Kiana's fighting style was… truly something else.
Raiden Mei was anxious, but now wasn't the time to dwell on it. Kiana was doing this to create an opening for her.
So she couldn't miss.
If she failed to kill the spider in one strike, it would be on guard the next time. There would be no second chance.
Stay calm. Focus.
Raiden Mei hid her presence, eyes fixed on Kiana's battle with the massive spider, carefully watching for an opening.
"You're still holding back too much!"
Kiana danced on the edge of death, dodging strand after strand of spider silk, constantly weaving between advancing and retreating attacks.
The head—just as she had guessed—was its weak point. Every time she tried to get close, its attacks doubled in speed and number, desperate to keep her away.
She needed to find a way to give Mei that opportunity.
"Is that all you've got?" she taunted, grinning. "What, afraid of a little pain? Come on—why not just give up already?"
"Desecrator! DIE!"
Driven to madness by rage, the spider unleashed all its fury. Countless webs shot out, sealing every escape route, intent on killing Kiana even at the cost of wounding itself.
Trust Kiana!
Raiden Mei's pupils contracted sharply, but she seized the moment. As the spider committed all its threads to the assault, she struck.
"Polaris Sword Style—Ultimate!"
It was a technique she had developed overnight—not yet perfected, but still her strongest attack.
Her blade, wreathed in thunder, slashed down in a brilliant arc. It didn't split the spider-headed monster in two, but it struck deep—its human-like torso was weaker than its spider body, though still far tougher than any normal flesh.
Mei's katana left a deep wound, triggering the weapon's bleed effect. Crimson blood sprayed from the gash.
The spider's webs pierced through the air—impaling its own body where Kiana had stood a moment ago.
But Kiana's figure shimmered, unreal.
She had vanished.
"Not bad at all," she said, appearing to the side a heartbeat later.
In that instant, Kiana had used her Phase Shuttle to evade the fatal strike. Still, even with her reflexes, one of the threads grazed her arm.
It wasn't deep—just a thin line of blood. The pain was sharp but fleeting. It would heal soon.
"That's the kind of hit you should be throwing," Kiana said with a grin. "See? You actually managed to scratch me."
She raised her bat, smirking at the blood-soaked, furious creature before her. "Now then—ready for round two?"
The monster's injuries were far worse than before. Yet this time, the spider no longer screamed in rage. Its crimson eyes locked onto Kiana, filled with something beyond hatred.
Amidst the chaos, Kiana suddenly sensed… greed.
What the—?
She frowned. Something wasn't right.
She didn't notice the drops of her blood that had fallen onto the spider's body—disappearing instantly—or the faint, pulsating Honkai patterns spreading across its abdomen.
"You… heheh… you're the one…"
The spider's voice sent chills crawling down their spines—human in tone, but utterly twisted.
Then something even more horrifying happened.
The beauty-headed spider's upper half—the human torso Mei had struck—began to wither, its pale skin shriveling and collapsing in on itself. With a wet crack, it tore free from the spider's body.
No—it had never been truly attached. The upper body fell from above, hitting the ground with a sickening thud.
The spider's main body convulsed violently. Beneath its chitinous shell, something was stirring—something new was being born.
Kiana's expression darkened. She leapt away, widening the distance between them.
The spider's bone-like carapace expanded, reshaping into armor-like plating. Its defense grew stronger, and where its head once was, there now gaped a dark, hollow void.
From that darkness spread dozens of black tendrils—each tipped with a crimson, unblinking eye.
The tendrils all twisted toward Kiana—fixated, greedy, trembling with hunger. From the hollow void came a chilling, almost human imitation of speech.
"Merge with me… and ascend to godhood!"
All eight legs moved at once. The spider charged like an unstoppable freight truck, the ground quaking beneath its weight.
"What the hell is this thing?!" Kiana yelled, disgust curling through her stomach.
It was worse than any octopus she'd ever seen.
Dodging backward, she sprinted toward the nearest building, but even reinforced concrete crumbled like paper under the monster's advance.
So killing that 'beauty's head' wasn't enough—it actually had a second phase?!
That head… could it have belonged to someone else? Someone it stole from?
The thought made her stomach churn. She pushed her legs harder, sprinting even faster.
This thing was beyond repulsive. The writhing, black tendrils, each ending in a staring, crimson eye—it was enough to make her abandon any thought of jumping back on its body.
If only she had a firearm.
No matter what, next time—she had to buy a ranged weapon. No exceptions!
For the third time, she swore it to herself.
Kiana darted frantically through the battlefield, the giant spider crashing after her. It spat web after web, but she dodged them all.
Still, the park wasn't that large. At this rate, the whole area would soon be covered in webbing, leaving her with nowhere to run. She'd have to retreat farther—but there might still be civilians in that direction.
A deafening blast erupted behind her, followed by searing heat. Flames engulfed part of the spider's massive frame.
Kiana seized the moment to widen the gap, then glanced back.
It was the armed squad—they had arrived with heavy weaponry. The explosion had been theirs.
The blasts tore chunks out of the monster's armor. Apparently, while it could shrug off bullets, it couldn't completely resist concentrated firepower.
As Kiana turned, one of the soldiers threw a black walkie-talkie toward her. She caught it midair with a jump.
"Warrior! Lure it into the red zones!" a voice shouted through the device. "We'll target those areas for precision strikes! Just don't stay inside a marked zone for more than three seconds!"
Red zones?
Only now did Kiana notice them—three circular markings around the ruins near the skyscraper, glowing faintly crimson.
"No need to hold back on my account. Fire at will!" Kiana replied, grinning. "You can cover me and the spider both—I'll be fine!"
With her Phase Shuttle, dodging bombardments would be easy.
There was a brief pause on the other end.
"…Warrior, our ammunition supply is limited. We only brought fourteen rounds."
So that was all they had.
Kiana sighed. "Alright then."
After seeing the power of those explosions firsthand, she was convinced.
Next time—she was definitely buying a rocket launcher.
One rocket launcher could fire dozens of shots.
And against monsters like this, that kind of firepower was perfect.