The merchant

The voice alerted Loki's warrior instinct, as he immediately directed the tip of his sword upward. There, a red-haired man with ginger facial features was wrapped in spiderwebs and connected to the rocky ceiling by a white thread.

"Greetings, oh mighty looking warrior! My humble self goes by the name of Roan. Who do I have the pleasure to talk to in this… not so welcoming place?" Roan asked with a cheerful smile.

Seeing as the suspicious-looking individual wasn't a threat, Loki lowered his weapon. However, he did not wish to waste time with a stranger. He had no intention to harm the man, neither did he want to help him. After all, there was nothing to gain from it. And what he wanted the most at the moment was to get out of here.

Loki gave the man the cold shoulder, turned his attention towards the dark tunnel, and started his exploration of the cave.

"Wait!" Roan said, seeing that the man had no intention to help him. "Please don't go! I implore you, don't leave me behind! I don't want to become food for those monsters!"

Loki walked deeper into the tunnel as the pleading voice of a desperate man echoed in the narrow space. But with the moonlight behind him as the only source of light, he struggled to see further than one meter in front of him.

He arrived at an intersection where he was forced to either go right or left. A small gust of wind, originating from the crack in the previous room, brushed past his hair, entering the tunnel to his right. Which meant that it was more likely to be the right direction to take since the wind had to pass through another hole to circulate. With luck, it could be the exit. Still, if he had to rely on luck, Loki could get lost, since it could be just another crack.

"Please! I'll reward you handsomely!" Roan said, his voice carried by the echo reached Loki, who stopped immediately. "I am a merchant of Noor! If you free me, I'll give you a discount!"

Loki pondered on the so-called "reward." In his previous life, he had been a fierce warrior, a battle-hardened man, a Viking. Although humans were nothing compared to gods or other magical beings, Vikings still bragged about their strength and could handle themselves in combat. But they also had a thirst for rewards, such as gold, silver, weapons, armors, lands. If that Roan was truly a merchant, then Loki could benefit from it in various ways.

However, who the hell gave a discount in exchange for his life?

Loki turned back the way he came, with steps resounding in the cave at a regular interval as if to announce his coming. Roan smiled joyfully from his "perch," when the savior he had been waiting for finally decided to help him. Or so he thought.

"No discount," Loki said, with a firm and virile voice filled with confidence, but not arrogance.

"Pardon?" Roan asked, his eyes batting repetitively as if to chase away Loki's statement. "No discount? Do you mean you will save me for free? Thank you! I knew you were a kind-hearted fellow!"

"I do not want a discount, but weapons, armors, or money," Loki said, staring intently into Roan's brown eyes with a stoic expression. "You're a merchant, right? So you certainly have money stashed somewhere."

"Y, y, yes…" Roan said as if the word ripped his throat out. "I suppose I do. But what about a 10% discount on a sword? Or maybe a new shirt? Oh, wait, you could probably use a haircut too, I dabble in the art a bit. How does that soun—"

The silent appearance of a moderately large 2-meter tall grey spider out of the tunnel's darkness cut the merchant's sentence short. Roan's eyes widened with horror as his mouth deformed in a weird smile.

"Pussy," Loki said, as he rapidly side-stepped to dodge a spear-like leg, shifted to the side, and sliced the spider's body part.

A piercing shriek followed suit as a nasty-looking green liquid poured out of the creature's wound. Loki took advantage of its pain to sink his sword in between two fangs that surrounded the spider's mouth.

The steel blade traveled up to its throat, then pierced through flesh and skull to reach a vital area. Its remaining seven jointed legs spasmed because of the severed connection between its nerve system and brain.

Just to be certain that it would die, Loki activated "Frost," using his sword as a connection to the creature's cranium. Particles of ice rushed up the blade, freezing the spider from the inside, interrupting any biological activity.

Loki effortlessly pulled his weapon out, used the corpse to clean the frozen blood as best as he could, and directed his attention towards Roan, who looked impressed with his fighting prowess.

"Wow, I've never seen a class 1 soldier of Noor fight like that." The merchant said, hinting at several iron tags marked with one long line attached to Loki's neck. "You, at the very least, deserve two cuts on your tag!"

Noor's militia had a basic ranking system based on a soldier's capabilities. One line for class 1, and so on until class 4, which was only granted to the leader. The militia also used a very cheap way to make those lines: a cut. That's why instead of lines, those were called "cuts" in Noor.

"I know a high-ranked man there," Roan said. "In fact, he is the leader! I can slip a word for you to him if you want. Of cour—"

"Shut up," Loki said, tired of his incessant stream of meaningless chatter that caused him to lose time. "Last chance. Money and equipment for your life."

"What? Why did it suddenly become money AND equipment?" Roan said, baffled. "Wait, where are you going? We did not finish bargaining yet!"

"To prepare." Loki said, grabbing the spider limb he had previously cut, before heading towards the sole entrance and exit to this "spider food storage." There, he placed his hand on the ground. An almost transparent blue layer rapidly formed, propagating to the tunnel entrance wall toward the ceiling, as his mana reserve decreased to half its storage capacity.

"Prepare for what? Hey!" Roan asked, forgetting his previous pompous mannerism. He had never really been like that, anyway. The merchant just liked to show off from time to time. To give himself an air of grandeur, when he wasn't even a noble or anyone famous.

Loki ignored Roan's question to focus on his preparations. Now that the entrance's contour was frozen, he needed more offensive means at his disposal. A single unbalanced steel sword wouldn't do for what would come next.

"Allo? Do you hear me?"

Remaining oblivious to Roan, Loki used "Frost" to straighten up the 1.5-meter long spider leg he was holding, as well as hardening its surface a little bit, while avoiding freezing the inside of the leg.

He then glued his improvised spear on the ground with ice, orienting the pointy tip towards the tunnel, before walking up to the spider's corpse in order to remove its remaining limbs. Using those, he quickly repeated the same process seven times, cutting his mana reserve to only a quarter.

After that, he chopped off a piece of the corpse's hard grey carapace by carefully freezing the edges in a round shape. With this method, he wouldn't have to damage his already badly sharpened sword.

Then, he linked it to his left arm with his spell "Frost," while building a thick layer of ice on top of the carapace to increase its defensive capabilities. Since he was immune to frost, his body wouldn't suffer from the cold.

"Allo, allo. Roan talking, do you copy?"

Done with his pre-battle preparations—as well as a bit annoyed—Loki answered the merchant.

"I'm copying nobody," He said, misunderstanding Roan's question since he had never heard that before.

Roan just shook his head in response.

"Whatever, steel yourself. More of them will come. This one had been sent to scout the surroundings." He said, pointing at the dismembered spider corpse with his sword. According to his body's previous owner's memories, the same had happened to the squad of now-dead soldiers.

They had killed a lone spider before getting ambushed by a group of seven or eight not long after. Taken by surprise, they had been unable to retaliate rapidly enough.

Moreover, Loki had already battled similar creatures in Midgard during his first life as a Viking. Normal humans lacked the natural strength of most other magical or non-magical living beings, so they had to adapt.

During his childhood, his father had taught him the art of war, but also various knowledge about medicinal plants, the myriad of other creatures populating Midgard, and more. Humans—normal ones at least—were amongst the weakest beings in all the nine realms.

To compensate for their lack of strength, they had to use knowledge when possible. But no matter how cunning humans could be, they struggled against overwhelming power.

It required a lot of courage to fight those monsters. That's why adult Vikings instilled the notion of "courage" deep in the mind of the next generation using various means, such as the glorious stories known as sagas.

"And how do you know that?" Roan asked.

"Spiders have an extraordinary sense of touch and are capable to feel small vibrations from their surroundings," Loki said, reciting by heart what he had learned. "Your incessant loud yapping most likely alerted them. Sound travels far in enclosed space. Your voice had certainly caused enough vibrations to signal them our presence."

Or so he said, but when he had awakened from his deep sleep, Loki's "password" had probably resounded in the entire cave because of how loud it had been. In other words, it could be said that he shared a part of the blame.

Loki disliked when someone brought him troubles, but he also hated bringing troubles to someone else, because it felt like he'd owe a debt to the person. Although that rarely ever happened. If it did, he would take responsibility, like now.

It was one of the reasons he hadn't left yet. The other one was purely tactical. Narrow entrance. Small room. A source of light. Makeshift weapons at his disposal. And a bait already well-wrapped in webs to be served on a silver plate. Also, Loki could make use of Roan's loudness in the incoming fight.

"Ah. If it can be of any consolation, I'm sorry." Roan whispered, trying to not aggravate the situation. "So… what now?"

Loki did not respond. His gaze was fixed on the tunnel as he peered into the darkness. Only silence replied to him. Seeing as how that previous giant spider had been stealthy, there was a very good chance that its kin would be able to do the same.

Surely enough, he saw a few approaching giant spiders almost perfectly blended into the dark environment because of their natural grey color.

"Now, you shut up until I tell you to shout. Meanwhile, make your choice." He said, lowering his center of gravity. "Money and equipment for your life, or death."