WHEN I GOT REINCARNATED AS A SPIDER WITH MY GODDESS :VOLUME1

VOLUME 2 - CH - 1.A - WILL I DIE AGAIN IN CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER 1 – WILL I DIE AGAIN IN CHAPTER ONE

I am totally exhausted and at my limits now. I could tell that my lungs were about to burst at any moment, even though I have my doubts that whether I have them or not in the first place. There is no way I can run anymore.

Even though I have been running on my new found natural instincts and maybe I was even on my adrenaline pump ‘flight’ response mode, but its effect was too wearing off slowly.

I knew only one thing that I had to survive no matter what. I will figure something out. So I need to run, I need to keep running, till I can shake off this intimidating predator from my trail.

The dim light makes me sick. It’s so unreal. I kept on taking turns many times in my way, but the scenery didn’t change.

The lizard monster is still chasing me, but in no way it looks exhausted except for more frustrated and angry. Its loud horrific outcries could be heard echoing in this closed and unassumingly huge endless cave. Now I doubt whether it is even a cave or not.

Hufff….Puffff.

DRIP…. DRIP…..

“Is that the sound of water?”

I sped up my movement, with the thought that I could dive inside the water source and only hope that the lizard didn’t knew how to swim or was stupid enough to jump and drown itself. And if it ends up dead the better will be my situation. I could care no less. What do you expect from me, having sympathy for a being who tries to eat newly born kids? I know I am much older mentally but I want to treat it as a new life.

You get it, right.

I was soon able to see a small circular lake in the corner surrounded by two walls and then there was a hole in one of the walls through which water poured in at a comparably higher thrust than the sound made it look like.

“Well, it looks pretty deep.”

 I was about twenty meter away and was about to take a sharp turn near the next turn and make a spectacular jump into the lake.

When one of my odd shaped and somewhat segmented legs just…just …just had to slip and trip over a moist rock and made me roll over head-butt.

How shameful…..utterly disgraceful.

THUMP.

THUMP.

At least the ground is a bit soft and clayey so I didn’t end up with any bruises or cut.

I looked back and to my horror, the lizard which had shown no signs of intelligence up till now saw through my misfortune and took the advantage of this opening.

It rolled back its tongue and after making a crude face, was it a smile; it opened its huge mouth. I could see its large sharp canines and the foul smell it gave was unbearable even at this distance.

‘Is he about to eat me in one gulp? I cannot move. My legs are frozen and I am too exhausted to move or think. It’s just like the last time, being attacked by that Heavenly Beast Wolf and the guilt of unable to do anything in front of a powerhouse being …. It’s unbearable.’

Will I really be lucky like the last time and someone will come around and save me.

Is this the end?

I had closed my eyes and started counting backwards, waiting for the inevitable. Being chewed under its molars, plummeted by its tediously long tongue, shoved down its throat, then digested and finally………………… never mind.

That’s when I think my life changed, seeing death up close for the third time.

I realized there are no convenient miracles. Whether you are in a fantasy world or the real world, your carefree nature will always come back and bite you and every time it will be much more painful than the last time.

I opened my eyes and someone had switched off the lights. But I could still see myself fine. That’s when a person appeared before me. She had white hairs and blue eyes. She was beautiful and attractive, just by looking at her I could tell unlike me she had a strong willed personality. It was like Déjà-woo.

She looked so familiar that I realized that she was the one from my odd dreams I have been having recently. And now when I am dying I am hallucinating again, or maybe I am already dead.

I still could not move, but the best part was that I was back in my human body. The unseemingly familiar yet foreign lady walked towards me and gently held my chin in her hands.

Let me make it crystal clear, I have no idea what is happening.

“Would you prefer that I say that you could have done nothing to change the outcome or say that if you had not given up then you could have changed the ending….. tell me what your heart desires?”

I was dumbstruck!

Why, why now of all times.

Of course I want to live. Of course I want to spend more time with people I love and care about. I wanted to make them proud, to show them my best side. To tell them that they could count on my help whenever they are in trouble. But every time, I am so vulnerable, and alone. Always made to feel inferior and weak around those who are talented and strong.

For once I thought things would change in this new world, yet again I think I ended up being the same scapegoat I was before, trapped in the same loop, ready to be cut again and again, to the point that nothing would be left of me.

But if you ask me….

Both the choices are pointless. I would never give up; I will never stop trying because that is who I am. There will be things at which I will be slow at but I will keep on trying and trying. Work Hard. And even if there was nothing left to try and someone said that I would have not been able to change the results either way.

I won’t accept it.

Because I knew that there is someone who will always believe in me. Someone who will always stay by my side and smile at me amidst all the odds and my failures.

The hand which up till now gently held my chin was slowly caressing my cheeks, then this tall woman bent down a little and making a cutely bashful smile kissed my face and in a motherly loving tone said to me,

“It’s not over yet. If you don’t end things then nothing can start. And if you dislike the situation, then use your strength to change it. I love you and I will always be watching over you.”

THUD.

THUD.

BOOM.

My ears went numb by these noises. I opened my eyes after it had reflexively closed down due to the loud boom sound. The mysterious lady was gone, and the lizard who was up till now going to swallow me in a second was writhing in pain under the huge pile of debris which fell over it as a huge scorpion made a break through the wall.

One was not enough, that a second makes a surprise entrance. I don’t know how this new creature got here or what’s its deal. But surely it is dangerous to stay here any longer.

This scorpion was about the same size as the lizard monster but had a segmented body covered with large strong scales. As for the species I was able to identify it because of its huge towering tail waving around with its pointed black tip.

I need to use this situation to my advantage if I wanted to live. RUN, run far away. That was the one and only thing on my mind. By now I think my paralyzed body had regained its bit of strength and I slowly dragged my body to the other side of the wall till I could use a huge rock as a covering.

“BWWWWAAAAArrrrrrrgggggghhh”

The lizard monster was bleeding all over and the scorpion looked unharmed, preparing to attack and deal the final blow. The waving of its pointed stinger weapon had stopped as it took a silent and rigid stance. It went back and forth and after gaining a bit momentum pierced through the abdomen of the lizard.

“WWAAAAAAHHH”

The lizard monster was in a lot of pain, who would not be after a pointed spike is shoved inside your stomach. And if the stinger is poisonous then it’s over for Mr. Lizard.

Either way I am still at a disadvantage if even one of them survives. I need to jump in the pool and wait till things settle down. There’s no way these monsters look friendly or talkative.

I took a last look at the corpse and waited till the scorpion could make its next move. I thought it was time to say REST IN PEACE. Thanks for playing catch-catch with me. Even if the price of being caught was my life, no one played with me in my previous life. So, THANK YOU….

THUMP.

The huge rock-type boulder attached at the end of the lizard’s tail slammed upon the scorpion’s head. Splash, blood spluttered out everywhere and the formation of a red fountain of this savagery red fluid made me puke. It was a one-shot kill.

“The hunter became hunted.” I always wanted to say that, but this gore had not ended yet.

 The corpse of the Scorpion lay still, my saviour-c*m-predator was dead.

The stillness after this chaotic turn of events was suffocating and I tried my best not to lose my cool or, maybe I already had lost it and was just barely standing on my unknown number of feet. I had realized by now, we all had got only one shot at life. A single mistake and its game over. If I am not careful, I could be the next departing soul.

SHRIEK.

SHRRR.

The debris had started to move and the lizard still bleeding with several cuts and deep wounds with a huge hole in its abdomen started walking towards me.

“Don’t you realize, just rest. It’s so painful. Doesn’t it hurt by walking in such a dreadful condition? Even if you ate me don’t you get it I will just jump out of the huge hole in your stomach. So… Please stop.”

“JUST GIVE UP!”

I kept on shouting as loudly as I could, I was so desperate that I forgot that he didn’t understood my language, but surely he understood the pain of being hurt.

The lizard kept on walking and covered the twenty meter distance before I knew it and opened its large mouth, in a second attempt to eat me.

“So, this is how thing will be. You won’t lose; you won’t waver and even in the face of death keep on walking the path that ensures your survival.”

I was horrified and my face was pale. My expressions had frozen. But it was not fear, but admiration. The tenacity of the monster had turned the tide on the scorpion and finally it was up again for its next kill. Someone did mention that you just can’t beat a person who won’t give up. Seeing it in its truest form only conveyed me one message that I can die any time, but living takes true courage.

So this time with all my strength, I stopped shaking and came out of my hiding. I was face to face with the lizard. I lifted up my two limbs in order to stop it from biting me. Even if I break a leg or two, I won’t back down.

“ROAAaaaaaRRRRGHH.”

The voice had died down, but it had the same killing intent blooming and as lively as ever. But I still stood firm. In front of me was my enemy and I was his.

Maybe ten seconds had passed, but for me it was a life-time. The yellow shine in the lizard’s eye slowly disappeared and it fell down back to ground.

It was finally all over. I took a deep breath and sat down on my butt, I see, it’s somewhat a bit oval in shape. Just what exactly am I.

Where am I? Are there others beside me? How long have I been asleep? Am I even in the right world? WHAT IF I AM NOT EVEN ME, BUT SOMEONE ELSE? WAIT THAT SEEMS UNLIKELY, IF I AM NOT ME THEN HOW WILL I BE ABLE TO DIFFERETIATE!

Well, no point in wasting time on what-if’s!

I need to figure out everything with what I have present in real time and grasped up till now.

For starters a huge cave like infrastructure with monsters lurking around. Keeping the constants and characteristics of a fantasy world in mind I should probably be in a dungeon or a labyrinth.

Monsters are strong enough to break the walls and are ready to kill anything in order to survive.

For now I need to find a way outside and search for Lady Athena. That is my present goal from now on. Well I need to go up in dungeons floor-wise if I want to exit through the entrance. Completing the dungeon maybe impossible in my current state and I don’t know how long will it take.

Having a map or a rough sketch of this place will really help out. Speaking of which I remember World God telling about ‘Status Window’ feature available to all. Not to forget about using magic.

So how does it goes? Maybe I should shout at my full voice.

“Status Window.”

A blue screen popped in front of me with several parameters and readings. Or, maybe it was just being projected over my retina.

WHAT!!!!

INTERESTING. Wait…. Isn’t it too normal?

As expected I am level 1 and nameless at that. I have one skill and one unique skill which I have no idea how they work. Well I don’t know how much 100 HP is even supposed to value.

But what’s up with the MP and SP stats!

STATUS WINDOW

NAME : --------

AGE : 1 hour 23 minutes

RACE : ARACHNE

LEVEL : 1

HP : 100

MP :  ERR

SP :  ERR

UNIQUE SKILL : ALL SEEING EYES OF THE GODS

SKILLS : [GLUTTONY LV 1]    [POISON MAGIC LV1]

                  [THREAD MAGIC LV1]

TITLES : LEGACY OF GODDESS ARACHNE

It concerns me. I know it’s probably error. Could it be that they are so low, that the even the system is ashamed to display it. I won’t be surprised. But even so, I need to face the truth, without relying on any dreamlike powers.

Spoken like a true warrior. Hmmmm..HM…hum…

And what does the gluttony skill even does, there is no additional information or any specifics given about how to use these skills. Times like this is when game players wish for an appraisal skill.

I don’t even get the meaning of my title. It’s so frustrating. Fine I am a legacy of some goddess….. Wait [Race : Arachne].

I ran to the pool and covered the long distance in a matter of few seconds, these legs are awesome and super fast.

I hesitated a bit and slowly placed one of my limbs on the water surface. It was a white crystalline segmented thin body structure, something I had never seen before. It appeared sturdy and yet soft when I touched.

Finally, time for the final revelation, I can’t wait anymore. I closed my 360 degree vision and then brought my face and half body in the front of the water surface making sure not to fall at the same time.

Should I open!

1..2…3….3….2…1….2….Ahem

TADA!

WHAM…..

 I ran back to the corner of the wall, just what was that. Was it really me? I slowly crawled back to the rocky bank side and stared at my own face for a while.

What do you expect… an eight eyed freak, with a white pale body and eight legs. I was reborn as a spider monster. My eyes were crimson red in colour and beautiful at that too. But my face was a bit broad and too plain. Nothing to be disappointed but neither to appreciate. As for the limbs, the front two were in the form of pointed straight and strongly-built scythe like construction or maybe dagger like legs. While other six were crystalline and segmented in three parts. My high speed is thanks to these four pair of legs and the 360 view must be because of so many eyes.

 One can never know what life will throw at you. Can you…

I miss my human body. I miss my two hands and set of two eyes. But now I think I am myself one of these labyrinth’s monster.

BUAARRRRGhh.

I took a defensive stance and a shelter under the rocks on the side walls. Monster incoming!

Just kidding. It’s my empty stomach. Unfortunately there’s nothing to eat and I could feel the dizziness at the same time. I tried to drink water but it did not quench my hunger. I was drooling all over. Scurried around and looked in all direction.

Till my normal common senses had given up, when I finally realized that all I could do was eat the monster corpses. If I do not eat, I will die.

I needed protein in order to survive and fight other monsters if they appear before me. I don’t know how much longer I will have to stay here, but this means that some day or the other I have to do this.

I walked to the lizard monster and my eyes went straight at its neck. Maybe my monster instincts had taken over. I could not remove my eyes from the food laid in front of me. What am I even saying, that’s not food. No, it is food. No its not.

GUAK.

I took a bite from the neck flesh. It was a small bite yet, I continued to gnaw at it.

Don’t dare to ask me to do the taste review. It’s depressing as it is and I think its bitter but overall has a coarse raw wheat grain taste. No comments.

This overwhelming feeling of survival no matter what; was getting stronger and stronger as I continued chopping the flesh with my sharp fore-limbs and fed myself. Is it also because of my monster origin?

I had cast aside my humanity and had now become one with the nature. That would be the best way to make the situation look better. No its not working.

SSHhhh.

I had no regrets because anything is fair in love, war and survival. This was not a movie, neither I was a protagonist hero blessed with a holy sword but a monster who just wanted to see the next day through.

I don’t know how much time had passed but except for the head and rock-tail boulder, the whole flesh was gone. As if my mind was on standby mode and the monster-me took care of the rest. It was so spooky and an unnerving experience.

But it’s not over, I…… I… can’t hold back.

More. More. More.

I was now feeding on the scorpion corpse. The head was gone. All that remained was the body part and tail. I chopped of the poisonous stinger, so everything should be fine.

I thought I would face several difficulty while getting rid of the strong scales on its body, but it seems that my scythes are super sharp and strong as well. One could say I was cutting butter. The sweet juicy meat I am coming.

In mere five minutes…

ALL CLEANED!

Nooooooooooo, I did it again. But a child needs food to grow and become healthy. But is this monster corpse the only option.

The cave was devoid of vegetation and I just can’t eat the rocks. I think it’s not normal to eat the rocks. Says the one who was greedily feeding on monsters.

The scorpion’s inner flesh was much softer than expected and a bit salty. It tasted for sometime like mayonnaise and then like mashed potatoes with excessive starch. Ah, I broke my oath of no comments.

As for the final verdict, the Mrs. Scorpion wins over Mr. Lizard by an overwhelming number in taste points. Wait this is not a Live Food show, camera cut.

I need to think of ways to survive and get out of this place. I had no problem with water for now. As for the food I need to find some soon.

I wonder how did this small body managed to eat two gigantic monsters in one go, who were at least thirty times my body size.

If such strong monsters are roaming all around then it’s more likely that I will be killed in my next encounter. I am not a fighter or the type who just charges-in without thinking. I need to come up with several ideas.

Fantasy world # Labyrinth # Monster # Survival ######### Magic

Yippee...ee.eee! That’s it Magic! I knew I can always count on my gaming experience for when I would be isekai, though I didn’t knew when it would be, but now I was one of the lucky ones, if only Lady Luck was on my side. But my MP and SP show error. I wonder whether I can use it or not. Will it work in the same way it did in the divine realm?  It has been so long…

Well I cannot gain anything without trying.

Magic class starts now. I need to repeat the same magic experiments I did back in divine realm.

[DIVINE HEAL]

A bright golden light shrouded my whole body and in a second swept across the whole area. The dark dumpy dungeon up till now, was but all shiny and clean. The dirt on the rocks, the rotting flesh and leftover bones and the blood splashed all across the floor after the skirmish disappeared and the blue shining rocks which were dim like a flicker were now giving a bright and cold light.

My mind was at ease. A simple healing spell that I use was able to restore my mental capacity, my health status as I recuperated from tiredness and exhaustion. But even this region changed as I wanted it to be in my mind.

The stingy air which almost made my unstoppable running nose uncomfortable became gentle and sweet. After a long fought….. long escaped battle my mind was finally at peace.

Now I needed to come up with an immediate action plan. Food, shelter, security and other necessary amenities need to be taken care of.

Now, what I wanted to do the most. A huge blob of water lifted up by itself from the surface of water creating huge ripples and the concentric circles just diverged and then slowly appeared to converge.

SPLASH!

HAAAAAAAAAA!

What a relief! Having a bath for the first time after being born.

I wonder who my parents are? Or am I an orphan even in this new world. I feel abandoned and lonely again. Bu this time I have not lost my way.

I tried to control wind again and dried myself and took a rough estimation about the size and shape of my body. I was just a small cute little spider. Though I am able to talk in my home world language, I wonder what kind of voices spiders make.

I need to work on finding attack spells too. Time for invention and more practice.

First I will go with plasma ball. I summoned fire on my left fang and water on my right fang and then clubbing them together I quickly launched it forward.

BOOM.

SWAHHHHH…. The wind cleared and…

The wall came crashing down and even the debris was pulverized to dust. I am sure I kept the firepower low, or is the attack just too powerful. Well whatever if that’s the case then it works in my favour.

Well I cannot create ‘cubicles’ – my mini bomb creation, right now because I don’t have any metal at present. Rocks won’t work as they are brittle and may have defective holes developed overtime through which the gas can escape.

That’s a bummer, I know. A newborn baby throwing around grenades and going kaboom. Nothing sounds more exciting now does it!

Well I need an evasion skill to dodge enemy attacks too. Thankfully, I already knew and had mastered the spell.

[TELEPORT]

I thought I was floating in air but I finally realized that I was back to ground. That hurts! I had teleported myself 5 meter above.

Things were looking a bit better than before, but now the final magic spell which I knew.

Now I need something to store food and water. I know exactly what I will do.

[DIMENSIONAL STORAGE]

A black hole appeared in front of me and was ready to draw anything inside it. Thank you! But maybe next time. I am in possession of nothing right now that I need to store.

The best thing about my magic is that I don’t need chants and just by thinking I can control the natural elements.

Now when I am conscious of myself after being born and also after dying, I knew one thing was always true that we were born with nothing and we would die with nothing. All our possession and material pleasure will be left behind. All that will be left with us will be our memories, bonds and hope that we lived a fulfilling life and a glimmer of chance to meet your loved ones in the after-life.

All I could do was make sure that I can brighten my life while bringing happiness to those whom I love and cherish.

Haaaaaha! I was yawning. Do spiders even yawn or is it a previous life human reflex.

***

(PLEASE KEEP YOUR VOICE LOW BECAUSE OUR MC IS SLEEPING)