CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

TWISTED LUCK

Bewildered, Shai remained in her secluded hole for hours. Her [Golden Eyes] wasn't omniscient, far from it, considering she lacked a vital part of its power. The point was that higher-ranked spirit creatures could bypass her detection wittingly or unwittingly, leaving her to question whether the spider had truly left.

It felt inappropriate to refer to the intelligent creature as an "it". The spider was a female, evident by her mention of the male kinds of the spider clan specifically.

Could it be that the male Empathic Spiders were less adept at controlling their empathic nature? They sure seemed dull and murdery to Shai. This seemed plausible, given that many insectoids and other species operated under matriarchal structures where females held significant power. Here it was intelligence, it seemed.

But on that note... I too am becoming more murdery...

It was unclear whether it was due to her death or simply because of her growing power, but Shai was changing, in more ways than she would like or have control over. It wasn't simply because she had no other option than to hunt and gather resources.

No, there was a cold satisfaction. A thrill. A hunger. It wasn't simply hunger for food, the more powerful she became the more prone to the thrill she was becoming.

The thrill of the battle excited her to an inconceivable extent. And it only grew with every successful hunt.

In the back of her mind, she wasn't ready to leave this dungeon, even though a wrong step could cause her death.

An insane part of her craved for this thrill, like a moth to the flame—to hunt prey stronger and bigger than herself, to feed on their fear, and revel in the exhilaration of the hunt. Shai was well aware that most of these desires stemmed from her snake form.

Snakes were inherently predatory creatures. They are reptiles, even the smallest and weakest among them knew how to stalk their prey, patiently waiting for the opportune moment to strike. Shai had become one of those creatures.

She was genuinely beginning to relish the sensation of hunting, not just to satiate her insatiable hunger, but for the sheer thrill and excitement it brought her. She knew it was concerning and mostly kept it inside of her with her lunacy, but it was getting out of her control with the thrill of every fight.

Maybe this is some side-effect of corruption, Shai thought and shook her head, reeling back in her hole. Or it is the Concept of Hunger.

Or was she in a state of denial?

Shai's certainty wavered as she contemplated the strange reality she found herself in this brand new world. A world full of magical beasts that were intelligent enough to converse telepathically. A world where killing was rewarded...

All this was a completely unprecedented experience, for a girl who stayed sequestered in between walls all her life.

Shai's determination to escape grew stronger. Not just the hole, but the whole dungeon. The encounter with the empathic spider left her with a lingering sense of unease. Unless she grew in cultivation exponentially, she couldn't see herself escaping unscathed if she encountered them again.

The question remained: What course of action should she take? Should she leave the hole or wait to observe how the situation unfolded? Despite being allowed to leave after the interrogation, Shai hated being manipulated by others. Well, the spider didn't seem to have many reasons to lie to her. Even still...

The Empathetic Spider seemed preoccupied with other matters. Considering the corruption infested this dungeon, why wouldn't she be? Unless she was tainted too.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Serenity didn't seem so, but what did a little hatchling like her know?

Would the guardian even spare a thought for a seemingly insignificant, yet intriguing, snake? Regardless, if what the spider said held any truth, Shai was in deep water. If she really was the trigger for driving the spiders into a frenzy...

Beyond the threats, what unsettled Shai the most was the spider's insight into her emotional well-being.

What does she know? Shai questioned with a hint of ridicule. Perhaps the spider had said all that merely to gain an edge over her.

Shai needed to consider her next steps carefully.

For hours on end, Shai meditated within the confines of her hole after the departure of the sassy empathic spider. Her resources lasted her another day, until she finally had to leave the safe confines of Shai's Tunnelling System again.

***

Shai had her tongue out, detecting any vile scent in the air, even though it proved to be unreliable at times. Finally, after detecting nothing ominous, the small, pristine white snake came out of her hole and slithered across the rugged terrain, her movements slow and cautious.

Shai was paranoid, and she had reason to be. All the experiences from her death to the events that led her here only fueled her paranoia to a new height. Yes, she had grown stronger, but the danger grew exponentially along with her as well.

Paranoid, Shai didn't intend to do anything rash. Perhaps there was something ominous hidden in the surrounding area. She would never know.

It turned out, her paranoia wasn't unwarranted. Her tongue detected a musky scent of blood and gore not far away. But then again, this seemed to be a common occurrence here.

Shai became vigilant, her eyes darting everywhere as she moved slowly to finally stumble upon an eight-legged spider's corpse.

An eerie silence held in the air as the towering monster lay dead, its head gruesomely mutilated while the rest of its body remained mostly intact. The ease with which it had been dealt with hinted that its demise came from a formidable foe.

Intrigued, Shai inched closer to the corpse, examining it to search for any residual traces of primal essence. Unfortunately, hours had passed since the spider's demise, leaving no residual energy for Shai to notice.

But what surprised her was how tough its skin was, clearly a grade above the strongest spider she killed. This one could be a D-ranked creature.

Her stomach rumbled on the cue, but she wasn't stupid enough to begin devouring the higher-ranked corpse, leaving her safety in jeopardy. Shai had to knock reason into her head to leave it for later.

After a moment of hesitation, she stored the corpse in her Inventory. She was certainly blessed to have such a boon.

Boon, Shai thought. Doesn't it sound like it is gifted from some other being? Some godly being? Was that you, Grandpa? or was it the Kismet fellow?

Shai knew she wouldn't receive an answer, so she moved on to what was important.

Considering the corrupted creatures that inhabited this place, it seemed unlikely that they would leave any corpse untouched. So, it wasn't them. That brought her back to the empathic spider she encountered earlier. No, it couldn't have been responsible for killing its own kind and abandoning the corpse.

Realising that she only had limited clues and wasn't likely to reach any conclusions, Shai decided not to dwell on the matter further.

Yet in a tragically comedic twist, she stumbled upon a dozen more spider and centipede corpses within just a few minutes as she crept ahead. Obviously, she dutifully looted the remains. Unfortunately, Inventory didn't give her unlimited free space, so reluctantly she had to leave behind a bunch of them...

Hey, Gramps, is there some subscription service to increase the space?

Of course, her important question remained unanswered.

After scrutinising several more corpses, Shai arrived at a conclusion – the perpetrator or perpetrators behind these killings were likely humans. Of course, it could be some rogue empathic spider, she couldn't help but entertain the possibility.

With the level of intelligence, Serenity showed her, it was entirely possible for her to perform this.

However, the cleanliness of these recent killings puzzled her. It seemed far too precise to be done by a creature of chaos. Although the spider has sharp appendages, most of these marks looked like from a blade.

Shai couldn't help but recall the mercenary men she had encountered shortly after hatching. Those skilled individuals of higher rank could easily be the culprits.

She received her confirmation soon enough as she stumbled upon them fighting a horde of tainted creatures.

Oh, boy! Am I a magnet or what?