The reptilian’s ferocious jaw ripped out a chunk of flesh from the tarantula’s abdomen.

Even in the dark night, the bright red scales of the monster were still visible as they sparkled like gems. The beast stood over 10 feet tall.

Maybe it’s a baby dragon?

The top half of the monster resembled a lizard, but the way its arms acted as its wings was similar to a bat.

Its talons were the same color as silver. They were long and curved.

Lily peeked around the rock to see the monster for herself.

"That’s not a dragon," she commented. "It’s a wyvern. They are very different from dragons. Though I can’t tell what type of wyvern it is."

"Does it matter?"

"It does. They have different behavioral patterns based on the species. They even hunt differently depending on the species, but generally, wyverns are B-ranked threats."

B-Rank... It’s best to avoid it then. There are far more powerful predators in this land than me, and it wouldn’t be smart to get into any confrontation with them.

Eventually, I’ll have to get rid of them all, but it’s better to work my way up the food chain one step at a time instead of facing monsters out of my league.

Without hesitation, I tapped Lily on the head, sending her back into my storage space.

This way, it would be much easier to make a clean escape without being noticed.

Using my magma creation spell, I sunk into the ground, swimming through the magma I created as I moved.

One good thing about this was that I now knew the wyvern’s scent, so I can now keep track of it.

Soon, when I was miles away, I finally resurfaced and removed Lily from my storage space.

We resurfaced in an area where the trees were still standing, except they were all withered until the wood itself had turned grey.

Still, I could sense movements in this area. I instantly activated my mana sight, and that’s when I saw it.

There were lines of mana connecting these trees. They were like invisible threads creating intricate patterns, almost like...

"That tarantula that the wyvern was eating. Did you recognise it?"

I quickly learned that Lily was like a walking encyclopedia. She knew a lot about this world, including the monsters that were here. Though I never really asked her how she knew.

"I’m not sure, and I don’t know much about the species to tell the difference. The easiest way is to kill them to find out," she explained.

Trying to kill one of them is risky since I don’t know their rank. Since one of them was killed by a B-ranked wyvern, I’m sure they are not ranked higher than B-rank.

Tarantulas, like most spiders, are ambush predators, but the most alarming thing about them is their venom, which has the ability to liquefy their prey from the inside, after which they can suck them up like drinking juice from a straw.

To most, this would seem creepy, but I honestly found it interesting. I could honestly learn a lot about hunting from these creatures.

I’m almost certain that these invisible threads I was seeing belonged to them.

They must’ve turned this entire area of trees into their hunting ground, and I have wandered into it.

I still have a few cores from the vampyric worms, which I had planned to absorb later.

I quickly removed one from my storage space.

[120 biomass has been spent to create a monster from vampyric worm core]

[300 biomass has been spent to speed up the hatch time]

Immediately, the egg began to hatch, and from it emerged a worm-like monster with characteristics of a centipede.

This monster didn’t have an exoskeleton, but it had many pointed, needle-like legs, just like me.

This monster was also blind and had several rows of sharp teeth and forcipules on its head.

The best way to describe it was that it looked like a hybrid between a centipede and a worm.

Since this would be a temporary monster, I didn’t bother naming it.

"He’s cute," Lily commented.

I allowed my new monster to crawl forward until it was inevitably caught in the invisible web.

The worm-centipede thrashed and fought to escape while we watched silently, waiting for what its action would attract.

Almost immediately, eight glowing eyes could be seen peering through the darkness.

The eyes slowly moved closer to the worm-centipede, then, with one powerful burst, the tarantula was on top of the worm-centipede, biting through its flesh and injecting its venom.

At the same time, I slowly wiggled my way into position, moving like an anaconda with my many legs to boost my speed.

Then, with a burst of speed, I wrapped myself around the tarantula before it could react.

My needle-like legs skewered the monster, punching many small holes through its body before piercing through its neck with my forcipules.

The tarantula’s movements immediately slowed, and soon it stopped moving altogether.

[You have slain a D-ranked Phantom Tarantula]

While the creature was in my grasp, I quickly devoured what was left of it and claimed its monster core.

[You have gained 140 biomass]

Luckily, it’s only a D-ranked monster.

"It’s a phantom tarantula," I informed Lily.

"Oh, that’s a species of tarantula that can turn both itself and its web invisible. There are other species of tarantula with this ability, but this one is special since it normally lives in a colony. There are cases of this monster turning an entire forest into its hunting ground, killing everything that wanders inside, and you would never know not to enter since this monster keeps itself invisible unless it’s moving."

That does sound interesting. If they live and hunt in groups, then there must be more of them.

More of them means more biomass to harvest. But how do I hunt creatures that keep themselves invisible?

I can’t keep creating monsters since the cost isn’t sustainable.

I need to find another way to hunt them.