Ever since boarding the carriage, Carl had been suppressed by Lady Annie. The almost tangible, invisible pressure made it difficult for him to breathe.
Now that he had finally regained his freedom, he acted without a word.
Battle Skill—Eagle Strike!
After Giantification, his over three-meter-tall figure, enhanced by the Battle Skill, moved like a rapidly advancing house.
The broad sword in his hand also grew, a simple downward slash sweeping an area several meters wide.
Lady Annie lightly tapped her foot, her entire figure drifting backward—seemingly slow, yet incredibly swift.
The broad sword grazed her clothing as it fell, the wind lifting her robes and revealing her graceful figure.
She was curvaceous in all the right places; her long, fair, and straight legs were exceptionally dazzling under the moonlight.
This was an alluring body.
Carl, seemingly oblivious to the sight before him, swung his sword with an expressionless face and simultaneously activated his ring.
Six Longswords formed from converging starlight materialized, trembling slightly before shooting toward Lady Annie.
The speed of the Star Swords was astonishing; at such close range, even she was a beat too slow to react.
As Lady Annie dodged the Star Swords, Carl continued his attack, sweeping his broad sword like a giant door.
His speed was relatively slow, but his size and the reach of his weapon greatly increased his attack range.
The broad sword collided with a slender arm.
At that moment, Carl’s strength was comparable to a Great Knight, while Lady Annie was clearly not adept at direct confrontations.
Even her Martial Arts were quite rudimentary. This was to be expected.
A follower of an Evil God concealing her identity wouldn’t have many opportunities to cross swords with others, let alone refine her Martial Arts.
Lady Annie was smashed into a side wall by the broad sword. The stone wall collapsed, burying her beneath the rubble.
Though surprised by Carl’s identity and somewhat unwilling to believe it, she knew full well whose side she was on.
However, her joy lasted only for an instant.
Stones exploded, and a figure darted out from the debris like lightning.
The disheveled Lady Annie screamed, "You’ve made me angry!"
Her speed was incredible; so fast that Dana, even as a Knight, could hardly see her form, only afterimages.
Carl fared slightly better, but he still couldn’t keep up with her speed.
Fortunately, he was not just a Knight but also a Wizard Apprentice.
Lesser Spell—Force Field!
As Lady Annie’s figure drew close to Carl, she was suppressed by an invisible force field, her speed suddenly decreasing.
Battle Skill—Divine Judgement!
Carl leaped up, his broad sword flickering with a cold, harsh light.
His Battle Aura erupted from within him, instantly exploding into two intersecting beams of sword light, like a cross descending from the heavens.
Dust and smoke rose on the battlefield.
Compared to the burly Carl, the delicate and fragile Lady Annie seemed like a doll to be played with at will.
The tremendous force descending from the sky tore through flesh and bone in an instant, surging toward her internal organs. At this range, the disparity in their strengths became starkly apparent.
Just as his opponent was about to be blasted into pulp, a strange power suddenly emerged, forcefully stopping the Battle Aura.
A hand of mere bone suddenly grasped the broad sword. A devastating force erupted, sending Carl flying.
A gust of wind swept across the area.
The dust and smoke slowly dispersed.
The scene before him caused Carl’s eyes to narrow, his expression turning grave. Dana was even more stunned, unable to utter a word.
’Lady Annie’ slowly stood up. Her eyes, at some point, had turned blood-red, filled with untamed bestiality.
Her form had also undergone a tremendous transformation.
Her face was covered in blood, some places revealing the stark white of her skull. Her long hair was disheveled and draped behind her.
The upper half of her body remained graceful and seductive; even with the blood and exposed bone, her charm was undiminished.
But as her slender waist extended downwards, a shocking change occurred: her lower half was no longer human legs but a massive spider’s body.
The spider’s body was a deep black, its surface covered with a hard carapace that glistened with a cold sheen. Its six spider-like legs were slender yet powerful, like meticulously sharpened blades, emanating a dangerous aura.
Unlike witless spider-women, Lady Annie’s current form was clearly more Advanced.
It was also more akin to a statue of the Spider Goddess.
The Divine Envoy Robert had spoken of must have been Lady Annie. Now Carl understood his fear; such a form was indeed beyond a normal person’s sense of aesthetics.
Even if she disguised it well, the mere thought that she possessed such a form would be completely repulsive. The phrase ’not human’ wasn’t just an adjective here.
She really wasn’t human!
"To think you’ve forced me to reveal my true form; no wonder Robert died by your hand. But rest assured," Lady Annie’s spider legs tapped lightly, her entire body moving horizontally at high speed, rapidly closing in on Carl. "I won’t kill you directly!"
"On the contrary, I’ll let you taste the utmost ecstasy until I tire of playing with you, then feed you to my spiderlings. Such abundant life force will surely make my babies grow even stronger."
As she spoke, her spider body swelled and contracted, ejecting a large clump of spider silk from an opening.
The spider silk spread out in mid-air, descending like a giant net from overhead.
Carl looked up, raising his left hand high.
Fire erupted from thin air, surging upwards. It touched the incoming spiderweb, instantly igniting it into a blazing inferno and releasing a charred smell.