Chapter Fourteen: Enemies Cross Paths

The fourth layer of the underground nest was a stretch of reddish-brown earth, its surface hard as iron, the rock walls towering like diamond. Unlike the previous three levels, this layer’s terrain was peculiarly strange, resembling a massive cavern with winding, labyrinthine paths. At every turn, dense webs hung, and spiders half the size of a grown man scuttled back and forth upon them.

On the webs were bodies, mutilated and incomplete, and what terrified Mars and his companions most was that most of these mangled figures were still alive. The memory of their textbooks describing the hunting process of spiders came rushing back: when a spider catches its prey, it injects venom, leaving the victim conscious but paralyzed, then devours them alive.

The three, already silent, felt their skin crawl. The furious cries from above had long since faded, leaving only a dreadful silence. No one spoke; after Atreus thrust his spear at Ye Ran, their trust had vanished completely. Should danger arise here, who could say whether Atreus would not sacrifice one of them as well?

Mars and Xu Nan kept wary distance from Atreus, who seemed utterly unconcerned, gently polishing his golden spear. He was elated; the weapon alone was enough to delight him.

“Xu Nan, let’s go back. I have no confidence in getting the Two-Colored Mushroom from this layer,” Mars said. The three stood beneath the cavern, in a narrow passage, unwilling to face the giant spiders ahead.

Xu Nan nodded grimly.

Atreus glanced at them and laughed. “Is it because of that backpacker’s death? Mars, you worry too much.”

Xu Nan replied in a deep voice, “You killed him. Who would dare trust you now?”

He recalled Ye Ran charging without hesitation at the golden giant ant, opening a path for them, and shame surged in his heart. Mars felt even worse; without Ye Ran, he would have been ant food, never making it to the cavern.

“He saved us, and you repaid kindness with betrayal. Atreus, I can no longer trust you.”

Atreus burst out laughing, still wiping the golden spear. “Brothers, don’t be foolish. If I hadn’t killed him and used his blood to distract the ants, do you think you’d be alive here? You remember him saving you, but what about me leading you out of the ant swarm? You forget that?”

He stood up, sneering, “A man with little ambition cannot achieve great things. If you can’t even sacrifice a mere backpacker, how do you expect to accomplish anything?”

His words doused their hearts with icy water.

Mars looked at him with strange eyes, as if he’d never known this man. “Atreus, I wonder why I ever called you friend?”

He laughed bitterly, “Atreus, I understand. By the laws of Torrent City, no one will care about the backpacker’s death, so you hesitated not at all when you killed Ye Ran. This isn’t the first time you’ve done such a thing, is it? As for us, if necessary, you’d sacrifice us too. Atreus, I cannot trust someone like you.”

Unexpectedly, gentle Mars spoke these words. Atreus grew impatient.

“Mars, enough. If you still want the Two-Colored Mushroom, follow me—”

Mars cut him off with a sneer, “Two-Colored Mushroom? At a time like this, do you think I care about such things? If you want to confront mutated monsters, go ahead alone. I won't risk it anymore. Xu Nan, let’s go.”

He exposed Atreus’s hypocrisy without mercy, making his face darken with anger. Parting ways was inevitable.

Atreus snorted coldly. “So be it. You go your way, I’ll go mine. Life and death are in fate’s hands.”

He hefted his spear and shield and strode forward, but at that moment, a faint breeze sounded above.

Looking up, he saw a woman descending gracefully, clad in purple hair and robes, her feet touching the ground as her garments fluttered. The three caught only a glimpse, yet felt suffocated by her presence—absolutely alluring, absolutely cold, absolutely beautiful, as if her superiority was innate. She walked past them, hands behind her back, leaving them dazed.

Only when she stepped into the spider-filled passage, lotus flowers blooming under her feet, did Atreus come to his senses and called out, “Miss, it’s dangerous—”

He stopped mid-sentence, for he saw eight sinister spider legs extending from her back.

“Get out,”

Her words, cold as death, burst forth with sudden force like a gale, causing Atreus’s chest to tighten and forcing him to stagger backward two steps.

He stared open-mouthed at the receding purple figure. Webs lined both sides of the passage, and the spiders on the stone walls bowed their long legs in reverence, only moving again once her silhouette vanished into the distance.

Her icy gaze swept over the three below.

All three were stunned; the force they’d felt in that brief instant was at least seventh rank.

And that, clearly, was only a fraction of her power.

Mars looked up at the cavern above; the golden ants had vanished completely. He pondered—was it because of the woman just now?

“Xu Nan, I’ll go up and check,” he said.

Xu Nan shook her head. “I’ll go with you. That person just came down from above, so the golden ants up there should be few.”

They argued for a moment, but Mars couldn’t persuade Xu Nan, and so both carefully climbed up into the cavern.

Atreus snorted and waited below for a while. There was no way forward—the woman’s warning had been clear. If he rashly advanced and was killed by her, it would be pointless. Retreating, he was not confident that his golden spear could carry him through the ant swarm. Waiting was best; if he heard Xu Nan and Mars scream, it meant danger still lurked above. If silence reigned, it meant safety.

He waited a while; nothing came from above. Suspicion stirred in his heart, but he leapt up anyway.

Clinging cautiously to the stone wall, his spear tip pointed upward, his head rising inch by inch along with it.

When he finally saw the scene above, his pupils contracted.

The golden ants were gone. In front of the cavern, Xu Nan and Mars stood frozen, staring ahead.

And before them, a spider sack the size of a person lay torn open, and standing before it was a familiar figure.

“Ye Ran?”

Atreus’s heart tightened as he sprang out of the cavern, shield raised defensively.

Ye Ran’s clothes were torn, but his body was unscathed. He sneered, stepping forward with hands curled into claws.

“Bastard, you’ve finally come out.”