The falling figure’s gleaming red eyes glared at him with unbridled malice. It opened its mouth to reveal sharp venomous fangs and made a keen hissing noise as it fell towards him.

Dario was completely blindsided and was barely able to raise his right forearm on instinct. It was only a half second later that he realized his shield was on his other arm.

The large arachnid latched on and immediately tried maneuvering around, ignoring his arm in favor of his more vulnerable face. From up close, he could see its gaping maw dripping with some sort of foul smelling substance.

In a panic, Dario quickly reacted by dropping down low while trying to shake it off his arm. As he crouched, he raised his shield in the small space between the beast and his face in a desperate attempt to stop its path. It was just in time as he heard a dull clang resonate from the impact of the spider’s teeth against metal.

Shocked and infuriated by the sudden close brush with death, he swiftly retaliated. With a furious roar, he put all his strength into bashing the grotesque creature off his arm and as far away from him as possible.

It shrieked as it was flung away from him a short distance away. Dario thought he had landed a decent hit, but his hope was dashed when it righted itself midair and landed on all of its eight legs, completely intact. However, it seemed to be more cautious of him as it completely stopped moving and simply stared at him from the eight meter distance between them.

The two foes spared a moment to quickly assess each other during the short lull. With his heart pumping what felt like a thousand beats per second and all the adrenaline pumping through his system, Dario had never felt more focused.

These moments were the difference between life and death.

Upon closer inspection, Dario noted how it seemed to favor one of its front legs over the other, so perhaps he had done some damage. Despite that useful piece of information, he maintained his vigilance as it still seemed intent on killing him. Standing at just under two feet tall, with fangs the size of his palm, he knew that it was fully capable of going through with its threat.

It was strange, however, as it stayed completely still, almost like a statue. From the manner in which it attacked him, he would have thought that it was an ambush predator, but he was beginning to think otherwise. If that was the case, shouldn’t it have run away as soon as it failed its initial surprise attack?

He had been ambushed before by street rats and upon failing they would either immediately run away or fully commit. However, the arachnid in front of him did neither, and it bothered him greatly. The damn thing moved much faster than any normal human, so why did it hesitate?

The tense silence was broken when the creature started tapping the ground with its front legs. This continued for several seconds, and Dario began to suspect that it was planning a surprise lunge. In response, he flexed his entire body and bent low, ready to move out of the way and counter at a moment’s notice.

He was increasingly baffled when it raised its frontal legs and seemed to… wave at him? It moved its appendages in some kind of strange pattern that he had never seen before on an animal. Was it somehow trying to communicate with him?

Dario could put no further thought into the strange action as it stopped waving and began circling around him.

He moved along with the intimidatingly hairy creature as he wanted to keep it in his line of sight at all times. This was his first encounter with a monster in the Wildlands and he wanted to do it right. After all, how sad would it be if he died on his first monster fight, and to a dancing spider at that?

Eventually, the eight-legged, red-eyed menace stopped a short distance away from where it started. Just like before, it continued tapping the ground in some kind of strange pattern. However, this time it seemed to do it at a much more frantic pace.

Dario stared at the smaller creature in complete bewilderment. This wasn’t turning out at all like how he expected his first outing to go. How was he supposed to react to a dancing ambush predator? First of all, why would an ambush predator even stick around to do nothing but stare at its prey? The only possible reason he could think of was if…

Dario’s eyes widened as he quickly turned around with his shield raised. He was just in time to block the fierce lunges of two more monster arachnids that somehow snuck up on him. Their hissing cries of frustrated rage echoed through his ears as he scrambled to fight them off his shield. He ignored the sounds of their clash in favor of prioritizing the soft crunching of leaves and branches behind him.

He abandoned his shield to the two arachnids and jumped to the side just as the original spider sliced through the space he stood in a second earlier. The airborne creature collided with its brethren and flew off to the side, slamming against a nearby tree.

Dario took the moment of reprieve to look around him in search of options. He had no choice but to fight as he couldn’t outrun the speedy fuckers, and definitely couldn’t hide up in some trees. Fortunately, there was a large rock nearby and he didn’t hesitate in running over to pry it from the ground.

He was able to lift it into his arms at about the same time the three gangly spiders spotted him. They immediately took the initiative and pounced on him just as Dario raised the stone above his head.

“Come and get it, assholes!” he yelled as he hurled the heavy rock towards them.

Two of the arachnids were able to dodge out of the way, but the third was far less agile and was promptly crushed in a spray of dark ichor and foul smelling blood. Its compatriots wasted no time in mourning their lost brethren and continued rushing towards him. At the last second, they both jumped in the air with fangs bared.

This time, Dario was prepared and instantly charged the spider to his left. He raised both arms above his head and swung down with the force of a sledgehammer, confident that his armor would protect him.

Incapable of dodging mid flight, the spider crumpled in the air and slammed against his legs before falling limp on the ground. The third spider flew past him with an irritated hiss.

With two of his assailants down, he quickly went to retrieve his fallen shield. He picked it up just as he heard the loud rustling of approaching feet from behind. With focused precision and speed, Dario whirled around and sliced the charging spider in two with a swift downward slash of his shield.

Groaning in disgust, he stood up and tried to wipe off the lingering bloodstains on his armor. In the corner of his eye, he noticed the still twitching form of the spider he’d bashed mid flight. He walked over to it and looked down with an expression of contentment.

“I fucking hate spiders,” he muttered, hands shaking. “It’s nothing against you man. You weren’t really given the choice of being born this way, so I feel you. You just gotta make do with what you got and live life to the fullest.”

He looked skyward and began to laugh uncontrollably. Adrenaline highs and lows always made him feel wonky, making him ramble nonsensically. After a few minutes of calming down, he lowered himself and sat crossed legged next to the twitching spider. He looked at it with an almost friendly expression.

“You couldn’t help yourself in trying to eat me, and I understand that — respect it even. I couldn’t stop myself in trying to kill you back, so all’s fair I’d say.” He raised the edge of his shield above the dying arachnid. “We both did our parts in this world and did it well, I think. I wish you better circumstances in your next life,” he said as he slammed down with the sharp-edged metal.

With a whimpering hiss, the spider moved no more.

Despite the lingering stench of spilled blood, Dario took in a deep breath and sighed in satisfaction. After all was said and done, he pressed a finger against his Status Band to check on his progress. Immediately, three symbols lit up and showed his stats.

Two of his power classes stayed the same but his Physique increased by 0.1 and was now at 3.4. He was ecstatic, of course, as it showed that he was making headway, and he had only just started. However, he wondered why only his Physique increased, and not the other stats. Was it because the spiders were only abundant in World Energy of the Physique type and not Defender or Assimilator like him?

He glanced at the corpse in front of him and guessed that it was probably the case. During their brief exchange, he had noted how the spiders were neither sturdy nor capable of assimilation like him, at least as far as he was aware of. On the other hand, they were much more physically enhanced compared to regular spiders, so it stood to reason that they mainly gave out Physique levels. In that case, what manner of creature would he have to slay in order to improve his Assimilator stat?

Food for thought.

Dario stood up from his seated position next to the dead spider and began to stretch. “The day’s far from over, and I still have plenty of hunting to do.” He looked down at the corpse by his feet and smiled fondly. “It was a short bout between us spidey, but it was fun. I won’t forget my first time with you guys.” He nodded in deference to his fallen foe and turned to walk away. However, he paused mid step and turned back to give the corpse a kick. “Spiders still suck though,” he muttered.

Having satisfied his sudden impulse, he went off to continue hunting.

For about two more hours, he searched throughout the forest looking for more prey to kill. He encountered a couple more spiders — which he quickly dispatched now that he knew how they behaved — and a few different forms of enhanced common creatures. During his hunt, he killed six giant centipedes the size of his leg, four rats the size of cats, and four cockroaches the size of his foot.

Overall, the trip was rewarding, if not a little disappointing. While the spiders were a surprise, it wasn’t anything truly threatening to him. He had expected groups of goblins or harpies for his first foray into the Wildlands, but was instead met with slightly larger creepy crawlies.

Perhaps it was due to the close proximity of the city as he hadn’t travelled too far off. He didn’t complain too much though as any normal person would have been eaten alive in his place. No mundane human would have been able to react and move fast enough to handle the giant arachnids, for example.

He once more glanced at his stats to look for any changes after all his hunting.

His Physique was now up to 3.8 and Defender up to 4.2. Unfortunately, Assimilator was still stuck at 3.9, which was a bummer considering how it was the sole focus of the trip. He really wanted to get it to a solid 4 before he headed back. He had a strong feeling that something good would happen once he broke that barrier.

It was still afternoon with the sun high in the sky, so why not go deeper? That philosophy never failed him before. He had originally only planned to stay out for two hours at most, but it was going pretty well and another few minutes wouldn’t hurt.

With a pep in his step he progressed further into the green depths. He walked for about half an hour, occasionally killing the stray creepy crawler. Eventually, he stumbled upon what he considered a jackpot, and he whooped out in joy.

Moving slowly across the ground in front of him was a watermelon-sized lump of gelatinous green liquid. Inside its translucent interior was a small red spherical stone. Dario guessed it to be the core of the slime he was ogling.

From the stories he was told during childhood, all one had to do to kill a slime was to take out its core or severely damage its body to the point of no recovery. The most important thing he recalled from those stories revolved around how a slime lived its life. More specifically, the details of how it ate.

To put it simply, slimes absorbed everything, and what screamed Assimilator more than that?

Fortunately, the slime didn’t seem to have noticed him so he quietly picked up a large stone nearby and stealthily approached from behind a tree. After waiting a few seconds for the slime to get closer, he promptly popped out and swung the makeshift weapon down.

The slime was quick to react and moved with a speed that belied its slow appearance. The ambush was too sudden, however, and the slime was clipped on its side, partially damaging the integrity of its body. The slime almost seemed to scream in pain as it trembled and wobbled on the ground. Nonetheless, it was still alert and continued holding the will to survive. Before Dario could react, it speedily scuttled across the ground, away from him and the goo-covered stone.

He gave chase, unwilling to lose his only chance of evolving, even utilising some of his Assimilator Energy to catch up. However, the slime held advantage in terrain as the forest floors were covered in loose rocks and the occasional vines or plant life. Dario had to maneuver around trees and jump over dense bushes in order to maintain sight of the slime.

Just as he was about to catch up to the little bugger, they both reached a short downward slope with a cave situated near the bottom. Misjudging his speed and unable to slow down in time, he ended up sliding down in a haphazard manner. He eventually came to a stop at the bottom and watched in despair as the slime continued past the cave, going deeper into the Wildlands.

Dario slumped on the ground and stared up at the sky, groaning in discomfort. “Damn it... That could have gone better,” he mumbled. “But hey, I’m still alive at least.” He chuckled humorlessly.

Just then, loud footsteps started emanating from the cave. Startled, Dario turned his head in time to see a massive humanoid figure step out from the shadows.