Faced with an enemy that suddenly descended from the sky, Punk didn't waste time looking up. His immediate reaction was to cast a formal-level spell without hesitation—Speed Burst.
Speed Burst: Converts a large amount of etheric energy into kinetic energy, allowing the caster to accelerate in any direction at ten times the speed of sound.
Using this spell, Punk effortlessly evaded the aerial attack. The sheer velocity sent him crashing through several trees before he came to a stop, but it also successfully widened the gap between him and his foe.
During the sprint, he caught sight of transparent filaments clinging to the broken trunks. Without hesitation, he unleashed a kinetic energy burst, shattering several trees.
Clearly, those filaments had been concealed by an illusion, and the enemy had been lurking above him all along.
Protected by his Mage Armor, Punk emerged unscathed—not a single splinter touched him. The cursed flames from his previous attack had long since burned out, leaving him completely unharmed.
Rising from the wreckage, he layered additional defensive spells upon himself—Instant Swiftness and Deflection Barrier—before commanding Golem One to engage the enemy. Only after securing his defenses did he take the time to analyze the creature.
The enemy had embedded itself deep into the ground from the force of its own impact. The rock beneath it had fractured, dust curling into the air as its grotesque form was revealed.
It was a deformed spider, towering over three meters tall. Its bloated body resembled that of an engorged tick, yet its eight legs were disproportionately short. If not for its signature cluster of eight eyes, Punk might have mistaken it for some kind of grotesque caterpillar.
Despite its bulky frame, the creature moved with surprising agility. The moment it realized its attack had missed, it tore itself from the earth with a guttural snarl, lunging at Punk once more.
But it had ignored the presence of Golem One.
As the monstrous spider charged forward in fury, Punk gave a simple order—
Engage.
Golem One roared in response, its claws radiating a pale red abyssal energy. Every fiber of its artificial muscles tensed as it threw itself directly at the incoming foe.
BOOM!
The shockwave from the impact sent trees and rocks flying. Splintered stones punched through the surrounding trees like bullets, leaving deep craters in the bark.
The spider's raw strength was undeniable—Golem One was knocked back several meters, its feet carving deep furrows into the ground.
Yet, the spider fared far worse.
Its headplate fractured, cracks spreading across its armor as thick green blood oozed from the wounds. It howled in pain, its guttural scream tinged with both rage and fear.
Yet, despite its volume, the forest remained eerily still.
Punk watched, unfazed. He had long since cast a sound-isolation spell before the battle had even begun.
Silent Domain: A broad spherical barrier that prevents sound from escaping beyond its boundary.
With this in place, he could fight without concern for unwanted attention.
Assessing the battle, Punk quickly determined that the spider's attack power was unimpressive. It relied purely on brute force, lacking any form of energy enhancement. Even its defensive measures were mediocre—its carapace was thin, barely capable of withstanding Golem One's strikes.
But more importantly—
the illusion concealing the Spider Cave had finally lifted.
A dark cavern entrance lay nestled within an otherwise unremarkable corner of the woodland, its mouth veiled beneath thick layers of webbing. However, these were no ordinary webs—intricate runes pulsed faintly across the silken strands.
From a glance, Punk deduced that the magic array carved into the webs served a dual purpose: defensive enhancement and alarm triggers. A silent ward had even been incorporated within, ensuring that any disturbance within the cave would not alert outsiders.
The defensive enchantment had resisted his Cursed Fire earlier, preventing it from triggering the alarm.
But what intrigued him most was the secondary enhancement effect.
Punk shifted his gaze back to the blood-red eyes of the monstrous spider.
So, the magic circle was empowering this creature… but in what way?
Lifting his emerald staff, he prepared for his next move.
At that moment, a magical construct flared to life upon the spider's carapace. The bloated monster abruptly split into three identical copies.
Mirror Clone—a formal-level conjuration spell.
Mirror Clone: Creates two identical physical copies of the caster to confuse enemies. The clones possess only 1% of the original's attributes but are visually indistinguishable.
Note: Nearly half of the caster's mana is consumed to perform an ultra-short-range space swap.
Punk narrowed his eyes.
The spider was using spells?
It wasn't the fact that it could cast magic that surprised him—many creatures could wield spells—but rather the sheer efficiency with which it had used them.
Even with his Eye of True Sight activated, he could not discern the real spider from its clones. Not through visual cues, energy fluctuations, or even life force analysis.
This realization made him frown.
The creature's modifications were clearly artificial. Its life energy was irregular, suggesting a crude and haphazard transformation process. Whoever had created this abomination was no grandmaster of the craft.
Many of its modifications were shoddily executed, making it one of the weakest formal-level creatures Punk had ever encountered.
If not for its outrageous illusion abilities, it would be worthless.
And yet, that single overpowered trait made it a formidable scout and ambusher.
So… it was merely a gatekeeper.
Punk's mind worked swiftly. The Spider Cave's magic array was continuously feeding energy into the creature, but only into its illusion abilities.
That meant its actual combat ability remained pitifully weak.
Conclusion:
This creature was not a natural-born spellcaster.
Its illusions came from external augmentation, not innate talent.
Its master was cautious… but not particularly powerful.
The realization made Punk sneer.
"So," he murmured coldly,
"a puppet relying on borrowed strength."
In that case—
there was nothing left to discuss.
Punk's fingers tightened around his staff as he finalized his spell, a cold glint flashing through his eyes.