After arriving within two kilometers of the village, Stormborne suddenly stopped and frowned. "It's strange. Let's rush," he said, and then vanished into thin air with his extreme speed.
The remaining five were startled.
What had made their captain accelerate like that?
They all increased their speed and soon arrived at the village.
Observing the settlement, which was covered in white webs everywhere, all of them felt their skin crawl.
They had seen many things, but this was unprecedented even for them. The sheer number of webs suggested just how numerous the mortal and Rank 1 Crimson Tide Spiders were within the village.
Thalia, arriving last, clutched her arms tightly in a self-hug, shaking inside her boots at the sight of the utterly silent village coated in a hair-raising amount of long white webs.
She wanted to turn and bolt away but feared hundreds—or thousands—of red spiders would surround her and make a feast of her.
The mere thought made her hair stand on end, so she dared not fall behind and clung closely to her teammates.
Finding Stormborne didn't take long, as he was releasing his presence for them to locate him.
Upon arrival, they saw the corpse before him and were baffled.
Kairos stepped forward. "Captain, did you kill this Rank 1?"
After all, a Rank 1 was their prey, and a training target for some members. Stormborne wouldn't kill a lower-rank beast even if he encountered dozens of them—mostly due to his character.
There was a dead, Newborn-stage Rank 1 Crimson Tide Spider in front of them, cleanly separated into halves—which was also Stormborne's style. Though, upon closer observation, they noticed this spider had been dead for quite some time; its blood had already dried, and there were other signs confirming it.
Stormborne, crouching over the corpse, stood slowly, his gaze still fixed on it.
"No. It was killed by an extremely powerful Water Element user—someone with a talent, unique spell, or skill that amplified cutting power to an astonishing degree. Stranger still, I sense the wielder was only a mid-stage Rank 1 Mana Wielder."
The others raised their eyebrows in surprise.
A mid-stage Rank 1 killing a Mystical-type Newborn Rank 1 Beast?
Was this a survivor returning after the village fell? Otherwise, why would the other spiders leave a Rank 1 corpse exposed? More importantly—where were the other spiders? Were they too scared to emerge?
After a pause, Stormborne added, deeply bewildered, "And this was a one-shot kill. This Rank 1 Crimson Tide Spider was completely helpless against its attacker."
Their eyes widened.
A mid-stage Rank 1 killed a Newborn Rank 1 in one shot, and the Mana Beast was helpless?
What sort of talent was this?
To kill a Newborn-stage Rank 1, a group of five early-stage Rank 1 Mana Wielders was typically required, meaning this individual possessed the strength of five early-stage Rank 1s! And not only that—a group of early-stage Rank 1s would have to fight a grueling battle and only then might they win, unlike this scenario where the Newborn Rank 1 Crimson Tide Spider was completely helpless. It only had one clean wound that clearly showed the attacker had one-shot it.
An extremely talented youngster? Had they just stumbled upon an unpolished gem?
All five of them started to get excited.
This sort of talented Mana Wielder was someone that all teams would seek out to recruit. They were like the trump card of a team—their hope, their future, and a subject of admiration for both their own and other groups.
That was why whenever a team found such unpolished gems during their expeditions, they would promptly try to invite them to join. Their entire Celestial Maelstrom Adventures Group was made of such talented people who had received invitations from the Master Ranks of different branches, just like their fifth branch had received personal invitations from Stormborne himself. They had all fought and grown together with him over the years, so their relationships were all very close.
All of them loved new talents and new juniors. It was like adding a new family member to their group, so they all grew excited at the prospect of finding an amazingly talented junior brother or sister.
Even the "stone-hearted" Aria's eyes brightened.
Stormborne suddenly turned toward a crumbled building a little ways away and frowned. He then started walking toward it.
Though he was only walking, even a late-stage Rank 1 Mana Wielder wouldn't be able to catch up to him even if they sprinted at full speed.
The rest of them quickly chased after Stormborne.
Before Thalia could move, she suddenly received a pat on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Tiberius grinning at her.
She immediately had a bad feeling about this.
Tiberius patted her shoulder gently again, saying, "Junior, this spider corpse is yours, so take it into your space ring—and only after that, come after us." His voice carried the encouraging tone of a senior addressing a junior.
Thalia's face paled.
Although a Rank 1 Crimson Tide Spider corpse would fetch her some good pocket change, picking up such a disgusting, hairy spider—even if it was dead—was not something she was willing to do!
Spreading Mana over any surface felt like touching it with bare hands; just thinking about it made her entire body crawl with goosebumps.
Just as she was about to vehemently refuse, she heard his voice from a little ways away. He was already running toward the collapsed wooden building.
"Junior Thalia, this is a test—otherwise, I will complain and speak badly about you to the Captain!"
Thalia cursed openly at Tiberius's last twenty-one generations. She was fairly new to the group and didn't want to have a bad reputation within the team—not to mention, she held great admiration for Stormborne, having even picked up the sword as her main weapon because of him.
And now, thanks to the bald, mustached bastard, she had to "touch" the hairy spider all over with her Mana. She nearly vomited from the deep nausea.
While she was hesitating, she suddenly noticed… she was standing all alone right between buildings covered in long spider webs.
Alone. Completely alone.
She nearly sat down and cried like she had in her younger days—helpless, all alone in the corner of a dark room. But then she suddenly recalled that she was now a Mana Wielder! And at Rank 2! Though just at an early stage, she was no longer helpless like she had been a few years back—she was strong and could protect herself!
And with that boiling courage, she turned to look at the spider's red, hairy body—and started vomiting.
Stormborne arrived at the wreckage and glanced around.
He waved his hand, and all the broken structures neatly moved and rearranged themselves in a corner, as if they were new construction materials ready to be reused.
After clearing the scene, he turned to see the human heads packed into a ball-shaped orb. He proceeded to ignore it, having seen many such grotesque things. His focus shifted toward the two craters, and he began observing them intently.
The remaining four members arrived, and the moment they saw the human-head ball, they recoiled in disgust and repulsion. They wanted to vomit but held back.
Not only did the thing look gruesome and grotesque, but the smell was equally nauseating.
Tiberius, who arrived last, asked with confusion, "Captain, what is it this time?"
Aria snorted. "Can't you see the blood of the Crimson Tide Spider below the crater? Check the Rank."
The rest promptly focused, ignoring the unsightly orb rolling beside one crater.
Soon, their faces changed.
"Rank 2!"
The shocking part wasn't just Rank 2—it was the faint presence that suggested a Rank 2 Mana Beast had died there!
Tiberius hissed, "So, this 'unpolished gem' was already taken, and this person already belongs to a team?"
None of them knew the answer, so they stayed silent.
Stormborne sighed with the same bewilderment as before and felt he might be wrong in his observation—but he still decided to inform his teammates of his findings.
"I don't know whether it's a different or the same person as before, but I feel the one who killed the Newborn-stage Rank 2 Crimson Tide Spider here has the same rank as before: mid-stage Rank 1."
All of them gaped at Stormborne.
They stood frozen for a moment, and then a few of them started giggling.
Tiberius slapped his own steel-plated thigh and laughed. "Captain, you're joking, right? How is that even possible?! A Rank 2—even if it was just a Newborn—is that something a mid-stage Rank 1 Mana Wielder could even fight, much less kill? Just being able to stand still and not lose their mind while enduring a Rank 2's psychological pressure would be commendable!"
A Mana Beast didn't always exert its psychological pressure, as it was very exhausting for them—however, during life-and-death battles, they invariably released it, just as their presence couldn't be suppressed or hidden during intense combat. Only trained individuals, such as assassins, might be able to do so.
Stormborne just shook his head. He didn't blame the others for laughing at his deduction; even he found it ridiculous and doubted his own senses.
"Let's check the next location. There are no Crimson Tide Spiders in this village—they seem to have left this place in a hurry for some unknown reason. If we follow the clues, we might be able to figure out what happened here."
The rest of them agreed and followed behind Stormborne. Just as they were leaving, Thalia arrived at her fastest speed.
She was confused as to why everyone was leaving already. Was there nothing here?
As she turned to survey the area, she paused—her face rapidly changing colors—and soon she hunched forward and continued vomiting.