The night in Star Dou Forest was unnaturally silent.
A pale, hazy moon hung in the sky, casting a silvery sheen across the uneven canopy. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and the faintly metallic tang of spirit beast presence. Within a clearing surrounded by twisted trees and thorned vines, the Shrek Academy group lay in a scattered arrangement of cloaks, bedrolls, and temporary cover, deep in a much-needed rest.
Li Wei sat upright, his back resting against a moss-covered boulder. Though his eyes were closed, his breathing was calm and regular, each breath slow and practiced. Spirit power steadily flowed through his meridians. After the intense battle with Er Ming, even after a brief recovery, he still hadn't returned to peak form. But it was enough.
Across from him, Xiao Wu lay curled beside a tree trunk, her soft breathing blending in with the rustle of distant leaves. Her expression was peaceful, though a small furrow still lined her brow. She hadn't spoken much since they'd rejoined the others. Tang San, having finally secured his third spirit ring, was still meditating nearby, a faint blue glow swirling around him like a cocoon.
Dai Mubai stood vigil at the edge of the camp, arms crossed, golden eyes scanning the darkness with a wolf's patience. He had the first watch—at his insistence. Everyone else was either asleep or half-conscious, drained after the day's tension.
Then he heard it.
Not a growl. Not a roar. But a subtle chittering sound, like dry silk brushing against bark.
His eyes narrowed.
Within the shadows of the trees, dull red glints began to appear. First one. Then two. Then a dozen. Then—more. Tiny black bodies began to slink forward, crawling from the trees, from the ground, from the very vines that encircled their resting area.
Poison Silk Ghost Spiders.
But smaller—each about the size of a large dog, not the massive beast Tang San once fought. Yet there were so many of them—at least fifty. Their multiple eyes glowed faintly in the darkness, and their legs clicked against bark and stone with unnerving rhythm.
Mubai's heart thudded. He immediately bellowed, "Everyone get up right now! We're surrounded!"
Oscar groaned from his bedroll, clutching his sausage staff like a club. "Spiders again? You've got to be kidding me."
Ning Rongrong sat up groggily, face pale. "I barely have any spirit power left."
Zhu Zhuqing rose silently, already scanning their surroundings with narrowed eyes, though her movement lacked her usual sharpness. The toll of the day was evident in everyone.
Even Zhao Wuji face pale looking at the swarm of spider. Usually he will not take this amount of weak spider spirit beast seriously but now. "I want to say a reassuring thing but, my strength almost deplete clashing with the Titan Giant Ape and including the backlash from summoning my spirit avatar. We must work together to solve this disaster."
The spiders hissed in unison.
Tang San opened his eyes slowly, glancing toward the encroaching threat. "I'll handle it. I have a hidden weapon prototype ready. This should—"
But before he could reach into his belt pouch, a figure stepped forward.
Li Wei.
He didn't speak immediately. He simply exhaled and raised his hand slowly, the forest light reflecting off his calm expression.
"Let me handle this," he said quietly.
He stepped forward, placing himself in front of Tang San.
Xiao Wu watched him, confused. "Li Wei? You're still recovering. Don't—"
"It's alright," he said without looking back. "I won't kill them."
His voice dropped to a whisper, barely audible: "Let me show you... the power they never expected."
With a shimmer of blue energy, the Transformation Loading Gun Diendriver materialized into his palm, humming softly with spirit energy. He revealed a single card—glowing blue circuitry etched across its face: "DIEND."
He slid the card into the side slot of the gun.
Snap.
Driver Voice (mechanical): [KamenRide]
Li Wei: "Henshin."
He fired a single blue bolt into the air.
Driver Voice: [DIEND!]
Light exploded outward—translucent blue panels scattering like shards of digital glass.
His body became encased in that familiar armor: sleek, layered plates with luminous cyan edges, his helmet forming with a final surge of energy. The barcode visor flickered, scanning the incoming enemies.
Diend had arrived.
A gust of spirit energy blew outward, scattering leaves and rattling the spiders momentarily.
The group stared in awed silence as Li Wei raised the Diendriver, already pulling out his next cards.
"Let's clean this up."
He loaded the first.
Slide—Click.
Driver Voice: [KamenRide: Accel!]
A red blur tore through the clearing, a Rider appearing mid-sprint. With engine-like pulses and metallic footsteps, Kamen Rider Accel turn into bike mode and dashed forward while slammed into the first row of spiders, spinning and knocking them aside with speed-enhanced strikes.
Bam! Bam!
The spiders hissed, flung into trees but not killed.
Before Accel disappeared, Li Wei had already loaded the next.
Click.
Driver Voice: [KamenRide: Kabuto!]
A black-and-red armored Rider stepped out, then whispered: "Clock Up."
The world slowed.
Kabuto became a blur of light, vanishing and reappearing behind spider after spider, striking precise points on their joints to disable them without fatal damage.
By the time the others blinked, ten spiders lay twitching on the ground.
Next.
Click.
Driver Voice: [KamenRide: Faiz!]
Red lasers sliced through the air as Faiz darted in, twin energy sabers flashing. He moved with pinpoint precision, carving disabling slashes and pushing the spiders back into a clustered group.
"He's cycling Riders like they're spirit techniques," Zhu Zhuqing whispered.
Ning Rongrong gasped. "They're not even spirit beasts... they're... he's using them like a weapon..."
Driver Voice: [KamenRide: Drive!]
A crimson Rider emerged in a flash, drifting past the spiders with tire-like light trails, sweeping two of them away with spiraling kicks.
Boom!
Crack!
Driver Voice: [KamenRide: Meteor!]
Meteor dove from above, spinning mid-air into a graceful martial combo, knocking four spiders unconscious with blinding force.
The forest was chaos and beauty—a whirl of blue, red, and silver Riders blitzing the enemy.
And Li Wei stood in the center, still as a mountain.
He raised one last card.
Driver Voice: [KamenRide: Mach!]
Mach zipped across the battlefield, his afterimages creating confusion. His blaster stunned two more spiders before he tackled the last remaining ones, slamming them together like clattering rocks.
In under a minute, the battlefield fell quiet.
Dozens of spiders lay in disarray, twitching or unconscious. None were killed.
Li Wei exhaled slowly.
Clink. He lowered the Diendriver.
The Riders flickered one by one and vanished into light.
He turned to face the others, visor gleaming.
"They won't bother us again tonight."
Xiao Wu exhaled in relief, her hand slowly falling from the hidden pouch she had prepared.
Tang San remained silent. His hidden weapon still clutched in one hand, unused.
For a moment, he looked at it. Then at Li Wei.
Zhu Zhuqing whispered, "That was... like a storm. He summoned six in a row without pause. How much spirit power does he have left?"
Li Wei deactivated his transformation, the armor dissolving into blue particles that scattered into the wind.
Even he felt it now—his knees slightly buckled, his breath heavier. But he stood firm.
Tang San finally stepped forward, offering a nod. "Thank you."
Li Wei didn't answer. He simply turned and walked toward the tree line, watching to make sure no more threats approached.
Xiao Wu joined him silently, her expression unreadable. But as she walked beside him, her hand brushed against his briefly—then remained there.
Seeing everything is in order. Li Wei then said "We need to move. At least away from this place. This is their home, we do not want to wake up and surround by more spirit beast."
"Li Wei, why do you not just kill them. If they died, we do not need to change the place for our camp." Ma Hongjun said unsure of why Li Wei just not straight away kill the spirit beast.
Before Li We able to answer. "What Li Wei did is just good enough for us. If he kill this spider spirit beast, the blood will attract more spirit beast and with this amount it will attract stronger spirit beast." Zhao Wuji interject, giving his opinion as a teacher. He need at least to establish himself as teacher.
The others began cleaning up the camp after hearing what Zhao Wuji said. Trying to change the place and area where they are setting the camp while moving away from here
Above them, the moon began to sink behind the forest.
The night, once again, grew still.