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Evangeline
Evangeline stood her ground. The air was biting cold, and an eerie silence draped the deadwood trees. Her breath misted in the air, her heart pounding with a mix of fear and determination. Before her were the two dog-sized wolf spiders, their many eyes glinting with malicious intent.
Behind them, a larger, more menacing figure loomed: the lieutenant wolf spider, its dark chitin glistening with a sinister sheen.
Evangeline's mind raced. The odds were against her. Even if her resources were full, she had no true combat experience.
She only relied on running away or surprise attacks, yet she knew that this time, based on how the lieutenant spider was communicating with its pair, a simple escape would not save her.
With a thought, she activated [Cantrip], feeling her body lighten as her steps doubled in speed. It did cost her a bit of mana, but the increased distance between her and the monsters was worth it.
As if reacting to her sudden retreat, the lieutenant stopped shrieking and the spiders jumped into action in unison, their movements surprisingly agile for their size.
They quickly caught up and threw their first attacks.
Seeing the shadow under her feet suddendly increase in size, Evangeline dodged, feeling the rush of air as the massive fangs of the lead arachnid snapped where she had just been. She needed a plan, and fast.
Remembering the weaknesses of the normal wolf spiders, she focused on the one who was flanking her from the left. Concentrating, she casted [Displace], aiming a finger-sized attack at the top of its abdomen. The spider screeched as the spell hit, causing a small wound.
Blood began to ooze, and the spider's movements grew sluggish, it was too slow and was quickly left behind by the constantly moving fight. `One out, two more to go` Eva thought.
The second wolf spider, having witnessed what Evangeline did to its comrade, began a tactical evasion. It leaped agilely from tree to tree, seemingly making a conscious effort to shield the back of its abdomen from her. In one of its leaps, as it neared her, Evangeline executed a perfectly timed [Displace] spell on its eyes, effectively robbing it of sight.
Caught off guard by the sudden blindness and mid-air, the spider couldn't react swiftly enough. It crashed into a tree, incapacitated, leaving only the leader.
After its initial missed attack, the spider leader had cautiously kept its distance, letting its underlings test Evangeline's strength, likely hoping they would tire her out or inflict some wounds. However, as it saw her handling its minions and found itself alone, the spider's strategy shifted. Hissing, it charged at her with renewed ferocity.
In the ensuing battle, Evangeline quickly realized that this adversary was unlike the others. The lieutenant was not only faster and more intelligent, but it also seemed able to evade her more potent mana-charged attacks even when not looking at her.
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Frustration mounted as Evangeline's attempts to target the creature's head were all misses or countered. One of her spells even bounced off its chitin, and the spider's reflexes were way too sharp. It was clear she needed a new plan.
Relying on the speed boost from her [Cantrip], she dodged another lunging attack, zigzagging through the trees. She hoped to trick the spider into crashing into one of them. Despite its relentless pursuit, Evangeline noticed a peculiar tendency in its movement, while it expertly evaded the trees that blocked it way, it favoured one leg over the others for sharp turns. This observation sparked an idea.
She ran, not aimlessly but with purpose, biding her time to gather a substantial amount of mana. Then, with a sudden turn to her left, forced the lieutenant into a sharp turn.
As the pattern of the chase played out once more, the spider’s favoured leg planted into the ground, clearly in her line of sight. She immediately seized her moment and unleashed a cone-sized [Displace] at the limb, draining about 250 mana. The spell hit its mark, tearing through, and sending the lieutenant crashing brutally onto the hardened frost-covered ground.
This enraged the spider even more, it rose and started attacking with even greater ferocity. Evangeline narrowly escaped its deadly fangs and limbs, feeling the earth shake under the weight of each of the arachnid’s assault. Her mana was dwindling, and her options were running out.
The crash had damaged part of the spider's body, but miraculously, its cephalothorax remained unscathed, as shiny as it was from the beginning of the fight. This observation shifted Evangeline's strategy. Now, in a one-on-one battle, she could afford to be more discerning with her attacks. She focused on preserving the cephalothorax, visualizing it as a the armour piece she was looking for.
A daring strategy formed in her mind. She needed to wear the spider down, push it to its limits. Focusing on evasion, she ran around the battlefield in circles, doing her best to bait it and even provoke it from time to time. The frenzied spider was now hitting so hard that sometimes, its limb left long gashes in nearby trees.
As the fight dragged on, the spider's movements became increasingly sluggish, its energy sapped by the relentless one-sided fight where one side was just running, while the other had to jump, strike and run after its prey. Seeing her opportunity, Evangeline mustered her remaining mana for one decisive move. She targeted the ground beneath the lieutenant with a heavily charged [Displace] spell, costing a massive 500 mana. The ground caved in, creating a large pit that threw the spider off balance.
As it struggled in the pit, Evangeline closed in with [Cantrip], rapidly covering the distance. She targeted the lieutenant's abdomen with a precise, finger-sized [Displace]. The spell connected with a crunch, the impact of the spell quickly filling with blood. The lieutenant collapsed, writhing in pain but alive, trapped in the hole.
Breathing heavily, Evangeline surveyed her surroundings. The other two spiders were nowhere in sight, allowing her a moment of relief. She collapsed to her knees, her mana nearly depleted, every muscle in her body burning.
Mana: 50 / 1450 (+73)
As Evangeline observed the larger spider's futile struggles, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadistic satisfaction. The once formidable creature was now reduced to weak, spasming insect. She allowed herself a brief moment of rest, watching it with a cold detachment.
When she was confident that the spider's movements were nothing more than feeble twitches, she cautiously approached and finished the job by sending another [Displace] into the wound left by her previous attack, this time it went in easily, ending the creature's life.
You have slain [Adult Lieutenant Wolf Spider] LVL 27
You have slain [Adult Wolf Spider] LVL 11
You levelled up! 2 > 7
[Novice Space Mage] levelled up! 5 > 12
[Elven Essence Waver] levelled up! 1 > 2
Slowly, she descended into the hole and butchered the arachnid’s dead body, separating its thorax from its legs, mandibles, and abdomen.
She then carefully retrieved the cephalothorax, taking it with her as she made her way back to her base. Her journey back was uneventful but she kept checking behind her. One of the spider was still not considered dead by the System after all.
Upon entering the vicinity of her shelter, Evangeline hastily set aside the spider chunk and ignited the bonfire. With the flames crackling in the background, she made her way back inside, intending to take a well-deserved break. Just as she began to relax, an unexpected window materialized out of thin air, sending chills down her spine.
"Your party has slain [Adult Wolf Spider] LVL 13"
Evangeline furrowed her brow in confusion and muttered to herself, "But I was not in a party?..."