Chapter 45: Spider Skill Mastery
Terrence didn’t know what happened, but just in the nick of time, he activated Skill Share with the Shadow Hound. He unleashed a rapid Triple Slash, the black energy arcs bursting forward just enough to push Gilbert away from them.
The weakened, white humanoid deer beast tried to step in and help, but it appeared to be useless now that it was heavily injured and ragged.
Terrence pitied the noble beast, but there was nothing to be done for it right now. That creature would surely die if it had to catch another attack that strong.
Good thing he had fully recovered from the severe injuries he sustained earlier. The System really did work in wonders. Even if he didn’t fully understand how it accomplished such miracles, it didn’t matter.
’Shit... what was that error?’ Terrence shook his head vigorously, removing his worry. ’I shouldn’t try that again next time. No experiments in a real fight.’
He stood up tall and faced Gilbert, whose facial veins were bulging with rage. Terrence tilted his head in pure mockery, reading the confused and angry opponent standing a few paces before him.
"What now? Where’s all that confidence from earlier?" Terrence taunted.
Gilbert snarled and tried to attack again, but this time, the humanoid deer beast intercepted him with its remaining skill, projecting a heavenly wall of blinding light that stopped Gilbert dead in his tracks.
Breathing laboriously, Gilbert connected his hands to one another, his fingers pointed directly at each other. As he slowly retracted and separated his hands, much thicker spider threads materialized between his palms.
’That’s a hell of a versatile Skill Share. I guess he can utilize it however he wants. Sharp, blunt, thin, almost invisible—he doesn’t have to worry about the form at all,’ Terrence thought, mentally assessing Gilbert’s full mastery over Skill Share with his beasts.
’But what kind of beasts does he actually have? The bigger one clearly focuses on physical prowess, but the smaller one has mind control? Does that even make sense?’
Terrence shook his head. Things didn’t have to make sense right now because the very next second, Gilbert lunged forward again—though this time, he didn’t charge directly.
Dashing toward a massive ancient tree, Gilbert leaped onto the trunk, sticking to the higher part of the wood before throwing a massive, sticky spider net toward Terrence. It traveled so fast that Terrence couldn’t easily dodge it, especially with its wide, sweeping reach. The heavy net slammed over his feet, sticking his boots to the dirt, restraining his movement and causing him to fall to the ground.
With quick thinking, Terrence used Triple Slash to cut through the thick fibers, breaking free just before he could be bombarded by an uncountable number of follow-up spider nets.
’Just how is he spamming that so fast? If not for the System completely recovering my body, I wouldn’t have been able to dodge that at all.’
Not knowing the full hidden effects of those spider nets, Terrence didn’t risk getting hit again. He fixed his stance, his eyes narrowing as all of his senses heightened.
Terrence lunged forward this time, refusing to wait for Gilbert’s next attack to hit him. He had properly set up his Skill Share now, and even though he couldn’t utilize the S-Rank Vampire Butler’s abilities at the moment, the Shadow Hound’s skills would be more than enough to handle this.
He just had to be creative with his skill combinations.
Gilbert crawled swiftly to the opposite side of the tree trunk. Terrence was already airborne, his blade glowing as he prepared to unleash Triple Slash mid-jump.
However, Gilbert vanished from sight, leaping from one tree to another in a stream of blurry, rapid fragments that were barely noticeable to the naked eye.
Terrence caught himself on a thick branch, revolving around it before standing upright on top of it with a perfectly balanced body.
He scanned the canopy for Gilbert but failed to pin him down as the man slipped fluidly through the high trees.
’Not just sticky, but he’s ridiculously slippery up there too.’
He couldn’t find Gilbert. Considering how agile Gilbert was moving, it was surprising he could navigate this kind of environment so easily.
’Did he gain some kind of mutation from Skill Share? That movement isn’t normal.’
Gilbert moved like a jumping spider, bounding through the terrain with terrifying ease.
Finally, Terrence spotted Gilbert’s shadow and maximized the output of Light Body. Activating Dash, he planted his feet on a branch and accelerated even further. Turning into a blur, he caught Gilbert by the ankles in mid-air. Both of them slammed onto the forest floor, rolling multiple times through the dirt and leaves.
Ending up on top of him, Terrence slammed his hands onto Gilbert’s neck, his eyes darting with sharp intensity.
Gilbert simply smirked. From directly above them, a massive net dropped down, smothering the two of them. However, this specific spider net carried a completely different type of attack... a heavy mental spell.
"You think you can outpower me with just physical strength?" Gilbert mocked, grinning beneath the web. "Think again. I can’t just alter the density of these spider threads into whatever shape I want, but I can also trigger mental effects the second they stick to you."
Terrence became completely frozen in place as the mental assault started violently rummaging through his mind. Taking advantage of the paralysis, Gilbert easily slipped out from beneath the trap.
"When a massive amount of thread is attached directly, the mental spell is exponentially enhanced," Gilbert explained, brushing dirt off his clothes. "Now... I wonder how you will try to go around this one..."
Terrence couldn’t move a single muscle, staring blankly upward as Gilbert looked down on him with a cold, sinister smile. His lost confidence had now fully returned, and the situation between them had flipped back in his favor.
"Now... now... it is time to finally wrap this up. Enough with the games."
However, as Gilbert stepped closer to deliver the final blow, there was something he didn’t expect at all.