His eyes strained to see before him, but couldn't see much. He instead spread out his divine sense as far as it could go, and the faintest of warnings flared in his mind as he flashed towards Ziora, his battle axe slashing outwards.
Peng!
Sparks flew off the blade of his battle axe, as a sharp object had pierced directly towards the back of Ziora's head. The sparks illuminated the nearby area for a brief instant, and John's eyes locked onto the creature that had been revealed.
A spider, ten yards across and as black as the darkest night stared back at him with dozens of black, beady eyes, while it quickly retracted its stinger. Its body suddenly vanished, blending back into the darkness of the area around them. John's eyes narrowed and guard heightened as he knew the vanishing was not due to the spider's defeat, but its ability to blend into the shadows.
"An Abyss-Shadow Spider!"
"An Abyss-Shadow Spider?" Ziora exclaimed in shock as she reacted to what had happened. She had not even noticed the spider's presence or attack, and had only seen it after the sparks illuminated its body. Were it not for John, she would have no doubt been killed.
However, her true shock was not due to the attack, but the creature that she had seen. Abyss-Shadow spiders were practically legends in terms of lethality. They were nature's perfect assassins, as their speed was incredibly fast, and they had the ability to meld into shadows and blend into darkness, becoming almost undetectable.
"The Jade Dragon Empire sure was cruel," John muttered as he flared his divine sense to his maximum. His eyes narrowed as his divine sense washed over the arena, noticing what was contained within. Hundreds of skeletal human corpses were strewn about, some almost to the point of disintegration. Clearly these were youths from the Jade Dragon Empire, who had died in the hundreds going through this deadly trial.
John also spotted five fresh corpses, clearly belonging to some of the youths that had gone through this trial recently. His face turned serious as he grabbed Ziora's hand, while his body sped forward through the darkness. He guided himself using his Divine Sense, and arrived before one of the fresh bodies on the floor.
The youth he had seen previously leaned against the wall of the arena, blood oozing out of his stomach, while the aura of life around the youth was feeble and weak.. The wound smelled foul, as John could clearly tell that the youth had been stung by the spider's stinger, and afflicted by its venom.
The venom itself was not lethal if treated, but it instantly paralyzed the victim, allowing the spider to consume them at their leisure. While the spider was a formation construct, such formations used the beast cores of animals to emulate both the actions and instincts of the creature. Beast cores were like dantians for beasts, which allowed them to raise their cultivations and grow stronger.
As such, the spider acted as if it were a true living Abyss-Shadow Spider.
Cough!
The youth sprawled against the wall coughed, and his eyes locked onto John's face that he could hardly make out, despite only being two feet away.
"It's you!" the youth said, before his eyes widened with clarity. "Be careful, there's an Abyss-Shadow Spider!"
John stared at the youth, his opinion of the youth rising. Despite his grievous state, he still warned John of the dangers within.
"I know," John replied as a pill suddenly appeared in his hands. It was one of the antidote pills Chase had personally created for the group, and was one that was most effective against spider venoms. While it would fully neutralize the paralyzing venom, it was better than nothing, and would allow the youth to focus on healing himself.
While doing all this, John's divine sense continued to scan for the spider at full power, although he was unable to lock onto it. He could detect faint movements here and there, but the spider's ability to blend into the darkness included obscuring not only vision, but divine senses as well. However, thanks to his incredibly powerful soul, he was able to lock onto the spider's movements much better than most other cultivators.
Its body appeared in his divine sense at varying locations, like it teleported from one place to another in an instant. Such was the ability of the Abyss-Shadow Spider, which made it all the more lethal.
Despite the fact that the spider was at the Early Heaven Tribulation Realm, it was still incredibly lethal. While John did think of raising its strength, he decided against it. He would not be able to ensure the safety of the two other youths if he did so.
John's instincts flared in warning once again, and his finger raised upwards.
Lightning Disintegration!
Lightning instantly blasted out of his finger, illuminating the nearby area. His gaze locked onto the spider that had appeared above him, ready to attack with its stinger. The spider's quick reactions dodged the lightning at the last moment, and blended back into the shadows, disappearing from sight and divine sense once more.
"Hmph, you can hide from others, but in front of me, such actions are futile," John said out loud as his body flashed forward, appearing like a blur of lightning as he activated his Thunderflash Body and Limiter of Speed.
Ziora and the youth watched as John's figure flashed all throughout the darkness, appearing like a streak of lightning. His lightning attacks pierced out with incredible swiftness, each attack illuminating the spider and revealing a small hint of their battle.
Shrieks from the spider filled the cavernous arena, while thunderous explosions from John's lightning attacks did the same. The battle continued for several minutes, before…
Shriek!
An incredibly loud shriek bellowed out, followed by deafening silence. Ziora and the injured youth stared into the darkness in silence, unsure of what the outcome of the battle was. After what felt like an eternity, a figure appeared before them, startling them. However, they both breathed out a sigh of relief as their divine senses revealed the figure to be John.
"The spider?" the injured youth asked.
"Dead!" John replied, his words indicating the lethal threat had finally ended. Both youths breathed out a sigh of relief, when Ziora's eyes opened wide in panic as she stared at a wound on John's body.
"You're been stung by the spider!"
Ziora's eyes instantly widened in panic as her divine sense revealed a wound on John's stomach, with the same foul-smelling venom lingering on the wound.
"You're hurt!" Ziora exclaimed as she appeared before John. John smiled as he spotted the worry on Ziora's face but assuaged her concern.
"I'm fine," John replied calmly, "I got stung on purpose."
"You got stung on purpose? Why would you do such a thing?" Ziora asked, her tone still tinged with concern.
John had done so for two reasons. One was to lock down the spider's movements, as it was quite a troublesome opponent. While he would no doubt defeat it after a while through normal means, he didn't want to leave the injured youth untended for too long. As the spider struck him, he grabbed the stinger, stopping it from retreating, which allowed him to land the finishing blow.
The other was that he wanted to test out his body's resistance to venom. He already knew he was resistant to poison to some extent thanks to the poison room in the Lightning Realm, but didn't know the extent of it. This spider was the perfect opportunity to test that.
While John did feel his body become a bit weaker due to the paralyzing poison, his Immortal Asura Body was able to resist its effects. At the same time, John could tell that his blood was also naturally resistant to poison, perhaps due to his bloodline ability or unique lineage. Regardless of the reason, John was content with the outcome, although he couldn't tell Ziora the real reason for his actions.
John ignored Ziora's question and instead kneeled before the injured youth.
"Thank you," the youth said to John, as he had truly saved his life.
"What happened?" John asked the youth. "Surely you could have managed against this spider?"
While John did not know much about the youth, he could tell from that one sword attack that he was very talented. Although the Abyss-Shadow Spider was incredibly dangerous, the youth should have been able to manage in the end. The youth was no more than a year older than John, and were he the same age as the top geniuses in these lands, he would no doubt be ranked amongst the top fifty. The only disadvantage he had against them was time, as he was younger than most in the realm at age eighteen.
"I did manage to kill the spider," the youth replied while smiling through the pain, "but that's when the second spider appeared, which I was not expecting."
"A second spider?" John exclaimed, while his divine sense flare out again to check if there was a third spider lingering in the shadows.
