The Bat was suddenly unable to move forward, as if something had caught it. It tried to get away, but it was only getting more entangled. Before long, a huge spider appeared behind one of the trees in which it had woven its web. It reached over and rolled the little being into a cocoon, which it kept in order to eat it later.
However, there were two reasons why that couldn't be. One was that this being wasn't real, only a temporary creation. It disappeared shortly after being enveloped, and left only an almost invisible trail of blood.
The other was that there would be no later for the spider. Going out to secure it prey was always a risk, though never as much as this time. A shadow loomed behind it, Gliding toward it. She was irritated that she had lost her scout.
Two of it eight eyes were instantly pierced. Two more were broken too before it could react. The predator tried to defend itself from her, but it wasn't easy to get rid of the vampire that was moving up its back. She was continually digging in her daggers or fingernails to secure her position.
The wounds had a corrosive effect that caused pain and damaged the arachnid. Bloody Touch wasn't able to absorb the bluish blood, but was able to expel it from its owner's body.
Soon, all four of its remaining eyes had been pierced, and the spider was full of wounds. It tried to escape, but her attacker was hurting it continuously from its back. It was losing strength as it lost blood, and it ended up losing its life.
"I have to find out what its weak point is, how to kill them faster," she said to herself while observed the lifeless body, and was trying to remove pieces of web glued to her face.
She left her assistant to take care of the remains of the level 11 spider, while using a Bat to inspect the web. It had been somewhat damaged, which made it too visible for possible new prey, as well as contained too many holes. She couldn't carry out her plan to wait for new prey to fall.
Something caught her eye through her winged scout. There were several silk sacks in a hollow in one of the trees, so she approached to investigate, shrouded in Darkness. After entering, she set a trap where the hollow began, in case something tried to get close.
Carefully, Gjaki used the dagger to open one of the silk sacks. It was a completely black level 13 wasp, which was still alive but paralyzed. The arachnid could hunt beings up to 4 levels above its, thanks to its web and its poison.
The insect was trapped and immobilized, which the vampire took advantage of to finish it off. She didn't want it to wake up and attack her, and it was easy experience points.
There were two more of those wasps, half a dozen birds of different species, and almost one of other winged insects. There were also some terrestrial beings, but these were more difficult to catch with the web, so they were few. Thanks to the immobilized prey that the spider had kept alive, what she called "free experience", the vampire managed to rise to level 13.
At 12, she had regained Mana Regeneration, which doubles the rate at which it is recovered, and which was more than welcome.
At 13, there was a passive of darkness magic, which increases the strength of it. It didn't give her new options, but reinforced some of the ones she already possessed.
Also at 12, there was Energy Regeneration, just as welcome as the mana one.
Finally, at 13, there was Surprise Dagger. It was a skill she shared with Goldmi, but which Gjaki had used much more often. Being able to use her daggers on her feet was very useful for her fighting style.
She had finished off all the spider's prey except one, with which she didn't quite know what to do. Its level was low, only 8, and it was a biped, perhaps intelligent, a goblin.
In the game, they were evil beings that appeared at low levels, almost always in a group. They weren't very strong individually, but their coordination could be difficult to deal with.
Besides, Gjaki hated them. When she was searching the internet for information on those beings, as she had done with others, she had found adult pages that had impacted the thirteen-year-old girl. So, she had a rather negative impression of them. They disgusted her.
It is true that in the game they were simply mobs to eliminate, but she couldn't get certain unpleasant images out of her head. Yet now, there was something about the goblin that had surprised her. It was not a male goblin, but a female one, and her appearance wasn't as horrible as in the game. Gjaki even thought she was cute.
She had no recollection of female goblins in the game, and there had been few of them in her internet searches, so that surprised her. Since that goblin was unarmed, and her level was quite low, she wasn't a threat, and she would give hardly any experience, plus the vampire feel incapable of killing her. She just didn't know what to do with her.
Free of her prison and the liquid that had enveloped her, and that had kept her paralyzed, she soon began to move, as if she were having a nightmare. Although it still took a long time for her to open her eyes.
It was night, and there was hardly any light coming into that hollow in the tree trunk. Also, she felt weak and numb, and didn't quite understand where she was. Although she could see in the dark, it was difficult for her to begin to become aware of her surroundings, and to find two red eyes that were looking at her with curiosity.
"Aaaaahhh!! Who are you!? What do you want from me!?" she was suddenly scared.
Terrified, the goblin crawled with her legs back, until she encountered the wood that wouldn't let her back any further. It didn't take long for her to glimpse the profile of the face that contained those red eyes, where two prominent fangs stood out in a half-open mouth. The vampire had wanted to say something, but she had been halted by the goblin's unexpected reaction.
"Are you… are you going to eat me?" she asked, terrified.
"Mmh, I don't know. Do you taste good?" Gjaki asked, while thinking that it was strangely funny.
The little green being's eyes widened, unable for a few moments to respond.
"No, no! I taste horrible!" she finally assured, while shivering.
"Ha, ha. Just kidding. I'm not going to do anything to you. Tell me, who you're? How did you end up prey to the spider?"
Once again, the goblin was speechless, not quite understanding or remembering what had happened, what she was doing there.
Little by little, recent images appeared in her mind, such as being entangled when she was fleeing. She even remembered from what she was running, and felt fear. What the green being didn't understand was what she was doing in that dark place, and who was that being with red eyes.