[Wyrm - Cursewalker (Abomination) Lvl 54]"

Marvel stepped forward cautiously, observing the monster with a perceptive gaze. Her mandibles clattered together, expressing her lack of appreciation for the misshapen creature. Her lack of experience in dealing with this sort of circumstance was apparent to Shai.

"It reached Iron rank," Marvel expressed, "but it can never compare to Serenity or Elegy. Besides, its mind is already dull and fuzzy... Maybe I can deal with it."

With that, the young empathic spider assaulted the newly advanced abomination with her brain waves. All her eight eyes bore into it, as if glaring was compulsory for the mental attack. The abomination screeched in a blood-chilling scream under the pressure of Marvel’s mental attack.

Shai freed herself from the webs and looked around to search for a way out.

The young spider might be good, but she was only a copper ranker in the early stage. Shai’s [Golden Eyes] showed Marvel was merely a Fledgeling Weaver Level 33. She might be good even by the Empathic Spider’s standard, but Shai believed that this abomination would squash her to death eventually if she kept on. The difference of aura between them was staggering.

"You’ll pay dearly if you underestimate it," Shai urged, already a few dozen paces away.

Marvel was unsettled with most of her attention needed on the Cursewalker. Although her mental assault tormented the creature, it agitated her as much, leaving no room to reply to Shai. Marvel simply turned a couple of her red eyes towards Shai, staring intently.

"You’ve got to stick something harder into its bloody head," Shai advised, "until there’s nothing left. Got something like those?"

Marvel shot more of her glaring gazes at her, using four eyes this time.

"Don’t stare at me like a dolt," Shai scoffed. "Kill it before it learns."

The empathic spider faced the abomination as it stood up once again. Waves of invisible mind attacks emanated from her, showering onto the creature’s dull head. It screeched in agony as the prickling pain writhed within its head, or whatever remained of it. Not much, they assumed.

The Skink, or rather the evolved Wyrm, went berserk, unable to handle the relentless mental assault. It was a stark reminder of how low attributes in certain aspects could leave one vulnerable, especially against a skilled assailant like Marvel.

The Wyrm moved in sluggish, undulating steps towards the Fledgling Weaver, but with each step, it seemed to gain momentum. Its horrifying maw opened, with rows of jagged teeth that clearly agitated the young spider. It was an utterly horrifying maw, with over four rows of dagger-like teeth.

Every fibre of Marvel’s being screamed at her to flee, but she stood her ground, pushing all her might into her empathic attack. She even shot bolts of webs, attempting to slow down the abomination. While the webs did manage to impede its path, the monster effortlessly broke free, almost crashing into Marvel.

Thankfully, the fledgeling spider’s agility was superior to that of the newly transformed Cursewalker. Before disaster could strike, she shot webs on her back, spun, and thrust herself forward, overtaking Shai in one swift motion. The abomination chased.

"Hey, this isn’t fair," Shai complained through the still-intact communication link as she slithered away from the approaching danger.

The Wyrm was clearly fixated on Marvel, but its gaze bore into Shai the moment it noticed the little white snake fleeing. It had not forgotten what Shai had done to it earlier.

For an instant, their eyes locked, and a bone-chilling dread gnawed at her heart.

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I’m dead! Her instinct told her as she quickly averted her gaze, shooting forward, whipping her tail onto the ground. There was something ominous about the Wyrm’s stare. It filled her with a sense of impending doom, triggering her insecurities and fears, almost paralyzing her. Some kind of sinister aura attack.

The Cursewalker screeched, and dark energy rippled around it, amplifying its wrath. Black tar-like essence oozed out of its mouth, quickly coalescing into a spike that resembled Shai’s [Arcane Shot], but it exuded a far more menacing feeling.

The bolt of condensed darkness hurtled towards Shai, its deadly intent clear as day. Shai’s danger senses were already on high alert, but they shot off the roof at the sight of the dark bolt.

Shai mustered the last of her essence, channelling it to her lower body and tail. She lashed out onto the ground again and burst forward in Marvel’s direction. In one lashing, she closed the distance between herself and the spider by half, evading the bolt. And with a couple more lashings, she landed right on top of the Fledgling Weaver.

However, those lashings drained her energy reserves, as a throbbing headache riddled her mind, adding to her troubles. Shai had been pushing her limits for quite a while now. Even though gaining a level or two might provide some temporary relief, Shai would need a substantial amount of rest.

"What are you doing, Snake!" Marvel’s mental waves struck Shai’s fragile mind like a piercing echo.

"You can’t leave me to its mercy," Shai barely managed to express. Her focus was on remaining coiled around the spider.

"It’s all your fault!" admonished Marvel, her overwhelming mental waves battering Shai’s mind. Marvel reached the wall, deftly dodging the black bolts shot their way by the Cursewalker. She wasted no moment admonishing Shai further and started scaling the wall, gaining an advantage over the serpentine lizard in movement.

"No, it's not!" Shai was quick to refute, though she couldn’t deny that some part of the blame fell on her as well. Ignoring the pit, the torment she had put the monster through before its transformation might have pushed it over the edge. However, she had no other choice. If she had left it alone, it would have turned into an abomination sooner or later...

Fine, fine, I was a little greedy after Grandpa gave me the quest. Grandpa had been so nice to me, of course, I would like to complete the task he gave me personally. All her justifications felt wrong. She literally bit off more than she could chew. Not that snakes chew stuff.

In no time, Marvel climbed halfway up the pit, her eight wondrous appendages working marvellously. The Cursewalker gave chase, lunging up in a horrifying leap, reaching nearly half a dozen meters. Fortunately, its weight hindered its balance, causing it to crash down into the depths of the pit with a horrifying screech.

Unrested at its prey getting away, the reptile shot those bolts of condensed darkness again. Thankfully, Marvel’s near 360-degree vision allowed her to evade them all.

Corruption might be a cheat to ascend to higher ranks, but it simply couldn’t replace genuine training. The Cursewalker’s bolts were barely skilful, about the same level as Shai when she first learned [Arcane Shot]. It might be more lethal, but it could do nothing with that terrible precision.

Interestingly enough, Shai discovered that the black bolts were not only capable of physical damage but were likely to inflict some dark afflictions on whoever they hit. Whatever the afflictions were, Shai didn’t want to find out firsthand. Her [Golden Eyes] allowed her the insight without getting hit.

Then again, the physical damage those bolts caused was already formidable enough, evidenced by the deep holes left in the stone wherever the black bolts struck. Shai didn’t know if she could survive a couple of them.

That was one nasty attack. Shai couldn’t help but feel envious. After days of tireless training, all she had managed to acquire were some foundational essence manipulation skills, while this fat Wyrm had gained such a terrifying skill simply by overeating. There was no balance in the world.

Well, it was an iron-ranked creature, even if it cheated its way into supremacy.

As they almost reached the safety of a higher spot, Shai felt weak. She wasn’t sure if it was the relief washing over her or the sheer exhaustion from being overworked. It was probably a combination of both. With the addition of the eight-legged creature, of course.

Marvel let out a weird empathic wave through their telepathic link that almost felt wrong. Even though it seemed to have no connection with human behaviour, it felt like a moan of ecstasy.

Damn eight-legged monstrosity, it was eating my emotions...

Shai set her jaw, hissing exasperatedly. Fortifying her mind, she decided she would forgive this fledgling once for giving her a lift.

Marvel looked away and moved closer to the edge to glance down into the depths of the pit first, ensuring that the menace wasn’t still on their back. She then turned her attention back to Shai, who had just slipped off her back.

"Do not try to escape," Marvel expressed in a booming mind wave, rattling Shai’s thoughts. "I have it on good authority this time. Even Serenity won’t be able to save you now."