Demon Immortal

Red Spotted Spiders lived in groups. They were the kind of animals that didn't act alone. They had a Spider Queen which is commonly known as the Spotted Spider Queen among cultivators. 

It controlled the colony with an iron grip. No spider will disobey its orders and they would all follow it with blind obedience. Only when the Spotter Spider Queen dies, will another take its place. And only with its direction will the other spiders attack or withdraw.

The Red Spotted Spider in general had the strength of a Violet Palace realm cultivator. With the Spotted Spider reaching the pinnacle of the Violet Palace realm. Duncan had read about these rare breeds of spiders while scouring the sect annals for information about the cultivation world. That is how he knew the value of the Spotted Spider Silk as well.

So, he had no worries about attacking the entire colony brazenly. He knew that at most the Spider Queen would have reached the pinnacle of the Violet Palace realm. Even before entering the Ancient Battlefield, Duncan was able to fight toe to toe against a late-stage Violet Palace cultivator.

With his recent enlightenment in the sword garden and his attainment of an embryonic form of sword domain, Duncan had the confidence to go one-on-one with the Spider Queen directly.

When it came to confronting these kinds of colony beasts that had a collective mind, cultivators had already worked out how to defeat them easily. Once the king or queen dies, the colony beasts will devolve into infighting to determine the next leader. Unless they accomplish that, they wouldn't be attacking anyone else.

So, the best way for Duncan to deal with this was to assassinate the Spider Queen, collect the Spotted Spider Silk, and slink away before the new queen or king was determined. That way, he would avoid getting dragged into fighting the entire colony by himself.

However, Duncan didn't have the patience to act so cautiously at present. Right now, he wanted to get his hands on the Spotted Spider Silk in the most direct manner – taking on the entire colony and killing them. He didn't even stop to consider which way was more suitable.

Duncan obviously knew the right method to approach this problem due to his knowledge of the beasts. But, he preferred to just steamroll over the colony instead of slinking around. He didn't think it was necessary at all. 

Moreover, Duncan was currently very eager to test his recently obtained sword skills. He wanted to test out his new creation and see its handiwork with his own eyes. So, he didn't hesitate to step out and approach the crevice with a confident posture.

As Duncan neared the colony, his presence was noticed by the sentry spiders quickly. They tried to warn away Duncan by waving their mandibles and hissing at him. But, Duncan didn't take them seriously at all.

In front of such a horde of treasure, Duncan didn't care about these useless threats. If it was the Spider Queen in front of him, he might have paused for a bit. But, ultimately, he wouldn't have backed out.

It was pretty rare for cultivators like him to come across such a rare opportunity to acquire wealth. Even though many know or have heard of the Red Spotted Spiders, the chance of a cultivator running into them is very rare as well.

One of the important factors for the Spider Queen to build its colony underground is that they prefer the kind of place that is brimming with magma and lava. The amount of fire qi required for the colony to prosper was enormous. Ordinary environments will not sustain them for long.

Thus Red Spotted Spiders can only be found in regions that are similar to a volcano. Even then, some sects have acquired these volcanoes and prevented other people from accessing them willy-nilly.

They had also begun farming these spiders in a bid to have more money by grooming them. Even with such heavy-handed measures, there is always a demand for more Spotted Spider Silk. The scarcity of such an environment and the spiders themselves have made it a very lucrative trade for some sects.

So, very rarely did a cultivator come across such a golden opportunity. And Duncan wasn't planning on missing it.

Duncan paid no attention to the spiders that were hissing at him. He brazenly walked towards the silk strands that were hung all over the cavern and began collecting them excitedly.

Seeing this, the spiders became even more agitated and started chattering among themselves. Duncan knew that it was only a matter of time before the information about his deeds reached the Spider Queen prompting it to issue some sort of response. And that response will most likely have these spiders attacking him.

So, Duncan didn't plan on wasting time. He began collecting the silk strands with even more gusto. The chattering in the surroundings increased severalfold as the spiders began making threatening gestures and surrounding him. 

While the spiders wouldn't attack him, they would also not let him act wantonly. They tried to limit his movement space by forming a circle around him and forcing him to stay put. 

This pissed off Duncan. 

To him, these spiders were blocking his way to become wealthy. He never even considered them to be beasts of the Violet Palace realm. He knew he could mow through them easily.

But, the important thing right now was to collect as many silk strands as possible before the Spider Queen came out. So, he didn't want to get into needless fights. Duncan immediately employed his movement technique and escaped the encirclement easily. He once again went on with his collecting spree causing the spiders to become more animated.

It was clear to Duncan that the information had already been passed to the higher-ups in the colony's command structure. And it will only be a matter of time before the Spider Queen makes its appearance.

As Duncan expected, the Spider Queen did show up within a few minutes causing the surrounding chatter to die immediately. Duncan looked over and found a slim and sleek spider looking at him with anger in its eyes. 

Duncan cockily smiled back at it and went about collecting the silk strands once more.

The Spider Queen hissed causing all the other spiders to immediately launch at him. Duncan had been ready for such a moment even before the Spider Queen appeared. 

He evaded most of the pounces from the spiders and went about his job easily. If he couldn't evade a pounce for some reason, he simply swatted these spiders away with his qi-infused hand, causing the Spider Queen to become even more enraged.

What followed was a cat-and-mouse game all over the cavern. Duncan's movement technique provided him with far more flexibility and mobility causing most attempts by the spiders to become a mere nuisance.

The spider queen saw all this and became completely mad. Duncan wasn't collecting mere silk strands. These silk strands were woven by its colony for their benefit. They used it to hunt, kill, and even store food. It was an important resource to the colony. 

So, naturally, the spider queen wasn't going to allow a cocky stranger to obtain them without a fight. 

Even though Duncan was anticipating such a reaction, the spider queen's speed really took Duncan by surprise. If not for his reflexes, he would have been hit by it already.

The moment the spider queen made the move, the surrounding spiders stopped attacking him as well. Duncan looked at the spider queen which had just now tried to ram into him. He could see that the spider queen was ready for a battle at the moment.

Duncan didn't waste his time either. He took out his sword and started attacking it back as well. The fight between the duo began in earnest. Both sides came at each other with the intent to kill.

Duncan's sword slashes were easily negated by the Spider Queen's strong body. It tanked the attacks without even flinching much. This caused Duncan to increase the level of damage he was inflicting on it.

When the new attack landed, the spider queen received it with his mandibles and attacked back by shooting out a thread of fiery red silk toward Duncan. Duncan naturally avoided these threads with his movement technique.

Another cat-and-mouse game began immediately after that as Spider Queen tried its damn best to contain Duncan. However, Duncan wasn't going to sit by idly either. He cut through the silk strands that were launched at him with ease and created enough breathing room for him.

Their dance took them all over the cavern causing severe damage to be inflicted on the spider silk that was present. Duncan's heart ached to see such a waste. The spider queen wasn't feeling any better. Even after attacking for so long, only its home was getting damaged.

The Spider Queen and Duncan stared at each other for some time, before the Spider Queen once more started to attack Duncan with increased fervor… 

*****