Chapter 129 Volume III – Chapter 50: Surrounded by Hunters

The disgusting sounds from behind us entered my ears. My anger disappeared as quickly as it had come, replaced by a profound calm.

I saw Alex next to me, looking back and forth with widened eyes, looking for something to help him get out of here.

‘Aiden? What do we do?’

Sith’s voice echoed in my head, but I didn’t answer him. The spiders I had slowed down behind us had reached us, but they weren’t attacking yet. We were surrounded in front and behind, and the walls of the cave covered us on the left and right.

When I saw that the spiders had not jumped on us, I let out a deep sigh.

They can’t be playing games with us, right? They’re smart, yes, but they can’t just corner their prey and watch what they’re going to do, right…?

“Haaa…”

I closed my eyes and waited for a while. For a moment I didn’t hear anything, there was only silence around me.

“A- Aiden! There seems to be no way out, what do we do?!”

When I heard Alex’s voice, I opened my eyes and looked at him. He had stopped holding his bleeding ear and his face showed only traces of his fear of spiders and his concern for our situation.

Did I see him like that even once in the game? I don’t remember. He was never in such a situation, and if he was, he usually came up with a plan.

He was a few years older in the game than he is now, though. Of course, the fear of death in the presence of his sick mother must also have been on his mind, but it’s still strange…

“Just wait.”

Ignoring him, I looked back at the spiders, who were watching us from where they stood. They were ugly, disgusting. Their bodies were misshapen as if mutated, and their eyes were locked on me.

I took a deep breath again.

Why was I angry? They may have been smart, they may have cornered us for a moment, but that’s it. I’m not going to die here. I especially don’t want to die being made into a toy like this.

‘Sith, watch my back. Try to protect me from attacks I can’t defend myself against. And be ready to use my mana.’

“O- okay?

“Alex, we’re gonna have to fight a little bit. Be careful not to die, little things are smart. Be ready.”

Alex looked at me blankly. Without saying anything, I reached into one of the pockets of the light armor I was wearing and pulled out something small, made of cold metal.

When the spiders saw my gesture, they suddenly straightened up. It was enough for them too, they were preparing to pounce on us.

“A lighter?”

Alex’s eyes lit up when he saw what I had in my hand.

I uncapped the lighter, lit it quickly, and then held it up to the webs in front of us. When the web caught fire, I dropped the it at the bottom of the net.

The places where the lighter touched the web slowly caught fire. Step by step the flames spread along the web, but not very fast.

As soon as the spiders saw the flames, they started screaming again, and the ones behind us quickly jumped on us.

I created a Mana Barrier, but instead of surrounding myself with it, I placed it in front of some of the spiders and swung my sword in the other direction.

One of the spiders quickly died on my sword, and the attacks of two others were blocked by my barrier, but I couldn’t do anything about the last one. Its forelegs, like sharp blades, entered my arm. My expression tightened, I gritted my teeth and tried to punch the spider. The spider saw the attack and jumped, but this time it stayed in the air and I slashed it with my sword.

I slid the barrier aside without even a moment’s hesitation, and I kept my hand on the spiders blocked by the barrier, sending two small wind blades at them.

I heard a shrill sound coming from behind me. I quickly turned around and swung my sword in the direction of the sound, killing another spider. Immediately afterward, a shadow fell over me and I saw small but numerous webs approaching me. I blocked them with my barrier and without waiting, I ran in the direction of the webs, toward the remaining spiders.

The last seven were in front of me. Four of them came fearlessly toward me as I approached them, while the three in the back prepared to throw webs at me again.

When I got to the bottom of the spiders, two of them swung in different directions and leaped at me. I slashed one of them with my sword, getting body fluids all over me, but I didn’t care. The other one jumped at me from the opposite side, so I couldn’t use my sword. Instead, I clenched my fist, turned it behind my back, and hit the spider with its side.

When the spider’s soft, oily, and disgusting body came into contact with my fist, I tried not to pay too much attention, even though disgust ran through my body, but just then I felt a sharp pain in my right leg.

Two of the four spiders attacked me from above, while the other two continued from the ground. While one was on my leg, the other was seconds away from reaching me.

When I saw the spider gnawing on my leg, I tried to drive my sword into its body and crush the other one with it, but the spider dodged the attack. It prepared to sink its fangs and forelegs into my body, but at that moment I felt my mana being drained and the spider’s body was thrown back as if it had been hit by a bullet made of wind. There was a hole in the center of its body.

‘Thanks, Sith.’

So we cleared the spiders from this side of the web blocking the exit to the cave.

I dismantled the barrier and turned my eyes to Alex.

He has a few bite marks on his body, but he seems fine. He keeps up with the needles he throws at the spiders and the mini crossbow on his wrist.

I tear my eyes away from him and look at my leg.

Bite marks… I remember these spiders were poisonous, but I bought an antidote before I entered the dungeon, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

I turned back to the still burning webs. The spiders outside were afraid of the fire, so they couldn’t approach. The flames were rapidly melting the web.

Even if they can’t attack us now, we have to get out of here… or they’ll call their friends. In all… there are eighteen of them. And I still have more mana.

I looked back at Alex, he shot an arrow with his crossbow into the body of the last spider and it was pinned to the ground.

He was done fighting too.

“Alex. Back me up from behind. We have to kill the ones outside, or they’ll bring the whole forest after us.”

Alex nodded at me, even though he was panting. He took a deep breath, straightened up, and looked at the spiders outside. I could read the disgust in his eyes.

This is the ‘Alexander Callidas’ I know. He seems to have gotten used to it a bit.

“Haaa…”

I took out two red-colored potions from the dimensional buttons and, after some searching, the antidote needed for the poison and handed one to him.

“Healing potion and antidote, we need to drink it.”

He looked at them briefly, took them, and without much question, gulped them down. I did the same, and a warmth spread through my body. The pain from my wounds subsided a little.

Like Alex, I took a deep breath, gripped my sword tightly, approached the webs, and peered at the spiders behind them.

The flames widened and widened the hole in the center of the net. After a while, they would form a hole big enough for us to jump out of.

I closed my eyes for a moment and poured mana into my passive skill, Absolute Mind.

I felt the thoughts in my mind slowly fading away. A warm comfort enveloped my whole body, I opened my eyes and looked at the spiders again.

I had nothing on my mind, I was just focused on killing them, I wasn’t thinking about anything else.

I went through the hole quickly, the flames burned my skin a little, but I ignored them.

The moment I stepped out, the spiders started screaming. Even though I covered my ears with my hand, this time I felt a warmth in my ear. The sounds faded and when I looked at my palm I saw that my ear was bleeding.

Of course, the spiders were not idle. Almost half of them jumped on me and the other half threw webs at me.

They do exactly the same formation as before… They attack from above and below at the same time and throw webs as an extra. I guess there’s a limit to their intelligence…

I poured even more mana into the Absolute Mind, focusing on nothing but what was in front of me and giving everything of my mind to this task.

My mana was spent some more, and a translucent barrier formed in front of me. I felt my mana being sucked away even more, and a strong wind swept around my body, around my sword, and the last bits of my mana swirled inside my body, spreading throughout my body.

A sharp pain spread through my body as if following my mana, but I ignored it and swung my sword at the spiders coming from above. An arrow flew past my head and struck one of the spiders in the air. I slashed two spiders at once with my sword.

Their body fluids, their blood splattered everywhere. I felt time slow down, even if only for a moment.

I quickly brought my sword down, killing one of the spiders attacking from below. Another warmth spread through my body, this time not comforting. It was more like it was boiling my blood, like it would burn me if I didn’t move.

I raised the mana barrier toward the webs that shot at me, but I couldn’t block them all. One of them latched onto my right shoulder and it felt like it was on fire. Realizing this, the spiders suddenly concentrated on my right side. My movement was restricted by the web, and I slashed at one more spider, but two of them dodged and attacked my arm.

At the same time, the spiders behind me continued to throw webs at me, but Absolute Mind was more than enough to help me avoid the webs while fighting back.

I kicked one of the spiders hard, but the other one jumped over my leg and sank its fangs into my arm.

The wind that had been swirling around my body suddenly focused on it beyond my control and the spider was thrown backward not a second after it had bitten my arm.

I sliced it in half before it even touched the ground, and then I realized that my vision was slightly blurred. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the spiders’ venom or because of this strange sensation I was feeling in my body, but I kept killing the spiders anyway.

I got more and more excited as I killed each one, and I started to enjoy killing each one in a different way, making their already mutated bodies even more differently shaped… it was fun.

It was like taking apart something I had built with LEGO bricks.

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