Black Phoenix Heir

Chapter 108: Chapter 108 — The Cyclops Spiders

Chapter 108 — The Cyclops Spiders

Victor and Lyra stood ready.

The glowing dagger in Victor’s hand continued to pulse, warning him of danger somewhere within the chamber.

Now that they had a chance to properly look around, Victor realized this chamber was different from the burial hall they had just passed through.

It was smaller, though it was still enormous.

Hundreds of coffins were scattered throughout the room.

But these weren’t the stone coffins from the previous chamber.

These were different.

Each one was enclosed in some kind of metallic casing.

Victor couldn’t identify the material.

It had a strange, almost silver-blue appearance. Smooth and pristine despite the thousands of years that had passed. The metal reflected what little light filled the chamber, giving the room an almost unnatural beauty.

The entire chamber appeared to have been constructed from the same material.

That explained something.

The collapse behind them had completely destroyed the passage they had come through, yet it hadn’t continued into this chamber.

The metal structure had held.

Victor couldn’t help but be impressed.

Samal really hadn’t spared anything when it came to his fallen brethren.

Then he noticed something strange.

The coffin lids were open.

Most of them had been pushed aside just enough to leave a gap.

Victor’s brow furrowed.

Why?

He had understood the broken coffins in the first burial hall.

Time had destroyed them.

But these...

They looked as though someone had deliberately opened them.

Victor didn’t have time to think about it.

A sound came from one of the coffins.

Click.

Victor’s head snapped toward it.

Then another.

Click.

Click.

Click.

The sounds began spreading throughout the chamber.

Victor tightened his grip on the dagger.

Something moved inside one of the open coffins.

A strange creature crawled out.

It stood roughly three feet tall and was about two feet wide. Four long, spider-like legs supported its narrow body, each covered in dark chitin. Its torso was thin and insect-like, protected by an exoskeleton that looked surprisingly durable.

One enormous eye sat in the center of its face.

Two thin antennae extended from the top of its head.

Its mouth opened.

Rows of jagged teeth filled it.

Victor stared.

”What the hell...”

Another creature crawled from a nearby coffin.

One after another, the creatures emerged from the open coffins.

Dozens.

Victor scanned the chamber.

More were still crawling out.

His mind searched through everything he had learned in the Library.

Nothing.

He had never seen anything like them.

One of the creatures skittered across the floor.

Victor couldn’t help but think of a spider.

Except spiders didn’t usually have one eye.

”Four-legged Cyclops Spider,” Victor muttered.

It was the best name he could come up with.

The strange creatures spread throughout the chamber, their single eyes fixed on the two intruders.

Victor felt the instinctive urge to panic.

He always had a deep fear of spiders.

Then he suppressed it.

He looked at Lyra.

She looked back.

For once, there was no irritation in her eyes.

They didn’t need to speak.

They had to work together.

Victor vanished.

Flash Step.

He reappeared in front of the nearest Cyclops Spider, his dagger already moving.

The blade plunged straight into its single eye.

The creature collapsed.

Two more lunged at him from either side.

Victor twisted away from one and raised his dagger to deflect the other.

Before he could counter, Lyra emerged from his shadow.

Her twin blades flashed.

Two clean strikes.

Both creatures fell.

Victor didn’t even turn.

Flash Step.

He vanished again.

Five Cyclops Spiders were grouped together ahead of him.

Victor began charging his Monkey Fist.

Spiritual Energy gathered around his arm.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Then—

Flash Step.

Victor appeared directly in the center of the group.

His fist slammed forward.

BOOM!

The impact erupted through the creatures.

Three were torn apart instantly.

A fourth was thrown backward.

Victor turned with the motion and kicked it away.

The fifth opened its mouth and lunged.

A shadow emerged beneath Victor.

Lyra appeared beside him.

Her twin blades crossed.

Two clean arcs flashed through the air.

The remaining spider collapsed.

Victor glanced at her.

Perfect timing.

He hadn’t even needed to ask.

More Cyclops Spiders rushed toward them.

Then Victor noticed something.

Shadowy energy was gathering around Lyra.

Darkness wrapped around her body before spiraling outward into a perfectly circular sphere.

A dark vortex.

It looked almost like a miniature tornado compressed into a ball.

Victor’s eyes widened.

Lyra raised one hand.

”Shadow Sphere.”

The sphere erupted.

Shadow energy expanded around the surrounding Cyclops Spiders.

Victor stood directly beside her.

Yet the attack didn’t touch him.

The darkness curved around his body as though he wasn’t there.

The creatures weren’t so lucky.

Five Cyclops Spiders were caught within the sphere.

Their bodies were violently shredded by the swirling darkness before disappearing beneath the storm of shadow energy.

Victor stared.

Then he looked at Lyra.

I’m really glad she can control that.

If the attack could affect him, there probably wouldn’t have been enough left to bury.

The Shadow Sphere vanished.

Lyra lowered her hand.

Victor smiled.

”That’s useful.”

Lyra ignored him.

More creatures crawled from the open coffins.

Victor’s gaze swept across the chamber.

An idea formed.

He suddenly disappeared.

Flash Step.

Victor reappeared behind a group of Cyclops Spiders.

Roughly twelve of them were clustered together.

Before they could react, Victor struck the nearest one, forcing the group to shift toward him.

Then he vanished again.

Flash Step.

He appeared on the opposite side.

The spiders turned toward him.

Victor attacked another, forcing them closer together.

Then—

Flash Step.

He appeared on the other side once more.

The creatures followed.

Victor continued moving around them, striking only when necessary and using his movements to funnel them toward the center.

Step.

Flash Step.

Strike.

The group grew tighter with every movement.

Within moments, roughly twelve or thirteen Cyclops Spiders were packed into a space only four or five feet across.

Victor stopped several feet away.

Then he looked at Lyra.

Their eyes met.

Lyra immediately understood.

Her expression changed slightly.

This human is absolutely crazy.

Victor vanished.

Flash Step.

He appeared directly in the middle of the group.

The Cyclops Spiders barely had time to react.

Lyra vanished at the same instant.

A shadow appeared behind Victor.

She emerged directly above him.

”Shadow Sphere.”

The dark vortex erupted.

Shadow energy swallowed the entire group.

The Cyclops Spiders didn’t even have time to attack.

Twelve.

Then thirteen.

Gone.

The Shadow Sphere vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Victor stood in the center of the devastation.

For a moment, he simply stared at the empty space around him.

Each of those creatures had been at least Rank 9, with some likely reaching Rank 10.

Yet Lyra had just obliterated more than a dozen of them in an instant.

Victor couldn’t help but smile.

That was one hell of an ability.

Lyra landed beside him and lowered her hand.

Victor glanced at her.

Lyra gave him an unimpressed look.

They both turned toward the rest of the chamber.

There were still a few dozen Cyclops Spiders remaining.

The creatures crawled across the metallic floor, their single eyes fixed on the two of them.

Victor tightened his grip on his dagger.

Lyra raised her twin blades.

They had dealt with the first half easily enough.

But there were still plenty left.