28: Chapter 33 Cicada’s Transformation (3)
28: Chapter 33 Cicada’s Transformation (3)
Massive Spider Monsters surged out from the subway exit, spreading towards the three of them.
Li Cheng bellowed, sprinting along the west side of the crossroads.
Yuan Zhixia and Ye Jiaying turned pale as they followed him closely. This update is available on novel⟡fire.net
The vast horde of Spider Monsters pursued them, their footsteps dense like torrential rain.
Some spiders climbed along the exterior of buildings, leaping down from high places after reaching them.
Li Cheng brandished his Bone Blade, shattering Spider Monsters that fell like rain.
Seeing themselves becoming encircled, he made a split-second decision, grabbed the collars of the two women with both hands, and leaped, landing in the bed of a white pickup truck that was passing by.
The part of the pickup truck’s bed that was trampled turned to ash but gradually reformed over time, bearing the weight of the three of them.
Li Cheng steadied himself, setting down Ye Jiaying and Yuan Zhixia.
The vehicle continued on its way, progressively leaving the Spider Monsters behind.
Yuan Zhixia’s drone, having been set to auto-pilot and target tracking, followed and returned to her hand.
“We’re temporarily safe.”
Li Cheng’s Bone Blade was once again smeared with green fluid; he didn’t bother to wipe it and split open the glass on the rear seat with a swipe, checking the GPS navigation on the driver’s smartphone.
“The destination of this truck is Minghua Road, which coincidentally overlaps with the path to the police station.
We can ride along for a kilometer and a half and then switch…”
Before he could finish saying “car,” the front of the white pickup truck crumpled inwards suddenly, coming to an abrupt halt.
A massive Spider Monster of unprecedented size blocked the crossroads’ center, lifting a leg that was several times thicker than a concrete pole, covered in chaotic barbs, stomping on the white pickup truck.
The giant spider was ferocious and ugly, its body as large as a heavy-duty truck, its seven amber eyes like lanterns.
The top-left eye had been ruptured for a long time, with a Gold arrow embedded inside, surrounded by a layer of grayish scabs.
Its body exhibited a kaleidoscope of colors, shimmering and shifting like Rorschach inkblots.
One glance caused blinding pain in the eyes and a burning sensation in the brain.
The white pickup truck trapped inside the Shadow Realm drifted and turned, the entire vehicle tearing and crumbling into dust, reassembling some ten meters ahead, pursuing the shadow of the real-world pickup truck.
As for the three people standing in the truck bed, they were flung out by inertia.
Ye Jiaying screamed in fright, while the usually calm Yuan Zhixia ceased her thoughts mid-air, closing her eyes, curling up, and clutching her drone tightly.
Fortunately, this was a busy district, and the pickup truck wasn’t traveling fast.
There was a green belt beside them.
The three of them fell into the bushes, rolling some distance, breaking a large swath of plants and flowers.
Luckily, the material hardness in the Shadow Realm was slightly lower than in reality.
Ye Jiaying and Yuan Zhixia managed to climb up, covered in injuries, while Li Cheng was disheveled and dusty, his hair in disarray, his gaze firmly locked onto the colossal ink-colored Spider Monster.
The giant Spider Monster moved its eight legs, turning its body deceptively fast, its seven amber eyes peering down from on high at the three small figures in the bushes.
The three turned deathly pale, Yuan Zhixia’s fingers on the Glock devoid of blood color—as compared to this Spider Monster, bullets were no different from sugar beans.
Li Cheng whispered in a low voice, his peripheral vision scanning the sides of the road and spotting a sedan driving past the crossroads from the side.
If they could find the chance to get in the car, they might still have a chance to escape…
Suddenly, the ink-colored giant Spider stretched two legs and pierced them precisely into the sedan’s chassis, carelessly flipping it.
The vehicle, weighing over a ton, was flung like a toy towards the green belt, disintegrating into ash in the air.
Enveloped by the thick dust, Li Cheng felt his hair stand on end, grabbing his companions by the collars of their clothes, hastily retreating.
The ink-colored giant Spider moved its legs and charged through the dust curtain at a terrifying speed.
Its scythe-like fangs bit down where the three had just stood, shearing off a large chunk of the bushes.
The two stood less than ten steps apart, the disparity in their sizes more stark than ever as Li Cheng could almost smell the putrid, hot breath spewing from the creature’s massive jaws.
The Spider Monster lunged forward again, its gaping maw snapping shut.
With no time to dodge or retreat, Li Cheng released his hands and shoved his companion backward, bellowing, “Run!”
Then, swinging his blade in a downward arc, he struck the creature’s pincers.
The shockwave traveled up the Bone Blade, numbing Li Cheng’s arms on either side, making them feel as though they no longer belonged to him as his body was hurled backward.
The Spider Monster pursued relentlessly, swinging its two front limbs down like battering rams.
The chaotic barbs on its segmented limbs sliced through the air, emitting a sharp swishing sound.
Li Cheng pivoted on the tips of his toes, lunging close to the ground to dodge the attack while his right-hand Mantis Arm Bone Blade violently slashed into the Spider Monster’s second pair of legs.
The Exoskeleton of the Spider Monster, possessing both strength and flexibility, indented under the full force of the Bone Blade’s slash but did not break.
Li Cheng twisted his torso again, spinning like a top beneath the Spider Monster, his left-hand Bone Blade, carrying the weight and momentum of his rotation, pressed down along the creature’s second pair of limbs.
The barbs on the limbs broke off in all directions, and the limbs themselves were sliced in half, spurting green fluid.
Suddenly in pain, the Spider Monster’s mouthparts trembled as it let out a piercing screech.
Its ferocity surged; stabilizing itself on its back two pairs of legs, its front limbs swept across from both sides.
Li Cheng swung his blade to block, but as their strengths were mismatched, he felt a sharp pain in his arms, as if his wrists and forearms were about to snap off, and his body was sent flying backward.
He couldn’t afford to retreat; countless smaller Spider Monsters had caught up, and being surrounded would spell certain death.
Li Cheng slammed his arms down, stabbing the Bone Blade into the ground, and his feet screeched against the surface, barely stopping his inertia.
The Spider Monster’s third pair of limbs on its left side swooped down from above, the sound of tearing air returning.
Li Cheng sidestepped to dodge, retracting his Bone Blade while releasing the muscle constraints, extending a plethora of ant-like spines from his arms.
Using the spines for protection, he grabbed hold of the Spider Monster’s limb and, leveraging its swing, rapidly climbed onto the Spider Monster’s back in a leap and bound.
Yuan Zhixia’s voice rang out from not far away.
Rather than running far away, she had taken out a red and white Eight-Treasure Porridge can from her backpack and tossed it to Li Cheng on the Spider Monster’s back.
“Fragmentation Hand Grenade!
Ready to use instantly!”
Yuan Zhixia shouted as a reminder, then grabbed Ye Jiaying and bolted.
Li Cheng caught the Eight-Treasure Porridge can with precision, and once again, his Mantis Arm Bone Blade sprung from his arm, cleaving fiercely towards the junction of the giant spider’s thorax and abdomen.
The spines on the back of the Spider Monster, not as tough as the barbs on its limbs, were breached after several rounds of slashing.
The Bone Blade cut deep into its flesh, green blood gushing out like a fountain.
Severely wounded, the Spider Monster convulsed in pain.
Yet this beast, whose longevity was unknown, grew even more ferocious in its agony.
It raised its head and began moving backwards, slamming into a nearby building with the intention to crush Li Cheng.
Li Cheng hurriedly peeled off the white plastic lid of the Eight-Treasure Porridge can, pulled the ring, and indeed heard a clear pin-striking sound.
He stuffed the can into the gaping wound on the back of the Spider Monster, leaped off its back, and rolled onto the ground.
Two explosions rang out in succession; the first was the Spider Monster crashing into the building, while the second was the detonation of the Fragmentation Hand Grenade.