Cairn forest. Evening 5 PM.


    "Where the fuck are we?"


    One of the Spiders couldn''t help asking the question to his guild members after they were all teleported inside the isted array.


    The istion array covered an area of about 300 meters in radius. It was isted by a thin but strongyer of mana in a honeb pattern. The sky and the area outside the isted array looked blurred because of the pattern.


    The dome-shaped istingyer had a maximum height of about 70 meters from the ground. It meant that the isted space had plenty of room for two sides to duke it out.


    There were nine members from Bam''s party that had been teleported inside the isted array. The one who had asked the question was a short and stout dwarf ranker.


    Five of them were regr Spiders whereas four of them were newly joined members who had only joined the House of Spiders recently. They were demonic rankers hired by the guild to fight with the Stardust guild just as Raina had said.


    These nine old and new Spiders were wearing their gear. They consisted of humans and beastkin mostly. There was a dwarf and an elf ranger as well.


    "Stop asking stupid questions, Halder. We were teleported by some runic imprint. These Stardust shits think they can finish us by dividing us. I say whoever we are put up against is in for a rude awakening."


    A giant man named Kazak said in a deep voice to Haldur the dwarf while staring at him. He had blood-red hair and a square-shaped jawline. Fang-like teeth protruded from either side of his lower lips, indicating that he was a beastkin. He had various tattoos on his arms and was wearing heavy armor.


    Halder was irritated by the way Kazak told him off. He was about to argue with thetter when he noticed a presence had appeared in front of them.


    The nine Spiders watched with keen interest who their opponents were. But they looked ahead and then looked around confused. That''s because only one ranker had appeared in front of them.


    The ranker that had appeared in front of them wasn''t even an Awakened ranker for him to act so boldly in front of nine Spiders. He had shoulder-length white hair, a bit of pale skin, and blue eyes.


    He looked at the nine Spiders casually. As if he wasn''t afraid of their numbers. As if he was fully confident in taking them all on at the same time.


    "Boy, I don''t mind if you want to fight us considering our situation. But I''d rather have a head-on sh than you guys trying to sneak on us.


    This is an istion array and we are not getting out of it anytime soon. So you might as well do us a favor and fight with us fair and square."


    The one who spoke was a man who had worn full-body, knightly armor. He even had his head protected by a helmet that only had a slit for his eyes. As a result, his features couldn''t be discerned.


    But one could tell judging by the expensive armor he was wearing, his mana signature, and his demeanor that he was a powerful fighter.


    Eren turned towards the man who had just spoken and studied him. In response, he started to study each spider in detail before stopping to look at someone familiar.


    "You… I have seen you somewhere."


    Eren ignored the knight''s question thrown at him and pointed his ax at the ranker standing beside the knight. It took him a second to recognize the face.


    This familiar female ranker had an attractive body. She was wearing light armor that revealed her cleavage and entuated her bust. Her slim and curvy waistline was exposed. She wore ck leather pants that provided a snug fit and disyed her shapely posterior.


    Her voluminous ck hair reached below her butt and was let loose. Her green eyes looked as enchanting as Eren remembered them to be.


    "Ariadne!"


    Eren finally remembered the name of the demonic ranker who had managed to get away from him when he was on the Bl Blood subjugation mission. She was an illusionist who had deceived him by leaving him with a corpse to attack at the veryst moment of their fight.


    "Eren!"


    Ariadne recognized Eren at the same time he recognized her. She wore a surprised expression on her face as she looked at the white-haired Stardust member in front of her. She bit her tongue after realizing the manic hade to fight with her once again.


    "Do you know this pale-ass punk, Ariadne?"


    Halder asked. He didn''t like that Aridane knew a man from the opposing force. Especially because the dwarf had been trying his luck with the illusionist ever since she had joined Spiders.


    Ariadne looked at Eren with a nk expression. But there was a storm brewing inside her head. That''s because she knew how dangerous Eren was as a ranker. The nine Spiders present inside the istion array were confident that they could handle a single Meta ranker easily.


    After all, even an Awakened ranker in the early stage would have a hard time fighting against nine gear-equipped, veteran rankers in thete stage of the Meta rank.


    However, Ariadne knew better because she had direct contact with Eren. And judging by the mana signature he was exuding, he must have improved a lot since thest time she had seen him.


    It was not like Ariadne was stagnant in her ranking journey. Her life had improved a lot since she had split from her previous organization which wasposed of demonic rankers. As a demonic ranker, she would do whatever needed to be done to survive in the world.


    Ariadne joined House of Spiders because they had started mass recruiting without checking on the rankers'' backgrounds. This was basically a guild screaming out that it was open to hiring demonic rankers.


    The Spiders were offering significant benefits for those who joined them as well. Thus, there was no reason for Ariadne not to join them. She only recently learned that the House of Spiders had a beef with the Stardust guild and the Spiders wereunching ambushes on the other guild''s members.


    Ariadne was aware that it was the Stardust guild that had taken care of Bl Blood''s entire team. She was the only lucky person who had managed to escape the kingdom-sanctioned massacre. As such, she got stressed when the Spider started shing with the Stardust members overtly and covertly.


    Ariadne was a survivor. As the feud between the two guilds dragged on, she realized that her survival would be threatened. Thus, she was nning to pull another "Houdini" on Spiders as well.


    ''Fuck… was it toote?''


    While looking at Eren, Ariadne thought to herself with a stressed expression. She bit her lower lip and looked down– her eyes darting from nowhere to nowhere. She quickly cast her movement spell and disappeared from her position, approaching Eren.


    The other Spiders were too stunned by Ariadne''s sudden move to react on time. They watched with part shocked and part curious expressions as one of them boldly zeroed in on their opponent.


    Eren smirked at Ariadne when he was approaching him using her movement spell. Two axes appeared in his hand all of a sudden and they started humming as they were charged with fire-element mana.


    "Wait… wait a damn minute, Eren!"


    Igni Wave!


    Eren didn''t listen to Ariadne''s request. He fired a series of flying attacks at her while changing his position.


    The Igni Waves hit Ariadne''s approaching body and burst into water drops and white smoke. She had used one of her illusion spells to act as her double. Meanwhile, she had disappeared from the scene. Her vital signs and her mana signature couldn''t be tracked with normal vision of mana sense.


    Eren wasn''t surprised by Ariadne''s stunt. This was not his first rodeo with her. He clenched his axes and poured more fire-element mana into them.


    He also activated his movement spell and coated his legs in blue lightning tongues– ready to strike his opponent whenever she shows herself.


    "Boy, I told you to wait. At least hear me out before fighting me. I am not using my illusory spells against you this time, am I? You should have a bit of patience before you resort to violence."


    Ariadne said before sounding an "Oooof!"


    Eren heard Ariadne''s voice at Three O'' clock from his position. He was about tounch another attack on her. But something she saidst caught his attention. She indeed had not resorted to using her hypnotizing voice on him. She had also refrained from using her illusion spells to attack him.


    In the end, Eren lowered his weapons and looked at Ariadne. He stared at her intently before shaking his head a bit to adjust his shoulder-length hair.


    ''I need to cut my hair, it seems.''


    The battlemage had a random thought as he looked at the stunning beauty. His mana sense was fixated on the other eight Spiders who for some reason decided not to move.


    ===


    AN: Ariadne was mentioned in chapter 115.