Merlin using shadow step and his shadow propelled him away from the venomous attack. The spider turned its massive body towards Merlin and glared at him with its eight red eyes. It unleashed a malicious killing intent that would scare any normal being but Merlin just stood there unfazed.
"Hey spider. How about we don't waste time and focus on killing each other," Merlin said as he let out a yawn. The spider was a bit confused at the soul fighter's words but decided to do what he just said.
As the spider moved, its legs rippled and flexed, propelling it forward with an unnatural speed and agility. As the spider got closer to Merlin, its leg shot forward with an unnatural speed. Merlin activated shadow step once again, propelling his figure away from incoming attack.
Merlin manipulated the shadows in the cave and created ten spears that gave of an eerie feeling and threw the spear into one of the spider's eye but the attacked was negated by an invisible forcefield that encased its entire body.
"Ah shit," Merlin muttered to himself.
The spider lunged at him at insane speeds as it launched its front leg to impel him in the chest. Merlin sidestepped the attack just in the nick of time and the shadows bended to his will once more and gathered around his hand and formed a sword that resembled a longsword.
As he was about to thrust his sword forward, he felt an invisible line attach to his body. The line pulled his body away from the spider and threw his entire body to the wall forming a human-sized dent in the wall. A wave of pain spread through his entire body but he didn't seem bothered in the slightest.
He stood up and removed the scythe from his back. His bones started to heal and go back to their correct places. He commanded his shadow to wrap itself around his scythe and his shadow listened to his master's will. The shadow traveled from under his feet to his body and then wrapped itself around the blade of the scythe.
He rushed towards with lightning-fast speed and when he got closer the spider attacked. The spider spit out its venomous saliva at Merlin. The green venomous saliva travelled at speed that can't be perceived by the naked eye making it impossible to dodge for a normal soul fighter but Merlin wasn't any normal soul fighter. He dodged the attack due to his soul essence detection.
The saliva hit the surface of a rock and it corroded in less than a second. Merlin wasn't that surprised since he already had a guess on what type of spider it is and his hunch was right. The was a demon spider. The soul beast was an arachnid type soul beast, known for its immense strength, deadly speed, tough exoskeleton and its deadly corrosive poison.
Its poison was dangerous and Merlin had to avoid getting in contact with the poison at all costs because regenerating while your body is corroding is painful and take too much soul essence which Merlin wanted to avoid unnecessary soul essence expenditure.
He dodged a few more poison attacks from the spider and when he got closer, he swung his scythe, striking its leg joint. The force behind his was indeed powerful but it wasn't powerful enough to cut right through the barrier that encased its body
Since Merlin was too close to the spider, it used this opportunity to strike him with its powerful leg. Its leg shot forward, threatening to harm him. Merlin manipulated the shadow once again and black tendrils sprouted from the ceiling and caught its leg before the attack hit.
Merlin used shadow step to appear on the spider's head and swung his scythe to deal a devastating blow to the head but the attack only grazed the giant spider and the blade of the scythe broke to a million pieces.
"I should've have bought a better scythe," he said with a bit of regret. He had the money but he didn't buy anything because of his laziness and his stinginess when it comes to the use of money. One of the many things that he believed in was 'Why buy a new weapon when the weapon you currently own isn't broken yet'
Of course, this was he was his only just a phrase he made in order to justify his stinginess. Anyway, he decided that now wasn't the time to reflect on his past mistakes and how he spends his money since he had a poisonous giant spider to deal with.
He jumped of the spider back and use the shadows to attach tendrils on his back to attack the spider. His tendrils lashed out with incredible speed and pinpoint accuracy. The barrier that encased the spider started to form cracks. The spider noticed the cracks on its barrier and tried to evade most of Merlin's attacks. The more the spider moved back the weaker the attacks from the shadow tendrils.
The spider guessed that Merlin's shadow tendrils have to be in a certain range in order for the them to deal more damage.
To put this theory to the test the spider retreated using its powerful legs to jump a few meters back. The tendrils still reached the spider but the attacks were weaker in comparison to when they were closer. Merlin noticed that the spider figured out how his shadow tendrils work. His shadow tendrils range is unlimited as long as he has enough shadows but there are stronger at close range whilst weaker at long range.
Merlin deactivated shadow tendrils and manipulated the spider's shadow. Tendrils sprouted from the spider's shadow and wrapped around the spider's legs, restricting the spider's movement. He lunged at the spiders and wrapped his hands with his shadows. As he got closer, his fists shot forward and hit the spider's barrier, shattering it like glass.
A sword made from blue light appeared in his hand. He swung his sword to decapitate the spider's head but the spider dodged and breathed out poisonous corrosive gas that filled the entire room. The gas impaired his vision and his ability to detect the spider's presence.
The corrosive gas burnt his skin but due his healing factor, the wounds quickly healed like they were never there to begin with.
He could feel the soul essence in his soul core depleting at an alarming rate since it was being used to heal and the more soul essence he lost; his body felt weaker. He also felt a bit drowsy but he forced himself to stay awake.
He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He manipulated the shadows and used to track the spider's movements.
[You have learnt a new talent…]
Merlin ignored the voice of the system. After a while, he was able to find the spider. His created five light swords and shot them at the spider's direction.
[You have slain a Demon Spider]
[Level up]
[Level up]