Chapter 533: Driving It Back and a New Target
Qi Han swung the kitchen knife in his hand once more, carving a deep notch into one of the Man Faced Demon Spider's spear-like legs. Borrowing the force of the impact, he rapidly retreated, narrowly avoiding the other three legs stabbing toward him. A trace of seriousness immediately appeared on his face.
The Man Faced Demon Spider's legs were tough, razor-sharp, and venomous. Being pierced by one would not only poison the victim but also drain blood and life force. Worse still, the creature possessed eight of these spear-like legs, each nearly five meters long.
There was a saying: Two fists cannot defeat four hands.
There was another saying: The longer the weapon, the greater the advantage.
Right now, the Man Faced Demon Spider had both advantages.
What did that mean?
It meant Qi Han was fighting at a massive disadvantage.
Qi Han's kitchen knife was sharp enough to damage the spider's legs, forcing it to be cautious, but there were simply too many of them. As a result, he could only continue retreating and avoiding their deadly thrusts.
Yet amid his concern, a small doubt lingered in his mind.
Where was the web?
Normally, the Man Faced Demon Spider's hunting pattern was to first entangle its prey with webbing, then rush in and use its deadly legs to pierce the immobilized victim and drain away its life.
The reason Qi Han had not yet unleashed his ultimate move—stacking all five spirit abilities together—was precisely because he had been waiting for the spider to use its web.
For almost any creature, the Man Faced Demon Spider's web was nearly impossible to evade. But Qi Han could have Pururu cooperate with him to perform Mist Instant Flash, making it easy to dodge the webbing.
His original plan had been simple: teleport out of the web's path, catch the spider off guard, and then deliver a devastating five-ability slash straight into the weak point on its abdomen.
The problem was that this giant spider wasn't following the script.
"Hey, where's your web? Why aren't you shooting any?" Qi Han complained loudly.
The only response he received was an even angrier roar from the Man Faced Demon Spider.
As one of the most cunning apex predators, the Man Faced Demon Spider possessed considerable intelligence. A ten-thousand-year-level specimen couldn't speak, but it could roughly understand what Qi Han was saying.
And precisely because it understood him, it became even more furious.
If it could speak, it would probably have shouted:
"I've run out of webbing, got a problem with that?"
Unfortunately, it couldn't talk.
So it expressed its anger through action.
Its spear-like legs stabbed toward Qi Han one after another like a storm of lances. The relentless barrage forced Qi Han to yelp and retreat even faster.
This guy has such a bad temper!
With a snort, all five spirit rings around Qi Han suddenly lit up.
The next moment, a golden-red blade aura dozens of meters long condensed to an incredible degree and swept through the air toward the Man Faced Demon Spider.
The spider's senses were exceptionally sharp. The instant Qi Han's five spirit rings lit up, it immediately withdrew its attacking legs and lowered its body.
Then, with a powerful push from all eight legs, it launched itself dozens of meters into the air, narrowly avoiding the slash.
Only a trace of the flame grazed the pale human face pattern on its abdomen, leaving behind a tiny black scorch mark.
The already grotesque human-face marking seemed even more sinister than before.
Feeling the burning pain at the weak point on its abdomen, the Man Faced Demon Spider let out an enraged screech. Adjusting its position in midair, it prepared to crash down directly onto Qi Han.
A strange expression suddenly appeared on Qi Han's face.
Are you sure you want to do that?
The blade aura flashed again.
Another slash, combining all five spirit abilities, shot upward toward the descending Man Faced Demon Spider.
The blazing blade shone like a miniature sun. It was about to strike the exposed human-face weak point on the spider's abdomen.
At that moment, the Man Faced Demon Spider was overcome with terror.
It seemed utterly unable to believe that Qi Han could unleash another attack of such terrifying power so quickly.
However, its reaction was just as swift.
Almost the instant Qi Han's blade aura was unleashed, the Man Faced Demon Spider shot out a strand of silk from its rear. Using the web to yank its body sideways, it forcefully executed an incredibly difficult evasive maneuver in midair.
As a result, the blade aura that had originally been aimed at the human-face pattern on its abdomen missed its target and instead severed one of its spear-like legs at the root.
"SSSSS!"
The Man Faced Demon Spider rapidly shifted position by pulling itself along the silk, instantly widening the distance between itself and Qi Han.
Faint sparks still flickered along the severed cross-section of the leg. A slight burnt smell mixed with a strong fishy stench spread through the surrounding area.
Holding his knife, Qi Han merely watched the Man Faced Demon Spider.
But to his surprise, the spider did not continue its attack.
Instead, it turned around and fled at top speed, disappearing into the dense forest almost instantly.
"Huh?"
A look of astonishment briefly appeared on Qi Han's face as he watched the Man Faced Demon Spider flee in panic.
It ran away?
Then, recalling the description of the Man Faced Demon Spider in the Ingredient Encyclopedia, he suddenly understood.
Whenever a Man Faced Demon Spider encountered an opponent it knew it could not defeat, it would immediately retreat and escape. It was a classic bully-the-weak-fear-the-strong type.
Clearly, that slash had completely frightened it.
That was why it was running so desperately now.
Yet Qi Han's expression did not become any more relaxed.
Instead, it grew even more serious.
The Man Faced Demon Spider had another innate trait:
It held grudges.
Qi Han still planned to remain in the Evildemon Forest for some time rather than leaving immediately. Although the spider had fled for now, there was no guarantee it wouldn't secretly follow him and wait for an opportunity to strike from the shadows.
In other words, its escape was not good news at all.
If anything, it was a nuisance.
From now on, he would have to be even more vigilant.
Forget it. Whatever.
Curiously, Qi Han walked over to inspect the severed spider leg.
His eyebrows rose slightly.
The black, coldly gleaming spear-like leg was covered in hard barbs, giving it an exceptionally vicious appearance. Although it was merely lying on the ground, the patch of grass beneath it had already dissolved into foul-smelling sludge, a testament to the potency of its venom.
As soon as Qi Han took a sniff of the thick fishy odor, he felt slightly dizzy.
He hurriedly stepped back several paces, frowning deeply.
"Ru Yi, what were you thinking when you put this thing into the Ingredient Encyclopedia?"
"Ahem, ahem..." Ru Yi sounded somewhat embarrassed.
"I just included it while I was at it. This thing isn't edible."
"No kidding!"
Qi Han rolled his eyes.
Then he gently patted Pururu in his arms.
"Let's go. We'll continue looking for the Three-Eyed Battle Bear."
"Meow~"
Pururu lightly rubbed against Qi Han before settling quietly back into his embrace.
During the battle just now, Pururu had not taken action.
It wasn't because it didn't want to.
Qi Han simply hadn't allowed it to.
Pururu's Mist Flash, when used together with Qi Han, could now be activated six times consecutively. Its teleportation range was also much greater than when it had first awakened.
Although dealing with the Man Faced Demon Spider had been somewhat troublesome, Qi Han had never truly been in danger. He had originally intended for Pururu to launch a surprise move when the spider used its webbing, but since it never did, there had been no need for Pururu to act.
Glancing at the map marking the locations of the Three-Eyed Battle Bears, Qi Han sighed softly.
The ten-thousand-year Three-Eyed Battle Bear he had been targeting earlier had met up with a fifty-thousand-year Three-Eyed Battle Bear and had remained in place ever since.
Apparently, the two got along quite well.
Under those circumstances, there was no way Qi Han could simply sit around waiting for them to separate.
He could only find a new target.
After searching the map for a while, his gaze soon settled on another Three-Eyed Battle Bear.
This one was approximately eighteen thousand years old.
Although its age was somewhat higher, Qi Han felt confident he could still handle it.
More importantly, it was fairly close to his current location.
And it had no companions nearby.
It's decided.
You're the lucky little guy.