When faced with insurmountable odds, some brave individuals decide to go out swinging. They decide to abandon all hope of rescue and safety. This often leads to a battle of attrition where both sides suffer heavy losses until one party is completely wiped from existence.
Oliver was not sure what motivated such heroic people to do so. What he did understand was that nobody who met a 3 foot long striped spider with 8 gleaming black eyes set above 5 inch razor sharp mandibles would think it was a good idea to fight to the death. He also understood that when a large spider brings all their brothers and sisters to said fight, it was high time to get the hell out of dodge.
Striped spiders began pouncing into the clearing everywhere behind his back, the way home was still relatively free from the critters. These spiders would hop to get closer to their human prey, their back legs winding up and allowing them to jump distances up to 15 meters. Oliver stumbled forward as he grabbed hold of his uncommon spear on the ground and firmly held on to his hatchet in his other hand. The rest of the spears stayed on the mossy ground as it would be clunky to run with them.
Over the roots and through puddles, Oliver began running in the direction with the least amount of spiders. However, these creepy crawlies were absolutely everywhere. A set of legs would appear on the branches above his head only to be followed by a thump behind him as it launched itself at him from the canopy. Other arthropods could be seen resting on trunks and boulders waiting for him to pass by to try their own luck at taking Oliver down.
One of these spiders tracked Oliver's movements and gave him a good lead before jumping directly at him. Luckily, the survivor twisted his hatchet behind him and rammed the stone head into the abdomen of his assailant. A sickening crunch could be heard as the chitinous exoskeleton of the creature cracked and tightly packed internal guts spilled out.
The body of the spider fell on the ground, leg upwards. It was immediately swarmed by its brethren and chomping sounds could be heard as they punctured their way into its carapace to feed on its innards.
[Level 2 Zebra Jumper slain. 90 experience points gained.]
[Corrosive fluids have destroyed Makeshift Stone Hatchet. Utility of object greatly reduced.]
Confused by the latter statement, Oliver brought up the hatchet he held in his hand and examined it while paying attention to the terrain ahead. Green goo dripped off the wooden stick where a stone axe head used to be. The end of said stick was splintered and the tool was ruined; It was more a stake than a hatchet at this point.
Oliver chucked the stick backwards at one of the nearest Zebra Jumpers, its mandibles snapped the stick as it lunged forward. These creatures were some real killing machines but seemed to have rather poor constitution. However, since Oliver was only a level 2 scavenger, numbers could easily overwhelm him.
Oliver sprinted through the muddy terrain, puddles splashing as he landed in them. His footing was often uncertain as some of these watering holes were much deeper than they appeared. After leaping over a fallen tree, his right foot sunk deep into some mud, completely engulfing his boot and making him trudge through at an alarmingly slow pace.
The thump, thump, thump of the spider horde was getting quite close, one of the arachnids landing directly beside him in the mud but found itself stuck in the viscous substance. Another jumped onto Oliver's backpack, only to not find proper footing for its hairy pairs of legs. It plopped onto its back and tried to wriggle frantically out of the mud. Oliver thought to himself he would have preferred the Swamp Of Many Sweets instead of this hellish swarm of arthropods.
Up ahead, he saw a faint glow near the edge of the fog. He thought he was nearing the camp, where he was much more familiar with the terrain and could use his campfire to light the nearby grasses on fire and scare away these predators.
However, His legs were soaked and caked with heavy mud. The run through the swamp was exhausting and difficult, and his legs burned as he pumped them to keep going. His speed had been vastly reduced by the last puddle.
Fearing the hopping creatures behind him, he took a deep breath and focused all his energy on his legs, he was almost there! His thighs screamed in protest but eventually he picked up his momentum and swung forward on his unstable legs.
[Cardiovascular Endurance Level 1 available. Learn the skill? Yes or No?]
Yes! Dear god, yes!
The skill was absorbed by the system and Oliver felt ever so slightly less out of breath. He also felt the muscles in his legs tightening, their protests against more running becoming a duller sensation than it previously was.
He was maybe 30 meters away from what appeared to be a flame that lay low to the ground. For some reason it seemed to be glowing a bright yellow and wasn't flickering too much. A nearby thump shook him out of his thoughts and he redoubled his efforts to get near the fire, he hoped they would be scared of the flame.
At 10 meters away, he felt the leg of one of the pursuing spiders reach out and grab his pant leg. The mud slicked the surface of the pants and did not allow the spider to climb onto Oliver. The sudden pressure on his calf threw him off balance and he stumbled towards the...yellow ball of light?
Feeling many more legs start to reach for his pants and shoes, Oliver jumped next to what he could see was a large organic-looking sac that was emitting a fluorescent yellow glow. His leap worked and no spider grabbed hold of his lower half, though he did feel the brush of mandibles on his boots as he was completing his jump.
He put his hands in front of him and rolled to avoid crashing head first into the ground. As he did so he heard a tremendous CRASH and the thumps of his pursuers immediately stopped. Confused, Oliver quickly got back on his feet and turned around.
Above the glowing sac were 4 pairs of sickly greenish-white legs with giant spiked ends. The 8 appendages connected to an extremely large bulbous abdomen that in turn connected to a head the size of a beach volleyball. Instead of colourful strips, there were two dinner plate black orbs and multiple golf ball sized orbs on top of a mouth filled with teeth that resembled kitchen knives. Another spider.
The difference was that Oliver's head was about the same height as where the new spider's head was. This thing was absolutely massive for an arachnid.
It lifted one of its front legs, the remains of a Zebra jumper lay impaled on the end of it and hung limply from the spike. The gigantic spider faced the horde of Zebra jumpers who had stopped their advance, it then opened its mouth. Clacking its mouth parts together as if they were two sticks and letting out a high pitched scream that sounded like nails on a chalkboard, the largest spider declared a challenge to the army of smaller arachnids.
A few brave Zebra Jumpers immediately propelled themselves forward and tried to land on the larger spider's carapace. Three of these were immediately sent flying back with a swipe of a foreleg. Another was impaled by another spiked appendage. Two Jumpers were lucky enough to get through the giant spider's flailing defense and landed on its carapace.
These two got to work trying to puncture the armor but the round shape gave them an issue as they could not find a proper place to bite it. One of them plunged a hooked mandible into the connective tissue found between the head and the abdomen.
Enraged, the giant spider shook its massive body violently and sent the two hitchhikers flying. It screamed another challenge and then sent a jet of bubbling green goo directly into the mass of smaller spiders. The smell of burning hair and boiling exoskeleton started smelling everywhere. Oliver used this distraction to hide behind a nearby tree and watched the battle unfold.
The large spider had decimated what appeared to be nearly 50 spiders at once. Their bodies spasmed and shook as their external defenses melted and the green acid ate through their internal organs. Multiple Jumpers began throwing themselves at the spider, trying to pierce the carapace as did their brethren earlier.
Oliver watched the massacre unfold as the smaller spiders would trade 10 of their own to slightly damage the larger spider. However, they had the numbers to spare and over a minute or two, the damage on both sides had begun to be painfully obvious.
Stacks of dead Zebra Jumpers lay scattered about, the dead must have numbered over the hundreds. The large Spider had lost a front leg in the fight and had half a back leg torn off when a smaller spider snipped the joint. Its body was full of scratch marks and pierce holes where the gooey insides could be seen leaking.
Both parties eyed each other warily and were stalking each other, unwilling to be the first to attack as it would leave them open to a counter attack. Only 15 smaller spiders could be seen from Oliver's hiding spot behind a tree. 16 if he counted the one he just spotted from the corner of his eye trying to ambush him.
In a quick turn and lunge, he shoved the uncommon wooden spear deep into the middle of the ambush predator's head. It went in easily and the legs of the spider began curling up into a death ball.
[Level 2 Zebra Jumper slain. 90 experience points received.]
[Level 3 scavenger reached, distributing stat allocations.]
[New Skill Spear Mastery Level 1 available. Learn skill? Yes or no?]
Immediately, Oliver began feeling stronger and more agile as his level up influenced his body. He mentally thought yes and absorbed the knowledge on how to properly use spears and maximize their efficiency in combat.
His stamina was also refreshed as his breathing finally slowed to a relatively normal speed and his senses could better determine objects around him.
He watched as the last of the Zebra Jumpers began to edge away from the larger spider. The glowing yellow sac had long been squished by one of the thin blade-like legs of the larger predator. Its fluorescent juices lay spilled on the ground, the main sac deflated and leaking more slime.
Making sure the hopping spiders had fled away deeper into the swamp, the cavernous maw of the spider began ripping off the legs of the dead spiders around it and chomping on them as if they were chips. It was most likely trying to recover its health and had a full pantry stocked around it with the outcome of the battle.
However, seeing all the leaking battle marks and puncture wounds, not to mention the venom that was most likely circling in the larger spider's body, Oliver had other plans than to retreat. This damaged behemoth was an opportunity to strengthen himself, receive some above average body parts to work with, and improve his current armour.
With his newly learned spear mastery skill slightly altering his grip on his wooden spear, he crept out of his cover when the spider was facing away from him. It seemed it had forgotten another predator was nearby.