Wolverine Spider

Nameless opened his eyes.

"It's morning already? Where am I?"

In front of him, giant horizontal cocoons that looked like tree leaves floated mid-air.

"Yugo?"

Nameless looked but he could not find Yugo.

He looked down, only to see that he was laying on a similar cocoon that was suspended mid-air.

The cocoon was weird to the touch but he didn't mind.

He stood up, dusted himself off and checked his face and body.

"All my injuries have healed perfectly, not even scars are left."

As he was checking his body however, some of the cocoons began to crack and open and from them small figures emerged.

"Spiders?"

*Screech*

Nameless turned only to find a giant wolf spider moving mid-air towards him!

He looked below and with the reflection of the sun, he could see that he was trapped in a spider web.

"Ah shit, here we go again."

Nameless wanted to take off but there was no foothold, if he jumped he would risk dying from such height, even using the leaves to slow his fall wouldn't work, he couldn't fly either.

However, the spider web was horizontal so there was a way to escape : to use the cocoons!

Nameless immediately took off, retreating a short distance before charging and leaping off towards the closest cocoon.

As he jumped, however, he finally realised how gigantic the spiderweb was and how far it was from the ground.

The scene looked straight out of a horror movie.

Nameless moved through the air before barely landing on the cocoon crushing it to pieces and with it the rank 1 spider that had just been born.

*Screech*

Seeing her newborn child crushed just like that, the wolf spider screeched with rage.

Nameless however didn't stop, he couldn't stop!

"Fucking hell, the only way to escape is to use the cocoons but to use them to kill the spider's offspring and enrage it even further.

Ah, Yugo, when I catch you Yugo!!"

Nameless grit his teeth and no longer hesitated using his full focus to use the cocoons as stepping stones to escape.

He jumped again landing and crushing the rank 1 spiders.

Being in such proximity to them allowed him to clearly see their features, they were black and hairy, they had a blue abdomen and multiple red eyes.

However, a subtle detail seized his attention, sending a shiver down his spine.

Nameless immediately shapeshifted into his Keiya form before activating his sensory quills and divine sense.

He jumped changing his direction north-east, crushing another newborn spider and continuing on his way.

Blood splattered on his body, most of his clothing had been torn in the previous fight, only coverings for his legs and sensitive parts remained.

Nameless advanced in the north-east direction, even though he felt north-west would be a far quicker escape.

The spiderweb was gigantic and the mother spider was far away, it was only because of his body's advanced vision that he could see it but even then he couldn't see it in detail thus relying on these corpses.

The spider was however still approaching at high speed, the web shook repeatedly.

Nameless jumped north-east again crushing as many spiders cocoons as possible, not even bothering to pick up the beast cores of the newborn spiders.

He moved rapidly but stayed alert at all times, aware of every single sound near him.

*Pshhhht*

A soft sound inaudible to normal ears echoed.

Nameless immediately jumped to the left!

A spider web shot from the spider's bottom rushing at high speed towards his previous location.

Only a few seconds passed before it enveloped and obliterated multiple cocoons and parts of the web instantly.

Nameless had however already moved a few cocoons to the west, this however could not be a long term strategy, he had to find a better solution!

Nameless began to zig-zag, going back and forth every few cocoons to be ready for the next attack as he thought.

*Pshhht*

Nameless moved in the opposite direction.

*Pshhht*

However, at this moment, another spider web moved towards him.

Nameless turned only to see a spider web charging towards him.

He no longer cared, immediately moving without care for his direction, escaping as fast as possible.

The web moved through the air rapidly, in a few seconds, its shadow already obscured his figure.

Nameless leapt, using his legs with all their strength uncaring if he destroyed the cocoon under him and fell with it

He jumped! 

"Barely avoided it, heh." Nameless looked behind him as he moved through the air.

 But to his surprise, a tiny section of the web disconnected and moved towards him.

"Fuck!"

The tiny section of the web detached and twisted around his upper body. He was now bound!

Nameless fell into the cocoon he had previously aimed at, he stood up and tried to escape but to his surprise, he could not move his arms.

He used all his power to try and remove it, however the white sticky spiderweb didn't budge.

"Fuck! I can only use my legs."

Nameless immediately shapeshifted into the alienoid kangaroo form, as he shapeshifted he looked at his body and as he expected he was still bound.

Nameless used the powerful jumping legs of the alienoid kangaroo form to jump to other cocoons, completely changing his direction.

He did not deactivate his sensory quills, for they could coordinate with his divine sense, that being the reason he could hear the webs to begin with.

He jumped, again and again, not stopping for a moment, Nameless's mind worked at an even higher speed at this dangerous moment, calculating the best direction and the way to jump to it the most efficiently.

Nameless moved repeatedly, relentlessly, always ready for the slightest sound to appear, however, to his surprise, spider webs no longer came even though he destroyed the cocoons and part of the web shook repeatedly.

Fifteen minutes passed before Nameless came out of the spiderweb reaching the trees.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" Nameless breathed heavily, he was more shocked by the fact that the spider let him off than the fact he had survived.

Nameless took a few moments to recuperate before rushing to find Yugo.

"You survived, it seems." Yugo's will spoke.

"You bastard! I nearly died there!! Weren't we here to gather beast cores?! You left me there on purpose you bastard!"

"Sigh, what are you screaming about? Calm down."

"How am I supposed to calm down when I nearly died twice!!"

"Why are always so anxious? I told you I would save you if you were near death."

Nameless grit his teeth before speaking : "How would I know?! I nearly died multiple times and you haven't interfered once!"

Yugo moved his arms sideways with a nonchalant attitude : "I simply left you the opportunity to defeat them yourself. Back when you fought the Ghostly Kengura, I wanted to interfere mid-way but you seemed to have a plan to defeat him yourself."

"But still, you didn't alert me before I got in the battle twice now!"

"Kid, do you really think a beast will alert you in the wild? Don't forget that you will be leaving this forest to roam alone, I won't be following you then. You will have to survive alone."

"Did you really need to throw me there just when I woke up?" Nameless sighed.

"That's right, after a few stressful encounters, you are getting better at managing stress and making the right decisions in those critical moments."

He continued : "Remember this, the most important thing in these kinds of situations is to remain calm and collected. If you die, you die. The only way to survive is to stay calm and act rationally."

Nameless grit his teeth before speaking : "I understand, let's forget that for a moment, remove these spiderwebs."

Yugo's will lifted its hand before an ant flew from it and began to rapidly eat the spider web on his body.

"What's this?"

"It's an Anima."

"So an Anima can even be an insect?!"

"An Anima can be anything, from living beings to insects to insentient objects."

"So what's the difference between this ant and a normal ant?"

Yugo said: "As one of the most well-known Scriptures in the world, the Anima scrolls, having withstood the erosion of time, assert that Anima contain a part of the meaning of the Heavenly Dao. This meaning contains the rules and essence of Heaven and earth. This is the source of their power."

He paused for a moment before continuing :

Yugo continued : "We, cultivators do the same as Animas, that's why we cultivate the various paths and elements of this world. We cultivate to understand part of the essence of the Heavenly Dao. The aspect that is connected to our paths, of course."

Yugo paused before carrying on : "I forgot to say that when the Anima scrolls mention Anima, they only mention legendary and unique Animas, as well as immortal ones. Mortal ones contain far lesser meaning thus they can be refined much more easily, imparting them with lower value and uniqueness, being able to be replicated and refined as long as enough refinement material were present."

"Fascinating! I see, cultivation is truly interesting!"

"Hehe kid, you have merely started your cultivation, the knowledge in this world is as deep as an abyss, unfathomable, as vast as the Heaven themselves. In the legends, it is said that the Heavenly Dao is Limitless."

"Limitless?!"

"We are not sure but such theories and speculations have circulated since the dawn of time." Yugo spoke.

He continued : "Anyway, the spiderweb has been removed, ask what you wish."

Nameless had not realised that he had long since been freed from the bondage of the web.

"All right, I have some questions. First, how did I survive that spider?"

"It was not difficult, although the peak rank 4 Wolverine Spider has multiple giant eyes, it doesn't mainly rely on them for perceptions but rather uses something akin to Divine sense, called Beast sense. It allows it to be aware of all the beasts that intrude on its territory the spiderweb. However, the Ghostly Kengura is a beast of Ghost path able to disappear from all the senses of another beast thus you were able to escape. I put you there on purpose to use that transformation to escape, you were already near the edge of the giant spiderweb able to escape in little time."

"I see, sigh, but you brute! I had just woken up in the middle of nowhere where I could fall to my death. What did you expect to happen? The fact that I even survived is a miracle!"

"But you survived, didn't you? Stop complaining! People who complain don't go far in life." Yugo nonchalantly spoke.

"You?!" Nameless gritted his teeth before finally relenting.

"Ask what you need to know? We need to move."

"Right, What do you mean by Ghostly kengura?"

"It's the beast you fought yesterday and your new transformation, I am quite surprised you could transform that easily just by using your divine sense and fighting, that isn't an easy feat at all, your body's potential is extremely impressive. A normal transformation path cultivator even with powerful anima might need to examine a corpse, follow a beast and learn its traits and habits, as well as be compatible in terms of personality and traits, let alone the fact that multiple transformations can clash with each other. You are lucky you better not waste such a gift although it brings its fair share of problems."

"The immortal fetus is that impressive?"

"Of course it is, Transformation path can be a pain to cultivate, it might take months or even years to master a transformation but you can do that in merely a few minutes of exposure to the beast, however, your lifespan is extremely limited, so neither is a preferable scenario."

"I see, still I have an immense advantage I can use, I can't waste it."

Yugo spoke : "As for the Ghostly Kengura, it is a Ghost and Strength path beast. Strength path means anything regarding increased physical prowess. Ghost path is a rarer path that allows complete concealment though powerful methods in higher ranks can still sense them."

"Alright, I understand. So? What are we going to do now? Don't tell me you're gonna throw me somewhere else?" Nameless spoke.

"No, we are gathering beast cores."