"Eight-legged… An octopus?" Lilee asks. She can't imagine why an octopus would need cows for. Or how it got there in the first place.
"Not an octopus, a spider." Dimas holds out the material in front of him. Displaying it for Lilee to see. "This is spider-web. How big do your spiders get?"
"I've never heard of any spider that could make something that large." She's surprised by the size of the web. It could easily be mistaken for a small piece of rope. "Should we tell Nicole about this?"
"Nah, she already told us everything she knew. She's useless for now." Dimas says. He scans the ground for more webbing.
"That's a mean thing to say." Lilee says, hands on her hips. "Can you try being nice?"
"Why start now?" Dimas notices a small indentation in the ground.
A fair distance away from the first indentation, a second one is hidden by the grass. From what he can tell, they lead away from the farm and into the forest. He follows the indents to the edge of the fence. Nothing.
[Maybe further in…]
Dimas jumps the fence with ease.
"Where are you going?!" Lilee also jumps the fence, albeit slower.
Lilee finds Dimas with his hands on a tree. "Why are you groping that tree?"
"There's bark missing from it." Dimas ignores the groping part of the question. "Some of the other trees are missing bark as well. Same height."
The places on the trees where the bark had been disturbed were a few feet above where Dimas could reach. It made Dimas curious.
Lilee began to feel uneasy. Despite living in a world where super-powered humans exist, there were still many myths and legends of ferocious monsters. Unfortunately for her, more than a few of these creatures lived in dense forests. Like the one she and Dimas were currently in.
She quickly moved to Dimas's side. "Do you think a monster could've made those?"
[So, they do have monsters here?]
"You have monsters in this world?" Dimas asks. Not out of fear or concern, but simple curiosity.
Lilee nods. "I've heard of a thin man that's tall and steals children. A huge monster that can hide as a tree and mimics the voices of its victims. Then this kid once told me of a shadow with red eyes-"
"Stop." Dimas holds his hand up. "Are these real or just rumors?"
"They could be real…" Lilee says sheepishly.
Dimas rolls his eyes and follows the trail of marked trees. Lilee stays close behind, ready to run if any of the trees move.
[Whatever we're dealing with is big, leaves weird tracks, and uses spider-web. If Lilee can be trusted, and that's a big if, then it can't be a giant spider. Or she could be lying.]
Dimas stops walking abruptly causing Lilee to bump into him. Before them was a massive hole. There was a rocky slope that made a descent possible but risky. A tumble here would mean a lot of cuts and bruises, if you're lucky. The slope leads to the entrance of an underground cavern.
[The marks lead here. An underground cave… in the middle of a forest… Maybe it is a monster.]
Dimas begins to make his way down, careful to avoid any loose rocks that could cause him to fall.
"Are we really going down there?" Lilee asks.
"I am." Dimas answers.
Lilee lets out a small whimper before heading down.
After passing through the mouth of the cave, the duo find themselves walking down a vast chamber. The chamber is lit by clusters of glowing mushrooms that give off a bright blue light. It was silent except for the sound of their footsteps that echo off the cave walls. Dimas couldn't help but remember his dream of being underwater and how it felt familiar.
Before he could think more about it, Lilee starts talking about the glowing mushrooms.
"My dad told me about these." She plucks one of the mushrooms. It flickers a few times before finally dimming for good. "They glow when exposed to Brío. It activates a chemical inside that makes it poisonous to eat."
"So, someone is using Brío arts to steal the cows." Dimas picks one of the mushrooms. "The only problem is what kind of arts do they have?"
"That's not all." Lilee tosses the mushroom aside. "Whatever art they have, it would have to be strong to activate this many."
They soon come upon several diverging paths. Each one similar, nothing that could identify one as the right choice. Clusters of glowing mushrooms light each path.
"Do they stay lit forever?" The dead mushroom is still in Dimas's hand.
"They slowly die down after a few minutes. Still poisonous though, so don't eat it until it dries out." Lilee explains.
"I wasn't planning on eati… Do you hear that?" Dimas walks towards the left most path.
The sounds of something scurrying around can be heard deeper inside. Like a small animal.
Dimas signals Lilee to stay quiet. He slowly makes his way towards the noise. Whoever, or whatever, is making the noise hasn't noticed them. When they round a corner, a small dark creature the size of a small dog runs right at them. Reacting on instinct, Dimas runs towards the unknown assailant and kicks it towards the cave wall. The creature, now near a cluster of the mushrooms, is a spider bigger than any other spider the duo have seen. It hisses at Dimas and scurries towards him. Dimas tries to kick it away but the spider jumps over the attack and lands on Dimas's chest. The spider's weight makes Dimas lose his balance and he falls backwards. With its prey down, the spider lunges at Dimas with fangs at the ready. When suddenly Lilee kicks it off of Dimas. The spider, tired of being used as a soccer ball, begins hopping across the walls and ceiling towards the duo. The movements are fast and unpredictable. Then it lunges towards them. Unfortunately for the spider, Dimas was not only faster but had also powered up. With one swipe the spider was sent spiraling towards a wall with a sickening splat! The noise echoes throughout the cave.
Lilee flinches. "Nice reaction time." She watches as the spider's legs begin to twitch. "Can we get out of here now?"
Dimas, out of breath, nods.
"You know, I've never seen you once get tired while we were walking. Yet, just using your ability once really takes it out of you. It's a good thing you're tough or that ability of yours could be more trouble than it's worth." Lilee says when they reach the main chamber they came in from.
Dimas says nothing. He's still putting the pieces of this mystery together but there was something missing. The spider was big but not big enough to create the indents in the ground or the markings on the tree.
[Was it… something bigger?]
Lilee lets out a scream. Dimas snaps out of his thoughts and sees a massive spider the size of a house blocking their exit.