Death... and me

Rean and Roan knew nothing about what was happening. Instead, they just kept moving forward in the direction of the search range. Every now and then, they would bump into Demon Beasts. Still, as mentioned before, the majority of them were Stage Two or Three. These kinds of Demon Beasts posed little to no threat to the twins.

Of course, Stage Four Beasts also appeared. As strong as the twins might be, there was also a limit to how much they could fight against. At their Initial Stage of the Core Formation Realm, Rean and Roan could fight on equal terms with a Middle Stage Four demon beast while going all out. They only had a small advantage over Initial Stage Four Ones as well.

'Death Style, Second Form, Crescent Moon!'

*Creee!*

An arc of Light and Dark Element came from the twin's swords, aiming at a mob of demon beasts in front of them. Kentucky followed right behind the attack, flashing against any demon beast that dodged the attack.

*Swish, swish, swish!*

*Puchi, puchi, puchi!*

One demon beast after another dropped dead to the ground. Still, that was far from being enough. They had a cave to rest and didn't find anything with their Spiritual Senses at first. However, the cave was really deep, so they couldn't see that far. However, after staying there during the night, they suddenly felt the ground tremble. It turned out that the cave was also a lair for a bunch of Dark Cave Spiders.

The majority were only Stage Two ones, with a few Stage Three in the middle. However, the problem was that there were too many of them attacking the twins and Kentucky. Besides, they could tell with their Spiritual Sense that a Stage Four Beast was controlling all these spiders at the very back. It was quite intelligent since it knew how to use mobs to worn out its prey.

"Roan, should we retreat?"

The battle didn't have much meaning since they couldn't approach the Mother Spider at the back. Besides, they were close to the entrance. As long as they turned around and run, those spiders wouldn't be able to stop the three of them.

However, Roan shook his head.

"No need. Let's take this opportunity to see how long we can last with our Spiritual Energy. I want to see if we will run out of energy or reach the mother spider first."

Rean didn't mind since they had the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm for any emergency.

"Alright."

'Death Style, Third Form, Three Claws of the Dragon.'

'Death Style, First Form...'

'Life Style...'

*Creee!*

The battle continued for thirty minutes. Finally, the Mother Spider began to run out of subordinates and decided to step forward.

Of course, it wasn't easy for the twins either. Both Rean and Roan had been hit by the spiders several times. Besides, these spiders' main issue was their poison. If not because Rean had his Third Form, Purification, they would have collapsed a long time ago. At the very least, they would need to consume some anti-poison pills.

Suddenly, the mother spider shot her web forward, trying to catch the twins unprepared. However, the only one stuck by it was Kentucky. Sure enough, Kentucky still only knew how to rely on speed and raw power. It lacked experience.

Seeing the chance, the Mother Spider controlled her brethren to hold Rean and Roan back while she attacked Kentucky. Stage Four Demon Beasts were only one realm away from acquiring sentience, so they were already intelligent enough to understand prioritizing something in battles.

Kentucky saw the Mother Spider coming at him and immediately ignited his feathers. Light and Dark Flames spread out of his body, and they destroyed the web holding him in place.

*Shiiii...*

Still, it was too late. The Mother Spider descended as it attacked with its mandibles.

*Crash!*

Although the Mother Spider was giant, Kentucky was quite big himself. It would be impossible for the Mother Spider to swallow him whole. That being said, she tried to crush his head first.

However, she really underestimated the Minokawa's defense. Some blood trickled out of Kentucky's head, but it was due to superficial damage to his skin. Most of the attack damage was stopped by the blade-like feathers and scales.

Well, Kentucky still panicked once he saw his head inside the Spider Mother's mouth.

*Creeeeee!*

His Dark and White Flames then burst with even more ferocity as he used his wings and legs to get himself free. The Mother Spider's defense was also quite good. However, the insides of her mouth were not as resistant. She could only resist the Life Destroying and Extreme Heat of the flames for a few seconds before giving up and letting Kentucky go.

Kentucky fell to the ground as the Mother Spider was pulled back with the help of her webs above the air. However, those few seconds were enough for Rean and Roan to open a path through the Mother Spider's younglings. The Mother Spider only had time to see the twins under her as they soared in her direction. Not only that. It wasn't just two enemies, but six instead!

'Death Style, Fifth Form, Mirage Assault!'

'Death Style, Four Form, Soaring Dragon!'

Three Reans and Roans soared as their Swords brimmed with Light and Dark Elements and Spiritual Energy.

*Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!*

The Mother Spider was hit on her belly where her defense was the weakest.

*Hisssssss!*

The Spider Mother hissed as green blood poured down like fountains. Still, the Mother Spider was a Middle Stage Four demon beast. Not to mention that her younglings came to give her help in the very next moment.

Without any choice, Rean and Roan could only defend against the suicidal attacks of the weaker ones since there were still quite a few of them.

*Clang, clang, clang, clang...*

Rean looked at the Mother Spider as it shot back into the cave.

"It's running away."

Roan shook his head in response.

"Leave it. There is no way we can catch it in its territory. Besides, we are completely spent already."

That last Mirage Assault and Soaring Dragon had drained the rest of the twins' Spiritual Energy.

Rean looked at Kentucky and could see the same using its Light Element to heal its head injuries. Seeing that, Rean sighed in relief. When the Spider Mother pressed her mandibles around Kentucky's head, Rean really thought it would be crushed by it.

Roan ignored everything before saying.

"Let's leave this place. The Dark Cave Spider Mother's younglings will keep attacking us without stopping, thinking that we will try to pursue her. We can't stay here anymore."

Rean arrived beside Kentucky and used his Purification Skill to accelerate the process of getting rid of the Spider Mother's poison inside Kentucky.

"Alright. Let's go."

Right after, the three of them shot out of the cave, leaving the Dark Cave Spiders behind. However, as soon as they passed through the cave entrance, the Spiders pursuing them stopped. It seemed like the Spider Mother gave them an order to not leave the cave.

That was a good thing for the twins. They noticed that there were no Demon Beasts around, most likely because they knew that this place was the Spider Mother's territory. Now that the Spider Mother was injured, she wouldn't come out anytime soon, nor would her subordinates. This meant that they had a perfect place to rest.

They didn't go too far before concealing themselves beside a small cliff. Only then did the twins and Kentucky take out Spirit Stones to recover their Spiritual Energy.

"Phew... As expected of Stage Four Demon beasts. Even after being hit by Six Soaring Dragons at once, it still survived and ran away."

Roan nodded.

"That's good. It's this kind of battle I wish to experience."

Roan felt excellent since the number of enemies just now forced him to use his Shadow Steps to the limit. Still, he and Rean were hit by the spiders' attacks many, many times. That showed how much he had to improve with his techniques.

'Indeed. Battles with Spiritual Energy are completely different from Battles without it.'

The same could be said to Rean since his First Form, Enhancement, was active during the entire battle. The progress was slow. Still, Rean got even better at how to lock the Light Element in their body little by little, preventing it from escaping. That was the base of most of his Life Style Skills.

Rean then looked at Kentucky before asked Roan.

"What do you think?"

Roan understood what Rean meant before saying.

"There is nothing much that can be done. Kentucky is too young, so expecting impressive reflexes from it will not bring us anywhere. He can only rely on his own instincts to get better at fighting. However, it does, indeed, learn very fast. I doubt it would fall into the Spider Mother's Webs a second time in the same situation. I guess, no, it is definitely due to its impressive bloodline. It just has to stop relying on its defense so much."

Rean laughed as he remembered Kentucky's frightened expression when the Spider Mother's mouth tried to eat his head.

"Hahaha! Don't worry. After being scared like that, I doubt it will purposely continue to take hits head-on as it has done so far."

Sure enough, Kentucky's head was full of the images of the insides of the Spider Mother's mouth.

Rean then looked at Roan before asking.

"How far are we from the region of search?"

Roan looked at the Jade Slip before saying.

"We are close. Considering our speed, we should arrive there tomorrow afternoon."

Rean nodded as they spent the rest of the night recovering and pondering about today's experiences.