Chapter 30: Awakening (1)

Chapter 30: Awakening (1)

‘It’s horrifically heavy.’

A single block. The weight on the blade was extraordinary.

Is it impossible to defend head-on? Even deflecting and redirecting the attack required extreme caution.

A mistake could shatter the blade.

The mother, having lost her young, was literally rampaging mad.

Her red spider eyes gleamed with madness.

She was on a different level from before.

Unlike the previous spider, which only swung its two front legs, the mother spider’s attacks were far more varied and threatening.

She didn’t easily expose the weak parts of her exoskeleton and knew how to fully leverage her mass.

Yeah, to be honest, it was overwhelming.

Though not as daunting as facing a giant, there was no clear solution.

The attacks weren’t landing properly. More precisely, finding a place to attack and seizing an opportunity to do so was incredibly difficult.

‘Her exoskeleton is much tougher. I can’t even scratch it with regular attacks. I’ll have to aim for the weaker spots, even if it’s hard.’

Claws driven by fury tore at the world.

Thick wooden splinters flew from an ancient tree, hundreds of years old.

Her massive leg was blocked by the tree, but just as humans have two hands, the spider had eight legs.

The jointed parts of the exoskeleton—these were the only visible weaknesses I could aim for, but I had to retreat without gaining any ground.

Another leg came crashing down where I had been standing moments before. If I hadn’t retreated, I’d have been crushed.

“It’s creepy.”

The ground where the spider’s attack had landed was deeply gouged out.

If I got struck by those front legs, there wouldn’t even be a need for a grave.

It was a morbid joke.

Anyway, she was indeed a skilled foe.

Surely, she was the true owner of this cave, and I had killed her offspring which had arrived early.

An experienced resident, she knew her own weaknesses well. Even in her frenzied attacks, she compulsively covered her vulnerabilities.

When the softer parts of her leg insides seemed exposed, another leg would immediately guard it.

The only places where a viable attack might land seemed to be the insides of the legs, the eyes, or the lower abdomen.

Attacking the abdomen risked being crushed if done poorly, making it impractical, and the insides of the legs were well-defended.

The eyes...is there any creature whose eyes aren’t a weak spot?

It must be the most guarded area.

Several attacks slipped by without improving the situation.

While I couldn’t land a proper counterattack, each of her blows was lethal.

I glanced around. Scanning the surroundings as if taking in the scene.

‘The situation is reversed from earlier.’

If it’s hard to confront one-on-one, find another method.

The young spider earlier had chosen to flee, ending in a gruesome death.

To me, fleeing didn’t seem like an option either. That would only be possible if I were faster or had a way to immobilize the enemy.

In a flash, I noticed the tree that had been struck by the spider’s attack earlier.

Although it had been severely chipped, it was a massive tree with a diameter that had to be measured in meters.

A single gouge wouldn’t bring it down.

If the tree trunk was that thick, it would also be sturdy. The spider’s immense strength couldn’t topple it in one go. And this spider was blindly fixated on me.

It didn’t care about its surroundings.

So, I had no choice but to use that to my advantage.

I intentionally moved the battlefield into the forest among the trees. The spider’s leg scraped another tree.

Crack.

With a grotesque sound, part of the tree trunk was torn. It didn’t fall in one go.

That didn’t matter.

‘If we fight where there are many obstacles, it ultimately works in my favor.’

Every time the spider’s legs collided with the trees, I persistently aimed for the inside of its legs. The spider’s defense was solid, but not perfect.

When necessary, I hid behind an old tree. Using its obstructed vision as a weapon, I launched surprise attacks.

I saw the spider’s neck retracting.

Was it merely because of the pain? Somehow, I doubted that.

It looked more like it was preparing to spit something out.

Right. This was a spider.

‘It wouldn’t be strange if it had venom.’

Even if it was just a hunch, I trusted my instincts and dodged.

Even if it meant giving up the perfect opportunity, I had no regrets.

At that moment, a jet of yellow-green liquid sprayed out.

I couldn’t dodge it all, and some of the toxic fluid splattered on my left arm and back.

‘So this is it. The burn scars from the original story!’

Razen’s body in the novel had burn scars.

I had always wondered how those scars came about. Apparently, this was the moment.

I thought it ended with the self-destructing attack of the last monster, but had I become complacent?

What the spider spat out wasn’t just venom.

The highly acidic fluid made contact with my clothes and skin.

As my skin began to melt, a noxious smell rose from my body.

Horrific pain seized me.

My mind went hazy, and for a moment, the world blacked out.

When I regained my senses, a wounded front leg was swinging toward me.

It was too late to dodge. I braced myself for the impact.

“Aaaaagh!”

My body flew a dozen meters through the air.

The injuries I’d inflicted must have been effective, as the blow wasn’t as lethal as it could have been.

Rolling down the slope helped to some extent in cushioning the impact.

That didn’t mean my body was unscathed, though.

Pain coursed through my veins, making it hard to stand.

I had collided with more than a few objects, causing my entire body to ache.

In time, I’d be covered in bruises.

But I could still move.

Both my arms and legs were functional enough to fight.

That meant there was no problem.

Difficulty breathing due to a tight chest? So what?

I probably cracked a rib or two.

As long as I could breathe, it didn’t matter.

This wasn’t the first time I’d fought while battered and bruised.

Even in the cabin last time, I hadn’t fought in perfect condition.

“Hah.”

The cabin.

Thinking back to that shabby wooden house made my blood boil.

It felt like something snapped in my mind. A metallic taste filled my mouth.

How great would it have been if I had been bolder back then?

If I hadn’t hesitated to endure pain or take a few stabs, what might have happened?

Thinking that made the intense pain almost welcome.

It felt like another chance. A chance to correct my mistakes.

I gripped my sword tighter than ever.

The pain flowing through my veins only fueled my resolve, my hand tightening around the hilt as if it were fighting back.

I raised my sword again.

The mother spider, still staggering, glared at me.

Yes.

This was a fight that would only end when one of us died.

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