Syl

Chapter 191: The Terror

But first, I need to find that spider... If it even is a spider anymore? Honestly, it’s starting to feel like it has evolved into a ghost, with how I’ve not even caught sight of the damned thing.

I paused, realized the possibility, and groaned.

Please don’t be a damned ghost!

***

She was right! I can’t believe she was right! A small spider frantically thought to herself as she scurried away toward her den.

She couldn’t believe the absurd situation she was in when she had finally gotten some peace and quiet from the nonstop dwarf attacks. But now some crazy exterminator elf was after her! She thought back to the warning given to her by the mysterious voice during her last evolution.

"There’s a good chance you’ll run into an... Elf in the near future." The bodiless womanly voice expressed. "I don’t think you currently have the strength to prevail, so I suggest you improve yourself drastically."

She hated the voice, especially how it always spoke in a "mother knows best" sort of manner. Like she was a damn child. It was the reason she was in this situation in the first place!

A brand new life it had enticed her with, filled with possibilities and unknowns. The only payment was some of your old memories, a real bargain, right? Sure, she got the brand new life she was promised, only the hidden caveat of being reborn as a damned spider! She couldn’t believe her misfortune; where was the disclaimer on this deal?

She pulled up her profile quickly to look at her condition. As always, she grimaced when she saw the new name the dwarves had somehow given her.

Name: The Terror [Manhunter]

Race: Riftweaver Spider LV 25

Class: -

Status: Injured (Minor)

Mana: Draining

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My Mana is looking atrocious. Why did teleporting that elf cost so much, Mana! I barely moved her any distance at all! And why isn’t she affected by [Manhunter]? The fear effect worked on the dwarves, so it should work on elves, too! I’m only halfway to my next evolution, so it’s not like I can pull something out of my ass to gain the upper hand.

She began spinning more [Rift Thread]; it was her best weapon remaining after her Mana had plummeted so spectacularly. Her latest evolution was spectacular, and she felt like she could take on anything, or so she had thought until this elf proved otherwise.

Sometimes, I really wish I could have a do-over with my choices. Picking the Shrinking mutation was a mistake of note; make myself small and cute, and maybe the dwarves will stop attacking me? Ha! Good joke, past-me. Nobody finds spiders cute...

She paused and tried to think on the bright side.

Although... it did allow me to qualify for this dimension evolution since dimensions are apparently related to size. Or something. Ugh, all this stuff makes my head hurt. Maybe I should have taken her advice and picked a magic-related evolution sooner?

She pondered the thought a bit before shaking her little head.

No... While some spite may have influenced my decision, Trapweaver was definitely the way to go. I wouldn’t have survived as long as I have if I hadn’t been bunkering up in this booby-trapped mine.

She sighed.

Well... Until the elf exterminator showed up and destroyed everything that I had constructed by casually walking through it! Seriously? Is her body itself a weapon? Why does everything except [Rift Thread] just break on contact with her?

And does she have instant regeneration or something, too? It took ages to grow back when I lost a leg, even when I used that [Regen Gland]! Meanwhile, I watched her regrow an entire arm in seconds! Talk about unfair...And most importantly, why do elves have wings!?

That had really shattered her hope of defeating the elf. Gravity was her ultimate secret weapon, the great equalizer to all, but even that wasn’t enough to stop the elf.

With a new supply of [Rift Thread], she began crafting some [Recovery Thread] and manipulating it with [Thread Mastery] to cover her burn wounds before recoating herself in some [Armor Thread].

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And landmines? Freakin’ landmines! I thought this was a fantasy world with magic and monsters; why does she have landmines!? If I hadn’t used [Blink], I would have been a smoldering corpse.

She "slapped" herself with one of her pedipalps. This was no time to get into a negativity spiral. At worst, she could [Blink] away and abandon her home; escape was always an option.

She sat in her web cluster and activated [Spatial Sense], getting a small but incredibly accurate reading of her surroundings. [Spatial Sense] was almost mandatory to use anything with [Dimension Magic] or even to utilize her [Rift Thread] effectively.

Next, she activated [Thread Mastery] again and began exploring through her silken network laid throughout the mine to locate the elf. Ordinarily, it would provide minimal sensory input intended only for vibrational feedback. However, combining the two traits allowed her almost complete remote surveillance anywhere within her spiderweb.

This, combined with [Rift Thread], which was imbued with dimensional energy, allowed her to set traps remotely anywhere within her domain. It took her a while, but she found the elf cautiously exploring another tunnel. She grasped some of her [Rift Thread] and shunted it into appearing and occupying the space surrounding the elf.

When used like this, her [Rift Thread] was especially deadly. It created a tiny area of nothingness, and since she could basically "teleport" it into an open space, she could trap someone without them realizing it. However, that did not seem to be the case with the elf. She immediately froze as if having discovered the suddenly appearing trap.

Agh! Just step into it! She shouted in frustration, but now the elf examined the hidden [Rift Thread]. Why? How? Nobody else could detect it; this is so frustrating!

She snapped some of the connected threads in an attempt to use the trap as an offensive trap. But it was far from effective, as it was extremely slow due to the strange nature of the [Rift Thread], seemingly disregarding most of the usual properties she had routinely used. Factors like wind and even tension, the strange otherworldy thread seemed to ignore all that and behave by its own made-up rules.

Watching the deadly thread slowly drift towards the elf, only for her to casually move out of the way and watch it with puzzlement, was disheartening. If it was her normal threads, she could have snapped them like whips and cut the elf into pieces by now.

Frustrated by the experience, she sent one of her ceiling traps collapsing like a well-positioned net. Thanks to the high tension applied to the thread, it sprung from nowhere and at an incredible speed. The entire net was created from [Poison Thread] and was razor-sharp.

When she had used it against even the toughest of dwarves, they would at least receive some cuts from it, and her poison would get to work. But once again, when the net touched the elf, it just... Melted. The elf tilted its head at the trap with a bemused expression.

Why didn’t I pick a spider with deadly fangs instead of all this thread nonsense? Then I could just bite her!

The elf tilted her head, then smiled. "I think I found you..."

What! How? She screamed mentally. Then she saw the elf’s gaze following along the ceiling at her hidden spiderweb network.

No! No, no, no! She started panicking. Why did I do that? I knew she had some crazy sensory ability to see the [Rift Thread]!

The elf was moving with startling speed, using some movement ability to vanish from sight and appear at a distance.

Does she have something like [Blink] too? Shit!

Following along with [Thread Mastery] and [Spatial Sense] became increasingly problematic as the elf moved far too quickly, making tracking her difficult. She made the snap decision to upgrade [Spatial Sense] using some trait points to further increase its vision radius. Immediately, her field of vision increased, and now the elf wasn’t instantly escaping from her vision’s boundary.

Okay! Trap time! I can use her reckless speed to my advantage!

But before that, she quickly threw up a boundary web between herself and the entrance to her home. By creating an entire frame of [Rift Thread], she could create makeshift portals by imbuing it with some of her Mana. It was how she had originally sent the elf plummeting into the pit trap.

Feeling a little safer, she started creating lethal tripwires in front of the elf. She barreled straight through one, leaving a gash that initially made the spider cheer at success, but the elf kept going. Despite the massive amount of blood produced, the wound was seemingly almost superficial with how quickly it closed up and how she ignored it.

Stop cheating! You must suffer some penalty for all the blood you’ve been losing!

She created more tripwires, but now the elf was prepared, and right when she thought she finally had her, the elf suddenly burst into lightning and appeared an even greater distance away.

It was so absurd that it bordered on the unbelievable. Just how many tricks could one person have? Were all elves like this? None of the dwarves had displayed anything nearly as good as this, and even the ones she struggled to defeat fell victim to gravity.

Why was I born a stupid spider when I could have been born a killer elf? Look at her!

She gave up on trying to create more tripwires; she was wasting what precious [Rift Thread] she had left and instead was preparing for a last stand. She still had her teleport trap on the doorway, and when not operating remotely, she had far greater control over her threads.

I guess I’m testing using it as a direct weapon now. I wish I had the foresight to practice this some more, but I never imagined none of my traps would work.

If she was desperate, she could even undo her shrink and return to her full size or even pump it up and try to crush the elf. Hell, maybe even use her old fangs like when she first started.

Would my fangs even work? Or would they also melt? She shuddered at the thought.

At the same time, she confirmed that she still had avenues of escape using [Blink]. She could hear the sound of rock exploding as the elf destroyed a path towards her den.

That’s when she finally came face to face with her would-be assassin. She stared at the beautiful elf with envy, a far cry from her monstrous spiderly form. She tensed, expecting a sudden attack, and was ready to use [Blink] at a moment’s notice, but instead, the elf just stared at her as if trying to solve a puzzle.

It was like a silent standoff, with both parties slowly examining each other, but neither committed to taking the first hostile action. The spider could feel fatigue slowly building up on her, like a creeping poison. The tensity of the situation was clearly getting the better of her.

Since the equipped effect of the [Manhunter] emblem wasn’t doing anything, she decided to swap it out for [Apex Hunter] as a troublesome thought was niggling in the back of her mind. As soon as the new emblem was transferred over, a familiar voice tickled the back of her mind.

Worthy!

No, no, no! She’s stronger than me? I already suspected it, but having it so bluntly confirmed is rotten!

And then she felt her heart sink as the elf suddenly smirked.

Dread immediately assailed her, and she instinctively reached for [Blink], only for it to fail spectacularly, and she barely moved a few inches.

No, why!? She demanded, the fear gripping her as she pulled up her profile. She had ascertained she had the Mana previously, and it had been recovering too. What she saw next robbed her of all remaining hope.

Mana: Drained

What did she do to me?