The wildlife that had survived the past thousand or so years on the Origin fell into a very specific category. They were universally intelligent (at least, as intelligent as a mere creature could be), resourceful, and small. The largest above-ground animals that Maso had seen were crows; researchers had found evidence of much larger winged animals existing millennia ago, but their actual appearances were lost to history.
Biology research often discussed how a species' traits affected the likelihood that it could survive through cataclysmic events. The two factors that were believed to be most important were adaptability, and size. Ants and cockroaches were excellent examples of this; it was impossible to know how common they had been before, but they thrived on the Origin now, creatively hunting new food sources wherever they appeared, and mostly avoiding the toxic surface conditions by hiding underground.
This thing flew in the face of that evolutionary theory.
Maso dove underneath a branch, rolling through prickly shrubs and leaping back to his feet within a moment. He didn't look back. He could hear it, the noise of leaves crunching under its feet, the snapping of tree branches.
Is this my fault? he thought. He weaved through a grouping of thin trees, dodging more branches as he searched for a landmark.
Unfortunately, he'd already discovered just how hard it was to navigate in this forest, and this time he'd somehow let himself be fooled into venturing even deeper in.
Well. Perhaps he was being unfair to himself.
He'd been happy enough doing the most basic of quests. Collecting herbs and firewood from the forest, delivering them to thankful villagers, being rewarded with virtual coins. He'd even found the time to try some of the food being bartered on the streets, which was uniformly delicious... and obscenely unhealthy.
Maso leaped over a thin creek, frantically glancing one way to check if he could recognize any curves in it. There were a few major rivers that ran through the forest, but smaller streams were so common that they were rarely marked on the wayfinder. He could hardly take the time to reopen it and check if the creek matched, but nothing about it looked familiar.
Of course, it wasn't like he'd be sure to recognize it, even if it was in the wayfinder's map of the forest. It wasn't like he had a perfect memory anymore, after all.
Maso was somewhat bitter about that.
He'd been convinced by Lanoch that, in order to "level up" fast enough to get whatever he needed from the Thadh, he'd need to pick up some of the harder quests.
What Maso couldn't determine, was if he should have known killing a spider would entail...
...this.
In the last minute or so, he figured that he'd managed to put some distance between himself and the creature. So he spared a glance, just for a split second.
It was right there, only a few paces behind him, easily keeping pace.
Maso had held spiders in his hand as a child, he'd peered closely into their little gray webs to watch them move. He'd never been particularly fond of them, but he'd never been afraid either.
That said, he'd never looked at one through a microscope. Were the spiders on the Origin that - hairy? Did they have mouths full of tiny, razor-sharp teeth?
The most important difference, of course, was the size. On the Origin, spiders weren't taller than a person, strong enough to snap thin tree branches with ease, and homicidal.
A barbed vine grabbed onto Maso's shirt and tore another hole in it. He barely maneuvered his head out of the way. His hair was going to be absolutely destroyed when - if - he made it out of here.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Lanoch had told him that a machete would be 'more than enough'. Was this spider some kind of anomaly? Had he found the wrong spider by accident? Was Lanoch simply insane?
Focus, Maso thought.
The initial shock was still wearing off. This was his first real combat encounter, other than the creature he'd been burned alive by when he first landed on the planet. He had trained for years specifically for this situation. Sure, he didn't have his weapons, armor, the vast majority of his augments, or any backup, but he needed to at least try something. It wasn't like the spider-beast seemed to be getting tired.
He was lucky that this section of the forest was less dense, allowing him to actually build up speed to get away, but he'd still run out of stamina sooner than later.
A plan, then.
Maso thought some commands at his neural augment, and felt his awareness expand. This was dangerous - and exhausting - to do for too long, but for a few minutes he could think faster, through a combination of special links in his brain and extra chemicals that the augment produced.
With only one part of his mind required to keep running through the forest, the rest of him went through ideas one after the other. Could he hide? No, it was too risky; there was no way of knowing how good the spider's senses were. Could he climb a tree? From the horrifyingly loud sounds of crunching behind him, that was at best unwise. He'd have to climb twice his height in a matter of seconds, which - even with his newfound height - was unrealistic.
He didn't have that many tactical advantages available to him. The machete was heavy in his hand, but its reach was poor. In a simulation he'd have weapons, or some kind of backup, or at least a puzzle in the terrain to reason out. Here, the terrain had plenty of cover, but that was all; he had exactly one weapon, and no backup.
A lack of good strategy meant he had to resort to something more unhinged. A few possibilities flitted through his head. He could throw the machete at one of the spider's eyes - but if that failed, he'd be down a weapon. He could try to dodge back through the spider and hope it was too awkward to turn, but it had eight legs and was moving far faster than should have been possible.
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Well. That only left one real option, bad as it was. He'd actually have to take it on in melee.
Maso dashed around a tree, then dug his feet into the dirt, momentarily hidden from his pursuer. He counted its steps for two seconds, honing in on the exact rhythmic beats, trying to guess where it was. Then he whipped himself back around the tree and towards the spider. It evidently hadn't expected a counterattack, and didn't react nearly fast enough as Maso slashed at one of its legs with the machete, blade slicing far deeper than he'd expected.
Maso pushed himself to the side, and the spider's momentum carried it forward and over him.
He'd done far more damage than he anticipated. The leg he'd hit was almost cleaved in two, all but disconnected at the joint.
The spider's other seven legs dug into the ground as Maso shoved against a tree trunk to rebuild momentum. He hadn't been running for more than five minutes, but the breakneck pace and extreme terrain was catching up with him, and he stumbled as he started moving, breathing heavily.
A sudden attack like that might only work once, he knew, even as he heard the crunching sounds behind him of the spider moving forwards. He'd gained some kind of advantage, but completely lost the element of surprise. And he was completely out of ideas, though he at least still had his machete.
The ground was becoming more uneven here, the forest more dense, and he realized he'd be losing any space he bought with the attack quicker than he'd thought.
Think. Maso crashed through a shrub and kept running.
Could he use magic? He had no idea how it worked, but it couldn't be that difficult if it was so common here.
Yesterday, his crann had supplied the information that - after gaining some 'reputation levels' through his miscellaneous tasks - he had '11 connection', which was apparently the metric by which one measured their magical acumen. He'd told Lanoch that this was completely useless (and extremely arbitrary) information, and the crann had immediately changed to say that he had 10, instead.
Surely I would be able to smite this spider, Maso thought to himself sarcastically, weaving around another tree, if only I was slightly more connected.
Whatever that meant.
It was worth a try, Maso realized. He could still remember the chant he'd read about in the void, before he'd even resurrected on this planet. What was the worst that could happen?
"Ada rea alí," he said, but it came out breathy and indistinct.
Maybe chanting while running was not the best option.
He continued regardless, breathing in between each word: "Ada, rea, alí. Ada, rea, alí."
Maso's foot snagged on a root, and he stumbled, falling forward. He tried to break into a roll, but it was futile. A large shrub caught his fall, but as he struggled to get back to his feet, the crunching sounds came up behind him. A moment later, something large impacted his back at speed, and he flew forward, head over heels.
"Ugh," Maso groaned. He'd already activated pain suppressants through his neural augment, but even without the pain, he thought he might have broken something. Not ideal.
Dazed, he blinked to try and clear his eyes. The spider was above him, massive mandibles framed by eyes almost as large as Maso's head.
It seemed to be considering what to do with him, maneuvering its legs in such a way that they pointed towards his body.
Maso still preferred his skin unperforated. It seemed nearly pointless now, but he didn't have any other options, so he wheezed out the last words of the chant regardless:
"Ada rea alí."
Even as the spider readied its legs to strike, something flowed through Maso. A feeling of power, like nothing he'd ever felt before - something reminiscent of the augmented strength he'd had on the Origin.
He had been heard. He was righteous! He would show the world his greatness!
Then the sensation vanished.
> ~~~~~~~~
>
> Requirements Not Met: Religiosity
>
> Your knowledge of and connection to the deity that governs this magic is insufficient to cast this spell. It is inappropriate for you to attempt to do so, and future attempts may beget retaliation. Receipt of this message affirms that you have consented to any possible repercussions and hereby swear to refrain from out-of-bounds magic utilization in the future.
>
> ~~~~~~~~
A hundred thoughts went through Maso's mind at once.
He was going to die here. Maybe, if he was lucky, he'd resurrect again - but he'd never asked about that process, so he had no way to know if that was a one-time thing or something that could be repeated. Would he be stuck in the void again?
This could be it. He still had so many questions, so many things he needed to do. But the mistakes he'd made - he'd been insufficiently prepared, he hadn't gathered enough information.
Maso waited for the feeling of being torn open.
He waited for the void, or for nothingness.
A couple seconds passed, and Maso's skin didn't feel like it had been skewered through.
He opened his eyes - he hadn't even realized he'd closed them - and saw something bizarre. He'd thought the spider was preparing for some kind of strike, but in reality it was completely frozen, having remained in the same place, unmoving, for -
Five, ten seconds? Even as Maso stared, its legs didn't waver. The mandibles remained half-open, the eyes still staring out - if not at Maso, then around him.
Had the spell done something after all? He didn't dare check to see if his crann had any information, but he couldn't neglect this opportunity. Maso finally pushed himself up, and swung at the spider's belly. His machete bit deep once again, tearing through its body.
He slashed again, and again, ripping through its underbelly. The spider didn't so much as twitch, until suddenly - as Maso became sure he'd dealt a killing blow - it unfroze, toppling over to the side.
> Quest Complete: Pest Control!
>
> For valiantly killing one (1) petrified, relatively innocent forest-dwelling creature, you are hereby rewarded with:
>
> (100) coins - don't spend them all in one place!
>
> (8) spider legs - one of them tragically damaged in transport.
>
> Your reputation has been adjusted accordingly.
Maso stared.
The spider's dead, half-mutilated body lay dead in front of him.
"Ah, there you go! Took you long enough, hm?" came a voice from directly behind Maso.
Maso spun around. Not two feet away, standing with one hand raised in a lazy wave, was Rèmsciore.
"I hope you don't mind the little bit of assistance, there. I heard the telltale sounds of deforestation in the area, so I figured it had to be you, and came to take a look."
"Thank you," Maso said, but it came out more as an incoherent grunt.
"You don't look so great, there, hm?" Rèmsciore said.
Maso checked with his neural augment. Without the rest of its network, most of the diagnostics were guesses based on incomplete data from his nervous system, but it still indicated with relatively high likelihood that he'd broken a few ribs.
"I'm okay," Maso wheezed out. Better not to look vulnerable in front of crazy forest hermits, he thought.
"Right," the man said. "Right."
Maso ignored him and finally deactivated the neural augment's overload mode, wincing at the odd sensation of having a fog descend on his mind. The most dangerous part of using it wasn't the chemicals - in reality, outside of requiring much more energy, it was safer than most drugs - but rather the propensity for addiction, and the development of external personalities while under the effect.
People who had deactivated it after more than a day often said it felt like they had died.
Maso also felt that way, but that was the aching in his muscles - in every part of his body, really - not quite removed by the pain blocker.
Finally, he sent a mental command to his augment.
"Thadh."
Fantastic, Maso thought, even as he tried to avoid collapsing to the ground.
Only six spider extermination quests remaining.