Ch 9: Arachnophobia_It Just Works

He had to watch his feet carefully as, unlike before, the tunnel floor beyond the door was rough and uneven. The dim light didn’t help but Larenia said she couldn’t maintain a stronger spell without losing Magicka. Though she didn’t use quite that tone.

As the time they spent walking through the cave stretched out, Simon became increasingly sure that the spiders would not materialise. Eventually, however, the cave widened and they began to hear the scratching sounds of chitinous claws on stone.

“Alright,” Havar said, “Larenia, you and I will go in first and kill all but one spider. Simon, you’ll come in after to fight the last one.”

“Actually,” Simon replied, “It would be better if I went in first and you two saved me if I was about to become spider chow.” Having seen Larenia fight twenty-two on one, he was quite confident in his safety.

Hadvar frowned. “That’s an unnecessary risk. They can spit poison. If any gets in your mouth, or you lose enough health to get cuts for it to seep into, you could be overwhelmed before we can help.”

“So I’ll keep my mouth shut,” Simon said. “I’ll gain 30 Health on my second hit, then at least 10 for the next five. Unless there are dozens of them, I should be fine.”

Hadvar’s frown deepened. “It’s still a risk, and it’s still unnecessary.”

Simon gave the nord a small, sad smile. “It is necessary, Hadvar. My blessing prevents me from being afraid, but in two months I have to kill a dragon with the power to eat the world. If I spare myself this little bit of risk now, I will only face much worse down the road, far less prepared than I could otherwise have been.”

Hadar opened his mouth to reply, paused, then snapped it shut again. “Fine,” he said after a few moments. “Let’s get on with it. You go in front.”

With that they set off again, Simon just a little further ahead than usual. He kept his shortsword in a ready position, or at least what he hoped was a ready position. Truthfully, he hadn’t the slightest idea how to use the thing. For all he knew he wasn’t even holding it right.

As they walked, the sounds of skittering grew ever louder, and eventually the dim light of Larenia’s orb revealed a large cavern. In the centre was a bulbous, white mound of fist-sized balls, slick with slime. Probably spider eggs if Simon had to guess. It was guarded by two hulking, tarantula-like frostbite spiders, both of which were only a head or so shorter than him and easily four times as wide.

Nearer the entrance, were four smaller spiders, only reaching around waist high. At the far side, clustered around the cave’s exit were another five of the smaller variety, bringing the total to eleven.

Other than the spiders and their eggs, the cavern was filled with the bones, part eaten corpses and web enshrouded remains of various small animals. Mostly rabbits, foxes and birds.

Simon took deep breaths as he waited for one of the four spiders near the entrance to drift just a bit closer to him and just a bit further from its fellows. Then, leaning as heavily on his Sneak skill as the situation allowed, he charged.

It made little difference. The spiders almost immediately twitched taller on their many legs and scuttled around to look at him.

Just as he reached striking range, his target drew its mandibles wide and hawked a glob of murky, grey goo onto his chest. Focused as he was on not missing, Simon hardly noticed. Though, the disgusting nature of the spider’s poison reminded some small, subconscious part of his mind to keep his mouth tightly shut.

Less than a second after the spider’s opening attack, his sword swung down on it from above, bouncing off its hairy carapace with the muffled thunk of steel on Health-guarded chitin.

Simon’s Light Armour skill did some heavy lifting to keep him on his feet as the rebound, for which he was wholly unprepared, pushed him back. However, in that instant where he regained his balance, the drum beat of a level-up filled his ears and a flood of knowledge filled his mind.

He shifted his grip, corrected his footing and slashed upwards at the spider’s underside. His blade met no resistance as it slid through carapace and innards alike, neatly splitting the creature’s face in two.

More drum beats, more levels, more knowledge.

He moved swiftly on, not to the spider closest to him, approaching left around the corpse with another in tow, but the lone spider coming around to the right. He knew instinctively that the spiders were slow enough to make the choice valid.

He stepped and thrust, his arm and mind tensed and ready to either relax back on a rebound or lunge forward if the spider’s Health allowed.

The blade sank almost to the hilt and Simon spun, drawing his sword free as he did, taking several quick steps and lashing down at the spider chasing him.

This time he only got three-quarters of the way through its face before he had to jerk the sword free. He moved around the dead spider and lunged at the last of the group of four.

As he did, the spider lept at him, mandibles poised to chomp. He tried to step back, but it slammed into him before he could, his sword sliding over its carapace and its fangs knocking off about a fifth of his Health.

He moved slightly back to get room for a swing, then slashed horizontally, severing both mandibles and cutting several of its eyes in half.

In the time that he had wiped out the first group, the two massive spiders had arrived. The smaller of them arrived slightly ahead, burdened by a little less weight.

Simon stepped to the left as it opened its mandibles, a head-sized glob of poison splattered over his right shoulder and neck.

He thrust out three times in rapid succession before it could recover from spitting. The first bounced back, the second sank halfway up the blade and left it twitching, the third drove in to the hilt and the spider collapsed to the ground.

The other large spider climbed straight over the carcass and speared down at him with a leg. Simon didn’t react soon enough to fully dodge and it slammed into his left shoulder, knocking him to the ground and taking off a significant chunk of Health. He didn’t have the time to quantify it.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

He rolled away with the force of the blow and pushed himself to his feet.

He turned back to the spider and slashed out to deflect another leg stabbing at him. Stepping forward, he stabbed out and the blade sank a few centimetres into the creature before he pulled it back. With a quick diagonal slash he cut off a mandible and opened its insides.

By this point his Stamina had nearly bottomed out and, as he moved around the remains to face the last five small spiders, it finally ran dry. Regardless, he still felt completely fresh. He charged at the tightly clustered group, dropping the three in front with as many slashed before they could react.

One of the back two spat a glob at his stomach, achieving nothing, while the other jumped at him, biting with its fangs for a small amount of Health. Simon killed the biter with a thrust, then swept his sword to the side, out through the corpse, removing two legs from the last spider and carving a gash across the front of its body.

He stood there, alert for any surprise monsters, his heart pounding and his lungs heaving. After the seconds drew out into a minute it became apparent that everything was dead.

Simon threw back his head and laughed. “That was amazing!” He was half tempted to take the Warrior perk after this, but… magic. Speaking of perks.

[Skills]

Summary

Stage

Body

+80%

Mind

+34%

Health

99/230

Magicka

100/100

Stamina

0/340

Warrior

Archery

Two Handed

Block

Skill Level

Skill Bonus

One Handed

Heavy Armour

Smithing

Skill Level

Skill Bonus

115%

Skill Bonus

Mage

Alteration

Destruction

Restoration

Skill Level

Skill Bonus

Illusion

Conjuration

Enchanting

Skill Level

Skill Bonus

Thief

Sneak

Locksmithing

Speech

Skill Level

Skill Bonus

95%

Skill Bonus

Light Armour

Pocketry

Alchemy

Skill Level

Skill Bonus

75%

Skill Bonus

It was a little disappointing that he was still three levels off from Stage 3 and his second perk. It was also more than a little sobering to see that he would have been dead without level-ups. Regardless, One Handed had levelled up, becoming his highest level Skill, more than doubling his Body and giving him a good amount of max Health as a buffer. Enough to keep him alive this time at least.

Closing his menu, he took a moment to focus on his Body. He felt incredible. Not really that much stronger or faster or tougher, though there was a little of that, but just healthier. He felt like he’d worked out daily, eaten right and slept well for a decade. He just felt good.

“More like terrifying,” Hadvar said, interrupting Simon’s reverie and responding to his exclamation from before opening the menu. “You went from a bumbling oaf to a solid Journeyman in less than two minutes. It’s mad. You’re only behind me in Body and Health at this point.”

“It wouldn’t have worked against any other predator,” Larenia added, raining on his parade. “Maybe mudcrabs… But a wolf pack would have torn you apart, despite being a lower Stage threat.”

“Good thing they weren’t wolves then,” Simon responded, shrugging. “What I don’t understand is why their Damage was so low? Compared to what we deal, 30 to 80 seems like nothing.”

“It’s dangerous to think that way,” Hadvar said with a stern expression. “They can still kill you easily if you get careless. That being said, their Damage is like that because they are unarmed. The Damage calculation for unarmed combat is far less generous than the one for weapon Damage.”

“Oh?” Simon raised an eyebrow but Hadvar shook his head.

“Later. Can we expect anything else ahead? We should be nearly out now.”

“Well, if my knowledge holds true, the only enemy left should be a bear.”

Both of his companions stared at him aghast.

“Whelp,” Larenia said, “we’re doomed.”

Ch 9: Arachnophobia

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