Chapter 27

After our previous exchange, the Lesser Tarantal decided to change its tactics and fought me in the same manner as it did on its other opponents. Though now that it was missing one of its legs, the Lesser Tarantal’s movements had become much slower than before. Of course, when I said that it was slower, that was only by my standards of speed. In truth, the Lesser Tarantal was still fast enough to keep up with my speed despite losing one of its legs. And honestly, that was truly terrifying in its own right. After all, if the monster was still this fast even after losing a leg, then it was surely a lot faster than this if it was in peak condition.

You really made a bad choice of using that tactic at the beginning my guy… I internally sighed in relief.

Surely, if the Lesser Tarantal had fought like this from the very beginning, then it might have already completely overwhelmed me by now. Fortunately, the monster decided for some reason to fight me in range. And as you could probably already tell from the result. That decision backfired on the monster.

I really ought not to follow from this example and avoid fighting using a tactic that I still haven’t tested. I concluded while searching for an opening to strike.

Of course, just because I managed to injure the monster, that didn’t mean that I suddenly gained a huge advantage. In fact, I would even say that I was still at a slight disadvantage because of all the weapons at the monster’s disposal. Honestly, it was actually quite fascinating how the Lesser Tarantal was using its web in a high-speed combat like this. There were times when the monster launched a barrage of webs before charging for an attack. Probably, that move was supposed to distract me from avoiding its fangs and leg strikes. Unfortunately, I was far from being a normal monster so that move has no chance of working on me.

Aside from that, there was also that tactic wherein the monster would sneakily create a ball-like web, hide it on one of its back legs, and then throw that thing at me when we were clashing at close range. But what was amazing with that technique was that the ball of webs would suddenly transform into a net-like shape when it was thrown. Most likely, that technique involved using a skill. Though, the way the Lesser Tarantal was incorporating that skill with its fighting style was what interested me the most.

What a troublesome opponent. I complained.

Well, it wasn’t as if I was new to fighting intelligent monsters. I had already seen my fair share of strong and clever monsters after all. But this one in particular stood out the most. And though the number of its abilities played a huge part in it, the skillful use of those said abilities were what made this monster terrifying. I didn’t know if it was a normal trait for spider type monsters, but I suspect that this monster was most likely a pretty old one that was why it had so many battle tactics. Clearly, it was experience that made the monster this strong.

Well, with age comes wisdom I supposed… Though in a monster’s case, literal power also comes along as a package… I thought while dodging the leg attack of the Lesser Tarantal.

At this point, I had already become used to the techniques and habits of the Lesser Tarantal. As a result, engaging the monster in close quarter combat had become relatively easy. Besides, the Lesser Tarantal was still a monster that was why its fighting style wasn’t quite as intricate as a human.

Once again, the Lesser Tarantal tried to stab me using its seven remaining legs. But knowing the weakness of those pointed legs, I easily flung it all away by hitting it on the side using the back of my paws. Then, as the monster was trying to bite me with its poisonous fangs, I swooped my claws towards the monster’s eyes.

Three of the Lesser Tarantal’s eyeballs were instantly crushed. But as if the monster didn’t find that the least bit painful, one of its pointed legs actually managed to pierce me to the side.

As if!! I screamed internally while gritting my fangs.

Taking advantage of the monster’s momentary pause after that attack, I proceeded to rip off another one of the Lesser Tarantal’s legs.

Finally, the monster faltered while letting out a screech of pain. Because of that, I gained enough time to separate from the monster and swallow another one of its legs. Immediately after that, I activated Devour and my wound completely stopped bleeding.

Of course, even though the bleeding has stopped, the pain and most of the damage still remained. But compared to the Lesser Tarantal who didn’t have Devour, my condition was slightly better. Though as a result, I earned the absolute hatred of the monster probably from that fact that I was literally eating it alive.

Come on man, don’t look at me like I am some kind of a savage creature. I simply had no choice!! I complained using my eyes. But for some reason, that only made the monster angrier.

It was then while I was complaining that I saw a notification popped up in my vision.

[Skill gained: Recuperate]

But because I was in the middle of combat, I didn’t have enough time to check its effects. Though for some reason, the pain on my wounds slightly receded. As a result, it became a lot easier for me to move. While on the other hand, the Lesser Tarantal had weakened considerably after that last confrontation.

Now that the Lesser Tarantal lost two of its legs, its speed dropped drastically. And probably because I had crushed three of its eyes, its movements had also become sluggish. That was why inevitably, the monster was now slowly losing its grounds.

The Lesser Tarantal desperately tried to capture me by firing off its webs. Unfortunately, the accuracy of those webs also dropped after I had crushed three of its eyes. Most likely, this monster didn’t have any tracking type skills similar to my skill Hunt. Well, there were also those detection type skills which the monster surely has. Unfortunately, those skills only provided vague information so it was pretty much impossible to accurately determine an enemy’s exact location using only that.

With swift and precise movements, I easily dodge all of those webs. And as I had expected, the Lesser Tarantal charged at me right after that. But since I knew it was coming, I deflected the monster’s attack without even breaking a sweat. Following that, I slightly moved sideways and bit the Lesser Tarantal on its stomach which was probably the monster’s weak point.

And guess what, it seemed like I was right on the money because the Lesser Tarantal immediately retreated after I had bitten its stomach. But even then, the latest wound that I had inflicted upon the monster was bleeding nonstop. Of course, I wouldn’t let that kind of chance slip by.

I charge towards the Lesser Tarantal. And unlike before, instead of engaging me in a melee combat, the Lesser Tarantal just ran away while shooting webs at my direction.

Too bad. I will not let you escape!! I swore while dodging the webs.

And so, I chased after the Lesser Tarantal while avoiding the webs attacks here and there. Clearly, at this point, I had the advantage. But even then, I still made sure to proceed with caution. After all, only when an animal was backed into the corner that it was sure to bite back. And for me, I wouldn’t want to be caught off guard by a last-minute desperate strike because I knew full well how dangerous that could be.

And well, it looks like my caution paid off because I noticed some thin and almost invisible webs scattered around the area where the Lesser Tarantal was fleeing. Seriously, if I didn’t move with caution, I wouldn’t be able to detect these webs and I would be surely captured in this trap. But now that I had uncovered the trap, it would be a piece of cake for me to dismantle it.

Sorry, I already expect you to do this. I thought while cutting off the thin webs using my fangs.

From the moment I recognized the Lesser Tarantal as a spider type monster, I already knew that the monster would eventually use this trick. In fact, it would be even weirder if a spider monster didn’t use a trick like this. It was just normal, after all, spiders tend to always lay a trap using their webs so it wasn’t hard to imagine the Lesser Tarantal doing the same exact thing.

Okay, let's end this!! I decided after cutting off the webs.

After that, it all became too easy. With the Lesser Tarantal losing two of its legs and a large amount of blood, catching up to it became relatively easy. And by the time I caught up with it, it was already too weak to even put up a fight. So, just like that, my match against the Lesser Tarantal finally came to its inevitable conclusion.