Night was approaching, and Lucius was preparing himself for the upcoming hunt. The shroom had advised him that night would be the best time to attack, as that was the period the creature would leave its nest.
Otherwise, he would be forced to look for it in its cave, a territory that even the shroom knew nothing about.
"Are you sure you don't want me to come along?" Pagan asked for what felt like the tenth time. And once again Lucius rejected his request.
This hunt was too dangerous to take someone as slow and weak as Pagan. And though Pagan had spells of his own, the night would blind anyone trying to use the crux, so he would basically be deadweight if he tagged along.
"I need someone to take care of the camp while I'm gone. I told you this already, didn't I?" Lucius said instead, fastening a line of vine around his waist, before loading it with two stone knives.
"Lighted One, I'm really against the idea of hunting down this creature. From what you described, it sounds worse than even boars," Pagan warned.
"Don't worry, I'm not stupid. If I see that things are becoming too dangerous, I'll get away. Just stay here and keep me in your prayers," Lucius said, patting Pagan on the back before heading out.
"Prayers?"
"I won't be long," Lucius replied, before galloping into the darkness of the forest.
**
After about 4 hours of travel, Lucius reached the outskirts of the 'Green Forest', deciding to take a quick break before searching for the quarry of rocks the shroom had described.
"Okay, I'll have to start moving silently from here on. The creature might be out hunting,~ he thought to himself, before proceeding towards the quarry slowly.
The terrain here was vastly different from what he was used to. For one, the shrubs had been completely replaced by blackthorn bushes.
The trees weren't as densely packed as before but were way larger in volume, however, despite their large sizes, they seemed to be hollow and dead for the most part.
For the first time in a while, he could almost clearly see the night sky, which felt both freeing, and scary. Like he was now naked to the watch of the stars.
Not to mention the weird feeling he was getting from the ground. Up till he reached here, he had felt a strange sort of pull, a connection if you will, to the earth. However, that connection was now very faint, as if he had been severed from some sort of watchful presence.
What replaced was a cold emptiness, an almost revulsive force that warned him to get off this decrepit land.
As he snuck beside the stone quarry, searching for the creature's nest, he could feel the sticky mulch that was the forest ground squirm around his feet.
He had already confirmed that there was nothing in the ground, yet it felt as if something was crawling up his body, perpetually journeying up his leg, but never quite getting past the soles of his feet.
~Huh, what was that?~ Lucius thought to himself, having heard a crunching sound coming from the distance. He slowly drudged his way towards the source of the sound, hiding behind the massive, extraterrestrial-shaped trees.
As he got closer, the crunching sound became more prominent. Every crunch was accompanied by a wet squelch. It became obvious that something was feeding and after getting within range, Lucius confirmed that it was his prey.
~That bastard,~ he groaned as he took a look at the creature.
Sure it was two times larger than him, but the shroom had heavily undersold it. Its eight legs were long and spindly, making it look bigger than even a large boar. Its eyes shone with a red gleam, and its skin seemed rough, like tree bark.
Lucius squinted his eyes to see what it was eating, and found that it had a small creature, about the same size as he was between its massive chelicerae.
~Just stick to the plan,~ Lucius thought to himself, shaking off his instinctive fear. He waited silently for his time to strike, standing perfectly still as the creature took its time doing whatever it was that it was doing.
He was waiting for it to get comfortable, which took a while, as its stinger tail swayed from side to side as if expecting an enemy to approach at any moment.
After waiting for a few more minutes, the arachnid began covering its fallen prey in a weird stringy substance. Perhaps planning to take it back to its den to finish it off there.
Lucius took this as his chance, he quickly snatched one of the knives tied to his waist, taking only a few short moments to aim before hurling it towards the arachnid's eye.
It zipped through the air with a swish, impaling its target with an audible squelch, which was followed by the arachnid's ghastly screams.
As it flailed around, he rushed at it, hurling the remaining knife at another one of its eyes. However that wouldn't do, the arachnid used its front legs to block its eyes, while at the same time sending out squirts of poison at its attacker.
~ The same trick won't work twice, huh?~ Lucius thought to himself, however, he had accomplished all he wanted to do. Having cleared the distance between them, he was at the advantage.
He grabbed the arachnid by the leg, before slamming it into the ground with all his might. He did it over and over, not giving it even a second of respite.
He knew he couldn't pierce its stony skin, but blunt damage was another matter altogether. Regardless of how hard its outsides were, he was certain that if he smacked it around enough, it would eventually die.
And for a moment his plan seemed to have been working. Riddled with the pain emanating from its eye, and not being given even a moment's rest from Lucius's continuous slamming, it seemed to be doomed.
However, as Lucius was about to slam it once again, he felt something prick his skin.
"What the?" he whispered, watching as a white fluid dripped from his hands. The arachnid's skin was now covered in millions of tiny projections, each about the size of a pinhead.
~Fuck,~ Lucius grimaced as he felt a cold sensation run up his hand.
