Suddenly, the red eyes behind him blurred and streaked towards him.
Shrik!
Rion jumped to the side as two dark blades whistled past him.
"Agh!" he let out a pained groan, and his left hand involuntarily moved to his cheek that had a red streak stretched across it.
The wound was shallow, and it was in no way near the pain he had felt til now, but... this wound was different. It was tearing at him; it was as if hundreds of ants were crawling inside his skin.
He fought the stinging pain, pulled out the dagger that was strapped to his waist and turned backwards, just in time to block the blades coming for his head. He pushed the blades away and finally looked at the perpetrator with furious yet surprised eyes.
Hsshh!
Before him was a large spider, the size of a five-year-old human child. It was shrouded in purple miasma, but he could still make sense of its figure. It had six limbs, of which the front two were like dark, sharp blades, and it had two red eyes that gleamed with unbridled hostility, and its two dark, curved horns made it look like a being out of hell itself.
Seeing the strange entity before him, he muttered, "What the—"
Shrik!
But his words had to be cut off as the spider leapt at him with its dark, blade-like limbs. He braced himself for the impact.
Chrrang!
His dagger collided with its limbs, and his palms stung as he blocked the attack with his dagger. 'What is this thing?!' he questioned inwardly and jumped aside.
Tsshhk! Chrrkk!
The spider released a string of web and pulled itself up the trunk of a nearby dead tree.
He locked his eyes on the spider, and they turned red. He glanced at the weak points of the spider; much to his unpleasant surprise, it only had one critical point at the centre of its chest.
"Just one...?" he mumbled in disbelief, because he knew that this strange spider was way weaker than Haria, yet it had only one critical point, while she had three.
'It doesn't make sense,' he remarked inwardly, and his eyes turned back to blue. He took a deep breath and tightened his grip around the dagger and mumbled in a low, determined voice, "It doesn't matter..."
The corners of his lips curved up into a smirk as he added in a confident tone, "Not like it can kill me."
Krrreeeehh!
A sharp screech tore through the haunting silence of the forest as the spider's eyes grew impossibly hostile, the miasma around it turned darker, and it jumped towards him with its ominous blade-like limbs, ready to slice him into bits.
Rion's expressions were calm as he got ready to play this game of either you die or you die because he couldn't be killed.
'This immortal body isn't even that bad...' he thought with a confident glint in his eyes as he compared the inability to grow physically with immortality.
Shrik!
The spider attacked once again, but he had already adapted to its attacks. Just as it was about to reach him, he slightly leaned back and dug his dagger into its side.
Kiiiirrhhh!
The spider let out a pained cry before it shot its web to retreat atop another tree.
He pointed his dagger at it and muttered with a smile, "How was it, purple fart?" However, his smile crumbled the very next moment as the wound healed with a speed comparable to his immortal body.
"Isn't that just great?" he mumbled darkly, let out a sigh and began to think of ways to defeat it.
Sirrk! Kiirrr!
The spider's limbs scraped the dead bark as it moved from one tree to another. Suddenly, it turned around and a string of web shot out towards him.
Rion stepped aside with his eyes still locked on the spider. It shot more strings at him, and he continued to dodge all of them with close to no effort.
Another string shot toward him. He stepped to the left, and just as he did so, the spider let out a sound.
Kre-kre!
Rion frowned at the sounds and mumbled with a confused look, "It's laughing?"
The spider turned back and leapt at him. He narrowed his eyes and gripped the dagger with both of his hands as he prepared himself to stab it at the chest.
He solidified his feet and stabbed, but... the ground beneath him gave out.
His eyes widened as his dagger missed its intended target, and the spider's blade-like limbs pierced his sides.
Slik! Slik!
Warm blood flooded out of his sides. His lips parted to scream, but the choking blood up his throat blocked all the sounds; tears welled up in his eyes as blood slipped out from the corners of his lips.
"Ghk!" he coughed out blood, and his grip began to loosen...
But before the dagger could fall out of his hand, he used all of his might and stabbed the spider in the chest, his bloodied lips arched up in a wide smile as his dagger pierced the spider's flesh and hit its critical point.
He had expected to hear the pleasant cries of the damned spider, but what reached his ears was:
Tnnng!
A sharp vibration as if his blade had struck metal... he looked at his dagger and saw a glassy red orb inside the spider's chest.
"B-blasted h-hell..." he mummbled in disbelief, and suddenly the purple misama covering the spider began to seep into his wides.
Hsshh!
"AGGHHHH—!" He let out a sharp scream as he felt his insides burning... it wasn't continuous; instead, it came in bursts to break him as much as possible.
"Grrr!" He gritted his teeth and tried to push his dagger further inside, but it proved futile as strength began to leave his body, and his grip around the dagger loosened.
The purple miasma clawed at his sanity. He looked into the ominous red eyes of the spider before his vision began to darken.
But before his eyes could shut themselves, a familiar voice reached his ears.
"Rion!"