I was running.

The dog-sized tarantula sounded like it was just behind me, and it wasn't slowing down, either.

As I tore through the claustrophobic rock passages, gasping for my breath, I felt somewhat exasperated. I was pretty sure a solid fifty percent of my time in this hellhole had involved me running for my life in some way, either from demon-crabs, or demon-apes, or demon-people, and now demon-spiders.

It was getting tedious.

That said, I definitely wasn't planning on stopping anytime soon!

The massive Tiletik Hunter was completely silent as it ran behind me, but I could hear each individual claw clicking against the stone ground. It was more than a little terrifying.

As I ran through the rocks, my eyes darted to the corner of my vision, analyzing the status bars.

HP: 7/17

SP: 4/14

MP: 8/13

Okay, I barely have any SP. That's a huge problem. I'm only going to be able to activate sprint for maybe thirty seconds, and then I'll run out. That's nowhere near enough time to properly escape. What should I do!

No, calm down. I have plenty of MP left, the problem is I only know two spells, and neither of them are useful for combat.

Could I somehow use water to make the ground slippy, and the spider would trip?

No, that would-

I heard the familiar noise of a Tiletik tensing up behind me, getting ready to leap.

It was a familiar sound, by this point. After fighting so many of those damn spiders, it was easy to notice the clenching sound their muscles made before they jumped towards me.

When I heard that noise behind me, my mind went blank and I let myself fall to the rocky ground.

The ruby tarantula flew over my head, slamming into a nearby boulder so hard I could see cracks in the rock.

It stared at me, as it clung to the side of the rock ledge.

Yeah, fuck this. I'm not fighting that thing.

....

For the next five minutes, I sprinted down the claustrophobic rock passages, the Tiletik Hunter never more than fifteen feet away.

Once every thirty seconds or so, the massive spider would leap towards me at blinding speeds, but every time, I managed to duck underneath and dash away.

I didn't have time for spare thoughts. The only thing I focused on was pumping my legs as fast as possible, and ignoring the burning pain in my lungs as I frantically breathed.

But I couldn't run forever, not from that spider.

After a short while, my vision started to blur and I began to gasp for breath. I started to stumble frequently, barely managing to catch myself and keep running.

The rock walls pressed in on me, and my cold sweat was the only thing I felt. Blood dripped down my face from numerous close calls with the spider, and I could barely breath. I was stuck in that maze of black stone, the dark smoky sky above me and a demon at my back.

I took a right, through a small gap between two boulders, and threw myself over a waist-high ledge.

I was faced with a massive cliff, towering above me. The walls of the boulders were surrounding me, pressing in on either side. I could hear the Hunter come to a stop behind me. I heard a crunch, and I knew it was going to leap.

My fingers tightened on the blade by my side, and my eyes narrowed.

Time to fight.

I spun, whipping the Cirilka claw around and dodging to the side.

The spider blurred towards me, but I caught it with the sword.

Blood flew through the air and the spider let out a small, high pitched noise. Sounded like I did some damage. Good. I wanted to make that thing suffer.

But as the demon landed behind me, a blinding pain flared up from the side of my head.

Gasping, I reached up and lightly touched the damaged area around my ear. My fingers felt wet flesh, nothing else.

Slowly turning to the Hunter, my eyes widened in shock and pain.

I couldn't feel my ear.

My left ear was gone.

The bastard bit off my ear!

Taking advantage of my surprise, the spider jumped at me again, moving terrifyingly fast.

The mandibles bit a chunk out of my shoulder before it hit the ground behind me.

My breathing started to speed up, but I forced it back down. I needed to be calm. I couldn't lose my head right now, if I messed up, that thing would kill me.

I had to run. I couldn't win against it.

The spider had landed with its back facing the dead-end. That meant the exit was open and I had the option to continue running. My eyes darted to the open passage, and then back to the Hunter.

One foot stepped backwards, and the spider tensed up.

I sprinted down the passage, the Tiletik right behind me.

"Sprint!"

....

The skill had given me a great headstart, as the yellow energy filled my skin and my body blurred through the rocks. I managed to take a sharp turn, breaking line of sight with the pursuing demon, and then booked it down a straight path.

I needed to capitalize on this gap, now that I had used all my SP.

Turning a second corner, I saw a shadowy gap underneath a huge boulder.

I took the chance, and jumped inside the crevice.

I shuffled as deep inside as I could, my eyes peering out of the darkness, and muffled my breathing with my hands. All I could do now was wait and hope that spider didn't see me.

My position was just underneath a stone wall, in a gap between the ground and the boulder above me. My eyes were around the same level as the ground outside. The gap was relatively deep and shadowed, but if something was actively looking around, I would be easily caught.

Forcing my breathing to slow down, my eyes narrowed.

If I moved, it would find me, and kill me.

At that thought, I let my muscles relax and stilled completely. No sound or movements made at all.

.....

Ten seconds later, a red blur shot past my hiding spot, dashing down the rocky passage.

Not moving, my eyes frantically tried to follow the demon, but it moved out of my line of sight. The Tiletik had already run off.

Did it not see me? Should I get out, and run the other way?

No. I can't take that risk. I should stay in the gap, and rest for a while until I felt safe enough to leave.

I shuffled backward into the hollow opening and pushed my back against the rocks. The only sound in the area was the repetitive dripping of my blood.

I winced. It was true that levelling up restored all my HP, but would it also restore lost body parts? I hoped so. It would be bad if I actually lost an ear. I needed my senses at top condition if I wanted to get out of this place alive.

Although, it seemed like I could still hear from that side of my head. The only problem was that I couldn't tell from which direction sounds were coming from.

As I laid there in the dark and the heat, I felt my eyelids drooping.

I tried to pinch myself, and I tried to stay awake, but I couldn't do it.

I had gone through a long day, I deserved sleep, right?

Yeah.

I fell asleep.

....

I couldn't tell how long it had been before I woke up, but it definitely wasn't enough. I was still crazy tired, and in that half-asleep haze I decided to continue resting.

After that point, it felt like I had gotten a few hours in total, waking up every once and again to check my surroundings and make sure I hadn't died yet.

After I woke up for the last time, I felt like it was enough. Luckily, I didn't have any nightmares, probably due to the fact I hadn't slept for very long.

The sad part was that I was still in hell.

I know, I wasn't expecting to just wake up back in my apartment, but a guy can hope, right?

I snickered at that thought.

Peeling myself out of the small crevice, I quickly looked around for that giant spider. Thakfully, it was nowhere to be found. I decided the best thing to do was head back to base.

I started retracing my steps, on the lookout for any danger and planning my next move.

First of all, it would be suicidal to try and attack that Tiletik nest. That much was quite obvious.

The best thing to do would be going back to the cave, get some food and water, and rest for a couple more hours. I knew that my status would slowly recover with time, so all I had to do was wait.

After I was back to full HP and SP, I would go back to scout out the Tiletiks.

Hopefully, I would find some more weak demons to kill.

The one thing I had learned from that terrifying encounter was that I was weak.

That spider was level 7, and I couldn't do anything to it. The damn thing chased me around like a bitch.

I bared my teeth in something between a smile and a grimace.

That Tiletik Hunter. That dog-sized red tarantula.

I was going to kill it.