Ross stood still, the unsheathed katana clenched in his hands with all the pride he carried.
Shadows wrapped around him—cast by the massive spiders closing in like a living tornado.
Every second dragged them nearer. He could feel the warm, venom-filled breaths leaking from their predatory mouths, itching to swallow him whole.
Whether it was revenge for the brutal murder of their fellow species or just wild instinct, one thing was certain: in seconds, he would be dead meat if he didn't act.
His eyes darted across their natural attack formation, targets switching rapidly as a plan assembled itself inside his mind.
"No matter how strong I may be, I won't survive all of them crashing onto me. And there's a chance one of those venomous tips cuts me. I'm not taking that risk… that leaves me with only one option: find a weak spot."
He thought deeply, breaths growing hotter around him. Crosshairs formed in his vision as he searched for the perfect spider—one whose position exposed its neck.
"Got it."
He locked onto one. Its mouth stretched wide, hairs twitching. Its body hadn't even finished rising from the ground—likely dragged out too fast by desperation to reach its prey first.
Thud.
Ross shifted his stance like a seasoned samurai.
With one precise slash—
Swing!
He went from the center of a spider tornado to cleaving into the exposed neck, chopping the beast's head off in a clean samurai execution.
Fwah!!
Blood blasted from the wound like a newly opened fountain on a deserted island, pushing upward with unnatural pressure.
Boom.
The spiders landed face-first where Ross had stood—creating a sound that should've meant they successfully reached their target and were busy ripping him apart…
If their target had been anyone but Ross.
Dust erupted around them as they trampled over each other, confused and clumsy. Their stupidity was on full display.
"That's more like it," Ross murmured.
The first part of his plan worked flawlessly—pure confusion, shattering their coordination.
"Rooar!!"
From the rumble came a roar. A few spiders regained their senses, finally locating Ross again.
"Now to the second part of the plan!"
Thud, thud.
One spider charged, mouth first, squeaking in strange patterns that almost sounded like communication—like a language.
"Roar!"
It leaped.
Slash!
Ross met it mid-air, driving the katana through its mouth and straight out of its back.
"Separation. I won't take you all at once… but this, I can manage."
Two more lunged with reckless force.
Swing!
Swing!
He sliced them cleanly in half, the fruits of his martial journey shining through. The blade's stain was a deep, pure red—so red it could be mistaken for human blood.
"Roar!!!!!!!!!!"
A matured spider bellowed. Something about the sound felt like a hidden signal only they understood.
Suddenly—
the spiders began moving back, retreating as fast as they had arrived.
Ross narrowed his eyes. Even retreating, his guard stayed high. Something was off.
"Ease up, you won," Medussa chimed, too cheerful, almost suspiciously so.
"I can't. Look."
He pointed.
"They've slowed down. And look at how they're running. It looks random but it's not—they're forming something."
[Aah?]
Medussa scanned every movement, from the lift of each leg to the rhythm of every heartbeat, analyzing every angle and combining it into one picture.
And suddenly—there it was.
The truth.
A terrifying truth.
They weren't escaping.
They were forming a circle.
A perfect circle meant to trap Ross with nowhere to run.
Anyone looking closely would see it: they never planned to jump him again.
They turned their backs on him, butts pointed toward his position, faces looking away.
"What are they planning?" Ross muttered, staring at their awkward stances.
Medussa glitched—not because of Ross's determination, but because she understood what was about to happen. The bloodbath that was seconds away. The inescapable situation forming beneath Ross's feet.
"Think, damn it!" Ross shouted inside his mind.
He blanked.
And who could blame him? Enemies turning their backs was suicide. Even the dumbest animal knew that.
Then it hit him.
"Even a foolish animal would know that!"
And with that came Medussa's earlier words:
'The thing might look different, but it is exactly like a spider. Use what you know about spiders to take it down.'
A bright spark ignited in his mind.
"They want to shoot me with their webs!"
He muttered it just as—
PWAH!!
Too late.
Twenty-five spiders fired their webs at the same time—thick strands soaked in venom—launched with explosive force, like bullets tearing through the air.
They weren't idiots anymore.
They were cornered beasts going all-in.
Ross's eyes widened.
The webs approached by the millisecond, the venom's scent burning stronger the closer it got.
The shadow of death crawled onto him.
"I messed up… this is what I get for underestimating them."
He stared at the incoming storm—feet away.
He closed his eyes.
Ross's fate was sealed.
Then—
A.O.I.
It activated.
Not consciously—instinctively.
I:: Thunder Dash
In a single second, blue light burst across Ross's legs.
In a movement so fast even I, the narrator, couldn't track it,
he weaved through the millimeter gaps between each web slick like a snail.
All twenty-five attacks missed and instead impaled the spiders standing behind, ripping through them with brutal force.
A total massacre.
And Ross didn't even break a sweat.
Then
Instantly
The ground trembled.
A large circular hole opened beneath him—nothing but darkness inside.
Dramatically,
Ross began falling, still upright.
His eyes widened.
His heart didn't skip one beat,it skipped several.
"What the fuck?!"
He cursed, the view was difficult one to comprehend. In one second he stood still, confidence boosted after the instant victory he got, the next he was falling down.
Without any kind of warning.
"Is this a dream!"
He pondered, not once in his life had he seen the large view. Just like Jonah getting swallowed by a fish.Only that this one, never had any intentions of letting him go.
In those milliseconds, he saw it.
The hole wasn't a crater.
It wasn't natural.
It was a mouth.
A beast's mouth.
It had opened right where the ground should've been
and now Ross was falling straight into its stomach.