Chapter 174: BURST!

Chapter 174: Chapter 174: BURST!

Alex’s eyes snapped open.

He stared directly into the multiple pink compound eyes of the humongous spider, its mouth already half open above him.

The sticky strands of the cocoon still clung to his limbs, but the pressure inside him had already begun to rewrite the rules of the trap.

A sweet smile spread across his face.

Mana pressure began building around his body in a controlled, rising wave that made the sticky strands beneath him vibrate and stretch.

"Hello! Mother Fucker! We finally meet face to face!"

The Curse Bloom Institution official hidden among the upper branches froze mid-motion, extraction token still in her hand. Her eyes widened behind the concealment layers.

"H-HoW?! I-Impossible!" It should not have been possible to escape.

Especially not so fast.

Considering his young age, his will should never have been strong enough to break through a mental trap of this level.

The mist was designed to hold peak Awaken beasts without fail.

A twelve-year-old Rank 1 had no business opening his eyes again.

"Then how...?" She muttered in disbelief.

The spider itself had also gone still.

This prey was not above its own rank.

Every other prey of equal or lower rank that had fallen into the web had never woken up once the mist took hold.

The black-haired child was the first to break that pattern in all the years the spider had ruled this domain.

Shock lasted only a heartbeat.

The spider’s instincts registered the insane amount of mana flooding the cocoon that still held the anomaly.

Its danger flared through every leg and sensory organ at once.

The creature decided the only safe choice was to kill the prey before the pressure finished rising.

One massive fang lifted, ready to finish the job.

It was already too late.

"You wanna play, bastard?!"

Alex grinned as an insane amount of pressure radiated outward.

The cocoon around him bulged, strands stretching and glowing under the strain until they looked ready to snap.

Then—

BURST!!!

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The explosion of pure mana tore the silk apart and slammed into the spider’s underside with the force of a collapsing building.

The creature tried to back away but had no time.

The force sent it hurtling across its own football-field-sized web, tumbling and skidding in a chaotic trail of broken strands and flying debris.

"SKREEEE-EEEE!"

TUMB-tumb-tumb-clack-

It barely managed to catch itself at the very edge of the web.

-THUD!

A small section of chitin near the front legs had cracked under the impact, leaking a thin trail of dark fluid.

The spider’s danger senses flared again the instant it stopped.

A blade appeared directly in front of one of its massive compound eyes, the tip hovering close enough to threaten a killing strike if the creature failed to react in time.

The spider was no newborn.

It had survived decades as the apex predator of this domain.

A mere Awakened-rank, ant-sized human was not going to kill it here.

One front leg rose and swatted the blade aside with enough force to send it spinning away into the mist.

The spider prepared to impale the human child who had been wielding it.

There was no one holding the weapon.

Its danger senses flared harder than before.

The spider moved on pure reflex, legs scrambling for purchase on the damaged web.

Too late.

THWACK-CRUNCH!

A sharp, focused pain shot through the rear section of its body.

A heavy kick landed with full mana enhancement behind it and launched the spider out of its carefully built domain of mist and webs, straight into the dense forest beyond.

***

In the private viewing chamber, Vespera finally let out a long breath.

A relieved expression settled over her face.

She had also been a little bit surprised that Alex had finally managed to break out of a mental trap of that strength, but more than surprise she felt pure relief that he could at least fight back now.

The tension that had been sitting between her shoulders since the feed expanded finally loosened.

"Tch... Why is he talking so crudely when almost the whole empire is watching." Alessio muttered the complaint toward Vespera, yet a small smile threatened to break through his controlled expression.

The wood of the armrest under his hand no longer creaked under pressure.

"YESSS! You all see that!" Velen rose from his seat and shouted at the top of his lungs.

Ella did not stop him this time.

She was too busy staring at the feed herself, still processing what they had just witnessed.

A few of the Abyss higher-ups exchanged glances that mixed disbelief.

Valeriana gritted her teeth the moment the boy escaped the cocoon.

The satisfaction she had been enjoying vanished in an instant.

She forced herself to calm down.

She still had plans of her own in motion, and the Third Prince still had to deal with that spider.

One failed trap did not mean the game was over.

***

Across the Human Empire the public reaction was identical.

Shock.

"He... he escaped?!"

"But he is still trapped! He is not out yet! And he is about to be attacked too!"

Voices overlapped in every viewing hall and tavern.

Many people had already written the Third Prince off.

Others refused to look away from the feed, waiting to see whether the boy would survive the next ten seconds.

Alex immediately unleashed as much mana as he could force into the cocoon that had been trying to suppress him.

The overload burst outward and sent the spider tumbling across the web field exactly as planned.

The sticky strands that had held him for so long were now nothing more than shredded silk drifting in the residual blast.

"WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" Everyone who supported the Third Prince, especially the people of Winterfang Kingdom, stood up and cheered at the top of their lungs.

Cups were slammed onto tables.

"HAHAH! Can you believe this?!" Some younger cultivators actually jumped in place.

Alex checked his gear in less than a single breath.

Viper’s Spine.

Amethyst Paradox.

Every utility tool and potion he had packed before leaving the palace.

All present and accounted for.

His eyes never left the spider.

The mist already blocked clear sight, but he knew approximately where the creature had crashed at the edge of the web.

The sound of its landing and the way the strands had shaken told him enough.

He raised Viper’s Spine.

The distance was far beyond normal extension range, so he gripped the handle, enhanced the blade and both arms with mana, and threw the weapon like a rocket straight toward the center of the landing zone.

The segmented blade cut through the air with a sharp whistle.

"Did he just throw his weapon away?!"

"Wait, he is taking another one out!"

"Is that a sickle?!"

"Idiot! Does that expensive weapon look like a sickle to you?! Hah! You and your cheap mentality!"

"It will try to deflect it, so..." Alex muttered as he enhanced his legs with mana and moved out of the spider’s direct line of sight.

He pulled Amethyst Paradox free and closed the distance from a different angle.

Under normal conditions the spider would still have tracked him, but the thrown Viper’s Spine served as the perfect distraction.

The chain-scythe felt familiar and solid in his grip.

The moment the spider swatted the flying blade away from its eyes, it noticed the human was no longer where it expected.

Already too late.

Alex held Amethyst Paradox by its short handle, flooded the weapon and his arms with every scrap of mana enhancement he could force, and rammed the chain-scythe into the underside chitin with full body weight behind the strike.

The impact jarred his shoulders, but the chitin cracked under the focused force.

Before the spider could recover, he kicked it again with enhanced force, driving it completely out of its natural habitat and into the dense forest beyond the web.

He followed immediately after, already planning the next strike.

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End of Chapter 174: BURST!

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