The unexpected onslaught momentarily stunned the mages. The spiders surged toward them, forcing the group to scatter and redirect their focus. Simultaneously, the phantom spider looming in the sky began to destabilize the binding spell. By the time the mages dispatched the smaller spiders, the Alpha broke free.
A red-haired goblin mage, a specialist in earth magic, slammed his staff into the ground, conjuring a wall of jagged stone spikes. The Alpha smirked—a terrifyingly human expression—and leapt, using its webbing to anchor itself to the wall and propel upward.
Weaving through a hail of ice shards and energy blasts, the Alpha closed the distance. It lunged at the goblin mage, its claws raking across his chest in a blur of motion. Blood sprayed into the air as the mage collapsed, lifeless before his body hit the ground.
"We need to regroup!" shouted Elinor, her voice cutting through the chaos.
