Awakening, Part 1
It's terrifyingly heavy.
A single parry. The weight bearing down on the tip of my blade was extraordinary. Was blocking a head-on clash out of the question? I had to be extremely careful even when deflecting her strikes to redirect their trajectory. One wrong move, and my blade would shatter.
A mother who had lost her offspring was, quite literally, driven mad with rage. Madness burned in the spider's crimson eyes. She was on an entirely different level from the one before. Unlike the juvenile, which had done little more than flail its two front legs, the mother's attacks were far more varied and menacing. She didn't easily expose the softer parts of her carapace, and she knew exactly how to weaponize her massive bulk.
Yes. Honestly, it was a struggle. Though it didn't compare to facing a giant, I couldn't see a clear way forward. My attacks weren't landing properly. More accurately, finding a vulnerable spot—and catching the right moment to strike it—was proving nearly impossible.
Her carapace is much harder, too. A normal strike won't even leave a scratch. It'll be difficult, but I have to aim for a weaker spot.
Venomous, spiteful claws tore through the air. Thick splinters erupted from an ancient tree that had stood for centuries. Though her heavy legs were momentarily obstructed by the trunks, a spider had eight legs to a human's two hands. I tried to thrust my blade into the joint where her carapace folded—the only weakness in sight—but I was forced to retreat empty-handed. Another leg slammed down on the exact spot where I had stood just seconds ago. If I hadn't backed off, I would have been turned into a pile of minced meat.
"Chilling."
The ground where the spider's leg had struck was deeply gouged. If I got impaled by one of those forelegs, I wouldn't even need a grave—I'd be buried on the spot. It was a grim, humorless joke. In any case, she was incredibly adept. She was undoubtedly the true master of this cave, and I had merely slain her offspring who had arrived early. This seasoned veteran knew her own weaknesses all too well. Even while unleashing a frantic barrage of attacks, she obsessively guarded her vulnerable spots. The moment the softer inner side of one leg was about to be exposed, another leg would immediately sweep in to keep me at bay.
At a glance, the only places where I could land a meaningful blow were the inner joints of her legs, her eyes, or her underbelly. Aiming for the underbelly was practically suicidal, as I risked getting crushed beneath her weight, and the inner legs were heavily guarded. As for the eyes... well, is there any living creature whose eyes aren't a weakness? It was bound to be the area she guarded most fiercely.
I deflected a few more strikes, but the situation wasn't improving. While I couldn't mount a proper counterattack, every single one of her blows was potentially fatal. I glanced around, scanning the surrounding area.
The tables have turned.
If a direct head-on clash was impossible, I had to find another way. Earlier, the juvenile spider had chosen to flee, and its end had been a miserable death. From where I stood, running wasn't an option either. Fleeing was only viable if I were faster than my opponent or if I had a way to bind its feet.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the tree the spider had struck earlier. Though a massive chunk had been gouged out of its trunk, it was a giant tree whose diameter had to be measured in meters. It didn't budge in the slightest from having one side chipped away. A tree with a trunk that thick had to be incredibly sturdy. Even the spider's immense strength couldn't shatter it in a single blow. And right now, she was blindly obsessed with me. She didn't care what happened to her surroundings. In that case, I had to use that to my advantage.
I deliberately shifted the battlefield, weaving between the trees of the forest. The spider's leg scraped against a trunk once more. With a horrific, splintering screech, a portion of the tree trunk tore away. It didn't fall immediately. That was fine.
Fighting in an area dense with obstacles will ultimately favor me.
Every time the spider's legs collided with the trees, I relentlessly targeted their inner joints. Her defense was formidable, but it wasn't perfect. Whenever things got tight, I slipped behind the ancient trunks, using her obstructed line of sight to launch surprise attacks. I couldn't inflict any deep wounds, but I managed to leave several slashes on the inner sides of her legs.
Flick! I whipped the blood off my sword.
"Annoying, isn't it? I know the feeling. A mosquito that keeps buzzing in and out of sight is always the most infuriating."
Though I was growing short of breath from the relentless sprinting, my efforts were paying off. Before long, the forest was beginning to look like a wasteland. Crash! Crunch! Fueled by her rage, the spider's attacks grew increasingly violent. This was exactly what I wanted. If I couldn't kill my enemy with my own strength, I had to weaponize hers. It was fine by me if she wanted to exhaust herself like this.
How long had I been running through this forest? Finally, my efforts bore fruit. There was an ancient tree nearby, its trunk heavily battered and scarred. Just as it began to sway precariously, the spider's strike served as the final trigger. I hadn't expected to time it so perfectly on the first try, but luck was on my side. As the massive trunk collapsed, it struck a corner of the spider's body. It was a giant tree that had been standing alive until moments ago, fully saturated with water from yesterday's rain. No matter how monstrous she was, she couldn't possibly emerge unscathed from that kind of weight and momentum.
— Skreeeech! Screeech! Scree, krrrrr!
"Yeah. After all that, it's about time you shed some blood!"
Sure enough, the spider's body tilted to one side, and two of her legs were horribly crushed. The falling tree swept through the forest like a natural disaster, its massive trunk crashing into other trees with a deafening roar. The tree soon came to a halt, but I did not. When an opportunity presents itself, you must seize victory. I lunged inward, closing the distance to her battered body. Even her hard carapace couldn't withstand that level of physical impact; several shattered patches were clearly visible. I thrust my blade into the cracks of her broken shell and slashed at the exposed flesh.
The spider thrashed in agony. The terrifying disparity in our sizes made even her thrashing dangerous, but in the end, it was nothing more than a desperate flail. One of her relatively intact legs swept low, aiming for my legs. This was my chance. Swinging a leg from the opposite side meant she had to twist her body. With her balance already shattered, her reaction time was bound to be delayed.
Instead of backing away, I chose to dive even closer. A small opening presented itself—a gap that inevitably existed due to her massive size. Taking the risk paid off. The spider's head was thrust directly in front of me. My target was her eyes. While a single slash wouldn't blind her completely, eyes were always a concentration of sensitive nerves. Getting cut there would hurt like hell.
In that pivotal moment, it felt as though time had ground to a halt. My sword did not disappoint. Drawing a perfectly horizontal arc, the blade thrust forward cleanly, meeting no resistance. Several of her protruding eyes burst, spraying dark blue blood. Another screech tore through the air, and I lightly dodged her flailing foreleg. It felt as though victory was finally within my grasp.
If I play this right, I might be able to land one more slash.
Her head was still close. Thrashing in pain, she was facing almost directly toward me. Just one or two more steps, and I would be well within striking distance. But why? A strange sense of déjà vu washed over me. An alarm blared, not from reason, but from the depths of my instincts and gut feelings. I was forgetting something important.
What is it? What's wrong?
Before my eyes, the spider's neck was contracting. Was it simply from the pain? For some reason, I didn't think so. It looked more like she was preparing to spit something out. Right. She was a spider.
It wouldn't be surprising if she had venom.
Even if it was just paranoia, I didn't care. I threw my body aside, obeying my instincts. I had abandoned a golden opportunity, but I had no regrets. At that exact moment, a torrent of yellowish-green liquid erupted violently from her maw. I couldn't dodge it entirely; a small amount of the venom splashed onto my left arm and back.
So this was it. The burn scar from the original novel!
In the novel, Rajen's body had a burn scar. I had wondered how he got it, and it seemed this was the place. I thought I had bypassed that fate when I survived the monster's self-destruction earlier, but had I grown complacent? What the spider had spat out wasn't mere venom. A highly concentrated acid burned straight through my clothes and onto my skin. A foul, acrid stench rose from my body as my flesh began to melt. An excruciating pain seized me. My mind reeled, and for a brief moment, the world went completely black.
By the time I snapped back to my senses, her injured foreleg was already hurtling toward me. It was too late to dodge. I curled my body, bracing for the impact.
"Aaaaargh!"
In an instant, my body was sent flying dozens of meters. Fortunately, the injuries I had inflicted on her must have weakened her, as the blow lacked the fatal power she had displayed earlier. Rolling down the slope also helped cushion the impact. Not that my body was in any good shape, though.
For a moment, a pain so intense it made me dread even trying to stand surged through my veins. I had collided with countless obstacles while flying through the air, and my entire body throbbed. In a few hours, I would be covered in dark bruises. But I could still move. My arms and legs functioned well enough to fight. That meant there was no problem.
My chest felt tight, making it hard to breathe? So what? A rib was probably cracked or broken. As long as I could draw breath, it was enough. This wasn't the first time I had fought while battered and broken. Back at The Cabin, I hadn't fought in perfect condition either.
"Ha."
The Cabin. Just thinking of that dilapidated wooden house made my blood boil. It felt as though something holding my mind together had finally snapped. A sweet, metallic taste filled my mouth. How wonderful would it have been if I had been just a little more reckless back then? What would the outcome have been if I hadn't cared about pain, if I hadn't hesitated to take a few blades to the chest? Thinking of it that way made this agonizing pain almost welcome.
It felt as though I had been given another chance. A chance to make up for my mistakes. I gripped my sword, squeezing it with even more force than before. The pain coursing through my blood seemed to tighten my grip in a desperate struggle. I raised my blade once more. The mother spider glared back at me, her massive body swaying unsteadily. Yes. This was a fight that would only end when one of us lay dead.