The afterlife blew up Gensokyo

The place he is heading to now is the Black Gold Mine in the south, which is occupied by Iron-Eating Spiders. It is reported that at least 170 people are currently trapped there.

Because of the endless variety of ferocious beasts, the naming of these beasts is mostly quite straightforward and arbitrary. This was the case with the previous ferocious wolf, and it is the same with the current iron-eating spider.

Of all the known ferocious beasts, the Iron-Eating Spider may not be considered the strongest, but it is the most dangerous. Corresponding to its danger, the Iron-Eating Spider rarely appears.

However, the appearance of a tarantula is an absolute catastrophe, or rather, its appearance inevitably foreshadows a series of future disasters.

The iron-eating spider itself represents an ominous sign, foreshadowing that everything is just the beginning...and chaos will ensue!

If a young iron-eating spider gets into a mine, thousands of iron-eating spiders will hatch in the shortest possible time.

The Iron-Eating Spider's body is as hard as steel, and in its larval stage it is so small that it is almost invisible. Coupled with its unconventional reproduction method, once the Iron-Eating Spider plague breaks out, it often means the fall of a mining area.

The only saving grace is that, although the Iron-Eating Spider is ferocious, it also has its weaknesses... or rather, it shouldn't be called a weakness, but rather a characteristic of this ferocious beast.

The creatures preyed upon by the iron-eating spiders do not die in a short time. Instead, they are bound and used as stored food. Once the surrounding iron ore has been completely devoured, the trapped creatures will become their food.

If the rescue is timely, those people can still survive, unlike other attacks by ferocious beasts which inevitably mean death.

It was precisely because he understood this that Hou Yi immediately led his men toward the area after learning of the Iron-Eating Spider disaster.

Time is life, and there is no room for even the slightest delay.

After all, no one knows when the iron ore in that mine will be completely devoured by the iron-eating spiders. Getting there sooner might save more lives.

But... now that the Iron-Eating Spiders have started to appear, does that mean disaster... is finally about to strike?

Looking at the dark sky in the distance, a shadow fell over the boy's heart.

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P.S.: Tickets

Chapter Six: The Hero Saves the Beauty After Being Hijacked

This legend has existed in the history of various clans.

Each large-scale appearance of ferocious beasts signifies the arrival of a disaster, and the beginning of a great calamity often starts with the appearance of the Iron-Eating Spider as the start of a series of calamities.

The last great calamity of ten thousand years has passed, and only a hundred years have passed since then. Many clans have yet to recover their strength.

In this situation, the arrival of another great calamity will be an utter catastrophe, with countless deaths and the destruction of countless clans.

Hou Yi harbored a hidden worry.

The plague of the Iron-Eating Spiders cannot be completely eradicated, because as long as even a single Iron-Eating Spider escapes, it will multiply into a huge population in a very short time, making it impossible to completely eliminate.

And what about the disasters that followed the iron-eating spider?

As time goes by, more and more ferocious beasts will appear on this land. Once those incredibly powerful beasts appear, it will be almost inevitable that countless lives will be lost and the land will be scorched.

However, in the face of such a disaster, they don't actually have many choices.

Even if the process is destined to be arduous, even if it inevitably ends in bloodshed, even if we belong to different clans... there are some things that are destined to be desecrated.

By now, they have experienced far too much.

As the saying goes, "circumstances create heroes," or "heroes create circumstances." In those great calamities that have passed over thousands of years, heroic figures have been passed down through legends.

The heavens have been shattered, floods have struck, diseases have descended, and ferocious beasts have emerged... Almost any calamity that has passed over ten thousand years could lead to an irrecoverable end.

...Those are poignant and moving chapters of history.

But in the face of such an irrecoverable situation, there was Nuwa who refined five stones to mend the sky, there was Yu the Great who dredged the floods to pacify the four seas, there was Shennong who tasted hundreds of herbs to save the world, and there was Zhuanxu who united with the Jiuli to establish the nine provinces...

Too many heroic figures, too many historical legends.

Even though this disaster came ahead of schedule, Hou Yi firmly believed that, like all the disasters before him, the disaster would eventually be overcome.

Sacrificing their own families for the greater good, for the sake of all living beings!

This is the belief upheld by Hou Yi, the young leader of the Youqiong clan.

So at this moment, he had completely put aside any personal feelings for his children; all he wanted to do was get to the mine as quickly as possible and rescue the survivors.

The sooner they arrive, the higher the chances of survival for those trapped.

However, when Hou Yi could see the outline of the mine shrouded in dark clouds in the distance, his expression clearly turned very ugly.

The strength of the iron-eating spider is determined by its size; the larger the size, the stronger it is.

According to the records that have been passed down, the strongest member of the Iron-Eating Spider group would not exceed five meters in size.

However, judging from the outline he could see from afar, the dark clouds shrouding the mine over there were clearly forming the shape of a huge black spider...

In other words, the iron-eating spider, which was originally only five meters long, could potentially grow to the size of a mine.

"Is this... the beginning of the disaster?"

After muttering something to himself, Hou Yi turned around and glanced at his subordinates behind him, whose faces were already showing obvious signs of fatigue. He then made a decisive decision in his heart.

"Leave the matters here to me. Without my orders, no one is allowed to set foot within the boundaries of that mine."

After taking the longbow off his back and also taking a bucket of arrows from his mount, Hou Yi calmly gave this order to the people behind him.

The boy's tone was very calm, but there was an undeniable air of authority in it.

If it were just a normal Iron-Eating Spider plague, he was confident that with the people he had brought with him, he could definitely resolve the disaster and rescue those trapped.

However, given that the current disaster is clearly developing in an unpredictable direction, continuing to take these people with us would only endanger their lives.

If a spider queen the size of a mine really does appear over there, then the people he has with him now will absolutely have no way to fight against her.

He didn't know if he could kill the Spider Queen on his own. But some things you only know by trying.

Being able to become the leader of the Youqiong clan at this age, he had enough confidence to retire unscathed.

..........................................

"Strange, the corpses here... Has someone already been notified and rushed over? Are they from the Tu Shan clan?"

The closer Hou Yi got to the mine shrouded in dark clouds, the deeper his shock became. Inside the mine, which had become the lair of the Iron-Eating Spiders, there were corpses of the spiders everywhere.

Based on the sheer number he saw, there were at least several hundred, and the corpses of these iron-eating spiders were already three meters tall. Among them were even enormous creatures that were five or six meters tall...

It was precisely because he knew far more than others that Hou Yi's shock grew ever deeper.

The iron-eating spider's body is as hard as steel, and even its internal organs are harder than its exterior, making it extremely difficult to kill.

However, judging from the injuries he observed when these iron-eating spiders died, it was clear that their internal organs had been shattered by a powerful force in an instant...

"This terrifying power and the incredible degree of control over it... could not possibly belong to the Tu Shan clan."

Standing up beside a seven-meter-tall, two-story-high iron-eating spider, Hou Yi shook his head.

Clans that excel in strength do exist, but the Tushan clan is clearly not among them.

"But since such powerful beings have already arrived here in advance, perhaps we can call them over as well..."

After a moment's hesitation, Hou Yi took an arrow from the quiver of feathered arrows on his back and nocked it.

But at that moment, a violent tremor suddenly came from beneath his feet.

"boom!!!"

Before he could react, accompanied by the tremors of the ground and the sound of the mountain collapsing, the earth cracked open, and an extremely disgusting and enormous monster poked its head out from under the mountain.

This monster looks like an enlarged version of the Iron-Eating Spider, but it is different in some ways. Its eight huge legs carved deep trenches into the ground after destroying the mine.

What is most striking is its enormous size. Compared to that mountain-sized form, Hou Yi's figure appears as tiny as an ant on the ground.

"Such a gigantic spider mother..."

Looking at the enormous monster that had finally poked its head out, Hou Yi's expression still changed when the monster actually revealed itself, even though he had already had a vague guess in his mind.

Without thinking too much, Hou Yi reached behind him and, in one swift motion, nocked all six arrows onto his longbow.

"The iron-eating spider's weak point is below its chest and abdomen. As long as you aim... run, it escaped?"

Seeing the Spider Mother suddenly turn around and flee in panic with her eight long legs, Hou Yi was quite bewildered.

But what made things even more confusing was yet to come. Just as the spider queen was about to disappear into the distant forest, a huge iron rod radiating golden light fell from the sky and slammed into the spider queen's body.

With a mournful cry, the earth trembled faintly from afar, and then the Spider Mother's almost indestructible aura quickly dissipated into the air.

"...Was it that powerful expert who made the move?"

Exhaling, still reeling from the devastating blow, Hou Yi lowered his longbow.

"To kill that spider queen with just one blow, that level of strength..."

"boom--!!!"

After being repeatedly ravaged, the already dilapidated mine finally gave way and collapsed completely.

..................................................................

"That's why I hate spiders... You've offended the abbot and you still want to leave? Do you think you can get away with it?"

He didn't even have the energy to look at the mass of corpses below that didn't resemble a spider at all, and Shi Bai pursed his lips.

Although he didn't want to create such a big scene, his opponent's strength wasn't that great, but his physical defense was terrifying.

Its massive size granted it unparalleled regenerative abilities. Even after he threw a thousand TNT cubes and ten Doom Mushrooms into its mouth, he still couldn't kill it... But perhaps this incredible vitality could be recommended to Eirin as a test subject for medicine? So why did you run away...?

Shaking his head to banish the strange thoughts from his mind, Shi Bai lowered his head and looked at the person in his arms with a dark expression.

"Hey, shouldn't you let me go now?"

"I used all my strength to protect those people, and now I don't have any strength left. If I let you go, do you want me to fall and die?"

As if in a fit of pique, she hugged him tighter, and Heng'e tilted her head back, answering angrily.

"And what's with that reluctant look on your face? Is it really that uncomfortable being held by me?!"

"You were the one who clearly wanted to jump up here, weren't you? Saying you wanted to watch it get beaten to death with your own eyes and stuff..."

Rolling his eyes in mid-air, Shi Bai fell towards the ruins of the mine below.

"So what are you doing here all by yourself?"

"If I don't get here in time, those people will be dead."

Heng'e jumped down from Shi Bai's arms and let out a soft hum.

"Who would have thought that such a terrifying iron-eating spider mother would be born? Not only is it so huge, but its body is also incredibly hard... If you had arrived any later, I might have really been eaten by those iron-eating spiders along with those people."

"No, even if I don't come, your fiancé Hou Yi will come to save you..."

Looking at the extra figure in the circle he had drawn in the distance, as if he had suddenly figured something out, Shi Bai's lips twitched involuntarily.

After thinking for a moment, he turned around and spoke very seriously to the girl behind him.

"By the way, the fee for my help is quite expensive, so please remember to pay it off later. I'm a very mercenary person, and I won't do things that make me cry while helping others."

"Sure, what do you want?"

She blinked, met his gaze without fear, and nodded generously.

Shi Bai: "..."

If he was still a little confused before, now that he saw the boy in the distance carrying a longbow on his back, Shi Bai understood.

...He himself stole Hou Yi's heroic rescue of the damsel in distress.

If it weren't for her intrusion, Heng'e would have left due to dissatisfaction with the marriage, and would have been trapped in the nest of the Iron-Eating Spider Mother, her life hanging by a thread.

Then, at this moment, Hou Yi rushed to save his fiancée, killed the Spider Queen, and won the beauty's heart, changing Heng'e's impression of her fiancé and making him Heng'e's ideal man or a peerless hero.

—This is the normal direction the script should take.

However, the problem is that due to my appearance and Ibaraki Kasen's, the script has deviated slightly from its intended course...

He ended up being the one to save the damsel in distress, while Hou Yi, who should have been the star of the battle, ended up being a complete bystander... If he had known the script would unfold this way, he should have given the opportunity to Ibaraki Kasen to take action.

But because of that awkward kiss, he chose to take matters into his own hands...

...So what kind of mess is this?!

The saying "It's better to tear down ten temples than to break up one marriage" is a wise saying, and Shi Bai didn't want to become a third party who had inexplicably interfered in his marriage.

But since I've acted so laid-back, and even emphasized my self-interested nature, there shouldn't be any problems... right?

Just as he suspected, the person who appeared in the circle of Ibaraki Kasen was Hou Yi. However, what made him uneasy was that not only did Heng'e react indifferently to her fiancé, but Hou Yi also acted quite indifferently towards his fiancée.