Empowered by sixty-eight points of Strength, the Vertical Slash slammed into the fire-scorched shell. This time, there was no metallic clang; the blade sliced in with almost no resistance. Erich braced his feet against the edge of the Pearl Mother's shell and pressed down on his sword with both hands, pouring his entire body weight and strength into the blade. The Pearl Mother let out a piercing shriek, its massive body thrashing wildly.
The blade sank deeper inch by inch, and blood gushed from the wound, splattering all over Erich's face.
Then, a massive force surged from the hilt as the Pearl Mother suddenly tilted its body. Erich was flung through the air, sword and all. He tried to adjust his posture mid-air, but they were too close to the ground; he slammed violently against the cavern's stone wall. The longsword slipped from his grip, clattering to the ground several meters away.
Before Erich could even get back up, a giant spider leg tore through the air, stabbing down toward him.
He rolled sideways by instinct. The spider leg scraped past his ear, pinning itself into the spot where he had been lying just a moment before, showering half his face in stone fragments. The Pearl Mother seemed to have gone mad, its eight legs stabbing down at him in turn. Erich rolled across the ground, covered in dust and grime, unable to find a single opening to stand up.
Isa wanted to rush to his aid the moment Erich was thrown, but a startled shriek from the little princess, Leonora, behind her halted her in her tracks.
The shadows tore open on the rock wall behind Leonora, and a black-clad figure emerged out of thin air, thrusting a shadow blade straight at the back of the little princess's neck. Isa forced her body to twist against her momentum, her blade drawing an arc to collide with the shadow.
Isa's sword blocked the black-clad figure's shadow blade, the edge of the weapon less than a finger's width from Leonora's neck. Only then did the little princess react. She stumbled forward a couple of steps, and the necklace on her chest suddenly burst with a dark red light, wrapping her entirely in a translucent shield.
“Run!” Isa roared.
Leonora stumbled toward the edge of the cavern. As she ran, she looked back and threw a fireball. The Lesser Fireball wobbled through the air toward the black-clad figure, who dodged sideways. The fireball struck the rock wall, throwing off a shower of sparks.
Isa seized this split second to close the distance, forcing the black-clad figure back with three rapid slashes. Her swordplay was fast and ruthless, every strike aiming for a vital spot. The black-clad figure managed to parry, but their footwork was already in disarray.
On the other side, Erich finally caught a gap between the Pearl Mother's leg thrusts. Kicking hard off the ground, he slid between two spider legs, scooped up his longsword, flipped to his feet, and ran up one of the Pearl Mother's legs.
Sensing another presence on its back, the Pearl Mother began to thrash even more violently. Erich clamped his legs tightly around the spider's leg, using one hand to grab a bone spine to stabilize himself while holding his sword in the other. He climbed up step by step. By the time he scrambled back onto the Pearl Mother's back, the wound scorched by the fireball was right before his eyes.
Without a moment's hesitation, Erich gripped his sword with both hands and hacked fiercely at the wound.
One strike, two strikes, three strikes.
Every blow landed on the exact same spot. Blood gushed out like a fountain. The Pearl Mother's screeches turned from rage to sheer agony, and the entire cavern trembled under its struggles.
Leonora had already run to a corner on the far side of the cavern, the dark red shield wrapping her securely. Trembling, she chanted and raised her hand, launching another fireball that struck one of the Pearl Mother's spines with pinpoint accuracy.
She threw another fireball toward Isa's side. The black-clad figure was forced back half a step by the flames, and Isa instantly seized the opening to flick the shadow blade from their hand. Clutching their right hand, the black-clad figure backed into the rock wall, only for the tip of Isa's sword to press against their throat.
The Pearl Mother's struggles grew weaker and weaker. Erich had lost count of how many times he had slashed the wound. He could feel the massive body beneath him losing its strength, its eight purple eyes dimming one by one.
A shriek so shrill it made one's skin crawl suddenly erupted from the Pearl Mother's mouth. At that exact moment, all the dark red bone spines on its back detached from its body and shot outward in every direction.
Since Erich was on its back, the bone spines couldn't possibly hit him from that angle. Isa's reflexes were also incredibly fast; she pulled back her sword from the black-clad figure's throat and dodged the bone spines, simultaneously kicking the figure in the chest to knock them to the ground while using the momentum to leap backward. Leonora's shield was struck by a bone spine, its dark red light flickering violently, but it did not shatter.
The Pearl Mother's eight legs could no longer support its massive weight, and its entire body sagged. The spiderweb groaned and creaked under the strain. Standing on its back, Erich raised his longsword with both hands once more.
Isa stepped back up to the black-clad figure, pointing the tip of her sword at their heart.
“It's over,” Isa said.
Erich took a deep breath, aimed his blade at the mangled wound, and brought it down.
Erich's sword hacked into a mass of white. It was a smaller bone-spine spider, using its own body to shield the Pearl Mother from the fatal blow.
At the exact same time, a white shadow flashed past Isa's side. Before she could even turn her head, a massive force pierced her abdomen from the flank. A white spider leg skewered her body, pinning both her and the black-clad figure behind her to the ground.
Isa opened her mouth weakly, but no sound came out.
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