Chapter 28: Nightshade Spider (Please keep reading, add to favorites, and recommend!)

Chapter 28

After separating from the main group, Lynn, Colin, and Sonia proceeded along the Emerald Island Great Forest.

They were surrounded by dense, towering trees with interlocking canopies that almost completely obscured the sky and sunlight. Even during the day, a pervasive gloom lingered deep within the forest.

During their trek, Lynn suddenly came to a halt. His gaze swept across the surroundings as he was suddenly reminded of the assessment conditions when he first entered the Crucible.

"Wait a moment."

Lynn turned to Colin and Sonia.

Then, Lynn picked up some wood, leaves, and soil from the ground, quickly mixed them together, and rubbed the mixture onto his robes.

Seeing this action, Colin and Sonia immediately understood his intention.

This was precisely the zero-circle spell "Breath Concealment," which was attached to the Wizard Apprentice stage in the *Basic Meditation Method*.

"How cautious..."

Watching Lynn's actions, Colin marveled inwardly, not expecting his junior fellow apprentice to be so careful.

However, Sonia couldn't help but roll her eyes and said, "Do you think everyone has survival skills as strong as yours? Unless a formal Wizard intervenes, who could possibly stop you?"

Not to be outdone, Sonia picked up some soil, leaves, and twigs from the ground and began rubbing them onto her own robes.

"Although we don't have any special means to mask our aura, 'Breath Concealment' is better than nothing..." Sonia said calmly.

Seeing that both of them had started taking action, Colin could only follow suit helplessly.

He gently stroked his expensive magic robe, sighed, and muttered under his breath, "Poor robe... sigh, it cost me so many points. That merchant clearly said it couldn't be washed with water and could only be wiped with special liquids... and now look at it."

While complaining, Colin smeared the mud onto his robe. Although the robe had excellent dust-proofing properties, it was clearly only designed to repel dust, not to handle a master "actively applying mud" to it.

After a brief adjustment, the three set off again. However, by now, their clothes were filthy, making them look like exiled apprentices rather than wizard students.

The Emerald Island Great Forest was vast. Since the three had separated from the main group, they had been walking for half a day without seeing a single soul.

Despite the apparent emptiness, their journey was not as peaceful as it seemed. The forest was inhabited by all sorts of magical beasts of various species. There were not only giant beasts but also many small ones, such as snakes, bees, and spiders.

Along the way, the three had spent considerable effort just dealing with small magical beasts like snakes and spiders.

"Watch out! Those are Nightshade Spiders! There's a massive number of them—at least a hundred! Don't attack them directly! Use defensive magic!"

Sonia, walking at the front, suddenly changed expression.

She stopped abruptly and pointed to a spot a few meters ahead, where black and yellow spiders were crawling in dense clusters. They were no ordinary spiders; they were incredibly fast and lunged toward the trio almost instantly.

Sonia began casting without hesitation. Her small mouth rapidly spat out incantations, and a magic sigil condensed in front of her. A few seconds later, a transparent barrier resembling a water bubble formed around her, enveloping her completely.

Seeing this, Colin immediately pressed a button on his robe. The garment instantly expanded, wrapping him tightly from head to toe, airtight and heavily defended.

Lynn silently activated the Flower Language Heart hanging around his neck. As his mental strength flowed out, flowers instantly bloomed from the necklace, spreading into vines that tightly covered him.

The Nightshade Spiders surged forward like a tide, rapidly crawling toward the three. Sonia's bubble shield encased her tightly; the spiders crawled onto her barrier but failed to break through. They bypassed the bubble and continued crawling forward, ultimately failing to harm her.

Lynn and Colin also successfully avoided the spider attacks through their respective protective methods. It wasn't until the Nightshade Spiders gradually moved away that the three relaxed their guard.

"Alright."

Sonia finally breathed a sigh of relief and ended her defensive magic.

"Nightshade Spiders... could they be related to the Nightshade Bunker?"

Lynn frowned. He had previously learned that their mission was to oppose the allied forces of the Bitter Cult and the Nightshade Bunker, and the name of this spider clearly made him think of the bunker.

"That's right," Sonia nodded, explaining concisely. "Nightshade Spiders are low-level magical beasts bred by the Nightshade Bunker. In terms of pure damage, they are no different from ordinary spiders."

She paused before continuing, "But once a Nightshade Spider actively bites someone, or upon its death, it releases a special intoxicating fragrance from its body. This scent attracts nearby people from the Nightshade Bunker. Although they seem harmless, once one dies, a swarm of Nightshade Spiders will fall with it, and the concentration of the fragrance will rise sharply, enough to attract a large number of pursuers from the Nightshade Bunker."

Lynn's eyes widened, and his heart jolted. If they were elsewhere, it might be fine, but they were currently in the Emerald Island Great Forest. Once the fragrance was activated, they would be met by a continuous stream of pursuers from the Nightshade Bunker.

"There should be people from the Nightshade Bunker nearby. We must be careful," Sonia said seriously.

Lynn and Colin both nodded, a flash of alertness in their eyes. Clearly, the Nightshade Bunker had already laid a trap in the vicinity, releasing these Nightshade Spiders to search for traces of the Crucible apprentices.

While the three were proceeding with extreme caution, another apprentice squad in the distance was facing a similar predicament.

An apprentice saw a swarm of Nightshade Spiders lunging toward him and frowned, seemingly unaware of what they were. He and his companion mistakenly thought these spiders were merely ordinary forest beasts and immediately used magic to counterattack.

"Firebird!"

"Ice Arrow!"

Energy factors rapidly condensed. A scorching firebird appeared in mid-air, diving straight into the Nightshade Spiders, while an ice arrow took shape and shot fiercely into the swarm.

*Sizzle!*

The Nightshade Spiders had extremely poor defense and offered almost no resistance; the magic crushed them instantly.

However, these two wizard apprentices did not realize that the moment they killed a large number of Nightshade Spiders, the deaths of those spiders triggered the release of the intoxicating fragrance, which rapidly spread through the surroundings, leaving a lethal trail.

In the distance, another group of apprentices from the Nightshade Bunker was patrolling, searching for traces of the Crucible apprentices. Suddenly, they sensed something. They stopped in their tracks, and cold sneers appeared on their faces.

"Prey has taken the bait!"

As the words were spoken, the intoxicating scent in the air grew thicker, and the Nightshade Bunker apprentices began to accelerate toward the direction of the two wizard apprentices.

(End of Chapter)