Lyria soon arrived where she saw something like a water reflection from afar. However, when they arrived, she noticed to her disappointment that it was only a small pond, possibly artificially made.
Livy wasn't too bothered—anything would help more than nothing. So, she swiftly compressed the pond water into four tiny drops using her ability.
However, due to the limited pond water, the drops' power wouldn't be her maximum. The volume wasn't even enough for her to compress two complete drops, yet she forcefully made four, though she only needed to kill juvenile spiders—adults would face her whips.
She glanced around and felt an unprecedented chill rising from the depths of her heart.
The miniature reddish spiders—ranging from finger-sized to fist-sized, even up to arm-sized—were flanking them from every direction, overlapping. It felt as if countless red hills were rapidly closing in to engulf and swallow them whole, like ocean waves.
A rough estimate of their dense numbers could be well over a million mortal-rank Crimson Tide Spiders!
Lyria, who stood beside Livy, shook inside her boots, squeezing her own soft arms to cover her goosebumps while watching the red spiders flood them from all sides.
"H-hurry!" she cried out in panic. This was definitely a nightmarish sight!
Even though the mortal ones wouldn't be able to injure them, their sheer numbers and the way they surged like a tidal wave would haunt anyone's nightmares for a lifetime.
Livy quickly controlled her own horror and sent the four drops of water darting out in four different directions. Soon after, they all exploded upon entering the 'red hills.'
She had ensured the power didn't need to be maximum, but the coverage had to be massive—enough to kill most of these mortal spiders.
BOOM!
The spiders blew apart, most reduced to red smears on the grassy ground, a stark contrast to the scene moments before.
After the explosion, Livy summoned her twin Water Jet Whips and lashed out rapidly, killing all remaining spiders within her range. The distant ones weren't her priority.
Lyria used her Absolute Gravity to push, preventing dead or living spiders from crawling onto them. With her push, countless spiders were torn apart.
Since she had to avoid hitting Livy, she focused on two directions at a time. She hoped to refine her control over this ability one day, one that would push her enemies away without harming allies.
After wiping out most of the spiders, Lyria and Livy gasped for breath while feeling deeply relieved in their hearts.
The few remaining spiders further away seemed to have lost their courage and were fleeing—or so they thought—only to notice two Rank 2s, similar in size to the one in the warehouse, along with six more Rank 1s appearing.
Lyria and Livy's faces spasmed at the sight.
"W-we're really popular, aren't we? Are they all male?" Livy joked with her shaky voice.
Unlike her, Lyria wore a grave frown.
She wasn't worried about the mana beast spiders, yet it suddenly struck her that the situation might be far more dangerous than she'd thought.
After all, how could there be so many?
Six Rank 1s—one injured, likely the one she'd pushed away in the tavern—plus the one Livy killed earlier made a total of seven Rank 1s!
And two more Rank 2s, counting the warehouse one, totaled three Rank 2s!
The situation had become unpredictable and dangerous, as it meant the spiders' leader might be an Adult-stage Rank 2 or even an Elder-stage—no Young-stage could command so many powerful subordinates.
Well, it could also be a Young-stage. She wasn't certain.
If it was an Elder-stage, they were in serious danger. An Elder's strength was just below a Newborn Rank 3. It would take at least one Master Rank or an army of experienced Rank 3 mana wielders to kill it. Worse, these spiders were Mystical-type—the strongest among mana beasts—so perhaps only a capable Master Rank could manage it.
Meanwhile, a Rank 3 mana beast was far too dangerous for them now. They could only flee using their abilities… but Crimson Tide Spiders were known for their speed.
Thankfully, there couldn't be a Rank 3 in this area, or Batley City would've dealt with it—and an Elder-stage Rank 2 as well. So they only needed to worry about Adult-stages. But what if it was…
Before she could finish the thought, a Rank 2 shot a dense, sticky purple web at them.
Lyria and Livy jumped in opposite directions to dodge the venomous webs.
Livy, while dodging, whipped at the web-shooter, but the spider sidestepped effortlessly. This showed how agile they were.
Both Lyria and Livy frowned. This was their first time encountering such agile creatures; even the Thunder Panther paled in comparison. Having eight legs clearly helped these spiders.
After they dodged, the rest of the spiders from Rank 1 to 2 surrounded them and started firing Venomous Webs at them together.
While dodging, Lyria yelled, "Liv, take care of the Rank 1s. I'll keep the Rank 2s busy."
The real issue was these spiders' numbers; otherwise, they were capable enough to kill each Newborn Rank 2 alone.
"Alright!" Livy voiced her agreement.
It wouldn't be difficult for her, as Rank 1s weren't agile enough to dodge her whips at close-to-mid range.
Thus, she charged toward the Rank 1s.
The moment she arrived close enough, she started whipping at them with her Water Jet Dual Whips. In no time, two Rank 1s were dissected into halves.
The Rank 2s noticed the Rank 1s wouldn't be able to deal with the long-haired human, so they tried to support them. However, just at that moment, Lyria used her Whirlwind Sprint to close the distance and threw two of her high-grade Tier 2 daggers from her waist toward one of their eyes.
Both oversized spiders swiftly swatted the daggers away with their front limbs while dodging sideways. They could sense the danger and didn't want to risk taking the hit, even with their sturdy defenses.
By now, they had realized they'd far underestimated these two humans. Despite their Rank 1 presence, the pair were far too strong—and weird.
Lyria charged and used her Absolute Gravity to push one spider away, then swiftly turned and repeated the move on the other.
She wanted to separate them first, then use her weapons to finish them off.
With a smooth motion, she pulled a long sword from her ring and attempted to deliver a fatal blow to the spider she'd pushed to her right.
Just as she was about to close in, the spider behind her shot a Web Bullet at the back of her head.
Web Bullets were small, sturdy projectiles capable of penetrating defenses, shattering armor, or even breaking bones—though they lacked the stickiness of standard webs.
The moment Lyria noticed, it was too late to dodge. She hardened herself with Hardening and channeled Mana to guard the back of her head just before impact.
The force behind the Web Bullet sent her helplessly sprawling forward. Thankfully, it wasn't a Venomous Web—those could trap a person. Web Bullets couldn't.
She understood killing both spiders was still beyond her, but they also couldn't kill her swiftly either.
She also realized her Absolute Gravity's current limitations—she couldn't force either spider far despite the surprise attack. Their massive size, weight, and balance made them resistant to being flung away easily.
Her eyes flicked toward Livy, noting she'd already killed four Rank 1s and was about to finish the last two.
Lyria grinned. Once Livy dealt with the Rank 1s, the two Rank 2s would only take minutes with their combined strength.
Both Rank 2 Crimson Tide Spiders realized this too. During their brief clash with Lyria, they'd grasped they couldn't defeat her quickly—and the other human was equally formidable. If they got together, they could only die! Thus, they both started panicking.
They gave each other a quick glance of understanding. Then, without hesitation, they suddenly started shrieking noisily.
Though their shrieks were very displeasing to Lyria's ears, it wasn't an attack, as Crimson Tide Spiders lacked such abilities. Still, it gave her a bad premonition.
Right then, a loud crash echoed in the distance, and the warehouse began collapsing.
Soon after, they sensed the Rank 2 Crimson Tide Spider's presence within the warehouse vanish.
Both the Rank 2s were greatly alarmed and grew frantic.
They screeched louder. Then, without hesitation, both bolted in opposite directions, fleeing at top speed on their eight limbs.
If there was another human who could kill their Rank so quickly, then they could only wait for their deaths if that human also joined the battle. They needed to flee as fast as possible. Their previous thoughts on holding back both humans as long as possible quickly evaporated from their minds.
But how could Lyria let two Rank 2 Mana Beast carcasses escape from her greedy grasp? Their materials were perfect for fire-resistant armor and weapons, and some parts could even be used in rune inscription.
Even if those were useless to the current them, they could still be made into selling products, and the corpses alone would fetch a fortune.
Free money wasn't something Lyria would let slip through her tightly clenched fist!