After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 344: Chapter 343: Demon Kings’ Chaotic Battle

The two of them lingered in the cave for a short while longer. Only when it was completely silent outside did Dong Rui whisper:

”We can go now.”

Hee Lingchuan drew his saber and severed the spiderwebs sealing the entrance with two quick slashes.

The Spider Silk that ordinary blades couldn’t handle was no match for Floating Life.

He even stirred the webs apart to prevent them from getting stuck. Then, the two of them covered themselves with a black cloth and lay prone on the Demon Puppet.

Dong Rui had already rubbed a Spider Shell and spider legs all over the cloth to mask their human scent. Now, he patted the Demon Puppet’s head. ”Go!”

Once it started moving, other creatures would only see that this spider’s back was a bit highly arched.

However, Second Madam Zhu’s Spider Guards weren’t all cast from the same mold anyway. They had some variations, so this feature wasn’t conspicuous.

The Demon Puppet carried the two of them through the maze, rushing toward the nest’s entrance much faster than human legs could run.

It hadn’t gone more than a dozen steps when it suddenly stopped. Dong Rui whispered, ”There’s movement up ahead!”

...

The yellow smoke rose into the air but didn’t trigger an alarm from the Spider Guards of the Jiana Ruins.

Before long, however, dozens of small spiders leaped out of the jungle to the west, skittering this way.

The sound of their movement was itself a high-frequency cry for help.

Unfortunately, the spiders in the Jiana Ruins didn’t react.

Their kin at the entrance of the Demon Nest, however, heard the strangeness and struggled to lift their sluggish heads to turn in that direction.

Something was charging over, making the very ground shake.

Immediately after, with a sharp screech, a dozen behemoths burst out of the trees, charging straight for the Demon Nest!

Steward Zhao hugged a large tree nearby, his face drained of all color. If any one of them crashed into him, he’d be sent to meet his maker.

They were a group of powerful wild boars, the leader towering over twenty feet tall, a sight anyone would have to look up to. When it charged, it was like a massive locomotive, but with curved tusks over ten feet long, snapping trees and demolishing buildings in its path without even trying to dodge.

The herd of wild boars trampled over the campfire, sending sparks flying with a series of CRACKLES and POPS, an astonishing display of power.

At their speed, they reached the Demon Nest in the blink of an eye and immediately began goring carts and killing spiders.

The poor spiders, still groggy from the drug, were not agile enough. The wild boars used their size advantage to bully them relentlessly; a few stomps from their large trotters were enough to make one burst open.

As for the caravan, they had scurried halfway up a slope to hide. Steward Zhao and his men could only tremble uncontrollably, while Tuu Zhongli led his subordinates on a detour, sneaking toward the Demon Nest.

Not satisfied with just trampling the entrance to Second Madam Zhu’s lair into flat ground, the dozen or so wild boars used their large tusks to fling pieces of the brightly burning firewood into the Demon Nest.

Most of the firewood fell into the Celestial Pit and was extinguished by the water, but dozens of pieces landed in the passageways.

The area was covered in fluorescent spores, which couldn’t withstand the burning firewood and quickly caught fire.

The lead wild boar then puffed out its long snout and blew downward. Its snout was like a bellows; a single puff sent a violent, foul-smelling wind WHOOSHING into the Demon Nest.

Chaos erupted above and below.

No matter how slow-witted Second Madam Zhu was, how could she not know when someone was running wild right on her doorstep?

Before long, the fire inside the cave diminished.

Inside the Demon Nest, dense spiderwebs were used as partitions at regular intervals. These webs weren’t sticky but provided excellent fire and heat insulation, superior to the gables in human architecture. Open flames could not advance past them.

Of course, the main reason the fire was extinguished so quickly was that the spiders from inside the nest had arrived and begun to spit webs to put it out.

Immediately after, a dense army of spiders surged out of the cavern to fight the wild boars.

These wild boars were, of course, also residents of the Demon Nest Swamp. The Pig Demon King leading them had always been unreasonable, charging and goring indiscriminately. It had taken several lessons from Second Madam Zhu herself, who had also eaten several of the herd’s young, for them to finally behave.

However, the last time the Emperor’s Liquid appeared, a large chunk of Pulp Paste had landed right in the wild boars’ territory. The entire drove got a taste; those with Cultivation advanced, and those without gained sentience. The Pig Demon Race’s power increased dramatically, and their confidence soared along with it.

Having endured for so long, they had finally come for revenge.

The webs of the Earth Cave Spiders were astonishingly tough. Just a dozen spiders spitting in unison could create an overwhelming net of webs that would immobilize most creatures. Some Spider Guards could also spit acid. Two unlucky wild boars were hit and instantly blinded, causing them to charge about wildly in pain.

Over a hundred years ago, General Nanke of Panlong City had led more than a thousand men to fight Second Madam Zhu and her offspring, only to be defeated and die in regret. Even with the protection of Primordial Power, they had failed, which showed just how formidable the Spider Demons were.

Moreover, these creatures fought with combined arms tactics, well-drilled and orderly under Second Madam Zhu’s training.

Although Second Madam Zhu’s family was far from its former glory, they had become a local hegemon in the Demon Nest Swamp through sheer strength.

However, the Wild Boar King was twice the size of its companions. Its power was immense. Whenever it saw a kinsman bound by spiderwebs, it would charge over, and a single shove and gore would free them.

One Force Subdues Ten Technique. Against a purely strength-based opponent like this, the Spider Demons’ abilities seemed somewhat lacking.

Just then, Second Madam Zhu finally squeezed out of the cave entrance, climbed up a large tree by the edge of the Celestial Pit, and onto the surface. She roared furiously, ”Fatty Pig, are you insane?!”

The Pig Demon King had once captured a scholar and, before eating him, received a scholarly-sounding nickname: ”Civilized King.”

It thought the nickname was great and adopted it.

But Second Madam Zhu looked down on it and always called it ”Fatty Pig.”

The Civilized King flicked its small, curly tail toward the campfire. ”Second Madam Zhu, you captured my descendants to be eaten by humans! Today, we settle both new and old scores!”

Second Madam Zhu spared one of her eyes to glance at the campfire. Sure enough, half a roasted suckling pig was still on the spit, golden-brown and glistening with oil. Tsk...

Of course, that wasn’t the point. The Civilized King never needed a reason to fight.

It pawed at the ground, lowered its head, and charged at Second Madam Zhu.

Its charge was overwhelmingly ferocious, but just as it reached Second Madam Zhu, its opponent suddenly shot into the air.

That’s right. Second Madam Zhu had shot a strand of Spider Silk at the large tree above, hoisting herself up. This was a spider’s innate skill. Despite her enormous size, she was incredibly agile, moving up and down with ease.

The Civilized King screeched to a halt. If not for its excellent traction, it would have plunged headfirst into the Celestial Pit.

Seizing the moment it paused, Second Madam Zhu, positioned directly above, plummeted down and slammed right into the Wild Boar King!

The two behemoths tumbled on the ground, shaking the earth.

The other creatures couldn’t get involved at all.

The Civilized King tried to use its size and weight to pin Second Madam Zhu to the ground, but she was agile and always managed to quickly flip on top. However, finding an opportunity to bite wasn’t easy.

Although Second Madam Zhu’s venom was potent, the Civilized King’s hide was too thick. It would take time for the spider’s mouthparts to break through that defense.

Fortunately, Second Madam Zhu wasn’t panicking in the slightest. As she rolled, she spat out Spider Silk, intending to wrap the Civilized King up layer by layer.

Her Spider Silk was the stickiest and toughest in the swamp. The Civilized King knew very well that once it was wrapped in a cocoon, death was the only outcome. Second Madam Zhu would surely inject venom into its body; that was how spiders always dealt with their prey.

So, the Civilized King used all its strength to bulge outward. Hundreds of long bristles on its body suddenly stood up as stiff as steel needles and—SWISH—shot out.

The scene was like an enlarged version of a Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needle being fired. After all, the boar’s bristles were over a foot long when stiff. With Second Madam Zhu pressing down on it, how could she possibly dodge at such close range?

She let out a long HISS. Her body was covered in bristles, as if she had been riddled with Steel Nails. Several of her smaller legs were even pierced through.

The feeling was certainly unpleasant.

Taking advantage of Second Madam Zhu’s momentary lapse, the Civilized King contracted violently. Its body suddenly shrank by a full circle, and it squeezed itself out of the barely-formed Spider Silk cocoon!

Not only were the other spiders shocked, but Second Madam Zhu was also astonished. She had always been very confident in her webs.

But upon closer inspection, the Civilized King had actually left its outer shell behind in the web cocoon.

It had spent countless years rolling in the swamp’s mire, long ago forming a thick shell of mud all over its body. Empowered by a Demon Technique, this shell had become armor harder than Vajra Rock.

No matter how strong Second Madam Zhu’s Spider Silk was, it had stuck to this mud shell. By shedding the shell, the Civilized King had regained its freedom.

In their previous few fights, it had never used this move. It was saving it for a critical moment.

However, it had now become a ”naked” pig and would face the predicament of greatly reduced defense in the ensuing battle.

In terms of combat power, the Civilized King knew it was no match for Second Madam Zhu, so it followed up with an ear-shattering roar that meant:

’Help me, you bastards!’

RUSTLE! From the jungle behind, a Giant Python shot out from the dark shadows of the trees and bit down on Second Madam Zhu!

It had been hidden so well that even the two fighting Demon Beasts hadn’t noticed it. The attack was as fast as lightning. All the creatures saw was a flash of darkness, and the Giant Python, Lord Boshan, had joined the battle.

Two Giant Wild Boars in its way were even sent flying by its charge.

Second Madam Zhu didn’t even have time to react before it bit into her abdomen. Lord Boshan had deliberately attacked from the rear to avoid her sharp mouthparts.

Having landed a successful blow, Lord Boshan immediately began to coil itself, aiming to constrict Second Madam Zhu’s abdomen and several of her legs to immobilize her.

At the same time, the Civilized King rallied, charging over to bite Second Madam Zhu’s head while goring her body with its pair of scimitar-like tusks. Unlike ordinary boar tusks, the Civilized King had long since sharpened their tips; a single thrust created a large, bloody hole.

The two behemoths coordinated their attacks, seeming to force Second Madam Zhu into a desperate situation in an instant.

The underlings brought by the three sides weren’t idle either.

This was Second Madam Zhu’s territory, so the spiders were the most numerous. Seeing their matriarch in trouble, the spider army immediately launched an attack on the two Demon Kings. From his spot on the hillside, Steward Zhao could see them swarming densely over Lord Boshan and the Civilized King, completely obscuring their original colors.

The Spider Demons’ mouthparts weren’t as tough as their matriarch’s, but there were too many of them. Hundreds piercing its flesh and injecting venom at once was hard to endure. Lord Boshan was better off, its body covered in hard scales that were difficult to breach. But the Civilized King had just shed its mud armor, and its defenses were greatly reduced. Several Spider Guards over a hundred years old were able to pierce its hide, immediately making the Civilized King squeal and grunt in pain.