Jer Patch
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Chapter 47: Bad Juicy Meat
🕑 Added 2025-03-28 15:00:05 +0000 UTCI resisted tapping my fingers on my spear as I counted to a hundred in my head, and then started again. It took longer than I’d thought as I traced the path the Healing Maw took toward me. I needed to wiggle my toes in my boots to keep my circulation going and not get too stiff waiting for the dang spider to make its way here. My calves ached from the position I rested in as the chilly stone I pressed against me. The burning on my hand finally ended, though the skin felt tender.
Finally, a light blue light appeared in the distance, and I took a split second to stretch my fingers and toes out. Still, it took forever for the spider to appear after the light. The spider slowly crawled down the tunnel, reaching out and testing each spot before it placed a foot. Almost like it couldn’t see with the light coming from its back.
I held my breath as it passed my position, its dim eyes on the dead spider beyond me. The hairs near its mouth twitched a few times.
“OOOOOO - more spider… too bad not juicy meat…” said the spider. The soft words filled the tunnel, covering up my own shallow breathing.
Every muscle in me tensed up. The speech reminded me of Dengu, but with longer sentences.
That proved that the Healing Maw had intelligence.
For the first time in the tunnel, the Healing Maw hurried. It rushed right past my hiding spot to the dead spider, then began to tear its legs off.
“Hungry… Always hungry…”
I froze for a second at the sudden, aggressive nature, but then decided it didn’t matter as I leaped. A pebble ground against the floor under my boots as I moved, making a sound.
The Healing Spider rotated slowly in my direction, still holding onto the carcass in front of it.
It was too late as I slammed into its side, spear first, knocking it back slightly.
A leg jabbed at me, but I jerked my spear back from the first wound, slicing the appendage off.
“Bad juicy meat!” said the spider, holding its damaged leg. It swung a leg at me again.
I stabbed at the side of it, but it danced backward as I moved.
Blue light flashed, making the tunnel almost glow, before it cascaded down from the crystal and covered the wound I’d made in the giant spider’s side.
The blue light didn’t affect my sight as I lunged faster, crystal flaring as I swung at a different leg, this time aiming closer to where it connected with the body.
The leg went flying as the blue light suddenly cut off. The spider tried to dance sideways, but I stuck as close as possible to its side, gripping its hairy body with my left hand.
“Stop following me! Die!”
More blue light flowed down its side as it froze in concentration, but I used the moment to cut the leg closest to me on the left off at the joint.
Its scream echoed down the tunnel, making my ears ache.
The spider's body tilted toward me, with three legs missing on the same side of its body. It struggled to hold itself up.
Bingo!
The tip of a leg slammed into my stomach as I held onto the creature. I couldn’t do anything about it as it had crossed underneath its body to do so.
‘I will drink you dry!’
My armor took the blow, but I lost my hold with my left hand and it knocked me back a foot, gasping.
That was all it needed.
The spider raced away from me, back down the tunnel, muttering under its breath about how it would kill me, drain me dry and then kill me again. None of it made sense as I tried to get air into my lungs.
Bright blue light filled the tunnel again as it stopped several feet away. The light sunk into the side of its body.
Shit!
After another gasp, I leaped horizontally after it. Webbing shot out, but the glowing tip of my spear cut into it. It slowed me down enough, though, that I needed to leap again.
I hit just as it tried to turn the corner.
My weight slammed it into the wall as my spear entered its back. Screaming, it jumped upward, but I was ready.
The ceiling shoved my spear deeper into its body from the impact. I clutched onto its back, my feet dangling off the creature, weighing it down. The force knocked the air out of me, and the back of my head hit a rock. Again.
The Healing Maw slammed back into the ground, legs flaying in all directions.
Groaning, my vision spun. Blue light was all I could see this close to the stone. I flayed until my hand landed on the crystal. The light stilled and softened.
“Mine!” The spider tried to move, but couldn’t. “It’s mine!”
The presence inside the crystal reached out to me as a rush of cooling energy entered my body. It cleared the dizziness from my head, and also fixed something near my ribs. Plus, the tender feeling from my hand vanished.
“No!”
Suddenly the blue light cut off, leaving a dimmer sparkle inside the crystal. Yet, I’d received the feeling it was happy to heal me. Glad it had found someone beside the spider to help.
Feeling full of energy, I yanked my spear out of the giant spider’s back as liquid dribbled out of the wound. I stumbled to the ground behind the spider as it tried to stand up, but couldn’t.
Finally, I steadied myself to end it, aiming my spear head right behind the creature’s head, just in front of the blue crystal.
[You have gained bonus experience from combat for surviving against level 44, Healing Maw.]
[You have gained insight into Blades and Polearms. Blades and Polearms: You have a minor increase to damage with natural blades and claws.]
I yanked my spear out and leaned against the dead beast, reading the notifications. The progress with Blades and Polearms felt good. Like I’d figured out a riddle hanging over me. Any increase in damage was welcome, even if it was minor. All that meant was I had to fight more and increase the minor to major.
My stomach growled, but even thinking about cutting up the spiders made me shiver. For a second I closed my eyes, just letting myself rest. Then I yanked out a slice of my dwindling supply of meat and swallowed it without trying to breathe. Once my stomach settled a bit, I approached much more steadily as I cut the healing crystal out of the spider’s back. The body had grown around it strangely, with the creature’s hair keeping it in place. It didn’t take long to free the dim stone.
I carried it in one hand as I headed down the tunnel to the lair, where the rest of the crystals lay. None of them moved, but I kept quiet, using stealth just in case there actually were more spiders. White glittering webbing stretched across the floor but I used my crystal spear to slowly cut a path for each of my steps.
Thankfully, using the hottest temperature the webbing melted away from the point. The tunnel curved a few more times, but eventually widened, with the white stuff coating every surface.
This had to be the lair.
Then I realized what I was looking at.
“Hopefully, you didn’t suffer…” I whispered, stepping into the graveyard.
Dried husks that once were jungle folk lined the walls, stuck with the white webbing. The hum of the crystals came from these bundles. It wasn’t clear if they were Singers leaving the dungeons, or elders coming back to set knowledge crystals. The damage to the bodies made it too hard to tell.
Either way, I got to work cutting them down.
Answers revealed themselves as I found 4 knowledge crystals on one body. The other 3 bodies had to be younger singers. I wasn’t sure how the elder had been taken by surprise, but I thought it might have had something to do with the crystal embedded in the spider's back.
They might have thought it was a singer coming from the dungeon.
Either way, I gathered the crystals and placed the remains near one another.
I hesitated, looking at the knowledge stones before throwing my hands up in the air. My father’s voice echoed in my head, telling me that what road I took created the type of person I was. The easy road, or the right road.
“It’s the right thing to do,” I said to the dead.
I huffed at myself before I turned in the direction I thought I would have arrived from if I’d tried to come down the web-filled tunnel. My spear made easy work of the webbing, burning a pathway through it as I carried the crystals in a makeshift pouch created by tying my cloak into a sling under my left arm.
By the time I got back to the archway, I’d killed several of the chittering spiders using my spear to set them on fire, but they were too low level for me to gain experience this time. Only one gave me anything.
Finally, the white outline of the archway appeared as I held up a knowledge crystal to the blank wall. The four whispering voices recognized me, still asking for my name. Once again, I didn’t answer, just fed them the knowledge crystals one by one as they vanished inside.
The archway didn’t take any of the other crystal objects, and there wasn’t a chance I’d offer up the large healing crystal. That beauty was going with me.
Staring at the blank wall beside the archway, I took my knife and carved a message about the spiders. I included the information that fire would get them to flee. Hopefully, that’d help any crystal singers leaving the dungeon in the future.
Getting back to the lair was much quicker, and I passed the stack of bodies with a frown. I didn’t know how to dispose of them properly, so I left them be. I passed the carcasses of the two dead Maws and continued going down the tunnel.
Chittering fled in front of me, but I didn’t bother with any more of the smaller spiders. This time, they didn’t attack either. I just wanted to see the sun.
More and more water appeared, dripping down the walls. A rushing sound whispered in the far distance, slowly getting louder as I progressed.
The sensation of more crystals appeared on my radar.
Dim light slowly filled the tunnel until a bright light glowed at the end.
I couldn’t help but smile at the sunlight as I sped up, hoping to be done with this place. A small waterfall poured down over rocks in front of me, and I paused to check things out. A very narrow path extended to the right and curved to a familiar sandy beach. The path was a narrow ledge in the rock.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” I said, recognizing my location.
The crystal sensation came from deep within the water, probably at the bottom of the lake. I wasn’t interested in going for a swim, and instead turned to the edge of the cavern opening. Again, I carved the word spider, and then, just in case, I carved a rough picture of a spider with my heated blade.
Hopefully, it’d save some Elder in the future.
Then I faced the narrow rocky ledge, covered in moss and damp from the mist generated from the waterfall. My free spirit skill kicked in as I started across the path, until I suddenly stood in the bright sunshine. Cool, fresh air filled my lungs, and I stood there for several moments soaking in the experience.
There wasn’t anything remaining of the turtle we’d killed however many days ago. At least, I hoped it wasn’t more than days.
It felt amazing to be out of the dark tunnels. Black ichor from the spiders covered my clothes and my spear. Taking a small risk, I cleaned my spear in the lake water, scrubbing it with sand.
Unfortunately, the damp sand stuck to my boots, and there wasn’t much I could do about it. But at least I thought I remembered the way to the campsite from the beach. It shouldn’t be too hard to find. Right?
