Roland had always been a fan of horror and mystery movies. He had also fantasized a lot what he would do when he encountered monsters or ghosts.
In his fantasy, he was brave and determined. Even though he was badly wounded, he could still struggle to escape.
However, when he was faced with a real monster, Roland realized that fantasy was just an ungrounded daydream that could easily be wrecked by the hammer called reality.
Besides, what he was faced with was not exactly the hammer of reality. It was just a game.
The spider did not see Roland. If Roland were to flee, he should be able to escape, but when he saw the three kids who were crying and trembling in fright, he found it impossible to turn tail and run.
One can find ten thousand excuses to be weak, but one only requires a single reason to be brave.
Roland squatted and found a rock and a broken branch. He twisted the front end of the branch to make it pointy.
"I'm a player. This is a game. I don't need to be afraid."
Roland murmured to himself. At this moment, the spider crashed into the tree again. Even though he was a dozen meters away, he saw the cracking bark of the tree and felt the earth tremble.
The three kids on the tree were nearly thrown off, which made them even more scared. They screamed and shouted, tears and snot all over their faces. They couldn't have looked more wretched.
He couldn't wait anymore.
Roland grabbed the rock and hurled it out. He roared, "Monster, check this out!"
While Roland did not have great aim, the spider was too large for him to miss. The rock hit its body, causing a strange metallic noise, before it was deflected elsewhere.
Sensing the attack from behind, the giant spider moved with its eight legs and turned around quickly.
Roland gasped at the abominable appearance of the spider. It had more than a hundred red complex eyes on its head. Patients with trypophobia would've lost the courage to fight it.
Even more horrifyingly, it had a pair of black sickles that extended from the two sides of its mouth. They were long and spiky, with thorns at the ends. It was not hard to imagine what terrible wounds the sickles could cause.
It was a classic predator.
Roland was of a mind to use magic. He remembered that, apart from Language Proficiency, he had two level-one spells, namely "Inferior Fireball" and "Hand of Magic," which he learned when he created the character.
However, since his head might explode if he failed to cast the spell, Roland gave up the idea. If the would-be hero died first, there would be no hope for the three kids.
The giant spider stared at Roland for a while. Then, it turned back and hit the tree again. Immediately, the three kids cried out.
Roland couldn't hold back anymore. He took a deep breath and charged at the spider, which showed no reaction when he approached. Delighted, Roland raised his stick and bashed the joint on the rightmost leg of the spider.
Roland learned that the spider's body was hard from his first attempt to throw a rock. So, Roland tried to attack the spider's joint this time. Based on his fundamental understanding of biology, the joints of most creatures were vulnerable.
The stick hit the spider's joint heavily. Then, Roland discovered, to his surprise, that he seemed to be stronger than he thought. But as a spellcaster, he only had five points of strength. How strong would the Warriors be when they had ten points of strength at the beginning?
Green body fluid spluttered when the giant spider's leg was hit. Then, the monster cried in shock and fury. It turned around quickly, and the black sickles on its mouth swooped at the enemy.
Though Roland had prepared himself and jumped back the moment the spider turned around, his jump was not too long, because he was neither a Warrior nor an agile class. The two black sickles penetrated his legs and nailed him to the ground.
It was painful… but still bearable. After all, he could only sense one-tenth of the pain.
The enormous spider knocked Roland down and dragged him back, leaving a long trail of blood on the ground behind him.
Seeing that it had gotten its prey, the giant spider opened its mouthpart slowly.
Right then, Roland stuck the pointy end of his stick into the spider's mouthpart brutally and shouted to the top of the tree, "Get down and run!"
It was all that he could say, because the spider had lifted him and smashed him twice, causing excruciating pain. He was too dizzy to say anything anymore.
The three kids slipped down from the tree after a brief shock. The two boys cried and ran away, but the slim little girl picked up a stick, shaking but trying to help.
Roland shouted angrily when he saw her, "Idiot, run!"
The girl was dazed when Roland yelled at her. Then, she dropped the stick and ran away, weeping. Roland was rather comforted to watch her disappear. As a player, it was nothing for him to die once, but if the girl died, she would be gone for good.
He remembered that, according to the game's promotion, all NPCs were unique. They would have their own lives. They would grow up and turn old. They would succeed and fail. Once they were dead, they would never respawn.
Have I just saved a life? Roland was smiling when the enormous spider lifted him and smashed him again. After five times, Roland's consciousness was ejected out of his body.
As a third party, he observed the spider tear his body apart, blood all over the ground. Yet, Roland was not pissed, because he knew very well that the spider couldn't live long. After all, the spider could not eat until it got rid of the pointy stick in its mouthpart.
Death was awaiting the spider.
At this moment, an option popped up before his eyes: You're too far away from the nearest resurrection point. Do you want to leap to the nearest resurrection point?
Roland chose yes.