"Fatty." Tang San called out calmly.
Flames erupted as a massive burst of Phoenix fire swept across the space in front of Flandre and Zhao Wuji. The spider silk on the Flying Sky Divine Claw immediately turned to ash. The Fatty's searing Phoenix flames were the perfect counter to that kind of webbing. Although in terms of raw strength he was far inferior to the ten-thousand-year Cave Demon Spider, the Phoenix fire was something the spider couldn't possibly resist, especially in a hasty, desperate attack.
Flandre and Zhao Wuji were both furious. Two Soul Saints outwitted by a Soul Beast that had barely crossed the ten-thousand-year mark — and right in front of all those students, no less. This was an utter embarrassment.
Flandre's fury turned into a sharp laugh. "Think you can run? Not so easy."
A piercing eagle cry split the sky. The Shrek Seven Devils watched as Flandre's body leaped upward, curling into a tight ball before landing softly on Zhao Wuji's outstretched arms. In the very next instant, he was launched like a cannonball, Zhao Wuji hurling him with all his strength. In the blink of an eye, Flandre had flown clear of the poison formation's perimeter, soaring over the heads of the powerful Soul Beasts gathered outside. Within moments, he was directly above that slippery Cave Demon Spider.
To capture the spider, Flandle unleashed the full glow of his seven soul rings while still airborne. His body transformed into a massive owl with a wingspan reaching five meters — his seventh soul skill, the Cat Eagle True Form.
An owl's vision was the sharpest of all, capable of detecting the faintest details in total darkness, and its diving attack was no less deadly than that of a hawk. As Flandre's body plummeted from the sky, razor-sharp talons extended from beneath him, aimed straight at the Cave Demon Spider. Before contact was even made, the oppressive pressure generated by his tremendous soul power alone forced the fleeing spider's body to tremble uncontrollably.
Would any Soul Beast come to another's rescue? Besides, the Cave Demon Spider was genuinely fast — it had already put significant distance between itself and the Soul Beasts outside the poison formation. Tang San, to keep those beasts from interfering with Flandre's capture attempt, had once again produced the Delicate Musky Jade Celestial Herb and placed it in Xiao Wu's hands beside him.
Its ethereal fragrance drew the gazes of the Soul Beasts outside like a magnet. One by one, they drooled freely, staring with unblinking intensity.
The Delicate Musky Jade Celestial Herb was a fine treasure, but one's life mattered more. Tang San had positioned Xiao Wu at a spot where the herb's anti-venom aura couldn't reach into the poison formation — that way, the Soul Beasts outside wouldn't have an opening to exploit.
After handing the herb to Xiao Wu, Tang San used the same method Flandre had — with Zhao Wuji's help, he was flung into the air. It wasn't that he doubted Flandre could handle the Cave Demon Spider on his own. Rather, with his own control skills in play, the capture would certainly go much quicker. After all, the horde of Soul Beasts outside the poison formation weren't the docile sort, and even with the Delicate Musky Jade Celestial Herb drawing their attention, some might still try to interfere. If that cunning Cave Demon Spider escaped, finding another suitable target would not be easy.
As Flandre dove down, the Cave Demon Spider found itself utterly unable to dodge beneath his overwhelming pressure. Even Tang San, who had just launched himself out of the poison formation, believed Flandre was about to succeed. But at that very moment, the spider fully revealed its cunning and treacherous nature.
Without warning, a burst of yellow webbing sprayed from behind its body, hurtling straight toward Flandre. Simultaneously, two yellow silk threads shot out like lightning, latching onto a large tree ten meters away. With a violent pull, the spider sharply changed its trajectory.
Flandre swept his wings, blowing the webbing aside with a gust of wind, but that split-second delay was enough to make his attack miss entirely. And the instant Flandre touched down, a flash of yellow light erupted from the ground. Countless silk threads surged upward, rapidly enveloping his body like a prison woven from spider silk, trapping him inside.
Compared to the Man-Faced Demon Spider, the Cave Demon Spider's silk was even thicker. Though it carried no venom, its toughness surpassed that of the Man-Faced Demon Spider's threads. Moreover, the silk was coated in an incredibly viscous substance that hardened upon contact with air. In a mere instant, the threads became as rigid as steel, forming a true spider prison.
This was the Cave Demon Spider's most insidious skill — the Web Cage. Any area the spider had once passed through could conceal its silk underground. This silk could be controlled through its spiritual power. The moment an enemy stepped into range, it would activate immediately. Leveraging the silk's unique properties, it formed a cage-like prison to trap the enemy inside. If the enemy was weak, the spider would kill them on the spot. If the enemy was too powerful, it could still use this skill to temporarily hold them in place while it bought time to flee.
Because the Web Cage triggered without any warning signs or energy fluctuations, even the most powerful opponents could fall victim to it.
Unfortunately for the spider, the opponent it faced was Flandre, a Soul Saint whose soul power had reached the seventy-eighth rank. Seeing himself trapped, Flandre immediately revealed his formidable power. A layer of pale yellow radiance emanated from his Cat Eagle True Form, and then the light expanded in an instant. The entire Web Cage seemed to contain a blazing sun.
A harsh grinding sound rang out as hairline cracks spread rapidly across the cage. In the span of just a few breaths, the Web Cage exploded into powder with a deafening bang.
Flandre would never give the Cave Demon Spider a second chance to ambush him. He spread his wings and shot straight up into the sky. The Web Cage, while insidious and lethal, required either solid ground or a physical surface to activate — somewhat similar to Tang San's second soul skill Parasitism, but far more powerful. Now that Flandre was airborne, he had nothing to fear from it.
When Flandre took to the sky again, his heart lurched. The Cave Demon Spider had moved faster than he'd imagined. In the brief moments it had taken him to break free of the cage, the creature had already vanished into the forest. Not even a trace of its presence remained.
This was another of the Cave Demon Spider's abilities — Concealment. It was not a true invisibility skill, but rather a method of suppressing its own aura to nothingness over a short period, making it ideal for lying in ambush or fleeing.
Losing track of the spider, Flandre erupted in fury. His wings gleamed with sharp light as he prepared to cleave apart the forest before him.
"Headmaster, there's no need for that. The fellow's over here." Just then, Tang San's voice came from ahead. Flandre's reaction was instantaneous — he darted in the direction of the voice and saw Tang San behind him, his Eight Spider Lances deployed to support his body. Not far in front of them, the Cave Demon Spider was thrashing desperately within Tang San's spider web, having already torn open a gap.
It turned out that while Flandre had been trapped by the Web Cage, Tang San — who had been right behind him — had pursued with perfect composure. Relying on his keen judgment, the moment Flandre was ensnared, Tang San had swiftly activated his Purple Extreme Demon Eye to unleash a special spiritual shockwave. The fleeing spider's mind went hazy, plunging it into a brief daze.
You've got skills? So do I. The Web Bind descended precisely onto the Cave Demon Spider. This time, Tang San had infused the web with potent toxins. So despite the spider's ten-thousand-year cultivation, the struggle forced its entire body to endure excruciating neurological agony alongside corrosive poison eating into its carapace. Its rate of escape slowed dramatically, buying Flandre more than enough time to arrive.
Flandre's rage turned to a sharp laugh. "What a treacherous, cunning thing! If I let you escape this time, I'm not called Four-Eyes Cat Eagle." A piercing eagle cry rang out through his fury as Flandre descended from the sky. Mid-flight, he swept his wings twice, and sharp beams of light carved four deep furrows into the ground below, perfectly encircling the spider's position. Trenches ten meters deep completely isolated it.
At that moment, the Cave Demon Spider had finally managed to tear free from Tang San's Web Bind. The searing pain across its body only heightened its panic, but the sharp energy that suddenly erupted at its sides froze it in its tracks. Flandre descended from the sky.
Whoosh — another burst of yellow webbing surged up from beneath the spider's feet. But this time, it was not aimed at Flandre. Instead, the spider shrouded itself within its own Web Cage.
A metallic clash rang out as Flandre's talons tore the cage apart with brute force. In the instant his speed dipped, the Cave Demon Spider launched itself straight into the trench before it. The nickname "Cave" Demon Spider was no idle title — among spider-type Soul Beasts, it was the only one that could dig. Its eight legs might not have been as imposing as the Man-Faced Demon Spider's, but its two front legs were remarkably thick and sharp. Earlier, had it not been pursued so relentlessly, it would have found an opportunity to burrow underground and escape long ago. Now, with Flandre's trenches lying right before it, it intended to use them to flee the scene in an instant.
"Stay right there." The Flying Sky Divine Claw descended from above, clamping firmly onto the carapace on the spider's back. The spider's strength was considerable — even after Tang San poured all his soul power into the claw, his body was still yanked forward at breakneck speed.