Astrid found the spider-monster in the temple square in the middle of devouring a person. The monster hadn’t seen her yet as she was approaching from behind. To ensure it stayed that way, she used her cloak to turn herself invisible before carefully sneaking closer.

Unless one counted the dozen or so corpses sprawling on the ground, bloodied and broken, the square was empty of people.

Anger surged through her at the sight, and she wanted to tear the spider limb from limb. However, she would never be able to do that with her current powers, so she had to be strategic about how she fought. Therefore she pushed her feelings down and focused on her task ahead. Slay the monster.

Her most powerful attack was her dagger's backstab technique. It wouldn’t be anywhere near strong enough to outright kill the monster, and she would only get one shot at executing it, but it was the best she got at the moment. Clutching the dagger tightly, she silently inched closer. It wouldn’t do to give away her presence before her dagger was deep inside the spider.

The monster kept ripping large pieces of flesh from its victim’s body, and Astrid had to swallow hard to avoid puking at the scene.

She contemplated how best to strike, scanning the monster for weaknesses. Eyes were out of the question, as the monster would see it coming. Most of the body was covered in an armor-like exoskeleton that she couldn’t be certain she had the strength to penetrate with her blade. This left her very few options. The area with the least protection seemed to be the underbelly, but in order to strike there, she would have to get under the monster. The long legs made the spider tall, and having to stab upwards meant she wouldn’t be able to use her body weight and gravity to gain more power for the attack. Despite the risk, it was the best option.

She stopped right behind the monster. Another few steps and she would be underneath the monster, but this part was complicated by the spider’s movements. It scuttled erratically from side to side, so it was impossible to predict where it would be at any given time. Best as she thought she had an opening, the spider would move and block her trajectory with its hairy legs.

She took a calming breath. It wouldn’t do to scream in frustration now. She had to concentrate. The next time the monster stood still, she would have to make her move. The moment came, and Astrid rushed forward using all the speed her level two running gave her. She dodged in between the legs and jumped up, stabbing her dagger into the monster with as much power as she could get. The monster howled in pain and began thrashing wildly, trying to get its legs in under itself.

Astrid did her best to avoid the legs while trying to retrieve her dagger. The blood liquid oozing from the wound coated the handle, making it slick. Due to that, she couldn’t get a proper grip. Before she had a chance to solve that problem, she had to jump to the side to avoid getting speared by the leg.

She darted out from under the table before pulling her staff from her inventory. The monster turned towards her, lowered its head, and prepared to spit acid. Astrid had seen the other spider-monster do this multiple times, so she knew how much damage it could do to the surroundings. She wasn’t about to let that happen. Before the monster could execute the attack, she smacked her staff into one of its eyes. It reared back and hissed at her, but she only smacked it again, this time in another eye.

After a few more hits in the head the spider dashed forward, tackling Astrid to the ground. She rolled out of the way as it brought down its legs where she had lied a moment ago. Wasting no time she got back on her feet and ran backwards to create some distance. The melee attacks had done as much damage as they could, so now she had to rely on her limited magic powers. The only combat magic she had tried to cast was basic blast, and it would be easy to dodge if she used it at the wrong time. She could not afford to waste the mana.

She looked around for something to crush the spider under just like she had done with the previous one, but the open temple square didn’t offer any such opportunities. All the temples were lined up at the edges of the square, leaving the middle wide open.

She stared at the monster, which stared back at her, neither of them moving. Astrid figured the spider was as anxious of her as she was of it. The dagger was still embedded in its belly, and blue liquid dripped from the wound onto the tile-covered ground. Four of its eight eyes were swollen shut, and more blue liquid seeped from a cut on its forehead. Despite this, the monster still looked strong, and Astrid knew the fight was far from over.

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She scoured her brain for any piece of information she could use to win this fight. Right now, it didn’t matter where it came from. Maybe she could run and hope the monster would follow her to a different location where she could kill it like she killed the other spider. However, it seemed more likely she would lead it straight to a place where people were hiding. She could endanger others like that.

She jumped to the side narrowly, avoiding the acid the monster sprayed towards her, making sure to shield her face from the small drops with her cloak. Its self-repair ability prevented it from getting damaged.

The monster continuously spat acid, forcing Astrid to be on the move. The corrosive fluid splashed against the tiled ground that sizzled and smoked as it dissolved.

With her stamina quickly depleting, she knew she had to come up with something soon. She went back to searching her brain, going over all the knowledge she had gotten from reading Sham's book. It had helped her in the dungeon after all, even though she was reluctant to admit it.

There was no time to set a trap or cast any of her magic spells while the monster kept up its acid spray. What else could she do? She had already used all her strongest attacks, and it had worked as well as she could have hoped for. Maybe a notice me not spell could allow her to do the backstab again, but it was unlikely to work if someone was paying close attention to you, which the minster undoubtedly was. Also, she had lost her dagger in the previous attack.

She ran behind a temple, hoping to get a break from the acid sprays. Now that she was out of sight, she used her cloak to make herself invisible and climbed up on the roof. Maybe the higher ground would give her an advantage somehow. She had only just made it up on top of the building when the spider darted around the corner and sprayed the wall with acid right where she would have stood before she climbed up. The acid quickly burned a large hole in the wall, and Astrid hoped that the goddess of Love wouldn’t blame the destruction on her.

From inside the temple, she heard screaming, and she realized the temple square wasn’t as deserted as she had assumed. She eyed the other temples and saw faces staring out the windows. People were hiding inside the buildings. The gods offered protection from monsters in their temples, but usually only to their followers. The only exception was the god of Medicine, who allowed patients to stay at the temple while they recovered. Were they making an exception due to the circumstances or using it to expand their number of followers? Astrid didn’t know but hoped it was the former.

However, the audience complicated things for her, and she could only wonder what they had already seen. Had she done something that would give her away as a follower of Deception? She couldn’t be sure, but it didn’t matter now. Her first priority had to be stopping the monster, so no more people got hurt. Keeping her secret would have to be a secondary objective.

She looked down and saw the monster hammering its head against the invisible barrier that kept it from entering the temple, despite the large hole in the wall. It gave Astrid a bit of relief to know that the monster wouldn’t be able to get inside. The people would be safe as long as they stayed there.

As if on cue, the temple door opened, and a young girl rushed out screaming. The spider abandoned its attempt at getting inside and pursued the girl. Astrid cursed and cast a basic blast, making it as powerful as she could. It struck the monster in the back and flattened it against the ground, hopefully pushing the dagger still stuck underneath it further into its body. She lowered herself down from the roof again and rushed towards the monster before it could get back up. The girl had stopped to look at the spider in shock as it slowly got back to its feet. Astrid fired another basic blast, hoping to keep the monster down so it couldn’t attack the girl.

“Get back inside,” Astrid shouted, hoping the girl would listen, but as she began running back towards the temple, she tripped over one of the partially dissolved tiles. The spider was quick to get up, and Astrid was still too far away to do much. Her basic blast was as likely to hit the girl as the monster if she tried to aim while running and she didn’t have time to stop.

As the spider got ready to strike the girl, Astrid used some of her precious mana on the wind spell she had only read about. Her effort paid off. The girl was pushed out of harm’s way, and the spider was knocked off balance, landing flat on its belly again. It howled as the dagger pushed into its body once more. Without thinking, Astrid jumped on top of the monster, slamming her staff into its head over and over again.

Despite her continuous assault, the spider managed to get up again so fast she didn’t have time to jump off. It began thrashing wildly, and Astrid had a hard time holding on. She bored her fingers into a joint in the exoskeleton. The edge cut into her fingers, making them slick with blood. She tried to hit the spider some more, but its wild movement made it impossible.

She lost her grip and for a second felt weightless as she flew through the air. Then she crashed into the ground with a sickening crack. The impact would have killed most people twice over, but her high health points for her level meant that she got to be in agonizing pain instead. Warnings flashed before her eyes, but she was too out of it to focus on them. Her breath came in small gasps, and she couldn’t move. Her vision was blurry, and her ears were ringing.

This is how it ends, she thought as she closed her eyes. Any second now, the spider would sink its fangs into her body and tear her apart.