Grimacing from the pain in his shoulder, Max forced his left hand forward.
The moment his fingers touched the boiling-hot web stuck to his chest, agony shot through him as if he'd plunged his hand into molten metal.
He clenched his teeth, snatched the sticky threads, and flung them at a spider crawling across the floor.
The spider, well aware of the acid-laced web's potency, twisted aside just in time.
But before Max could recover, multiple strands whipped toward him, wrapping around his right leg, abdomen, left leg, and thighs.
The threads seared through fabric and burned against his skin, leaving trails of smoke and a stinging, flesh-like pain.
Max didn't bother trying to rip the spiderwebs off his body. He pressed forward instead, swinging his weapon wildly at the advancing spiders.
Pausing to remove the threads would cost him precious seconds, enough for the spiders to launch more acidic webs, restricting his movements and slowly burning him alive.
Suddenly, one spider's body trembled violently and jerked upright, headless yet terrifyingly alive.
Without warning, it lunged at Max's back, leaping onto him, its narrow, razor-sharp legs digging into his flesh.
Max felt dozens of thick, chopstick-sized needles piercing into his back.
A searing pain shot through his spine and into his skull as he twisted and spun, struggling to throw the relentless spider off his body.
Every movement was agony, but he refused to falter. The spiders' legs stabbed into Max's back relentlessly, without a single pause.
Desperation surged through Max as he swung his self-made spear violently, striking the headless spider clinging to him. But the others seized the opportunity, firing more corrosive webs in his direction.
Max sprang sideways, his back scraping against the cold metal wall, heart hammering.
He froze at the grotesque sight: a headless spider, still moving, followed by three others with mangled, broken bodies crawling relentlessly toward him.
His mind raced. Why aren't they dead? What the hell are these things, zombies? Panic clawed at him. Do I have to smash them into paste? Break them into pieces? Is that the only way to send them back to hell?
Max's hands tightened around the makeshift spear. The metallic taste of fear filled his mouth, but he forced himself to focus.
A chill ran down his spine as he spotted another spider dragging itself forward. All of its legs were shattered except for two half-snapped ones, which it used to tremble and scrape its body forward inch by inch.
Max's skin seared where the acid touched him. His back was soaked in blood, holes torn across his flesh. His left shoulder bled heavily, his breath came ragged, and his vision blurred. He could not tell if it was blood loss or the spiders' venom that made his mind spin.
Through the haze, his eyes swept over the swarm—and then he noticed one, smaller than the rest, only half a foot in size, standing apart from the others. His slowing mind suddenly sparked with clarity. His eyes snapped open wide as he stepped forward, deliberately letting more spiderwebs cling to his body.
The threads burned into him, hot blood dripping from his wounds, but Max gathered all his strength and charged toward the small spider. His life was truly standing on the doorstep of death.
The small spider saw his approach and immediately turned, scuttling away in panic. Max chased after it, even as other spiders leapt onto him, biting and stabbing their sharp legs into his body.
Agonizing pain wracked him. His body begged to stop, to collapse and end the struggle. He longed to close his eyes and rest, to return to his own world and fall asleep beside his fiancée after a late-night workout.
Max's eyelids sank. When I open my eyes next time… I hope it's all a dream. I want to wake up in bed, holding her.
Skill Activated: Survival Reflexes
A reassuring voice whispered in his ear. Electric current spread through his body, and suddenly all sensation of burning, tearing, and stabbing vanished. The pain disappeared without a trace.
Max realized that his body had gone numb because of the skill. He could no longer feel agony, yet he retained full control of his movements.
His lips curved into a grim smile as his legs surged forward with 120% of his strength. Raising the iron bar high above his head, he charged straight at the half-foot spider that was only a few steps away.
The spider sensed his persistence and shuddered in despair. Stupid human… you are poisoned so deeply. The more you move, the faster it spreads. Soon you'll collapse, paralyzed, and then this Sting will feast on you. Hahahaha!
The spider turned its head for one last look.
Max was bleeding profusely, his body wrapped in acidic webs that burned through his skin and flesh. Several spiders clung to him, their blade-like limbs stabbing deep into his body until he was riddled with bloody holes.
He charged forward in a straight line, the perfect prey, poisoned, shredded, and surely on the brink of collapse.
But what the spider saw was something very different. Something shocking.
The half-foot spider was the weakest in the nest. Spiders like Sting existed only for mating and as instant meals for the females, whose size was nearly twice that of the males. After mating, the females would devour the males mercilessly.
Sting didn't want to die like that. So he left the nest. By sheer luck, he stumbled upon an opportunity and gained an incredible skill.
After that, he mated with dozens of females, not all at once, of course, or he would have already become nothing but an empty shell. Each time his essence entered a female, her heart was devoured, and her body became a puppet bound to Sting's will.
Through this cursed ability, Sting used his female puppets to dominate other spiders and satisfy his endless desires… until the day he met Max.
A black, heavy line of force descended upon his head, striking between his rows of eyes like a hammer of judgment.
Huh?
That was Sting's final thought before his head burst into a bloody mist.
Thump!
All the spiders clinging to Max body suddenly fell off lifelessly. Max glared at the headless half-foot spider. Raising the iron bar high, he brought it down again and again, smashing the body into a bloody paste.
"Now move again, you zombie spider fucker!" Max roared as he crushed the remains and then turned to the other corpses, smashing them one by one.
200 EXP+
Max chest heaved as the notification echoed in his mind. For a brief moment, relief washed over him. For the first time since transmigrating into this nightmare world, he thought he had finally caught a break.
Then the voice returned, calm, divine, merciless.
Max froze. His relief curdled into dread. First trial? His jaw clenched, his hands shaking as he gripped the bloodstained iron bar.
"This… this was just the beginning?" he growled, his voice rough with exhaustion and rage.
"All of this… for the first trial?!"
His bloodshot eyes burned with fury as he stared at the mangled corpses around him. His body was trembling, not from fear, but from the rage of a man who had just realized the nightmare wasn't ending, it was only starting.