Chapter 381: Breakthrough? (1)

Bang! BOOOM!

The lightning exploded across Nebula’s face in a blinding burst.

With Chloe’s help, Ray vaulted backward and landed a few metres away from Nebula.

"...."

The group waited for a few seconds, but there was no sound nor any reaction from the Spider Queen that suggested she had been hurt by the attack at all.

And using that attack had drained the boy’s meta-force completely.

Yet, Nebula’s eyes scanned the group with no emotion whatsoever in them.

The lightning still crackled across her solid violet chitin as though it was nothing.

Ray was hit with despair for a second.

But as he glanced at Van and Caster, who were still tied down by his lasso and unconscious, he sighed.

Subtly snapping his fingers, the lasso vanished from their bodies and returned to his system.

Their bodies dropped to the ground with silent thuds.

Nebula waited and waited, but nothing actually happened to her as the lightning gradually began to fizzle out.

Felix reached Ray’s side after seeing that the relentless barrage was finally over.

Ray stared at him for a second before looking behind him to see Kai collapsing to his knees while the crystal dome shattered.

It was clear—the Legacy was out of meta-force and practically useless in the fight.

Even his injury seemed to be taking its toll on him.

Looking at Chloe, who had secretly finished her rescue mission of the cocooned humans, Ray looked back to see Trisha walking out from behind the pillar.

Kai sighed and dragged himself to his feet before wobbling towards the Tribrid once again.

Observing their conditions, Ray’s chest tightened.

"Guys," he called out in a whisper.

"...."

Clenching his hands into fists, he stared forward.

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course." Felix wasted no time giving his reply.

"Yeah? Why?" Kai questioned with a raised brow.

Ray’s gaze sharpened.

"I need you all to help Chloe and get those cocooned humans away from this area. Maybe get closer to the gate."

He paused before continuing,

".... I don’t care about them, but I’m sure you all won’t leave without them, so just help her. Afterwards, get Caster and Van’s unconscious bodies close to the gate."

Then he turned towards Felix with a sharp gaze.

"And when you’re done, come assist me, Felix. I need you for what’s to come. I want to end this."

Trisha’s brows shot up instantly.

"End this? With just the two of you? What do you want to do? Do you—"

Before she could finish her words, Ray turned to face her.

"We have never been on the same page, and I don’t think I have ever done anything to earn your trust. Honestly, I don’t want your trust right now.

But all I want you to do is believe in my abilities. I have promised to get Van out of here safe and sound, and I will do so. So please, just help me. And I promise to defeat that beast."

"....."

Trisha didn’t rush to reply as she looked at the boy for a few seconds before lowering her gaze to her hands.

She was low on MF. Borderline empty.

The only thing she had left to contribute was her swordsmanship, which was basically useless against that mound of chitin.

With a heavy sigh, she looked in Chloe’s direction before clicking her tongue.

"Fine."

Without hesitation, Felix, Kai, and Trisha turned around and bolted towards Chloe and the cocooned humans.

This left Ray standing alone, face to face with Nebula, whose gaze swept across the chamber.

"Just you?"

Ray smirked as he stretched out his hand, and a tower shield appeared in his grasp—the last bone shield left.

To his right, a bone sword appeared—also the last one left.

What remained of the bone weapons in his inventory were two spears and a single hammer.

"And that’s all you need."

Pressing his feet against the ground, Ray exploded forward.

No energy. No meta-force, and hence, no transformation.

Just the raw, baseline boy against an Emperor rank beast.

The task was simple right now.

Distract the Spider Queen from the rescue mission that was about to happen.

BOOOM!

Ray vaulted into the air with the bone sword in his hand.

He knew he was out of resources, but Nebula didn’t.

Hence, upon seeing his confidence, she unknowingly focused all her attention and eyes on him.

And that was exactly what the cohort needed as they began the rescue operation.

The cocoons were made out of the same steel webs Nebula had shot a moment ago, so they couldn’t waste time trying to peel them open.

Instead, they began moving the humans just like that towards the gate.... As stealthily as they could.

Whoosh!

A leg shot through the air towards the boy.

With a calm flip, Ray planted his feet against the leg and vaulted off it like a trampoline.

Spinning through the air, he crashed into the small gap between the chitin covering the spider’s leg.

With a shout of determination, he drove the bone sword into the gap.

His luck shone through as the sword struck the thick cables of flesh and veins holding the leg together, and for the first time in a while....

.... Breakthrough!

The sword sliced through a few of the cables, causing the Spider Queen to let out a scream of pain inside his head.

Another leg shot towards him, but he had already sensed it.

So he reached out, grabbed the leg he had just attacked, and pulled himself upward, landing firmly on it.

Learning from his previous mistake, he didn’t try to block the incoming leg head-on.

Instead, he angled his shield in such a way that,

WAM!

’Fuck....’

The leg crashed into the shield while Ray tried his best to deflect it to the side.

But the colossal limb still packed a devastating punch, and the boy was sent flying backward while the shield cracked further from the impact.

He immediately sent the shield back into his system while watching Nebula instantly move to give chase.

Sparks flew, and in his hand, a golden lasso appeared, which he hurled forward. It curled around one of the spikes on the beast’s leg.

’Contract.’

Instantly, the lasso shortened, and Ray was catapulted forward with lightning speed.

This forced Nebula to halt abruptly as the boy suddenly appeared right in front of her within a split second.

And in his hand, a single dagger appeared.

"AAAAAAAH!" He roared as he swung the dagger forward, driving it towards one of the Spider Queen’s eyes.

The dagger slammed into the eye but met resistance for a few seconds.

Ray gritted his teeth and poured every ounce of strength into the weapon.

Then, after a second or two,

Tchaaaaak—!

The dagger broke through, sending a tiny gush of blood spraying into the air.