Chapter 44 -- Arrow

When the spider noticed that the humans had stopped attacking it, it quickly sprung into action. It jumped at the female hunter as she was the one closest to it.

David noticed the spider's actions and quickly kicked Clara in the back and in doing so Clara was shoved in the direction of the spider but on the ground, she quickly rolled out of the way.

The spider saw that it's target was no longer reachable so it prepared to shoot it's toxin at the two remaining hunters in it's path.

However before it could attack, an extremely sharp earth pillar was erected. The spider knew that if it went forward with it's attack it wouldn't have enough time to dodge the pillar. To make matters worse, the pillar was aimed at it's head.

The spider quickly turned it's head to a nearby tree before shooting out black webbing from it's mouth. It then used the webbing to pull itself to the tree, effectively dodging the earth pillar.

Unfortunately for the spider, a wind blade came out of nowhere and cut it's web, causing it to fall.

BOOM!

A giant fire ball connected on the spider's back before it even touched the ground. Clara had enough time to concentrate her mana so this spell had a little more power, but still it only managed to scratch the carapace.

The spider finally fell to the ground and it immediately tried to jump, but it felt some resistance from the ground. With a quick glance it saw that it's legs had sunk about 30 centimeters into the earth.

It didn't take long for the spider to find the culprit and it immediately shot a glob of toxin at David, who had both his hands on the ground and a strained look on his face. 

WHOOSH!

A gust of wind suddenly appeared and blew the toxin into the distance. Adam had saved David just on time, however David had flinched when he saw the toxin heading for him, causing him to lose concentration for a split second.

The spider jumped out of David's spell and landed a few meters away. Right now, David and Adam where on one side, Clara on the other side and the spider in the middle.

BOOM!

A flame ball exploded on the spider's left front leg, causing it to momentarily stop it's charge towards David and Adam. The front legs of the beast had already been previously injured by Adam's wind blades and Clara's shield so this time Clara managed to break it.

The spider turned around before charging at Clara. The lack of one of its front legs only slowed it down by 16.66%.

SHING!

A perfectly aimed wind blade flew through the underside of the spider from the back and severed the remaining front leg. The spider hadn't expected that attack, causing it to fall head first to the ground.

A huge block of rock appeared above the spider before slamming down on it a second later. A dust cloud was formed around the spider and Clara quickly used that opportunity to run to the boys.

The dust cleared and the spider appeared, it's carapace had a small crack. The spider stood up on all fours, yes it now had four legs. Its middle legs had become it's front legs.

Adam and Clara closed their eyes.

David punched the ground and a dozen earth pillars rose and tied the spider down to the ground. Instead of binding its legs, David had tied it's whole body to the ground.

"I can hold it for long!" David said through gritted teeth.

"Scorching flames from the deepest pits of hell : Blazing Inferno!!"

"Sharp gales of heavenly pressure : Holly Hurricane!!"

"Dual spell : Ultimate Infernal Tornado!!"

David lost his hold on the spider just as the twins finished their dual spell. Adam and Clara had their hands outstretched as sweat built up on their foreheads.

The Ultimate Infernal Tornado could kill grade two beasts easily, however their opponent wasn't only a grade two beast. It was a grade two beast specialized in defense. This one had defense equivalent to peak grade two beasts.

The dual spell lasted for a bit over 6 seconds before the twins fell to their knees, gasping for air. They had exhausted their entire mana reserves to make the Ultimate Infernal Tornado last for so long.

They knew the defense of toxic spiders so they needed more heat to burn through the hard carapace into the soft internal organs.

David was also out of mana, his spells packed the most punch out of the group, but they were also the most mana demanding. David had used all the mana he had left to buy time for the twins to cast the dual spell.

Everyone had their eyes on the dust cloud, if the spider survived, they would be dead. With no mana they couldn't even fight an initial stage grade one beast.

The dust eventually settled to reveal the spider. It's carapace had gone from rich brown to charred black. Blood was oozing from it's mouth and eyes and another leg had been burnt off.

However it was still alive!. The strongest spell of David's team hadn't been able to kill it and the team was completely out of energy and stamina. They where completely helpless at this moment.

The spider was smart enough to know that it had won the fight. It wanted nothing more than to jump at the humans and tear them limb from limb, however it was also quite injured so it just slowly walked towards them.

Even if the spider was heavily injured, it didn't enter rage mode. That was because some of not most beasts just couldn't 'rage up'.

The trio didn't try to run, they couldn't. David could maybe escape but he wouldn't leave his team to die. He had lived most of his life with them and abandoning them didn't even cross his mind. He would die with them.

It's not surprising that the hunters had completely forgotten about their other two 'members'. It couldn't be helped, they where useless after all. Especially the other one who will remain unnamed. 

SHING!

THUD!

The spider's dead body suddenly fell to the ground with a resounding thud. The hunters stared at it with shock. What the hell happened!?.

Due to their experience, they knew without a shadow of doubt that the spider was dead. David slowly walked over to the corpse, he was still on high alert though.

Upon reaching the corpse he didn't have to look hard in order to discern it's cause of death.

From its back, where David's spell had created a small crack, the back of an arrow stuck out.