Supreme Electromagnetic Tyrant-Chapter 58 - 36: Skulking Shadow Spider

Ji Xinghuo shot a willow leaf arrow, which was extremely fast and traveled through the gaps between trees to reach halfway into the sky, a hundred meters away, plunging into the fluttering darkness.

"Hiss hiss hiss..."

The spider fell, emitting a sharp scream from its ugly mouth.

Only then did the others clearly see the monster’s appearance: an enormous spider over one and a half meters in length, covered in pitch black with dark red patterns on its abdomen, its eight thick legs curled up together, with an arrow penetrating one of its eyes, leaving only a small section of the arrow’s tail visible on the outside.

"It really is a Shadow Roaming Spider," Chi Zhonglin’s voice echoed in his teammates’ minds.

This type of giant spider was one of the primary sources of the "Shadow Escape" Alien Species.

They were numerous, exhibited social behavior, but did not nest in a fixed location; instead, they roamed throughout the forests, lurking in the shadows to ambush their prey.

Once the monster’s identity was confirmed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

There was some threat, but not much.

Even if they were ambushed by this group of Shadow Roaming Spiders, given the team’s strength, they wouldn’t suffer any harm.

However, what Ren Mian, Chi Zhonglin, and Jiangnan Caiyi did not know was that Ji Xinghuo, now facing his first battle, had already activated the interface of Wanxiang Star Pupil in his field of vision.

The previously reset Spiritual Origin Ability had now changed to "1".

Ji Xinghuo’s heart surged with excitement.

Indeed, killing creatures allowed him to gain Spiritual Origin Ability, confirming his speculation. Although it was only 1 point of Spiritual Origin Ability, that single point was equivalent to several days of practicing his ability. And there were dozens more giant spiders around, spreading out to encircle them from both sides.

These were all Spiritual Origin Ability!

Ji Xinghuo’s eyes shone as he picked the right moment and shot a second arrow.

Crack!

Another Shadow Roaming Spider fell from the tree, but the Spiritual Origin Ability did not increase.

"What’s the matter?"

Ji Xinghuo was momentarily stunned and upon close observation, he noticed this Shadow Roaming Spider was much smaller, only half the size of the first spider.

He quickly guessed, could it be that he must kill targets with abilities to gain Spiritual Origin Ability?

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

The string of Ji Xinghuo’s composite bow vibrated repeatedly, shooting arrows in different directions as if firing randomly, but with each shot a large spider hit the ground, emitting a painful shriek.

"It is indeed like this."

He monitored changes in the Spiritual Origin Ability and compared it with the spiders he had shot; only the Shadow Roaming Spiders that had reached a certain strength provided him with Spiritual Origin Ability.

The interface now showed 3 points of Spiritual Origin Ability!

"The spiders are surrounding us," Ji Xinghuo warned in his mind, the magnetic sense revealing more than fifty spiders now. Using the trees for cover, some were leaping closer from the front, while more spiders scattered to the sides, attempting to form an encirclement.

"Shoot down their leader, and the swarm will disperse," Ren Mian said to Ji Xinghuo, "Can you locate it?"

"Over there,"

Ji Xinghuo pointed with his arrow in one direction, "About 180 meters away, in a tree 22 meters from the ground. It’s very cautious; my arrows can’t reach it."

In fact, he had noticed the leader of this spider swarm much earlier.

Its body stretched out to over three meters long, lingering in the shadow behind the tree, occasionally moving slightly.

That was an Elite Level monster!

Countries on Earth followed the classification system of the Star Realm nations, dividing Star Realm creatures into three categories.

The first category was civilized races, possessing intelligence and civilization, capable of crafting tools, cultivating abilities, mastering language and script, creating a splendid civilization, establishing great kingdoms—belonging to the higher races of the Star Realm, the true rulers of the Star Realm.

The civilized races of the Milky Way referred to the indigenous species born in the Star Realm as "Alien Races."

Conversely, the Alien Races called the civilized races of the Milky Way "Alien Species."

The second category comprised monsters. They lacked intelligence and reproduced and evolved based solely on their biological instincts. They were the most numerous, endless, and, among their vast numbers, terrifyingly powerful monsters were born, though very few evolved intelligence and remained mere monsters.

The third category was comprised of Spiritual Objects, beings with intelligence, usually possessing strength far exceeding that of monsters, but they could communicate and were extremely rare.

Over 95% of Star Realm creatures belonged to the category of monsters.

The lowest-level "ordinary" monsters lacked abilities, similar to the fierce beasts on Earth, relying only on their bodies and limbs to hunt for food.

With increasing longevity, life evolved, and many ordinary monsters would awaken to abilities, becoming even stronger.

These evolved monsters were at the Strange Level.

Within the Strange Level monsters, stronger individuals would surface, awakening to more abilities and generally becoming leaders of their groups. However, they had not evolved and were considered "Elites" among the Strange Level monsters.

Some Elites were very strong, others were weak, with a huge gap between the upper and lower limits of strength.

The weak were almost like ordinary wild beasts.

The strong were even more formidable than Advanced Mutants.

The Hunting Teams of Earth’s Mutants mostly hunted monsters of the "Strange" and "Elite" levels.

Elite monsters that evolved again could transcend the limits of their species, awaken more abilities hidden within their genes, and like intelligent races, integrate new species, becoming extremely fearsome.

This class of monsters was known as "Superior Level."

The spiders Ji Xinghuo had just killed were mostly ordinary monsters, with only three Strange level creatures.

Their leader was an Elite monster.

By gauging the magnetic field strength, this Elite Level Shadow Roaming Spider was roughly as powerful as an Advanced Mutant, but it didn’t think, hunting its prey by instinct alone.

Ren Mian pondered for a few seconds and then ordered, "Xiaochi, go lure it out. Caiyi, follow him to protect Xiaochi from the shadows, but do not leave the range of Xinghuo’s shots."

"No problem."

Chi Zhonglin’s long spear paused in his grip, its shaft turning red and hot, as dark scales surfaced on his skin. He then charged towards the direction of the spider leader.

In just a few seconds, he had rushed into the center of the spider swarm.

The entire swarm suddenly went into a frenzy, like a pot boiling over. From the shadows above the trees, pairs of crimson compound eyes appeared, emitting shrill, squeaking noises.

Flutter flutter flutter!

Ren Mian reached out to touch the Fire Tree Silver Flower beside him. The whole tree shook violently, and more than a dozen leaves fell from it, soaring above Chi Zhonglin’s head, and then exploded.

Bang bang bang bang...

A series of explosions, filled with flames and white light, engulfed the entire woods, igniting the branches and leaves within a dozen meters.

The Shadowcrawler spiders, creatures that feared light, immediately fled from the shadows.

But they didn’t retreat; instead, they targeted the closest prey, diving towards Chi Zhonglin on the ground. They opened their fangs and sprayed a large web of spider silk from their bellies.

Amid the flames and screams, the sound of the bowstring vibrating was drowned out.

Ji Xinghuo continued to shoot.

His right hand moved so fast it almost formed afterimages, releasing seven arrows in five seconds.

Each arrow hit its target, with one piercing through one regular Shadowcrawler and then embedding itself in a second one behind it, achieving a two-in-one shot!

Chi Zhonglin stood in the middle of the ground, originally prepared to battle the creatures.

However, before he could even make a move, the bodies of eight Shadowcrawlers were dropping around him like rain.

Ji Xinghuo glanced at the interface.

[Spiritual Origin Ability +2]

Just then, a Strange Level spider attacked from the side, less than five meters away. It sprayed a white web at Chi Zhonglin, but suddenly a blade of light emerged from thin air, slicing through the web and cutting the Shadowcrawler in half along with it.

Jiangnan Caiyi’s figure flashed and vanished again.

[Spiritual Origin Ability +1]

While extracting another arrow, Ji Xinghuo thought that you could gain Spiritual Origin Ability even from targets not killed by yourself.

After shooting down another regular spider, he reminded mentally, "Sister Ren, watch out for the tree on the left."

Two Shadowcrawlers had already circled to both sides.

They were very cautious, not daring to show themselves in the bright light of the Fire Tree Silver Flower but used Shadow Escape to lurk beneath the tree and gradually approach from the ground.

"Leave it to me."

Ren Mian pulled out a thorn and casually threw it to the left, hitting precisely behind the large tree where the two large spiders were hiding.

The thorn rooted upon hitting the ground and instantly grew to four or five meters long, as thick as an arm, covered in spikes; it was like a python wrapping around the two Shadowcrawlers, then contracting inward, the spikes piercing into the spiders’ bodies, strangling them to death.

[Spiritual Origin Ability +2]

Ji Xinghuo felt the joy of a bountiful harvest.

On the ground, Chi Zhonglin was like a beacon of light, his flesh attracting spiders like moths to a flame, but not a single one could come within five meters of him; all were shot through the air and fell dead.

Spider corpses littered the ground.

Chi Zhonglin leaned on his long spear amidst the bodies, scratching his chin out of boredom; a spark had splashed there earlier, making it a bit itchy.

The battle lasted less than a minute, and the swarm’s numbers had shrunk by more than half.

The monsters’ survival instincts took over.

No more spiders charged out. Ren Mian’s plan to use Zhonglin as bait to lure out the elite leader had failed. In Ji Xinghuo’s magnetic field perception, the remaining Shadowcrawlers were retreating, including that elite leader.

"It’s escaping."

Ji Xinghuo felt a sense of urgency.

The Strange Level spiders had been almost completely killed off, and it mattered little if the regular ones fled, but the elite leader could not be let go—that was Spiritual Origin Ability!

He immediately activated the Gale Battle Boots, his speed surged, and in just a few strides, he reached Chi Zhonglin’s position and continued forward for dozens of meters.

By now, the elite leader had retreated far and was two hundred meters away from Ji Xinghuo. It was leaping quickly between trees, the distance growing increasingly larger. It was barely visible through the dense foliage, creating only a fleeting shadow, impossible to make out clearly.

Ji Xinghuo drew a Capacitor Arrow and nocked it to the bowstring.

At the same time, his Wanxiang Star Pupil locked on to the huge spider; turning his back to his three teammates, he activated the Myriad Phenomena!

The world seemed to stop.

In front of Ji Xinghuo, streams of illusory light appeared, with countless interweaving shadows predicting possible futures.

A moment later, he released the sparkling Capacitor Arrow.

Then he deactivated the Myriad Phenomena.

To Ren Mian and the others, it looked as if Ji Xinghuo casually shot an arrow after catching up, barely aiming, as the Capacitor Arrow pierced through layers of branches and leaves, disappearing into the dim forest.

Chi Zhonglin shook his head and laughed, "You just wasted ten thousand Ya Yuan."

As his words fell, there came a pained roar from not far off in the woods, followed by the sound of many branches and leaves breaking.

Thump!

A heavy body crashed to the ground—it was the leader of the Shadowcrawler spiders.