Janet alighted upon the bare rock of the hill Darius had chosen to land on. From the air, Rainbow Ridge was a tapestry of brilliant color and mesmerizing sights. The sweeping hills were all segmented into swirling bands of colored rock, and the vegetation upon them seemed to follow the same overall theme.

Dried moss cracked under Janet’s boot. The hill had been an eye-catching maroon that glistened like bare, polished rock when seen from the air. This close, Janet could see that the rock below was actually the color of ruby. It was the dried, brown moss that dirtied it into the maroon she’d seen from above.

Behind her, Sylthis alighted from the platform, followed closely by Aurelia. As the Cyclopean began to scan the area for threats, Janet chose to admire the landscape from up close.

Her eyes panned across the nearby hills. The one to their left looked like it was made entirely of obsidian. Right ahead was a yellow hill the texture of sulfur, and to their right was one that looked like marble studded with aquamarine crystals.

They all looked like solid heaps of gemstone-grade material, but [Identify] told a different, less-glamorous tale.

[Rainbow Rock] – Rock formed from metamorphosis of ancient sediment.

Giving in to curiosity, she tried to dig her fingers into the rock. She was unable to, even when she reinforced her nails with mana. Not even her dagger could scratch the rock.

“What are you trying to do? Didn’t you identify the rock?” Sylthis asked, having ascertained that nothing was coming to claim their lives.

“It just says that the rock was formed through metamorphosis of ancient sediment.”

“Oh, does it?” sarcasm dripped from her voice. “Does your great Common-level [Identify] that’s still miles ahead of any Basic-Ranked Skill not provide enough information?”

It was clear that the warrior was still salty from her having seemingly abandoned her martial training.

“Do you want to know what mine says?” Janet had no option but to nod, fully expecting another round of snark.

“[Identify] informs me that these rocks are the fossilized remains of billions upon billions of microscopic creatures that just so happened to subsist on mana crystal. Who would have thought that a Skill with a higher rarity would be this much more useful?”

Janet ignored the fake-shocked expression on Sylthis’ face, along with the palm she’d dramatically placed above her heart.

Instead, she began to think. A creature, no matter how small, that could eat mana crystal would have to be incredibly sturdy. Its anatomy would be massively reinforced, and its remains would be incredibly hard as well as valuable.

Why then, did [Identify] register the rock as pretty much useless other than as decorative construction material?

As though he’d plucked the question right out of her mind, Darius interjected. “It’s the classic case of worms that ate a dragon. The source of food might be valuable beyond belief, but if the being that feeds on it is trash…”

There was no need to finish the sentence. The rock was just pretty garbage. Earth magic could literally grow gems, so rock that looked like gems was pretty much useless.

Still though, “How do Phase Spiders live in this place?” she asked. “The mana density is atrocious, lower even than in the forested jungle, and there doesn’t seem to be any insects or rodents around to consume for food.”

“The moss,” Aurelia answered.

“What?” Janet asked as she peered closer at the dried-up, unsightly mat of vegetation. It looked just like regular old moss to her.

“Even dead, I can sense that it is still brimming with earth-affinity energy,” Aurelia added. “It doesn’t feel like mana, but its nature is undoubtedly earth.”

No wonder she had sensed nothing. Without the affinity, pure energies of that type were invisible to her.

That did not explain what the spiders ate, however. As far as she was aware, very few spider species could live entirely on plant matter. In her usual fervor after arriving at a new place, Janet began to catalog all the incongruencies. First among them, the seeming lack of food.

Second, of course, was mana. A quick flash of [Mana Sight] revealed that rather than cycle endlessly in chaotic flows that changed with every moment, mana in Rainbow ridge was flowing in a single direction, into the ostensibly inert rock.

The flow happened in incredibly tiny amounts, but even that slight trend was unusual enough to be of note.

Thirdly, the way the layers of rock had been arrayed seemed to be the result of erosion. Yet, there were no signs of water or constant gales.

Fourth…

Darius whipped his head to the side. While Sylthis and Aurelia continued to gaze at the beautiful rocks with their minds deep in thought, Janet followed his gaze.

She had felt something. A powerful pulse invisible to all senses of mana rolled through the hills. She had never felt anything like it, but she could tell that whatever source it originated from could mash her into pulp with but a sneeze.

Unfortunately, the pulse only lasted for a fraction of a second, too little time for her to gain any substantial information on its source.

As for Darius, his demeanor suddenly became energized. His signature flying platform materialized once more and he was gone in an instant, the trail of mana revealing that he’d was headed in the direction of the pulse’s origin.

“Hmm,” Sylthis intoned as her eye followed their Mentor. “Guess we won’t be staying here long.”

Seeing the confused looks on Janet and Aurelia, she chose to elaborate. “He must have sensed a Phase Spider. I can’t believe he found one so fast. They’re really hard to find, you know?”

As her Senior Sister applauded their good luck, Janet’s heart found its way to her throat. A chilling spike of trepidation dug into her spine, and a trickle of sweat rolled down her temple.

She still recalled the terrifying power of the Lava Spewer whose moment of death had literally created a volcanic eruption. The prospect of fighting another being as strong as that chilled even the demonic flame in her core into ice.

===

She should have known better. Sylthis’ skillset was built around sensing energies. Her seeming obliviousness to the pulse powerful enough to cover the entire landscape with a terrifying aura surely had been a ruse.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

As the tall mountain of a woman stepped towards her, Janet thought she was coming to comfort away her visible distress. When her hands wrapped around her, she thought she was getting hugged. She spread her arms to receive the offered sympathy.

Her guard was down. None of her mana was mobilized in defense. She was in the presence of Slayers, after all. In her mind, she would not have been safer on Gaia’s lap than in the vicinity of Darius and Sylthis.

Thus, when that cold, chilling metal collar slipped around her neck and its enchantment came alive, her core was in standby mode. Her pathways were devoid of mana. There was nothing with which to defend against the invading stream of runes that rushed towards her core.

She thought of punching the organ to stimulate mana flow occurred to her, but her hands were spread apart by Sylthis’ girth. The warrior’s elbows slammed downwards, gripping her like a vice.

“Let the magic do its work, poppet.” The dulcet voice that Janet had always found to be comforting now filled her with bone-deep terror. “I promise you’ll thank me for it one day.”

For a moment, she thought of activating her soul magic and chomping at Sylthis’ soul, but the woman could sense that as well.

She was caught. Trapped. Completely and utterly subdued.

Helplessly, she watched as the runes settled around her core. Their purpose? To suppress any and all activation of Skills and Spells that relied upon mana.

The runes resonated with each other to produce a static charge that interfered with any attempts to maintain a sustained current of mana. She could still fill her body up with mana, but the collar made its flow so turbulent as to be utterly useless.

Her greatest strength had been successfully neutralized.

“Well, then,” Sylthis smirked down at her terrified face. “Shall we truly begin training up your martial Skills?”

“Is that what this is about?” she spat out. “Are you crazy? What am I supposed to do if we get attacked by a beast right now? Without my magic…”

“Funny you should say that,” Sylthis chuckled. She actually chuckled, with her shoulders shaking and everything! “There’s this Second Circle Spider that’s coming to investigate all the ruckus that our arrival made. Good luck!”

With a parting tussle of her hair, Sylthis released her arms. She took out a crystal that Janet knew well and hoped to one day replicate if not improve.

Sylthis focused most of her time on scouting and being a better warrior. Her magic was a bit shaky as a result. While she could easily form bolts and blades from mana, as well as perform a few simple spells, she could not cast flight magic on her own.

The crystal contained an embedded spell that enabled flight. As long as it was charged with enough mana, it could keep its user in flight for hours on end.

Sylthis picked up a shocked Aurelia by her armpits and slung her over her shoulder. A pulse of mana into the crystal activated the flight spell and lifted them both into the air.

“Don’t just stare at us,” Sylthis called out. “There’s a beast coming to kill you, remember?”

All Janet could do was scream her frustration towards the sky. The sound echoed across the bare hills and into the distance.

“Good. Call even more of them. You need a lot of practice.”

Yeah… spiders could sense vibrations. Sound was vibration, which meant any loud sounds she made would only attract more of them. Janet slapped her forehead, then immediately swore under her breath for her lapse of judgement.

To her left, she heard the click-clack of hardened legs on even harder ground. The staccato of footsteps informed her that the incoming spider was a heavy customer.

‘No matter,’ she thought. ‘I’ll just gouge out its eyes with my dagger. As long as I can get through to its brain, this will be a walk in the park.’

Her hand reached for her sheath. It was gone. In a blind panic, she grasped at her other hip, hoping futilely that the dagger had somehow switched positions without her noticing.

With a heart that cried out at the betrayal, she looked into the sky. Sylthis had shifted the parameters of the flight spell so she and Aurelia were hovering in place. A small kindness was that Sylthis was hovering in front of the sun, so she wasn’t blinded trying to look at her.

As contrast to the warm consideration, the warrior was holding a pear-like fruit in one hand. On the other was [Void]. Janet’s [Void]. She was using it to section the fruit. As Janet watched in dazed horror, Sylthis impaled a quarter of the pear and passed it to Aurelia, who was still slung on her shoulder.

“Like I said, martial techniques only. Punch, throw, grapple, dodge,” she smirked and bit into the fruit, letting the juices drip down to her chin. She then used [Void] to scrape off the drop, then licked it with her teasing gaze piercing into Janet.

“I know your control over mana is sufficient to reinforce your muscles even with that collar on.”

Janet noticed Aurelia tap Sylthis’ shoulder. “Oh, you want another piece?”

Aurelia pointed towards the obsidian hill. Sylthis turned to look, then she smiled down in maniacal glee. “You should hurry up and kill this one. As you can see there’s not much food in these parts, and you just screamed out loud like an injured animal.”

The footsteps drew closer. Janet turned in time to see a maroon-colored spider come round the hill. She fired [Appraisal] at it.

[Rachne Rubel] - ?? (non-venomous)

The lack of venom was comforting, but its gigantic mandibles that could easily wrap around her face washed away all comfort she felt from the provided result.

The spider stood at double her height. Its body was covered by a thick coat of maroon trichobothria that camouflaged it perfectly against the backdrop of the hill. Each of its eight legs were tipped with a bony-white spike that was striated with sanguine markings. It was those tips that clacked so ominously against the rock.

Janet swallowed. She had never fought against an arachnid. Not only would she have to uncover its attack patterns during the fight to come, but she also needed to dispatch it before others of its kind arrived. All that, and she did not have her weapon or her magic.

The spider drew closer. It opened its mandibles wide open and let out a terrifying rattle. The revealed maw full of curved hooks was nowhere near as horrifying as that of her bottomless soul, but what could be?

‘Wait a second! I only need to survive long enough for my soul to get ahold of the spider’s!’

It would be difficult to hone her focus to that degree with the collar interfering with her mana, but it was doable. It had to be.

The spider lunged forward. Its mandibles were wide open, ready to scythe off her head. She ducked beneath the approaching bulk and rolled to the side. She could tell from the breeze created by the lightning-fast lunge that the beast’s body was incredibly powerful.

In terms of physicality, she was completely outmatched.

On the ground, Janet noticed a white spike spearing through the air, intent on impaling her. She rolled again, which ended with her underneath the spider’s body.

Unfortunately for her, the spider could stand on only four legs. Before she knew it, three more spikes joined the first. Like long, powerful fangs, they closed in for the kill.

The next series of events happened on reflex. Turbulent yet potent mana flowed into her legs. Another stream went to her spine and shoulders. In a split-second, she was on her feet, her shoulder pressed against the spider’s thorax.

Then, she heaved and threw.

The spider, weighing almost a ton, flew through the air and landed on its back with a loud thud. Janet found it odd that no dust was released from the fall of such a huge body.

Another surprise was that her muscles were still intact. Her spine was also fine, the only indication that it had borne the weight of a creature that weighed ten times as much being a slight tingle. It reminded her of a contest of strength she and Brian had engaged in while her Strength Stat was a measly 10.

‘This might be easier than I thought.’

“Good throw!” A slow, sardonic clap followed Sylthis’ comment. “A hundred more just like it and the spider will be dead.”

Like an acrobat, the spider balanced on its back legs then rolled its weight on its abdomen. A slight push against the ground and it was upright once more.

Upright, pissed, and wary of her.

As it approached, Janet noticed that the striations on its leg tips were glowing. [Mana Sight] informed her that it too had decided to empower its body with mana.

She shook her head and balled her fists. It looked like a hard-won fight lay ahead.

‘This was not how it was supposed to go, Janet thought as a drop of sweat dripped off her nose.’

Rainbow Ridge description.

Home to all kinds of spiders

Puzzling pulse travels through the Ridge. Apart from herself and Darius, who begin looking around in search of the source, only the spiders themselves notice it. Janet sees some twitch or tremble in fear.

“I think we’re in luck,” Darius says then takes off.

[Throw training], Janet gets angry and uses her soul.

Suddenly, the pulse comes again, stronger and angrier.

The hill below them disappears.