In the history of bad ideas that I have ever had, this probably took precedent over them all; it wasn’t a smart thing to do, especially as I didn’t exactly know how powerful or resilient this bitch of a giant spider was. But I was a soldier, courage, honor and loyalty, those were the creeds my uncle had raised me with. There was no running from a fight, especially when the lives of my friends were on the line. The passive strike for the gauntlet did its job as I watched a small shock go through the body of the giant spider. It wasn’t so powerful that it left her incapacitated, but it was enough to bring whatever skill she was about to use to an end, as her attention was once again set upon me.

A giant spider leg came for me, and I basically relied on instinct as a string of hardened spider silk/web was shot out of the silver gauntlet, latching underneath the thorax of the Arachne and dragging me upwards. I was shocked, and I’m sure she was too as I felt the need to make a comment that quite frankly didn’t have a time or place in the current battle.

“I’m Spiderman?”

But not exactly though, I hit the underside of the Arachne with a smack, and was unable to find any sort of purchase. Without the spider limbs, there was no way I could scale any sort of uneven surface anymore. So it was no surprise that I found myself falling right back to the ground, being pulled by the unforgiving and infallible strength of Gravity. I twisted, and sent another one of the spider silk flying towards one of the legs of the Arachne, coasting over the ground with barely an inch of separation between me and it.

Being underneath this giant monster was actually giving me cover, based on the way it has reacted so far, there’s no way it can attack me from underneath itself, not unless it wants to sit down on me…. which would be bad, so in the case of needing to escape it would be better to keep close to its giant spindly limbs, it was dangerous and it was having an extreme advantage due to its mobility, I have to bring it down, which means it truly might end up sitting on me after all.

[Blessed Body!]

[Entangle!]

[Wind Blast]

[Lion Strike]

Perhaps it was desperation that led me to use the sequence of skills that I just used, but be that as it may the results shocked me. [Blessed body] gave me a small boost, but the surprise came from [entangle]. The low level skill was already proven to be quite useless in combat since at its low level it really couldn’t hold anyone or anything down, plus it was limited in the sense that it can only be used in place where earth is available for the vines and roots needed for it to appear. However, I never for once took into consideration that it might be synergistic with my Gauntlet, and the [Steel Silk] skill, however the moment I used entangle, the steel silk coming out of my gauntlets seemed to go crazy and haywire, spreading everywhere to properly entangle all of the Arachne’s limbs. I wasn’t strong enough to pull it to the ground, but one forward movement will send a chain reaction that would bring it to the ground, and it didn’t matter if the silk steel snapped, it wasn’t super strong at the moment, but it should have enough tensile strength to slow the damn thing down.

But skills synergizing was good and all, but the massive Green Lion made of wind around my fist spooked me enough that I almost missed my target. Wind Blast and Lion Strike had synergized, both skills combining to create something…. Else. It caught me off guard, because none of my skills acted this way before. I could use them in tandem and have them strengthen each other, but not completely combining like this. But be that as it may I no longer had any time to think about it, I was already at my target.

*Swooooosh Roar! *

*Craaaaack! *

Of all the things I expected to happen, it was not for the limb of the Arachne to crack so hard, that it crumbled under the weight the giant spider had placed on it. She dipped to the side a bit, and that was the catalyst required for her to stumble and get completely off balance. On the other hand, I felt an intense wave of weakness come over me after the strike, I had used half of my maximum mana in that strike, and it came out of me in such a wave that I felt drained.

I crashed to the ground on a small patch of grass on close to the tree line where the other had ran through. I noticed a temple of sorts carved out of massive hill right in the middle of the island. It would take me a while to get there, and a part of the forest surrounding the temple was on fire with dark purplish flames that were probably left of the Arachne’s beam attack, I should be able to catch up with the others if

*Arrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! *

I felt my ears pop and my heart explode within my chest as my mana went haywire and blasted out of my body with a vengeance. I had made it to the tree line when my entire body exploded, my soul not strong enough to withstand the power of the Arachne’s [Soul Shriek] skill. It was weird, but dying this time was instant, quick, and almost painless, but that’s it, it was almost painless. What really made this death fucked up was the feeling’ of my soul getting blown up from inside me. wherever the fuck it is. I felt as if someone had taken sand and was rubbing my insides with it, like a thousand centipede were crawling within my body, and going deep, to a place I knew I had but couldn’t reach, like having an itch you couldn’t scratch on your insides. But the feeling lasted for a moment, but this was my soul…. A moment was like a lifetime.

[You have Gained the Passive Skill Soul Series: Aegis Mentis]

[Soul Series: Aegis Mentis: Automatically covers and defends the soul and Mind from soul and mind based attacks, at a higher level it will become capable of reflecting a small amount of the attack’s damage back, and at a higher level it would reflect all soul and mental attacks.]

[Blessed Body has leveled up to 2! +5 to Magic, +2 to Physique, +2 to Movement]

[Entangle Has leveled Up to 2! +5 to Magic]

[Wind Blast Has leveled up to 7! +4 to Movement, +6 to Magic]

[Lion Strike Has Leveled up 7! +7 to Physique, +14 to Movement]

3….

2….

1….

I woke up with a gasp, I couldn’t help myself but shiver as a loud crash was heard in the background, the Arachne brood mother had fallen over. It was a few precious seconds to get the fuck out of here but…. I couldn’t move. Not because I couldn’t but because…. I died again. When Jesus was telling me about this miracle he never told me about this part…. The horror and the chill that comes after you resurrect. At first it’s like I don’t know what sort of emotions to have, like I’m supposed to feel scared or horrified, but I can’t find it or feel it, and it’s absolutely horrifying. It’s like every time I die I lose something, I don’t know what it is, but these three times of dying has left me feeling pretty empty…. maybe that’s why I’m crying like this…. I must have lost something very important.

I felt a hand roughly grab me and drag me into the forest line, the giant spider forgotten behind us as I looked up to see Kaixuan dragging me as we ran through the forest. I’m completely naked but at the moment I don’t think I really cared about it, I was as empty as the day I was born…. Jesus help me…. I feel Hollow.