Web of Survival

As the spiders quickly surround me, a cold fear creeps up along my spine, not inferior to the one I'd first felt when being chased by the alligator creatures. While I've been given a second chance at life, these monsters all look to be D rank, and I'd just struggled deeply to deal with a single D rank monster just moments ago. Understanding the severity of the situation, I hasten my blades as a spider assaults me overhead, forcing me to deflect its thin claws protruding from its legs. As the impact between its claws and my dagger rings across the abyss, I quickly lower my blade to take advantage of its position mid-air, sending it flying twenty feet in the opposite direction. Just as I swat it away, my increased field of vision reveals an additional three spiders orchestrating a violent assail on my body. The first two spiders jump towards me with their mouths hanging open, liquid oozing down to form a trickle on the floor that follows their body's path of movement. The third was in quiet pursuit behind the other two, its mouth closed as it maintains a calmer facade.

Raising both of my blades to my head, I charge forward to meet the spiders halfway, clashing with their fangs as the third spider suddenly stops moving.

"Pthew!"

As soon as I warded off the attacks of the first two spiders, the third spider spits out a huge ball of web, so condensed with mass that it moves with the sluggish inertia of a bowling ball. Extending out my blades to send the two spiders flying, I brace my lower extremity as I take a power step forward with my left foot, planting my right as I flip my blade around to send it pointing towards the sky. Releasing the tension in my forearm, I output a devastating slash to the ball of webbing as the air distorts, a crescent-shaped slash made barely visible. As a Krrk sound emits from my arm, I wince from the spontaneous pain, flashes of the discoloration formed from my previous fracture against the D rank creature making their way back to my memory. It seems that even now with the healing passive, I'm not fully recovered. 

Crackle, crackle, crackle!

Dancing along my skin were red, grueling boils that shifted between increasing in size and popping, the surrounding skin burning off just barely down to my muscle as a red hue made itself known. Damn, this hurts. After cutting through the webbing, a translucent material splashed out, expanding past where I could dodge and leaving me no choice but to take the attack head-on. With little to no time to react, I managed to protect my face as my arms and torso took the brunt of the attack, a stabbing pain sprawling across my many burns as my skin continues to produce boils. 

If this goes on any longer, I risk leaving myself vulnerable to another one of those acid attacks, and I'm not entirely sure my body could handle that. In that case, I'll have to finish this quickly, but how? The spiders may number in the hundreds, and I can't seem to take them out swiftly. 

"kihkihkih." The spider lets out a mocking laugh as its condescension shone through, almost probing me on purpose to come closer and fight it. Sequentially, the spider returned to closing its mouth as a shifting in its abdomen became apparent, the obvious point of location for its webbing. Ignoring the pain--mostly due to my pain resistance ability--and taking its bait, I charge forth, insistent on dealing with the spider before it can produce more of its webbing. Whatever plans it may have, I can deal with them.

Splash!

Just barely weaving out of the way, I dodge a huge ball of acid that extended its path just inches in front of where I would've been had I not halted my momentum. As I stepped back to dodge the first ball of acid, another ball spat towards me, this time encapsulated in the same webbing. With speed several times greater than the previous ball of acid, I had no choice but to extend my blade outwards to defend. However, this time around, I tried my hand with parrying instead of slicing. Using the flat of my dagger, I was able to shift its trajectory just upwards of its target--me. Watching it bounce back towards the wall, it still maintained its spin even after being lodged in hard cobblestone.

Looking back down towards my target, I was instead met with twenty or so spiders who were staying within a medium range while procuring webbing and acid inside their abdomens. With little to no visual distinctions to differentiate between the balls of acid and webbing when being produced, I have to use my best intuition and be prepared for both. 

Charging forward, I sense an attack coming from me at around 9-o'clock, forcing me to turn around and promptly sidestep the threat as a ball of acid just barely grazes me at my left arm. Wincing at the pain, I spin around, opting for dealing with them right after spitting out their attacks.

Running full speed, I spin around a large ball of acid as it comes from my right, shifting my right leg behind my back and past my left leg as I circumvent the attack while simultaneously maintaining my momentum. Returning to my full sprint, I similarly deal with an attack coming from my left and behind at the same time. With the one on my left being another ball of acid, I simply spin to the right as I note the appearance of the attack behind me, this time a ball of webbing that's tracking me at blazing speeds. Opting for the same method of parrying instead of slashing, I quickly turn around to use the flat of my blade. However, as soon as I made contact, the webbing popped open, the acid spilling out all over my left arm as the sizzling of my skin began to reappear.

"GyahHhh!"

"Warning, HP has dropped below 30%."

As the intense pain shot up from the most distal portion of my arm all the way to my shoulder, I pulled my left hand back, my energy formed blade dissipating all the same. Stepping back, I get on one knee holding onto my arm almost as if to rub the pain out, knowing all too well that that won't fix the issue. It was a lapse in judgement assuming the spiders would fight the same. Wouldn't it be obvious that they could control the density of the webbing used to contain the acid? 

The gravity of the situation has only worsened. My left arm is practically unusable as the skin bubbles away, making it impossible for me to regain control without invoking terrible pain. The spiders are still at large, their numbers even greater than before as more than 50 of them gathered around to use the same spit method. The threat of these creatures didn't come in the form of their physical strength or great claws, but rather their dexterous utilization of webbing and acid. 

As my contemplation continued, five or so spiders braced themselves as they spat out large balls of webbing, this time with even greater momentum than before. With little time to react, I barely get up, raising forth my dagger as I stand ready. Sidestepping the first, I shoddily dance through the remaining four as I feel dodging get harder from the preceding attack to the next, the fiery pain from my arm overwhelming my senses. Five web attacks at the same time? Why?

Ah, that's it. 

As the insight finally enters my psyche, I begin to understand now the mechanics of the spider's attacks. The utilization of webbing was not at all random, but instead a way to cover longer distances. Of course, it makes sense. While the acid by itself may be lighter, it would still be hard to maintain its form if you shot it out at fast speeds. That's what the webbing is for--to allow you to shoot it out at any speed you want to any distance, except with the added downside of your opponent having to break the web to get hit with the acid.

This made sense, and explained the increased velocity as a result. Although just knowing this information didn't mean that I was guaranteed victory, I can now at least be able to ascertain and predict ahead of time the conditions of the spider's attacks. And, of course, with my enhanced deduction ability, I would have in aid in figuring out which spider will attack how. 

Now, for the conditions of their attacks. Of recollection, the closest I'd been attacked with a ball of web would be when the first spider hid behind the other two. That would've been roughly... twenty-five meters. Give or take. At the distance I'm at in comparison to the spiders surrounding me, I could fight eleven or twelve spiders up close that use acid before the others began to shoot out their webbing. In that case... lets do this!

Charging forward yet again, a smile forms on my face as I wash out the pain, concentration the only thing I'm focused on maintaining. Eyeing for the last spider who shot out their web, I look around to see which spiders seem closest to shooting out projectiles. Noting a spider at 10-o'clock beginning to alleviate pressure from their abdomen, I wait preemptively for them to spit out their attack before instantly shifting my trajectory, dodging the attack before it has the chance to catch up. Without wasting a moment, I run up to both my target and four other spiders, extending out my right arm in anticipation for a counter-attack. 

However, instead, the five spiders all jumped back, intending to increase the distance between them and myself.

"Mana infusion!"

Infusing a portion of my mana into my blade, I send out a slash that instantly dismembers them, their bodies dropping in line as they go limp on the ground, upsetting the surrounding spiders.

"45 D+ rank monsters remaining."

I can do this!