A red circle, huh?
Kiana memorized the positions of the three red circles and spoke into the walkie-talkie, telling the soldiers to cancel the markings. She already had all their locations noted down.
After all, that thing could talk.
If it saw those red circles again, it wouldn't necessarily fall for the same trap a second time.
The spider shook its enormous body, flames dying down across its carapace, before charging once more after Kiana without pause.
This time, Kiana noticed it clearly.
It wasn't chasing her out of grudge—it wanted her. This disgusting creature was after her body.
She cursed under her breath.
Kiana darted away, leading it on a long loop before drawing it back to the position of the previous red circle.
As soon as the spider reached it, the artillery thundered again, explosions ripping across the street and striking its body directly.
Kiana shifted into Phase Shuttle mode, completely avoiding the blast wave.
She studied the spider carefully, eyes narrowing as she noticed strange patterns emerging across its burned skin.
"What's that…?"
Her pupils trembled.
No way. With less than ten percent Honkai Energy concentration, it still got infected?
The spider's craving for her only grew stronger. Even repeated bombardments couldn't stop its hunger for Kiana.
Using the same trick again, Kiana led it through another round of cannon fire.
After taking several direct hits, the spider's once-white body had turned pitch black from burns. Finally, it seemed to regain some clarity, the frenzy fading from its movements.
It began commanding its offspring to attack the armed soldiers while continuing its pursuit of Kiana.
But its fragile spawn didn't accomplish much—Raiden Mei's blade had already cut them down before they got close.
Without overwhelming power, cooperation was the key—and thanks to that, they had the upper hand for now.
If that exoskeletal armor could last indefinitely, then why wasn't the spider always using it?
Kiana was sure it couldn't maintain that form for long.
Several spider legs pierced the spot where she had just been standing. Kiana flipped backward, pulling away just as another shell exploded against the monster's body.
"Why does this feel like some kind of action game…" she muttered under her breath, dodging another strike.
Her sharp eyes caught a shift in the spider's movements—it was slowing down. She squinted, stepping off a half-collapsed wall to launch herself forward, spinning midair into a counterattack.
Her baseball bat smashed against the joint connecting one of the spider's legs to its torso—snapping the limb clean off.
"It worked?!"
After running for so long, Kiana finally realized—the spider was running on fumes.
It had taken her heavy strike from above earlier, then suffered a devastating blow from Mei's blade. Though its transformation had been terrifying, it was just as she'd suspected—it couldn't last forever.
Time to strike back!
Ignoring the writhing tendrils, Kiana darted in close, agile movements carrying her around the spider as she landed hit after hit.
The giant spider thrashed wildly, desperate to grab her.
But with her Phase Shuttle, Kiana could evade any fatal blow—how could she possibly be defeated so easily?
Another leg shattered under her relentless strikes.
Kiana weaved through dense webs, reappearing above the spider.
"Trying to use me as fusion material? You're not nearly qualified, monster!"
She gathered every ounce of strength into her fist.
Abandoning her bat, Kiana slammed her fist down hard—so hard the spider was smashed flat against the ground, its body carving a shallow crater where it fell.
Exhaling heavily, she finally felt the weight lift from her chest.
Landing lightly on an open patch of ground, she flexed her fingers. "Huh… my punches are getting stronger. Am I actually hitting harder than before?"
She frowned in mild confusion. "I'm supposed to be a gun user. How did I end up on the path of One Punch Man?"
"Kiana! Don't let your guard down!"
Raiden Mei arrived beside her, seizing the opportunity while the creature was gravely injured and unable to escape.
"Mei!"
Kiana brightened instantly, gripping her baseball bat as she charged in alongside Mei once more.
Who cared about methods—as long as it worked, any way that could bring an enemy down was the best way there was!
In gaming terms, this monster had been completely broken—Kiana had shattered its defense and forced it into a weakened state.
It had not only lost its ability to fight back temporarily, but even its natural defenses had drastically dropped.
Strike while it's down—finish it off!
With no spider silk left to interfere, the creature's defense could no longer withstand Raiden Mei's blade.
Bolts of lightning flashed again and again as the few remaining legs of the spider Kami were brutally severed one by one.
Where was its weak point?
Cut open the whole shell and find out!
Raiden Mei gathered all her strength into her blade, electricity surging along its edge until it crackled with violent energy. Then she unleashed a massive lightning slash several meters long.
"One-Sword Style—Breaker!"
The roaring thunder strike tore through the air, cutting forward for dozens of meters before finally colliding with a distant skyscraper and dissipating.
The massive spider's body was cleaved cleanly in two under Mei's terrifying strike.
"Mei! When did you learn to do that?!"
Kiana's eyes widened. She looked at the bisected spider, then at the distant skyscraper struck by the lightning slash, and finally down at her own baseball bat.
Where had she fallen behind in all this?
How did Mei suddenly pull off something that terrifying—cutting down a Kami with one swing?!
"Just now," Mei replied simply.
Her sharp eyes caught movement in one half of the spider's corpse—a writhing cluster of tendrils. Without hesitation, she swung again, sending out another, smaller slash to finish the job.
The creature that had delayed them for so long, that even heavy weaponry couldn't completely destroy, finally met its end.
"It must be an improvement from battle," Mei continued. "I can feel the Stigmata resonating, granting me new strength—it's something I've always wanted to try."
A single slash that could release a massive wave of sword energy.
That was every swordsman's dream.
The cluster of tendrils disintegrated under Mei's lightning strike. Like the two Kami before it, the spider's body, its severed legs, and all its remnants dissolved into a strange aura, trying to flow into Mei's katana.
Raiden Mei immediately invoked her Stigmata, surrounding her blade with protective power to repel the invading force.
The rejected energy twisted and boiled violently, finally condensing into a single black crystal. Kiana stepped forward and grabbed the spoils.
[Inferior Energy Crystal (B): Energy crystal. Can be used to upgrade 'Cursed Blade' series equipment.]
[Suggestion: Recycle for decomposition.]
No need to think twice—sell it!
Following the same procedure as before, the ominous crystal shattered into countless golden particles and vanished.
[Inferior Energy Crystal (B) recycled. You have obtained 1,000 Honkai Cubes. Honkai Cubes can be exchanged for goods in the Shop.]
One thousand!
Wasn't that enough to buy ten rocket launchers?!