inspire-indiana Chapter 49: The Spiderweb Swamp
Chapter 49: The Spiderweb Swamp
After venturing into the swamp for about a mile, the surrounding scenery became increasingly bizarre. A new, faint, strange odor seemed to have mixed into the sweet, pungent, and putrid smell of the air, like old cobwebs and dust, with a barely perceptible fishy stench. At first, it wasn't noticeable, but as they continued deeper, the smell stubbornly lingered in their nostrils, refusing to dissipate.
Then, a strange phenomenon appeared visually. First, a few scattered strands of grayish-white silk, as thin as hair but more resilient and sticky than spider silk, clung to the withered and twisted reeds, or stretched across the branches of low shrubs on both sides of the puddles, or even floated directly on the murky water, wet with morning dew, gleaming with a damp, ominous grayish-white sheen. When a team member accidentally brushed against their sleeve, the silk stuck to it, and even after shaking it several times, it wouldn't come off. Touching it with their fingertips, they felt an unusually slippery sensation, carrying a cold, damp feeling.
The further one walks, the denser these grayish-white threads become. They are no longer just a few solitary strands, but begin to intertwine, forming large and small, translucent nets in the air, in the bushes, and along the edges of puddles. The nets are also covered with dewdrops, reflecting a fine, cold glimmer in the dim light of the sky. At first glance, they look like a handful of crushed glass shards, dazzling the eyes, yet exuding a chilling aura that seeps into the bones, clashing with the surrounding deathly silence and adding to the eeriness.
"It's... a spider web." Su Qingyao's voice was extremely low, carrying a hint of tension that was barely perceptible. She had somehow already taken out a bright yellow talisman from her bag, her slender, pale fingers gripping the edge of the talisman tightly. From the excessive force, the blood had drained from her fingertips, leaving them slightly white. This girl usually possessed a scholarly composure, and although she didn't show fear at this moment, the deep seriousness in her eyes was like a cold, deep pool. "Everyone, please be very careful and don't touch these webs. Judging from their color and texture, they are definitely not ordinary spider silk; they may be sticky or poisonous." The insect-repelling sachet she carried emitted a faint medicinal fragrance of mugwort and realgar, attempting to dispel the surrounding turbid air and any possible insects. However, this fragrance was so weak, almost inaudible, compared to the heavy stench of the swamp and the stench of the spider webs.
As soon as she finished speaking, as if to confirm her words, a crisp "crack" suddenly came from the middle of the line, which sounded particularly jarring in the excessively quiet environment.
It was Liu Zheng walking diagonally ahead of Su Qingyao. He was a young team member, barely in his early twenties, slender yet surprisingly agile. He had just stepped out, his boot landing on a thin, grayish-white, seemingly withered and broken twig lying across the muddy path. However, the expected crisp sound of a broken twig didn't come; instead, a stranger sensation and sound arose—the "twig" shattered, but not with the texture of wood breaking; it felt like stepping on some thin, brittle, calcareous shell. Immediately, a dark green, viscous, paste-like liquid gushed from the broken surface, emitting a stench even stronger and more pungent than the surrounding spiderwebs. This viscous liquid clung to the surface of his dark brown, hard-soled boot, quickly spreading into a small stain.
Liu Zheng was startled and instinctively tried to lift his foot to shake it off, but his movement suddenly froze—a cold, slippery sensation had quietly wrapped around his ankle without him even realizing it.
Almost at the same instant the "withered branch" shattered and sap gushed out, the surrounding deathly still air seemed to be violently churned by an invisible giant hand! The gray-white spiderwebs hanging among the grass and trees and floating on the water began to tremble violently without warning, like tattered banners being torn by a gale! Immediately afterward, a dense sound that sent chills down one's spine and made one's scalp tingle instantly surged in from all directions, from every imaginable and unimaginable corner!
"Shhh—"
"Rustle, rustle—"
"Crackling sound—"
The sound came from the bottomless mud beneath our feet, from the murky, lifeless puddles beside us, from the shadows of the intertwined roots of the withered reeds and strange shrubs, and even from the twisted, claw-like branches overhead! It was a death concerto, a chilling symphony of countless arthropods crawling rapidly, rubbing against the mud, scraping against the plants, and even squeezing and colliding with each other. Its density and speed were like a sudden downpour in the height of summer, frantically pounding on the dry leaves, instantly drowning out all other sounds, and slamming hard into everyone's eardrums and hearts.
"Enemy attack—form a circular formation! Protect your vital points!" Lin Yan's sharp shout, like a thunderclap, pierced through the teeth-grinding "rustling" sound. His Devouring Spirit True Essence surged within him, his voice naturally imbued with a powerful inner force, causing the mist floating within several feet to disperse. His longsword was already drawn from its sheath, gripped in his hand. The blade wasn't gleaming; instead, it gleamed with a restrained, deep, cold gray-black luster, silently emitting a sharp edge in the dim light.
However, the way the enemy attacked this time was far more bizarre and cunning than expected, completely disrupting the defensive formation that everyone had just begun to form.
Instead of emerging from the mud within direct view, they made full use of the extremely complex environment of the swamp to launch a three-dimensional, all-round attack!
"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"
Several previously calm, even carefully avoided areas of black mud suddenly erupted without warning! Thick, foul-smelling, dark brown mud shot up like fountains, splashing over the nearby crowd. The mud splattered on faces and bodies, cold and slippery, carrying a pungent, putrid, and astringent smell of earth.
Under the cover of the splattering mud, several grotesque figures, each the size of a washbasin and covered in dark brown short hairs, shot out from the blasted mud hole! The natural patterns on their carapaces twisted and coiled, forming vague and eerie "ghost faces" that seemed neither to cry nor laugh, appearing particularly chilling in the dim light. Eight densely packed compound eyes gleamed with a cold and greedy eerie green light, locked onto the nearest human. Most terrifying were their sharp chelipeds at the front, constantly clicking open and closing, and the mouthparts beneath them wriggling, dripping pale green saliva.
"Hiss hiss hiss—!"
These demonic spiders, leaping from the mud, immediately raised their heads and thoraxes, their mouthparts opening and closing. Several streams of pale green venom, emitting a pungent, acrid odor, shot out like water arrows from a powerful crossbow towards the most densely packed area of the crowd! The venom even produced a slight whooshing sound as it cut through the air.
At the same time, from the twisted, withered branches densely covered in gray-white spiderwebs overhead, an even more rapid rustling sound came! More smaller, but more agile and swift, demonic spiders fell like ripe fruit! But they didn't fall straight down; instead, using the extremely resilient and sticky spider silk spewed from their abdomens, they swung through the withered branches and spiderwebs in huge arcs, like the most skilled aerial acrobats, precisely pouncing on the unprotected heads, faces, necks, and other vital areas of the team members below! These attackers descending from the sky had a similar eerie green light flashing in their compound eyes, but with an even more cunning glint.
"It's a Ghost-Faced Spider! Its venom is extremely corrosive, and its web is sticky and tough, so be careful not to get in contact with it!" Su Qingyao's exclamation was filled with unprecedented solemnity and urgency. Her knuckles, gripping the talisman tightly, had turned white from the force. She was well-read and vaguely remembered that a certain obscure ancient book had mentioned this kind of monster. It preferred to live in groups in damp and filthy places. When hunting, it had a clear division of labor and worked together seamlessly. It was particularly good at using the environment to set ambushes. Its venom could corrode iron and melt bones, and its web was exceptionally tough. Once entangled, it was like falling into a net. The more you struggled, the tighter the binding became, and you were eventually dragged into its nest and became its live prey, dying a gruesome death.
The battle erupted in an instant! Roars, shouts, screams, blades cutting through the air, venom splattering, carapaces shattering... all sorts of sounds swirled together, shattering the silence of this death swamp.
"Raise your shields! Protect your head and face!" Li Tie and Wang Dashan roared almost simultaneously. Although they were a few steps apart, they seemed to be of one mind. They suddenly raised the iron-clad wooden shields with hardwood cores, iron sheets, and copper nails reinforcing the edges above their heads, crossing them at the front of the formation to create a fragile barrier for their comrades behind them.
"Sizzle—!"
The pale green venomous jet slammed into the shield's metal surface, instantly producing a teeth-grinding corrosive sound. The sturdy metal visibly darkened, blackened, blistered, and peeled away! Wisps of acrid, acrid white smoke rose from the corroded area, choking Li Tie and Wang Dashan, who were holding the shield, causing them to cough repeatedly, tears streaming down their faces, yet they dared not retreat an inch. The violent movement and the vibrations from the shield aggravated Li Tie's wounded left arm, causing excruciating pain. Veins bulged on his forehead, and cold sweat instantly soaked his inner shirt. He clenched his teeth, swallowing a groan of pain, while the muscles in his right arm tensed, making the shield even more stable.
"Ouch—my arm!"
A piercing scream suddenly rang out from a young member of the team on the right. He had been splashed on the left forearm by a stream of venom sprayed from the mud beside him. The coarse cloth arm guard corroded a large hole almost instantly upon contact with the venom, the skin beneath immediately turning black, swelling with countless blisters that burst and festered at lightning speed, revealing bright red flesh and even the faint outline of bone! The excruciating pain caused his body to convulse violently, and the steel knife in his hand clattered out of his grasp and fell into the mud. He instinctively tried to cover the wound with his right hand, but his quick-thinking companion grabbed his wrist tightly—everyone knew that this venom was corrosive upon contact with the skin; touching it with his hand would only spread the venom and hasten death! The team member's face contorted in pain, tears and snot streaming down his face, he could only let out desperate howls.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Lu Ling and another archer were positioned slightly behind, now playing a crucial role in providing long-range support. The twang of bowstrings was incessant, and arrows, whistling sharply, hurtled towards the demonic spiders that leaped from the mud and swung down from the air. Lu Ling's eyes were sharp as an eagle's, and his draw and arrows moved with lightning speed, targeting the relatively vulnerable compound eyes and joints of the spiders. However, the carapaces of these demonic spiders were unexpectedly hard. Ordinary arrows that struck their carapaces mostly bounced off with a muffled thud, or merely penetrated a shallow layer, becoming lodged in the gaps of the carapace, unlikely to cause fatal damage. Occasionally, an arrow would strike a joint or a soft spot on the abdomen, causing the spider to pause and emit a sharp screech. Fine beads of sweat appeared on Lu Ling's forehead, and his breathing was slightly rapid. Continuous drawing of the bow was extremely taxing on his arm strength, but he dared not stop for a moment. Every arrow had to be precise, because he knew that if he hesitated even for a second, his companions ahead might be in greater danger.
Lin Yan's figure stood out conspicuously amidst the chaotic battle. He didn't hold any one position, but instead darted swiftly like a peregrine falcon between the edges of the formation and the gaps between the attacking spiders. He skillfully controlled the gray-black Devouring Spirit True Essence, sometimes swirling around his body like a thin mist, silently repelling and eliminating the scattered venom and the spider silk that tried to approach; at other times, it condensed on the blade, making each slash carry a low and sharp tremor as it cut through the air, and where the blade passed, it seemed as if even the light itself was momentarily swallowed up by the gray-black hue.
A demonic spider, having just leaped from the mud and extended its pincers to pounce on Zhao Si, was still in mid-air when it was slashed across the waist by a flashing, dark gray blade! The spider's tough carapace was easily sliced open like a hot knife through oil by the blade imbued with the Soul-Devouring True Essence! Dark green, viscous, foul-smelling bodily fluids and shattered internal organs sprayed out, drenching half of Lin Yan's body. He seemed oblivious, his body only pausing slightly as the blade spun, deflecting another spurt of venom from the side—the venom landed on the muddy ground beside him, scorching a small, bowl-sized, several-inch-deep black pit, the soil around its edges turning a strange grayish-white, hissing softly.
However, the number of demonic spiders far exceeded expectations, and their attack methods were constantly evolving, with some kind of simple coordination among them. Lin Yan quickly realized an even bigger problem—the demonic spiders that were spitting webs.
"Sizzle—! Sizzle sizzle—!"
Several relatively small but exceptionally agile spiders did not attack directly. Instead, they slithered around the perimeter of the battle, their abdomens contracting sharply and spraying out streams of milky-white, viscous liquid. This liquid, initially a single stream, rapidly expanded and opened upon contact with air, transforming into large, sticky webs the size of tabletops, their edges covered with countless tiny barbs. These webs rained down on the most densely packed areas of the group! The webs were damp and reeked of a fishy odor; even before they touched you, you could feel a cold, sticky sensation.
"Get out of the way!" Lin Yan shouted sharply, swinging his blade at the first spider web that descended upon him. The blade sliced into the sticky, resilient web, but it didn't feel like striking solid matter; rather, it felt like sinking into extremely viscous clay. A powerful, inward-contracting, sticky force emanated from the blade, causing his wrist to sink slightly. The spider web was incredibly resilient; although the blade had cut a gash, it didn't break. Instead, it coiled around him, several thin threads at the edges acting like living tentacles, whipping towards his arm and wrist.
The moment the cold, slippery, and sticky sensation touched his skin, alarm bells rang in Lin Yan's mind. He snorted coldly, and his Devouring Spirit True Essence suddenly accelerated its circulation. An invisible yet powerful shockwave erupted from every pore of his body, and the gray-black energy spread like ripples, shattering and crushing the sticky threads that had wrapped around him into dust. The blade shone even brighter, and the gray-black True Essence gathered at the edge. With a powerful twist, it finally tore the stubborn spiderweb apart completely.
But this brief delay and distraction caused the battle to take a sharp turn for the worse!
Two team members, positioned on the flank and engaged in combat with the demonic spiders swooping down from the sky, were suddenly caught off guard and trapped by two more spiderwebs descending from above! The webs were incredibly sticky, covered in fine barbs; they clung tightly to any body they touched, the more they struggled, the tighter they became, the barbs piercing deep into their flesh, drawing blood that stained the white silk crimson. The two struggled and tore at each other in terror, but to no avail; they were only entangled more tightly, like insects trapped in amber. Seeing this, the surrounding demonic spiders let out excited hissing, several of them rapidly spraying out more silk, precisely wrapping around their ankles and calves, then pulling together to drag them off the ground and into the bottomless, churning black mud of the nearby swamp!
"Help me—!" One man was half-submerged in the mud, the cold black mud instantly covering his thighs. The intense feeling of suffocation and the fear of death made him let out a desperate cry. Another man was also dragged and staggered to the ground, his hands futilely grasping at the sparse, hard grass on the ground, his fingernails digging into the soil, leaving ten deep bloody marks.
"Save him!" Lin Yan's eyes were bloodshot. He knew that once someone was dragged into the depths of the swamp, even a celestial being couldn't save them. He moved like lightning, rushing towards the team member closest to him. His blade flashed, severing several strands of spider silk wrapped around the man's ankle. At the same time, his left hand reached out, grabbing the man's arm that was still flailing wildly outside the mud. With a powerful pull, he forcefully yanked the man out of the swamp! The team member was covered in black mud, his face as pale as a ghost. His lips trembled, unable to utter a complete sentence. He just gripped Lin Yan's sleeve tightly, his nails almost digging into Lin Yan's flesh, as if it were the only piece of driftwood connecting life and death.
The chaotic battle had completely shattered and torn apart the defensive circle that had been barely maintained. Mud splattered everywhere, staining everyone's clothes, armor, and faces; pale green venom rained down, landing on shields, weapons, and the muddy ground with a sizzling, corrosive sound; sticky white spiderwebs wove together in the air, forming deathly nets that relentlessly descended; the hissing of the spiders, the roars and screams of the team members, the clashing of weapons and the muffled thuds of shattering carapaces… all sounds and sights were mixed into a chaotic and violent vortex. Everyone was fighting to the death against the spiders swarming from all directions, from above and below, relying on instinct and training. The weapons in their hands grew heavier and heavier, their arms aching as if filled with lead. Every parry and every strike consumed enormous physical and mental strength, but no one dared to relax for a moment—behind them might be comrades who needed protection, beneath their feet lay a life-devouring swamp; one step back meant annihilation.