"Burden" VS Long Legs [ 2 ]

The spider seethed in anger as it glanced down at its stump.

It began to move forward, but its body swayed a little due to it being slightly lighter on one side.

After adapting, it glared at the human intensely. It then leapt high up in the air.

Amelia stared at his rising form and found it was now high above her head.

It fell, all 7 of its legs pointed down. Amelia dived out of the way.

The spider caused a loud thump followed by a cloud of dust.

Amelia immediately got up to her feet and hid herself in the cloud. The large body of the spider could be made out in the cloud.

It raised one of its legs and swept away the cloud. Amelia appeared and swung at its other cut leg. Through the hair on its leg, it sensed Amelia and immediately flicked its leg at her.

The force of the flick caused her to fly back. After rolling for a bit, she sat up and pressed her hand against a small cut that ran from her left hip to her right shoulder.

'I-its stings...'

She began to pant heavily as she pushed herself off the floor. The concrete floor was cracked and rough. Stains of blood and burns could be seen covering it.

Her hands gripped tightly into a fist before staring at the spider. Looking down at her left hand, she saw that the knife held in it was not there.

Her eyes darted around and saw her knife beside its feet.

She pulled against her cloak to cover her more before dashing towards it.

Seeing that the little human was approaching it again, it ran away and pounced towards a wall. Crawling along the wall, it directed its abdomen's rear end towards the human before firing a barrage of sticky, white silk.

Amelia saw a glimpse of a meter-tall ball of web coming at her, and she immediately ducked. More followed, but by going in a zigzag, she avoided them all while simultaneously retrieving her knife.

The gap between each silk shot increased before pausing; sensing this change, Amelia looked up to find the spider lowering its abdomen.

'Is it recharging?'

Deciding to bet that it is, she got into a throwing stance. She flicked her right knife at it.

The knife flew through the air, not showing any evidence of going off course. The knife plunged into its abdomen.

Its screech resounded once again. It lifted its rear again and fired another round of silk - this time being a stream.

She jumped back and avoided the stream before noticing a large shadow looming over her. Looking up, she recognised the spider was trying to squash her again.

After avoiding the spider's stomp, she ran back and struck at its cut leg but missed because the spider moved it out of the way in time. This cycle continued for a while before the spider got sloppy in its movements. Her knife cleaved through its right, 2nd leg to the front exoskeleton.

"Six more..."

She murmured before backing off.

The spider was now furious at its humiliating form. Its right side now has two legs less than its left. Its body struggled to stay upright.

While the spider was trying to adapt to its weight, Amelia studied its body. 'All this time, I've been striking at its exoskeleton when I should be targetting its joint.'

She sighed at her stupidity before lunging towards the spider.

She lashed her knife at its 3rd right leg. In response, the spider bent its abdomen and swiftly shot a stream of silk at Amelia.

Reacting too late to it, she was hit and pinned to a wall.

"Ugh..." Amelia groaned from the impact and tried to free herself.

She tried to bend her hand, holding her knife high enough to cut through the silk.

Currently, both Amelia and the spider are stuck struggling.

The spider finally adapted to its change in weight and began approaching her, albeit with less vigour than before. It flashed its fangs and bit down on the human head.

Amelia tilted her head to the side to avoid it. She avoided it, but that didn't mean she wasn't bit.

"AAAGH!" She cried out as the spider's fangs sunk into her left shoulder.

She could feel its venom entering her system; she could feel some mysterious energy in her, trying to fight it off before losing.

She tried to wiggle her way out, but her body went limp. Her eyes then began to well up with tears, and they began to blur.

'Mom... Dad... Jack... I'm sorry I couldn't...'

Amelia, who was about to give up, saw a familiar panel appeared before her eyes.

{"Party Members Jack Birdeye killed a Level 15 Mutated Embering Bird"}

[ Level 10 - > 13 ]

Her eyes, which had once been blurry, now regained their clarity.

Mustering up all the strength she had, she plunged her knife into the bottom of its head.

The spider unlatched itself and recoiled back.

Amelia freed herself from the silk binding her to the wall and fell to the ground.

"I-I can't die now..." Her mind then began flashing images of Jack's smiling face.

"I promised... I would no longer become a burden..."

She planted her arms onto the ground and pushed with all her might. Her left elbow bent a couple of times, causing her to fall, but that didn't deter her.

"...I promised I would support him..."

Weakly pushing herself up, she leaned her back against the wall and stared at the spider. It thrashed against the building, trying to get the knife out from under its head.

Her breathing was ragged. With a small whisper, she murmured:

"f-full recovery..."

She began to feel her body well up with vigour and strength; she stomped on the ground and cried out:

"HOW CAN I SUPPORT HIM IF I DIE NOW?!"