Giant spider Shelob refused to give up, trying to find weak points in the barrier and attacking it forcefully.
Only then did she discover the magical barrier provided 360-degree defense without blind spots.
Seeing this, Shelob stopped attacking and instead spat spider silk at the magical barrier. Using her front limbs to lift Kael, who was protected by the barrier, she directly wrapped and covered him with spider silk.
Layer upon layer of spider silk covered him until Kael, along with his magical barrier, was wrapped into a giant black cocoon.
"Hmph, so what if you have a turtle shell protecting you? Wrapped in my dark web, you'll never have a chance to escape!" Shelob said triumphantly.
Maintaining the magical barrier consumed magical power. When his magic was depleted and the barrier could no longer be maintained, that would be when she enjoyed her meal.
So Shelob believed Kael couldn't escape her grasp.
She immediately dragged the giant cocoon containing Kael, along with the other two orcs, back into the pitch-black cave.
Shelob's lair had interconnected passages and numerous tunnels like a huge maze. Black webs surrounded everything, absorbing light. Even Eärendil's Light couldn't penetrate the webbing.
So the entire lair was extremely dark without a trace of light. Combined with Shelob's dark power covering everything, eyes became useless here. Even the five senses became blurred.
Inside the lair, countless creature bones remained. Various large animals, orcs, humans, even elves. These bones piled up like mountains in dense numbers, even more than the hundreds of thousands of ghost bones on the Paths of the Dead.
Since fleeing here after the War of Wrath in the First Age, Shelob had been here for thousands of years. The number of lives she'd consumed was incalculable.
Evil deity Ungoliant was a monster born from the dark void outside the world. Driven by dark instincts, always influenced by hunger, and filled with devouring desires.
As Ungoliant's offspring, Shelob inherited some of these traits, constantly craving to devour life.
When spiders eat, they habitually inject prey with venom. The venom dissolves the prey's organs and muscles, converting them to liquid or semi-liquid nutrients. Then they use their mouthparts to suck these liquid substances.
Shelob was essentially a spider-shaped dark creature but was also influenced by spider habits.
She first inserted her tail's venomous stinger into the orc corpse to inject venom. Under the venom's dissolving action, the orc corpse's organs, muscles, and even bones were rapidly decomposed into liquid.
The unlucky living orc actually broke free of Kael's Imperius Curse after being injected with venom. But upon regaining consciousness, he faced an even more desperate situation. He consciously felt his body being dissolved until complete death.
After dealing with both orcs, Shelob turned her attention to the giant black cocoon wrapping Kael.
She raised her tail, revealing her sharp venomous stinger, and stabbed toward the black cocoon. Upon touching the defensive barrier protecting Kael, she released venom.
The venom had powerful corrosive properties, continuously corroding the magical barrier. It caused the shield to ripple and gradually thin at a visible rate.
Seeing this result, Shelob seemed to already envision the barrier breaking while Kael inside had nowhere to escape. Only able to be despairingly devoured by her.
But suddenly, giant spider Shelob's body stiffened. Then she burst out in agonizing screams, shooting up like a projectile.
Her sharp, venomous stinger had now been cut horizontally, completely ruined.
Simultaneously, brilliant holy light shone through the spider silk gaps from within the black cocoon, illuminating the originally pitch-black lair.
The spider silk cocoon was split open from inside by a sword burning with blazing flames as Kael emerged.
He held Flammifer in one hand and gripped a star-glass vial in the other, releasing brilliant Eärendil's Light.
The holy Eärendil's Light made giant spider Shelob wary and uncomfortable, forcing her to retreat momentarily.
Just then, the system suddenly responded.
[Hogwarts Check-in System: Located at Ephel Dúath - Torech Ungol Cave, check in?]
Kael was momentarily stunned. He hadn't expected to be able to check in here.
But since there was a check-in benefit, Kael naturally wouldn't miss it. "Check in!"
[Check-in successful. Congratulations on obtaining Madam Malkin's magical weaving craftsmanship!]
Madam Malkin's weaving craftsmanship? Kael was bewildered and somewhat disappointed.
He remembered Madam Malkin was the owner of Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions in Diagon Alley, where Hogwarts students' uniforms were custom-made.
But Kael didn't need to open a shop. What use was this magical weaving craft?
However, Kael couldn't think about this now since he was still in the spider's lair and hadn't escaped danger yet.
Meanwhile, Shelob obviously wasn't willing to let go of this person who had harmed her. She spat out black vapor that spread from all directions like a giant black net, forcing back the light and surrounding Kael.
At the same time, Sauron's Eye atop Barad-dûr Tower in Mordor suddenly cast its gaze far toward this area.
Kael sensed something. Having undergone soul transformation, his sensitivity had greatly increased. Without further hesitation, he smiled and said to Shelob, "Thank you for the spider silk gift. Goodbye!"
With that, he placed his hand on the black cocoon that had previously wrapped him, directly activated a Portkey, and instantly vanished from the cave.
Seeing Kael disappear into thin air, giant spider Shelob was furious beyond measure, emitting piercing shrieks.
The angry sounds carried outside the cave, echoing throughout Cirith Ungol pass. Even orcs at the nearby Minas Morgul fortress heard it.
The orcs at the watchtower also heard these sounds and immediately trembled with fear.
"That's the Spider Queen's voice! Who angered her?" One orc wondered fearfully.
"Could it be the captain and them?" another orc speculated.
After all, only Kael's group had gone to giant spider Shelob's lair, making these orcs immediately think of them.
"Whether it's them or not, they definitely won't return alive. An angry Spider Queen won't spare them!" another orc said gleefully.
"Then does this mean we can select a new boss again?"
The orcs immediately forgot about Kael and eagerly prepared to compete for the leadership position.
After spinning dizzily and returning to Weathertop, Kael finally breathed a sigh of relief.
This mission had been relatively smooth. Only at the very end had it attracted Sauron's attention, and he'd left in time, not giving Sauron a chance to act.
But after this incident, Sauron would obviously become vigilant and wouldn't give him another chance to approach Mordor.
Even within range of Sauron's palantír surveillance would be unsafe.
Fortunately, Weathertop was too far from Mordor. Even if Sauron used his palantír to spy, he couldn't see this far.
This allowed Kael to completely relax.
Then Kael looked at the black spider silk cocoon he'd brought back, showing a smile.
To trap him, Shelob had previously wrapped thick layers of spider silk into a giant cocoon. This amount of silk was more than enough to make one invisibility cloak. He could make ten more and still have plenty left.
Shelob's spider silk was extremely tough. Even sharp elven swords could hardly cut it.
Its only weakness was fear of fire. Specifically, Balrog fire.
Ordinary fire posed no threat to Shelob's spider silk whatsoever.
Fortunately, Kael's Flammifer had a fire crystal embedded in its hilt containing Balrog power. Plus, it had absorbed Fiendfyre and could release wind blades, allowing it to easily cut through Shelob's silk.
Additionally, Shelob's spider silk had very high magical properties. For instance, it could block light. Even Eärendil's Light couldn't penetrate it.
Such spider silk was absolutely the most suitable material for making invisibility cloaks.
Having obtained the spider silk, Kael immediately got busy.
Ordinary invisibility cloaks in the magical world were made by applying magic to complete cloaks, giving them invisibility.
But the invisibility cloak made by Peverell took a different approach. It used weaving techniques to form individual runic symbols containing magical power, ultimately weaving thousands of runes together to form complete magical circulation.
This was why the Invisibility Cloak, one of the Deathly Hallows, could remain unfaded for a thousand years.
So to create a Peverell invisibility cloak, one first needed exquisite weaving skills to accurately weave each runic symbol.
Kael naturally couldn't specifically learn weaving techniques just to make an invisibility cloak.
Not only did he lack weaving talent, but even studying for ten years wouldn't make him a weaving master. He lacked the energy and time for such learning.
Though he'd obtained Madam Malkin's magical weaving craft from checking in at giant spider Shelob's lair, he'd only gained the craft knowledge, not instantly become a weaving master.
Moreover, Kael didn't plan to study the magical weaving craft. His energy was limited, and he couldn't learn everything he obtained from check-ins.
So he had to specifically ask Arwen to help complete this invisibility cloak together.
Arwen was truly a treasure. Besides having decent combat and magical abilities, she excelled at music, languages, painting, forging, cooking, and weaving, among many other talents.
Many of Kael's garments, including the robes he currently wore, were personally woven by Arwen. Exquisite, understated luxury.
Even the "weavers" kept in the tower, the giant spiders' weaving skills, were taught and trained by Arwen.
So every tapestry and curtain in Hogwarts Castle came from Arwen's hands.
Naturally, Arwen wouldn't refuse Kael's request.
To avoid wasting the magical weaving craft obtained from check-in, Kael specifically extracted this memory knowledge, infused it into the Crown of Wisdom, then placed it on Arwen's head, letting her accept and learn the magical weaving craft knowledge.
Arwen already possessed exquisite weaving and embroidery skills. Now obtaining the magical weaving craft plus the Crown of Wisdom's enhancement, she quickly mastered this technique, like building on solid foundations.
Together they processed the silk, soaking the spider silk in special solutions to remove its stickiness while maintaining flexibility.
Simultaneously, Kael smelted mithril and made it into mithril thread finer than hair as one of the invisibility cloak materials.
With all materials prepared, they officially began weaving the invisibility cloak.