Looking at the hundreds of giant spiders surrounding them, Gandalf's face changed as he immediately drew Glamdring to face the enemy.
The giant spiders were enormous in size. The largest were nearly as big as small houses, while even the smallest were over two meters tall, with leg spans reaching several meters in length. They emanated thick, dark, magical auras.
Their heads bore numerous eyes, densely clustered into two large groups, releasing dizzying and hallucinogenic magical power.
Part of the reason Mirkwood had become what it was today came from these giant spiders. As descendants of the evil deity Ungoliant, these giant spiders were not only massive in size with hard skin and extremely poisonous stingers, but even their breath was toxic.
The dizzying and hallucinogenic air permeating the forest had been contaminated by the giant spiders, and many trees had been poisoned to death and withered. Many creatures in the forest suffered devastation and were forced to migrate.
Like the Woodland Realm Elves living in Mirkwood... originally the entire forest had been their domain, but since the giant spider invasion, they had been forced to reduce their territory, confining themselves to areas north of the Old Forest Road.
But now, the giant spiders had crossed the Old Forest Road and continued advancing toward the Elves' living areas.
Kael and Gandalf now had Bubble-Head Charms isolating them from the toxic air outside, so the spiders' major weapon had no effect on them.
But seeing so many giant spiders surrounding them still felt somewhat troublesome. More importantly, Gandalf was very worried about Bilbo and the others' safety.
Although giant spiders couldn't speak, like Wargs they possessed intelligence... very cunning and cruel, understanding mutual cooperation.
Perhaps sensing the two weren't easy to deal with, the giant spiders didn't swarm them all at once, but instead shot thick rope-like webs from a distance, seemingly wanting to weave the webs into an inescapable net to trap them, then catch them like fish in a barrel.
"Protego!" Kael immediately cast a magical barrier around himself and Gandalf.
The webs were blocked outside the barrier, forming a huge spider web covering the magical shield.
The giant spiders found this insufficient and continued spinning webs, weaving massive spider webs to trap them to death within.
Gandalf raised Glamdring and struck forcefully at the webs, nearly being bounced back. The webs were hard yet elastic... the sharp Elven sword striking the webs was like hitting a super elastic rope, requiring several forceful cuts to successfully sever a single strand.
Kael waved his wand. "Diffindo!"
To Kael's surprise, the web actually absorbed part of the spell's power, only breaking a few strands.
Seeing this, Kael wasn't in a hurry to break through the webs anymore. He wanted to see where the webs' tolerance limit lay, choosing a more powerful spell.
The web was successfully torn open with a gap. Seeing this result, Kael's eyes lit up.
This web silk was truly good stuff. If it could be woven into protective clothing, it could really achieve invulnerability to weapons and possess certain magic resistance.
Perhaps if there was a chance, he could capture a few giant spiders to raise specifically for silk production.
But now wasn't the time to consider such things. Kael held back no longer.
Accompanied by a brilliant spell flash, the massive explosion impact flattened all the giant spiders and trees within several hundred meters, leaving only Kael and Gandalf at the center, protected by magic, completely unharmed.
Looking at the devastated clearing around them, Gandalf couldn't help but sigh. "Kael, your magic is getting more and more powerful. I'm now full of confidence about our journey to the Lonely Mountain."
Kael shook his head. Ever since witnessing the terrifying scene of Gandalf and others fighting Sauron at Dol Guldur, his previously somewhat inflated confidence had completely settled down.
Gandalf's praise was just something to listen to... never take it seriously, or you'd lose if you did.
He was a Maia, a demigod. If not for his power being restricted, forget this level of power... even destroying the entire Mirkwood would just be a finger's movement for him.
In the First Age, when the Valar launched the War of Wrath to rescue the Elves tormented by Morgoth, they nearly sank the entire continent of Middle-earth.
That war was vast in scale and mercilessly cruel... the earth cracked, hills collapsed, plains rose up, Middle-earth suffered severe destruction, and the entire northern continent of Beleriand sank beneath the sea.
Even the Misty Mountains that Kael and the others had struggled to cross were raised by Morgoth to prevent the Valar from advancing eastward.
So to avoid further destruction of the earth, the Valar established rules restricting the power of all Maiar entering Middle-earth.
This included not only wizards like Gandalf, but even Sauron was restricted to some degree, unable to exert his full power on Middle-earth and having to rely more on violence and armies to conquer the world.
Kael even suspected that Sauron's reason for creating the One Ring wasn't just to control other ring-bearers, but possibly to break through the Valar's restrictions and gain greater power.
Speaking of which, after blasting away the giant spiders with the Blasting Curse, Kael and Gandalf didn't linger, continuing to use the Point-Me spell to guide them toward Bilbo and the others.
To Gandalf's relief, Bilbo and the others hadn't been captured by giant spiders, or rather, had successfully escaped.
The two encountered some giant spider corpses ahead. Gandalf pulled an arrow from a giant spider corpse and examined it.
"This is an Elven arrow. Bilbo and the others must have encountered Elves from the nearby Woodland Realm."
Gandalf's expression wasn't exactly relaxed. The Elves of the Woodland Realm were different from Elves elsewhere... they were vigilant and xenophobic, with not particularly good tempers.
More importantly, they had deep conflicts with the dwarves. If the dwarves fell into the hands of Woodland Realm Elves, it definitely wouldn't be good news.
Just then, some commotion came. The next second, several figures flashed quickly by, leaping nimbly through the forest like deer, appearing on high ground and in trees.
Several Elves wearing natural-toned robes of green, brown, and gray drew their bows and aimed at Kael and Gandalf, their faces stern as if ready to shoot at the slightest disagreement.
"Who are you? Why do you visit here?"
A tall, upright young Elf with golden hair braided and flowing over his shoulders and handsome features stepped forward, looking at the two with vigilant suspicion.
He held a bow, had a quiver on his back, and wore a light brown cloak with an emerald-crafted green leaf brooch at the collar.
Seeing the green leaf brooch at his collar, Kael immediately guessed his identity.
Facing the Elves' arrows and the young Elf's interrogation, Gandalf proactively showed goodwill, smiling as he bowed in greeting.
"Greetings to you, Elven friends of the Woodland Realm! I am Gandalf, Gandalf the Grey Wizard."
Following Gandalf's self-introduction, Kael nodded to the young Elf.
"I am Kael, Kael the Black-robed Wizard."
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