Terrontula’s Lair

Helping him to sit on the floor, she notices the cut on his shoulder.

“This wouldn’t have happened if I had learned a skill.” She said.

“Don’t worry about it.” He grinned, skin turning pale. Sweat raced down his body, and his temperature was inconsistent between limbs.

“Of course I’m gonna worry about it!” She noticed the satchel at his side and started picking through the items within. Lining the sides of the bag were small slots holding thin test tube bottles of red liquid. When looking at the bottles, all of them were labeled “potion”.

“We need an antidote…” After checking the rest of the bottles on the other side, she sighed. “There’s no antidote here.”

“The poison would only spread farther if I tried to carry him back, not that I could with his size.” She thought.

Arte tapped her forehead with her fist while trying to remember where she could get some when it hit her. She turned her attention to the top of the waterfall, then to the tall rocky wall she’d need to climb to make it up there.

“It’s really risky to climb that. Those rocks and vines are constantly exposed to the splashing water. I’d slip and crack my skull. It may take a bit more time, as you go around the drier area of the walls and steadily ascend to the top of the waterfall. Better safe than sorry.” She thought.

“I’m gonna head into its den. They typically nest around certain flowers because the fragrance wards off other monsters, and it works well as a cure for poison, too.” She taps him on the shoulder. “Don’t move a muscle.”

He just stares at her silently for a few seconds, and she rolls her eyes.

“You can talk.” She groaned.

“I was just following instructions.” He nearly chuckled, then grabbed his dagger. Pouring his anima into it, he activated the skill glimmerblade. “I’ve poured enough in there for it to last a long while.”

“Thanks.” She grabs the dagger from him, tying it with the rope connected to her shirt.

Navigating to the wall, a fair bit away from the waterfall, she grabbed onto the vines and began climbing. For someone like Arte, who had little experience climbing, she was doing fairly well, in large part due to the numerous vines protruding. Each served as a perfect hold, allowing her to make a decent amount of distance in a short time. It took about ten minutes for her to make it to the top. She overlooked the entire cave room before continuing into the dark of the corridor. The dagger hanging from her shirt illuminated her surroundings. The area was damp and humid, with a web-like coating on the ground, squishing with each step. The waterfall started from a wide river passing through the area.

Alongside the rock and vine walls were websacks. Arte had to duck underneath them just to get through. Her broadsword was already drawn as she could hear tiny noises in the dark. Skittering that faded as she turned in its direction. Her internal alarm was going off, but having spent so much time going around the waterfall, she couldn’t afford to stop.

“I remember this. These tight corridors, all these ominous noises. The hero had to come here, then at the end of this cave…” She remembered.

She steadily crept past the wriggling egg sacs and saw light coming from another part of the cave. Upon entering, light filtered through a small crack in the roof, leaving dappled beams over the rocky ground. At the center of the room, a thin patch of blue grass sat, with a pure white flower within. Its petals were large and flowing; it had dark purple patterns that danced along each of them. Just behind it was a large door-like structure that was covered in moss and sealed shut.

Letting out a sigh, she walked forward and, in a moment of relief, stepped on a tiny egg sac near the entrance of the room. It squished as it exploded under the pressure of her foot. She froze. The shockwave rippled throughout the corridor through the webs. The websacs began to wriggle before bursting open, as dozens of tiny spiders came rushing down the corridor.

Before she could be swarmed, she quickly ran over to the flower and tore off two petals, forcing one into her mouth under her tongue, then put the other in her pocket.

“This isn’t my style, but… I won’t be able to handle the sheer numbers; I’ll get swallowed up. I’ll have to force my way through!” She thought.

Arte rushes through the crowding spiders, slicing at any that try to jump at her. Although the path through the corridor was short, the encroaching spiders made it feel like a lifetime. From all angles, she was beset by the creatures. They jumped onto her back and legs and started biting into her.

“Argh!” She shouts.

The shooting pain from their fangs made her muscles spasm. But she kept the grip on her sword and kept swinging. Slicing through spider after spider, squashing each one underfoot as they came. Just ahead of her, the spiders were weaving a web to block the corridor. Her slashing became more erratic as the venom began to take effect on her. She slammed into the rock and her vision swayed. To offset some of the venom, she took bits and pieces of the petal in her mouth and swallowed them, holding back the urge to vomit from the intense bitterness.

More and more spiders began to envelop her body as her wild swinging became more rapid. She took Leo’s dagger into her other hand and began swinging with it as well, tearing through the spiders. Her limbs were growing hot and painful with exhaustion.

Her sclera turned red as spiders bit her skin all over. The wild swings of her sword became stronger, but it wasn’t good enough to tear through the webbed passage. Arte stood there, trapped by the encroaching spiders.