“No!” Arthur clenched his teeth so hard his gums bled. His face twisted in pain, and his entire body convulsed as if struck by lightning.

  In the end, after a brief but intense struggle, he lost the mental battle. The Spider Woman gained almost complete control over him. Only a tiny fragment of his consciousness remained, resisting desperately.

  His body relaxed. A dazed, infatuated look appeared on his face as he stared at her with longing and confusion.

  Hahaha!

  The Spider Woman laughed in delight at his submissive, obedient expression. Deep inside, she felt a sense of accomplishment. She had crushed his pride with ease and taken full control of him.

  Although it had consumed a large portion of her mental strength, the valuable information she would obtain from him was worth the effort.

  She lowered him to the ground and released him, then patted his face in a condescending manner and said, “That’s better. Now say it again. Who do you belong to?”

  As she caressed his face, Arthur showed a tame, docile expression and replied, “I belong to you, my lady.”

  She laughed again. Her arrogance reached new heights. In a low voice, she muttered,

  “Perhaps I should have seduced you from the very beginning. I don’t know what I was thinking when I let your will remain free.”

  Then a sudden realization crossed her mind, and she sighed mockingly.

  “Ah, I forgot. When we first met, my mental strength was severely depleted. It took me some time to recover it.”

  Memories of her battle with the humans flashed through her mind, and a deep irritation surfaced.

  Her expression turned serious again. Without wasting any more time, she asked the question everything revolved around.

  “So, pup, tell me… is there truly a cave filled with Mana Stone Ore?!”

  Arthur nodded quickly. “Yes, my lady. Calling it a cave doesn’t do it justice. It’s a vast place, filled to the brim.”

  Hearing that, her lips curled into an extremely wide smile. Intense joy flooded her, making her tremble in a strange way.

  While she was immersed in her excitement, Arthur continued,

  “My lady, you must be careful. Inside that cave, there are strange invisible monsters that cannot be seen. Because I was unaware of them at first, I lost my leg and nearly died.”

  She didn’t take his warning seriously. The fact that he had survived those so-called monsters was proof that they weren’t that powerful or dangerous. She could easily handle them.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Before asking her next question, she stole a quick glance at his severed leg. For some inexplicable reason, she felt a faint trace of pity.

  She let out a silent sigh, then suppressed those emotions and asked, “And where is this cave you’re talking about?”

  Just like before, Arthur answered without hesitation. “The cave is about two days’ journey to the sou…ou…th—”

  Suddenly, his mouth stopped moving. His expression froze.

  The Spider Woman immediately sensed something was wrong. Especially when she felt the mana inside his body suddenly surge violently, moving in a chaotic frenzy.

  Then, strangely, his body began to swell and inflate like a balloon, as if it were about to explode.

  ‘Damn it, what’s happening? Did he partially break free from my Seduction and decide to kill himself? This lunatic… why does he always do this? Can’t he be obedient for once? I can’t let him do that.’

  Annoyed, she moved quickly. She activated "Seduction" again and locked eyes with him. At the same time, she placed her hand on his chest, trying to calm his Primal Core by draining his mana.

  But the moment she sensed the sheer density of his mana, she was stunned. ‘Impossible. He just reached D-Rank… so why does he possess mana almost comparable to C-Rank monsters? I don’t understand anything anymore.’

  Her thoughts raced as she tried her best to stop him from exploding. Yet despite attempting to regain control over him and suppress the chaos, she failed.

  Arthur regained more of his awareness and rationality, and his body swelled even further.

  The Spider Woman stepped back hesitantly, then stared at him. He stared back at her, their faces directly facing each other.

  Suddenly, Arthur opened his mouth wide and unleashed the "Mana Beam" skill straight at her face.

  Bang!

  The Spider Woman’s pupils shrank. Before she could react, the Mana Beam struck her.

  Due to her extreme toughness, the beam split into multiple fragments upon impact, transforming into concentrated lines of energy that shot in all directions, destroying everything in their path.

  As for her, the force of the attack pushed her backward. Her legs dug into the ground along the way like steel plows, and her back shattered every tree she crashed into.

  Dust exploded into the air, forming a dense cloud. Birds and beasts fled the area in panic. The unconscious human youth nearby was struck by a stray fragment of the Mana Beam, and his body turned into charred flesh.

  Throughout it all, Arthur clung to the ground beneath him with all his strength, continuing to direct his attack at her with precision like a living cannon.

  He didn’t stop until he had nearly expelled all his mana. His Primal Core ran dry, leaving only a tiny remnant behind.

  The last thing that came out of his mouth was a violent cough, followed by a large mass of blood, shredded flesh, and fragments of shattered teeth.

  Because the destructive force of his attack far exceeded his Rank, he suffered severe backlash.

  His throat, mouth, and face were almost completely burned. Many of his veins and mana pathways burst, and his body was covered in surface wounds.

  He took a deep, exhausted breath and shook his head, clearing the final remnants of her "Seduction." Then he activated "Regeneration" to its limit, and his wounds began healing at a visible pace.

  After that, he focused entirely on the Spider Woman ahead of him. Her figure appeared only as a blurry silhouette through the thick dust cloud.

  Inside, he thought in dread.

  ‘I’m finished. My plan has completely fallen apart. I… I didn’t want to attack her. She forced me into it. I had no other choice.

  If she learned the location of the Mana Stone cave, I would never gain my freedom. I’d spend the rest of my life as her slave.’

  In truth, his attack had been a desperate move. When she took control of him and began interrogating him, he had still retained a fragment of awareness.

  The moment he realized he was about to reveal everything, he desperately tried to break free from her grip—or at least force himself to stay silent.

  That was when he noticed he still retained decent control over his Primal Core. So he chose to agitate it—leading to the release of the “Mana Beam” Skill.

  ‘I’ve crossed every line now. There’s no going back. It’s either death… or freedom.’

  He calmed himself. His eyes turned cold as he watched the dust cloud slowly disperse.

  The Spider Woman emerged.

  She hadn’t fallen. She was still standing, her head bent sharply backward. Her face wasn’t visible, hidden from view as her chest was lifted high and blocked it.

  Seconds passed painfully slowly.

  After a brief moment of stillness, her body trembled. Then she slowly lifted her head.

  Her face was completely disfigured, featureless, steam rising from it. It looked like nothing more than a scorched ball of flesh.

  But soon, it began to regenerate. The burns healed. Her muscles pulsed and shifted back into place.

  A fresh layer of smooth white skin covered her face. Her lips regained their red hue. Her hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes grew back.

  Finally, her eyelids opened—revealing those terrifying red eyes.

  Then suddenly, a suffocating aura burst from her body, and she screamed in absolute rage: "I will kill you!”

  — — — — — — — — —

  Author’s Note

  Arthur… rest in peace, brave soul.

  Hey everyone! So yeah… I kinda messed up the usual posting schedule. ?? Two reasons for that: first, I’ve been a bit busy this week, so my time to work on the story is a bit tighter than usual. Second, Volume Two is almost at its end—there are probably only 15–20 chapters left, packed with tons of events, some pretty rough for our friend Arthur (next chapter, haha). Honestly, I’m super excited to get all the ideas out, but also a little nervous I won’t get them exactly the way I want.

  So… updates might be a bit irregular over the next two weeks. I’ll still be posting, just maybe slower and at different times than usual.

  Thanks a lot for your patience, as always!

  And of course—since I’m excited—there’s a chance I might post a bit faster when I have more free time (haha, assuming I don’t run into any writing problems).