In the ears of the elves, all they could hear was Sylas and the basilisk communicating with a cold and slippery hissing sound. The tone was cold and sinuous, like scales sliding over stone.
At Sylas's command, the great serpent slid forward into the shadowed spider-web tunnel without hesitation, its scales rasping softly against the ground.
"You may open your eyes now," Sylas called. His voice carried the calm assurance of someone utterly confident in the deadly ally he had unleashed.
The elves blinked their eyes open.
"What now?" Legolas asked, his bow already in hand. The others turned expectantly toward Sylas.
"We wait," Sylas replied. "Herpo has gone in. He'll drive the spiders out into the open, and when they come, we strike."
Deep within the tangle of silken tunnels, the basilisk moved with uncanny speed, its immense body weaving through narrow spaces with sinuous grace.
"I smell prey… rich, warm, delicious prey," it hissed in Parseltongue, its forked tongue tasting the air. "The hunt begins."
The giant spiders' silk strands quivered as they felt the intruder's movements. Instantly, the creatures stirred in their lairs, chittering excitedly.
"Meat, fresh meat!" they shrieked in their own language, rushing toward the source.
To the basilisk, their excitement was mutual, it saw them as nothing more than quarry. The spider tunnels were a labyrinth, but Herpo followed the scent unerringly.
High above, a massive spider, one of the brood's fiercest hunters, crept along the web-lined ceiling. It moved in perfect silence, aiming to drop upon the serpent and bind it in thick, venom-laced silk.
But before it could strike, Herpo's head shot upward like a drawn bowstring released. A mocking gleam lit its golden eyes.
"Got you."
The spider's many black eyes met the basilisk's unblinking gaze. In an instant, life drained from its body. It went limp, dropping to the ground with a hollow thud.
Herpo regarded the corpse hungrily, jaws opening to engulf it whole, but then stopped.
"No," it hissed, its voice thick with restraint. "The master said to kill them all first… feast later."
Reluctantly, it slid past the fallen prey, though its head lingered for one last covetous glance.
Then the slaughter began.
Herpo moved like a living storm through the nest, each encounter ending in the same swift, merciless way. The spiders had seen serpents before, many had hunted snakes far larger than themselves, but this was different.
This serpent's senses pierced every hiding place. No crevice, no silken cocoon could mask a heartbeat from its tongue and heat-sense.
Their venom splashed harmlessly against its thick, armor-like scales. Even the strongest strands of web sagged and snapped against its muscular coils, unable to slow its passage.
And its eyes, those terrible golden eyes, were death given form. One look was all it took.
The air in the tunnels grew thick with the scent of death. Herpo's movements carried the inevitable certainty of a predator born to hunt them.
The giant spiders, spawn of the ancient darkness of Ungoliant, began to understand fear. It was an alien, crushing sensation for such apex predators. They could not comprehend it, how could they, the hunters, have a natural enemy?
Herpo cared nothing for their confusion. To the basilisk, this was the joy of the hunt. It was death in motion, gliding forward with wide, unblinking eyes.
The giant spiders fled in terror, not daring to look at the basilisk in the eye.
There was even a spider that was caught up and simply destroyed all the eyes that could not be closed, trying to avoid the basilisk's death gaze.
Even without eyes, spiders could still move around by relying on the large number of sensitive hairs and sensory organs on their legs, so eyes were not the most important thing to them.
However, the spider's plan obviously did not go as planned.
Even though the basilisk's deadly gaze could not threaten the blind spider, the basilisk still had deadly venom.
The venom of the basilisk was the most lethal poison in the world, capable of killing creatures almost instantly. Even the most powerful wizards would find it difficult to survive without special treatment in time.
The basilisk's venom was so corrosive and destructive that it could destroy even Horcruxes.
Except for the Phoenix's tears, almost all powerful antidotes could not cure basilisk venom.
But in this world, there was no such species as the phoenix, so the venom of the basilisk was almost unavoidable.
Perhaps only Elrond, who possessed the Ring of Air, Vilya, the best healer in Middle-earth, could counteract the basilisk's poison.
Anyone else who was poisoned by the basilisk's venom would certainly die.
The basilisk quickly caught up with the giant spiders and bit them one by one. Just a drop of venom was enough to make the giant spiders collapse instantly and die.
The basilisk was killing everything in the spider's nest, and no one could stop it.
Many spiders fled in panic, trying to escape from the basilisk's domain, even abandoning their forest home.
As soon as they emerged from the spider's nest, they were met by the elven army waiting outside and were pierced by a rain of arrows.
The basilisk wreaked havoc inside, while the elves stood ready outside.
Every moment, giant spiders rushed out in panic.
It seemed that the basilisk inside was more terrifying than the elves outside, as they would rather face the army of elves than the serpent.
As the elves killed more and more spiders, the area was soon littered with hundreds of their corpses.
Sylas turned into a busy worker, collecting venom while the spider was still alive, and then storing the bodies in his space bag.
He seemed unconcerned about the basilisk's safety inside.
However, before Sylas and the elves could continue waiting, the giant spider leader inside lost patience.
A shrill, piercing hiss echoed from the lair.
A massive spider burst forth from the tunnel.
It was larger than a house, with eight legs like thick, barbed spears, easily capable of tearing a person apart.
This creature was far bigger than any other giant spider, towering above the surrounding trees when it reared up.
"It's the Spider Queen, Senasha!" Radagast shouted in alarm.
"Prepare for battle!" Thranduil ordered sternly.
"The basilisk is back! Everyone close your eyes!" Sylas shouted, using a voice-amplifying spell.
The elves obeyed instantly, shutting their eyes, though their bows remained aimed at the Spider Queen.
Soon, Herpo emerged from the tunnel, looking slightly disheveled.
It slithered quickly to Sylas, hiding its huge body behind him, and complained in Parseltongue, "Master, the delicious prey is chasing us! It's too big, I can't beat it!"
Sylas looked up at the pursuing Spider Queen and noticed that her eyes were covered with thick layers of spider silk.
No wonder she was immune to the basilisk's gaze.
Moreover, the basilisk is still just a young snake, not even as long as one of the spider queen's legs. No wonder it was chased back in a mess.
The Spider Queen exuded a dark aura, with her fangs and claws bared. Even though her eyes were covered, she still locked her eyes on Sylas and the elves.
"Elves, you will all die here today and become food for my children!" The Spider Queen suddenly uttered a cold voice, "And you, little snake, I will tear you apart myself!"
The Spider Queen speaks in human language, which surprises everyone.
And with the appearance of the Spider Queen, thousands of giant spiders swarmed out and surrounded everyone from all directions.
Listening to the Spider Queen's hatred for the Herpo, Sylas couldn't help but ask Herpo curiously, "What did you do in the lair? Why did she hate you so much?"
Herpo said proudly, "I found the spider's hatchery. There were tons of spider eggs in there. I poisoned them all!"
Upon hearing this, Sylas burst into laughter and patted its head: "Well done!"
Herpo suddenly became happy, and then thought of something and said quickly:
"Master, when you leave, be sure to take away all the spiders I killed in the spider's nest! I killed hundreds of them! And don't forget the spider eggs!"
"Okay, I won't forget!" Sylas promised helplessly, 'another foodie snake.'
"Okay, stop talking nonsense and go deal with those giant spiders. And don't hurt the elves, or you'll have no snacks!"
After receiving Sylas's order, Herpo immediately rushed towards the giant spiders with great momentum.
However, with Sylas's warning, Herpo was more careful. He closed his eyes when facing the elves, and only opened his them when facing the giant spider.
This time there is a large number of giant spiders, more than the elf army, and there is also a spider queen.
It can be said to be a tough battle.
The Spider Queen is not only huge in size, but also has amazing magic resistance. The elves' bows and arrows cannot break her defense at all, and even the spells of Legolas and others cannot cause much damage to her.
The Spider Queen can also spray out poisonous mist, which is not only dangerous but also has a strong hallucinogenic and dizzying effect.
Even though the elves' heads were covered by the bubble head charm, the poisonous mist could still reach their skin through the air and slowly invade their bodies.
The Spider Queen even possesses powerful mental illusions that can put people into a dreamlike state and interfere with their perception.
Faced with such a powerful Spider Queen, Thranduil, Radagast, and Sylas did not hold back and all attacked.
Thranduil jumped up from the elk, drew out the elven sword, and nimbly followed the spider legs to quickly reach the Spider Queen, and stabbed the sword into the Spider Queen's most vulnerable abdomen.
The Spider Queen felt pain and shook her body vigorously, trying to throw Thranduil off her.
Radagast, holding a staff, attacks the Spider Queen's legs.
The staff hit the Spider Queen's leg with great force, causing the Spider Queen to stagger instantly. She could no longer stand and fell down.
Sylas simply gripped his staff tightly, injected magic power into it, and released a spell towards the Spider Queen.
"Scourgify"
The cleansing spell released by the staff was so powerful that it instantly cleared away the toxic mist sprayed by the spider queen, and even cleared away all the spider silk stuck on her eyes.
"Herpo, look into her eyes!" Sylas hissed in Parseltongue.
The Spider Queen felt something was wrong when she saw that she had suddenly regained consciousness.
But the next second, she met the eyes of the basilisk that appeared out of nowhere.
...
Stones PlZzzz
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