“I still do not think that they will be able to defeat it.” Jin felt like going in and settle it once and for all.
“The System had updated its analysis of the Transforming Spider. It seems that it can match the power and speed of any monster it encountered in that particular form. Should User try to fight against it, it might pose as a dangerous foe for User.” The System responded.
“Because it can copy me? But it could not copy the Astral Pandas right?” Jin asked System as he can see Lian was pulling back slowly to their ‘trap’.
“It might not be able to copy the Astral Pandas, but System had noticed that it consistently looked at Qilin Cultivator Lein and noted a few sparks coming out from the Transforming Spider as if to imitate it while fighting with Nine Tail Fox Demon Cultivator Lian.” The System reported that it could still possibly imitate the strength of the Astral Pandas even if it could not copy the Panda silhouetttes.
“So…unless I kill it in one shot,” Jin said and System cautioned that there might be a defensive mechanism in place to prevent itself from being assassinated such as the carapace it produced when Lian tried to attack it.
“Do note that User had used Black Panda Fire and Green Panda Wind in front of the Transforming Spider before. Should User wish to attack it, it’s best to surprise it with White Panda Ice instead.” The System gave its analysis to Jin.
“What a troublesome foe.” Jin folded his arms and continued to see what the demon exorcist trainees could do.
“The trouble would be worth it for your Living Armour upgrade. Gold did not make the wrong choice in choosing the Transforming Spider. And it seems like this particular Transforming Spider is a variant. The same as Thunder Ram Demon Keyrin.” The System replied, and Jin wondered if Gold already knew that all the Elder Demons he chose were variants.
“Just wondering, if people worship Moloch or even Elder Demon Keyrin, will they have the chance to increase their powers like how Lord Wolte did?” Jin asked as he saw Lian finally broke off from the fight and Rong, caught up with their plans, stood against it once again.
“Affirmative, all demons have such potential when they were worshipped or had eaten/killed enough to transform into a variant.” The System stated as it too was interested in this particular trap the cultivators were doing and commanded its magic eye to follow carefully.
“Rong now!” Su Zhen said as she placed her hands on the ground.
“Intermediate Hammer Arts! Rocket Hammer of Ao Ye!” Rong fired up his batter bull horned hammer towards the fake Lian which now turned into fake Rong when facing the Ox Demon Cultivator.
“Intermediate White Demon Snake Technique! Hundred Snake Ambush!” Su Zhen shouted as her hands pressed deeper into the ground, causing chi snakes silhouettes to appear from the ground beneath the Transforming Spider. They all came out to strike the fake Rong when he was distracted with the real one in front of him.
“Epic Qilin Technique! Qilin’s Thunder Implosion!” Lein shouted as he cast his chi skill onto Su Zhen’s snakes as a combination attack while a bolt of lightning struck the Transforming Spider. The fake Rong endured Lein’s bolt of lightning, but that was not the main attack as the snake silhouettes that were affected by the lightning bolt started to implode.
The chi snake silhouettes turned into a ball of energy before collapsing itself and explode the energy from within. It caused considerable damage to the Transforming Spider before it was slammed by Rong’s rocket hammer technique. Without further ado, Rong continued with his Rocket Hammer Combo.
“Intermediate Hammer Arts Combo! Rocket Hammer Slam!” The Transforming Spider being hit by in the gut by the hammer next suffered an explosive impact on its head by Rong. “And lastly! Intermediate Hammer Arts Combo Finisher! Rocket Hammer Earthquake!” Rong threw in all the chi that he had, and the Hammer bounced back from the Rocket Hammer Slam to give Rong the finisher attack.
However, the rest was not convinced that finisher move would kill the Transforming Spider, so both Su Zhen and Lein entered the fight too. “Intermediate White Demon Snake Technique! Hundred Snake Bind!” Su Zhen threw her snake whip towards the Transforming Spider to restrict its movement while Lein jumped high up to release his follow up technique the moment Rong completed his attack.
The bull horned hammer dived towards the Transforming Spider and everyone could hear a rumbling noise when it hit the fake Rong, causing it to lose an arm. (It could have evaded if not for the Hundred Snake Bind.)
“Rong, move! Epic Sword Arts! Burst Horn Strike of the Qilin!” Lein shouted as a silhouette of a Qilin encompassed the whole of Lein and his sword portrayed like the horn of the Qilin. He dived in straight after the Transforming Spider lost its arm and blasted the entire area with electricity.
“Gem Eye! GIVE ME BACK!!!!” The Transforming Spider held onto Lein’s sword not with its other arm but with its spider legs attached at the back of it. That was also when Lein saw that it did not change to a fake Lein nor stayed with fake Rong.
Instead, it went with the face of Jin.
With its free hand, it conjured a towering inferno of fire towards the Lein and the rest of the team. However, the only difference was that it did not shot black flames, but just the regular looking orange fire although the System measured its magical strength to be a near equivalent to the output which Jin had used to save the kids.
“Ah ah ah, that seems like trouble,” Jin said to himself as he saw the Transforming Spider now imitated himself to face the kids.
“Hahah! Looks like the kids can finally get their revenge…that is if they can still stand up. I have to say, this spider demon is stupidly strong. How did you even manage to kill it and use it as your dungeon experience? It’s way too powerful for current users.” Claire commented.
“That is why I did mention this was a prototype dungeon that I had been messing with. I needed some …erm tester input before I could put it out for the other cultivators to try. Or else it might be too difficult for them to handle.” Jin tried to put a strong front, but he was also in a dilemma on how to defeat it.
“The eyes are the key right?” Jin asked the System.
“Highly likely, according to Peppers and Gold’s text. System is unsure if the method of killing could be applicable to a variant like this.” The System gave his disclaimer in case it does not work.
“Claire, do you still want them to continue the fight? Or should I step in and interfere?” Jin asked and Claire shook her head.
“Give them one last chance. They might not have a plan, but they at least would like to put in one last ditch effort.” Claire knew how much the trainees could handle. Despite Su Zhen and Lein were Grade 10, they were not a true battle hardened Grade 10, which was why they had so much difficulty with fighting. Their pace was all over the place, and it didn’t help that they did not have much battle experience.
“The folly of being in a Royal Clan. I dare say those cultivation grades in most of them despite their foundation training they had is just a façade. The modern workings of the world did weaken the cultivation world….but not for this guy.” Claire said to herself as she saw Jin, who was a Grade 8, but it felt like he had seen more battles than herself.
“Hahaha, guess who is back to haunt us…” Rong said as he managed to activate his Ox Demon Silhouette Body Shield and tried to cover the rest of the trainees as much as he could from the inferno blast. However, because of that, his entire back was burnt to the point he was unable to move. The other demon exorcist trainees received some burns, but it was not to the point they were rendered immobile.
“I leave the rest to you three,” Rong said as he laid heavily on the floor gasping for air.
“Please, I cannot move too…” Lian replied, but contrary to her words, she was trying her best to stand up.
“Hahaha. Now I understand why so many in the extermination branch of JODE wanted to go into administrative after a few rounds in the wild.” Lein panted as he raised his sword towards the fake Jin.
“Must be wussies.” Su Zhen summoned a chi snake silhouette to tighten a broken splinter on her left arm. It was hurting her, but at the very least, she could still move, unlike Rong who sacrificed himself the most.
“You owe me a drink for doing your work, you lazy ox,” Lein said as he charged towards the fake Jin with no plan in mind. However, before he can move, something was holding back, and it was no other than Jin. (the real one)
“What do you think you are doing?!” Jin shouted at him as held onto his collar and pushed him back to the other injured ones. “Arggh, I know I should not interfere, but at the rate, you four are going, you wouldn’t be making any progress and instead be spider food again.”
“If you know that you should not interfere, why are you still here!” Lein pushed Jin away, but oddly the Transforming Spider was not attacking at all despite the internal conflict its intruders are making. In fact, it was observing the person that it had transformed to and was interested in getting more information from him.
“User, it appears the Transforming Spider is observing you very carefully. Please act with caution.” The System said after obtaining sufficient data from the previous fights against the other demon exorcists.
“Don’t worry. I know.” Jin replied to the System while he folded his arms and stared at Lein. “Because I am your team leader even though both you and I hate it,” Jin said out with brutal honesty.
‘That is why I am going to give you orders, and you follow to the letter. Or else, do not even think of killing that thing.” Jin showed the rest of them the Panda Emblem that Grandma Yuan had imbued and the trainees realised they could not disobey a direct superior without facing appropriate consequences in the future.
“The enemy is currently observing me and will not do anything rash. So now’s the time to drink up your chi potion, the one I asked you guys to bring out.” Jin said he continued to stay with his arms folded.
The trainees reluctantly drank the potion which Lian and Su Zhen distributed, and they could visibly see that Rong’s burnt wounds heal quite a fair bit too. “I did not expect the potion to take effect so quickly! This is way faster than the potions our Royal alchemists made!” Rong said as he could move a little as compared to a while ago.
“Never discount your team members in a tough pinch. And most importantly, do not be a hero! We need slayers and to work as a team, not heroes! The last I heard was that I joined the Demon Exorcists, not the Hero’s Clan!” Jin said as he assisted Rong to slowly stand up while waiting for the rest of the chi potion to take effect.
“Tell me, what do you all know about this monster so far after fighting it? Su Zhen, you go first.” Jin asked while keeping tabs on the monster.
“It can transform into any of us and copy our skills to a certain degree. Like you what you have done, to use your black panda fire but it could only produce normal fire.” Su Zhen spewed what she knew.
“Anybody else wants to add on?” Jin looked around and saw Lian raised her hand.
“It wants the gem eye back,” Lian said and Jin asked for the gem eye from Lian.
“User, please hold. Analysing the Transforming Spider’s Eye.” The System said while Jin decided to drag a bit more time for the System to see if there is any weakness to it.
“What other skills do you all have in your repertoire? It is likely to counter any skill you guys have unless you show it something new.”
“Not many left for me,” Lein said with embarrassment since he purposely took the few most offensive skills in the Qilin Cultivation manual and practised them to perfection (or so he thought.) Rong said the same except for Su Zhen and Lian who had yet to show their offensive skills at all.
“I see, if that is the case, you two will be the offensive, the boys will be distracting it. Lian it is up to you to kill it.” Jin said as he purposely reversed their roles in combat and told them to go into position.
