The voyage into the dark began at the furthest edge of the current cavern. After eating the majority of its ecosystem – which admittedly wasn’t all that much – she set foot into the dark tunnels wrapped in the light of many glowworms.

Cladding her body was the hide of the Giant Mosquito, torn into long strips and wrapped with the green, living strings. It wouldn’t do much against an attack against another Giant Mosquito, but it would suffice against slashing attacks.

 

Giant Cave Mosquito Membrane

< The membrane of a Giant Cave Mosquito. Smells like iron >

ATT DEF : 35

 

This combined with the Soft Cave Wolf Pelt she also draped herself with pushed her bonus ATT DEF stat to 50.

 

ATT DEF : 52 (+50)

 

Vengeful Red could now completely negate the attacks of the Adolescent Cave Wolves. The problem was that they were ‘adolescent’. Depending on how big those wolves became, an adult version could easily be twice as strong.

So, she ventured deeper in hopes of two things: to find her weapons, and to eat as many foes as possible to bolster her bolster her strength. Cleaning the cavern before heading out was the best possible option. Furthermore, it would increase the likelihood of finding her weapon.

Dumb wolves won’t know what will hit them. Heh. Just you wait and see how strong I’ll soon be!

The chittering of the Rock Bugs disappeared the moment her body was engulfed by the darkness. They didn’t follow and abandoned her as she clicked her tongue in annoyance.

“Cowards. At least I can come back for a tasty meal.” She grinned, looking forward to the post-exploration meal. She considered them desert as she marched onwards, keeping a hand pressed against the wall, and another gripping the handle of her blade.

Truth be told, there was another reason why she chose to investigate these caverns. A small rumble could be felt from deep within which piqued her curiosity. It was like an explosion that reverberated throughout the impenetrable walls and up her bones.

The kind that she would associate with her weapon. Nothing else in her mind could associate the rumbling with anything but her Fairytale’s Bane.

And so, she ventured deeper into the abyss with a steeled heart.

The caverns were dryer further ahead, like something was sucking the moisture out from the air. It made breathing slightly difficult and she figured that the reason why Glowworms couldn’t live here was because of this.

Her proof?

“Wet and sticky fellas wouldn’t want to live in dry places.” She muttered to herself, dragging a hand across the icky glowworms. “Right, Voice?”

 

Glowworms

< Observation Level 1 >

< Glowworms can only thrive in moist environments. However, existing outside of ideal conditions increases their physical resilience until their light disappears >

 

Meaning what exactly? The less light they have the better they are? Huh… Now that I think about it, how come you told me this even though I haven’t observed that happening yet?

No response.

The Voice simply functioned on an entirely different realm of reasoning from her. She had to wonder if there was a consciousness behind the written words. Was this Voice something that was living? Or was she undergoing what normal people called ‘brain damage?’.

Better yet, it could be the result of the Third Man Syndrome.

The quiet drips of water could no longer be heard the deeper she ventured. Before long the path ahead was completely obscured, causing her to rely on throwing a yarn of glowworms ahead to plot her course.

Suddenly, one of these balls silently disappeared.

A big hole… How deep does that go?

She pondered as she gazed down into the abyss, unable to tell the true extent of this cave. What struck her as bizarre was the fact that the hole was shaped in a perfect circle.

It was as though someone had dug it out.

Or rather, something.

Her hair instantly brushed aside as warm air vented through the hole. She had more than enough glowworms to create a trail to mark precisely where it was safe to retreat. The walls became steeper, and the only sound was the beating of her heart and the sound of her controlled breath.

Then, she noticed something lurking above. A small glimmer of red light caused her to immediately stop in her tracks as her instincts warned her of a lurking danger. A soft, rapid pattering surrounded her as she twisted herself into the direction of every single sound, holding her blade defensively in one hand and the proboscis in the other before suddenly –

“Gngh!? FROM BEHIND!?” She shouted as she was unexpectedly shoved forward by an incredible force.

Were it not for her insane reaction times then she would have plummeted to her death. She jammed the proboscis on the edge of the hole, barely keeping herself balanced before she made a risky leap onto the other side.

 

Vengeful Red | HP: 450

 

She tapped her shoulders, feeling the other proboscises that were attached to her back and she felt claw marks along its length. Lengths of glowworms were thrown around her like the silk of a spider web, illuminating a 10-meter radius around her as watched the shadows of an entity stalk her from beyond the boundary.

“Tch – So you’re an assassin like me too, huh! I didn’t make a sound and it still knew where I was… If it’s avoiding the light, then does that mean it can detect it!?”

Her wild guess was as accurate as it came. The fact that the creature knew where the sources of the light had tipped her off that this thing could see in some capacity. No matter where she moved, she felt like the creature knew exactly where was.

So, she threw the yarn far ahead to see what else laid there.

And to her surprise, the creature went after that ball of light rather than her this time, striking it until it was reduced to gore and ribbons.

“Bright light! OF COURSE! I’m like a beacon in the dark! I’m practically asking to get hunted!” Realizing this, she immediately began to remove the glowworms from her body as the entity lunged straight for her again.

Its claws swiftly met with her arm, lacerating it shallowly thanks to the protection of her newfound armor.

 

Vengeful Red | HP: 410

 

“What’s the maths behind it? 102 plus 40 is 142 damage. This thing hits harder than the damned wolves!” A part of her reconsidered turning back, but she was hellbent on reuniting with her weapon.

The fact is – her weapon should not have been able to discharge by itself, meaning it was either in someone’s possession or it was damaged.

Nothing was going to stop her from getting her hands on it!

With each strand of glowworm stripped and thrown aside, she made a perilous jump for safety as she attempted to predict its attacks. She succeeded a number of times but nevertheless –

 

Vengeful Red | HP: 350

 

– She had taken considerable damage.

By now she had caught a glimpse of her foe’s black exterior, and giant, beady eyes which were the size of melons.

It was a mantis-like insect, clad in black and roughly the same size as her. Its hideous proportions gave her a sudden fright, however, it no longer seemed to be interested in her as it dove onto the mass of glowworms, digging its claws into the mound with reckless abandon.

 

 

She didn’t give it the luxury to know of her approaching attack, and just like that, she embedded the length of her proboscis spear into its eye and followed it up with a slash from her blade. It tore its eye open like a balloon, sending chunks of aqueous material all over her before she dug her entire arm straight into its head, confirming the kill.

The beast didn’t even screech. It was so preoccupied with the light that it probably didn’t even know it had just died.

“O-Oh – I’m jammed in – wait, it’s heavy!” She grumbled, struggling to pull her arm free.

A chunk of its flesh was left on the tip of her blade once she was freed. She posed victoriously with a foot onto the head of the one-eyed mantis before she took a bite of the sampler.

Her eyes suddenly lit up.

“… it tastes like mud. Hah. That’s the tastiest thing I’ve had so far!”

She rejoiced, instinctively turning back to see if the Rock Bugs had somehow crept up to steal her food.

“Phew. It’s all mine now~!”

However, what she didn’t realize was that she had attracted the attention of far more than just one of these Mantid Stalkers…

---