I'd just gotten comfy with a thermos of tea in hand and started on a crossword puzzle book when the older relatives of the recently deceased horses arrived without delay. Way faster than I'd expected—not even an hour. Apparently, one of the dead was a descendant of someone important in the herd.
Three Wind Dragon Horses galloped up to the hill. Leading them was a Junior Warlord with horns and azure scales covering its entire body, its hooves pounding the ground so hard it caused a local earthquake.
Behind it followed two peak Commanders whose horns were smaller and scale color less vibrant. As soon as they reached the hill and saw the horse corpses, the lead Warlord angrily snorted a puff of steam from its nose and deliberately stomped its front hooves, sending powerful shockwaves toward the spider's hideout.
The spider's aura wasn't concealed at all, so everyone spotted it immediately and drew the right conclusions. One of the horses must be a descendant of this squad's leader, since only it got mad. The Commanders' eyes showed only indifference and a hint of schadenfreude. Apparently, the Warlord isn't such a great leader if his subordinates react to his troubles like that.
Feeling the undisguised auras of those present, the spider finally crawled out of its shelter. And may the Totem strike me down, it was a Deadly Wind Blade! An extremely rare species! Good thing I didn't fight it solo to test my strength; it would've smeared me. These horses have some serious problems now.
The spider's body glowed azure, stuffed to the brim with wind element—any more and it'd qualify as an elemental being! Needle-sharp legs with barbs, blade-mandibles, and especially those eyes leaking bloody light. This beast leaves no one unmoved!
The Wind Dragon Horses apparently knew nothing about their foe, judging it only by its aura, which was a bit dimmer than their leader's. No surprise they all three sneered contemptuously, but damn, how wrong they are. I hope that proud horse mug holds out long enough against the Deadly Wind Blade for me to snag the Spiritual Seed for my girl.
Not seeing even a shadow of fear on the spider's "face," the horse leader seemed offended and stomped harder, neighing even louder, apparently challenging its opponent to a duel. The spider, appraising the delegation, barely twitched its front leg.
Thanks to my advanced spatial perception, I spotted a very thin thread supercharged with wind element snaking toward one of the Wind Dragon Horses' Commanders. The spider could play tactics, trying to eliminate a future nuisance in the fight.
And it worked perfectly. The horse's head—power-wise comparable to the Vilyuk I'd recently killed—simply flew off, severed without resistance.
"Deadly Wind Blade" is a deceptive name for this spider species. Looking at it, you think the main threats are its sharpened legs or blade-mandibles. In reality, its primary attack is webbing, which it controls with finesse, spinning it from its abdomen like all spiders or even leg tips like now. And it infuses it with wind element for extra speed. Extremely cunning and powerful.
"Eeee-neeeeigh!" Neighing in terror, the remaining two horses leaped back from their comrade's corpse and glared at the spider with a mix of fear and rage. But it couldn't care less about their feelings and pressed the attack on the other peak Commander.
Though the horses were wind element users too, they couldn't match the spider's mastery. So the second Commander died quickly to the Deadly Wind Blade's threads. He at least advanced a bit in the fight compared to his buddy, dodging one thread. But who said there's only one?
Downplaying its abilities in the first strike let the spider eliminate both obstacles in record time. Now it could focus on its main foe, not to be taken lightly—a Junior Warlord from the Wind Dragon Horses lineage.
The horse wasn't wasting time either; while its subordinates died, the boss maxed out its dragon scales with wind element. Probably planning to make the threads slide off, countering their momentum with a retaliatory elemental barrage. Good strategy, but considering the experience gap...
As I thought. Though the horse's aura was stronger, it lagged in skill, so even if threads glanced off its scales, they left several deep scratches first—ones that'd matter in a prolonged fight. Especially if wounds don't stop there.
The horse Warlord tried its signature move—charge and gore the spider with its horns—but the spider dodged playfully, pelting the horse leader with a stream of web threads. It won't last long like this; I need to move fast if I want the Spiritual Seed.
Maximally suppressing my presence with space and spirit elements, I stealthily crept toward the hill. Luckily, I'd hidden nearby beforehand; it was just a short distance.
With spatial perception, I spotted the finest threads inside the hill—probably the spider's intrusion alarms. Good thing I noticed; bypassing them was easy.
Digging in the familiar spot, I finally saw it—a peak wind element Spiritual Seed. That's what I came for. Covering my body in a thin layer of tough ice, I grabbed it, placed it in a special container, ignored the alarm threads, and rocketed out of the burrow, soaring into the sky on artifact wings.
Below, the spider sensed its alarms trigger and broke from the fight, letting the battered Warlord from the Wind Dragon Horses lineage rally a bit. Gathering a wind element mana clump between its horns, it fired a concentrated beam at the Deadly Wind Blade.
The spider didn't appreciate that but couldn't dodge, letting the horse wound it—though not badly. With its body saturated in wind element head to toe, it takes minimal damage from it. This attack just left a few small cracks on its carapace.
I didn't stick around to watch the rest and flew toward the nearest big city. What if the spider chases me after dealing with the horse? I don't want to lead that disaster to a city full of people.