170 Chapter 168 - Predator and Prey

"First!" Ao Wen snapped, flicking her left hand repeatedly to unleash a storm of embers burning away the threads around the spider and alleviating the darkness that pressed in from the walls. 

Tang Jin didn't waste the opportunity he'd been given. "Mine," he shouted, leaping forward in a blaze of red-gold energy. His sword glowed like a beacon in the dark as he fed his strength into the 'Edge of Light' technique he'd acquired from the Holy Light Abode. The technique wasn't a perfect match for him, his aura was too savage for the detached holiness the technique called for, but against such a pure creature of darkness, even his savage heart could call forth a radiance that pushed back the dark. 

The Dark Weaver Spider flinched backward from Tang Jin's charge, lifting one leg to block the young man's glowing blade with a saber-like claw with the opposite front leg swept toward him like a scythe of doom. Tang Jin's heart pounded, his blood roiling with the thrill of the hunt as he struck with his gleaming sword, shearing cleanly through the spider's leg and pivoting to protect himself against the second claw of the monstrous spider. If he was faster, there was no doubt that enough power remained in his blade to sever another limb, but against the attack from his offside, he just wasn't fast enough. 

Desperately, Tang Jin blocked the attack with the only thing available, the torch Ao Wen had fashioned for burning webs. Against the sharp claw of the spider, the simple torch did little more than deflect the claw as it cut the torch in two sending the burning head of the torch to roll on the ground while the claw continued forward to cut deeply into Tang Jin's left shoulder! Hot blood flowed from the wound, threatening to overwhelm Tang Jin's mind with bloody rage. Red-gold claws formed around his hands, but he forced the rage back, clearing his mind as he leaped back from the attacking spider. "Cover!" Tang Jin called out to Ao Wen. 

"Mine," she replied instantly, letting her fan fall to the floor as she stepped in with both hands on Serpent Slayer. The confined space of the tunnel limited the number of powerful attacks she'd be able to unleash, making Rending Pincer all but impossible to accomplish. Instead, she drove forward with a Heart Piercing Sting aimed directly at the beast's double row of eyes! It wasn't her best execution of the technique, far from it as she didn't intend for it to succeed in the first place. Right now, all she wanted to do was drive the beast back enough to give Tang Jin a moment to recover and like most living things, when presented with a furious thrust at its face, the spider retreated several steps. 

"Wen, knock it up!" Feng Xi called. The Dark Weaver Spider's hardest armor covered the top of its body and its forward legs. Outside of a lucky shot at an eye, she had little chance to deal real damage to the creature. The underside of the creature, however, exposed several weaker points between the segments of its body. With Ao Wen's tremendous strength, Feng Xi hoped that she could create an opportunity to drive home a vital shot. 

"Can't," Ao Wen replied, flowing from her Heart Piercing Sting into a series of deflections as the spider thrashed at her with a saber-like claw. While she had the strength to do what Feng Xi wanted, she didn't have the space to leverage it! "Jin, disarm!" Ao Wen called, falling back to give Tang Jin an opening to bring his glowing sword to bear against the monstrous beast. The spider, however, refused to let her go, sweeping Ao Wen's legs out from under her with the back of its clawed leg!

Ao Wen hit the ground hard as the Dark Weaver Spider dove forward, its eight eyes filling her vision with an expanding darkness that enveloped her sight, extinguished her flame, and left her alone in a void of absolute darkness. For a moment, she couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't think enough to drag her saber between herself and the terrifying eyes!

"WEN!" Zhang Bai shouted, hurling a formation flag next to her and extending the power of his barrier to cover his fallen friend. Jade green energy flared as the spider's fangs crashed against Zhang Bai's ward. Blood spilled from his nose and eyes as he allowed the beast's savage attack to spill its force back on him rather than allowing the barrier to crack as it covered Ao Wen. 

"AAAAARRRRGGG!!!" Tang Jin let loose a roar of fury, his sword shining brighter as he pounced on the Dark Weaver Spider, faithfully following Ao Wen's last command to sever a second leg, this one much closer to the beast's body than before! Rage warred with reason, his heart thirsting for the blood of the beast that dared harm his friend. In this moment, more than any other, he couldn't give in to his bloodlust! Reaching down before the beast could recover, he scooped up Ao Wen in his left arm and rushed back to Zhang Bai and the safety of his ward. 

"Mine," Feng Xi whispered, the entire world having gone quiet, leaving her alone in the midst of the battle with the beast that dared to hurt Ao Wen. Nothing disturbed her, nothing disturbed her aim, and nothing disturbed the smooth release of her arrow. It was as though the monster had become a target at the far end of the archery range and no matter how much it jerked or thrashed about, nothing could stop her from hitting her target. 

Feng Xi had already knocked a second arrow by the time the first one sank all the way to its fletching into one of the spider's eyes. A moment later, a second arrow arrived, piercing the eye directly opposite the first one. Black and green fluids flowed down the hideous face of the beast as it twitched and shuddered before collapsing to the floor of the mine in a heap. Suddenly, the world rushed back in around her, the light from Tang Jin's fallen torch casting flickering shadows on the dark walls and her companions behind her.

"Wen," Zhang Bai called, lightly slapping Ao Wen's cheek. "Wen!"