The Last Paragon in the Apocalypse

When Rory appeared on the other side of the portal, she found herself in an eerie forest. At first glance, she saw thousands of spider webs, tangled and woven into all kinds of contraptions.

The branches had been joined by thick red-colored webs, each lethal enough to cut off the limbs of a True Immortal.

The moment she sensed danger in the air, she called out to the one person she needed, ”Klaus.”

Unfortunately, no response came. Turning, she saw she was alone. Klaus wasn’t there, and neither were the three other members of her team, Slate, Omen, and Echo.

She became stunned for a moment, but a thunderous explosion coming from the east of her location prompted her to make a move, so she did. She tapped into her space law and shortened the distance between her and the explosion.

She took one step and found herself only 1 km away from the explosion.

’Damn, I forgot I am now a True Immortal.’

The suppression of the Nest pushed her cultivation down to the True Immortal stage, so when she used the space law, it had a much steeper toll on her body than if she were still at her Immortal Lord strength.

Even so, she relaxed her nerves and focused on the most important issues at hand first. Klaus was nowhere to be found, but she heard an explosion and came to observe.

There, in the distance, her gaze landed on a 300-meter-tall spider, its body encased in a metallic carapace, its legs forged from metal and venomous saliva trickling down, burning the ground.

It had nine enormous heads, each lined with rows of different-colored eyes.

”Nine-Headed Demon Spider”

Rory recognized it immediately. She had fought one before; however, not one so enormous and heavily protected like this.

Chilling enough, the aura of the spider wasn’t that of a True Immortal. In fact, upon closer inspection, she felt the danger seep into her bones.

”An Immortal Lord...but how?”

The Nest was supposed to suppress everyone’s cultivation to the Peak of the True Immortal stage. However, the demon spider was an Immortal Lord.

As someone who, mentally, was still an Immortal Lord, she knew they were in danger. Strangely, the danger wasn’t because the spider was built from metal or that it was an Immortal Lord.

The danger came from something else, something she couldn’t quite place her finger on. The spider demon was more than it appeared to be.

The urge to turn and run filled her heart, but she brushed it off and chose to observe more critically...

When she narrowed her gaze at the three people running from this monstrosity, she had a change of mind. Her silver bow appeared in her firm grip, and an arrow was let loose the next second.

It streaked through the air with deadly speed, aimed at one of the nine heads.

Far in the distance, Omen brandished his sword, letting one swing after another, aiming all attacks at one of the spider’s fourteen legs. Each sword arc he released, however, bounced off the leg.

It was a bit disheartening, considering the kind of sound each attack makes when it lands on the spider’s leg.

CLING

It was as if metal was being used to hit metal, only that the metal being used to hit the other was the one being dented.

’Damn it,’

Omen rolled to the side, narrowly evading the piercing attack of the spider. But he was far from danger. Just as he landed on his side, another leg was thrust forward.

Thankfully, Echo was there. She waved her staff, using spatial law to expand the distance between Omen and the spider.

This gave Omen the chance to escape unscathed.

Slate moved like the wind, arriving beneath the colossal body of the spider. Then, brandishing his spear, he attacked the joints on its belly, aiming to open it wide.

Unfortunately, his attack only produced metallic sounds and sparks of light as it scraped across the spider’s belly.

He cursed under his breath and opened the void, jumping into it. The next second, he appeared beside Echo.

”Damn it... Where is the Renegade Hunter and the Princess?”

Just when he asked that question, a silver arrow streaked past them and embedded itself into one of the numerous eyes on the spider. The impact threw one of its heads back, sending green blood into the air.

When it poured onto the ground, the soil started to melt, smoke and poison rising from it.

Omen, Slate, and Echo turned in the direction the arrow came from. There, up in the air, their eyes landed on Rory, now clad in silver armor, strips of seven gold ropes of fabric bellowing behind her like a cape.

Atop her head, a golden halo hovered, releasing a potent energy that instantly washed over all three of them.

They felt energized.

”Since when did the Princess become an Angel?” Echo muttered, her eyes sparkling like a fanatic seeing their idol up close for the first time.

Rory fired a second arrow, then a third, fourth, and fifth.

By then, she had moved much closer to her teammates.

”Way to start the day, huh?” she smiled and fired another arrow before finally landing on the ground. The spider was pushed back, six of its eyes blinded, silver arrows sticking out from them.

This bought them a few seconds to strategize.

”Where is Klaus...” she asked, but the three teammates looked at her weirdly.

”We thought he was with you.”

”He is not. I appeared in a forest 10 km in that direction alone. A few seconds later, I heard the explosion and rushed over, hoping to find him here.”

The three teammates turned and looked at each other. ”He is not, and well, we arrived five minutes ago, landing headfirst in this dump. Safe to say this dump is not exactly welcoming.”

The spider let out a hissing sound, and the air pressure began to change at once. Rory’s eyes narrowed, sensing the danger more clearly.

In fact, the other three teammates did the same, and soon they discovered the source of that danger. When they did, however, they all broke into a cold sweat.

”It will be best if we retreat as fast as we can,” Rory said, about to use space magic to pull them away, when a thin line of web encircled them, forming a 3 km-wide barrier.

She immediately knew running away was out of the equation. That was because she felt like the thin spiderweb wasn’t an ordinary web. In fact, it was a domain of the spider-demon that had been manifested and made tangible.

This could also mean the spider was halfway to the demigod stage. It was only at the demigod stage that one could manifest their domain into reality, making it tangible and allowing it to exert stronger will on the world.

’Wherever you are, Klaus, please don’t come here.’ Rory prayed inwardly before she flew back into the air. The next second, her body ignited into silver flames, and the strips of rope behind her flared.

They extended into razor-sharp, alien-like ropes, each dancing in the air like they had minds of their own.

”That is a Calamity Beast, meaning our Immortal Rings are useless against it. Slate, you and Omen should keep it busy. Echo, find a way to get us out of here. I will find a way to put it down or die trying,”

She regarded the towering spider and smiled. ”Maybe not dying, since I have plans after this expedition.”

The sky ignited, and a powerful arrow tore through the air.