Ah—slept.
Yup.
Slept, all right.
But... what's going on?
I was planning to crash for a while longer, but I woke up suddenly?
Hm?
I've got this feeling like every hair on my body is standing on end.
This might be bad.
I peek my head out from behind the rock and glance down.
『Anogratch LV6 — Failed to Appraise Status』
『Anogratch LV3 — Failed to Appraise Status』
『Anogratch LV8 HP: 165/168 (Green) MP: 38/38 (Blue) SP: 127/127 (Yellow) ST: 109/118 (Red) — Failed to Appraise Status』
『Anogratch LV5 — Failed to Appraise Status』
...
A horde of apes had assembled below me.
Quick count put them at around fifty.
Huh?
No way—they're definitely aware of me.
How!?
My rock camouflage should be flawless.
I've seen it from the outside myself, and it's perfect.
At a glance, it should look like nothing more than a slightly protruding wall.
How, how, how!?
The only thing I can think of is that ape I took down earlier—the same species.
Did it do something before it died?
Leave some kind of special scent or something?
I have no idea.
But reality doesn't care about my confusion—here they are, waiting for me.
It looks like they're about to start climbing the wall.
Actually—they've already started.
Ugh, this is bad!
Even for apes, climbing a vertical wall is tough, so their speed is pretty slow.
It should take them at least a few minutes to reach me at this rate.
I need to take some action in the meantime.
The best option is to escape along the ceiling, right?
There's no way I can take on that many apes.
Alright, decision made—time to run!
Huh?
The color of the ceiling changes halfway through!
No way—!?
It's incredibly slippery!?
My threads barely stick to it at all!?
You've got to be kidding...
The rock composition changes about one or two meters along from the wall. My feet don't stand a chance on this stone—let alone my threads, even at maximum adhesion, can hardly stick to its slick surface.
There's no escaping along the ceiling, then.
That leaves only one option—flee sideways along the wall.
They'll probably give chase, but this becomes a battle of endurance.
Alright, let's g—thunk!
Wha—!? What!?
A rock!? They're throwing rocks at me!?
And from ground level all the way up here!? It actually reached!?
Ugh, another one!
I scramble back into the crevice of the rock.
A stone hits the spot where I just was.
The rocks hurled from this height don't pack a ton of force.
But if I get hit while clinging to a vertical wall, I'm getting knocked off for sure.
The fact that they're nailing my exact position means they either have Throwing, Accuracy, or both as Skills.
A chill runs down my spine.
I can't escape this.
What do I do?
No—there's only one path left.
I have to fight back.
Luckily, I have the makeshift home base up here.
Before they reach it, I need to fortify this spot as much as possible and meet them head-on.
Even if we're both stuck to the wall, unlike the bees from before, this time the enemy has no terrain advantage.
If anything, my makeshift nest works as both a foothold and a fortress—the terrain favors me.
I have to do this.
First, I scatter threads.
Then I use Thread Manipulation to stick them to the wall.
It's simple, but it should make climbing significantly harder for them.
Dodge, dodge, stick—dodge, dodge, stick. Not exactly the most efficient workflow when you're also dodging rocks.
While I'm at it, the first wave of climbing apes reaches about halfway up the wall.
This is bad.
They're climbing faster than I expected.
The amount of thread I've spread isn't nearly enough to stop all of them.
What now?
Hey—is there anything I can use to attack from my side?
I've got Throwing and Accuracy, so if only I had something to hurl at them...
Wait, I can't throw it exactly, but I can drop something!
I poke my head out of the rock and activate Poison Synthesis.
Of course I'm not producing weak poison.
I'm using the potent stuff—the spider venom I've honed throughout my life as a spider.
The venom sphere materializes in front of me and drops straight down under gravity's pull.
The ape climbing the wall has no way to avoid it.
It nails the ape square in the face. The creature writhes in agony before plummeting down.
This is working!
I quickly check my remaining MP.
MP consumed: a single point.
That means I can fire off up to forty shots.
Factor in what I need for Thread Manipulation, and I'm looking at roughly twenty-five.
If every one hits, I can take out about half the horde!
I drop the second shot immediately.
Another hit. Another ape falls.
And another.
This is the kind of thing you want to cash in while you can.
《Proficiency has reached a certain threshold. Skill "Poison Synthesis LV1" has advanced to "Poison Synthesis LV2"》 The Skill leveled up, but I'll check the details later.
The new poison types don't matter—I already have spider venom, which is stronger.
I managed to knock out a fair number of apes, but the enemy adapted.
They've shifted away from directly beneath the nest and started moving to the side.
I need to drop every last bit of venom before they finish repositioning.
《Proficiency has reached a certain threshold. Skill "Accuracy LV2" has advanced to "Accuracy LV3"》 Nice, nice.
The apes are falling like flies.
But they've shifted quite a bit sideways.
Venom drops aren't going to work anymore.
With my remaining MP, I was getting worried anyway—maybe this is a blessing in disguise.
I extend threads toward the direction the repositioned apes are heading.
This battle has only just begun.