I kept rolling around in desperation, trying to dodge its freakishly strong legs. The insect stabbed the dirt with terrifying force as if trying to pin down an annoying little thing. Thankfully, it didn't seem to have a good aim.

  Just as one leg was about to spell the end for me, the entire creature froze for a fraction of a second, giving me the window to scramble away and put some distance between us. The monster spasmed, but Myrra drove the stick deeper into its head, ending it for good.

  "Huff... huff. Holy shit," I gasped between breaths, "Thank you." The insect was so massive that I could barely see her from where I was on the ground.

  'Squelch' 'Squelch'

  I winced. By the sounds, she was stabbing it a few more times for good measure. Each stab caused the thing to spasm a bit, only enhancing my apprehension. Eventually, however, it stopped moving completely. Thank God.

  Unbelievable. We did it, I thought, surprised, standing up and brushing the dirt off my clothes.

  "Hey, Myrra, nice job!" I went around the body to see her. "You— Hey, hey! What happened? Oi, Myrra, oi! Talk to me!"

  She almost collapsed to the ground, but I caught her just in time. "Wha— What happened?" I asked, panicked. "Did it get you?"

  "E...ssen...ce," she rasped, "C...ore," she weakly pointed to the monster.

  Shit. Right. The core.

  "Where is it? Where?" I shook her in my arms, trying to get a response out of her, but it was futile. She was barely conscious.

  "Okay, I'll get it, okay?" I laid her down gently on the ground and sprinted to the corpse. It was going to be night very soon, and we still didn't—

  "Okay. Core!" I told myself. I had to focus. Mind over matter.

  "Core, yeah, fuck. Okay, uhh..." I approached the monstrosity and yanked my knife out of its head. Where do I even start?

  I began hacking randomly, trying to sever the head from the body, but soon gave up. This thing had a hard carapace, an exoskeleton of sorts. Most insects had one, right? How did she even manage to stab this thing with a stick that second time?

  "Fuck, uhh. Myrra, where is it?" I yelled, asking her. She didn't respond. Damn it.

  I stopped and tried to think. The belly—abdomen, whatever—it had to be softer, no? But how was I going to flip this thing over? There was no way.

  The lights above kept flashing. What the fuck were they about, anyway.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Moving around frantically, I decided to just go for it. Try to move the thing, roll it, anything. Surprisingly, I was able to push it.

  Huh. Looks like I'm stronger than I thought.

  This opened some possibilities. Still, there was no way to put it belly up. Maybe if I had a lever or something to push it against. The legs wouldn’t let the body roll properly, and it was impossible to lift the thing.

  Remember how you escaped that cell, Rio. Don't limit yourself to brute force. Be smart.

  I circled the creature, staring at its legs. Couldn’t I just... remove them? The exoskeleton was nearly seamless, but there had to be a few weaker spots—like the joints, for example.

  Examining the base of one leg where it met the body, I jammed my knife in and looked for a weak point. There was a particular socket that seemed vulnerable, so I started hacking at it.

  The tough exterior gave way after a few strikes, and I reached something that felt like flesh or muscle. Hopefully, the knife would hold up for all four legs.

  Some continuous slashing later, the leg finally disconnected from the body, falling to the ground.

  I repeated the process three more times. It worried me how long it took. More than fifteen minutes for sure.

  Now with a four-legged spider, I went around it and pushed it hard against a tree stump to flip it. It took some tries, but the corpse finally rolled with the belly up. Due to the size of the thing, I had to half-climb it.

  "Huff, huff... Fuck, let's do this." Plunging the knife deep into the thing, I started searching for something I wasn't even sure existed. She said core, so it must be in the center, right? I started "digging" toward the center of the spider, barely holding back the urge to projectile vomit everywhere.

  Suddenly, I hit something hard. This has to be it, I thought. Everything had been mushy and disgusting so far. With some effort—and nearly sticking my head inside the thing—I cut the flesh around the object and pulled it out.

  Urgh. I was drenched in spider juice up to my shoulder, and some had even gotten in my mouth. I really hope this is it.

  The reward was a grey, unimpressive stone, round but rugged. It was the size of a bowling ball, but thankfully not as heavy.

  "Myrra," I called, jumping down from the corpse and tossing my now useless knife away. "Myrra, wake up! Is this it?"

  She was even paler — something I didn't think was possible — and her lips were turning blue.

  Holy hell, she's about to die.

  "MYRRA!" I shouted, slapping her face gently at first, but progressively getting more desperate, "HEY!"

  Her eyelids fluttered open faintly, but she didn’t focus on me.

  "IS THIS IT?" I asked, almost shoving the rock toward her face. "IS THIS THE CORE?"

  I grabbed her hand and placed it over the stone. If this wasn't it...

  Suddenly, her hand gripped the stone, and her eyes started glowing faintly with a golden hue. The core started turning into dust shortly after, scattering in the wind. What the hell?

  After that, she nodded weakly and closed her eyes.

  Holy hell, seriously? Can't you sleep later?

  I glanced around. How we still hadn't been found by those spiders yet was a mystery to me. Either the lights interfered with them, or we had gotten very, very lucky.

  The girl kept sleeping, without a care in the world. It seemed her face had regained some color, and her lips were no longer blue. She didn't look like she was about to die, at the very least.

  "And what am I supposed to do now, damn it."

  I picked her up, grabbed the supply sack, and considered my options. Staying next to the corpse didn’t feel right. What if more of them came looking for their friend?

  But then again, nothing else had attacked us here. Was this that spider’s territory? But there were a lot of them back there.

  'ROOOOOOOAR'

  A roar echoed somewhere behind us.

  Great.