The pendant given by the Snake Witch in Chapter 30 only has a few uses left...

"If it weren't for the scent of that alien spider that masked my mark, I wouldn't have been searching for you for so long," Xavier said, flicking his tongue, his tone not very friendly.

Catherine didn't speak, but calmly raised what she was holding and pointed it at Xavier in front of her.

The silver python sensed danger in that instant, tilting its head to narrowly avoid it. But the black snake behind it wasn't so lucky.

Before the black snake could even see what was happening ahead, Xavier suddenly swerved to the side, and then a fiery red sphere, trailing a long white-gold tail, hurtled towards it with sparks and lightning...

【boom--】

A tremendous tremor was heard.

The black snake was firmly embedded in the towering tree behind it, with the bark around it caved in. From a distance, it looked as if a huge round hole had appeared out of nowhere in the center of the thick tree trunk.

The scene fell silent for a moment, and everyone's eyes involuntarily turned in their direction.

The section of the black snake's body that had been struck had been reduced to a pulpy mess. Now, it lay quietly embedded in the tree as a specimen, clearly lifeless.

Seeing this, the air seemed to grow even quieter.

With mixed emotions, they looked at Catherine, who had suddenly launched such an attack.

As for Catherine herself...

She was also shocked.

This was the first time she had used the witch's pendant, and she hadn't expected it to possess such power. The witch had only said it could "kill a ferocious beast."

This power... can kill more than one.

Everyone quickly realized what was happening, and the battle only paused for a short while before resuming. However, this time, everyone consciously avoided Catherine, or more precisely, avoided her "weapons."

A weapon with such destructive power is unheard of. No one wants to become the next Black Serpent. Xavier narrowed his eyes; he had glanced at what Catherine was holding earlier—a pendant. He knew Catherine's strength from before, so…

Why not just remove the pendant?

He tilted his head, then charged at full speed towards Catherine. The others around tried to stop him, but Xavier simply flicked his tail, wiping them all out.

Upon seeing his actions, Catherine turned and ran without a second thought.

This pendant can only be used three times, and she has already used it once.

While the deterrent effect is good, if those giant snakes discover that the pendant has a limited number of uses, they probably won't be afraid anymore—after all, they are perfectly capable of using the lives of their own kind to deplete the pendant's uses.

Xavier moved very fast; she had sensed this before in the snake pit.

Fortunately, after experiencing two unusual symptoms, her bodily functions slowly began to improve.

Catherine stared intently at the obstacles ahead, narrowly avoiding them each time she got too close. She thought about the silver pythons chasing her; if she could just crash into one or two of them, she could buy herself a little more time.

However, Xavier reacted extremely quickly and never let her succeed even once.

The two maintained a barely manageable distance. This was only possible because Catherine had increased her speed and was running at almost full speed.

Time ticked by, and Catherine felt her body grow heavier, her speed gradually decreasing. But Xavier behind her remained relentlessly in pursuit.

She could feel the distance between them gradually shrinking.

Catherine looked at a corner not far away, gritted her teeth, and ran forward a few hundred meters more before suddenly turning the corner.

Using this corner, she successfully turned around and then ran in the opposite direction from where she had come from.

Xavier saw Catherine run out and, out of the corner of his eye, caught a glimpse of her raised right hand, so he quickly ducked his head...

Catherine smiled at this; he wasn't her target to begin with.

He was caught off guard at such close range before and still managed to hit her. Now that they're even further apart, she's not so sure she can win.

This pendant is one less you can use each time, so of course you should choose someone you're more confident in.

Another loud bang was heard, and a giant python that was fighting with others in the distance was not paying attention to what was happening here. It was successfully hit and sent flying.

He flicked his tail weakly in the air before crashing heavily to the ground, lifeless.

Catherine's nerves, which had been tense with fear of missing, relaxed upon seeing this, and her heart began to pound wildly a second later.

The pendant given by the witch can only be used once more.

At this moment, two giant snakes were thrashing their tails not far away, and three or four more giant snakes were lurking menacingly outside the tent cluster. Inside the camp, people were either dead or wounded; looking around, there wasn't a single person with even minor injuries.

They helped each other, carefully avoiding the giant snake, and moved those who were unable to move aside, while those who were less seriously injured continued to fight.

But how long can they hold on?

Seeing Catherine's expression, Xavier immediately guessed what was going on: "Hehehe... that pendant, it doesn't have many uses left, does it?"

Catherine smiled: "Would you like to bet?"

I bet you won't get hit even once from the remaining attempts.

Xavier understood Catherine's implication and his gaze turned cold: "Since you successfully escaped from the snake pit, you've certainly become more sharp-tongued."

After saying this, he attacked Catherine again. He was even faster than before, as if he had been launched directly from the same spot.

By the time Catherine reacted and dodged, it was already a few seconds too late. She could only bend over sharply, kneeling to pass under the silver python. The fabric on her legs, after contact with the stones below, couldn't withstand the friction and was cut in several places. The skin on her knees scraped directly against the stone, causing a large gash.

After sliding over, Catherine immediately used her hands to brace herself and stand up. Ignoring the scrapes on her legs, she randomly chose a direction to run in.

Xavier, like a mad dog, relentlessly pursued her. Catherine cursed inwardly, "These damned monsters, how come each one of them is stronger than the last!"

She didn't care whether the tents would be destroyed; she squeezed into any gap she could find. In any case, given the current situation, if anyone survived the battle, "reconstruction" would obviously be inevitable.

The tent was large enough to accommodate a human of her size, but it would be difficult to accommodate a giant snake several meters long.

Xavier followed her running path into the tent, the surrounding animal hides and several poles serving as his natural restraints. Although he easily tore the hides with his fangs, these tears bought Catherine considerable time.

After destroying several tents, Xavier's bright yellow beastly eyes were filled with rage. He stared intently at Catherine running ahead, calling her name through gritted teeth.

He glanced around, then stopped following Catherine and instead walked straight past her on the right.

Catherine had already entered the tent. Although her view was obstructed, she sensed the wind weakening behind her, and her intuition told her that Xavier had changed direction. Catherine immediately turned around, wanting to leave in a different direction.

However, just as she turned around, a gust of wind swept in from the side, and a thick snake tail swept across, cleaving the animal skin tent in half.

Catherine immediately leaned back, but was still swept away by the snake's tail. The sharp scales instantly tore off a layer of flesh, and in the deepest part, even the white bones could be seen.

A wave of heat preceded the excruciating pain, and blood gushed out instantly. Catherine gasped as she got up from the ground, pulling at the wound on her side and hissing in pain.

The tent was swept away, and Xavier looked at Catherine, who was standing in the center looking disheveled, and couldn't help but laugh: "Heh... if you had been obedient, how could I have bear to let you suffer like this?"

The snake's head had a joyful expression on it, which looked extremely strange.

Catherine raised her hand, pointing the pendant at Xavier. Blood loss and severe injuries slowed her movements.

"What? Are you giving me this last chance? I'm so touched!"

As he said this, Xavier's snake tail lashed out at her hand without mercy, with the force to break it off.

Throughout their long escape, Catherine hadn't used the pendant even once. Xavier had already deduced from this unusual behavior that the pendant only had one use left.

Then all we need to do is destroy this last one.

Even as the snake's tail was about to strike, Catherine didn't retract her arm. She pressed the pendant, using this last chance to successfully take away a giant snake.

The next second, her arm was smashed off. The pendant bounced a few times on the ground before finally disappearing into the dust.

Xavier narrowed his beastly eyes. He hadn't expected this weak human to be so ruthless to himself, risking the loss of an arm just to ensure that every use of the pendant was used to its fullest potential.

Catherine was thrown to her knees by the immense force of the snake's tail. Her knees slammed heavily onto the ground with a sickening crack, followed by excruciating pain, and she instinctively cried out. Catherine knew that the bone in her kneecap was definitely broken.

But at the same time, the familiar feeling of an excessively fast heart rate returned.

Immediately afterwards, an even more intense, sharp pain surged from her lower limbs. Catherine felt as if her calf was being torn apart from the inside out, the sensation extending to the external wound.

She looked down and saw those familiar, sharp spider legs, confirming that her feeling was not wrong.

Damn it! She seemed to know what kind of egg the witch had inserted into her body.

Although it's unknown how she managed to fuse the alien spider egg with her own body.

Her blood was surging like a madman, screaming to burst through her veins. The skin on her wrists was the thinnest, and Catherine could even see that the veins inside were several times thicker than usual!

The indescribable pain turned Catherine's face deathly pale.

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Author's note: Ahem, my prediction was wrong (fingers)

Next chapter! Little Spider is coming back!!