Chapter 5: And so it begins....

[Death count: 94]

**{Jungle area}

"Hmm, something seems different," Rake said out loud after waking up.

And indeed it was. The jungle felt different. 

'Am I in a different location? Where are the centipedes? Or the birds?'

Rake mused to himself. He had so far been killed many times by the giant birds (when spawned on top of the tree branches), Centipedes (on the ground), and a giant tiger. 

But never had he spawned in a place that was so eerily quiet. There was also a slight fog in the air. Making the environment a hue of white. Everything looked a bit weird. 

'Hmm, I recognize that tree.'

The tree in question had red scratch marks. Rake's fingertips were flailed and bloodied as he had desperately tried to climb it. At that time his legs were bitten into by two centipedes that were eating him alive. The centipede venom had made the pain worse and made him more desperate to climb it.

He could still see a fingernail of his stuck onto the bark of the tree. There wasn't a pool of blood underneath. They were lapped up by the centipedes. And also the blood marks were faded black. 

'Hmm, so.... is there no one to kill me here?'

Thinking that, Rake took a spet forward. 

'Hmm..what is this?'

There was something slightly sticky stuck onto his bare foot. 

'A string?'

And as he lifted his leg to see it, the string suddenly detached from the sole of his feet and dropped back down. Still slightly vibrating. 

'Wait a second. Don't tell me. Is that a spider web?'

Rake thought to himself with a slight bit of panic. 

'No no no. This can't be real.'

Rake was still in panic. 

Yet, it was too late. He would've had a moment to live if he had just stood there without moving. But the moment he touched the string, his fate was sealed.

A moment of terror. 

A moment too long. 

Rake started to see that the fog around him was shaking. Like many many tiny things inside it had started to vibrate. 

And there it was.

Through the fog, Rake saw the red eyes first. Six big balls of terror. slowly it approached him with all eight legs. 

It was a giant white spider.

Rake was stuck. He was so terrified that he forgot to even breathe.

And before he could get back to his senses, the giant terror moved extremely fast and just webbed him up into a big cocoon.

As Rake started to struggle, the giant beast quickly punctured his leg with it's stinger and added venom to Rake's bloodstream.

His body was paralyzed instantly. But the pain…..It lingered.

'Ahhh it hurts worse. Arrgh.'

Rake's mind was overwhelmed by the pain. It felt like he was being melted from the inside. There was nothing to do. He couldn't move his body. He couldn't speak. He was completely immobilized.

Somehow, not being able to scream or move made the pain much more unbearable.

He passed out.

**

Waking up, Rake felt strange. 

For the first time, he felt weak. He was feeling .....Anemic..?

Rake felt extremely perplexed. 

Also, he couldn't move. He was in a cocoon. What?

Rake was extremely confused by his situation. Looking down, he could only move his neck. 

No, scratch that. The only thing he could feel was his neck, he felt nothing else. It was dark. 

Rake tried to open his mouth. To scream. 

Yet there was nothing. Nothing to see. Nothing to feel.

And for the first time in a long time. He was allowed to just simply exist.

There wasn't any monster eating him. Nothing strangling or drowning him. No abhorrent monster staring at him with hungry eyes. 

He felt peace.

And that was all it took. Silent tears fell down his eyes. He felt grateful to be alive. 

And in the peace, Rake fell asleep. For the first time in a long time.

[You have died. Your trial begins anew.]

[Death count: 95]

**

A couple of hours later. 

Rake awoke again. This time again on the beach. He didn't move. The peace from that rest and sleep was still there. 

For the first time, Rake felt prepared for anything. He felt peace within himself. 

Even the poisonous crabs trying to tear him into pieces with their pincers couldn't take it away from him. 

He fell asleep again.

[You have died. Your trial begins anew.]

[Death count: 96]

**

The Rocky Shore. 

"Ah, hello there, Rudy. Come to have the bestselling item from The Rake Restaurant. Alright, which one do you want to eat first? The limbs or the organs?"

Rake said to the giant Kraken that wasn't looking as menacing as it used to.

It looked somewhat sick. The dark tentacles seemed paler than they used to. Some tentacles looked rotten. And overall it looked like it was in pain.

Even though to anyone else, it would still look like a giant horrendous Chtulhu-esque monster, for Rake, this has been a staple. He had gotten used to him. Even called him Rudy the Octopus. 

Only he could spot the subtle differences. 

And that was all, he was then killed and eaten by Rudy again. Normal stuff. 

[You have died. Your trial begins anew.]

[Death count: 97]

**

"Well back to the Jungle."

'If my guess is right. There's nothing to do but relax.'

As Rake thought to himself, The giant spider appeared again. 

'Well, this does not get easier to look at.'

The Spider was still a scary giant monster. No matter how desensitized Rake was. 

Rake just laid down. There was nothing else to do. 

The spider approached him and just bound him in its webs. Soon, he was turned into a cocoon. 

The venom came thereafter. Rake felt the pain but in his new special mindset, it felt much less horrible than the first time. 

Goes to show how much he has gotten used to pain. This was his second time feeling this specific type of venom-induced pain and he was already used to it. 

Rake slowly felt his entire body become numb and paralyzed. And he was once again trapped in his mind. 

A beautiful and comfy trap. Compared to the scary and painful world out there, This was so much better.

And again he fell into a peaceful slumber with his mind slowly adjusting to the fatigue of nearly a hundred deaths and recovering. 

[You have died. Your trial begins anew.]

[Death count: 98]

**

[Death count: 99]

**

[Death count: 100]

[Special conditions have been met.]

[Trial objective revealed.]

[You must kill an Awakened Monster to pass this trial]

[The difficulty has increased due to passing the 100-death milestone]

[You must kill a Fallen Demon to pass this trial. With more deaths this will again increase in difficulty.]

{AN: That is equivalent to a Master rank with three cores. Sunny's current Rank.}

-In the beach-

"What the F$#K!!!!!!!????

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???!!!

I'M A F#&KING SLEEPER HERE!!!

AND YOU'RE TELLING ME TO KILL SOMETHING AT THE LEVEL OF SUNNYY!!!!!!!!

THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE."

Rake was enraged and dumbfounded would be an understatement, to say the least. 

And his first ever time of peace was ruined. 

He was having a relaxed time for the first time in a long while. And it got especially ruined when he saw the runes saying,[With more deaths this will increase in difficulty.]

'Don't tell me, this might even increase more??'

And again he felt despair as the crab's poison activated and he died.

[You have died. Your trial begins anew.]

[Death count: 101]

**

-Chapter End-

{AN: I want to introduce subtlety in the story. So, if you want that, you may skip this part.

Also, I have planned a scene where it explains how it is. But that will happen later on. So, just so you are not confused in the meantime.

If I have released around 10-15 chapters, that should already be there. Skip this part then. That should be a far more satisfying reveal. 

But if you are confused about how the spider cocoon thing works, here's how it works:

Spiders have a different feeding method. Instead of eating and then ingesting things, they ingest things before eating things.

So, here's the thing, their venom slowly ingests the things that they are injected into. Maybe calling it venom is not the proper term. But you get the idea. 

So, here, Rake is slowly being ingested and turned into soup. And even though his nerves are fried, his heart is still working and it's also spreading the venom through his body. It's a slow process. Once the venom reaches every part of his body, it activates and turns every part of his body into tasty soup that the Spider devours. 

That's why he can still be somewhat awake. His [Talented] attribute is helping him adapt to the pain and relax. Not to mention it's been 94 deaths already. He is not a stranger to being eaten alive. And this is the most comfortable one for him.

The spider ingestion explanation is an oversimplification. But you're not here to get an insect biology lecture, so this should be enough.

I had to watch several unsettling spiders eating insects videos for this. And now my YouTube algorithm thinks I like creepy closeups of spiders being fed.}