The number of Spiderlings increased drastically, but they were more spread out. We either ran across loners looking for meals or small groups scavenging together. In the case of the former, it was a quick fight, a sneak attack usually settled it and I could drain its blood to recover. In the case of the latter, I ended up receiving wounds. My upper part synthesized combat suit became tattered and I was nearly shirtless. The sleeves had been torn to shreds, exposing my lacerated forearms that were healing at a quick pace. Parts of the abdomen had been ripped and my flesh was left out in the open, vulnerable to attacks.

I had just finished my fifth fight and could taste blood in my mouth. My hair was stuck to my face along with blood, some of it my own, and dirt. The smell of death clung to my body but it didn’t bother me.

I grunted as I pulled my war scythe out of the corpse of a Spiderling before using my hands to collect the blood like it came from a faucet. The silver lining of this situation was that I still didn’t have to use my brand yet.

Knowing I still had a card to play put a smile on my face and I even let out a few hollow chuckles. This place was really hell and no matter how much of Sanguine Palm revitalized me, I still felt exhaustion dig into my bones. It wasn’t purely physical fatigue, it was deeper than that. I was fighting creatures that were stronger than me by a sizeable margin. To do that, I had to focus on everything and use multiple abilities to give myself an advantage.

“Casper, you should rest.”

I peered over my shoulder and could see the pitying expressions of Jameson and Sophia.

“I’m fine.” I waved at them.

I really wanted to check my souls, but there wasn’t a particularly safe place to stop. I used my Spirit Sight to check around us and there were presences all around. I blinked as my vision returned to normal and shook my head.

“We need to keep moving.” I finished healing up and decided to form a new war scythe, my current one was beat up.

I pulled off one of the legs and the dark exoskeleton changed into a war scythe. The ivory color had all but vanished and it showed a more ominous appearance. Well, could things get scarier than a weapon made of bone?

I rested the newly made weapon on my shoulder and resumed my pace.

“Did you feel this way when you first started out, Penelope?” I spoke to myself without caring if the other two overheard.

As avid practitioner of Penelope’s Dance, I was able to see glimpses of how she fought. The way she moved was the epitome of graceful. It made me think she never ended up in a distressed state like this when she had finally perfected her dance. Though, I’m sure she was more miserable than me when she had to create her fighting style from scratch.

I let out a sigh as I continued.

…

Deeper within the Forest of Nightmares, a group was on the move. A total of twelve humans, not Husks or Spiderlings, but real humans, were fighting off the Arachnid creatures. They weren’t struggling, no, because not all of them were involved. Six of them were all that was needed to deal with the encroaching group of Spiderlings and Husks.

“A Dark Arachnid above, Guild Leader.” Someone spoke up as a large silhouette skittered toward them from above.

“Yeah, I see it.” A woman, with glowing reptilian eyes, narrowed them toward the approaching creature before lifting her arms up. Her hands were protected with gauntlets that began glowing red as she prepared to move.

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The Dark Arachnid descended toward the ground and she moved like a flash. She kick off and left a small crater behind as she shot into the air. Her fists were even quicker and after a brief exchange, the corpse of a huge spider tumbled toward the ground. It was still attached to the webs above so it simply swung back and forth like a giant pendulum.

“As flashy as ever, Alexandra.” A man shook his head before he punched a husk directly in the chest, sending it sailing into a tree.

Casper would surely recognize him as the well-dressed, but poorly mannered man at the Gifted Testing Facility. The woman he referred to as Alexandra, was the leader of the Iron Wyvern Guild which was mistakenly referred to as the Iron Dragon guild. As she landed, her blue robe fluttered open, revealing a metallic chestplate with an engraving of a wyvern etched into it.

“If you can talk, your training isn’t hard enough, now keep it moving.” She replied with disinterest. It was clear her quick “battle” required very little effort on her part which meant she was an extremely powerful Gifted.

She turned her gaze to a body covered in a thin tarp that seemed to offer some sort of protection.

“Anyone got any ideas on who she is? She's still breathing and the last group to clear this ruin succeeded with no casualties or missing people. There's no way she should be here.”

“Nope.”

“Nothing.”

“None.”

“Well, her appearance might explain those ogres from earlier. We could’ve experienced a ruin event and just not noticed.”

“My eyes should’ve picked it up then.” When Alexandra finished speaking, her eyes flickered back to normal, no longer keeping a draconic appearance. “Just in case, we’re going to hurry up and clear this place. If there’s trouble outside we’ll need to offer a hand.”

With her order, the others in the group stepped forward to speed up the pace of the training, easily dispatching all of the monsters they came across.

…

Moving toward the source of light turned out to be a terrible idea, but to be fair, there wasn't much of an alternative.

“Shit. Shit. Shit.” I cursed.

I assumed that my luck was pretty good after finding the book and becoming a Gifted. I guess I was mislead because the giant fucking spider in front of me seemed to be the biggest sign of that.

Well, I should correct myself, it wasn’t in front of me, it was heading my way. It would be in front of me soon. Very soon.

“You both should run.” I turned to Sophia and Jameson who seemed just as stunned as I was.

“That thing… That’s a Dark Arachnid, we have to go!” Jameson snapped out of his daze and began to step away.

“Nah, I think I’ll fight it.” I made an incomprehensible remark.

We all couldn’t escape the Dark Arachnid even if we tried. The Spiderlings displayed their ability to catch people by sending out webbing as if it was a net. It was quite frustrating to deal the first few times, but I had gotten the hang of it. Now, the Dark Arachnid was an entirely different beast and its webbing was probably too strong to resist.

So, I decided a fight would be better than just running and hoping for the best.

“I can handle it so you guys should go.” I shooed them away while preparing to release the Demon’s Brand.

“Casper, stop joking and come on!” Sophia spoke urgently as the Arachnid approached.

“Please, hurry up and go.” I waved as I activated the brand. “I can handle it just fine so you guys should get going before you end up dying. I hardly have enough friends as is.”

None. I had none outside of this group, but I will admit it was hard to make them when corpses seemed so much more appealing.

The symbol of a bull’s silhouette lit up like it was on fire and I felt a huge burst of strength enter my body.

“Haaa.” I exhaled steam as my body began heating up.

I think… I think Jameson was saying something. When I turned to look at him, his mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear anything over the thundering beat of my heart. After he finished speaking, he took Sophia by the hand and ran away.

I was too busy feeling all my fatigue and exhaustion being washed away. The warmth of my blood and the sensation as it flowed through me was the only thing on my mind. My arms were filled with strength and I had an irresistible urge to use it on something.

A massive spider began descending toward me and all I felt was satisfaction as I raised my war scythe.