Grey hunter

Grey hunters are large, grey furry spiders with black eyes and fangs, as tall as an adult man.^[2] Female grey hunters carry their egg sac on the underside of their abdomen for protection.

The grey hunter has numerous adaptations for praying on magical beasts - these adaptations include high levels of innate magic resistance, magic-disrupting poison, the ability to detect the use of magic, as well as high speed, strength and agility.^[2] They also have a powerful sense of vibrations through their legs, and air currents - they can use the reflections of vibrations in the ground to map out the terrain around it and detect various properties of the ground. They can pounce and jump at great speeds, using the vibrations from the landing to sense their surroundings.^[3] Their magic resistance and durability means they are completely unharmed by small firearms and low-level attack spells, and receive little damage from higher level attack spells. Its large black fangs are powerful enough to bite through solid steel.^[2]

The anti-magic poison in their fangs disrupts a creature's ability to shape and control mana, leaving them unable to cast magic until the poison leaves their system. This applies to human mages as well, the poison taking weeks to be eliminated in their case. Their magic detection abilities allow them to sense and locate the use of magic and potentially magic traps (this may be something the one in the story learned through Silverlake's attempts to kill it using magic traps, however.^[4])

When its egg sack was destroyed, the grey hunter Zorian and Zach hunted entered a rage and recklessly attempted to kill them. While normally extremely evasive, the rage caused it to lose much of its self-preservation, becoming willing to take significant damage when attacking.^[4]

Despite low intelligence, these abilities make it extremely unpredictable, and a tough fight for even the best combat mages.

The parts of a grey hunter can be used to make potions to improve sense, such as potions of magic perception and potions that can give the drinker the vibration senses of a grey hunter.^[3]

Their eggs are also used in the youth potion that Silverlake wants, alongside parts from a giant brown salamander.

Zorian is the first to encounter the grey hunter, being sent to collect its eggs by Silverlake in exchange for her help. Being unable to kill it, he retreats and does not go back to Silverlake to tell her of his failure.^[2]

Zorian returns with Zach to try and retrieve the egg sac in a number of restarts, but fail to kill it without damaging the eggs, and receive bites and injuries on numerous occasions.^[4]

Zorian and Zach's second batch of attemps are successful in killing it without damaging the eggs, utilising Zorian's simulacrums armed with magic rifles and crystalisation bullets made from the essense of the crystal basilisk, and a stun grenade of light, sound, magic disturbances and strong smelling smoke to get it to stay still for long enough to be shot.^[5]

Outside the time loop, Zorian traps the grey hunter in a pocket dimension. He releases it when fighting a young Silverlake in Cyoria, where she is trapped in a warding circle with it by the old Silverlake.^[6] After eating young Silverlake (and presumably the primordial essence of Panaxeth) the grey hunter seems to gain higher intelligence, and her eggs are affected, becoming special in some way. She gains a compulsion to travel down into the deepest parts of the labyrinth under Cyoria, and protect her "special" eggs.^[7]