There was one issue, though. There were a fair amount of spiders between me and my target.

I knew that their vision was utter garbage. I was going to exploit that to the fullest.

My intention was to go for the large creature first. I had the feeling I may need all of my venom in order to kill it. As such, I couldn’t waste anything on these lesser spiders.

I decided to circle around the nest and scale the wall. I skittered towards my quarry from above. I could tell it had not noticed me as it showed no reaction.

I took as big a detour as I needed to end up above the spider where I would hopefully be out of its vision. Its body was now below me as I was far above it on the wall.

I observed the creature with my excellent vision. Even in this darkness, I could make out all of its features. It was a large black spider with the same features as the smaller ones that I had killed so far. There was no doubt this was the same species. I was certain this was their, and that also means my, mother.

The thought was disturbing. I would never view this creature as my mother.

My mother was waiting for me...

Somewhere…

Hopefully…

I shook off the thought as I refocused on the creature before me.

I got as close as I dared so I would not miss my jump. I then took the leap of faith…

...And landed on the creature’s bulbous abdomen. I hooked myself to its exoskeleton with my legs and palps as soon as I found my footing. Not a moment too soon, either as it started shaking its abdomen to shrug me off. It also raised its legs, but as I had expected, they could not reach me.

I found its carapace to be quite a bit tougher than anything I’d encountered so far. It was giving me some issues as I tried to hold on. At the same time, I was trying to sink my fangs into the creature, but failed.

I resorted to trying to tear away at the carapace with my teeth first. If I could make an opening, I would be able to inject my venom.

It took quite some time and a great deal of effort until I had created the wound that I would need. The spider had never stopped moving, but I had not failed to hold on. If anything, the creature seemed to get tired.

I placed my fangs around the wound and brought them inward, sinking the ends in the exposed spider’s armor before injecting my supposedly stronger venom. I tried to conserve as much as I could by injecting bit after bit and seeing if it would be enough to kill the spider below me. I was confident I’d be able to hold on to this creature as long as was necessary, especially if my venom started draining the arachnid’s strength.

I could feel it begin to slow down and injected slightly more venom before waiting and seeing what would happen.

The creature’s legs gave out as it tried to move them in a desperate struggle. I saw them curl up and knew the spider’s struggles had come to an end.

You have killed a Large Black Cave Spider: EXP+55

Level Up!

Kealyna has reached level 2!

You have been awarded 3 EP.

Level Up!

Kealyna has reached level 3!

You have been awarded 2 EP.

Achievement Earned: Matricide.

Killed the creature that brought you into this world.

You have been awarded 2 EP

Hidden requirements for future evolution complete.

Huh? That last message was interesting. It seemed I got a fair amount of experience from that too. I also have more than enough Evolution points for that leg enhancement.

However, I was not in the best position to do such a thing right now, in this spider nest.

I climbed back up on the wall and rested a bit to recover my stamina from the fight. I decided that while I was here, I would just kill as many of these spiders as I could before making my way back to my newfound hideout to check what exactly this last message meant.

After resting for a while, I got back in the action and started by picking off a stray spider. I jumped right on top of it from behind and pinned it down with my superior leg strength before injecting my venom, a lower dose than before as I knew it should be more effective.

The creature died within seconds.

You have killed a Tiny Black Cave Spider: EXP+8

I soon found another spider approaching me and jumped on top of it, delivering the same dose of venom.

You have killed a Tiny Black Cave Spider: EXP+7

Were my eyes deceiving me?

I skittered forward a bit before jumping on another spider from afar. It too, was killed off easily.

You have killed a Tiny Black Cave Spider: EXP+8

That did it.

I walked back to the wall and climbed up to it.

Hey Elysa, what’s up with my experience gain?

Your experience rate is lowered for creatures that are considered too easy for you to kill.

Well, damn. So much for my quick power gains.

No matter, these creatures were easy to kill. Even if I would get experience at a slower rate, I would make up for it by simply killing more. The level of danger was low, and I would be able to get rid of them quickly.

And there were plenty of spiders to kill…

I went around and killed the spiders that had hatched and were skittering about. I left the eggs as I felt the creatures within would not give me any experience. This way, I could come back later and kill more spiders after they had hatched.

I could still get a decent amount of work done this way.

I killed spider after spider without any issues. One time, I did have one of the spiders walk up to my behind without me noticing. As soon as I felt its fangs, I had jumped away.

As far as I knew, no damage was done to my internals, but it did teach me to stay alert and go about this methodically.

I ran out of venom at some point, but still went about killing spiders by severing their abdomen from their head with my fangs, teeth, and legs.

After I got tired, I decided to call it a day and make my way over to my hideout.

I ran into a slug on my way which I killed without using my venom. I then ate as much of it as I could. It tasted somewhat like chicken I guess. I was blessed to have run into it.

Soon after filling my stomach, I reached my hiding spot. I attempted to close the entrance with my webs, but found out they had gotten quite thin and flimsy. I needed a lot more layers of silk and far more time to cover the opening properly.

It was a tiring affair for an already tired body.

By the time I finished, I was completely exhausted and decided to get some sleep first before choosing my enhancements.

I laid myself to rest and found myself fall asleep quite quickly.

____________________________________________________________________________

My vision came back to me and I felt reinvigorated. A good night’s rest was truly wonderful. I felt like jumping back into action right away.

But first.

Elysa?

Name: Kealyna

Race: Small Brown Jumping Spider

Level: 6/10

Experience: 10/70

Evolution Points: 16

Currently Available Enhancements

Enhancement

Cost in EP

Very Weak Magic Resistance

5

Jaws and Teeth

5

Leg and Pedipalp Strengthening

5

I liked how this blessing knew what I wanted to know. Though, I guess, Elysa did say it was part of my soul now…

Let’s go with the leg and pedipalp strengthening for now. I feel like I don’t quite need the other two yet.

Immediately after confirming it, I could feel strength being drained from my core and sent into my spidery limbs. Instead of pain, the feeling I felt wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

If anything, I felt even more empowered than before.

I removed the webs that separated me from the cave and noticed that the sun had just come up in the forest; there were only a few rays of light entering the cave.

I could probably venture into the forest a bit, soon.

I pushed the thought away as I started making my way to the nest, or rather, what remained of it. I had done quite a number on the spiders that hatched there.

Before I reached my destination, however, I ran into a centipede. I could see it crawling in the distance and could observe its weaponry properly now. It didn’t have giant mandibles or anything like that, but it did seem to possess something that looked like small fangs under its head.

I observed it for a while before I decided I would take it out. Jumping on its head would be the safest way for me to overpower it.

I waited until it stopped moving, and slowly crept closer until I was in range. I then jumped and landed on top of its head, pinned it down with ease thanks to my increased strength, and sank my fangs into its sides.

Its entire body wiggled from left to right, but it soon stopped moving.

You have killed a Cave Centipede: EXP+21

I was disgusted at the creature when I looked at it. Despite that, a strange thought entered my mind.

I wonder what centipede tastes like?