Chapter 54

The enormous spider hissed with a sound like a kettle, pulling itself along above me as I ran, frantically searching my surroundings for some way to limit its’ angles of attack. I zigged and zagged to avoid its’ unceasing assault, every time my path became too predictable being forced to block a reaching claw as it wrapped around a tree trunk and struck from an unexpected direction. I tumbled beneath a particularly vicious strike, outstretched claws striking like a scorpion’s tail, nearly cutting a tree in half just a few steps in front of me. I slapped a hand against the trunk to redirect my momentum, my headlong charge interrupted for an instant too long.

I spun with the force of impact, one extended limb penetrating my left shoulder with nearly a foot of spindly carapace jutting out through the front. My arm instantly ached with a freezing ache, my hand curling into a claw as the paralytic venom set in. I frantically pulled at the Cindervault trying to drag out enough flames to fight back with, but it stubbornly fought my grasp, only flickering embers appearing for a moment before snuffing out. The creature hauled me aloft on the impaling limb for a moment, and I felt the other ‘fingers’ begin to close around me agonizingly tight, holding me in place. All across my back I could feel small stinging bites as the cactus-like needles bit into me, spreading a sensation of agonizing cold through my flesh. I struggled against its’ grip as I saw it lift up another spindly limb, four finger-like talons pointing toward my chest in a diamond shape, preparing to finish me off. I bit my lip against the pain as I struggled to find a way out.

An opportunity arose a moment later; the tree, already badly damaged by the attack that had slowed me, collapsed. It fell with a racket like an avalanche, the massive crown entangling it with the other trees, the trunk itself a mighty cudgel that smashed through the middle and lower branches before striking the ground with an impact like the sledgehammer of a God.

The spider-like creature reared back, standing up on its’ many hind-limbs as if trying to posture against the fallen tree, and it yanked back two of its’ forelimbs, their ends grisly stumps where the tree had clearly smashed through them, causing them to trickle thick, sap-like ichor. My fate was momentarily ignored as it lashed out at the fallen tree with several quick strikes before scuttling back, as if it thought the tree was some kind of enemy. Once again my gaze was drawn to its’ eyeless skull, and I realized that it couldn’t actually see me. It must be sensing my movements by some other means; the tremendous racket of the falling trunk must have felt like an attack, and it responded by smashing the tree to splinters.

I reached down with my one working arm and grabbed onto the ‘wrist’ that all the fingers had sprouted from, ignoring the icy agony of the needles piercing my flesh as I tried to conjure more flames. This time, instead of pulling them from the Cindervault, my mind drew a line from the cloak on my back to my hand, infusing the thread with intention and force of will.

With a wrenching twist, I slammed the energy through my hand, and it emerged in a fitful cone of flames burning into the joint. I could feel the cloak fighting back, fraying and knotting as I dragged the energy imbued in its’ patterns out into the world. I could feel the cloak fading, its’ energies ripped away in a sudden torrent, until I felt the last gasp of its’ own ‘self’ shatter, the energy flooding out of it, tinged with a desperation and fear that would have caused me to falter, had I not felt my own end so close at hand. The heat emerged from my fingers like a plasma torch, cutting through the joint and igniting the dense ichor within, the carapace splitting apart with a surprisingly loud pop.

I fell to the forest floor as the ‘hand’ enwrapping me fell off, the individual ‘fingers’ twitching spasmodically, bereft of control. I slapped my hand onto the joint nearest the spot where one of the ‘fingers’ was still stuck through my shoulder and grabbed on, yanking at it to try and remove it from the wound. I only managed to drag it a few inches before I felt the sawing barbs tearing at the inside of the wound, and my eyelids flickered for a moment as I fought against the wave of pain and nausea.

The creature reeled in pain, giving off a rising kettle-like hiss as it reared back again, then lunged forward with several remaining limbs like a shower of spears. I threw myself over the fallen trunk and ducked behind it, the tree shredding as multiple impacts split it apart and sent splinters scything outward. After a ferocious series of stabs, it paused, as if in contemplation. I moved to yank the remaining length of the limb clear of my shoulder, but paused, listening intently. Its’ head swiveled back and forth, searching, but didn’t seem to notice me. I smiled as I realized that the heavy downpour must be making too much noise for it to notice me as long as I kept quiet. While it won me a moment’s respite, I knew it wouldn’t hold; I could still feel the venom seeping out from the wound in my shoulder, and I knew that wasn’t going to be a quiet process.

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I gritted my teeth and prepared to finish drawing the limb from my shoulder when I felt the pressure of a notification.

An Opportunity Arises

You have managed to lose the attention of the Forest Stalker. It is only a matter of time until it finds you, unless it is given suitable other prey.

The gateway has opened; five minutes remain until it closes once again.

I mulled over the words as I felt the Stalker pace forward, its’ many limbs drawing in the crowns of the trees all around itself; it had lost perhaps a quarter of its’ many limbs, but there were still quite enough left to skewer me if it even took a lucky step. I closed my eyes for a moment, weighing my options. I wanted the ‘powerful buff’ that the quest had mentioned, but I just didn’t see any way to defeat the giant spider. The tattered remains of my cloak were a reminder of the cost of managing a single attack against it, and I didn’t feel even slightly confident of pulling off such a stunt again.

Once again it gave that kettle-like hiss, lifting itself up into the air as its’ head waved back and forth, looking for any other trace of my presence. I pulled off the scraps of the cloak, taking the heavy metal clasp in my hand, and hurling it toward a trunk some distance away where it struck off the wood with a heavy slap, sending a few fragments of bark spinning away from the hit. The Stalker lunged forward, three extended limbs coming together into a single attack that nearly tore the trunk in half.

Under the cover of the sudden surge of noise, I yanked out the remaining length of the talon penetrating my shoulder, the sharp gasp of pain enough to draw the Stalker’s attention as it savaged the tree, pausing for just a moment before lunging after me. I took its’ talon like a javelin and hurled it off in another direction, the heavy limb clattering through the branches as it fell, and then ran as quietly as I could in another direction. It paused for a moment at the two conflicting sounds, seeming torn over which prey to pursue. I didn’t make it far, but I made it far enough to rip a low-hanging branch off of a trunk I passed, hurling it tumbling through the bushes ahead of myself, before changing directions.

It chased me clumsily, swiping and striking indecisively, giving me just enough room to keep ahead of it. This time I hurled the branch sideways, and it made a loud crack as it struck off another trunk before tumbling into the bushes, and another one upward into the canopy of the trees, rustling upward in an arc and crashing downward right after.

It was a flurry of limbs and strikes as it slashed out at its’ surroundings, hissing once again in frustration and rage. I was shaking when I finally came to a stop, the mixture of venom and agony making it hard to think, or even move too quickly. It was only when I mercifully saw the open doorway ahead of me that I could even recover the energy for the last, frantic scrabble, throwing myself through the doorway even as I heard the forest behind me explode with movement and violence. I struck the stony edge of the doorframe as I fell through, twisting as I fell to look back. I saw the immense body of the Stalker barreling toward me, and I frantically kicked the door shut, the impact snapping off the tip of one of its’ talons as it slammed closed.

The stone shivered, for a moment, as if under a tremendous impact, and then the door swung open in the other direction, revealing the stairwell into the ‘break’ room. I dragged myself toward it, and pulled myself through just as the darkness came for me, enough of the venom having filled my body that I couldn’t keep myself up any longer. My last conscious act was to quickly drink the antivenom potion in my sash, hoping that it would be enough to fight it back.