CHAPTER 134: DEFEAT

Hearing the sound beside her, Amber instinctively turned and swung her sword, forcing Carlotta back.

She knew she couldn’t outrun Carlotta, so she wasn’t running aimlessly. Instead, she was heading towards a monster’s lair.

On her way, she had seen a monster lair not too far away and planned to use the monsters there to escape from Carlotta and Amelia.

As she ran, she swung her sword, her sword aura raging and colliding with the attacks from Carlotta and Amelia. She quickly descended the mountain, reaching the mountainside, where she saw a cave covered in cobwebs.

Amber rushed in without hesitation. As she entered, she took out a bottle of alchemical powder from her body and sprinkled it on herself, emitting a strange and pungent odor.

Amelia, in pursuit, recognized it immediately, "Assimilation Powder. It can make monsters briefly mistake her for one of their own."

Carlotta’s gaze swept over the cave’s interior. Through the cobwebs and some small spiders, she immediately made a judgment, "This is the lair of the Hundred-Eyed Spider. No big deal. If the monsters dare to interfere, I’ll just cut them down."

After becoming a Listener, Carlotta’s confidence had increased significantly, and she wasn’t worried about any monster threats.

Moreover, through the map provided by the intelligence, she could understand the general situation of the internal areas and know the locations of the Resonator monsters. Since this lair didn’t contain any Resonator-level monsters, it wasn’t worth her concern.

Not long after Carlotta entered the lair, roaring sounds could be heard. Then, one by one, spiders, large and small, emerged in the cave ahead, densely packed, almost causing trypophobia.

Even Carlotta felt goosebumps. Seeing the numerous small spiders about to charge and attack them, she immediately swung her sword, and a wondrous rhythm appeared with her movements.

Elven Melody!

A faint sound emerged from within the cave, carrying a hypnotic power that spread out.

The small spiders, which had been crawling, slowed their movements and then became still.

"This is Elven Melody?"

Amelia walked up, looking curious.

She had minored in Elven Knight Path and knew of Elven Melody but rarely saw anyone able to perform it. Among the empire’s nobles, very few had cultivated Elven Knight Path to the Listener stage.

Carlotta smiled and said, "With Elven Melody, we can put opponents below our rank directly to sleep. Let’s go."

Monsters that hadn’t reached the Listener level were simply not a threat.

The two quickly moved deeper into the spider’s lair.

There were indeed many small spiders along the way, densely packed. Carlotta chose to put them to sleep, and the journey was quiet.

They finally stopped at the deepest part of the lair, looking ahead.

There, a massive, black spider was lying on a smooth white rock at the end of the lair. Its compound eyes were layered, looking extremely terrifying, and it emanated the magical fluctuations of a peak level Listener.

And Amber was sitting right beside this enormous spider, as if she had become the Hundred-Eyed Spider’s confidante.

As Carlotta and Amelia appeared, the Hundred-Eyed Spider also moved. Its compound eyes shone, instantly making the two feel as if the space before them was distorting, and in a daze, they felt as if they had fallen into an ocean constructed of spiders.

Illusion!

Carlotta immediately swung her sword, slashing forward, unleashing Elven Sunset, which also targeted the senses, forcefully tearing apart the illusion.

As soon as she shattered the illusion, she saw Amber seize the opportunity to attack, her brilliant sword aura slashing out.

However, Amelia also broke through the illusion and unleashed her sword aura, once again blocking all of Amber’s attacks.

"Finding a temporary monster as a helper, what difference can that make?"

Carlotta swung her Rose Cross.

Elven Elergy and Elven Melody were unleashed simultaneously. Faint sounds emerged from all around, carrying mournful cries and hypnotic whispers, bringing the Hundred-Eyed Spider and Amber into the attack range.

At this moment, the Hundred-Eyed Spider began to crawl restlessly, resisting the effects in its own way.

Amber’s face also showed discomfort, almost wanting to cry, yet feeling sleepy. But in the end, she managed to resist.

Amelia then said, "Carlotta, please hold back the Hundred-Eyed Spider. I’ll deal with this Amber."

Carlotta nodded.

She felt that Amelia wasn’t scared by the Hundred-Eyed Spider’s appearance but perhaps had some realization, as Amelia’s eyes were serious, and during the battle, she seemed to be contemplating something.

She immediately focused her attention on the Hundred-Eyed Spider, her expression becoming a bit more serious.

Previously, when facing opponents of the peak level Listener caliber, she had used Moonlight to deal with them. Now, she was truly facing them with her own abilities.

Kill!

Carlotta quickly moved in. She swung her Rose Cross, and a brilliant flash of light passed, instantly severing one of the Hundred-Eyed Spider’s legs.

As a top-quality alchemical item, the Rose Cross was slightly lagging for a Listener, but because alchemical artifacts were extremely rare, many Listeners still used top-quality alchemical items, which were somewhat usable.

At this moment, the Rose Cross did not disappoint Carlotta, severing the Hundred-Eyed Spider’s leg and sending it flying into the distance.

With one leg severed, the Hundred-Eyed Spider didn’t react much. It seemed unable to feel pain and swung its remaining legs towards Carlotta, each leg extremely hard, as if cast from alloy.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Carlotta swung her sword rapidly, her movements light and graceful, her sword techniques ethereal and sharp.

After a series of collisions, she severed several more of the Hundred-Eyed Spider’s legs, causing its purple blood to gush out, staining the ground purple.

This undoubtedly enraged the Hundred-Eyed Spider. It couldn’t let out any roars, choosing to express its displeasure through the most aggressive means.

Its numerous eyes once again fixed on Carlotta, accompanied by a surge of dense magic, and a more terrifying illusion than before emerged, pulling Carlotta into it.

At the same time, Amelia was clashing with Amber, their sword energies colliding and dissipating.

After a short period of clashing, Amelia said, "I think your attacks are wrong. Sword aura shouldn’t have only these applications."

Amber was taken aback, then said with a grim expression, "Are you trying to teach me how to use sword aura?"

Amelia’s expression was serene, her silver hair dancing lightly. Her blue eyes held little emotion.

She spoke in a very ordinary tone, "I don’t intend to teach you anything, but your use of sword aura is indeed too simplistic. When sword aura is released, why is there only one form? The only thing worth praising is probably its tracking ability."

Today’s battle was already infuriating enough for Amber, enough to make her emotions explode. Hearing Amelia speak like this now only fanned the flames of anger in her heart.

"You merely stole my attack methods using memory magic, you’re just a copier, a thief. How dare you point fingers at me about this? Do you think that as a thief, you can do better than me?"

Amber’s eyes were cold as she unleashed several Starfall sword aura and Moonfall sword aura, which crisscrossed as they attacked.

Amelia’s movements were graceful, her sword aura constructed with memories blocking all of her opponent’s sword aura.

She said unhurriedly, "Perhaps, I really can teach you."

"How arrogant. Who do you think you are? Just a thief."

Amber said in a deep voice.

"Then watch closely. Sword aura... is used like this."

Amelia raised her hand, and streams of sword aura appeared around her. They were still Starfall and Moonfall sword aura, but their forms were completely different. No longer were they the fixed crescent shapes, but had transformed into thin threads.

She said, "I think your sword aura would be more effective if it attacked in this form. Of course, it’s not just the form that’s changed."

With a wave of her hand, the numerous sword aura that had transformed into thin threads immediately shot out at an astonishing speed. The speed was countless times faster than before, arriving before Amber almost instantly.

Amber didn’t have time to erect her sword aura to block and could only awkwardly dodge to the side.

But just as Amber’s sword aura had tracking effects, Amelia’s sword aura naturally possessed tracking effects as well.

As soon as Amber dodged, these rain-like thread-like sword aura turned and followed, piercing through Amber’s body on the spot. In just an instant, a large number of holes had been created in Amber’s body.

This situation caused Amber’s expression to stiffen, revealing an expression of disbelief.

The intense pain in her body made her almost faint. She looked up at Amelia in disbelief.

She had clashed with Amelia for quite some time tonight, always feeling that the other party was not stronger than her, at most about the same. But she never expected that the other party had only slightly changed their attack method, and she had become so defenseless.

She said unwillingly, "How did you do that? Why... Why is this happening?"

At this moment, Amber’s life was draining away, and she could barely stand.

Amelia said slowly, "What I see is not just the superficial sword aura, but the essence of how sword aura is formed. I construct the essence with memories, then make slight changes, and it becomes what you see."

"This is the sword aura that a Sword aura Knight should unleash?"

"Yes."

"..."

Amber was speechless. Although she had heard very little about memory magic, the rumored memory magic shouldn’t be like this.

Could it be that only the memory magic of the person in front of her was special?

"Who... are you?"

Amber asked this question with her last bit of strength.

The person in front of her was definitely not an ordinary transcendent being. She definitely had an extremely astonishing background. Before dying, Amber at least wanted to understand this point.

Amelia, however, said nothing more.

Facing someone who was about to die, should she answer any of their questions? No, there was no need.

She looked at Amber faintly, watching as Amber collapsed on the ground and completely lost her breath.

At the same time, the battle between Carlotta and the Hundred-Eyed Spider also reached its final stage.

In the illusion, countless spiders converged, transforming into a giant spider that seemed capable of supporting the heavens. In the face of such a colossal spider, Carlotta appeared exceptionally small.

The illusion was too real. If she couldn’t break free from the illusion and died within it, her real self would also perish.

"You spiders are really something, making my Speed Card useless. But... that doesn’t stop me from defeating you."

Carlotta held her Rose Cross with both hands and swung the sword in her hand towards the void in front of her.

As this sword was swung, a mournful song emerged, a great sun fell from the sky, and a hypnotic tone appeared.

Carlotta unleashed the three movements, Elven Elergy, Elven Sunset, and Elven Melody, simultaneously. The fusion of these three movements brought about wondrous changes, and the power inherent in each movement was greatly amplified.

"Whoosh..."

A gust of wind blew past, and the scene before Carlotta shattered with a bang, revealing the dark environment within the spider’s nest.

And that Hundred-Eyed Spider was not far in front of her. At this moment, she had forcefully split it in half, rendering it unable to form any obstruction.

"Done!"

Carlotta breathed a sigh of relief, a cute smile appearing on her face.

This was the first time she had defeated a peak level Listener on her own, and she felt a sense of accomplishment.

This meant that within the Listener tier, she was already capable of facing anyone directly, especially since she had only just become a Listener.

Carlotta looked towards Amelia’s side and saw that the battle on Amelia’s side had also concluded.

After their eyes met, they immediately began searching for loot.

The valuable items on the Hundred-Eyed Spider were its numerous compound eyes, which possessed special hallucinatory effects and could be used in alchemical drugs.

Although Carlotta found it somewhat disgusting, she still cut them out one by one and stored them in her storage card.

In addition, after hunting the Hundred-Eyed Spider, a token had also dropped from its body, and there were 10 of them.

Amelia collected Amber’s sword. After looking at it, she smiled slightly and threw it towards Carlotta, "Carlotta, your new equipment is here."

Carlotta immediately took the sword.

It was a seemingly ordinary longsword, appearing somewhat slender. A purple gem was inlaid on the hilt, giving it a more artistic feel.

Upon closer inspection of the purple gem, a line of words could be seen.

Dawn!

This sword was undoubtedly a wondrous item.

Carlotta held the Dawn Sword and weighed it slightly. She felt that the Dawn Sword was not as comfortable to use, likely due to her habit of using the Rose Cross. However, no matter what, it was an artifact, and its effect was superior to the Rose Cross.