I needed to think fast, before those smaller spiders came back. The Healing Maw might have scared them away for the moment, but the pack was huge and getting into a fight with them would bring the Healing Maw back. Fighting both groups at once felt like a bad idea.

Or a brilliant one.

The blue light was completely gone, but I slowly climbed out of the crack before sending energy into my knife tip.

The webbing glittered in the dim light, almost like frost on the stone floor.

I crept closer to the edge and barely touched it with the butt of my spear. It stuck ever so slightly when I pulled it back.

None of the crystals in the distance moved at that light touch.

So I tried again, this time with a couple of fingers.

It stuck more to my fingers than the spear, and I really had to yank on it to get them off. It felt like it took a layer of skin with it.

I let out a sigh of relief when the massive spider didn't move from its meal.

Another idea came to me, and I used the hot tip of the crystal to cut a piece off. I snagged some and tested it on the bottom of my beat-up boots. It stuck worse than gum. I couldn't get it off, and ended up covering it with dirt to reduce the stickiness of it.

Definitely wouldn't be able to walk across the cavern floor covered in the web without sticking to it.

That left my totally brilliant idea of mass confusion.

The mass of smaller spiders hid somewhere back down the tunnel, though I didn't have a clue where, exactly.

Wait, there wasn't another path out of here, right? Where did they go?

I headed back toward the archway and lit up my spear tip to see. Behind a boulder, I found another crack, bigger than the one I'd hid in, and it continued deeper into the rock. The prey scent trail of the hairy spiders led right to it.

I crouched down, but it'd be a tight fit for me, and I'd need to reduce my spear down to its knife form.

But a light would completely brighten the smaller crack.

I went for it.

I shortened my knife, and the hilt went into my mouth before I crawled into the small tunnel. A slight metallic taste filled my mouth from the handle. The light from my crystal covered the area in front of me, and I needed to squint, but if it was this bright for me, hopefully it would keep any of the little spiders back. I quickly made progress crawling down the path. Dirt, tiny shards of stone, and lots of muck covered the bottom of the tunnel, but I just kept going.

The rocky tunnel curved to the right, and I focused on the farthest point ahead of me, instead of the fact that the tunnel touched my shoulders on both sides. Parts of the tunnel appeared to have been formed by something digging it wider, but there was only one direction to keep going, unless I wanted to try to crawl backward.

Between this tunnel, or getting stuck to the floor, somehow this was better.

Just keep moving, I repeated inside my head.

Sweat dripped down my back, and my breathing slowly sped up each time a shoulder touched the edge of the wall.

Finally, I felt the pack of smaller spiders ahead. They appeared just beyond the curve in the tunnel. The crystal locations stayed to my left, though I curved closer to them as well.

Chittering echoed down the tunnel, but I didn't stop. At this point, I wasn't stopping for anything. I couldn't. Parts of my brain were certain if I stopped, the tunnel would collapse and I'd die a slow and horrible death.

My light showed the crack ended, and the area opened up. Frantic movements came from beyond the opening as the light spread. The chittering grew louder as they spread out in many different directions, their chitters echoing around the chamber up ahead. It disguised their numbers, but there had to be a lot of them, just from the sheer volume.

As soon as I could, I stood and grabbed my knife from my mouth. Small darts flew toward me like a cloud of glitter. I dodged to the left, trying to get closer to one of the hairy little monsters. My knife lengthened into a spear and it grazed a spider.

It screamed, and the burning tip caught the hair covering its body on fire.

I paused, watching as the flames instantly spread over the small spider that was frantically dashing around, running into other spiders. The flames spread between the creatures.

[You have gained experience from combat.]

[You have gained experience from combat.]

[You have gained experience from combat.]

Panic erupted from the colony of spiders, and they fled in every direction away from the small flames covering the remains of their three dead. My eyes watered from the smell of burnt hair, and smoke. I tried to figure out what direction to head. Either to the left, toward the Healing Maw, or to the right, away from it.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

[You have gained experience from combat.]

A flaming spider went to the right, lighting up the large tunnel in that direction.

Six giant eyes sparkled in the darkness attached to a hulking shadow. Something white shot out and slammed into the flaming spider. It knocked the smaller spider back, sticking it to the floor, but the webbing quickly caught fire as well.

[You have gained experience from combat.]

What the heck?

I triple-checked that the Healing Maw still felt like it was in the distance and used Insight on the giant creature.

[Cavern Maw, Level 39, Predator, Unknown.]

Of course, there had to be more than one giant spider.

I dodged through the smoky air as it shot webbing at me. The smoky air made it hard to see, almost like fog, with my crystal glowing in the dense darkness. My prey sense suddenly went wild as a cloud of glitter cut through the smoke, as the rest of the flames went out.

What the fuck?

The small spiders must have teamed up with the Maw.

Another shot of webbing headed at me, but I rolled across the cavern floor. Sharp rocks dug into my shoulder but I ignored the injury. I needed to keep moving.

I darted at the Maw with my spear extended, but it skittered back. Three cavern spiders raced after me, keeping out of the circle of light. My shadow gave them a safe area to attack from.

I leaped backward and one crunched under my feet as I landed awkwardly on it. The weird crunch caused me to stumble to one side. They took the opening, and white webbing hit my boot, along with the floor.

[Your poison resistance has failed.]

[Your poison resistance has failed.]

[Your poison resistance has failed.]

My prey senses went wild as more and more spiders crept to the edges of the light from my spear. I suddenly dropped the light coming from my spear, and they all raced at me.

I rapidly spun in a circle with my spear extended, tip suddenly plasma hot.

Flames spread rapidly from one to another as they still tried to get to me, before being forced to flee because of the flames.

I coughed as I cut at the webbing on my boot, but more shot out from the darkness at me. I leaned back, and it missed, but the end of my spear touched the webbing, suddenly connecting me to the ground.

Numbness spread from my fingertips now, making it harder to yank on my spear. Panic slowly built inside me. More webbing shot from the distance, and I lowered my left hand, letting the crystal around my wrist land in my palm.

The webbing quickly coated both my hands.

Six giant black eyes glittered at me as the Cavern Maw approached.

Chittering from more cavern spiders echoed back down the tunnel, then something slammed into my head. The edges of my vision went dark. My stomach roiled, and I resisted throwing up.

The giant spider picked me up and spun as more webbing covered me. It covered my face, blocking the darkened cavern from view. Somehow, though, I still could breathe.

My head pounded as I felt myself being lifted higher into the air. I couldn't move my hands, but I resisted struggling for the moment.

Think.

My crystal brass knuckles lay in my palm, and I'd have a shot to use them. But probably only one.

My spear lay against me in the webbing.

I blinked, eyelids moving freely.

Wait.

The webbing didn't stick to my face. Whatever the spider had covered me with, it wasn't the same sticky stuff as before. That was useful.

I blinked again as I realized we were traveling closer to the crystals, and the Healing Maw.

Dealing with two of them at once didn't seem like a great idea.

My hands remained numb, reminding me of when I was stuck in the cold storage tube. I reminded myself I wasn't the same person. I'd grown, and now I was a freaking devourer. I needed to act like it.

The healing crystal lay heavy against my chest and I triggered it. The numbness in my hands vanished quickly, leaving a pleasant cool feeling in its place.

I took a single shaky breath and then triggered the crystal in my palm. The webbing next to my hand dissolved from the heat, and I whipped my hand out as fast as possible to get my other hand free.

The giant spider underneath me shrieked and slammed me into the ceiling.

Pain rolled through my back, but I didn't stop sending energy into the crystal. Most of the webbing melted away from the heat.

The devourer's tooth appeared in my free hand and I sliced at the rightmost leg carrying me. The tooth cleanly cut through, spraying black ichor away from me, and I crashed on top of the spider.

Immediately I rolled to the back of the spider, as the spider jerked forward away from me.

The movement caused me to hit the ground, but I stumbled to my feet, tooth in my left hand, glowing crystal in the other.

The spider twisted around, hissing in the dim light, and stabbed at me with its two giant fangs.

I dodged back, but sunk my tooth into the closet leg. Burning black ichor covered my hand, smelling acidic. I kept rolling, shaking my hand to get the black stuff off. It burned like something too spicy.

The spider chased after me, holding its two injured legs in the air as I kept racing away from the lair of the Healing Maw.

I had no idea where my spear was, but guessed it to be where the spider had slammed me into the ceiling. Reaching out with my senses, I felt it back the way I'd come.

Taking a risk, I let the crystal go out and did a 180, sliding under the creature. I sliced upward before it realized what I had done.

Legs stabbed at me as I rolled to my feet, racing back the way we'd come. My crystal lit back up as I frantically searched for my spear, somehow feeling it nearby. Webbing shot at me from behind, but I ducked.

There it was!

The tooth vanished back into my inventory right before my fingers wrapped around the spear. I twisted, bringing the spear up just as the spider slammed into me, fangs extended.

The glowing tip sunk right in between those two fangs.

Its weight kept the momentum going as it slid in deeper. A fang skirted along the heavy armor that appeared on my arms. Then, the giant spider's eyes went dim, and it stopped twitching.

[You have gained bonus experience from combat for surviving against level 39, Cavern Maw.]

[You have gained a level in your class.]

[You have gained a level in your class.]

I yanked my spear back and gagged at the smell coating it. Stumbling, I tried to take shallow breaths, but that failed as I sensed the Healing Maw coming rapidly to investigate the area.

There were a few jagged edges along the tunnel closer to the lair, and I moved near one, triggering my stealth. My crystal went dim. The pain in my left hand continued, but I mentally pushed it away. I had to survive, and that meant the pain could wait.

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