Nova began to drag himself towards his backpack, where he kept his potions and antidote.
As his legs were completely paralysed, he used his hands to grab the soil and grass to pull himself forward.
Traces of sweat and blood were left behind as he dragged himself.
'Ahhh! Shit! My left hand is in so much pain.' Nova cursed, but he still gritted his teeth and moved forward.
The deep wound on his left hand —which he used to catch one of the spider's claws, aganoised him.
In his fading blurry vision, Nova finally saw his backpack that was thrown away before the battle —only ten meters away from him.
One meter, two meter, three meter…
Little by little, while holding his pain and the urge to shout out loud, Nova moved towards his only lifeline.
As time ticks by second and second, the poison inside his body also began to increase its effectiveness.
Along with his legs, Nova's breathing became hard and he had difficulty with raising his neck.
'Ah, fuck!' Nova couldn't help, and his face kissed the ground. The dust and debris on the ground scattered away due to his heavy breathing.
Despite the situation, Nova didn't lose hope and finally dragged his body towards his backpack.
Upon reaching, he turned back, facing himself towards the blue sky. He immediately searched for the antidote before his hands could paralyze, to his fortune, this poison didn't affect his memory.
So he found the antidote and drank everything in a single gulp. The antidote that Nova drank eliminates the poison of almost every single Stage 1 monster, so he was confident that he would survive.
Then Nova dragged himself into a bush, hiding himself from prying eyes. Although, he drank antidote and would definitely survive, but it needs time to take effect.
In his current situation, anything can kill him without effort.
Although it wasn't pleasant to be hidden in the bush, Nova wasn't in a position to worry about comfort.
….
After an hour, Nova finally emerged from the bush. He wrapped his left hand with a black cloth to prevent infection.
Taking his backpack, Nova approached the spider.
"Seems like luck isn't with me," Nova murmured after failing to find any core within the spider.
Monster cores are a major source of income for explorers, as they are used to create potions that provide special abilities.
Moreover, they serve as a superior or premium currency for trading valuable items.
Nova sighed and chose not to collect any parts from the spider. No one would be interested in a highly toxic monster carcass capable of immobilizing a person with just one cut. Collecting them would only occupy space in his backpack.
Just when Nova anticipated a smoother journey, he noticed another spider about fifty meters away. It appeared identical to the previous one.
Although Nova couldn't precisely distinguish the differences from a distance, he could sense that this spider posed a greater threat than the last.
In contrast to the aggressive spider, this one kept its distance from Nova. It carefully maintained a safe space and refrained from attacking him.
It emitted strange noises and stared at his face intensely.
Even though Nova was unfamiliar with spider language, he grasped its meaning.
The spider was signaling him not to enter its territory and urged him to retreat.
"I regret to inform you, but I've chosen your kind to be my first ingredient."
With that, Nova seized his whip and stepped into the spider's territory.
Upon realizing Nova ignored its warning, the spider launched an immediate attack.
As Nova approached to strike with his whip, he noticed the spider seemingly waving its leg in the air.
"ArGhh"
Nova roared out in pain. An invisible force sliced into his shoulder, tearing his combat suit and causing blood to gush out.
'What just happened?!'
Before Nova could process the situation, the spider waved its leg two more times.
Another unseen cut appeared near his ankles. This time, it didn't break the skin like the first injury.
Although it was not serious, Nova was understandably shaken by what had just transpired.
He spotted a slender white thread moving at a blinding speed as the spider flicked its legs. Thanks to his sturdy boots, he suffered no harm to his ankles; otherwise, he would have found himself in trouble.
Realizing that he was surrounded by the spider's threads of the web, Nova lashed his whip around him.
Nova felt a slight resistance from the whip, but as he expected, the strings around him were cut.
Feeling the amount of threads, Nova's face darkened.
If he had walked another five meters, he would never have been able to escape.
Nova lashed the whip over and over again, cutting every string around him.
The spider instantly became furious when it saw Nova simply destroying his life's work.
It jumped out of the tree and rushed towards Nova. In a split second, it appeared before him.
Nova who had learned his lesson from the previous fight and never attempted a close combat.
When the spider jumped out of the tree, he had already left its territory.
After moving twenty meters away from his original position, Nova stopped.
The spider continued to pursue Nova with great momentum.
As the spider approached, Nova attacked its two front legs and broke them with a single blow.
"You have fallen into my trap!"
Nova knew from the moment he learned of the existence of threads that he would not be able to win against the spider in its territory.
So, after taunting the spider by sabotaging its efforts, Nova lured it outside - where the advantage was on his side.
Maybe it was luck or maybe after killing the same species once, Nova handled the fight perfectly without taking any injuries.
The spider's movements slowed down.
Its black and white body turned black and red, covered in blood and whip marks.
Seeing that the spider was exhausted, Nova decided to end the fight.
Somehow, the spider felt that its life was about to end; it fired a huge web like a net in front of Nova, blocking his way and ran without even looking back.
"You think I'll let you go after all this?"
Using his injured hand, Nova drew his katana and slashed at the incoming web.
A small hole appeared, just enough for Nova to pass through.
Dropping his katana, Nova hurriedly chased after the spider.
The spider wasn't as fast as it had been before, so Nova easily grabbed its tail.
Before the spider could speed up, Nova whipped its hind legs with his whip.
The spider sensed the attack and tried to evade sideway— It did dodge the attack like intended, but not completely.
One of its legs broke and it caused its body to fall.
Before the spider could do anything, Nova whipped it on the head, but it did not cause the damage as he expected.
Instead, the spider screamed out loud.
*ACEEH*
But something unexpected happened. Nova felt a sharp pain on his head, like someone hit him using a hammer directly inside his head.
Due to the intense pain, Nova's body stopped moving and he lost his balance and fell down.
Both of his ear drums burst and blood flowed like a water fall. He even dropped his whip.
Nova laid on the ground without any means of defence.
Luckily for Nova, the spider couldn't approach him because of its broken legs.
But unlike Nova who was completely paralyzed, the spider started crawling towards him.
"Move! Move, you idiot!" Nova cursed. He heard the sound of something crawling towards him.
But Nova could only helplessly look up at the blue sky. His body did not obey his command.
As the spider got closer and closer, Nova was able to clearly distinguish the gasping and creaking sound.
When one of its broken legs touched Nova's hand, Nova felt a shiver run down his spine.
"Damn it! Move! Move!"
The spider was completely exhausted. It was entirely drained of its strength and wasn't even able to crawl its final step.
Remembering the hatred, the spider pushed its body one last time towards Nova's face.
When Nova felt the spider's breath on his ears, he bit his tongue in despair. He already regretted not teaming with Ryan and others. He regretted not heeding to the spider's warning.
Blood rolled from his tongue and entered his body, coupled with the desperate situation, it triggered a sudden adrenaline rush.
Before the spider could bite his neck, Nova immediately rolled aside.
He pulled the short knife from his thigh and plunged it deep into the spider's eye.
Blood sprayed everywhere, including his face, but Nova did not flinch and continued stabbing.
Nova only stopped when he could no longer raise his hand.
Fortunately, the spider died before Nova was exhausted.
"Somehow I survived."
Nova muttered and rolled away from the corpse.
Taking a deep breath, Nova raised his head to look at the sky, resting for a few minutes.
"I have to leave here as soon as possible."
The commotion here was larger than the previous battle and Nova wouldn't feel safe just by hiding in the nearby bush.
When Nova turned around, he saw the spider's head glowing brightly.
"Core!!"