The cave was dark, hot, dusty, and filled with dead spiders. Needless to say, the surroundings did not set an upbeat mood.

But I was perfectly fine with that! Listening to the distant explosions, screams, and crashes echoing from the depths of the cave, my heart rate steadily climbed, and a smile grew across my face.

In my defense, I was quite an adrenaline junky.

And although I grew more excited as the sounds of the boss reached me, I wasn't so stupid as to not realize I was walking towards a very dangerous situation.

My reason for entering the spider-cave was simple. Yes, I knew that there was a powerful demon down there, probably more than one. The multiple demons were likely fighting each other, with one being the Tiletik Boss and another being whatever came in and killed everything.

But if I could stay out of sight and join the fight at the right time, I might be able to kill both of the bosses safely and gain a huge amount of XP. Then I would finally have a high-enough level to defend myself against the larger demons outside.

There were a lot of things wrong with the plan. First off, the demons might be too strong for me to kill, even with both of them being weakened. If that were the case, I would probably die.

Also, if they're weakened enough from the fight, they might team up against me if they see me as the bigger threat since I'm uninjured.

So I made a few contingencies for those events: if the bosses were too strong, wait in hiding until one of them is dead before attacking. Yes, this would mean the XP would be halved, but that's a small price to pay for my life.

Even if the single boss is too strong for me to fight, since my SP is full I can activate Sprint and run away.

Wait, what if the boss is so powerful that it can outrun me even while I use Sprint? How would I survive in that scenario?

And also, my plan involves hiding until they're weak, but my Stealth skill is level 1.

Uh, hopefully they'll probably be too distracted by eachother to notice me.

It'll be fine. Probably.

....

As I continued moving down the dark passage, it began to twist deeper into the earth.

There were plenty of smaller offshoots, cracks in the walls, and side-paths but I decided to keep following the main pathway. That was where the sounds were coming from, so that was my destination.

Filling the shadowy corridor were huge, tattered spiderwebs and dead Tiletiks. There was plenty of demon blood strewn about, and overall, it looked like the scene of a massacre.

I noticed that as the passage wound deeper, the Tiletiks seemed like they had died in different ways.

Although at the top, all of them had been cleanly sliced in half with some sort of blade or sword, these corpses had been pierced by something. They had thin holes in their bodies instead of slashes.

Was there actually multiple demons that attacked this place instead of one, or does the one demon simply have multiple ways to attack?

I stepped over a large Tiletik carcass and walked by a side-path in the wall.

If there were numerous demons that entered the cave system and attacked the Tiletiks, that might be bad for me. My strategy involves surprising the boss monsters and quickly killing them, but if there are too many in the fight, I won't have enough time to kill them all.

Before I could think too deeply about the idea, I heard a sharp noise behind me.

My body reacted before I could think, whirling to the side just in time to see a Tiletik fly past.

It hit the ground and immediately turned towards my position.

The red of its eyes glinted even in the darkness of the deep cave.

I lunged for it, my sword outstretched, and I managed to lightly graze the Tiletik before it leapt onto the wall.

It jumped towards me again in a single instant, but I was ready, and easily cut it out of the air.

As the spider slammed onto the cave floor, I noticed a shift in the darkness before me.

A second Tiletik jumped out of the shadows.

"Shit!"

The new demon hit my shoulder, bitting deep into my flesh and I let out a short cry of pain before ripping the bastard off of me.

The spider hit the ground running, scampering just out of reach before turning and staring.

I made eye contact with it, but it made no moves, standing still and watching me.

The thing wouldn't attack first, content with waiting for me to rush towards it.

I grit my teeth and bent my knees.

My leg jerked forwards in an aggressive gesture, and the spider panicked, finally jumping towards me.

The sword in my hand flashed upwards and caught the demon middair.

You Have Slain: Tiletik Spiderling, Level 2

You Have Slain: Tiletik Spiderling, Level 3

+35 XP

I really hate those fucking spiders.

Sighing, I turned back down the cave and began walking again.

Those things are just so annoying to fight! They're terrifying when they jump towards your face like that, with their huge mandibles and their creepy legs.

I swear, if I ever get out of this godforsaken place I am going to kill every last spider I see, just out of plain spite.

Well, at least I don't have-

An object the size of a small dog slammed into my lower back.

The world fell out from under me as I fell.

I hit the ground hard, all my breath explosively forced out of my lungs.

Someting bit through my shirt and into my back, sending jolts of pain through my spine.

Oh crap.

Before anything else could happen, I whipped my sword out and stabbed it into the air behind my back, hopefully into whatever was holding me down.

Feeling the stab connect and hot blood rush down my arm, I twisted my blade into the hide of whatever attacked me.

The demon let out a screech and jumped off me, finally allowing me to breath.

As soon as I could, I spun around onto my back and got to my feet, staring down the new threat.

Tiletik Sister, Level 4:

A young adult among the Tiletiks, these ladies have grown up from being Spiderlings and have become warriors within their families. The Tiletik Sisters are fierce and aggressive, but aren't very strong and can only be considered minor annoyances at best. But you should still watch out! They enjoy surprise attacks and go for the neck at any opportunity.

The new demon was larger than any Tiletik Spiderling I had seen, the muscles and long fangs easily visible. With the red eyes and pure-black hair, it looked like some kind of vampire spider. Creepy, I know.

The Tiletik Sister climbed up onto the wall of the cave, before edging close to me slowly.

I quickly raised my sword and pointed it defensively towards the spider. I did not want to get knocked to the ground again.

The spider seemed like it was moving somewhat painfully, and my eyes zeroed in on the gaping wound in its side.

I smiled. Looks like that stab from eariler had dealt some good damage.

Then the demon moved.

It dashed across the wall instead of jumped directly towards me, and it ran with insane speed. Before I had realized it had even started to move, the demon had crossed half the gap.

Cursing under my breath, I swung widely at the spider, but it jumped over the sword.

It landed on my arm but instead of biting into my wrist or bicep, it ran towards my neck.

My eyes widened as I realized the demon was going for a lethal hit.

With a jerk of movement, I twisted my body and fell to the ground, slamming both of us into the stone.

Athough I saw stars, the demon was stunned as well.

Seeing its twitching body, I smiled grimly and swung my blade.

And with a final twitch, it was dead.

You Have Slain: Tiletik Sister, Level 4

+40 XP

I stared at the bleeding corpse of the Tiletik, shuddered, and stood.

Seriously, fuck spiders.

Or at least, fuck giant spiders.

I honestly think I'm developing some sort of ingrown hatred towards spiders because of all this.

You know, before I wound up in this hellhole, I actually kinda liked spiders. I thought they were pretty cool.

Now all I feel towards those eight-legged bastards is rage. Pure, undiluted rage.

The screams of the boss deeper in the cave broke me out of my thoughts, and I snapped back to attention.

I shook my head, cracked my knuckles, and started making my way down the passage.

Who knows? Maybe if I get lucky, and do things right, this won't end with me dying.

....

Even if the possibility of my survival seems questionable, at best.