With nothing but a shrill screech to signal its approach, the Deinopi Arachnid launched itself, thick green saliva drooling from its curved fangs. The Deinopi was massive, with a nearly 2 meter long body encased by a thick, dull yellow carapace. Propelled by 4 pairs of hairy legs, its ghoulish face was viciously contorted as it savagely tore into me.

  Luckily, I managed to react in time to the aerial ambush and blocked its menacing mandibles with the Lycoph arm.

  The Lesser Charm of Wind was already proving its value in real-time; without it the delay in moving the Lycoph arm would have cost me my life.

  The Deinopi’s 6 eerie eyes blinked in confusion as it felt its fangs unable to penetrate into the arm, as if it was biting into a thick metal sheet.

  Taking advantage of this brief lapse, I swiftly stabbed the Nanoblade deep into its unarmored upper abdomen.

  With a shriek of pain, the Deinopi released the Lycoph arm and immediately retreated into the shadows.

  Huff, huff, huff. It had only been a brief clash, but my heart was already beating out of my chest, as if I’d just run a marathon.

  Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to kill it in a single blow, but I’d definitely landed a major hit. The problem was that I had no idea where it was lurking in the darkness. No matter where I shone my light, it could not be found.

  Shik!

  With a groan, I felt something pierce into me from behind, penetrating the carbon fiber armor.

  I immediately turned around, Lycoph arm raised, but nothing could be seen.

  Shik!

  Another stab, this time in my right shoulder.

  Shik!

  My left leg was pierced, causing me to stumble and fall.

  Cold sweat began pouring down my back, as panic began to take hold.

  What could I do? It was too fast for me, even despite being injured. It was whittling me down slowly, perhaps afraid of taking another major injury.

  Blood began to soak my clothes, pooling down onto the floor as my body screamed in pain.

  My mind began to turn hazy from the blood loss, and I found myself getting dizzier and dizzier. This won’t do, first I have to do something about these injuries.

  I immediately grabbed a Medium Potion off my belt and poured half of it over my wounds while drinking the other half. Almost instantly, I felt the wounds closing up and my mind clearing. The carbon fiber armor had done its job and softened the Deinopi’s strikes, so none of my injuries had been too major.

  But the root of the problem remained at hand; I couldn’t respond in time to its attacks. Because of the darkness surrounding me, I couldn’t see it coming in advance and defend with the Lycoph arm.

  No choice, I have to use the Potion of Invigoration that I’d been hoping to save and hope the agility boost from it is enough.

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  With my back against the wall, literally and figuratively, I uncorked the amber potion and drank, its tangy yet fizzy flavor flowing down my throat. I wonder if the Shop sells zero calorie versions of this?

  I felt a surge of power well up within me, and my previously heavy body once again became light. My senses became sharper, and I felt like I could lift a mountain.

  Shik!

  Again, I was stabbed in the chest. But this time I felt it. A brief current of air right before the Deinopi struck.

  Shik!

  Hey! I wasn’t ready yet!

  Ok, wait for it...here it is.

  Crunch!

  Like music to my ears, the claws on one of the Deinopi’s legs shattered against the impenetrable Lycoph arm that I’d successfully managed to block with. With a low hiss, the Deinopi again retreated into the darkness.

  Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

  I managed to shatter another 3 of its claws before the Deinopi stopped, and we arrived at a temporary stalemate.

  What to do? I couldn’t find it, and it couldn’t hurt me. But this wouldn’t last; only a couple minutes of the potion buff remained. After it expired, I’d be completely incapacitated for 3 hours. I had to force it out somehow.

  Those things that looked like eggs! Even the worst monsters protect their young right?

  I made a mad dash over to the eggs I’d spotted in the corner earlier and punched with the Lycoph arm, completely obliterating one of them in an explosion of white goo. Scrambled or sunny side up?

  A low, keening wail was immediately heard and the Deinopi charged out of the darkness with an explosive speed, fueled by an intense rage. In that moment, I could clearly see that 2 of its legs had gone limp, on the side where I had stabbed it earlier. Seems like the paralysis plant had some effect after all.

  Despite this, it was still incredibly fast and I barely managed to defend with the Lycoph arm, but I was still sent flying from the sheer impact of it crashing into me.

  With a thud, I slammed into the wall and felt like my insides had turned to jelly. Groaning heavily, I managed to pick myself up after a brief moment. My 60-year-old back had definitely upgraded to an 80- year-old one with that.

  But it didn’t matter, for there it lay, twitching in its last death throes with the Nanoblade completely buried in its head.

  It had impaled itself on the Nanoblade I’d held out right before it had collided with me in its desperate attempt to push me away from the eggs.

  All the tension and stress instantly poured out of me, and I felt a sense of exhilaration bubbling up.

  I did it. I actually did it. I, the weakest of the weak, had killed a monster from hell by myself. Somehow, against all odds, I’d survived. Come to think of it, hadn’t that 7 day survival rate prediction just been successfully thwarted?

  Raising a big fat middle finger to that 99.87% chance, I stumbled over to the Deinopi, intending to finish it off.

  I slowly cocked the Lycoph arm back, intending to completely pulverize its head as revenge for the torture it had inflicted on me.

  Suddenly, one of the legs that been twitching swung toward me in a blur.

  I attempted to dodge, but I was too exhausted and taken aback with surprise.

  Splurt!

  With an explosion of pain, the left side of my vision turned dark and a fountain of blood began streaming from my face.

  Shouting various expletives, I fell backwards as I held what remained of my left eye. I’d let my guard down and celebrated too early, drunk with victory.

  Fingers hastily fumbling, I uncorked the last Medium Potion and poured some of it over my left eye. The bleeding quickly stopped, and new skin began to grow, but my vision did not return.

  Great, now I’m down an eye.

  The Deinopi’s legs began to rapidly stiffen after it struck, and soon it became completely still.

  Ding!

  500 points? That was it? That barely recouped just the cost of the potions I’d spent on this endeavor. I’d barely survived by the skin of my teeth and I had to somehow hunt even more of these things while turning a profit.

  The high of victory I’d felt quickly came crashing back down to earth as cold reality set in.

  The only reason I’d been able to prevail was because it’d been severely slowed down by the first stab wound combined with the paralysis plant. But I couldn’t hope to get that lucky every time. Not to mention, the Potion of Invigoration was quite expensive and sucked up most of the profits by itself.

  What to do?

  Well first, let's fix this eye. I turned to the Deinopi’s 6 gleaming eyes and creepily smiled.

  I’m going to enjoy this, you bastard.