Ascension of the immortal Asura

"A Deathshroud Spider?" John replied as he scoured his memories for knowledge of the beast. However, he did not contain any information of this beast, which was something that made him frown in displeasure. "I can't say I've heard of it before."

'It seems my knowledge of the cultivation world has fallen far behind, as I haven't had much time to read up on things since coming to the Divine Martial Continent. Thankfully Laia is here for now, but it appears as though I'll need to do some reading again once this is all over.'

"I'm not surprised that you've never heard of it," Laia replied mentally through their sound transmission. "This is a very rare spider, and even the entire Divine Martial Continent most likely only contains a handful. It seems as though the ancient Jade Dragon Empire loved to collect rare and dangerous beasts to put in this trial."

"So what makes it so dangerous?" John asked, but could already guess the reason.

"Its aura," Laia replied as she gazed towards the spider, its silhouette just barely visible through the dark fog. "As its name implies, the spider naturally emanated the Dao of Death, shrouding it within, hence the name. Just getting close to it will require you to step into its shroud of death, which is strong enough to kill most equal cultivation opponents. Even if you can handle the aura of death, it's still shockingly powerful when it comes to its attacks, and it contains a lethal venom even more potent than its aura. It truly is a creature of pure lethality."

John frowned as he heard all this, as their final opponent seemed to be more than they could realistically handle. His gaze lingered on the spider for a bit, and then the portal behind it. The massive half-mile wide web covered the way forward to the portal as well, causing him to frown once more. He could tell from a glance that the web was made from incredible materials, and was not something easy to break through.

If they tried to make a mad dash for the portal, the webs would no doubt slow them down enough for the spider to catch them. His mind raced for ideas, as they needed to move forward past the spider no matter what. He couldn't go all out again this spider by using his Asura Transformation and bloodline ability, as he needed to preserve his strength for what laid on the other side of the portal. Only one feasible idea came to mind, but it had a glaring problem.

"I have an idea, but it has one massive problem," John said to Laia.

"What's the idea?" she asked.

"This spider is definitely beyond my ability to battle head on, but I can tell its strength lies in its shroud of death, its speed, and its venom. Its body is most likely average durability when compared to other Dao Transformation beasts, so if I was able to land a Dragontail Decimation on it, it should not only stun the spider for long enough for us to dash forward, but also break the webs as well."

Laia thought over his idea, and recalled when he had used that attack once before. Its power was beyond overwhelming, and was potentially capable of doing what he just described.

"That could work," Laia replied after musing it over.

"The glaring problem is that the attack takes a full minute to charge, and my aura will be flaring with power as I do so. The spider will notice instantly, and neither you nor Kirii is strong enough to stall it for a full minute," John explained the downside to the idea.

A thoughtful expression appeared on Laia's face, before her crystal blue eyes shifted to gaze at John once more.

"I might be able to help with that issue," she replied, her words causing a glimmer of hope to the situation.

"How?" John asked curiously.

"By using my Dao of Time powers!"

"Your Dao of Time powers? How will that help? There's no way you can control the spider for that long," John rebuked.

"You're right, but I won't be freezing the spider in time…instead, I'll wrap us up in a bubble of time, separating us from the rest of the world!"

"You can do that?" John asked.

"I think so," Laia replied with a thoughtful expression. "I've never tried it before, but I don't see why it can't work. I'll create a layer of frozen time around us, so that your aura will become frozen once it reaches the layer of frozen time. Unless the spider spots us visually, it won't notice us at all while you charge your attack," she explained.

"When you're ready to unleash your attack, I'll lower the veil of time, and you can unleash your attack. To us, it will appear normal, but to the spider, it will appear as if you attacked instantly!"

"Thats…that's incredible," John exclaimed as he realized the idea could work, before his face twisted slightly. "Hey, why didn't you think of this earlier. We could have used this tandem ability to handle all the previous dangers!"

"It's not as amazing as it sounds," Laia rebuked his idea. "This idea only works if we're not spotted visually, and if we are, we would have no warning at all while we're attacked. If the spider were to notice us while we're in the bubble of time and attack us, it would appear instantaneous to us as well. It's very risky, and should only be used as a last resort. Also, my Dao of Time is quite exhausting to use, and is a bit like your bloodline ability. I can't use it very often, and so I should only use it when necessary."

"I suppose that makes sense," John replied, slightly dejected by her explanation. If the ability had no downsides, they would basically become invincible in battle. However, the ability had two glaring flaws, and could only be used in fringe situations, such as this one.

Even in this situation, if they were to be noticed by the spider before unleashing the attack, it would appear before them instantaneously from their perspective, and they would die in an instant without a doubt. It was a risky gamble, but one they were required to make.