The swarm of smaller spiders rushed at him from every direction. As for the four Orbed Crawlers, they remained at their respective positions, their numerous bulbous eyes staring at him emotionally. Jake stomped on one of the cat-sized spiders, its segmented legs sticking out from below his feet, twitching convulsively. Another spider jumped at him from the webbing covering the ceiling. Jake snatched the disgusting creature with his hand and crushed it in his smashfist.
Feral Instincts warned him of some danger on his left, and he quickly glanced in that direction. He saw a large spider open its mouth in preparation to launch an acid glob at him. In the next instant, the projectile shot out of its mouth. Jake easily dodged it and immediately retaliated by launching an acid glob of his own. Unlike him, the spider had no chance to evade, and his shot struck squarely in the center of its face. Though capable of spewing acid, the creature was not immune to this kind of elemental damage. The acid ate through its flesh, and within seconds, the creature was dead.
Jake continued to fight the smaller spiders, killing them in droves. Before giving his full attention to the four Orbed Crawlers, he wanted to reduce the number of the smaller spiders so that they didn’t get in his way. While the regular-sized ones didn’t pose much of a threat to him, when there were too many of them, they could become quite a nuisance. He used many of his abilities to dispatch the spiders. He crushed them with his smashfists and sliced through them with his swords. He sprouted bladed tentacles to stab and slash at several creatures at once. Every now and then, he launched acid projectiles and occasionally thrust numerous spikes from his body, only to immediately send them flying in all directions, killing and severely wounding multiple creatures at once.
The number of regular spiders decreased almost by the second. He deftly dodged the globs of acid and sticky substance they occasionally launched at him. A couple of times, when several creatures simultaneously launched the latter at him, he wasn’t able to avoid being hit. The adhesive substance they shot from their spinnerets was extremely sticky, but as long as it was fresh, he could easily tear it away from his body. The real problem arose when it dried—in mere seconds, it would harden into an unyielding substance as tough as cement. So when Jake got hit by a glob of sticky webbing, he swiftly tore it from his skin without a moment’s hesitation.
Jake continued to fight the spiders, constantly moving around the area. Within just a few minutes of battle, he managed to cut the number of spiders in the cavern down by more than half. If there were only regular spiders around, he would have no trouble dealing with the remaining creatures. However, when the four Orbed Crawlers finally decided to join the fray, everything turned upside down.
Jake spotted the Shock Orbed Crawler arch its abdomen above its body, the magical energy swirling violently within and glowing brighter by the second. In the next instant, a bolt of lightning shot from the spider toward him. He leaped aside just in time, and the bolt struck a dog-sized spider instead, instantly reducing it to a pile of ash.
The four Orbed Crawlers began to move toward him while maintaining their rhombus-shaped formation. Leading the charge was the Flame Orbed Crawler, flanked by the Acid and Frost Orbed Crawlers on either side, while the Shock Orbed Crawler brought up the rear. While they moved much slower than regular spiders, their movement speed was still impressive.
While his attention was on the four crawlers, some dog-sized creatures seized the opportunity to surround him from every direction. With a sudden lunge, they attacked in unison, and one managed to latch onto his leg. He felt the sharp fangs puncture his armor, cutting deep enough for his mana to leak out. He hammered his smashfist into the skull of the audacious creature, killing it with one blow.
At that moment, the Frost Orbed Crawler launched a barrage of icy projectiles at him. Jake ducked, and most of them whizzed harmlessly over his head, while several others drilled into the bodies of the spiders surrounding him. With a powerful yank, he wrenched the fangs of the dead spider out of his leg. Mana was pouring out freely now. Had he not been afflicted with the Fragile Body curse, even the larger spiders wouldn’t have been able to pierce his hardened armor. But he knew that having the curse on him meant he was gradually gaining Essence Points, which he could spend in the Void Temple later on. He only hoped that whatever powers he could acquire in exchange for EP would be worth all the trouble the curse was causing him.
The four Orbed Crawlers were quickly gaining on him. The Flame one opened its maw, releasing a surge of liquid fire aimed straight at him. Any spider caught in its fiery path was obliterated in an instant. As for Jake, he executed a mana-infused jump, covering more than a dozen yards in a single leap. The torrent of fire scorched the ground where he had just been, incinerating the dog-sized spiders that had surrounded him moments before.
The four Orbed Crawlers turned and continued to advance toward him. Jake knew he needed to move within striking range in order to be able to attack them, but he hesitated to do so. If they attacked him all at once, he would be screwed. He wanted to come up with a plan to attack them without running the risk of taking huge amounts of damage from them. At that moment, his Feral Instincts alerted him to several impending threats at once. Jake tried to do his best to avoid all of them, even though he was fairly certain he wouldn’t succeed.
He jumped to the side as a spider lunged from behind at the spot he had just occupied. Several acid globs flew through the air past him. Then he felt something hit him in the legs, nearly throwing him off balance. He glanced down and saw a white substance covering his feet and ankles, gluing him to the spot. He tried to lift one foot, but it was stuck fast. Exercising all his might, he yanked one of his feet off the ground, tearing the sticky substance to shreds. However, the remnants of the webbing clung to his leg, hanging like tattered ribbons. He set his foot back down and worked to free himself from the adhesive trap holding his other foot in place.
The Shock Orbed Crawler chose that exact moment to attack, and this time Jake had no chance to dodge. He felt a lightning bolt strike him in the chest, creating a sizable hole in his sturdy body and propelling him backward. He collapsed to the floor but immediately sprang back up. Noticing a flurry of icy projectiles whizzing toward him, he dashed to the side. He continued to sprint across the cavern, but his movements were sluggish due to the webbing still clinging to his feet. Each time he placed a foot down, the remnants of the adhesive substance stuck stubbornly to the ground, forcing him to exert effort to unstick himself. This greatly slowed his movement speed.
Suddenly, a dog-sized spider crashed into him from behind, sending him crashing to the floor again. Rolling onto his back, he saw the spider looming over him, its two massive fangs poised to strike. Acting quickly, he extended a blade from his left wrist and thrust it into the spider’s gaping mouth, driving the point deep into the creature’s brain. By the time he shoved the dead spider off himself, the four Orbed Crawlers had reached him. One of them stabbed him through the shoulder with one of its front legs. It immediately proceeded to drive another pointed leg through his other shoulder, effectively pinning him to the ground.
Another Orbed Crawler approached him from the side. It was the Flame one, and it was already opening its mouth to unleash a torrent of fire. Jake jerked and twisted his body, but he couldn’t escape. The two legs of the other spider held him firmly in place. Completely trapped, he knew he was royally screwed now.