Chapter 127: Wrong Direction (50 Golden Tickets Bonus - )

Chapter 127: Wrong Direction (50 Golden Tickets Bonus Chapter)

Cassian stood motionless in the center of the web.

?Razor-sharp silk stretched across the entire chamber, intersecting at countless angles.

Some strands hung loosely from the ceiling, while others pulled taut against the walls and floor. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

What appeared chaotic at first glance was, upon closer inspection, an intricate, lethal trap designed to restrict movement from every direction.

?A single careless step would send the razor-thin filaments slicing through flesh and bone.

?Cassian activated [Soul Gaze].

?The ethereal strands sharpened instantly within his field of vision.

?Fine fluctuations of silver mana vibrated along their surfaces. Each thread acted as a sensory tripwire capable of detecting minute disturbances in its immediate radius.

Even the subtlest displacement of air triggered micro-vibrations across the web, allowing the Arachnid to track movement without relying on sight.

’?So that’s how it works.’

?Cassian’s gaze swept across the room, calculating the density and distribution of the threads.

?The silk was not merely sharp, it was hyper-sensitive.

?Any attempt to rush the Arachnid would spark an immediate chain reaction, causing the surrounding web to contract and converge on his location.

Even if he managed to dodge the initial sweep, the dense matrix left almost no safe foothold.

?He exhaled slowly.

’?[Absence]won’t work here either.’

?The skill concealed his presence, but these threads did not rely on detecting a mana signature alone.

Their sensitivity to physical displacement meant that hiding his presence would not prevent them from registering his physical motion.

?The moment he brushed against a single strand, his position would be exposed.

?And the entire domain would collapse on him at once.

?’Which leaves only one option.’

?Cassian shifted his gaze from the Arachnid to the colossal machine humming behind it.

?The Worldbreaker Core.

?He could not simply obliterate the room with brute force. The core was a forbidden planetary weapon whose delicate, runaway reaction could detonate if struck by collateral force.

?That ruled out wide-area attacks.

?His eyes narrowed slightly.

?’A controlled Aura Slash should do it.’

?[Aura Slash] was a technique he had forged by combining [Aura Blade] with [Slash], concentrating immense destructive force into a single, highly condensed arc of cutting energy.

Its lethal efficiency relied not on wild power, but on absolute spatial precision.

?Against an ordinary opponent in an open field, he could simply overpower their defenses with raw output.

?Here, surgical control was mandatory.

?He needed to sever the web instantly without letting the residue of his strike touch the Worldbreaker Core.

Every subtle shift in vector and energy density had to be executed with zero margin for error.

?A single miscalculation would transform a simple battle into a planetary execution.

?Cassian continued reading the weave of the web, mentally tracing the ideal trajectories for his strike.

?To an outsider, he appeared entirely frozen in hesitation.

?Across the chamber, the Arachnid watched him with growing delight.

?It had initially feared that its intruder possessed some overwhelming counter-ability, but seeing Cassian stand pinned and silent within its [Silk Dominion] restored its arrogance.

?Its mandibles twitched upward into a sneer.

?"What happened to all that bravado?"

?The creature spread its arms wide, gesturing to the gleaming web surrounding them.

?"Weren’t you going to exterminate me? Where did all that confidence go?"

?It let out a clicking chuckle, its eight black eyes gleaming with contempt.

?"Or have you finally realized that a single step will mince you into dog food?"

?Cassian did not answer, his eyes still mapping the silver grid.

?To the Arachnid, that silence was confirmation of sheer terror.

?"What’s wrong? Afraid to move?"

?The creature’s tone turned vicious.

?"If you won’t step into my trap, I’ll just drag you through it!"

?It snapped both hands upward.

?The silver web reacted instantly.

?Vrrrrrrrr!

?A harsh metallic vibration hummed through the concrete as the entire network surged to life. Countless strands snapped taut, their razor-thin edges catching the flashing red alarm lights as they shifted in unison.

?Threads peeled away from the walls and dropped from the ceiling, rapidly contracting the maze around Cassian.

The gaps closed at frightening speed, transforming the room into a closing iron maiden of silver blades.

?The Arachnid clenched its clawed fingers tightly.

?The entire [Silk Dominion] shuddered.

?With a cruel, jagged smile stretching across its mandibles, it drove the converging web straight toward Cassian.

The silver threads crept closer.

?Cassian stood completely still as the razor-sharp strands converged on his position, their edges gleaming beneath the flashing red lights.

Some descended from the ceiling, others swept across the floor, and several approached from behind, steadily closing every possible avenue of escape.

?Yet Cassian remained unmoved.

?His mind was entirely focused on a single problem: Aura Slash.

?The skill had been more than useful ever since he created it, but understanding how to reproduce its underlying principles was proving far more difficult than he had anticipated.

?Fortunately, [Burst] was still running.

?As long as he continued supplying mana, the skill would remain active. It didn’t matter how long he maintained it or how much mana it consumed, his reserves were inexhaustible.

?The silver threads appeared to crawl through the air, giving him more than enough time to observe their movements and examine the technique he intended to use against them.

?Creating a skill in the Lord’s Domain was no simple feat.

?Learning to use a summon’s existing skills was difficult enough. Each ability possessed its own principles, activation requirements, and intricacies. Even when a Lord could access a summon’s skills, mastering them required considerable practice.

?Creating an entirely new skill, however, was a feat that bordered on the herculean.

?Most Lords spent years refining their combat techniques, and even then, they rarely managed to create something genuinely original.

Developing a new skill required more than sufficient mana or an understanding of existing abilities, it demanded deep insight into the fundamental principles that governed the technique.

?Unfortunately, Cassian had no clear idea how he had created [Aura Slash] in the first place.

?He remembered the circumstances vividly. His first Champion had been beaten to the brink. Even for an Undead, the injuries had been severe enough to leave little room for error.

Watching Nyxara suffer had triggered something within him, and in the heat of that moment, he had combined [Aura Blade] with [Slash] to produce an entirely new skill.

?But that situation had been different. His emotions had been running high, his instincts had taken over, and the sheer pressure had forced him to act without hesitation.

?Now, none of those factors existed.

?His heart beat steadily. His pulse remained normal. His thoughts were clear, free from anger or desperation.

?There was only Cassian, the approaching Arachnid, and the countless threads steadily closing around him.

’?How exactly did I do it last time?’

?He examined the memory, searching for anything he might have overlooked. He recalled the sensation of mana flowing through his body, the instinctive way he had merged the two techniques, and the precise instant their principles had aligned.

?Yet the more he tried to force the memory into an understandable framework, the less useful it became. He was attempting to reproduce an outcome without fully grasping the underlying process.

’?No. I’m approaching this from the wrong direction.’

?Cassian’s gaze shifted toward the incoming silk.