Chapter 113

The answer to my question about the Rift Champion’s intelligence? Too smart for simple tricks. I had hoped that throwing stones up near the Rift Champion would be enough to draw its attention, perhaps even lure it away for long enough for me to escape. Unfortunately, the sounds of rocks bouncing off of stone weren’t enough to get the monster to shift in the slightest. More unnerving was the sense I got that it knew where I was — which was creepy since it had no eyes, like the feeling you got when someone was watching you but you couldn’t see from where.

Either way, it refused to descend the falls a second time. I suspected that it couldn’t find me with the roar of water and no vibrations passing through the stone. Perhaps the water muted its senses, or more likely overwhelmed them like white noise blasting across its bristly hairs.

My first plan out the window I glanced at the bamboo forest once more before gritting my teeth and diving into the waters.

Submerged beneath the surface, a fragmented memory flitted across my mind of me holding my breath in a swimming pool with goggles on my eyes and a rubber cap on my head. Somehow, I knew that in my previous life, I had been able to remain beneath the water without air for around two minutes. In this life, I could hold my breath for even longer.

The depth of the water below the falls was roughly twice my height, the bottom a carpet of stones ranging from the size of pebbles up to smooth rocks almost as large as I was. The latter ones I had no hope of moving but the pebbles and bigger stones I could shove to the side. The next ten minutes were spent digging with pauses to surface and gulp down life affirming air.

Holding my breath with cracked ribs hurt like hell, but I pushed through. I didn’t have the luxury of time and I needed to know if my idea was even viable. While I dug in the pool beneath the waterfall I went over my plan — if it could even be called that.

The simple fact was I could not fight the Giant Eyeless Spider. Facing it was just incredibly painful assisted suicide. Sneaking past it was impossible. Luring it away turned out to be a bust. All that was left was to use the environment. The spider had shown it was willing to leap after prey if it thought there was a chance of catching them — even throwing itself into the water to get them. And why wouldn’t it? The monster's carapace was thick enough to handle the pressure, and when it had jumped after me, it had used the wicked tips of its legs to disturb the water's surface. Nothing I had could generate enough force to pierce the spider's chitin armour.

However, its own weight might suffice. But only if I could make it fall on something hard enough or sharp enough to crack the monster like an egg. Rocks were out and for more than one reason. The only thing that would make the Rift Champion move was live bait — meaning me. That meant I would need to jump from the cliff again — my ribs already screaming in protest at the mere thought — before landing in the water. A rocky landing for the spider meant a rocky landing for me as well. If I didn’t go splat I would definitely break my legs and that assumed the monster didn’t just land on top of me.

The solution was to use something sharp, like say, bamboo cut into spears and jammed into the base of the waterfall. I had a sword to cut the trees down, and a dagger to sharpen the tips into spears. All that was left was to make sure I could actually make the spears point upwards and then not mess up my jump. The plan was dangerous as hell, and could go wrong in so many ways, but it was the best I had in the time available.

After two more dives, I had determined that I could probably get the bamboo spears to stand up straight despite the current. There was a little silt beneath some of the rocks, and while I would be limited in where I could embed the spears due to some large rocks I couldn’t move, the many smaller rocks would help me stabilise my trap.

Climbing out of the water, I looked at the bamboo forest once more and whispered a silent prayer — not to any god. Instead I prayed to the Ocean of Souls that we wouldn’t be meeting again any time soon. After that or that was left was the hope that a Shrieking Mantis wasn’t waiting for me among the green fronds.

Approaching the trees with a slight limp on my jarred ankle, I paused at the very edge and started scanning the ground. I didn’t know anything about hunting or tracking, but thanks to the Compendium, I did know that if there was a Fluted Forest Spider nest in the bamboo forest, then there would be strings of spider silk across the forest floor. It took me over two minutes to find the first one which triggered a feeling of elation mixed with worry.

I was not about to die immediately, cut in half by a Shrieking Mantis. Instead, I got to risk death by having my insides melt so fast that I likely would’ve survived longer jumping into the middle of a bonfire. Those extra couple minutes of excruciating pain would totally be worth it.

I took a moment to get a sense of how much aether I had recovered since entering the Rift. The answer was not a lot. Only half a candle had passed, which meant I likely only had another three to four before the cultists returned. My aether core only felt around a quarter full. Probably even less. On the bright side, the forest spiders did not hunt using sound and my Cloak of Shadows cost an incredibly smaller amount of aether these days — a glance at my Status telling me it was close to evolution. Not close enough to get within the time I had, though.

Grabbing a few small stones from the stream, I returned to the edge of the forest, pulling the shadows around myself. They didn’t hide me as well as usual. The leaves of the bamboo didn’t do a great job of shielding the ground below from the faux sun above, and the shadows cast were incredibly limited. My saving grace was that the Fluted Forest Spiders weren’t exactly known for their individual intelligence.

Reaching out with my sword while I remained at the forest edge, I gently poked the thin string of web a few times as though something had crossed it more than once. The string of silk didn’t break, nor did it stick to the blade. A notification pinged in the corner of my vision and I opened it after making sure I couldn’t see any movement in the trees above me.

Rift Path Unlocked — Eradicate the Fluted Forest Spider infestation (0/1)

I sniffed gently. At least I would be rewarded for risking my life. I suppose I could have tried to cut down some bamboo trees without the hive of spiders noticing, but I had strong doubts that I would have been successful. Besides, that could have brought the whole hive down on my head. While I was confident I could defeat a few of them at once, a swarm of them would have managed to bite me sooner or later — probably sooner.

Counting in my head, I had almost reached three hundred, and was considering poking the web again, when I spied the little beasty sent to investigate. Just like the Compendium had claimed, the spider was smaller than my head. Eight legs moved slowly in utter silence as it traversed the leaves and thin branches above which told me it was quite light.

Just full of air, aren’t you? I quipped in my head, building myself up for my ambush.

The spider reached the point roughly above where I had disturbed the web and began its descent on a thin string of silk from its rear end. The carapace of the monster was mottled in greens and yellows with slightly darker striations that blended in perfectly with the environment. It paused about two metres above the ground putting it out of my reach as it spun slowly with an almost delicate turning of its legs. The only sound remained the trickle of the stream behind me, the gentle rustle of the bamboo leaves and the steady beat of my heart.

As it looked away, I tossed a stone at the web. The moment it had completed its turn, it dropped another metre to get a closer look and I thanked the heavens for its stupidity. My sword whipped out in an arc, as I saw its abdomen start to contract. Before it could make a sound I cut the abdomen clear of the thorax. The former continued to hang, dangling on by the thread of silk connected to the branches above while it dripped yellow ichor onto the forest floor. The thorax landed on the ground below with a soft thud.

My ribs were screaming in protest as I paused to check behind me once more — something I was doing constantly — just to make sure the Giant Eyeless Spider hadn’t moved. The monster remained crouched on the cliff above, still waiting for prey to enter its domain.

Looking back at the dead Fluted Forest Spider, I cut it down and pushed the two parts of its carcass up against one of the trees while wondering if spiders could smell. The Compendium hadn’t said anything, but then, that didn’t mean they couldn’t.

In the corner of my vision a notification waited. I opened it quickly.

You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of Ambushing II (51/50)

Reward: +1 Coordination, 2 Unallocated Stats

I immediately put the Unallocated Stats into Gifted and focused back on the task at hand.

Settling in, I began the entire process over again. The next two critters fell in a similar fashion with the added easement of not needing to throw pebbles. Apparently the spiders could smell. Each one, after checking the area and finding nothing strange — apparently a blob of darkness didn’t count in their dumb arachnid eyes — would descend to investigate their deceased brethren. All they found was the same fate.

Everything was going swimmingly right up until the fourth came. I shouldn’t have been surprised that after three didn’t return, the hive might wise up a little. In fact, I was on high alert for exactly that outcome. Unfortunately, their camouflage among the tops of the bamboo forest was just far too good for my eyes. The fourth spider died an ignoble death, only for a fluted whistling to call out from the canopy above. Even with the sound to guide me, it still took me a few breaths to spot the little spider hunched on the edge of a branch, camouflaged to appear like a few extra leaves.

Whistles answered the call to arms for the hive and I started backing away until I was close to the stream's edge. Fighting the hive beneath the canopy would just let them encircle me. They could climb the trees — I couldn’t. Another check on the Rift Champion satisfied me that it wasn’t coming down to join the fun. I thought it was a shame they didn’t just kill each other as I set myself and hoped my ankle wouldn’t give out.

The whistling grew louder and I couldn’t help but think that it was a crime for such a beautiful melody to come from such a horrid little creature. Then the first one was launching itself at me from the canopy above. My sword split the descending ball of green evil in half but two more were already taking its place. One died while airborne, the other landing with a skitter on the hard stone. Before it could right itself, my descending boots put an end to its wretched existence.

More followed, some throwing themselves from the trees while others skittered across the ground. Two more fell to my blade as I stumbled backwards, my ankle betraying me. I rolled with it, narrowly avoiding a falling spider. My roll took me into the stream and I managed to regain my feet just in time to have a string of sticky web spat on me.

Rather than remove it, I tugged on the thread, yanking the spider into the water. The stream wasn’t flowing fast, but the spider wasn’t big enough to swim against it as the current pulled it under. The little bastard refused to release its web, trying to pull itself back towards me as the water dragged it under. I ignored it and hoped it would drown as I focused back on the swarm. Two more of the vermin risked the water to get at me. I dodged both and let the stream carry them away.

More sticky threads landed on my ripped and torn shirt which just led to a few more spiders drowning in the stream as they tried desperately to get close enough to bite me. The whole time, the whistling melody continued to fill the air like some orchestral battle song for the hive.

There were less than five of the spiders left on the shore when the melody changed. My eyes flicked to the source of the new song. The Queen slowly crept out from beneath the bamboo canopy, her bulbous bulk both disgusting and ill-suited for climbing. Her abdomen twitched as though vibrating, as the high-pitched tune directing her children was squeezed out of the holes on her back.

I checked my aether once more as I pulled off my shirt — the silken threads from my opponents unwilling to be cut by my blade. Looking at my enemy's horrible form, I smiled through the pain.

I’m coming, Nazim.