Su Li stared at the corpse of the mantis shrimp, suddenly noticing its right claw withering and shrinking, soon falling off entirely.
The detached right claw shrank into a white ball of light, which shot straight toward Gong Xiao’s right hand, merging into it and vanishing.
“That woman’s luck isn’t bad,” Su Li said with some envy. The mantis shrimp was an elite-class monster. Whenever an elite monster was killed, there was a certain chance of acquiring its special ability. The mantis shrimp’s special ability was “Mantis Fist.” It seemed Gong Xiao had obtained it now.
Ding Longyun had also seen it, his face full of envy as he asked, “Gong Xiao, what ability is that?”
Gong Xiao’s eyes sparkled as she sensed the new ability in her right hand, digesting and absorbing it. “It’s called Mantis Fist. The name’s a bit ugly, but the power…”
She paused, then suddenly switched the baseball bat to her left hand, clenched her right hand into a fist, and punched out.
In that instant, Su Li saw fist shadows forming around the fist she had thrown.
Fist shadows from a punch—how fast was that?
“Mantis Fist can deliver six punches in an instant, but it consumes some stamina…” Gong Xiao stopped, shaking her right arm. “Maybe my right arm’s enhancement isn’t keeping up. After those six quick punches, it’s now sore and numb.”
Ding Longyun chuckled, “You’ve just gained a new ability, and you’re still not satisfied? Complaining like this—what does that leave for us?”
Hearing this, Gong Xiao couldn’t help but laugh and stuck out her tongue, showing a rare, slightly embarrassed playful expression. She suddenly looked at Su Li and said, “Did I just steal that from you…”
Before she could finish, she noticed Su Li’s expression change. He lunged forward and grabbed her.
Caught off guard, Gong Xiao was startled as Su Li pulled her into his chest. She was about to resist when she realized he was yanking her behind him. Looking up, she saw a giant spider standing right where she had been.
If Su Li hadn’t pulled her away, she would have been pinned under that massive spider.
Drawing a sharp breath, Gong Xiao stopped struggling, a chill running through her.
She had never seen a spider this huge.
It resembled a sea spider in appearance, covered in black-and-white stripes, but it was enormous. Its eight legs stretched out, each over four meters long, standing three meters tall and over five meters in length. Crouched there, it looked like a small house.
The most eerie and terrifying part of this giant spider was its head, which resembled a human face, with faintly visible features. A strange, indescribable sense of ugliness and horror welled up from within her.
“What is this—” Gong Xiao finally couldn’t help but scream.
Standing in front of her, Su Li’s face showed a rare look of seriousness.
From awakening his talent to leveling up, the extra enhancement opportunity had given Su Li four muscle upgrades, granting him a monstrous strength of 1,700 jin. He had never been more confident, dismissing the swarms of sea spiders and even the level-three elite mantis shrimp. But this colossal spider before him pressed down on him with a deep, visceral pressure.
Because he knew what this giant spider was.
The leader of the sea spider clan, the Spider Queen. Legend said she only appeared when the sea spider clan faced a crisis threatening their survival. A leader-class monster. Why was she showing up now?
This was something Su Li had never anticipated.
A vertical slit-like mark appeared between his brows, and information flooded his mind.
“Name: Spider Queen. Level: 4. Leader-class Spirit Source Beast. With swift movement speed, formidable strength, sharp claws, and a hard shell, it is nearly perfect—one of the most powerful level-four Spirit Source Beasts. It can only be killed by striking its head. Defeating the Spider Queen guarantees the special ability ‘Spider Walk.’”
The Spider Queen, a level-four leader monster, was far more terrifying than elite beasts, even hailed as one of the strongest level-four beasts. Its only weakness was its human-like head.
Su Li took a deep breath. This was the third leader-class monster he had encountered. The first was the One-Eyed Frog King, low-level at two, but not weak—quite formidable. The second was the unknown-level Nightmare Beast, which he couldn’t hope to match even now with his doubled strength. And the third was this Spider Queen.
“This is the Spider Queen, a level-four leader monster. Everyone, be extremely careful—” Su Li shouted a warning to the other three as the Spider Queen launched its attack.
As the “Peeking Rune” had indicated, despite its house-sized bulk, the Spider Queen moved with incredible speed. Its eight long legs pushed off, skimming the ground as it lunged at Su Li and Gong Xiao behind him.
Gong Xiao scrambled to dodge, but Su Li stood his ground. His focus locked onto the Spider Queen, he let out a low shout, gripping his cleaver with both hands, and swung it at the approaching beast.
His timing was precise. The Spider Queen’s movement was eerily fast, but its attack speed wasn’t as exaggerated—otherwise, this fight would be hopeless.
The Spider Queen attacked by raising its two front legs, their tips like claws or spears, stabbing at Su Li like twin javelins.
Su Li’s blade struck those stabbing legs squarely. Even with his strength, he couldn’t sever them. Sparks flew, and a metallic clang rang out.
“So hard—” Su Li felt his arms go numb, his stance unsteady as he staggered back.
The Spider Queen’s strength was overwhelming.
Though his strike hadn’t wounded the Spider Queen, Su Li gained something: up close, he noticed the joints of its long legs were made of sinew. While the rest of its body was protected by a hard, impenetrable shell, these joints were not. If he could hit the sinew at the joints, he could sever them, much like disabling the hard-shelled Tyrant Crab’s mobility. After that, killing it would be much easier.
Its fatal weak point was its head, but hitting that was far too difficult.
As Su Li blocked the Spider Queen’s attack, Ding Longyun crept up from behind. Killing such a large monster not only yielded Spirit Source but, most importantly, offered a chance at a special ability—and that was the real prize.