Stitch-divers were now all over the place, and I'd finally seen how dangerous they could be. Another crawler was snatched from a street several buildings over, four birds having stitched into him. Before I could figure out how to help they flew in opposite directions and ripped him apart.

  I took a moment to vomit, then forced myself to continue hunting. I could take a break once I found Lacie.

  As is my way, I completely lost track of time and was dozens of miles out of town when the sun set. A foolish mistake, but I still felt good about the day.

  I was up to level 8, and I'd leveled Fastball to 7 and Breaking Ball to 8.

  The bad news was that I started seeing those snot-rocketeers moving in large flocks about a dozen feet above the rooftops. The good news was, they didn't seem to see me.

  While I figured out what to do, despite how I knew it was going to feel, I activated Sink Into Shadow. As before, my skin started to feel like I'd been dipped in crude oil, but with my increased hide in shadows skill, I could see how deeply embedded in the darkness I was.

  I felt hidden, but the real test came quick as a flock of seven snot-rocketeers flew my way. A few feet above my head, and they didn't even twitch. That felt especially strange because they were giant noses and I felt like I should stink of oil, but they simply flew onwards.

  Feeling relatively safe, I assessed the situation. Six flocks I could see, 52 snot-rocketeers in total. I could hear the chicken-walkers stomping along below, at least three but probably more. Once, I saw a trio of eye-spiders climb across a nearby roof, but they climbed back down, so I had no idea if there were more.

  Fifty-two snot-rocketeers up here with me.

  If I ran, they were going to all start hunting me, and this would be a truly mad dash back in the direction I thought town was. As running would just draw attention, it seemed like time to test how well that transparency benefit actually worked.

  The whole roof was in deep shadow, so I stepped out a bit, wound up, and sent a slider through a flock. They were far enough out that I couldn't see health-bars, but they did start darting around, as though looking for something.

  Well dang. With this spell and that knife the dungeon was going to let me stay invisible while killing things. I felt like I'd found an exploit, although it was obviously the intent when giving me this gear.

  Of course, the intent was to do this to other crawlers. That's why it hid my dot on the mini-map. I didn't like that the AI had outfitted me to be a murderer.

  My annoyance didn't stop me from sending cutters and curveballs and sliders through every flock I could see. I'd thrown at least once at every snot-rocketeer in sight when I heard them sneezing out blasts.

  My go-to, diving as far in a random direction as I could, left me in a corner, looking back. Seven snot-rockets slammed into the rooftop where I'd been.

  I threw a curveball down the stack of snot-rocketeers hovering over there, then started to run as I heard more sneezes from every direction. Mostly from the direction of town, though.

  It felt like I was being herded, but I fled the gathered flocks anyways. Not a proper pitch, but I kept tossing the knife as I moved, missing more often than not with how little attention I paid the throws.

  Right now, footing and awareness were everything. Snot-rockets came in by the dozen every second, tentacles started to creep above the edges of buildings, and I could see those horrifying spiders moving my way.

  This part of the ruins was more uneven than the first region I'd been in, buildings ranging from three to seven stories tall, but I found that a proper leap could get me most of the way up a gap, with two quick little jumps finishing it, even when it was over forty feet.

  One such roof-jump brought me up in front of a swarm of eye-spiders and I hurled a powerful fastball into them before diving back off just as I felt that insidious fear start to press on me.

  Fleeing like mad, I soon saw a gap in the ruins, a patch of uneven darkness among the buildings. I slowed my sprint, dodged another wave of snot, and got a proper look.

  Trees. It was a grove of trees, about a quarter mile on each side.

  There were three real possibilities. This was going to give me cover from the snot-rocketeers, this was a huge trap, or this was an unrelated place that would just have new monsters.

  By then, there were over eighty snot-rocketeers hovering in the sky, all sneeze-blasting at me, so I decided to risk it.

  Down to a lower roof, across another, and I leapt to a tree, swinging down lower and running from branch-to-branch like they were solid ground. I wasn't sure if it was tumble, balance, light on your feet, or some combination of the three skills, but they were really something. Moving through the branches was only slightly more difficult than walking on solid ground.

  In the dense shadows of all those trees, my twinkling toes were incredibly obvious. That was probably what got me noticed on the rooftop, as well. Huddling against a large trunk to hide myself, I removed the ballet-flat trap-item and put my new-before-the-dungeon, now-ragged running shoes back on.

  As I got moving again, a barrage of snot hit the upper branches, but didn't penetrate deeply. So, being shielded had worked out. I couldn't really see, though. In fact... I closed the hitai-ate, and my sense of the trees actually improved as I lost my eyesight. Instead of silhouettes, I knew where every tree-branch within about fifteen feet was.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  Up ahead, the overgrowth became denser, and most of it wasn't branches. It was more like netting, or some sort of drape.

  I froze. There was motion below, above, all through the trees. One came close as I crouched, close enough that I could recognize an Eye of Terrors.

  Admin Notice. A new tab is available in your interface. Quests.

  Trumpets flared inside my mind, sparkles dancing in my peripheral vision.

  New Quest. Save the Beauty from These Beasts

  In this patch of ancient woodlands, you have found a maiden bound by strange, nightmare creatures. You know not their cruel designs, only that you must foil them. Free the captured maiden and escape with her in tow.

  Reward: You will receive a Silver Quest Box.

  I had, in fact, not found any of that. I had barely found the spiders. I opened my hitai-ate, considering the space ahead of me.

  They had strung lines of heavy web through the trees, all linked together in a vast webbed mass, at the heart of which was— wow, the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. She looked like she would post before-and-after pictures of her glow-up, and the before picture would be Sydney Sweeney.

  Essilei, Level 7 High Elf Princess

  A kidnapped high elven princess, Essilei has been missing for days, a great reward offered for her safe return. Now that you've seen her, you understand why.

  Truly, this is the face of one of the stunning beauties you spend your evenings gooning over.

  The webs were strung about her, pinning her there like some sort of art piece. I simply didn't care if it was a trap or not. I almost rushed straight in, barely noticing the dozens of eye-spiders in the trees, watching their bait.

  So, an obvious trap, maybe too obvious, but I knew I was going to do something about it. Firstly, I needed to deal with all these dang spiders.

  I checked my Sink Into Shadows and saw that it had three more minutes until it could start back up. I spent three minutes staring at Essilei's face. She had literally perfect cheek bones.

  Lacie would understand, of course. I mean, we hadn't even kissed properly, so we weren't together-together, right?

  I blinked, and that worry was gone. I activated Sink Into Shadows, the woods darkening. Balancing carefully on the branch, I sent a fastball through four of the webbing-strands on the far side.

  The whole ball of threads pinged as the tension broke. Eye-spiders swarmed towards it, and I threw another fastball into the mass. Three health-bars popped up, the things closely enough packed that a good throw could get through a few. Another fastball, and a third, and finally one bleed started.

  As they spread out, moving back, I threw some sliders that got another bleeding. Then I broke a few more threads, this time getting excellent luck and starting bleeds on another three with only four throws.

  The next time I snapped a strand, finally breaking enough that Essilei slumped down, one arm freed, they didn't rush to it. Their eyes—one each, but many eyes in total—turned my way. Almost my way. They knew which side I was on, but hadn't zeroed in.

  Unfocused as they were, I could feel the weight of that shared gaze and swiftly closed my hitai-ate. Somehow, my blindsight stretched out to caress the curves of Essilei, her perfect softness almost tangible.

  I had to save her from these spiders. Heedless, I began throwing at those nearer, fastball after fastball, always looking for one with no bleed effect yet begun. I got several more, losing count of how many had started bleeding, before they honed in and rushed at me.

  Any sense of risk was gone. My mind had moved from planning to doing. Hitai-ate still closed, I rushed them. I wasn't careless, but I didn't even consider leaving that place.

  At first, I focused on dodging, trying to build up a rhythm of motion. I also got a better hang of understanding which branches I could leap to, of the ones I could sense. Soon, for whatever soon means when you're in the zone and ignoring time, I was moving fluidly, four or five spiders close enough to worry about at a time.

  I began to cut. Slashes as they got close, throws whenever I moved away, I kept the Extremely Sharp Knife moving constantly. As ever, my 9-strength pokes did very little damage, but the 10.75% chance of a bleed effect just required that I damage them at all.

  The blood began to run as I drifted through the trees. I felt like one of those badasses from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, except that they had swords and actually killed the things they sliced open, while I had a tiny knife that did almost nothing.

  As I passed, I kept cutting the web-strands as well, slowly unmaking the vast net they had formed. Whether it was self-preservation or some complex plan, the spiders at last started to back off, moving into the trees where it would be difficult to hit them.

  I could still maybe hit them with a careful curveball, but the space left my mind free to focus on what mattered. Obviously, Essilei was what mattered. And my date with Lacie.

  Essilei.

  I returned the hitai-ate to a simple headband, looking about the woods. With the webbing gone, everything seemed brighter. A moonbeam lit Essilei, her perfect skin glowing, her hair like burnished gold.

  The spiders were hiding, frightened of me. I descended into the mass of webs. The strands had fallen, but Essilei was still weighed down by them. As I neared, I cut a path.

  Reaching her, I cut one from her left arm, then her right. At last, I carefully cut away the bond across her mouth, revealing full, perfect lips.

  She sighed in a breath, my eyes falling helplessly to the rise of her breasts. A touch on my cheek lifted my eyes back to hers. Her voice was soft, breathy. "You've saved me, hero."

  Her other hand slid about the back of my head, fingers through my hair, drawing me close for my reward, a beautiful kiss.

  I blinked. I still hadn't been kissed by Lacie. I mean, on the one hand, so what? Lacie was regular hot, not goddess-made-flesh hot. But also, I was supposed to be going after my first date with Lacie. I'd kissed her a few weeks ago, and I realized she'd kissed my cheek on the ride in, but we hadn't kissed each other properly.

  One of my hands was balled into a fist, tight about the thin hilt of the Extremely Sharp Knife, muscles shaking from how tightly they were clenched. As the glass dug into my skin, I started to wonder what I was doing. I really did want that first date with Lacie, and this woman—

  Was she a person, or just a character? I was in a dungeon, a thing made by aliens. She was beautiful, but she wasn't a person, was she?

  I snapped shut the hitai-ate, knocking her hands away with the motion. The hitai-ate rung with an impact, the screeching of something sharp dragging across metal filling my head. I leapt back, spinning awkwardly as her hands scrabbled at my closed hitai-ate.

  Coming down, I opened the hitai-ate again, taking in the world as it was. Her maw was stretched wide, splitting her whole head in two, sharp teeth lining it. As her mouth closed, the flesh sealed, beautiful again. Perfect. That was the sort of face you let take a bite out of you.

  She rose up, and I saw that, beneath the lower webs, there were not legs, but the bulbous body of a vast spider. The eye-spiders ringed the space, a sphere of eyes pouring fear upon me.

  Venus Guy Trap, Level 21 Neighborhood Boss

  The Venus Guy Trap is a clever hunter. It disguises itself as a hot lady, luring in the a meal of the desperate and simple-minded.

  And I mean simple. Did you not even notice that the nearby settlements were all skyfowl? Why would there be a high-elven princess here? Seriously, when the spider-lady eats you, you'll deserve it.

  I dug the butt of the knife into my leg, drawing blood and clarity in equal measure. As I ran, she roared.

  Quest Update.

  She's a spider! You almost let yourself get eaten by a spider because she had nice tits. Maybe rethink your priorities, gooner.

  New quest goal: Don't get eaten by that sexy, sexy spider. Unless you're into that sorta thing.