After such cruel torment, Xavic was more than happy to kill Takeji, but Miles stopped him in time and killed him. After resting a while, they hit the road again and arrived at their destinations in half a day.
“So, this is the cave?” Miles looked at the mountain range. He could see a cave entrance. It didn’t look like a deadly nest of man-eating spiders.
“According to the map it is.” Zall said with a nod. They were crouching behind a hill, but the giant of the man was still visible.
“What now?” Xavic asked.
“Let’s wait for a while.” Miles said, “You said they would call out for help in human language, so if we hear that, we will be sure.”
“Bro Miles, you told Takeji you are Miles Cross. Is it true?” Zall asked with hesitation and hastily added, “It is fine if you don’t answer it.”
Xavic looked at him with curious eyes too.
“It is true. I am Miles Cross, son of Malcolm and Evelyn, grandson of Cruel Heart, and brother of Merlin and Marcela Cross.” Miles sighed and answered truthfully. He was against using his family to threaten others, but he wouldn’t lie to his friends just to hide it.
“Wow! You really are a Cross!” Xavic exclaimed in surprise. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“Ahem!” Zall feigned cough. “I am sure Bro Miles has his reasons to hide it.”
“It is fine. I don’t want to lie to you guys.” Miles shook his head and explained his situation briefly. How he failed to awaken, how Mercer forbade him to use the name of Cross, how he left his family and lived alone ever since. They already knew Miles didn’t have a superpower since they met in the Thunderstorm Forest, but they didn’t know the consequences of his ‘failure.’
“That bastard Cruel Heart is really cruel!” Xavic cursed under his breath.
“AHHEM!” Zall coughed harder. “He is still Miles’s grandfather and general of Unity. We should show him some respect.”
“It is fine. He is what he is, and I am who I am. You don’t need to respect him because of his identity as my grandfather. I surely don’t.” Miles said with a chuckle.
“I know the worth of Bro Miles, so you don’t need to care about Cruel Heart!” Xavic added. Miles's lips curled up slightly as he thanked.
“HELP! SOMEBODY! PLEASE HELP!”
While they were chatting, screams reverberated from the cave. The three looked at each other, and prepared.
Miles charged the lightning sword and kept the armor orb at his sleeve. He would charge it if needed even if it blew his cover. Zall pulled out a shield orb. It was something Miles purchased for him in exchange for two orbs he got and monster cores he took in the Thunderstorm Forest. Xavic donned his lightning boots and drew out his forged sword. He was also wearing a light forged armor.
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When they were ready, Xavic and Miles grabbed two barrels from the ground, and Zall filled the glass spray with acid. He held it in his hand while covering behind the shield and led the way.
The interior of the cave was tall enough for even Zall to walk easily. And its width was large enough for a car to pass through. The trio walked through it with three wristwatches illuminating their surroundings. Although they were small, the lights oozing from the watches were strong enough to lighten the interior.
After turning a few times, Miles saw an opening. There were many holes in different parts of the cave. Their sizes were all different. Some were as small as a fist, while some were bigger than the cave entrance.
What caught Miles's attention weren’t the holes though, nor the voice sounded like mandibles rubbing each other, but the white web covering the opening from top the ceiling. If one were to be caught in these webs, their death would be certain.
Miles raised his foot, and realized it was getting harder to move. Even the ground had a sticky web layer making it harder to move. Luckily Zall was leading them and his weight and base strength was enough to tear apart the webs. Miles was just stepping at the same spot to avoid getting trapped.
From time to time, Zall would spray green liquid inside the glass to melt the webs that prevented them from advancing. The stomach fluid of Tempest Python was too corrosive. Although the webs were strong, they still melted like butter in the sun.
While they were advancing, Miles was communicating with Coin. His hands were typing rapidly, while Coin was answering his ear.
“Did you figure it out, buddy?” Miles typed.
“Almost. Like you said, although webs are connected, there are a few threads isolated from others.” Coin answered. Miles asked Coin to draw out a map of the webs to summon spiders. He watched enough documentaries to know how Spiders hunted. He would pull the webs isolated from others to draw spiders. But he couldn’t be careless in case they end up calling out all the spiders in the cave.
Not long after Coin finished his calculation and showed a map. Miles raised his arm to match the virtual screen with the webs in front of him.
“Wait a second.” He said and looked toward a lone thread stretching out from a moderate size hole.
“What do you have in mind, Bro Miles?” Xavic asked with a whisper.
“Coin was calculating isolated threads, so we can pull spiders one by one and reduce their numbers. I will try to pull one of them now.” Miles explained and showed them the thread. Around it, there were thousands of other threads connected to other holes, so Miles asked, “Zall can you melt those around it. Be careful not to melt our target.”
“Why melt others?” Xavic asked.
“So when we fight, we wouldn’t accidentally hit others and alert more spiders.” Zall explained as he used the spray. When a big enough area was free of spider webs, including the ground, Miles tugged the isolated threat.
“Be ready to dash out if too many come. The Formation will be, me at the forefront with the spray, Xavic at middle and Zall at the back.” Miles warned them and waited. Soon, shadows in the holes started to change and a spider showed its head. Eight eyes looked at the opening where three of them were standing and screeched in pain because of the light.
“The light is hurting them. Good to know.” Miles analyzed and let his friends know.
The Spider brought two legs in front of its eyes, and climbed down with the rest. It was almost a meter tall while its width was a little longer than that. Its mass was huge. There were two pipe-like organs at two sides of its head. “Can fire poison, be careful.”
But soon his jaw fell to the ground.