Tim beamed through the grass, in a desperate attempt to escape those fireflies. He didn’t want to get burned again, because he feared that this time around he'd burn his legs off, and a spider without legs was a dead spider! He didn’t want to end up like that, so he ran as fast as he could.

In sync with his train of thought for once, the system then interrupted him slightly, and asked a question. [If you’re so scared about losing health, why don’t you just spend a few mana points in health regeneration? It’s expensive, because you’re practically trading mana in exchange for health, but it’s your best option in a situation like this.]

“I’d rather not get hit at all,” He thought.

Tim was being difficult, but the system did give him a relative idea. He wasn't planning to regenerate his health anytime soon, but since he had some mana to spend, he might as well spend it all for the sake of survival. Rather than health-regeneration, he decided to rely on some other powers that he was familiar with. Tim wanted to try if the flaming fins ability worked out here, on dry land!

It wasn’t supposed to work, as spiders didn’t really have any fins to set ablaze. However, he was really desperate, so he decided to give it a shot!

Tim summoned the ability, and then, he found himself running across the grass at an uncomfortable speed. He could barely see anything in front of him, but he may not need to see stuff either. His legs had adapted that flaming color, and its explosive heat too, so he was slicing through all the grass roots effortlessly! This field didn’t stand a chance.

With all of that said, it was now certain that the flaming fins ability also worked on spiders! His legs were steaming with power, to the point where he ran twice as fast, in comparison to how fast he moved just moments ago! He outran them.

“Ah…” He then sighed in relief.

Tim made it a good two meters away from the fireflies, and from the destruction that they were causing. He decided to rest, and hide within an earthy bunch of pulled, grass roots. This spot should be safe enough.

Then, he thought to himself. “I got shit under control now, thank god… but, do I keep running away, or do I fight those bastards?”

In hindsight, it sounded stupid to fight nine power-amped sub-phantoms, but then again, Timothy wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed either. He bore a version of natural stupidity, and unreasonable bravery, which encouraged him to try something stupid. He was motivated by the idea of dimming the light that those fireflies radiated, and felt obligated to chase this idea, regardless of the circumstances that he had.

With that considered, he decided. “Fuck it, I'll kill them. It's not like I'm not in constant danger anyway, so what's a couple more risks? I'll take my chances! Besides, those bastards remembered my face, I think? As long as I'm a spider, they'll probably gonna chase me everywhere I go.”

Tim had made out his mind, no doubt about it. It seemed as if he was trying to reason with himself there, and his thought might be making sense, but the underlying reason behind his idea was simply stupid. He was vengeful, and that's all there was to it.

Tim then buried himself in the dirt, right below the bundle of roots that he was hiding in. He did so quite efficiently, because he had eight legs, after all, and he used those to throw a bunch of dirt over himself.

Then, he thought. “Now, I wait.”

It may seem uncharacteristic for him to be calm and patient, but when certain situations demanded it, he could perform. He was a stingray just moments ago, after all, so a part of his instincts still encouraged him to bury himself, and then ambush prey or enemies. For the average stingray, that was the best way to get food! Old habits die hard.

Anyway, he didn’t have to wait long in order to experience some action. Grass was very flammable, especially if there were portions of dry hay sprinkled in it. The fireflies set everything ablaze, and they didn't do so randomly either, they had reasons, they too had revenge in mind!

The fire reached Tim pretty quickly. His hiding spot was almost compromised as a result, but he refused to give up. The fire wasn't burning him right now, for a couple of reasons, and those reasons were what kept him planted to the ground. He was resilient.

He thought, “Can't give up now… If I survive the fire, then I can attack these motherfuckers from behind. They won't see it coming!”

Tim realized that a part of his initial plan was compromised, but he still remained vigilant and adaptive. He ended up pouring a couple of mana points into health-regeneration, after all, just so he could endure the brittle outskirts of the fire a bit better, but that was about it. He didn’t have any other challenges, because grass didn't burn for long, and he was covered with a layer of dirt already, which protected him a lot. He was safe.

He even joked to himself, “That fire got me feeling all nice and toasty. It's like I'm sunbathing again!”

Anyway, in his close perimeter, the fire dimmed down in less than a minute. The fireflies assumed that they wouldn't have to rummage through the ashes of every two-meter wide grass patch that they had burned, so they didn't bother circling back. They kept setting other areas on fire, with the hopes of thoroughly destroying their recent, grand enemy (Tim)!

Tim couldn’t care less about how angry the fireflies were, and with such an attitude, he arose from the ashes of burnt grass, and then he gave a peek at the perimeter. He then noticed the fireflies cruising about two meters ahead, and since they seemed rather unassuming, he locked in on them.

In order to catch up with them, he summoned the flaming fins ability again, and dashed forward. He ran at a grand pace for a whole meter, and then stopped rushing after that one-meter mark, because he wanted to be both more sneaky, and more preserving of his mana for once.

Tim had spent almost half of the mana from his mana pool so far, but that didn’t make him nervous at all. He knew that he had enough firepower to shoot his enemies out of the sky, and out of existence, once and for good! He approached with caution, and was uncharacteristically calculative.