Allen meticulously observed the arachnid movement. He quickly noticed a critical detail: very few of the dark spiders launched an attack directly at him. Instead, the vast majority swarmed the areas where the protective wash of his Light Magic was weakest or completely absent.
Aside from the monstrously large spider—which seemed relatively unfazed—the entire horde of smaller arachnids displayed distinct signs of panic under the light spell.
Their hasty, yet clumsy and unbalanced charges toward the unicorns, combined with their peculiar habit of instantly ducking their heads whenever a strong burst of light hit them, clearly demonstrated extreme retinal sensitivity.
However, due to their sheer numbers and minute size, this weakness was almost impossible to spot without intense focus.
With his confidence renewed, Allen firmly commanded the unicorns to hold their position. He then raised his wand, dramatically channeling and amplifying his magical power, and cast a Super Light Spell.
A searing, sun-like beam of blinding light erupted from the tip of his wand, immediately bathing the entire horde of spiders in its devastating glow. The arachnids, instantly shocked into paralysis, began to retreat like flies whose hive had just been torched.
Only the largest spider remained composed. It let out a series of strange, rapid, clicking screams that seemed to override the smaller spiders' terror, inciting the entire army to once again rush towards the unicorn formation.
Allen's eyes narrowed dangerously. He spoke to Gaia with a sharp, no-nonsense edge: "Stay right where you are and do not move. I'm going to finish this thing." He then swiftly dashed toward the command spider.
Mid-stride, Allen's silhouette suddenly vanished. With incredible, silent precision, he executed a short-range Apparition directly onto the back of the giant spider. The massive arachnid was clearly startled, its eight legs flailing in confusion.
Before it could even twitch a defence, a brilliant flash of emerald-green light flared briefly—too fast for the unicorns to fully register—and the spider collapsed heavily onto the damp ground, its spiny legs contracting in a final, shuddering spasm before going utterly still.
Allen hadn't anticipated that the seemingly most dangerous creature would be eliminated with such relative ease.
Ignoring the dying throes of their leader and constantly bathed in Allen's unrelenting light magic, the remaining spiders slowly began to retreat, melting back into the impenetrable depths of the dark, ancient forest until they were gone.
In this perilously cursed forest, the unicorns had no time for lengthy mourning for their lost friends. They could only pull themselves together, bind their injuries, and resume their difficult journey.
The remainder of their passage through the Giant Tree Forest went surprisingly smoothly. Whether it was the constant presence of Allen's powerful Light Magic or simply the fact that the forest only harboured those two specific types of monsters, Allen and his companions managed to traverse the oppressive woods without any further major incident.
Allen squinted hard as he stepped through the curtain of watery light at the forest's edge once more. If the boundless forest behind them had felt like a suffocating, dark cage, the sight that now greeted them was like stepping directly into a blazing furnace.
The landscape immediately transformed. The ground stretched out like an unending blanket of ochre sand. Golden dunes, vast and silent, stretched into the infinite distance, shimmering violently under a merciless, scorching sun.
The heat was immediate and intense, rapidly spreading through Allen's body. He instantly realized that this environment was utterly detrimental to the silver-white, cold-forest-dwelling unicorns.
No matter the difficulty, they were committed. Every unicorn warrior stepped into the blazing desert without hesitation.
The surroundings were deserted and unnervingly quiet. The lonely, soul-crushing journey brought a ridiculous thought to Allen's mind: Was this particular segment of the challenge testing their patience and sheer endurance?
Just as everyone's tempers began to fray under the strain of the stifling heat, Gesilis suddenly halted. Allen followed his gaze and saw something disturbing: the sand directly ahead was moving.
Soon, they witnessed its full, terrifying form. Ripples of gold pulsed beneath the surface, and then two massive, glowing discs—like colossal eyes—appeared. Then, from within the writhing, shifting mass, a golden, serpentine object, thick as a man's torso, wriggled violently through the air, shooting directly toward Allen, quickly followed by another.
This terrifying, unnatural sight sent a legitimate chill down Allen's spine despite the heat. Gaia shrieked in primal fear from behind him. Allen quickly dove sideways, barely avoiding the airborne golden snake's lunge.
Suddenly, a fissure opened in the sandpit where the entangled, golden snakes were coiled, and a great plume of emerald-green smoke erupted, gushing upwards. The smoke immediately split into three streams, each flowing rapidly toward Allen and his friends. The smoke was so intensely bright that the pure white coats of the unicorns took on a sickly bluish-green hue in its eerie glow.
"That smoke is undoubtedly poisonous!" was Allen's first thought, and Gesilis clearly reached the same conclusion instantly.
"Allen, drop to your knees and open your mouth—now!" Gesilis commanded, his head bowed low, urging Allen to comply. Allen was taken aback by the absurdity and urgency of the action, but he immediately obeyed the king's instruction.
Gesilis lowered his own head further, and in a perfect, practiced motion, Vina stepped forward, gently touching the ruby in Gesilis's crown with the tip of her horn. A small cascade of pure white powder—like finely ground diamond dust—spilled from the gem and directly into Allen's open mouth.
"That powder is made from the highly potent core of our unicorn horns; it is an immediate and powerful detoxifier," Queen Vina quickly explained.
"Thank you!" Allen choked out, slightly overwhelmed by the sudden cloud of powder, yet profoundly grateful for the strange act of trust.
In that instant, the unicorns and the giant snakes engaged in brutal combat. Some unicorns leaped high, their sharp horns accurately targeting the snakes' vital points; others used their powerful, swift legs to deliver crushing kicks that completely ruptured the snakes' lower abdomens.
Allen, now protected, joined the fray. He brandished his wand, his voice echoing with focused intent: "Petrificus Maximus! Turn them all to stone! Turn them all to stone!" The flying, writhing snakes, struck by the intense Transfiguration magic, solidified instantly and crashed heavily onto the sand, now useless statues.
The situation was quickly becoming one-sided thanks to Allen's magical intervention. At that precise moment, the thick green smoke suddenly vanished, and the eerie bluish-green cast on the unicorns' coats faded away. The initial, short, individual hissing sounds rapidly merged into one long, deafening roar.
A bloated, horrifying object began to slowly heave itself out of the sandpit. It was a massive serpentine column, formed by countless smaller snakes violently entwined together.
Innumerable ghostly rays of light gushed from the pillar's hundreds of mouths, fusing into one gigantic, shimmering beam of deadly, spectral energy. Immediately following the flash of light, true, searing white flames erupted.
A dazzling wave of energy pulsed out from the centre of the enemy, scattering the unicorns. It was as if an invisible stream of pure, devastating heat had struck them, instantly setting their pure white coats ablaze with the unnatural, consuming white fire.
Then, through the blinding, fatal light that enveloped them, Allen watched in horror as the unicorns staggered and fell. Those who could still move turned and fled in blind panic.
Allen stood paralyzed for a heartbeat, his mind struggling to process the impossible sight: death was silently and rapidly engulfing the mighty unicorns. How? A silent, blinding flash, and a warrior fell lifelessly to the ground. Stranger still, the unicorns struck by this invisible heat ray burst into unnatural flame.
A terrifying sword of deadly light and invisible, inescapable heat circled toward him, fast and relentless. Allen could hear the dry crackle of flames on the scorching sand and the desperate cries of the falling unicorns. He yelled to himself: I have to act! Now!
"Aqua Eructo Maxima! Glacius Triumvirate! Clear Water Like a Spring, Freeze Everything!" A massive jet of high-pressure water gushed from Allen's staff, charging straight toward the monstrous snake pillar that was emitting the deadly heat rays. Allen immediately followed up with a powerful, concentrated Ice Spell, attempting to temporarily freeze the cold-blooded creatures in their tracks and halt their lethal attack.
But before Allen and the remaining group could even register a moment of success, the flames on the snake pillar surged higher, and the massive, combined beast renewed its attack with even greater, terrifying ferocity.