"This is bad! Really bad...!"
Seeing the swarm of Demon Monkey-type monsters gathering below, Kumoko was instantly dumbfounded.
Her nest was about a hundred meters off the ground!
From down there, it should have been practically invisible. She'd used her thread manipulation skill to carve out this specific hiding spot.
The nearby rock walls were incredibly steep and hard to climb. There weren't any flying monsters nearby either.
She'd picked this spot specifically because it seemed like a safe place for the Earth Dragon to evolve.
Really safe. She'd searched for ages to find such a perfect location. The camouflage should have been flawless! How did they find it?
Using Appraisal, Kumoko checked the levels of the monkeys below.
[Giant-Mouthed Ape LV 6]
[Giant-Mouthed Ape LV 8]
[Giant-Mouthed Ape LV 3]
...
"They're evolved Apes!"
Based on this world's naming conventions, unevolved monkeys were usually called "Small Monkeys." A different name like "Giant-Mouthed Ape" meant they had evolved at least once. As mentioned before, the difference between an evolved and unevolved monster was massive.
She herself was an evolved monster, but only Level 1 (now 2). These guys were already much higher level.
The reason she was still so low level was because she'd been feeding all the monsters she hunted recently to the Earth Dragon to help his evolution.
She was outnumbered and out-leveled.
The apes below stared up at Kumoko. They sensed she was the one who killed their kin. The Giant-Mouthed Ape's Death Rattle skill apparently marked the killer for several days. Once marked, no matter where you hid, they could find you.
"ROAR—"
The Giant-Mouthed Apes roared up at Kumoko, then, without wasting any time, started climbing the steep walls.
"Oh no! They're climbing up!" Kumoko snapped to alert.
Her first instinct was to run. But then she glanced back at the Earth Dragon, still encased in rock, still evolving. Gritting her teeth (or mandibles?), she decided to stay. If she left now, the Earth Dragon would be completely defenseless.
"Hmph! I'm not that scared little spider who only runs away anymore!" she declared inwardly. "Just watch! I'll drive all of you back!" Kumoko clenched her... legs?
Right now, only about fifty apes were climbing, but more were constantly arriving and joining the horde below.
Seeing this, Kumoko started spraying sticky webs all over the nearby walls. This way, any ape trying to climb would get stuck fast.
Soon enough, the first wave of climbing apes got hopelessly entangled in the webs, unable to move further up.
However, the Giant-Mouthed Apes showed surprising coordination. While some climbed, others started picking up rocks from the ground and throwing them up at Kumoko.
Suddenly, a shower of rocks rained down on her position.
-6!
-3!
-5!
Pitifully small damage numbers popped up. This world had collision damage, so getting hit by rocks still hurt a bit.
For the Earth Dragon, this damage would be nothing, like a light sprinkle. His high HP meant strong base health regeneration. Damage this small would probably heal instantly; he wouldn't even lose HP.
But for Kumoko? It sucked. The damage numbers weren't high, but getting pelted with rocks hurt.
"Ouch!" Another rock hit her squarely on the head, making a sickening thwack sound and dealing a whopping 3 points of damage!
Low damage, maybe, but she couldn't ignore it. After all, Kumoko's HP was a pathetically low 60 points.
Before evolving, she had 128 HP, but choosing the [Small Taratect] evolution path had actually reduced her maximum health in exchange for higher speed and more skill points. It made her much more fragile.
"Damn it!" Getting hit by rocks had already cost her over 20 HP. Kumoko gritted her fangs in frustration, wishing she could throw rocks back at them.
Suddenly, she remembered something. "Oh, right! Didn't I learn [Poison Synthesis]?" Elliot had advised her to learn it. She'd already leveled it up to LV 6. It could make potions... and it could also make potent poisons!
"Get down!!!" Kumoko clenched her jaw, spraying her mana like it was free, converting it into globs of highly concentrated poison that rained down on the climbing apes with vicious intent! She absolutely refused to let these monkeys disturb the Earth Dragon's evolution!
Hisss... Sizzle...
The poison hit the Giant-Mouthed Apes' fur like concentrated acid. A strong corrosive effect instantly occurred.
Their skin dissolved on contact, revealing the raw muscle underneath. The apes shrieked in agony and fell from the walls, sometimes knocking down other apes climbing below them as they tumbled.
[Experience Gained. Individual - Small Taratect Leveled Up from LV 1 to LV 2.]
[All Basic Attributes Increased.]
Hearing the system notification in her mind, Kumoko felt a surge of joy. She leveled up! And because she leveled up, her HP and MP were fully restored! The health she'd lost from the rocks was completely replenished.
Below her skill list, there was that weird skill named n%I=W. Not everyone had it; only those recognized by 'D' as reincarnators (or special monsters) possessed it.
Elliot had it too. Its effect was simple: fully restore HP and MP upon leveling up, returning the user to peak condition.
Using this, as long as you kept killing monsters, gaining EXP, and leveling up without dying, you could create a perfect perpetual motion machine of combat. It was a special perk given by the system administrator D to all reincarnators.
"Okay! If I keep leveling up like this, restoring my health and mana, I can hold these monkeys off!" Kumoko thought determinedly.
Unfortunately, things rarely go according to plan.
Her poison attacks had successfully enraged all the Giant-Mouthed Apes. As more of them fell and died, they too triggered their Death Rattle skill.
The evolved Giant-Mouthed Ape's Death Rattle had an additional effect besides summoning allies: it massively boosted the fighting spirit of all nearby kin, increasing their attack power. And this effect could stack!
Although the attack boost per stack was small, with more apes dying and triggering it, the remaining apes would become increasingly ferocious!
ROAR—
Finally, seeing more of their comrades fall, the remaining Giant-Mouthed Apes' eyes turned completely blood-red, their bodies radiating pure battle lust! Their movements became frantic, crazed. Their only focus was the spider above. Only tearing her to shreds could quell their fury!
….
Battle cry after battle cry echoed from the Giant-Mouthed Apes, reverberating through the Elroe Labyrinth, seemingly without end. More and more apes sensed the calls and converged on the location, completely surrounding Kumoko's nest.
At this point, even if Kumoko wanted to escape, she couldn't. Every possible exit route was now completely blocked by the ape horde.
What shocked Kumoko even more was that many of these apes looked like they hadn't eaten in a long time; their SP bars were nearly empty.
Normally, monsters with low SP entered a [Weakened] state, with drastically reduced stats and sluggish movement.
But these Giant-Mouthed Apes? Their stats weren't decreasing; they were actually increasing! Instead, their HP bars were steadily dropping.
"Aaaah... These monkeys have gone totally insane!"
"They're burning HP to restore SP! At this rate, even if they kill me, they won't survive either!"
Kumoko never expected things to turn out like this. Burning HP to refill SP was a last-resort emergency measure.
It could grant a temporary burst of power, like a final flare-up before death, even boosting base stats like being on drugs.
The effect was powerful, but the side effect was terrifyingly huge: once activated, HP would continuously drain until death. It couldn't be stopped!
In other words, any Giant-Mouthed Ape that activated this effect had only one fate awaiting it: Death!
Having committed to this suicide tactic, the Giant-Mouthed Apes certainly weren't going to just wait around.
Their attacks became a torrential downpour, launched with desperate fury.
Fueled by this blood-burning power, some of them could now hurl boulders weighing hundreds of kilograms. Getting hit by those wouldn't just deal single-digit damage anymore.
….
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