Two black armored limbs shot up like a pair of pitch-black spears piercing into the ground. The joints twisted, and the shape of these black armored limbs bent to the extreme in an instant, like the drawn string of a full moon bow. The next second, the limbs released all downward force, and the ground erupted with immense rebound power, propelling the Shadow Spider soaring hundreds of meters into the air.
From this commanding vantage point, the Shadow Spider took in the entire town at a glance. Her eyes darted quickly from side to side, searching for Bai Ya’s figure.
As expected, she easily spotted Bai Ya fleeing.
She was about to charge forward and tear that wretched woman apart, but when she saw Bai Ya’s escape route, she was taken aback.
Bai Ya wasn’t running aimlessly; she headed toward the town center, the place where many nobles gathered. She believed that this noble’s monster wouldn’t dare act recklessly in such a crowded area. As for the threat from the nobles and guards? Compared to that monster, it was practically a breeze.
Bai Ya’s strategy worked. The Shadow Spider did hesitate, worried about making a move on Bai Ya. Given how fast Bai Ya was, without some special method, she probably wouldn’t catch that wretched woman.
The town center was packed with nobles, and besides, a treasure market was being held there today, bringing in triple the usual crowd. What if she attacked there? It would mean—
Mass slaughter.
“That would be interesting too~~” The Shadow Spider’s twisted smile widened as she locked onto Bai Ya’s figure. She manipulated her black armored limbs to continuously propel herself forward, closing the distance between her and Bai Ya.
Bai Ya missed a crucial detail and therefore made a slight misjudgment.
She didn’t consider the torn corpses strewn across the street. When she first saw the Shadow Spider kill, the target was a guard, so Bai Ya naturally assumed the bloodied corpses on the street were those of guards who had offended the Shadow Spider. She didn’t notice the elegant garments stained with blood—clothing no guard in this town could ever wear.
The detail Bai Ya overlooked was that the Shadow Spider wasn’t afraid to kill nobles.
Indeed, the Shadow Spider did hesitate somewhat. What concerned her was that if the killing noise grew too loud, her master—currently attending a ball at the ancient castle in the town center—would be disturbed, and she wasn’t sure what consequences that might bring.
The Shadow Spider only obeyed the orders of the Second Prince. In her eyes, only the Second Prince mattered. Everyone else—whether king, noble, guard, or slave—was nothing more than an obstacle to be ruthlessly killed.
She had been sent to Amidar at age two. Over ten years of palace training had instilled one belief deeply into her: as long as the Second Prince lived, it didn’t matter if anyone else died. That included herself, as long as it served the Second Prince’s unfulfilled wish.
Yes, both Bai Ya and the nobles at the market could be killed. Afterwards, she would simply report that she lost control and killed Bai Ya and the others by mistake. Her master would surely forgive her.
Because everything she did was for him—she was a loyal slave. Even if she failed her mission, her master would not blame her once he saw her loyalty!
No longer hesitating, the Shadow Spider drove her eight black armored limbs along the ground. Though her posture was terrifying, her speed was astonishing as she raced toward the market.
“Excuse me! Excuse me!”
Bai Ya pushed through the crowd, slipping through the gaps between people. Before they could react, she dashed forward, unwilling to stop until she ran out of strength.
Without looking back, she already knew the ghostly little girl was still chasing her. Ah, just kidding. She did glance back once when she heard a huge noise behind her, only to see the eight-legged monster descending from the sky. Their eyes met—an expression so terrifying that Bai Ya didn’t dare look back again.
From that brief glimpse, Bai Ya understood the Shadow Spider’s method of movement and realized that this fearsome little girl could leap into the air to gain a vast field of vision. If she ran in plain sight, she’d be caught in just a few seconds!
So Bai Ya estimated the Shadow Spider’s position in her mind and guessed her visual blind spots, trying to run into dark alleys. She twisted left and right many times. Though she couldn’t shake the ghostly little girl, the distance between them did not close.
“That wretched woman runs really well,” the Shadow Spider thought, dizzy from Bai Ya’s strange route.
When Bai Ya reached the treasure market, her eyes lit up. With so many nobles here, surely that ghostly little girl wouldn’t be brazen enough to continue showing off. As a slave, offending the nobles would be disastrous. She must restrain herself and pursue Bai Ya stealthily if she wanted to kill her.
“Unless she’s an idiot…” Bai Ya whispered.
“Wretched woman! Don’t even think about escaping!” The Shadow Spider’s voice was so clear it sounded right behind her.
“Sorry, but chasing me this far is enough, you idiot!”
Bai Ya shouted as she turned her head curiously to see why the ghostly little girl still dared to openly chase her here. This was the market! Hundreds of nobles were present. Wasn’t she afraid of punishment?
Bai Ya’s pupils shrank in shock.
The Shadow Spider, driving her eight black armored limbs, charged into the market and spotted Bai Ya mixed in the crowd. She sneered and stopped, swinging the two uppermost black armored limbs toward the stunned onlookers.
The nobles screamed and scattered. A few men couldn’t escape in time and were torn apart by the sharp tips of the limbs, flesh flying and blood pooling beneath the Shadow Spider.
“Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! All of you! All of you! Die!!”
In just a few dozen seconds, the lively market turned into a hellish slaughter. Frenzied, the Shadow Spider’s eyes turned bloodthirsty. Around her lay severed limbs, and her flushed little face was stained with blood, making her look grotesque and terrifying.
“This child doesn’t play by the rules—killing even her own kind. The so-called slave girl is actually a terrifying monster,” Bai Ya thought as she had already slipped away to a hidden spot while the Shadow Spider went on her rampage. She felt no safety remaining in the market—all because of that ghostly little girl who killed friend and foe alike.
“I can’t just sit and wait to die. I have to think of a plan.”
Bai Ya took a deep breath and carefully hid in the Shadow Spider’s visual blind spot. Fighting back the urge to vomit, she secretly observed the carnage. She chose not to run anymore—running was meaningless. Sooner or later, the merciless Shadow Spider would catch her.
“A troublesome hidden boss, huh? Let me see your skills. I want to figure out your trump cards, or surviving in your hands will be really iffy.” Bai Ya muttered under her breath.
She wasn’t planning to run—not giving up, but searching for an opportunity to fight back.
That was her only way out.