5 Chapter 5: My first battle!
Thoughts in italics
Monologue in normal text
Skills in bold []
System in bold normal text
sounds in bold italics
I'm sorry I couldn't upload the chapter earlier, but I'm in exam season, so these days have been particularly difficult.
But as compensation, I give you this chapter longer than usual.
Thanks for being patient!
WARNING:
This fanfiction will contain spoilers from the Light novel, read it at your own risk.
Leave your comments, it would help me a lot
thanks for reading
1234
Tromp-tromp
My legs are already tired.
Part of that is because I ran at full speed as far away from home as possible for a good amount of time, but the shock is also part of the reason for that.
I lost my home.
I lost my FUCKING precious home.
Becoming a spider and having to kill to survive didn't faze me one bit, but now my heart has a little hole in the middle.
I knew that at some point I would be forced to leave my home, it was the same in the canon after all.
Although I forgot it for a while, I only ended up remembering it when I saw my house on fire.
But I thought with all my preparations I would be ready and prepared for it.
Surprise
I was not
I always thought I still had time left, so much so that I forgot that this egg thief might have some special items with him or someone waiting for him at the exit.
In the end, I was hoping to reach level 10 in that house in order to evolve.
I feel the tears fall from my eyes silently until I brush them away.
What the fuck is wrong with me!
Are you just going to cry because you lost your home? No!
Will you break down and give up just because you lose your home? No!
Will you hate humans for destroying your home? Of course not!
I don't hate humans for destroying my home.
In itself, it is logical and reasonable that they have done so, now that I can think rationally, I can understand it better.
It was because I'm a spider
The location of my nest was probably in the center of wherever it was in the dungeon.
They saw me as a threat.
I will not hate the entire human race for something caused by a small group.
But if someone else tries to burn my house down again or even just invade my house.
I hope you understand that I simply will not hold back with you.
Enough of that, I need to move forward.
First things first, I have to decide what to do next. I have several options.
1. Build my next home in a different location.
2. Keep me rolling aimlessly in this dungeon.
3. Trying to find the way out.
All the options came available to my mind.
The safest option would be the first one, my favorite.
But I feel it would be wise to resist at this time.
Having a house is wonderful.
It satisfies my basic needs for shelter and food; the home gives me a life where I barely have to move to get anything.
I would say it is a paradise for any slacker.
An ideal paradise.
However, if I were to rest on my laurels it would be a problem, I would probably end up being a total lost cause.
Both physically and mentally.
If in the end, the only hunting I do is when I am in the safety of my own home, I would become a good-for-nothing that all I do is cause expense instead of profit.
Besides, it would ruin my dream of being OP, so "no" will remain my answer.
The current situation is proof of this.
At the rate I'm going, I might end up depending on my yarn, even having elemental attacks, I didn't practice them as much as I did my yarn for fear of hurting my home.
If someone ended up going through my nets, my only option would be to run away.
Not good, not good at all.
Especially if I end up so depressed about being forced to leave my home again.
More than anything, I feel the ashes of my demolished house burning inside me.
Nai wa.
I won't let fate keep playing tricks on me just for D's amusement.
I will not keep running away every time someone breaks through the defenses of my home.
One thing is certain, though.
I am frustrated.
I am devastated by the loss of home and the fact that I couldn't do anything about it, even though I had more skills at my disposal at the time than the original kumoko.
I despair that a part of me accepts that running away was the right decision.
My only thoughts at that moment were to grab the egg and run away at full speed.
But what did I get out of it?
Nothing but this horrible shame, regret and humiliation!
How could I run away again?
There is no way I could live with myself if I do it again.
I am not upset simply because that home was convenient for me. It was an important place for me, something I made with my own effort, sweat and tears.
This might sound cliché, but it was a place where I belonged.
I didn't have a place like that in the past.
Like Rodrigo, I only had my mother, my other relatives were a mockery to me, they were affectionate with me, but I always felt that they were only for their own convenience. I had no friends and no motivation in school. After my mother died, I felt I had no purpose, other than to stay alive to honor her memory.
Like Wakaba, I had been told me that things would be different, but it ended up being the same. My "family" never really cared about me, always leaving me alone when I needed them the most, at school I didn't fit in, having bully's and no one coming to my defense was proof enough of that. I liked video games, but they were just an escape from reality.
I created my cobweb home by myself, for myself.
It was my private sanctuary, made for no one else but me, where I didn't have to worry about anything else.
And it was snatched away from me like it was nothing.
It is as if I had been robbed myself.
If I give up now, I will never regain my pride and dignity.
"Happy to be alive"?
Ha! No way!
That's just something a peace-lover would say.
A fool.
If I had to live without pride, then I would rather be dead.
With that I get a resolution.
My home was destroyed, my pride wounded.
I have to become stronger so that I will never be humiliated again in my life.
And if I want to become stronger, I can't be hiding all the time in my home where I can hunt safely.
I have to gain combat experience.
And the only way to acquire it is obviously in combat.
Which only leads to the only 2 options left to me: walk aimlessly or aim for the exit.
Which, frankly, doesn't make much of a difference.
I currently have no idea where the exit is, I could have followed the human egg thief to find out, but I downplayed that guy too much because I thought he was already dead.
That's another thing I have to change about myself, I have to make sure they are dead for myself.
But I'll think about that later, I need to focus on my survival options.
As I said, I have no idea where I am and even more so now that I am lost.
I don't even remember the name of the dungeon I'm in now.
Yep, that's how lost I am.
I have no idea how big it is, or how hard it is, I always skipped those things because I downplayed it.
I don't even know the composition of the terrain.
Basically, I'm out of ideas.
Hmm?
This feels familiar somehow.
As if this had happened before.
Ah, that's right!
When I first gained Appraisal, it was because I was concerned about things I didn't know at the time.
And because it was useful.
It's still useful, but I digress.
I was not able to level up the appreciation at home, as I had already "appreciated" everything.
But now that I'm out of my house, I should be able to do it.
Appreciation is a very useful skill, more for the fact that I can know how much Hp, Mp and Sp I have at the moment.
It's time to use my luck and level up that skill!
...good luck, I really need it right now.
Maze wall Maze wall Maze wall Maze ceiling
Useless, as always.
What did I expect from it? Honestly nothing, but I can't help but be disappointed.
Ah, but yes, for every little ounce of useless information I get, I get the Proficiency to accumulate.
Oof, this useless information flowing into my brain is horrifying at best.
I'll have to put up with it for now, I guess...
Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Appraisal Lv2] has become [Appraisal Lv3].
Success!
Just as I was speaking pessimistically, my skill went up.
Maybe I should speak pessimistically more often.
...
Nah.
Although if I was surprised, it hadn't even been that long since I started using it to upload their Proficiency.
Is it that easy to raise it when you're not slacking?
I'm not sure how to feel about this.
Well, I'm certainly happy that I had moved up a level.
I wonder, what juicy information will appreciation give me now that it is level 3?
There's only one way to find out!
Small Taratect Minor Lv5 Unnamed
Great, now show my level!
Sigh
Well, I'll take what I can get now.
Still, how high does the skill need to be to show me what really matters.
Ugh
Still, I have a question that keeps rolling around in my head.
How strong is my race, "little minor taractec" compared to other monsters in the dungeon?
This little intrigue soon got its answer.
Small Taratect Lesser: Young stem of lower Taratect
I couldn't help blinking in surprise.
It worked, it really worked.
I asked a question and appreciation answered it.
Yes!
Wait, I can't celebrate right now
Needing to prove that this little trick actually worked, I decided to use appreciation once again.
Taractec: A kind of spider-like monster.
It worked! Again!
This is fantastic!
This opens up many possibilities, if I appreciate something and I don't know what it is or what it is, I can appreciate it once again!
Wonderful!
Sure, the explanations may be short and you're still missing information, but once you level up enough, this will be insanely useful!
Although I don't remember its full potential, I could get strings of information just by appreciating one thing!
Damn! I'm sorry I forgot your potential and called you useless appreciation-chan!
I will definitely work harder to level you up more!
(Later)
I wandered around the dungeon for a while, occasionally eating a rock or my own web to replenish my Sp and keep it from wearing out, I don't know how much I have, but better safe than sorry.
All in order to find a worthy opponent.
And I found it.
To my sworn enemy
Elroe Frog Lv3
Beyond the passageway where I hide is where I see her.
Taking advantage of the fact that she can't see me and doesn't know I'm here, I decide to appreciate her to get information from her.
Elroe Frog: A frog-like monster that lives inside the Great Elroe Maze.
Hey, wait a second, like what the does mean "great maze elroe", this is the first I've heard of this, for what I remember
Great Elroe Maze: The largest labyrinth in the world, it connects the continents of Daztrudia and Kazanagara subway.
I finally know the name of the dungeon I am in.
It's called the great elroe maze.
I knew that the fact that many of the species I ate were called elroe would be important, but I didn't think it was because the dungeon I was in was called that.
Also, how is it that this is the largest labyrinth in the world, I knew it was huge, but I didn't expect it to be so big as to connect 2 continents!
And its subway, I can't imagine what it would look like if this were outside.
Furthermore, the fact that it connects 2 continents means that it also connects by ocean.
Still, I can't help but feel somewhat proud of the fact that I too am part of this dungeon.
While I was thinking about it, I analyzed the name of the 2 continents.
Daztrudia: A continent inhabited by many human nations
Kazanagara: The world's largest continent
Hmm, if I manage to escape, I should avoid Daztrudia because of its large number of humans, I can't imagine having many options there.
Shit, I was so deep in appreciation that I forgot about the froggy.
His back is in my direction, so he hasn't seen me yet.
Maybe I should launch a surprise attack?
Too late for that! He already saw me, so he's targeting me now.
Fuck!
Hissss!
I may be able to intimidate him
Splut!
Huh?!
Hey, what was the big idea?!
You are not supposed to attack someone as soon as you see them, you need to strategize first before attacking.
Is he a fool?
Splut! Splut! Splut!
Don't spit on me several times in a row! Stupid frog!
Phew, looks like I was able to dodge them all, I think I've become an expert at this- Ouch!
Forget that!
Thanks to poison resistance it doesn't hurt as much as the first time, but still.
It hurts, you bastard! Stop doing that!
I didn't expect these fuckers to be such fucking jumpers when they weren't tied up in my nets!
Splut! Splut! Splut!
Stop doing that now!
Fuck, he hit me with another one!
I should stop complaining and focus on the fight, otherwise I'll get my ass kicked.
I need to do this logically
Splut! Splut! Splut!
I'm not going to keep taking damage from the same attack over and over again, buddy!
It's fucking obvious that you can only shoot him 3 times those poison shots of yours!
Normally I would shoot a fireball for each one, but I need to learn how to dodge, after all, there will be times when I cannot match my enemy's attack, so dodging would be necessary.
In fact, I will only focus on dodging, counterattacking will be the last option and only if necessary.
After dodging his spitting attacks, I try to wrap my claws around him.
But the bastard managed to dodge it, although he also expected it.
Oh, shit! He just jumped-up and... he's trying to hit me with his tongue, for fuck's sake!
Smack!
Ouch! Fuck!
His tongue must have acid on it because as soon as it hit my spidery ass, it started to burn.
Also, his spittle hit me in my spidery ass.
Are you a pervert, Mr. Frog?
Let's see what this bastard thinks
Food! Food! Food! Food! Food! Food! Food! Food! Food! Food!
...I knew they were primitive, but I didn't think they were so simple too.
After I get away from the frog, I grab some rocks and put them in my mouth to eat them, they taste like nothing, which is horrible, but I need them to raise my Sp.
I also use heal to heal myself.
I also avoid using cure.
The reason? I need to increase the level of Proficiency of resistances and for that I have to endure pain the hard way.
Why do I have it? I don't even remember now.
Why do I allow myself to dialogue when the perverted, jumping frog is still here? Simple, he fell into my trap.
The trick was simple, I just avoided their spittle and, while dodging them, I left my thread where it was before.
You see, I have a tendency to unconsciously leave my spider thread wherever I move.
So, I decided to use that to my advantage.
I simply added adhesion to my beloved yarn.
Then I just had to lure him to a place.
Having carefully studied its speed, when I went to attack it with my claws, I used earth magic to move the ground a little, so that I could control the place where it would fall.
When he jumped up to attack me with his tongue, I took the opportunity to leave my nets super sticky.
I didn't let him hit me just because, you know.
I avoided his spittle and while dodging, I was throwing yarn at him.
After he was completely stuck to the ground, I moved in to finish him off with my venomous fangs.
After a few moments of receiving my venom, the little perverted frog took its last breath.
Proficiency has reached the required level. The Skill [Acid Resistance Lv2] has become [Acid Resistance Lv3].
Great success!
Another skill has been upgraded.
That should make any battle against some acid-specialized monster easier.
Honestly, if I didn't already have the acid resistance skill, the damage I would have taken would have been too much for me to survive.
Whew, that was close.
I used cure and heal to cure myself and remove any poison or acid that might remain in my body.
Building resistance won't do any good if I die from it in my next battle, after all.
Proficiency has reached the required level. The skill [Heal Lv1] has become [Heal Lv2].
Proficiency has reached the required level. Ability [Cure Lv1] has become [Cure Lv2].
Great, another 2 skills have been upgraded!
Even so, the current level of heal that I have is not enough to repair the damage to my body.
2 spits and a tongue attack almost killed me, if I didn't have heal and gluttony, I'd be in trouble if someone attacked me by surprise right now.
The tongue attack was especially bad, having hit me on my spidery butt, the area where it hit sank and the impact caught several of my legs.
I was not even ill-prepared during this battle.
Although it was also my fault, for refraining from using elemental attacks to prevent his attacks from hitting me.
In my defense, it was to increase my own dodging agility.
I knew the battle would be tough, after all I had no webs or traps prepared with which I could help myself, but I didn't expect it to be so difficult.
My first victory through a real battle was decidedly narrow.
Although, thanks to this big wound I have, I can no longer move well.
I need to make a simple house here where I am and focus on hunting prey through traps to level up.
The "simple house" was actually a small, basic nest.
I'll leave the dead frog to eat later and start making a net.
Although it is difficult to do so, every time I move, I feel a great pain shooting through me.
Ugh.
It is unbearable.
Proficiency has reached the required level. Acquired skill [Pain resistance Lv1].
Oh well, thank you.
Now the pain is a little more bearable.
It is still devilishly painful.
But it is still a very good skill obtained and a very well needed and received one.
As long as I keep surviving, the skill level will probably go up naturally, so it will be a great help.
Well! My temporary home is ready for now. Now I can relax a bit.
Although if some monster attacks me right now I'll be toast.
Trying to cheat for now is a big no-no, it's too painful to pull out any thread to make a simple house, imagine cheating.
Oh well, since I worked so hard to get this dam, I might as well enjoy it.
Yay, my first real battle made me realize something.
I'm so damn weak!
Sure, I restrained myself in that battle from using hypnosis and elemental attacks, but even so I'm still weak, I don't know how much Mp I currently have so discriminately using attacks that require it is not good.
I mean, my threads spend mana and, besides, do I have to use any elemental attack to dodge? I'd better not, thanks.
Sure, I have gluttony, but grabbing something during a fight is incredibly difficult, I'm weak to physical attacks so I can't just walk up to some enemy to bite him and remove some part of his body to eat and recover sp, Mp and/or hp it would be completely difficult.
I can't eat magic either, yet at least, so using my own attacks, or some enemy magic attack, to heal myself is off the list for now.
As for my overall stats, I can't even take on a single measly frog.
I could only beat my enemies easily thanks to my traps, as I had said before, so, fighting in front is a big no-no as well.
Now I understand how dependent I was on my home in those days.
Anyway, that only makes one thing clear: I'm not cut out, or at least prepared, for any kind of direct combat.
In a straight fight, it all comes down to whether I can trap my enemy in one of my traps and my elemental magic, I didn't know I could move even a little ground using earth magic (which isn't even earth magic per se, it's earth attack) but that gives me some advantage, although I don't know how much mana I end up spending doing that little trick of mine.
In theory, I can also use my poisonous fangs to finish them off, but with my low stats, getting close to any of those motherfuckers would be very difficult and that's if I don't get crushed in the process.
So, I will have to use my speed to confuse my opponent and then create some opening or set up a trap like I did with the little perverted frog.
It looks like as if this is my strategy from now on, at least I can build some trap and lead these fuckers into it.
Although, all of them (or at least the frogs) seem to favor the "fixed tower" strategy where they stay in one place and attack from a distance.
They don't move without a reason, so it's not like they're going to jump out at me on their own.
Sigh
So many challenges. Now that I realized my weaknesses... or rather I realized that I have nothing but weaknesses at the moment.
But I can't give up.
If I just wanted to keep myself surviving, I would make a new home.
But that's not good enough.
Since I decided that I want to live with pride, I can't rely on that excuse of a strategy.
For now, I need to rest.
Will the wound heal itself, will my natural regeneration or whatever be able to do what my healing could not do for me?
In fact, do I even have any natural regeneration at all?
Well, whatever, today has been exhausting. I've been procrastinating on sleep, hopefully I'll recover a bit.
So, on that note, I bid you good night.
…
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.
.
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(I was going to end it here but then I got a sudden attack of inspiration, so I'd better continue)
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(The next day)
Zzz
Hmm?
Oh boy, it feels like I've fainted.
In fact, I'm pretty sure that's what happened to me.
Ugh, my body still feels sore, I guess such a bad injury won't heal overnight.
Yawn
Ow, ow!
As I tried to do some stretches, a sharp pain shot through my broken legs.
Off, my 2 right center legs are in particularly bad shape. It feels like they could tear off if I'm not careful.
Boing, Boing
Hmm?
One of my threads is vibrating.
A monster fell into my little nest!
What, you're wondering how I fell in if I didn't make any traps? Simple, my nest IS a trap, the yarn it's made of is pretty sticky and it's big enough that I wasn't in plain sight.
Although normally I would wake up the instant I caught my prey, but today it seems like it's been a while since it was captured.
I seem to have overslept.
Oh well, what's to be done.
It is probably due to all the damage I received.
Well, let's go see my prey, see what I catch.
Hopefully, it won't be another perverted frog.
Basilisk elroe Lv4.
...Shit.
These petrifying lizards are quite tough.
So, I'm in big trouble, again.
What am I supposed to do?
Since basilisks have that captivating gaze that will leave me in stone with even the slightest eye contact, it makes applying hypnosis to them quite difficult and with my legs fucked up, it means I can't create the magic circles easily either, not without going through a great deal of pain.
My trap won't save me from avoiding eye contact, either.
In my present state, I don't think it would be advisable to be turned to stone by his charming gaze.
What should I do? I can't attack it well but I don't want to let my prey go.
Zwoop
Oh shit, our eyes have met.
And there is no love at first sight between the 2, I can see that.
Nngah! My toes have been petrified! Shit!
Well, I guess I don't have a choice.
Chomp!
Luckily it was close by, so getting close enough to bite it wasn't a problem and thanks to petrification resistance, the petrification process was also slow.
Please die quickly, I don't want to be a stone statue!
It seems that God heard my prayers, for when my legs were halfway to turning to stones, the basilisk lost its energy and died.
A real tragedy, for him at least.
I couldn't help but look at my legs with pity, I could still walk, but it was more difficult than before and now I was walking clumsily.
Experience has reached the required level. The individual Little Lesser Taratect has risen from lv5 to Lv6.
Oh, what a nice timing, thank you system-chan!
You're welcome, now let me finish
Ok!
All basic attributes have increased
Skill Proficiency bonus for leveling up acquired
Proficiency has reached the required level. The skill [Poison Fangs Lv4] has become [Poison Fangs Lv5].
Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Gula Lv2] has become [Gula Lv3].
Proficiency has reached the required level. Ability [resistance to petrification lv1] has become [resistance to petrification lv2].
Proficiency has reached the required level. The Skill [Ground Magic Lv 2] has become [Ground Magic Lv 3].
Proficiency has reached the required level. The Skill [Telepathy Lv2] has become [Telepathy Lv3].
Skill points gained
Great!
Not only because of the fact that several skills have been upgraded
But also, for the fact that it changes skin, which only means one thing.
Full recovery!
Yahoo!
Thank you basilisk-kun!
And as a thank you for saving me, I'm going to eat you!
I know, I know, I'm very kind, you don't have to mention it.
Then, without even trying, I succeeded in healing my wounds, as heal is not yet high enough to heal those wounds, apparently.
Well, that doesn't matter, the important thing is, I'm ready to go out and explore the labyrinth!
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THE END
