Single Mother of a Werewolf Baby

Chapter 224: Web of Terror

When they had planned the ambush, it had been six against seven. With the element of surprise and each

member's abilities, it should have been manageable... perhaps even simple. They were supposed to dictate the

flow of battle.

But now the tables had turned. An unexpected outside interference had destroyed their initiative, leaving

Eleanor under relentless assault. The orcs had seized control, and she was forced onto the defensive, reacting to

every swing of their weapons rather than directing the fight.

And yet, she held on. She had prepared herself for the possibility of chaos, and her bloodline power kept her

standing against the onslaught.

Still, the orcs were far stronger than she had anticipated... faster, tougher, and heavily armed. When the

enraged one-eyed brute charged her again, its axe cleaving the air, she could only dodge desperately, blows

raining from every side.

The situation was slipping beyond her grasp.

Then, at last, the others struck. With the orcs fixated on Eleanor, none of them noticed the rest of the team

closing in. Shadows leapt from behind, blades flashing in the crimson light. Three orcs fell before they even

realised they were under attack. Joshua and Maira immediately seized the fallen weapons, their hands closing

around crude yet deadly iron swords. In that instant, the battle’s rhythm shifted.

The leader roared and turned on Kiara, pressing her back under a storm of heavy strikes. Eleanor, freed from the

press of the others, found herself facing only the one-eyed orc. She sidestepped its wild swing and, with

precision born of bloodline focus, drove her fist into the base of its skull. The impact sent it staggering forward

before it crashed lifeless to the ground.

Her eyes snapped to the leader. Kiara was struggling, her bow useless at such close range. Eleanor darted in

from the flank, her fist slamming against the leader's temple. But the blow glanced off its thick skull, barely

staggering it. The orc bared its tusks in grim satisfaction... until its eyes widened.

Ophelia emerged from its shadow like a phantom. The moment the leader relaxed, thinking Eleanor missed, a

rusty short sword punched through the base of its skull and into the spine. The creature froze mid-breath, then

collapsed with a dull thud.

Silence fell.

Eleanor turned slowly, surveying the battlefield. The corpses of the remaining orcs lay scattered, their blood

steaming in the strange red light. Her teammates stood victorious—exhausted, panting, but alive. No one was

gravely wounded. Eleanor alone felt the deepest strain; her bloodline and Overdrive had drained her strength

more than she wanted to admit.

One by one, they armed themselves from the fallen. Kiara claimed a crossbow and quiver of arrows. Joshua,

Jaciara, and Maira each selected a sword to their liking. Ophelia kept the srusty blade she had used for the

kill... worn, but appropriate in her grip. Finally, Eleanor slung a heavy broadsword across her back. Crude though

the weapons were, the team was now properly armed.

From then on, the forest hunt began. They moved like a machine, cutting down patrols and packs. Orc after orc

fell, each kill yielding thirty points. Their total soared past a thousand each, climbing steadily up the rankings. By

the tthey paused, all but Ophelia were firmly within the top twenty.

They had just agreed to push further, gathering points to secure Ophelia’s rank, when a notification echoed in

everyone's mind. The last two-hour countdown had begun.

Eleanor opened her status screen.

[Status]

TLeft: 1:59:48

Primary Objective: Kill the Troll King and recapture the stronghold.

Secondary Objective: Eliminate the monsters.

Team members: 6

Points: 1238 (Rank-5)

[Do you want to hide the status screen? Yes/No]

Eleanor dismissed the screen with a thought. They had little tleft.

The decision was unanimous... they would leave the forest and head for the castle. The climb up the mountain

began as an upward march, their boots crunching against moss-slick roots and stone. The air was heavy,

saturated with a sour, ancient smell that clung to their throats. Trees loomed above, their trunks carpeted in

fungus, the bark weeping strands of pale moss.

It was Ophelia who noticed first. "Spider webs," she murmured. Traps stretched between rocks and trees, some

torn apart as if by battle, others still intact.

She slipped ahead to scout, her presence vanishing into the gloom. Minutes later, she returned.... face grim.

"Ma'am... there's a cave up ahead. More than twenty bodies inside, all wrapped in webbing. They're still alive...

at least their hearts are beating. But..." her voice dropped, "I didn’t see the spider."

The group exchanged dark looks.

"Then we find it first," Eleanor decided. "We won't free them only to see them slaughtered."

Their search ended on a cliff, where the mangled corpse of a spider the size of a carriage lay sprawled. Someone

had already killed it. Hope flared... perhaps the cave was safe.

But inside, the truth was worse than they imagined.

From the ceiling hung more than twenty cocoons, swaying gently like grotesque fruit. Each pulsed faintly with

life. Auras leaked through the silk: werewolves, vampires, merfolk, nagas. Cadets, every one of them.

"Water users... cut them free with water blades. Don’t touch the webs. Everyone else, guard the entrance."

Eleanor’s orders rang sharp.

Jaciara, Maira, and Joshua went to work, slicing carefully through the sticky strands. Eleanor and Kiara stood at

the mouth of the cave, in full vigilance. Ophelia melted into Eleanor’s shadow, unseen but waiting.

One cocoon fell, then another. Four, five... unconscious cadets lay on the ground, breathing but insensate. Relief

barely had tto settle.

An eerie clunking sound rattled above them, echoing through the stone cave. Everyone froze. Eleanor’s gaze

snapped upward...too late!

A strand of white silk shot from the ceiling, latching onto Joshua's chest. With terrifying speed, he was yanked

skyward, wrapped in webbing before he could even scream. In seconds, he was a cocoon.

"Cut the whole web down! Don’t mind the others!" Eleanor ordered, surging forward into the cave.

More strands trembled, and with a sickening rip, the ceiling tore open. Dozens of cocoons rained down with

Joshua, lay on the floor still connected in sticky cords. Behind them, a tunnel cinto view... hidden until now.

The lair’s true entrance that they missed due to thick web.

Suddenly, the spider descended. Its screech split the cavern, a shrill, bone-deep vibration that made every

eardrum ache. The air quivered. From the tunnel above, it dropped on a strand as thick as a man’s arm.

The creature was monstrous... its body larger than a wagon, its eyes glittering like shards of obsidian. Rage

twisted every motion. Its legs, long and barbed, stabbed down like spears, gouging holes into stone.

"Scatter!" Eleanor shouted, swinging her broadsword in a desperate arc to buy stfor her teammates.

But she wasn’t fast enough.

One spider leg whipped sideways, striking her squarely in the ribs. She barely managed to interpose her blade,

but the force still hurled her across the cavern. She slammed against the wall, the impact ripping the breath from

her lungs. Pain exploded through her side... hot, sharp, suffocating. Stars danced before her vision. Her knees

nearly buckled. Still, she forced herself upright, blood roaring in her ears.

"Kiara!" she shouted, her voice cutting through the chaos. "Target its eyes... blind it! Don't let it focus!"

Every word stabbed pain through her ribs, but she didn’t falter. Leadership demanded more than strength... it

demanded resolve, even in agony.

Kiara reacted instantly. Her bow

thrummed without pause, arrows

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hissing toward the spider's cluster of

eyes. Beside her, the w@rerisers

upleasted@ Barrage... dozens of

spinning, razor-sharp water blades.

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They weren't meant to pierce the

thick carapace, but to harry and

distract. The cavern rang with the

constant skitter-snap of steel-hard

chitin deflecting the assault. The

content is on novelenglish.net! Read

the latest chapter there!

The spider retaliated with startling speed. Its abdomen convulsed, then burst forward a massiveof glistening

silk that spread wide like a trap.

"Water shield!" Eleanor's command cut the air.

Maira and Jaciara thrust their palms outward. A wall of water surged up, shimmering blue in the red glow. The

sticky threads latched onto the shield, dragged it down under their own weight, then splattered harmlessly to the

stone floor in wet clumps.

"Now!" Eleanor barked, lunging forward despite the fire in her ribs. "Legs with swords... eyes with arrows!"

The team struck as one. Kiara’s arrows whistled, sliced through the air, and Jaciara and Maira hacked at the

spider's legs. The monster flailed, forced into retreat by the sudden coordinated onslaught.

Then, from the ground beneath it, Ophelia emerged silently. She knew her blade could never pierce the

armoured body. So, she chose differently. In a single, precise strike, her short sword drove upward into the soft

gap beneath the spider's jaw.

The blade pierce through the skull.

The spider shrieked, a screech so piercing it seemed to shake loose the very stone around them. Its massive

body convulsed, legs scraping and hammering in blind rage.

"Get Down!" Eleanor shouted, dragging herself sideways just as a leg stabbed where she had stood.

The berserk thrashing lasted

seconds that stretched into eternity...

then Maira, face gp psfiedo arse

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herself forward. With a cry, she

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slammed it against the spider's head.

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The creature's head bursts into a

sickening crunch. The content is on

novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

The sound echoed through the cave. The creature spasmed once, then collapsed in a heap of twitching limbs. A

final shuddering sigh escaped its mandibles, then silence claimed the cavern.

Only the team’s ragged breathing remained.

Eleanor sagged against the stone wall, clutching her side. Pain lanced through every breath, but her gaze

remained sharp. Ophelia darted toward her, worry plain in her pale face, but Eleanor waved her off with a faint

shake of her head.

"Rescue them first," she rasped. "I'm okay."

There was no argument. Water users

hurried to the cocoons, slicing

carefully through is eye byorig,!

| , cadets who had

been prey moments ago. Joshua

was finally free... his face white as

chalk, but he regained his

consciousness faster than others.

Minutes passed in tense silence, broken only by the rustle of web being cut and the soft splashes of water as

they revived the unconscious with sprinkles across their faces. Groggy, frightened, but alive... every cadet stirred

eventually.

Only then did Eleanor allow herself to exhale. Despite the ache that racked her body, a faint, pained smile

tugged at her lips.

"We're not staying here," she said firmly, forcing herself upright. Her voice brooked no debate. "If another spider

comes looking for its mate... none of us are ready for a second round."