-The night before 6 returned to Folrost, during the fight with the spiders-
Amidst the field of spider corpses, 6 sat on his ass, waiting for the large spider to reach him as he caught his breath.
Taking care of the final group of spiders was about as easy as he expected.
Aside from one short incident, where a brown spider managed to bite his hand when he was reaching for another spider, the only thing he lost throughout the battle was some stamina.
Even though the spider did manage to bite him when his defenses had dropped slightly after taking the battle so easy, it still failed to actually hurt him. He felt the bite, but only just, which slightly disappointed him. He was eager to test his resistance to poison on this otherworldly one that he wouldn't have had the chance to test himself against on his homeworld.
The Protective Blessing of Trivrium was too tough for the spider's fangs to penetrate. All 6 had to do was shake his arm to fling the spider away as it didn't even have a proper grip on him.
He understood why Trivrium provided this blessing to whatever adventurer decided to accept this particular mission. With just a basic upgrade to his defenses, the spiders were basically helpless to his assault. He had to admit, she knew what she was doing.
He could ignore these tiny spider's attacks entirely.
The most they could do to him is slow him down and get in his way, and even then he just had to step on them.
The large spider had reached the ground in his area, coming down from its position on the webbed wall of the spider's nest.
It moved much slower than the tiny spiders, but not so slow that it would be and easy target.
Its larger body was clearly less nimble though, each step took significant effort and left impressions on the ground.
From a closer distance, the more intricate details of the spider could be seen. Though it wasn't quite as hairy as the corpses surrounding 6, due to the carapace of the spider being more prominent and sturdier looking, it still had a good amount of hair covering its large body.
The joints on its legs fitted into each other like pieces of armor, unlike the fleshy look of the tinier spiders which just looked like enlarged house spiders with murdery bits.
It wasn't quite shiny, but the carapace did have some reflectiveness to it, beneath the short hairs on covering it.
If an armor stat was a thing, this was definitely a mini-boss that featured higher armor as its main strength.
With the time he had to spare as he waited for the spider to reach him, 6 decided to check the adventurer's log.
[Adventurer's log]
[Dealt stabbing damage: Instant kill]
[Dealt crushing damage: Instant kill]
[Dealt slashing damage: -20 health]
[Dismembered two limbs: -15 health]
Most of his log was filled with things like this, the end results of him massacring the spiders. Based on how much damage he did to the spiders who didn't die instantly, it seemed like they had roughly 30-40 health.
Considering he was about the battle his first challenging enemy, one that he had no information on whatsoever, he kept his log open, so he could glance at it during battle to see if it gathered any important information he could use to his advantage.
Had his enemy been of the fast variety, he wouldn't have made this choice, but seeing how slow the spider moved he decided he could take the risk in exchange for the potential benefits.
6 stood up and stretched his shoulders, letting out a groan of contentedness. He began loosening his body up, preparing for the nearing spider and the intense fight that would surely follow.
When the large spider reached the outskirts of the spider graveyard 6 created, it began charging extremely quickly, catching 6 slightly by surprise. The spider reached 6 while his knife was still in its sheath, slamming directly into him.
It sent 6 flying backwards, hitting the ground with a thud and squishing the spider corpse he landed on even more.
Luckily the spider corpse broke his fall slightly, or that may have hurt him.
6 jumped to his feet, examining the spider which had stopped its charge. While it was remaining stationary, for whatever reason, he glanced at his log.
[Got sent flying: -0 health (Protective Blessing of Trivrium)]
He awed once again at how strong the blessing Trivrium lent him for this mission was, even blocking the damage of the charging spider entirely. 6 assumed whatever the spider just was a skill or something special, something that took enough out of it that it couldn't move for a short period after it came to a stop
The spider began moving again, walking towards 6 in its original slow speed.
Casting his thoughts aside, 6 rushed the spider, aiming to take advantage of his higher mobility.
He struck one of the spider's front legs, trying to gauge how tough its defenses were while also aiming to incapacitate its leg. The legs of the other spiders were fragile, an easy to attack weak spot that they could barely protect.
His shin made direct contact with the leg, the spider showing no intention to dodge.
The kick had absolutely no effect, aside from a nasty welt on 6's leg that he was sure would leave a bruise.
The spider responded by trying to bite 6's shoulder while he was regaining his footing, but 6 leaned backward and allowed himself to fall directly onto his back to dodge the spider's fang. He didn't want to put all of his faith in the blessing, because if it failed then it meant the damage was extremely high for his weak body.
6 was forced to dodge to the side, rolling away from the spider as it tried to crush him with its leg.
After rolling away, he spun back to his feet, drawing his knife out in one fluid motion and stabbing it at the spider's face.
The spider lowered its body, taking advantage of its eight legs, the knife now connecting with the tough carapace on its back.
The strike left a distinct mark, a very deep scratch on its back, before it skirted off of the spiders body, failing to stab directly into it before the round body of the spider and its hard armor caused it to slide right off. A slight amount of goo pooled out of the tiny wound.
It wasn't the solid hit he was aiming for, and it certainly didn't do as much damage as he hoped it would, but at least it proved he could hurt the spider.
With his arm now over the spider after his failed blow, 6 was in a vulnerable spot.
A blow hit 6 in the chest, as the spider used its body as a battering ram, slamming him with all its strength.
Breath flew out of 6's lungs after the unexpected blow.
While he was bringing air back into his lungs, the spider lifted its legs and brought it down onto 6's foot, placing its entire weight on it.
This pinned 6 where he was standing until he could get his foot out from under the spider.
Eight eyes locked onto 6's face as it watched to see what his reaction would be, expecting to see him in pain.
Contrary to its expectation, 6 had a slight grin on his face as he gasped in air.
He threw his head back and slammed it into the spider's head, dazing the spider for a moment.
As the spider was dazed, he jammed his knife into the point where the spider's leg connected into its body, twisting it slightly before he ripped it back out.
Grating screeches emerged from the spider as the wound dripped goo onto the ground below.
It recoiled, drawing backwards and removing its leg from 6's foot.
Once it shook off the pain, it looked at 6 with anger filling its soul, only to be unable to find 6.
Silently, 6 had dropped to the ground, below the spider's field of view on a whim.
He noticed that each of the spider's eyes seemed to be able to look forward and above, but that the way its face was structured, it blocked its own field of vision below itself.
This wouldn't be a problem if it were on a web, look at prey from above, but when fighting him on the ground like it was, it left an opening he could exploit.
The spider whipped its head to both sides, thinking 6 had slipped around it while it wasn't paying attention to him.
Immediately after the spider began turning away from where 6 actually was, he sprung up from the ground, taking advantage of its surprise to once again stab his knife into the spider, this time into one of its eyes.
Pained by the knife in its eye, it reeled back once again, ripping the knife out of 6's hand before he had the chance to remove it.
6 leaped back, gaining some distance as the spider flailed its many limbs around in agony.
As the spider threw itself around, it began shooting web from its joints, splattering the area around it with sticky blobs of web.
Cursing at his lack of cool attacks, 6 dodged the blobs, not wanting to test what happens when he touches one, not when this was a desperate attack it only released when it was in a high amount of pain.
Without his knife 6 was in a bad situation to attack.
The sharp edge of the knife was basically his only hope of damaging the spider without putting himself at risk.
Eight legs proved to not be very useful for the spider when it had no way to remove the knife in its eye with them.
Fortunately for 6, and unfortunately for the spider, it was in a particularly fatal spot.
Once the angry spider gave up on its useless flailing and web shooting, it began running at 6, tossing aside any kind of tactic.
All the spider cared about was killing the one who caused it the intense pain it felt, killing the one who ruined its eye.
On the other hand, 6 only cared about what he would gain from killing the mini-boss.
Recklessly, he allowed the spider to charge him, letting it get as near to him as possible before he took action.
He dodged the charge at the very last moment, darting to the side of the spider.
Just as the spider passed him, he grabbed its leg, injuring his own shoulder as the jerk of being carried away by the spider's charge was sent through his body.
He didn't let go of his grip however, using his momentum to swing himself over the spider's body as it tried to come to a stop and turn around, seemingly oblivious to the presence of 6 on its body.
He brought his foot down directly onto the pommel of his knife, digging it deep into the spider's head, completely burying it in its head.
The spider let out a horrendous screech, so loud that 6 couldn't get his balance once he was flung off the body.
6 covered his ears in midair, his head pounding instantly as he crashed onto the ground with no intention of catching himself.
The spider didn't take advantage of 6's vulnerability as its body and legs twitched, jerking from side to side before it finally collapsed.
Until his aching head stopped pounding, 6 laid down upon the dirty, disturbed soil beneath him.
"Ugh, god, this totally ruined my kickass kill." 6 said, his voice pained.
Struggling to his feet, he looked at the now dead spider. He spat the blood in his mouth out, disgusted by the iron-like taste.
He walked to the corpse, eager to see if he gained anything.
[Domus Planet Trivrium requests to receive: Large Spider's Corpse.]