Poison Rain

Hanging upside down in the air, some ten meters below his head was the Beguiler Demon Spider's grotesque face — rows upon rows of eyes angled deliberately upward, locked squarely onto Mo Fan.

The Beguiler Demon Spider raised its forelegs to sweep at the figure above it — but Mo Fan's fist came down first.

"Rose Flame — Blazing Fist — Heavenstrike!!"

The fist hammered from the sky, a massive torrent of flame pouring directly onto the Beguiler Demon Spider's crown. This time the creature had no chance to dodge, taking the full weight of Mo Fan's Blazing Fist squarely on top of its skull.

Beyond its scorching heat, the Blazing Fist carried tremendous concussive force. The recoil hurled Mo Fan himself far and high through the air, while the Beguiler Demon Spider below was driven deep into a scorched crater as though crushed flat, raging flames searing its entire body...

Not far away, Mu Ningxue's lips parted slightly.

*This Mo Fan has some nerve.* Most Mages would never dare Release an intermediate-tier spell this way.

But it proved beyond any doubt that he was a hardened veteran of real combat. His footwork alone was extraordinarily nimble, and his command over magic had reached a point of effortless mastery. Most Mages still had to plant their feet like fence posts just to draw a Star Chart — intimidating enough against Servant-class creatures, perhaps, but they'd die a dozen times over the moment they faced anything Battle-General-class.

The punch had been no small thing. Even the thick-hided Beguiler Demon Spider took a long moment to drag itself out of that smoldering crater.

Mu Ningxue had no illusions that a single punch had killed it. While the creature was still reeling, she launched another intermediate-tier Wind Element spell.

Ice Element and Fire Element had inherent conflicts, but the Wind Disk she conjured could scoop up all the lingering flames Mo Fan had left in the area.

Wind Disk—Heavenly Net took shape once more. A wall of wind nearly a hundred meters across began to contract rapidly, drawing every ember of the Blazing Fist's residual fire into its churning vortex.

In moments, the entire barrier blazed a deep, fierce red. It was no longer a pure Wind Element spell — it had become a spectacular fire hurricane. The scorching flames, rather than dying out in the raging wind, fed on it and burned fiercer than ever.

Seeing Mu Ningxue weaving his fire into her Wind Element magic, Mo Fan half-curled both hands and kindled two orbs of Fire Burst flame in his palms.

He hurled the Fire Burst: Bone Scorch into the night, the blazing arcs cutting through the darkness before slamming into the rapidly tightening Wind Disk—Heavenly Net...

"Keep going!" Mu Ningxue called out.

Mo Fan had long since mastered his basic-tier spells. The instant both Fire Burst: Bone Scorch orbs merged into the raging fire-tornado, his palms were already igniting two more.

He hurled them into the Wind Disk—Heavenly Net again. While the Wind Element spell held, he would keep feeding it flame — stoking it hotter and hotter until the Beguiler Demon Spider had suffered enough.

Star Trail after Star Trail lit up. Mo Fan had never Released Fire Burst at this frequency before. Watching arc after arc of flame streak through the air before him, *I'm basically a fire-magic machine gun right now.* Concentrated continuously on a single point, the cumulative output was starting to rival an intermediate-tier spell.

He held back the Blazing Fist for good reason — its concussive force would have shredded Mu Ningxue's Wind Element magic. Fire Burst's output was just the right fit to be absorbed into it instead...

At last the Wind Disk—Heavenly Net contracted fully, the eye of the storm collapsing inward. The Beguiler Demon Spider at its center still clawed desperately at the ground, trying to anchor itself, but the vortex tore and dragged and spun it without mercy — and now fire scorched and incinerated on top of all that. For a creature that favored water, it was nothing short of agony.

**Whoooooosh!!!!!**

The wind surged to a sudden peak. The Beguiler Demon Spider's eight legs were wrenched clean from the earth, and its massive, ugly body — the size of half a room — was slowly lifted into the air, rising higher and higher.

"That's my limit." Mu Ningxue's face had gone noticeably pale. The Wind Disk—Heavenly Net could hold no longer — but the Beguiler Demon Spider had risen less than ten meters. A fall from this height wouldn't generate nearly enough impact to do it real damage.

"It's fine — let it drop!" Mo Fan called out.

Mu Ningxue drew a deep breath, and as her focus steadied, the Wind Disk—Heavenly Net rapidly dissolved.

The Beguiler Demon Spider plummeted. It landed on all eight legs, cushioning the impact well enough that it took almost no harm from the fall. Every row of its malevolent eyes swiveled at once, and it let out a furious shriek at Mu Ningxue.

**Fsshhh——!!**

Without warning, the Beguiler Demon Spider opened the mouth hidden within its face — small, but lined with needle-sharp venomous fangs — and began spewing. Mo Fan couldn't make out what it was at first. Not until the spray was nearly upon Mu Ningxue did he recognize it: venom.

The venom came down like a rain shower, a dense, spattering torrent drenching everything around her.

With no choice, Mu Ningxue activated the protection of her Enchanted Gear. Golden Holy Light bloomed around her in the shape of a flower bud — the Blossom Light Shield, encasing her entirely, covering every angle with no blind spots...

Mo Fan had seen this type of Shield Enchanted Gear at an auction before. All shield-type Enchanted Gear could only withstand a single attack — but one that enclosed the entire body, like Mu Ningxue's, was an outright luxury.

The poison rain splashed against the Blossom Light Shield without any dramatic reaction, simply running down its curved surface like ordinary rainwater. But where the venom landed on the surrounding ground, the wild grass blackened instantly. The soil erupted in dark, dissolving foam. A One-Eyed Demon Wolf that had died not long ago dissolved into a pool of corpse-water in a mere ten-odd seconds, leaving behind nothing but a heap of white bones.

Watching the venom's terrifying corrosive power, Mo Fan's mind went straight to the vast field of white bones he had seen earlier.

*Could it be that this Beguiler Demon Spider specifically lured group-living creatures into tearing each other apart — then emerged to mop up the survivors?*

*It had to be.* Send in the little spiders first to bewitch, picking off each target one by one. Then step out at the end and drag the crippled survivors back to its territory, to feast at that great banquet table of bones.

*What a cunning Demon-Beast.* If it hadn't been for the Magic Weapon he happened to be wearing — the one that resisted mental attacks and sharpened his focus — he might very well have ended up as just another pile of bones here.