The forest fell silent—too silent.
Only the faint crackle of Daniel's flickering flames and the whisper of the breeze through the web-choked trees remained. The Queen Silk Spider stood tall, its obsidian carapace glistening beneath the filtered rays of sunlight that pierced through the canopy. Each of its eight blade-like legs tapped the forest floor with surgical grace, drawing a slow circle around Daniel.
Daniel turned with it, palms ablaze, eyes narrowed.
"You want to wrap me up again, huh?" he muttered. "Let's see if your threads can handle fire this time."
Suddenly, the spider lunged—its massive body launching forward with terrifying speed. One leg struck the ground just inches from Daniel, cracking the earth like a hammer. Without thinking, Daniel dove to the side, rolling to his feet and blasting a stream of fire from his palm.
FWOOOOSH!
The flame struck the spider's side—but the creature twisted, using its thick leg to block, only getting a light scorch. It hissed in fury and countered, spitting a net of glowing silk in Daniel's direction.
"Too slow!" Daniel shouted, launching himself upward with a burst of fire beneath his boots, flipping mid-air to avoid the incoming web.
From his aerial view, he spotted the glistening dome of silk below—its lair—half-hidden among the trees.
But he had no time to marvel.
The spider jumped after him.
"Are you kidding me?!" Daniel gasped as the Queen Silk Spider slammed into a tree trunk mid-air and rebounded with unnatural agility, her fangs clicking in anticipation.
CRACK!
The force of the Queen's landing split the ground as she skidded, turning to face him with lightning speed. Daniel barely landed when a leg swiped at him horizontally like a steel whip.
He ducked—but not fast enough.
The leg grazed his side, sending him crashing into a tree. Bark shattered around him, and his breath whooshed out in a pained grunt.
"Damn... she hits hard…" he thought, coughing.
The spider didn't pause. It shot another web—this time, aimed at the trees above Daniel.
And before he could move, the canopy collapsed.
The sticky net fell on him like a silken avalanche, pinning him to the ground.
He struggled, fire forming again in his hands—but this time, the silk was thicker, dampened with some kind of venom that resisted heat. The fire barely sizzled.
The Queen advanced, each step a death knell. Her fangs dripped with paralyzing toxin. Her legs twitched in excitement.
Daniel's eyes widened. "I'm out of time."
Then—he stopped resisting.
He took a deep breath.
And whispered, "Ignite."
A circle of red glyphs blazed to life beneath him—the air twisted, the ground glowed.
"Flame Core: Burst Reign."
BOOM!
A pillar of flame exploded outward, incinerating the silk in an instant and throwing the spider backward, shrieking as its front legs charred black.
Daniel stood, eyes glowing, his hair dancing with heat.
The air shimmered around him. The grass burned beneath his feet.
The Queen screamed in anger and pain, but Daniel was already in motion.
He dashed forward, dodging a venomous strike, leaped onto a rock, and vaulted toward her head. Mid-air, he twisted, flames spiraling around his fists.
---
Lisa's eyes glimmered with a quiet confidence as she watched the screen. Dust and ash still clouded the view where moments ago, the Queen Silk Spider had snared Daniel in her web. The camera slowly zoomed in, catching a glimpse of the spot where the monster loomed, her many legs shifting with eerie grace, fangs glistening.
"You really think he can survive that thing?" the young male instructor asked again, disbelief clear in his tone.
Lisa didn't look at him right away. Her gaze remained fixed on the monitor, her lips curling into a subtle smile.
"That boy's different. Others fight to win... but Daniel?" she paused, eyes narrowing thoughtfully, "He doesn't fear losing. He needs to prove himself. That need... makes him far more dangerous than anyone else here realizes."
There was no arrogance in her voice, no empty pride. Just certainty.
Across the room, representatives from various powerful guilds sat in silence, eyes locked onto the live feed. Each of them had come to scout promising candidates. Yet none had expected this boy — who hadn't slain a single monster so far — to be the one commanding their attention.
"Still... that's the Queen of the jungle," one of the scouts muttered. "If he makes even one mistake, she'll tear him apart."
Onscreen, Daniel stood facing the massive arachnid, his expression unreadable. His clothes were torn, his face streaked with dirt and sweat — but his eyes burned with something fierce. Determination. Desperation. Fire.
Lisa folded her arms, eyes never leaving the screen.
"Then let's see how he chooses to survive."
---
For several minutes, Daniel narrowly evaded the acidic projectiles hurled at him. The Queen Silk Spider spat its venomous attacks with deadly precision, each one sizzling into the earth where he'd just been standing. Steam hissed through the air as the acid corroded everything it touched, but Daniel moved with instinctive grace, his eyes scanning ahead for any opening.
Then, an opportunity revealed itself.
The moment he spotted a minor pause in the spider's pattern, Daniel lunged forward, preparing to strike. His body twisted mid-air, ready to unleash a fire-infused blade strike directly at its head.
But—
He stopped. In the blink of an eye, he froze mid-flight, his senses screaming.
There it was.
Threads.
Invisible to the average eye, but not to him. Daniel's vision was far from normal. His eyes were enhanced — a gift, or perhaps a curse — capable of detecting even the finest details and the most distant shifts in the air.
Thin silk threads.
Dozens. Hundreds. Crisscrossing the entire area like an invisible net.
They weren't like the sticky webs she had used before. No, these were sharper. Stronger. Razor-fine filaments that could slice through steel — or flesh.
Had I not seen them... I'd already be dead.
Daniel gritted his teeth, landing gracefully and retreating before he could be skewered mid-air.
He had read about this in a hidden section of the Academy archives — the same trap that had once caught Vanessa.
Back then, there had been no drones watching her. No audience. The Queen Silk Spider had torn her apart limb by limb. It had devoured a part of her. But Vanessa hadn't died. No — she had taken over the spider's mind from the inside. Claimed it. Bent it to her will. Later, the drones misinterpreted her revival — mistaking her gruesome, bloody rebirth as something inappropriate, they cut surveillance.
They never knew what truly happened.
And now, Daniel stood before the same beast.
He narrowed his eyes, thinking.
This creature... with time, it can evolve to rival a God Beast. Right now, it isn't there yet... but it's close.
Should I defeat it and offer it to Vanessa as a gift? No. First, I'd have to conquer it. Subdue it.
His mind raced.
But even as he strategized, his instincts warned him — Not yet.
In one swift decision, Daniel turned and bolted, dashing deeper into the forest.
He didn't look back.
Behind him, the Queen Silk Spider didn't give chase. She remained still, territorial, unmoving — guarding her domain like a silent executioner.
Daniel clenched his fists as he ran.
"Next time," he muttered under his breath, "I'll come prepared."