Chapter 12
Man… Centipedes are scary.
Seriously, what the hell?
I never wanna see that many insects again in my life.
Wow. I’m exhausted.
My legs are trembling. Probably because I ran for so long after depleting the yellow stamina gauge—my immediately available energy.
It’s definitely time for a rest.
I look back one more time to check whether the centipede army is following me.
Sweet, no sign of them.
I lay out some webbing to make a simple home. The moment I finish the web to ensure my relative safety, all the strength drains from my body, and I collapse.
Wow, I might’ve gotten a little traumatized.
Those centipedes may be weak individually, but that enormous horde was a major threat. If that many of them came at me at once, there’d be nothing I could do. Plus, those guys can inflict paralysis. If I got bitten even once, I’d probably be totally immobilized prey. After that, all I’d be able to do is wait for them to gobble me up. The thought alone makes me shudder.
I should’ve thought more carefully about why there were so many centipedes in that area. I mean, on their own, the centipedes are crazy weak. Or maybe what I should’ve noticed was the lack of other monsters around there.
In retrospect, it was odd that there weren’t any other predators around when there was so much prey to be had. I’d considered that maybe other monsters didn’t want to eat them because of their paralyzing venom, but in a dungeon chock-full of poisonous monsters, that seemed like a flimsy reason.
More likely, the other beasts either avoided the area knowing a swarm of centipedes lived there, or wandered in accidentally and got eaten.
Considering that even my speed was barely enough to let me escape, it may simply be impossible for slower creatures. They’d try to run but get overtaken in no time, and once they were bitten and paralyzed, tons of centipedes would swarm around them and…
Scaaaaary.
I guess even lesser monsters have ways of compensating for their vulnerabilities. In terms of pure fighting ability, I’m on the weaker side, too, but if I make a web, I can entrap and defeat monsters stronger than myself. So just because something seems weak, doesn’t mean you can let your guard down.
Let’s just say this little encounter drummed that lesson into me very thoroughly.
I was able to stay alive, anyway, and I did make a snack of more than a few centipedes before that incident. I earned some levels and stuff, too. Although, despite all the level-up molting I’ve been doing, I don’t feel like I’m getting any bigger.
Molting normally helps an animal grow larger, doesn’t it?
I mean, technically I am growing in a sense by leveling up, but the size of my body hasn’t changed. After seeing my gigantic mother when I first hatched, I got the idea that I could eventually be that big, too… But so far, there aren’t any signs of that happening.
Since this world has levels and all, maybe evolution exists, too, or something?
Oh, right, speaking of levels… After I appraised that whole army of centipedes, my Appraisal skill level went up.
Is this what they call a lucky break?
For the time being, I take a fresh look at my continuous self-appraisal results. I didn’t really have time for that during my pursuit by the centipede army, obviously.
△
Nameless
Small Lesser Taratect • Lv 7
Status: Weak
▽
What do you mean, ‘Status: Weak’?! That’s way too vague!
Plus, calling me weak is… Well, I suppose I realized that already. But couldn’t you sugarcoat it at least a little? The fact that Miss Appraisal said I’m weak is just more proof that I’m small-fry by this world’s standards.
Sigh… That sucks.
No, wait. Didn’t I just decide that you can’t dismiss something just because it’s not very strong? I have my thread, after all. Even if my body is frail, as long as I have my spider thread, I’ll never be defeated, probably. Maybe.
If you look at it that way, I’m not really weak at all, right? I mean, I’m biased, but I would say I’m actually kinda strong… I can trap monsters with my thread, gain the upper hand with ambushes, and bite with my poison fangs once my target is immobile.
Yeah. I have to admit, I play dirty. But I don’t have much of a choice, since I’m at such a disadvantage in a fair fight. So basically, I take any help I can get. I just have to make sure I’m the one setting the pace, playing to my strengths. Man, if things went that way all the time, I’d never have any problems.
Ugh, so tired. It’s time for sleep.
~*~
I’m awake. I don’t even feel fully rested yet. But my eyes suddenly pop open.
What’s this feeling?
I don’t know why, but my intuition is waving huge red flags. Quickly, I get up and add more threads to my web. Then I notice the source of my premonition.
△ Elroe Baladorado • Lv 9: Status Appraisal Failed ▽
It’s a massive snake. It looks thick enough to swallow a human whole without a hitch, and its body is at least thirty feet long. Basically, it seems strong. Not to mention, level 9. Up until now, the strongest monster I’ve seen is a level 4. So this is a big jump. Species-wise, the advantage is clear. That, combined with its superior level, means that if we fight fair and square, I don’t stand a chance.
I break out in a cold sweat. I’m like a frog caught by a snake. Except I’m a spider. My body is stiffening in fear, but I force it to move somehow. Slowly, I retreat in an attempt to put some distance between us.
But the snake isn’t having any of that. Heedless of the web between us, its head thrusts forward. Naturally, it winds up caught in the web. But then, the snake thrashes around and breaks through.
I turn around and dart away, fast as a frightened rabbit. I make my escape through the emergency exit of my hastily built web right as the snake bursts through the first barrier and attacks where I just was. My instincts warn me to run away. But I don’t.
I see it. The snake is tangled up in the webs. It could rip up the threads, but it couldn’t manage to free itself completely. The intact web and the busted one are now tangling together around its body.
This could work!
This is the advantage I need. I latch on to the body of the snake as it writhes around. The moment I bite down on it, I start producing more threads from my butt. Somehow I break through its hard scales and drive my poison fangs into its body. The snake thrashes more violently as the pain of the venom sets in. As I entrap it with more thread, it struggles even harder. The serpent slams my body against the walls and floor time and time again, but I hang on with all of my might and determination.
My yellow stamina gauge is running low. Every time I get hit, my green HP bar goes down, too. And whenever I make thread, the red general-stamina bar decreases as well. Once the red gauge runs out, I probably won’t be able to produce any more thread. If that happens, it’s only a matter of time before the snake escapes its bonds. I have to beat this monster before that happens.
I pour all my energy into biting down and pumping out thread. The snake’s resistance starts to weaken, slowly but surely. When my yellow stamina bar is long gone and the red bar is down to only 10 percent, the snake finally lies still.
That’s what happens when you underestimate a weakling!
≪ Experience has reached the required level. Individual Small Lesser Taratect has increased from Lv 7 to Lv 8 ≫
≪ All basic attributes have increased. ≫
≪ Skill proficiency level-up bonus acquired. ≫
≪ Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill〔Pain Resistance • Lv 1〕 has become〔Pain Resistance • Lv 2〕≫
≪ Skill points acquired. ≫
≪ Experience has reached the required level. Individual Small Lesser Taratect has increased from Lv 8 to Lv 9 ≫
≪ All basic attributes have increased. ≫
≪ Skill proficiency level-up bonus acquired. ≫
≪ Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill 〔Poison Fang • Lv 5〕 has become〔Poison Fang • Lv 6〕≫
≪ Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill〔Night Vision • Lv 9〕has become〔Night Vision • Lv 10〕≫
≪ Condition satisfied. Skill〔Vision Expansion • Lv 1〕has been derived from skill〔Night Vision • Lv 10〕≫
≪ Skill points acquired. ≫
Wow, that was a lot of stuff.
I guess gaining a ton of experience points when you beat an enemy that’s out of your league holds true in any world. I even rose two levels.
The snake sure was a strong opponent. If I fought it head-on, I wouldn’t have stood a chance. It had a strong body and had a strong defense with its protective scaly covering. Judging by the way it burst through my web, its speed was probably high, too. It might’ve even been faster than me. Plus, snakes equal venom. No doubt that guy was poisonous, too.
Frankly, even when it was caught in my net, the odds of me winning were probably about fifty-fifty. All my wounds healed when I leveled up and molted, but before that, my HP was dangerously low. I almost ran out of stamina, too.
That was close.
But all that risk makes for great rewards. When I was overhunting the centipedes, I figured I was getting close to level 8, but I never expected to reach level 9 in one fell swoop. I’m really pleased about leveling up, but my skill levels have risen a lot, too. It definitely doesn’t hurt to have more Pain Resistance, and Poison Fang is one of my trump cards along with Spider Thread.
When my Poison Fang skill powers up, that means my attack power increases by the same amount. Or, to put it another way, Poison Fang is still my only method of attacking. That could come back to bite me if I run into an opponent with high Poison Resistance. No pun intended.
But what caught my eye the most in this round of leveling up was the Night Vision skill. Yeah. Come to think of it, it did make sense that I would have that skill. That must be why this dungeon only seems a bit dim to me despite the total lack of light sources.
Now my skill level for that has gone up, and the scenery around me has become totally visible. So 10 must be the highest level available. There’s no other explanation for this clarity. Unless 10 just happens to be the max level for the Night Vision skill specifically and not other skills, of course.
Plus, I got a Vision Expansion skill, I think as a bonus for getting Night Vision to level 10. That’s great and all, but to be honest, I have no idea what it actually does. Judging by the name, you’d think my field of vision would be much wider now, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Well, this isn’t the first time I’ve gotten a skill whose effects I couldn’t understand from the name alone.
It’d be nice if I could use Appraisal on skills to avoid issues like this, but I can’t.
One of the conditions of Appraisal seems to be that I can only get info on visible things. So all the information I have about skills at the moment is whatever the Divine Voice is willing to tell me.
Since I can’t see skills in any form, I can’t appraise them, either. Since the results of my appraisals are spelled out in my head, this information counts as being ‘visible’, most likely. But if I raise my skill level further, maybe skills will appear in my status appraisal checks, and then I might be able to check them out. Anyway, there’s nothing else I can do about it until then, so I’ll have to leave the mystery skills alone for the time being.
~*~
Now then, since I’ve finally brought down some big game, I figure I should get to eating it.
First, I rebuilt my simple home so other monsters won’t attack me while I eat.
Considering how huge the serpent is, I probably won’t be able to eat it all in one go, so I decide to settle down in this area until I finish devouring the whole thing.
Thus, I make these webs a little more carefully than my usual temporary nests.
≪ Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill〔Spider Thread • Lv 6〕has become〔Spider Thread • Lv 7〕≫
Today seems to be my lucky day.
My Spider Thread skill, which hasn’t improved in a long time, finally leveled up. Maybe using it so much during my battle against the snake paid off.
Anyway, now my two main skills, Poison Fang and Spider Thread, have ranked up at the same time. To be honest, this will probably contribute to my combat capability way more than the base stat increases that come with leveling up.
I’m in a great mood, and ready to chow down.
Oh, but before that, I’ll have to get rid of the snake’s scales. They’re way too damn hard for me to eat.
Whew, descaling complete!
Wow, that was exhausting.
It was a lot more work than I thought it would be. Since the scales were so hard and firmly attached, it took me a while. The red stamina gauge, which was restored when I leveled up, dropped by a whole quarter again. Goes to show what hard work that was.
But now I can eat without reservations!
Without further ado, I dig in.
Ew, gross!
It’s crazy bitter.
That probably means poison, huh?
Considering how bitter this is, the guy must’ve had some super-potent venom. It probably would’ve been really bad if it bit me, then.
≪ Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill
〔Poison Resistance • Lv 5〕has become〔Poison Resistance • Lv 6〕≫
Nice. It tastes awful, but skill-wise, this is a great meal.
Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know if there’s anything I need to fix, and feel free to join my Discord for chapter updates!
Scarlett Shoujo 