Chapter 30
—--------
After more than two and a half minutes of hiding away in his chasm bunker, the battle between the giants had finally been taken away from Astaroth's general position.
Even the large, scavenging sand worms had traveled away from the chasm and chased after the massive, active commotion in the distance.
However…
"They all left... But they also took with them all the leftovers," Astaroth said in a disheartened tone. "They didn't leave any scraps for this impecunious spider… Is the whole world against me, or what?"
Of course it was. But he had to ask himself that question just to verify the woes and sorrows of it all…
"Well, at least I have the Infinite Energy System," he muttered.
[Ding! Yes, it is me and the host! Until the end of it time!]
"...You know, some of the time, you act even more human than I do. Are you actually a sentient system?" Astaroth asked with raised brows.
[Ding! That is simply impossible, host! The system has no sentience!]
"Is that so…"
Although still a little suspicious of the system's words, Astaroth had larger matters to attend to.
"Hey, system, I noticed it a while back, but why do my abilities no longer have percentages next to their attributes? For example, Claw Slash only says it's Lvl 4 and has the attributes Slash and Energy. Is there a particular reason for this?" He asked.
[Ding! The system has deemed the previous parameters for elements and attributes to be useless! It was only natural that the system discarded the useless functions! Effectiveness of ability attributes is now based solely on the level of the ability in relation to the Evolution Stage of the host.]
Silence.
"...System… If I were to one day be 'deemed useless'..." Before Astaroth could finish his question, the Infinite Energy System interrupted him, saying:
[Don't worry, dear host! The system has no authority over the life or death of the host!]
"But that doesn't mean you wouldn't still consider it…"
[Ding! The system cannot confirm or deny! The system recommends that the host strive not to be deemed useless!]
Silence.
After a moment of awkward silence, Astaroth turned his arachnid head away from the bobbing system interface and refocused on his path to evolution.
The grind never ends, and he saw some perfect scavengers in the distance, all of which looked ready to be reaped!
Rustle, Scuttle. Rustle, Scuttle.
Kicking up sand and pebbles, a group of Lvl 5 Trilobites were attempting to find some scraps from the latest battle between higher lifeforms.
Unbeknownst to them, they had their very own stalker. Something very close to them on the evolution chain was looking at them with multiple sets of predatory eyes.
None of these Lvl 5 Trilobites had seen a Lvl 4 Bell Spider before; hence, their evolutionary paths did not evolve in a way that gave them countermeasures against the Bell Spiders.
Never in the history of this pond had a Bell Spider been daring enough to attack a Trilobite. And for good reason; after all, the two races may be similar in size and strength, but in terms of racial rank, the Trilobites were still a league above the Bell Spiders.
The reason for this difference, despite their similarities?
Click, Clack!
It were the two large, gray pincers on the front of every trilobite!
Normally, they were not supposed to have pincers, but from birth, Trilobites were raised inside small nooks or holes by their parents. By the time they did eventually leave the nest, they were already Lvl 4, and their evolutions typically involved the gifting of two menacing pincers…
This was why a Bell Spider had never been able to successfully kill a Trilobite before dying itself.
Of course, there had been cases of a Bell Spider managing to poison a trilobite to death. But before a victory could ever come their way, they were always ripped apart by a pair of large pincers…
If Astaroth wished to change the notion that a Bell Spider could never defeat a Trilobite, then he had to think outside the box.
After formulating what he thought to be a solid plan, Astaroth propelled himself forward and did what might've seemed very reckless...
He charged in head first!
Click, Clack! Click, Clack!
The Trilibiotes immediately noticed the appearance of an intruder, and their first response was to jump the idiot!
However, the moment they went to crush the foolish Bell Spider in between their pincers, the fool in question tapped against the ground and kicked up some dirt. Then, with a cast of |Web Swing|, he jumped away from the blinded Trilobites.
Although still in the very first stages of development, the Trilobites had eyes, and having to rely on this sense would turn out to be their weakness…
—---------