Lucas clutched the now full bag of herbs. He would have to face her now wouldn't he? Even if she didn't remember what happened he would need to explain why he did not wake her up for training this morning.
His behavior was definitely suspicious. A shiver went down his spine and the mixed thoughts filtered down to the background. He flipped the hood off his head and strained his hearing.
All of the usual sounds of the forest were quiet. Lucas didn't like the feeling of anxiety that suddenly came over him. His senses told him that something dangerous was nearby, but he was not able to pinpoint where or what it was.
A slight rustling noise came from his right. Whipping his head to the right he was able to duck just in time to avoid a strange white blob. Cursing under his breath he quickly hid behind a nearby tree.
The object made a squishing sound and spread across a tree that was directly behind where he was standing. Lucas inspected the substance and realized it was a spider web.
'How is that possible?'
Didn't he check the surrounding area before they camped? How did he miss a spider beast? Lucas did not have time to think more deeply about it, because a light thudding of legs against the soft ground told him that the spider had closed in on his position.
Normally he would find advantage in the trees, but his opponent had likely avoided his detection by hiding amongst the trees. The only way he would be able to deal with this beast quickly was to stay on the ground.
Thankful he remembered to grab his sword this morning, he drew the blade and waited patiently for the sounds to get closer. All of his senses were alerting him to the danger he was in.
He must have stumbled into its territory if it was this aggressive. He quickly dodged as the tree he had been hiding behind exploded from the impact of the spider beast's attack.
Small pieces of wood flew and struck Lucas. He ignored the stinging sensation of the especially sharp pieces. Lucas tightened his grip on the sword in his hand.
The spider now had a full view of him and raised its front leg for another attack. Lucas waited until the last second to duck under the leg and swing his sword upwards.
The flesh of the spider was resistant to his blade. Gritting his teeth, Lucas forced the blade to slice through its flesh. A loud screeching noise filled the surrounding area where they fought.
Lucas felt liquid flow out of his ear. A grim expression appeared on his face under the hood of his cloak.
'If I let this battle drag out I will be in trouble.'
He could tell that this beast had still not entered into a higher level of strength, but it held some troubling abilities. To avoid his detection until he was right in its domain must mean it had some kind of stealth skill.
A cold feeling went down his spine as he realized that if he had not stumbled into its domain it could have become monstrously powerful. He shook off the green goo that had leaked out of the spider.
The wound he had landed on the spider seemed to have weakened it somewhat. The large black eyes seemed to be glaring at him.
'There is no escaping this situation. I will have to kill it.'
Nervously checking his grip on his sword, he did not wait for the spider to initiate another attack.
Rushing the spider he managed to land a strike on the front legs closest to him. The legs were harder to slice into then the soft underbelly. It took all of his strength to make the smallest of cuts.
The spider began spinning webs all around their immediate area. Soon webs covered the trees and ground around them. The webs stuck to his boots, slowing him down considerably.
Lucas cursed under his breath. What was a burden to him seemed to increase the speed of his enemy. The spider was using its web to climb higher in order to gain an advantage over him.
'How is this beast so intelligent?'
Surveying his surroundings, he found some rocks that were not already entangled in the webs. It was a crude way of making the spider come down, but he really had no choice.
Lucas picked up the nearest rock and extended his arm as far as it could go before lobbing the rock at the spider above him. His only hope was that the rock would somehow hit in a critical spot.
As if the spirits heard his prayers the rock landed solidly where its eyes were. The loud whack almost made him wince, but he couldn't feel sorry for this beast that had trapped him in its web prison.
The spider screamed after the rock hit it squarely in the eyes. Since it was farther away its screams didn't affect Lucas as strongly.
Picking up another rock, Lucas threw it as hard as he could. Another whack alerted him that he had hit the spider once more, but it looked unaffected.
The spider answered his attack by shooting another web ball at him. Lucas had to roll and dodge the web. He heard the ball whistle past him.
'Is it faster?'
Each second he spent in this battle seemed to become more and more dangerous. He should not have let the spider entrap him like this. If he had been more aware of his surroundings, instead of being lost in his thoughts, this would not have happened.
'I shouldn't waste time thinking about things that can't be changed.'
Lucas thought about his situation as he continually dodged the long range web attacks from the spider. There was always the possibility that Eva would come looking for him if he let the battle drag out for too long.
He doubted the spider could continually shoot its webs forever. Testing out the web barrier he used his sword to try to cut through the wall of webs.
His sword clanged on the web. Lucas' eyes narrowed as he realized the spider was using some kind of strengthening skill to keep him in the cage it had built.
Turning back to the spider hanging from a thick thread from the top of the cage, he got back into a defensive stance.
"Fine."
Dodging the many web attacks allowed him to get used to his new footing. Using the wall as a foothold he launched himself off the wall and swung his sword mid air at the hanging spider.
His aim was to hit the singular string it was hanging from. The spider seemed to be dazed for a moment as it watched its prey suddenly become airborne.
Scrambling to climb back up the thick string it had prepared to better attack its prey, it realized too late that the string had already been cut. The feeling of weightlessness as it fell was new to its seemingly short life.
After cutting the string Lucas used the opposite wall to kick off and send his body back towards the falling spider. A trail of green goo was falling after the spider from the deep cut he had scored early.
Lucas used this stream of spider blood to aim his next and last attack. Since the spider was not able to save itself from its fall it was helpless to his next attack. The last thing the spider beast remembered was the feeling of intense pain and the darkness that followed.
The spider fell on its head as it struck the ground and the force of Lucas' sword, as it sank deeply into the flesh of the spider, was driven by the force of gravity.
The spider did not cry out loudly this time as the last of its breath left its body.
Pulling out his sword was difficult, but Lucus was able to yank it out of the body of the spider with some effort.
The barrier around him began to crumble as small white pieces of web flew around him like flower petals in the wind. Lucas kicked off the body and flipped in the air before landing some distance away.
There was no need to be this cautious as he realized that the spider that caused him all this stress had finally fallen under his sword. Lucas leaned on his sword as he caught his breath.
How had they already encountered two large beasts within the last month? Lucas had picked routes that were near towns and villages on purpose to avoid contact with dangerous animals and beasts.
He unconsciously looked in the direction of where Eva should still be by the river.
'Was I naive to think that I could make this trip without coming into contact with the dangers of the forest?'
The thought of Eva being in danger because he was negligent made him feel sick to his stomach. No, he did not have time to follow this train of thought. They needed to move their camp immediately!
Other beasts would be attracted to this area because of the blood of the spider beast. Powerful animals that wanted to become a beast would attempt to eat the meat of the beast since it could potentially create several newer beasts.
Lucas used some leftover web to clean off the blood the best he could from his sword. Sheathing his sword he took one last look around to make sure nothing else was here and bolted towards their camp. He just hoped that Eva was done bathing.
******
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