Chapter 158: Drider.

With his mind completely clear and focused, Kai analyzed his situation, then raised his hands above his head to unleash two powerful, jet-black flying slashes. With his left hand, he sent a slash aimed at the ghostly web, while with his right hand, he launched a diagonal slash to push back the spiders.

Although the diagonal slash connected perfectly with the luminous spiders, sending them a couple of meters backward, to Kai's surprise, just before the straight slash hit the ghostly web, it expanded greatly, taking the shape of the slash without being damaged. It embedded itself deeply into the large slash mark that formed on the root-covered ground.

Not wanting to waste any time, Kai kicked the air to close the distance to the boy and cut the webs enveloping him, hoping that this would sever his connection to the ghostly web. But just at that moment, he sensed a source of danger approaching from his left at an incredible speed, prompting him to quickly activate his future vision for a brief moment.

In his future vision, Kai saw a 'small' spider, roughly the size of a cat, with a bluish hue and strange glowing patterns on its abdomen resembling an electric circuit. It looked incredibly similar to one of the original five, though from the 'strength' he could detect, it was much weaker. Without hesitation, he sent a flying slash with his right hand to split it in half mid-air.

At the same time, Kai sent several flying slashes with his left hand toward the boy, controlling them with precision to cut only the webs without harming him. However, at that moment, he saw a new ghostly web emerge from nowhere and yank the boy backward at great speed, causing his lightning to crackle furiously in frustration. Fortunately, the boy's voice, though weak, was still audible, meaning he was still savable.

"Oliver!"

As Eva's cry echoed from behind, Kai launched himself with all his might in the direction where the boy was being pulled, simultaneously attempting to send a flying slash toward the 'voice' he could sense in that direction—the one that seemed to be the culprit. Though moderately strong, a slash should be enough to split it in half.

But at that moment, the two guard spiders leaped into action. One intercepted his path, while the other blocked the trajectory of his flying slash. They now appeared somehow much tougher, with more prominent exoskeletons and measuring almost 4 meters each, emitting an ominous pale yellow light.

Seeing his path blocked, Kai quickly kicked the ground to propel himself into the air, passing over the spider. At the same time, he noticed out of the corner of his eye how the pale yellow light emitted by the other spider slowed down his flying slash. To the point where, when it finally struck, it had lost most of its power. Only managing to crack the spider's exoskeleton slightly and sending it flying a mere couple of meters.

Feeling more spiders rushing toward his position, Kai's expression soured greatly. He quickly unleashed a rapid barrage of full-power flying slashes toward the spider pulling Oliver, followed by another wave of slashes aimed at the spider he had left behind. The latter tried to counter with its yellow light, but it was futile, and it ended up being sliced into pieces, turning into a mess of flesh and viscera in the air.

Without wasting any time, Kai attempted to release a burst of lightning beneath his foot to propel himself and reach Oliver. But at that moment, he suddenly felt a colossal 'voice' appearing out of nowhere at the edge of his perception, causing his eyes to widen in shock. This presence vanished almost instantly, only to reappear two kilometers closer to him, moving so fast that even with his accelerated thinking, he could barely perceive it.

Almost instinctively, Kai hastily activated his future vision, where he saw himself being struck by a massive, spiked mass. Alarmed, as it left him no time to dodge, he quickly crossed his swords at his right side and pushed his Armament Haki to its absolute limit, blending its advanced version with his electric aura to minimize the impact.

Just at that instant, Kai perceived the colossal 'voice' right behind him, followed by a devastating impact slamming into his side. The force was so immense that it created a shockwave that shook the entire island, sending him flying at an absurd speed. Despite his Armament Haki and Nen Intensification protecting his exterior and interior respectively, he felt a sharp pain.

As if that weren't enough, the attack somehow caused his internal organs to 'vibrate', inflicting such severe damage that Kai was forced to spit out a mouthful of blood mid-flight. He crashed through a large number of trees in his path, which literally exploded upon contact with him, barely slowing his momentum.

...

Meanwhile, Eva couldn't help but bring her hands to her wide-open mouth, utterly stunned by the scene unfolding before her. After all, out of nowhere, a gigantic shadow, at least five meters tall, had appeared. Before she could even process it, a purple streak shot to the left at an imperceptible speed, leaving only a dark purple electric line in the air.

Shortly after, the shadow finally took shape in Eva's perception, revealing what appeared to be a kind of 'Drider'—a monster with the lower body of a spider and a humanoid upper half. But unlike the ones she had seen in fantasy stories, this one was not only gigantic but also monstrous and grotesque.

Its hybrid body was covered in a dark, spiny texture, as if it wore some kind of organic exoskeleton, particularly prominent in its humanoid portion, which was robust, muscular, and masculine in appearance. Its head looked almost cadaverous and equally spiny, with multiple red eyes glowing with a predatory light.

In its two long, muscular arms of the humanoid part, the strange monster carried what appeared to be an incredibly long staff, longer than itself, resembling a spear with a bulging tip adorned with prominent spines, much like a mace. From its back extended eight extra legs, very similar to those of its spider half but smaller and more delicate, though they seemed no less dangerous.

With an almost deliberately slow movement, the giant monster raised its enormous weapon intending to strike, causing a strong tremor in Eva, who visibly paled. Her gaze alternated between the monster that was about to end her life and her son, who disappeared among the trees.

"Sword Field! Conqueror's Shackles!"

Just then, Eva heard a melodious, firm, and resolute female voice above her, announcing loudly. At the same time, what seemed to be a hundred swords of various sizes and shapes materialized around her, causing her to look up. There, she saw the small armored fairy pointing one of her swords at a normal-sized sword floating in the air in front of her.

But the sword didn't seem ordinary. Not only did it have a strange relief with a pattern resembling an electric circuit with tribal runes, but from the hilt hung several golden chains that completely enveloped the blade. These chains also bore the same strange relief, as did the other swords floating around.

With tears in her eyes, Eva watched as, almost magically, the chains wrapping the sword's blade unwound themselves and disappeared. At that moment, the beautiful fairy lowered her hand to point at the ground, causing the sword to descend rapidly and embed itself into the root-covered ground.

As the sword touched the ground, Eva somehow heard the sound of chains tightening from the front. She quickly turned her gaze, only to find the horrifying giant monster completely bound by beautiful golden chains, left in an incredibly vulnerable position with its arms above its head.

At that moment, Eva saw the floating swords around her become covered in dark purple electricity. Immediately afterward, some shot out at high speed to stab the monster, while others began spinning rapidly, creating the illusion of large circles in the air. They then released a dozen black lines of pure energy that cut through everything in their path.

The brutal onslaught of power caused a furious tremor across the island, while a thick layer of what seemed to be smoke rose into the air, accompanied by purple lightning shooting in all directions, destroying everything in its path. This completely enveloped the monster, yet the fairy did not stop her attack.

This oddity led Eva to look up at the fairy, noticing that while pointing her sword at the monster, the fairy was biting her lip hard. Her beautiful face filled with equal parts worry and awe as she gripped the hilts of her small swords even tighter.

The fairy's expression directly told Eva that things were not going well. Even with such colossal power—something she had never before witnessed with her own eyes, a force almost calamitous, turning the fairy into a walking weapon of mass destruction—it was still incapable of finishing off the monster.

But as if that weren't enough, her mother's heart bled with pain and worry for her son, who had disappeared among the trees, being pulled so forcefully and mercilessly. At the same time, she felt immensely guilty for the young boy who had saved her, who seemed to have taken a direct hit from that thing, making her doubt he was still alive.

As the relentless attack continued, Eva saw the fairy suddenly move her left hand, causing the spherical barrier surrounding her to disappear. This brought a bitter smile to her face, which soon turned into a kind of calm acceptance as she closed her eyes, resigning herself to her fate.

(This is for the best... Life without my Oliver has no meaning... If he's gone, I might as well die here... The fairy doesn't have to sacrifice herself... Since her companion has probably died, it's best for her to escape and seek help to deal with these monsters... This is for the best...)

As Eva reflected calmly, images of her entire life began to flash in her mind. But they all seemed devoid of light, of brilliance, of meaning. The only thing that shone brightly were her moments with her son—the moment the wrinkled little mouse emerged from her, the first time she held him, the first time he called her 'mama', his first steps, his first day at school, how he cried because he wanted to stay with her.

(Oliver... Forgive your mama... I couldn't protect you...)

A torrent of bitter tears, filled with pain, bitterness, and regret, streamed down Eva's face. She felt a pain so immense that not even all the torture and humiliation she had endured in her time on this cursed island combined could compare—the pain of losing her baby, her only child, the driving force of her life and her most precious being.

"[Absolute Fortress] On! [2 meters] [3 minutes]!"

As Eva lost herself in her memories, she suddenly heard the small fairy's voice announcing loudly. This made her open her tear-filled eyes, allowing her to see a light forming a circle around her, which then transformed into sturdy metallic walls over a meter high, with a relief somewhat similar to that of the swords. These walls were crowned by a dome of pale blue light.

Just as the strange wall formed around her, Eva felt the world fall silent, as if all noise had suddenly been muted. This made her look around in confusion, and at that moment, she heard the fairy's voice speaking from above, within the dome of light.

"Stay calm. Master will bring your son back safely."

“Master…?”

With a hoarse voice, Eva asked in confusion as she raised her head to look at the beautiful fairy. Only to see a massive spiked mace descending at great speed toward the dome, completely obscuring the beautiful silver light of the full moon. Instinctively, she ducked her head, bringing her hands up to cover herself and tightly closing her eyes, bracing for the imminent impact.

But after several seconds of not feeling the expected pain, Eva slowly lifted her head, allowing her to see the gigantic mace slamming repeatedly against the dome of light at an absurd speed. However, though the blows seemed truly terrifying, they didn’t cause even the slightest fluctuation in the light barrier, much less the metallic walls.

***

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