How lucky am I, huh? I’m searching for a plant-like monster, but ended up finding a completely different monster!

“What are the chances, huh? Doesn’t make any sense! Also, it looks more like a crab than a spider.”

Yep! I’ve found the Taracs Spider!

First of all, it had only 4 legs, instead of the usual 8. It had a giant black crystal on its front, right above its mouth. Could be its eye. Who knows. Right above the crystal, was 2 pairs of eyes. And after all that, there were two other legs on the front part, but they weren’t only legs. In it’s tips, were scythe-like blades.

The size of the spider was a bit bigger than the Tiger I saw the other day. The tiger was the size of a Rhino, but very bulky, with lots of muscle mass. This spider on the other hand, was the size of an elephant! The giant scythes were purple, and the carapace/skin or whatever, was green.

“What to do? It’s not like I can defeat it right now can I?”

- STATUS -

Name: Taraqia Species: Tyrant Taracs Age: 89 Y.O. Occupation: The Loser Tyrant LVL: 87 / 120 SP: 7’500 HP: 21’427 / 25’100

{+1000} MP: 5’000 / 5’000

{+600} STR: 16’700

{+300} INT: 750

{+200} CON: 19’400

{+2000} AGI: 15’900

{+1000} DEX: 9’400

{+900} LUK: 650

CLASSES

• Arachnid (Lvl -) • Taracs (Lvl M) • Green Taracs (Lvl M) • Tyrant Taracs (Lvl -) • Poison Taracs (Lvl 8) •

SKILLS

• Web User (Lvl -) • Web Weaver (Lvl -) • Web Manipulation (Lvl 8) • Steel Web (Lvl 5) • Heavy Web (Lvl 1) • Sticky Web (Lvl 9) • Stronger Core (Lvl -) • Exposed Core (Lvl -) • Venomous Fangs (Lvl 8) • Venom Web (Lvl 2) • Scythe Legs (Lvl -) • Venomous Scythe (Lvl M) • Multiple Eyes (Lvl -) • Seismic Sense (Lvl 5) • Strong Fangs (Lvl 9) • Regeneration (Lvl 8) • Supernatural Vitality (Lvl 1) • Enhanced Pool (Lvl 6) • Enhanced Strength (Lvl 3) • Supernatural Body (Lvl 2) • Enhanced Instincts (Lvl 9) • Enhanced Intelligence (Lvl 2) • Supernatural Mobility (Lvl 1) • Poison Magic (Lvl M) • Mana Manipulation (Lvl 6) • Egg Laying (Lvl M) • Leadership (Lvl 5) • Acid Spit (Lvl 8) • Venom Immunity (Lvl -) • Shedding (Unique) •

TITLES

• Apex Taracs • Stupid Evolution • Klutz • Venom Pro • Divine Web Weaver • Brood-Mother •

STATUS CONDITION

Rotting

Looking at the monster’s status, I would say this thing’s very strong, although her core is in plain sight. Which is kinda easy to hit, since the size is, well, big enough. The core is there, like saying: Hit ME! It wasn’t wrong in calling this spider Klutz and having the Stupid Evolution titles.

Should I fight it? That kept spinning in my mind. It would be easy to defeat it, but the Rotting Status condition was what intrigued me. It found that plant monster, maybe? Hm? Hearing a rustling sound of the bushes, I see a small spider. Great!

Shaaa!

“Of course.” I ducked.

Crash!

With the small spider -screaming, screeching, whatever- her little mother, the Taracs spider uses its front scythe-like legs, sweeping and cutting all of the trees in its path.

“AW, SHIT!”

It wasn’t only one time, but it kept sweeping over and over again. What is happening? It’s HP is decreasing at a fast pace! How does Rotting work, anyway? Using my {Scanner Vision}, I take a quick look at the Rotting condition.

► Status Condition - Rotting ◄

Affected by the Necrotic Alraune.

The Necrotic venom will kill all living cells upon contact. The more the living being affected moves, the quicker it’s death will come.

“So it’s like that!”

Avoiding another swoop, I turned around and tried to shoot the exposed core, but as the bolts were approaching the core, the small spiders simply jumped and sacrificed themselves. Although they thought of making the ultimate sacrifice, it didn’t work, and the bolts were able to reach the core.

Kisaaaa!

“You get the point?!”

Joking with the spider, she started to trash around, destroying the trees and even the small spiders. My XP! I wanted to kill them for the small XP amount, but whatever.

Ducking and tumbling around, I waited for the spider to stop. Damn! All that’s missing is for the Alraune to appear! Guess who appeared? For fuck’s sake!

“Me and my big mouth.”

Shaaaaaa!

I cursed in my mind when the Alraune appeared. The Alraune had a giant blackish purple flower in it’s head, with a dress made out of leaves around her body. Since she was so focused on the spider, I appraised her without any second wasted.

► Necrotic Alraune ◄

A Mutated Monster created by a fool that thought burying a necrotic venom sack was a good idea. Beyond the necrotic venom, it also has Water, Earth, and Plant Magic. It also possesses the Charm skill, so having a high resistance is advised.

“Yeah, I felt that!”

That was unnecessary, but whatever. The Alraune ignored me, using countless vine whips striking the spider’s core, and it’s body. When I checked the Alraune status, she wasn’t very strong, but if she killed the giant spider, well, let’s just say things would get a lot more difficult.

“Oh no, you don’t!”

The Alraune hit four times, while all of the other whips were destroyed by the spider. I kept shooting the bolts even more. C’mon! It’s almost there! The Alraune HP was the biggest I’ve found so far. Even bigger than the Tiger from the other day. 78 000! What are you, a Tank?! Oh yeah, she does have the class.

She had the Tank class at Lvl M, and even had the Mage class. What is interesting about this world is that you can be a Mage and a Warrior, or Mage and a Swordsman. And you can even have a rare class, because they can fuse! Maybe one of my classes will too?

While I was avoiding the sweeps and whips of these two monsters, I kept trying to shoot the spider’s core. And I succeeded in doing it! But the spider got only 5 HP left, and the Alraune whip killed the spider! Y’know that feeling when you’re about to kill the enemy/boss, and then your team member comes, and does the last hit? Yeah... I felt exactly like that.

“Aw, fuck.”

Shaaaaa!

And with the Alraune scream, roots shot up, and a cocoon formed around her. The vines, noticing some kind of invader or a source of XP, instantly targeted me.

“Great! I'm so happy now!”

I put my crossbow on my back, and pulled the saber, cutting the vines over and over. Damn, I shouldn’t have played around! Afraid of what could happen now, I used the [Stealth] skill to escape the Alraune. Or else I would be her food soon.

As soon as I escaped the Alraune, I… got lost in the forest.

“This is giving me a headache.”

I kept walking, more and more. And just like the first time I entered the forest, everything around me changed, becoming eerie out of a sudden again.

“No. That tiger again!”

After seeing the giant tiger before, it became a trauma. I know that my Luck isn’t big enough, but this is too much! But soon, I calmed down. Why? Because I noticed that shadows on the forest were showing me a direction.

The shadows of the trees took me further or out of the forest, I didn’t have a way to know. Walking more, I’ve found some monsters. Just glancing at them, I noticed they weren’t the same thing as the others I killed up till now.

There was a Black porcupine with red needles, a white lizard with a blue tongue, a strange monster, with 10 small legs, eating some of the leaves, and lastly, and most scary, a horse. But why was the horse so scary?

“What the hell is that?! A horse, in two legs, and it’s other two legs are like small arms. Really, what is that?!”

The monsters had the appearance of a horse, but if I could classify the thing, it would be more like a… Raptor. Imagine a raptor, the dinosaur. Now think of it with a horse appearance. The thing was huge though, I think more than two meters? And of course, they were in a pack.

“There’s exactly 4 of them. Funny, the monsters are very close to each other, but they don’t attack one another.”

Curious as to why, I activated {Scanner Vision}, and found out. These four monsters had one skill in common: [Symbiosis]. When I focused more, it was a nice discovery.

► Symbiotic Relationship ◄

These four monsters correlate with each other.

The Carnorse eats the monsters that attack the Basilisk Chameleon. The Basilisk Chameleon, eats the plant monsters that attack the Rose Porcupine. The Rose Porcupine eats the wasps that attack the Blue Tongue Salamander. And the Blue Tongue Salamander eats the ants on the Carnorse.

“That is… Surprising. Since they help each other, the others don’t attack, huh? Intriguing. Aw, shit.”

Just as I was thinking about the monster's relationship, the Carnorses, probably a mix of a Carnotaurus name, and horse, sniffled the air, and looked to the tree I was behind. Of course my Luck would ruin everything.

They wasted no time, hastily running at the tree. Seeing that, I pulled my crossbow from my back, and pointed at them.

Shiaaa!

“Can’t you make varied noises?!”

I held the trigger, and the bolts pierced the two first Carnorse, but the other two, noticing that, used their comrades' bodies as shields. Are you freaking kidding me?! Not only that, but my bolts were over, and I needed to reload.

“Fuck!”

I started to run at the two Carnorse, and slid on the ground, since they jumped, and I avoided their sharp claws. With that, I put my crossbow at my back again, and pulled my saber.

“Let’s do this!”

They landed, and turned back towards me, and once again, rushed at me. They were much smarter than any monster I faced. Goblins had only 5 of INT. The Tiger had a nice amount, 2’000 basically. The Alraune was even more, reaching the 3’000! But these guys, each one had more than 5’000 on INT!

“Guh! And they’re strong!”

I tried to parry one of their claws, but that sent me hitting the tree. As I faced one, the other used my launch on the tree as an opening, and tried to pierce me when I was on the ground. Of course, I rolled, avoiding the claws, and slashed at the monster legs.

Shiaaaa!

What I don’t understand is that no monster up until now was Balanced. They either were very good at something, or just bad at everything. These Carnorses were the same. While they had a High INT stat, their CON were lower than the Wasps I faced! How do you have more strength then?!

Getting up, the other Carnorse jumped again. Seeing that, I lowered my body, avoiding the claws, and when the monster passed me, I turned around, changing the saber into a back position, and pierced the monster's neck.

Shaaa! Ah! AH!

The sword pierced cleanly, and when it tried to thrash around, I pushed the sword ahead of my body, showering the ground with it’s blood. As for the other… Oh, C’mon!

With three of the Carnorses dead, the other three monsters were aware of me, and were now right beside the injured one, and were glaring daggers at me. I pushed the body of the Carnorse I just killed, and wiped the blood from the blade.

“Hey guys! Do you need directions? Just take a sharp left through my sword, and keep on going!”

The first one to attack was the White Salamander, shooting its tongue at me. I avoided the tongue, which was divided in two at the tips. And also had a metallic tip on those two divisions. When the tongue shot passed me, of course I cut it out.

Saaa!

Then, the Chameleon vanished. So it isn’t a chameleon for nothing! Thankfully, I had a countermeasure against camouflage. And that was my {Scanner Vision}. I could see invisible things, or camouflaged things. The chameleon was almost passing me, when I slashed upwards with my saber, cutting it’s neck open. It didn’t kill it, but the blood loss would kill it eventually.

As I looked back at the porcupine, he was shaking his body, and of course, something would come.

“C’mere please!”

Shiaaaa!

I pierced the injured Carnorse, and lifted it up, and then the porcupine shot some of its needles in my direction. Of course, the Carnorse was in the way, so he made a sacrifice for my sake. Actually, he died just a second ago.

With that, the porcupine got flustered(Was that possible?). Using that opportunity, I charged at it, and pierced it with the saber on it’s throat. Pulling the saber off of it’s throat, I walked to where the salamander was, trashing it in the ground because of its lost tongue, and pierced its head.

“Phew! That was a clooose… What?”

I got dizzy. Looking at my leg, there was a needle piercing on my leg. Shit! My status just showed me that I was suffering from paralysis, and it was weak, but still left me dizzy. I sat down, and waited for the effect to pass. Just after 30 minutes, the effect passed, and… DING DING DING! NEW SKILLS!

◙ THE SKILL PARALYSIS RESISTANCE (LVL 1) HAS BEEN ACQUIRED! THE CLASS SWORDSMAN HAS TIERED UP 2X! THE CLASS ARCHER HAS BEEN ACQUIRED, BUT DUE TO THE WEAPON BEING USED IS OF A MUCH HIGHER LVL, THE CLASS MARKSMAN WAS ACQUIRED INSTEAD! ◙

“Well, that’s quite nice. I think. And I leveled up a bit.” I glanced at the bodies. “I can’t bring these things back with me.”

I got up, cleaned my sword, and reloaded my crossbow. The crossbow charges had 30 bolts each, and thanks to the steel I had in hand before, I made 5 charges. They were round, and were made to spin as the bolts were shot.

“Well, something tells me that around here, is that spider’s lair.”

Now that I looked a bit more, the trees were spaced quite afar, as if something big just walked through recently. There was also web around, and what it looked like skin, or more exactly, the old carapace of the spiders.

I followed the path of the web, cutting through it so as not to get stuck. And then, there it is again. The Tigrass.

“Ugh! Why is he here?!”

I hid myself in the tree shade, and even activated the [Stealth] skill, just to be sure. When I glanced at it again, he was trying to cut the web on a pit, but it wasn't working. He bit, swoop with its claws, but the web didn’t bulge any bit.

“So it can’t pass through, but it’s the forest emperor? Hm? What?! He too?!”

When I glanced at its STATUS, The Tigrass was also affected by the Rotting. Damn! That thing is very dangerous. I better take care of it soon, else it will take the Tigrass down. But why is it trying to tear through the webs? That was the million dollars question.

But even with the Rotting condition, he was regenerating fast. He lost about 50 HP each time it moved, but as soon as that happened, he got 60 HP back with the Regeneration. Wow. I know that creating that thing wasn’t a good thing, but it’s kinda helping me now. I just jinxed myself, didn’t I?

“What if it got in the wasp’s nest too?”

That would be a hell of a good thing. Just as I was thinking that, the Tigrass growled, and then walked more deep into the forest. It left the web behind, and simply walked away.

Approaching the web, I scanned it, and found out that the web had very thin layers of the [Steel Web] made by the spider protecting the entrance. I poked with my saber, and true enough, the web was practically hard as steel.

“Wow. Never thought I would be seeing something like this. Hm? There’s something inside.”

Looking through some gaps in the web, there was something moving inside the pit. Curious about why the Tigrass was trying to enter there, I searched for an entrance. I had found one, but it was full of traps. Lots of them.

“That giant spider didn’t have a trap skill, so maybe it was one of the small ones?”

Passing through the traps, and avoiding them of course, I reached the bottom of the pit. Who would ever think that a spider can make traps like R*mbo. The pit was, well, huge.

It had several creatures coiled in webs, even... a dinosaur.

“Is it still alive?! Wait, there’s dinosaurs in this world?!”

The Dino was the size of a rex by the looks of it. Not only that, it was still alive, and moving! Looking at it’s STATUS, it’s species name was a funny one. Testudios. Who named these things? Oh well, free XP!

While walking to the Dino, I kept looking around the pit, careful not to be ambushed. Please no more traps. There were even monsters hanging from the ceiling, although they were all dead. The pit was full of web and monsters around.

Reaching the Testudios, I took my saber from the sheath. According to Scan, the Dino is very resistant to both magic and physical attacks. The head was close to the ground, so I only tried to pierce the head. Oh, how bad that idea was.

Graaaaah!

“Uh oh.”

The monster got a way to move even more, and put more strength to get out of the webs.

“Hey, you’re almost dead! So just lay low and die already!”

I was curious about something. Looking at the skills I had, like {Terrain Manipulation}, it looked very useful, but I still didn’t have a very good understanding of magic. The only thing that I understood was about Alchemy.

Back on Earth, Alchemy was like the predecessor to science. I think. So, I did understand more of it, than anything else up until now. So that made me think: Well, no matter the monster, they have blood and organs like any living being. So, what will happen if you transmute the blood into steam?

“I think this will end up messing with the materials it can give. How do I… Oh, how about freezing the blood? Since it’s water anyway? Or… Aw, shit. Whatever, let’s just explode the heart.”

Touching the monster, I focus on imagining the heart of the beast. Actually, I just imagined a heart exploding. And what you know, it worked!

Grah! Ah! Ah!

Aaaand it’s dead. Well, I can’t bring the materials either way. But I’m sure this thing isn’t what the Tigrass was looking for. From all the monsters webbed around, there was one, really small, right at the middle of the pit. And it was moving frenetically. What is it?

The shape of the webbed monster was that of a small dog. Or…

“A fox?”

Using my saber, I open the web to free the little one. I was sure that it wouldn’t hurt me, so I just released it from the webs. And it really was a fox. A small black fox.

“Oh. 3 tails?”

I was curious, but I think I scared the fox, since she got her ears lowered, and her tails, which I emphasized, drooped. Hm? Why is she so scared? Oh.

► Small Darkness Fox-Spirit ◄

A kind fox, who dwells in forests with high quantities of mana. There are countless of these little foxes around. Because of their kind and calm demeanor, hunters often target them for their fur, and as a pet.

They are the children of the Fox-Goddess, and have a Legendary skill.

This is but a young child, with only 3 tails for now. The closer they are to high quality mana, the more quickly they evolve. They evolve from a small fox, to an Adult Fox with 5 Tails, and can evolve to a Kitsune with 9 Tails.

Current Danger Rank – E / Adult Danger Rank – B / Kitsune Danger Rank – SSS

“Wow. There are people who hunt them for their fur? Bunch of bastards. This fox is so cute. Ahh~~ I want to pet it.”

I think my face had a very dumb expression right now. But hey! Who cares! Cuteness is justice! And this fox is so cute!

“Hey c’mere. Let me pet you please~”

I tried to appeal nice and all, but the fox was trembling.

Hrnnnn!

“Oka~y, no petting.” I kept observing the little fox, when I saw a shadow close in on her from behind. “Well, what you know.”

If possible, I wanted this little fox to accompany me. For two reasons. One, the most important, is that she's cute. And second, it had a useful skill called [Shadow Storage]. This skill is, well, a storage, duh! So it would be quite useful right now.

“Sorry little fox. Don’t hate me okay?”

I pull my saber, and slash at the thing behind the fox.

Yahaaaa!

The small fox got down, waiting for her death, but I didn’t aim at her. It was at the strange monster right behind her. I didn’t level up until now, and I even killed that rex and those things before coming here.

Yah! Yahaha! Yhrrrr!

Three screams, or whatever those might be. The monsters right behind the small fox weren't the nice type. And what you know, they too, had the Rotting condition. Is this fox the target? Looking at those strange monsters, no ugly. Ugly fits more.

Large fangs that, even with their mouths closed, were still showing. Well, even with their mouths shut, their teeth are showing, so whatever. Their sounds look like a hyena though.

► Demon Coyote ◄

A Mutant of the Black and White Coyote after staying in contact with malicious mana.

It has a high resistance to magic attacks, and is immune to Shadow Magic. Their tails are proof of their Hierarchy. They hate foxes, especially the Spirit Foxes.

They usually walk in packs of at least 3, which powers them up, especially their speed.

Danger Rank, Alone – D / Danger Rank, Pack of at least 3 – B

“Yay. I’m doomed.”

Yahahaaa!

From the three coyotes, the one with 5 tails jumped at me, and very fast at that.

“Guh!”

Yahaaa!

He opened his mouth very wide. How can he do that?! With that, it tried to bite me. I used my saber, putting in the way of its mouth. The saber was made out of titanium, but what you know… The coyote was able to crack it!

“Get off!”

While I was on the ground, I used my legs to kick him off from me, and got myself up fast. But as always, fighting on the ground is hella hard. Because, when I got up, the other coyote jumped at my back, biting my right shoulder.

“Argh!”

Thinking fast, I grabbed his, well, his lower parts. The coyote whined, and released my shoulder, and of course I used that as an opportunity, tossing him on the ground, and slashed its throat. Looking to my left, I saw the two coyotes ganging up on the small fox.

“No you don’t!”

And I tossed my saber at the 5 tailed coyote. As always, they have speed, but as RPGs normally are, speedy ones, have low defenc… Aw, fuck. But of course! My LUK helped me again!

“To hell with it.”

The saber simply bounced off of the coyote’s fur. He realized I was still alive, so both of them turned to me. There was a white, and a black coyote. The black jumped, and the white came at my leg. I hate this. Instead of ducking or stepping back, I stepped forward, grabbing the black coyote on the ground.

Yaha!

That got the white one by surprise, and I used that to my favor, and did a hammer kick on the head of the white coyote. While I was low on the ground, I turned my body, and kicked the black coyote on the face.

Ya!

“Oh, shush!”

I got up fast, and jumped. I remember seeing this on those wrestler programs. They’re usually not very real, but the movement? Oh, it is very strong. With my jump, I did an elbow drop. My elbow hit the neck of the coyote, and with a loud crack, the coyote took his last breath.

I ran and grabbed my saber, and when I turned around, the other coyote jumped at me. I stepped forward, and slash it ahead. This time, my slash cut cleanly the neck of the coyote, which surprised me. So, in groups, their status does get higher. And that depends on the leader.

“Ugh! I’m soaked in blood now.”

Yeah, the blood of the coyote soaked me. I glanced at the small fox behind me, and… fell on the ground. I forgot, but the coyotes had poison in their fangs. And I was bit by the other coyote. Everything started to fade, and I wasn’t able to maintain my eyes open.