Cocoons. Cocoons everywhere. Priam had nothing against cocoons per se, but their color set his nerves on edge. The faint light erased the golden sheen, leaving only white patches against a blackened world. The scene reminded him of the monochromatic zone created by Hecate's New Moon.
A shiver ran down Priam's spine as he recalled his enigmatic power.
The wind had picked up slightly, easily weaving its way through the trees. His eyes hadn't noticed, but his Domain had just alerted him: a few strands of silk danced on the breeze.
Priam stepped back to avoid them. Even if these strands were not connected to any alarms, the poison coating them could be dangerous. His own resistance to poison was formidable, but he harbored no illusions; it wouldn't provide complete immunity against Elysian creatures.
Raising his gaze, Priam spotted clusters of silk at the treetops. He was willing to bet that was where the strands originated. So close, yet so far. Aside from setting a roaring inferno, there was little he could do. Of course, the spiders must have fireproofed their silk, but Priam had more than one trick up his sleeve. Later
Opportunities to ignite a blaze that could touch the clouds didn't co around every day.
The wind picked up, agitating the threads. Sighing, Priam cloaked himself in a misty shroud and ventured into the silk labyrinth.
A hundred ters further, he encountered a new patrol. Five wolf-sized spiders advanced on the path, undoubtedly ready to hunt.
Infiltrating a wisp of mist into the heart of their formation, Priam attempted an [Identification]. He wasn't taking many risks. Even if the spiders sensed his skill, he was confident he could dispatch them in an instant.
[Identification]
[Mature Trichonephila Aether clavipes - Tier 0] - A spider easily recognized by its golden color and the feathery enlargents on the segnts of each of its legs. Its silk is exceptionally durable and resistant to physical forces.
The presence of a Brood Mother alters its behavior. Aggressive, it now imbues its silk with a potent paralytic.
The spider didn't seem to notice the identification, and Priam moved forward with supple steps. He aid to unlock a better upgrade for [Stealth], and for that, he needed to do sothing exceptional.
It was ti to use his camouflage. The mist thickened around Priam and enshrouded the group before him. The absence of light made camouflage superfluous; above all, he wanted to be able to move around quickly. If the arachnids noticed any difference, they gave no indication.
Closing in, Priam struck.
The lead spider didn't notice him for an instant. Priam wasn't even sure if it sensed its demise. Prosse found its way into the brain.
Before gravity could slam the corpse to the ground, Priam leaped forward. Soaring over the body, he thrust his spear at the four remaining adversaries. Under the velocity of [Unrelenting Thrust], Prosse briefly vanished from his sight. An instant later, his quest displayed five fewer enemies.
Priam maintained a neutral expression, noting that [Stealth] still hadn't had the opportunity to evolve into a high-potential skill. Undeterred, he continued to walk. He still had seven hundred and seventy-three opportunities.
Drawing nearer to the abandoned tower where he first encountered the spiders, the forest grew darker. Silk cocoons lined the path. The trees were more massive, taller, and better concealed the faint starlight. Soon, Priam had to rely on [Broad-spectrum vision] to perceive a portion of the infrared radiation.
It was an effective way to detect his enemies, but the skill didn't highlight the trees smothered by the cocoons. After eliminating five more squads, Priam halted his advance. He could no longer distinguish where he placed his feet. It was the surest way to stumble into a trap, even with Domain.
Hesitating for a mont, Priam decided to extend his mist. Water vapor began to fill the surrounding space, conforming to the shapes of the cocoons and the path. His mist's perspective allowed him to navigate as if it were broad daylight. Satisfied, Priam resud his march.
A few seconds later, a mass fell upon him. Recognizing a disturbance in his mist, Priam recognized the threat. A spider!
Priam dodged backward with a leap and raised his spear. He impaled the enemy before it even hit the ground. It had simply let itself drop from a tree. The corpse was a regular specin, which was odd. Priam would have understood if a stealth-specialized spider had spotted him. Yet, that wasn't the case.
The real question was: how could it have sensed his presence? Was he compromised?
Either Priam had made a mistake, or he had triggered a trap. Surveying his surroundings carefully, Priam swore upon discovering his error.
Lvl Up: [Trap detection] lvl 8
PERC 1
Strands of silk had been laid beneath the carpet of dead leaves and dirt. As he was walking, his own weight had broken these threads. His Domain hadn't alerted him for a simple reason: there were too many things around him. The supremacy was tied to an unconscious part of his brain that constantly analyzed his environnt.
To conserve ntal energy - or the equivalent of human RAM - Domain ignored certain things. Like the uniform ground beneath his feet.
If Priam had stepped on a bear trap or a hidden pit, he would have felt it. But the silk threads were too thin to be easily noticed. I've just fallen into the sa trap as on the Moon, Priam swore. The thought irritated him, as he prided himself on rarely making the sa mistake twice. Unfortunately, he had relied too much on his Supremacy. Power is no substitute for intelligence. Priam intended to engrave this lesson in letters of fire in his mind.
Now that he was aware, Priam scrutinized the forest floor. The result made him grumble. The spiders had carpeted the ground with their threads. The scale of the work was titanic - undoubtedly the reason they had only done so in the vicinity of the abandoned tower.
The trouble was, Priam had no miracle solution to sidestep this. Without squandering Potential to create a [Lightfoot] skill, he could only levitate, depleting his kinetic reserves.
There was, however, a simpler solution. Disregard the silk threads and forge ahead, dispatching the spiders before they could sound the alarm.
The possibility was dangerous, but the added challenge would force him to excel. It was the best thod to significantly improve his skills. So, that was the path Priam chose. Engulfing his surroundings with his mist, he pressed on.
After a few minutes, he noticed the spiders were becoming predictable. Despite their ingenuity in crafting traps, the patrols were as regular as clockwork. The hidden enemies in the trees were stationed every twenty ters. A patrol was dispatched every four minutes and thirteen seconds.
After killing thirty more spiders, Priam finally glimpsed the abandoned tower. Or what was left of it. A colossal cocoon now enshrouded the structure. Priam grunted at the thought of having to infiltrate this mini-fortress.
He grunted a second ti upon sensing movent behind him. One, two, three, and soon twenty spiders rushed into his mist. Patrols had finally noticed the absence of sentinels at the fortress's entrance.
Priam turned around and picked up so rocks from the ground. His mastery of [Kinetic Control] would soon allow him to manipulate the temperature of his mist with ease, but he wasn't there yet. Rather than needlessly expending Potential, Priam preferred to innovate.
He gathered about ten rocks in his left hand and directed them toward the incoming spiders. They were oblivious to his presence and didn't even attempt to evade.
Suddenly, the forest's silence was shattered. The ten rocks in Priam's hand accelerated abruptly, skirting the sound barrier without surpassing it. A supersonic bang didn't align with Priam's idea of an infiltration mission.
Lvl Up: [Kinetic Control] lvl 38
VIVA 2
DEXT 3
TA (FOCUS) 4
The rocks pierced through the air and the exoskeletons of the spiders. Lodging into various vital organs, they halted the arachnid charge. About ten spiders collapsed as Priam dashed toward the rest.
Prosse claid three lives before the survivors halted, realizing they were under attack.
Priam thrust his spear into the eyes of one before leaping backward to evade a web. He barely had ti to touch the ground before a dozen nets hurtled towards him. They were incredibly swift, and Priam had to resort to [Battle Footwork] to dodge. The skill propelled him ten ters behind his adversaries. Turning around, Priam hurled Prosse, impaling a foe. Only five remained.
Like automated turrets, the survivors continued their barrage. Priam retreated further, giving himself more space to evade the attacks. ntally, he charged Prosse with kinetic energy. The spear, still embedded in a corpse, leaped towards a new target.
Priam smiled as he felt his partner claim another life. I can't let it do all the work, he thought.
Riding the mist, he reappeared beside Prosse and dislodged it from a fresh corpse. A thrust annihilated one of the spiders. As Priam turned, one of the arachnids pounced on him. Prosse mowed down the suicidal creature. The corpse stiffened instantly, clamping down on the spear.
Priam kicked to dislodge the body when he felt his instinct tremble. According to his mist, one of his enemies was moving away, and the other was motionless. Priam understood why an instant later.
Within a radius of twenty ters, the ground upheaved. Like a carnivorous flower closing, a silk cocoon ford with Priam at its center and attempted to ensnare him. Cursing, he finished off the nearby spider before trying to escape. He cursed a second ti upon realizing the silk blocked his teleportation.
The cocoon compressed, decreasing the available space for Priam with each passing mont. He leaped towards a wall and attempted an [Unrelenting Thrust]. Prosse tore through a few strands before hitting a second layer. Like an onion, the cocoon refused to release him easily.
[Tribulation Piercing Spear]. The skill managed to penetrate the cocoon, and Priam slipped a filant of mist inside. Connecting to the external fog, he escaped before the cocoon closed entirely.
Priam looked up, spotting the last enemy sprinting towards the abandoned tower. [Spear Throw] finished the job.
Behind him, the cocoon now ford a small sphere of silk dripping with poison. Priam shuddered at the thought of what could have transpired. Immobilized, with no chance to build montum and cut off from his mist, he would likely have suffocated to death.
In this realm of silk, every spider could be lethal.
Priam then looked around him, surveying the carnage. Twenty corpses surrounded him. Even if he stored the corpses in his internal world, the signs of the battle were evident. His swift steps and attacks had turned the ground in multiple places. The cats out of the bag.
The essence now was to move swiftly. The alarm had certainly already been raised.
One thing truly concerned Priam. His quest indicated just under seven hundred spiders still alive. There might be around fifty in the forest and on patrol. Maybe a hundred.
But the remaining six hundred must be in the tower.
"I suppose there must be extensive subterranean passages," he murmured.
Before continuing, Priam decided to wait. If more patrols were to return or leave, he preferred to intercept them here. If he were to infiltrate a base filled with traps and giant spiders, he might as well reduce their numbers as much as possible.
Priam pushed the corpses against the trees and then took up Prosse. Since he had to wait, he might as well train. He wanted to see how much his spear would modify his [Unrelenting Thrust].
In the dead of night and amidst a forest blanketed in cocoons, Priam resud his training.
Status: (Average value for a Homo sapiens male before integration: PHY 10 / N 10 / TA 0)
PHYSICAL:
Strength 339 ( 9)
Constitution 477
Agility 317 ( 4)
Vitality 469
Perception 550 ( 2)
NTAL:
Vivacity 296 ( 2)
Dexterity 370 ( 3)
mory 99
Willpower 557
Charisma 414
TA:
ta-affinity 288
ta-focus 217 ( 4)
ta-endurance 165
ta-perception 81
ta-chance 213
ta-authority 12
Potential: 1011 ( 10)
Tier 0
[He Who Eludes Death] charge: PRID.
[Tribulation]: Two Tribulations pending.
Future Tribulations delayed until:
Ti: 178 days 9 hours 57 minutes 38 seconds.
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