Phew.
Geji are scary.
Seriously, what even *are* those things?
I felt the terror of numerical superiority in my bones.
Ugh, I'm exhausted.
My legs are shaking from running even after the yellow gauge — the one for Burst — ran out.
I'll call it a day and rest.
I glance behind me one more time to make sure the Geji swarm isn't still chasing me.
Good, they're gone.
I spin silk to create a simple home base.
The instant the net barrier is up and I feel safe, all the strength drains out of my body and I collapse.
Ugh, this is gonna be mildly traumatic for a while.
Each individual one is weak, sure, but when there are that many of them, they're genuinely terrifying.
If you get hit with a wave assault from that many Geji, there's absolutely nothing you can do.
On top of that, they have paralysis.
One bite and you're a goner to the paralysis.
Then you just lie there helplessly while they gnaw through your entire body.
Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl.
I should have thought more carefully about why that area was crawling with Geji.
Actually, rather than the reason there were so many Geji, maybe I should have thought about why there were no other Monsters?
After all, individually, Geji are weak.
Looking back, it's weird that with such easy prey around, no other predators showed up, right?
I suppose you could argue they were put off by the paralysis, but in a Dungeon this toxic, that reasoning feels pretty thin.
The other Monsters either knew about the Geji swarms and avoided them, or stumbled in unaware and got devoured. One of the two, probably.
At my speed, I could barely escape. For other Monsters, getting away would be even harder.
They'd get caught, bitten, paralyzed, and then the swarm would pile on…
Terrifying, truly terrifying.
Even weak Monsters have their own tricks to deal with, huh.
I'm weak in terms of pure combat ability too, but if I set up a nest and lay traps, I can take down even stronger foes.
Just because something's weak doesn't mean you can let your guard down.
I'll treat this whole ordeal as a lesson learned.
In the end, I managed to survive in one piece, and the Geji did provide plenty of easy hunting.
Thanks to them, I was able to rack up Levels with relative ease.
Oh, speaking of which, I just remembered.
Appraising the entire Geji swarm all at once must have pushed my Appraisal Level up.
A blessing in disguise, I guess?
Anyway, let me take a fresh look at my own Appraisal results — the ones I keep displayed at all times.
I definitely didn't have time to check that while being chased.
'`Small Lesser Taratect LV7 Name: None Status: Weak`' What the heck is "Status: Weak"!?
That's absurdly blunt!
And sure, I know I'm weak, but come on…
Couldn't you sugarcoat it just a little?
Having Appraisal spit out "Weak" is basically proof that, by the world's standards, I really am weak, isn't it?
Ugh.
That's so deflating.
But wait — didn't I *just* think to myself that you can't get careless even against weak opponents?
I have these threads.
No matter how weak my main body might be, as long as I have this silk, defeat isn't entirely out of the question.
Well, it's not entirely *in* the question either, but still.
In the big picture, I don't think I can really be called weak?
I'm pretty lopsided, sure, but I'm the type who's strong when things click into place, right?
Traps built from Spider Silk, a preemptive ambush to strike first, and Poison Fang to finish off whatever's immobilized.
Yep.
Even I have to admit that's pretty vicious.
But the moment it becomes a fair, face-to-face fight? I fall apart instantly. Funny how that works.
The key is how much you can force the battle into your own territory.
Don't let the opponent set the pace — just overwhelm them with your strengths.
Well, if I could always do that, I wouldn't have any problems, I guess.
Ugh, I'm tired. Time to sleep.
I woke up.
I'm not fully rested yet.
But I suddenly came to.
What is this feeling?
I can't put my finger on it, but I've got a bad premonition.
I scramble to my feet and start reinforcing my simple home with additional layers of silk.
That's when I realize what the bad premonition actually is.
'`Elurobaradroad LV9 Status Appraisal failed`' It's a massive snake.
Its body is thick enough to swallow a person whole, and it's got to be over ten meters long.
It looks overwhelmingly powerful.
And it's LV9.
This is the first Monster I've encountered that's a higher Level than me.
Until now, the highest Level any Monster had was 4.
Now it's jumped all the way to 9.
In terms of species, it's clearly far above me.
In terms of Level, it outclasses me too.
If I tried to fight it head-on, I wouldn't stand a chance.
My heart is pounding despite myself.
A spider caught in a snake's gaze — not a frog.
I manage to get my stiff, tense body to move.
I back away slowly, putting distance between myself and the snake.
It doesn't allow that.
It charges straight through the net without a care!
Of course, its body gets caught in the silk.
But the snake thrashes around and tears the threads apart by force!
I spin around and bolt like a rabbit.
The timing of my escape through the net's exit and the snake crashing through the first barrier into the net I just vacated are practically simultaneous.
Every instinct screams at me to run.
But I don't.
Because I saw it.
The snake is tangled in the net.
It can tear through the silk, but it hasn't managed to completely remove it.
Right now, its body is wrapped in a complex mess of intact net and the remnants of the barrier it forced its way through, all knotted together.
I can do this!
*This* is my territory.
I launch myself onto the thrashing snake's body.
I bite down immediately, and from my rear I keep spitting out additional silk.
I punch through the tough scales and drive my Poison Fang into its flesh!
The snake writhes in agony from the venom, its movements growing wild.
Bound by silk yet still violently thrashing, it slams me into the ground and walls over and over.
But I hold on through sheer willpower!
The yellow Stamina gauge is dropping.
Each impact drains the green Health gauge too.
On top of that, every time I spin more silk, the red Total Stamina gauge decreases as well.
If the red gauge runs out, I probably won't be able to produce any more silk.
If that happens, it's only a matter of time before it tears free.
I have to take this snake down before that.
I keep biting, keep spitting silk, with my mind empty of everything else.
Gradually, the snake's resistance weakens.
By the time the yellow gauge has been gone for a while and the red gauge drops below ten percent, the snake finally stops moving.
See, *this* is what happens when you let your guard down just because something's weak!