With ease, Calyra increased the output of her [Mistwatch Eyes], allowing the spell to draw more heavily upon her mana. The thin veil of mist that had been drifting through the chamber thickened noticeably, slowly saturated the air around her.

Then she cast [Cryostatic Barrier] — a smaller variation of [Cryostatic Field].

The spell did not spread through the whole chamber like she usually did. Instead, she carefully kept the spell only around the space close to her body, creating a small area of frozen stillness around herself.

By doing so, she ensured that when she used [Blink], she would no longer risk trapping herself within the monster’s hidden webs again. It would freeze before it even touched her, without affecting the mist spell.

Soon, through the drifting mist, she detected the beast launching itself toward her. Its trajectory cut sharply through the haze, fast and direct.

But before it could reach her, Calyra cast [Blink].

Her figure vanished from that spot and reappeared somewhere else within the chamber.

The spider struck only empty air before instantly rebounding in the air, using its invisible thread, its monstrous body springing again toward her new location.

Calyra [Blink] again.

[Blink]

[Blink]

[Blink]

[Blink]

Within moments, the two of them were moving at a speed impossible for ordinary humans to follow.

The chamber became a blur of sudden disappearances and violent lunges, predator and prey constantly switching places in a deadly rhythm.

Calyra no longer had to worry about the creature’s web traps.

Whenever the strands came close to her, the power of her [Cryostatic Barrier] froze them at once, making the invisible threads hard and easy to break.

With this protection around her, she could keep using [Blink] without worrying about getting trapped by the web.

However, merely evading the creature’s relentless attacks did not satisfy her.

Her earlier frustration still lingered.

Then, an idea formed in her mind.

It was something she had never attempted before.

A spell she had never once dared to try. But after watching the beast carefully and studying the way it hunted, she finally decided to attempt it.

After blinking to a distant corner of the chamber, Calyra steadied herself and began channeling her mana.

First, her figure became blurry inside the mist.

Then, slowly, her body and her robes began to fade, mixed with the pale fog around her. Even the long staff in her hand slowly lost its clear form.

Within mere seconds, Calyra had completely disappeared from sight.

She had casted a new spell.

[Invisible]

Yet she did not stop there.

Immediately afterward, she cast another spell.

[Concealment].

The flow of mana around her body compressed inward, tightly concealed and muffled, as her presence hidden from detection.

The beast was suddenly confused as it can no longer detect Calyra.

Since the Silk Tyrant liked to toy with her, Calyra decided to show it that the game could also be played both ways.

*****

[Ruvian’s POV]

"She went invisible..." Rosalin slowly muttered.

Although he watched the battle inside the chamber as closely as he could, their tremendous speed reduced most of the fight to little more than fleeting afterimages.

Even so, a faint, knowing laugh slipped from him.

"Pfff..."

Silvena, Rosalin, and Seraphine — who had been watching the confrontation with such extreme focus that even the smallest movement inside the chamber had not escaped their notice — immediately turned their attention toward him.

"Erm, are you alright?"

Silvena asked quickly. Her expression carried visible concern as she looked at him.

Ruvian slightly shook his head.

"No... nothing. Sorry."

Yet the actual reason why Ruvian found himself letting out that quiet laugh was something he had absolutely no intention of explaining out loud.

Because the truth was that he was currently experiencing a level of shock so ridiculous that even he was beginning to find the situation somewhat absurd.

The reason was extremely simple.

Calyra had just used the spell [Invisible].

And unfortunately, Ruvian happened to know something about that which made the entire situation feel increasingly unreasonable the more he thought about it.

Inside the original storyline of the novel, Calyra had never used that spell even once.

Not a single time.

Across the entire development of the story, and every life-threatening encounter she had gone through, there had never been even the slightest indication that such a spell was part of her arsenal.

Which naturally led toward a conclusion that was so ridiculous that Ruvian almost felt embarrassed for even thinking about it.

Because if his memory of the story was correct, then the only possible explanation was that Calyra had quite literally forced herself to create and use that spell on the spot!

Not because she had prepared it beforehand.

Not because it had always been part of her abilities.

And certainly not because she had calmly studied and mastered it beforehand like any reasonable mage would normally do.

No. It was because... she had simply become irritated.

Irritated and stubborn toward that monstrous Silk Tyrant that kept playing around hide-and-seek with her.

And because of that irritation, she had apparently decided that the most logical solution was to forcibly manifest an entirely new spell into existence right in the middle of the battle.

A copy of that spider’s ability, even!

In other words, she literally forced a completely new spell into existence purely out of spite. To give that monster a taste of its own medicine.

Ruvian could only continue staring at the scene unfolding inside the chamber while his mind spiraled deeper and deeper into a state of chaotic disbelief.

’...Haha, seriously. Such a crazy talent.’

Then, from where they stood, they saw a few surges of serpent-like water rapidly emerge from the thin gaps along the ground, rushing upward in swift, twisting currents as if several living streams had been awakened beneath the stone floor.

The flowing streams immediately began to coil and spiral through the entire chamber in powerful torrents, violently ripping away the invisible spider webs.

At the same time, the rushing currents disrupted the Silk Tyrant’s movements, forcing the creature’s pathways to collapse under the crushing sweep of the water.

Since it was in a state of confusion, its movement became simple to read.

"I think... she had enough of this."

Silvena slowly uttered with a small nervous laugh.

’Yeah... she seems about to end it here and now.’

The water serpent hurtled forward with brutal momentum.

Wherever it went, the strands of web were dragged out and torn apart, unable to resist the crushing flow of water that twisted and churned through the air like a raging tide.

Within moments, the chamber was cleared.

As soon as the last of the hidden webs were flushed away, the serpent turned sharply and rushed toward the Silk Tyrant.

The creature sensed the incoming threat and immediately tried to flee. Its body darted through the air in quick and erratic movements, attempting to escape the tightening flow of water.

But Calyra seemed to cast another spell.

A pulse of pale frost shot forward and struck the space around the creature. The cold spell spread outward and briefly locked the Silk Tyrant’s movement in place, disrupting its escape.

The moment its movement faltered, the water serpent arrived.

"She caught it!"

Silvena and Rosalin cried out in excitement.

The rushing current curved inward and wrapped around the creature from every direction.

Layer upon layer, the torrent rushed and pressed against it, folding back upon itself until the Silk Tyrant was swallowed up by the waters.

At last, the torrent took the shape of a massive sphere of water suspended within the chamber. The surface trembled with each mighty movement, and the beast struggled against its confinement.

Ruvian continued to watch the suspended sphere. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

His eyes followed the trembling surface of the water as the currents inside slowly shifted and folded over one another.

At first it looked like nothing more than a prison meant to hold the creature in place, yet the longer he observed, there was more to it.

The sphere was not simply containing the Silk Tyrant.

The water within it was moving inward.

Every current seemed to circle back toward the center where the creature struggled.

The flow pressed again and again against the creature’s body, slowly tightening the space inside the sphere.

Rosalin tilted her head with confusion, then asked:

"What is she doing?"

Silvena frowned while observing the same movement.

The water did look strange now that they focused on it. The currents kept folding back toward the creature.

Seraphine remained calm beside them as she watched the scene unfold.

"She is increasing the pressure," Seraphine explained in an even voice.

"The water is being forced inward little by little. When the space inside becomes smaller, the force pressing on the creature grows heavier."

Rosalin blinked as she looked back at the sphere.

"Pressure?"

Seraphine nodded faintly.

"If the currents keep compressing like that, the creature will feel the weight from every direction."

Ruvian’s eyes remained fixed on the struggling figure within the sphere as Seraphine spoke.

Her explanation matched exactly with what he had begun to suspect.

Inside the floating prison, the Silk Tyrant had already begun to feel the change.

──────── ✦ ────────

[Chapter 111: The Deepmarch Dungeon (16)]