Single Mother of a Werewolf Baby novel Chapter 224

Chapter 224: Web of Terror

When they had planned the ambush, it had been six against seven. With the element of surprise and each member’s abilities, it should have been manageable... perhaps even simple. They were supposed to dictate the flow of battle.

But now the tables had turned. An unexpected outside interference had destroyed their initiative, leaving Eleanor under relentless assault. The orcs had seized control, and she was forced onto the defensive, reacting to every swing of their weapons rather than directing the fight.

And yet, she held on. She had prepared herself for the possibility of chaos, and her bloodline power kept her standing against the onslaught.

Still, the orcs were far stronger than she had anticipated... faster, tougher, and heavily armed. When the enraged one-eyed brute charged her again, its axe cleaving the air, she could only dodge desperately, blows raining from every side.

The situation was slipping beyond her grasp.

Then, at last, the others struck. With the orcs fixated on Eleanor, none of them noticed the rest of the team closing in. Shadows leapt from behind, blades flashing in the crimson light. Three orcs fell before they even realised they were under attack. Joshua and Maira immediately seized the fallen weapons, their hands closing around crude yet deadly iron swords. In that instant, the battle’s rhythm shifted.

The leader roared and turned on Kiara, pressing her back under a storm of heavy strikes. Eleanor, freed from the press of the others, found herself facing only the one-eyed orc. She sidestepped its wild swing and, with precision born of bloodline focus, drove her fist into the base of its skull. The impact sent it staggering forward before it crashed lifeless to the ground.

Her eyes snapped to the leader. Kiara was struggling, her bow useless at such close range. Eleanor darted in from the flank, her fist slamming against the leader’s temple. But the blow glanced off its thick skull, barely staggering it. The orc bared its tusks in grim satisfaction... until its eyes widened.

Ophelia emerged from its shadow like a phantom. The moment the leader relaxed, thinking Eleanor missed, a rusty short sword punched through the base of its skull and into the spine. The creature froze mid-breath, then collapsed with a dull thud.

Silence fell.

Eleanor turned slowly, surveying the battlefield. The corpses of the remaining orcs lay scattered, their blood steaming in the strange red light. Her teammates stood victorious—exhausted, panting, but alive. No one was gravely wounded. Eleanor alone felt the deepest strain; her bloodline and Overdrive had drained her strength more than she wanted to admit.

One by one, they armed themselves from the fallen. Kiara claimed a crossbow and quiver of arrows. Joshua, Jaciara, and Maira each selected a sword to their liking. Ophelia kept the same rusty blade she had used for the kill... worn, but appropriate in her grip. Finally, Eleanor slung a heavy broadsword across her back. Crude though the weapons were, the team was now properly armed.

From then on, the forest hunt began. They moved like a machine, cutting down patrols and packs. Orc after orc fell, each kill yielding thirty points. Their total soared past a thousand each, climbing steadily up the rankings. By the time they paused, all but Ophelia were firmly within the top twenty.

They had just agreed to push further, gathering points to secure Ophelia’s rank, when a notification echoed in everyone’s mind. The last two-hour countdown had begun.

Eleanor opened her status screen.

[Status]

Time Left: 1:59:48

Primary Objective: Kill the Troll King and recapture the stronghold.

Secondary Objective: Eliminate the monsters.

Team members: 6

Points: 1238 (Rank-5)

[Do you want to hide the status screen? Yes/No]

Eleanor dismissed the screen with a thought. They had little time left.

The decision was unanimous... they would leave the forest and head for the castle. The climb up the mountain began as an upward march, their boots crunching against moss-slick roots and stone. The air was heavy, saturated with a sour, ancient smell that clung to their throats. Trees loomed above, their trunks carpeted in fungus, the bark weeping strands of pale moss.

It was Ophelia who noticed first. "Spider webs," she murmured. Traps stretched between rocks and trees, some torn apart as if by battle, others still intact.

She slipped ahead to scout, her presence vanishing into the gloom. Minutes later, she returned.... face grim.

"Ma’am... there’s a cave up ahead. More than twenty bodies inside, all wrapped in webbing. They’re still alive... at least their hearts are beating. But..." her voice dropped, "I didn’t see the spider."

The group exchanged dark looks.

"Then we find it first," Eleanor decided. "We won’t free them only to see them slaughtered."

Their search ended on a cliff, where the mangled corpse of a spider the size of a carriage lay sprawled. Someone had already killed it. Hope flared... perhaps the cave was safe.

But inside, the truth was worse than they imagined.

From the ceiling hung more than twenty cocoons, swaying gently like grotesque fruit. Each pulsed faintly with life. Auras leaked through the silk: werewolves, vampires, merfolk, nagas. Cadets, every one of them.

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