into something so completely.

He had discarded all distracting thoughts, leaving only a pure focus on improving little by little, surpassing his previous self second by second. He truly seemed to have become the peerless genius Master Qi had described.

Now was the moment of testing. Li Xia’s gaze sharpened. His right hand exerted a slight force, and the spear traced an arc from bottom to top, piercing a spider mid-leap.

The soft abdomen offered no resistance to the spearhead; it pierced through like a hot knife through butter, without a trace of hesitation.

"Ssssss—"

Air surged within his body. Li Xia put his strength into his arms and, like a swinging hammer, slammed the spider into the air. It let out a piercing shriek as it flew backward, crashing into the spiders preparing to pounce and crushing them into two messy heaps of soft flesh.

"Whew—"

His hiking boots stepped over the spider corpses without pause. He walked up to the glowing web cocoon, and with a single flick of his spear, the cocoon fell, rolling feebly on the ground a few times.

It revealed a corpse that had long since been reduced to mere skin and bones. A ring on its finger emitted a soft, luminous glow.

[You have obtained Transcendence Opportunity: 5%]

[You have obtained a Mithril Ring]

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1. Monthly Ticket 2. Recommendation Ticket

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