The monstrous spider tried to dig through the stony earth and get to him, but it failed. It even tried to shove one of its legs through the hole, but Shan fired a couple of condensed spikes with poison embedded in them to make it think twice before trying that again.

Still, the spider was at it for about a quarter of an hour. Getting nothing, it finally seemed to get demotivated and left. Well, if only the stupid spider knew how to infuse Spirit energy to get what it wanted, then digging the stony earth wouldn’t be anything serious in particular. It could’ve done it in a couple of minutes. Luckily for him, these spiders were stupid as fuck.

Shan was just letting out a breath of relief when he found out how wrong he was about his assumption about the empathic spiders.

Abruptly, a chill ran through his long spine as a shrill squeak rang in his mind, rattling him inside out. A mental attack.

Shan gritted his teeth and built up an imaginary wall with his mental fortitude. God damn it, if he knew it before, he would’ve practised mental defence skills before engaging with the spiders, though little good that would do with the little time he had.

The shrill mental attack reached another level as cracks started to appear on his imaginary wall. Shan reinforced his mental defence with willpower, but against the relentless pursuit of the Empathic spider, he barely held anything. Shan knew if this went on further, he won’t be able to keep himself sane. He needed to dig through the other way and escape.

Get out of my fucking head, you eight-legged pest. He screamed, rising to dig through the stony earth.

Weirdly, after he swore at the spider, the mental attack was reduced by a lot. Some weird form of shrill came again, but Shan was in no mood to ponder on that. Getting a chance, he built up the wall, stronger than before. While also, he infused spirit energy into his head to dig the stony earth.

The mental shrill came again, but this time it was more intense. It penetrated through the wall as if shredding through scrap paper. However, it didn’t assault Shan as he had hoped it would. Instead, it created a telepathic link between the two of them? Weird.

“What . . . Are . . . You?” a high-pitched voice resounded in his head at Shan's bafflement.

He stopped digging. Should he build up the wall again? But if that thing destroyed it so easily, it would be futile to do it. And from the way it talked to him, it seemed, it only destroyed the wall just to transfer its telepathic voice to him.

“Can you comprehend my words?” the voice asked again. More coherent than before.

Well, it didn’t hurt to try; he thought. He put his mind to the output link the Empathic Spider created. “I can,” he transferred.

“Answer my question,” the high-pitched voice transferred again, “what are you?”

“Shan, a perfectly sophisticated, intelligent being,” Shan answered, sounding a bit cocky. “Anyway, I should be the one asking that question: What are you?”

“A Guardian of the Gate,” the spider answered.

“So you’re a watchman,” Shan mused. “What are you guarding?”

The spider ignored his question. “What are your intentions for coming here?”

“I ain’t answering if you don’t answer my question,” Shan said.

“What are your intentions for coming here?” The empathic spider repeated its question, and this time, there was an edge to its voice. Probably it wouldn’t stay polite if he didn’t answer the question.

Shan sighed, calming his mind. “No reason in particular,” he said. “A bird chased me here.”

“You’re not here to trespass the Gate?”

“What’s inside the gate?” Shan asked, curious. He had no clue what kind of gate this spider was talking about, but since it said it was a Guardian of the Gate, it was taking its job seriously.

The Guardian of the Gate ignored his question again. “Why have you infuriated my clansmen?” it continued on with the interrogation.

“Infuriated?” Shan gave a metal exasperation of snorting. “Are you kidding me? They are the ones that want to eat me. They came at me relentlessly, trying to claim my poor life that I haven’t lived for long, and you’re saying I infuriated them.”

“Something’s wrong with you,” the voice said. “I can feel it through the empathic link. You’re a danger to yourself and my clan. It would be better if you leave this cavern as soon as possible.”

“Alright, I had it,” Shan said, letting out a breath. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on with your Empathic Spider kind? Why did they become so excited to eat me as if they had eaten nothing for months?”

For several seconds, there was no reply. “You must know one thing about us, Empathic Spider clan,” the spider transferred, hesitantly. “As much as we live on air, water, and food, other’s emotions are like delicacies to us. Where your appearance seems like a peculiar play of fate for both sides. Even I, who awakened the Spark of Empathy and could control it properly, feel an urge to capture you, and keep you to myself.”

Shan felt a chill in his long spine. So that makes them empathic, I guess. Still, he had no clue what this spider was talking about. He kept all his emotions to himself.

The spider continued. “There’s a dangerous, intoxicating vibe in your emotions, too much negative emotion in them, too much frustration, anger, rage, helplessness, and that Hunger.” The spider sent the sound of swallowing through the link; intentionally or unintentionally--Shan wasn't sure, but it sure gave him goosebumps even though he had no hair.

“You’re hurt with something deep and you haven’t made peace with it. On top of that, there’s something else that makes it even harder for me to control myself. Is it that chaotic Hunger, I’m feeling the moment we started conversing? How about you come out so that I can check it properly?”

Shan gave no reply and started digging again. The conversation wasn’t going anywhere he wanted it to go. And there was no question about getting out. He would dig through the other way than to come out of the hole any time soon.

“Shan was it?” the spider said in a tone that seemed too intelligent for its own good. “A perfectly sophisticated, intelligent being. You might be all that, but you’re more. How about--”

The spider stopped midway. Shan’s mind chilled. Did it find out I was escaping? Shan wasn’t sure, but that sudden silence made him work even harder on the digging. He pushed forth more energy and drilled with his head.

“Looks like you’re not the only one who trespasses into our clan,” the spider transferred. Shan could feel it straying away as the voice became softer. “I would’ve liked to capture you for a certain reason, but my rational mind is telling me it will be a terrible decision to do that, especially to the male kind of my clan. Your emotions are affecting me, which tells me I need more training. I cannot be swayed by irrational thoughts. So consider this as an opportunity to leave, if you can, but I have a feeling we’ll meet again. Perhaps the circumstances will be better at that time.”

Then the empathic link broke and Shan remained baffled in his hole. Did it really leave? No, considering how intelligent it was, calling it, an ‘It’ was wrong. It was a 'she', considering she specifically mentioned taking him would be a terrible choice for the male kind of the spider clan.

Could it be that the male Empathic Spiders were sloppy at controlling their empathic nature and all those he killed so far were male kind?

Shan wasn’t so sure about anything anymore. He just talked with a spider telepathically, and that too with the spider’s help. And that spider was only Iron ranked. This world is weird, he mused.

Now the question was: what should he do now? Leave the cavern or wait to find out how the situation played out. Even though this one let him go after some interrogation, Shan hates to play in someone else’s hand. Well, she did mention other trespassers. Perhaps those mercenary men and the ones they were after.

Half a dozen silver rankers, he said inwardly. Will the guardian have time to think about him, a puny, yet dashing snake?

Whatever they do wouldn't matter if what she mentioned a minute ago was true. If he was the one that really made the spiders crazy . . .

Shan needs to think this through properly and also, he needs to dig more holes. He had gotten quite deep into the cavern. Even getting out would be dangerous.

Other than the threats, what rattled Shan was how the spider pointed out he was not emotionally alright.

What the hell does she know? He questioned. Perhaps she said all that to get to him.

Did she succeed?