Kumodesu

After temporarily resolving the energy issue for the Virtual World, I left the fifth floor and began entering the sixth.

Although this wasn't my first time here, I had only ventured less than a mile in previously. The furthest I'd reached was probably that lava lake. I wonder if I can find my way there again, though if I remember correctly, the paths in this place change over time.

But I had no information on when or in what direction these changes happen, so I just continued along the road ahead at random.

On the way, I encountered a few groups of creatures and kindly sent them to eternal rest. None of them were mutated, so I could go wild freely. Moreover, I had the Will responsible for surveillance with me, so I felt even more at ease.

After following a narrow path for several days, I finally reached a completely new area—one I'd never been to before. It was just an ordinary rocky cave, but the surroundings were filled with glittering minerals, creating a beauty that words couldn't describe.

This place no longer felt like a normal cave but more like a massive abyss. Even with my enhanced vision, I couldn't tell how deep it went, nor what kind of creatures lurked below.

To move forward, I would have to cross a narrow and seemingly unsafe path, like those you'd see in movies. The chances of it collapsing were high.

But I'm a spider!

To me, the ground isn't the only path—I can go anywhere. So, I climbed up the wall and walked along it without a problem.

When I got about halfway across, I suddenly became curious about what might be below, so I created a clone of myself using Spider Silk and dropped it down below the path.

Immediately, several vines shot up from below at lightning speed, wrapped around my silk dummy, and yanked it downward.

I took a deep breath.

I did try to pull back, but those vines were incredibly fast and strong, so I couldn't overpower them. But this only piqued my curiosity even more.

"Hey me, should I go down there?"

As much as I wanted to dive in, I now had a companion, so I needed to ask for their opinion properly.

"If you wanna mess around, go ahead. I'll just stick to my job."

Seeing that the Will didn't object, I was delighted and leapt across to the opposite wall some distance away.

I wanted to see where those vines came from, but I only caught a glimpse of the last part of one before it fully retracted into the wall. The hole in the wall then closed up, as if nothing had ever happened.

Is this the effect of some skill?

"Not that simple…"

"Oh? Did you notice something?"

"My guess is that those vines come from some creature deep below—not just some mutated plant."

A creature, huh?

If that's the case, it's a bit strange that it doesn't come out to hunt directly but uses tiny vines instead.

"It's possible that it's injured or has some special condition preventing it from moving, so it has to hunt this way."

Hmm…

Should I try going down?

"Are you confident?"

If it's the first case, maybe I could leech some benefits from it… And if it's the second, it wouldn't matter—I could just run away, and it wouldn't be able to follow. No danger at all.

"As long as you're fast enough."

Relax!

My [Flash] skill is pretty high-level now, so I can cover a lot of ground in one use. Besides, I only need to get close and use [Heaven Eye] to observe from a distance. It'll be perfectly safe.

"If you've decided, go ahead."

Okay then!

But I need something to lure them out… They only retracted a bit when they grabbed the fake target earlier, so they're clearly still waiting.

In that case, I'll give them a real target.

I returned to the previous path and found a random creature, then chased it this way. I let it run along the path while I once again climbed up the opposite cliff to observe what would happen.

The creature ran forward in panic, and as soon as it reached the area with the vines, it was caught. Three or four vines shot up, wrapped around the creature, and yanked it down.

Although it fought back fiercely, it was already half-dead from my earlier beating. On top of that, those vines were incredibly strong, so it didn't take long before it was dragged all the way down.

After capturing the prey, the vines did something that made the creature stop resisting. When I checked, I saw it was still alive—just completely paralyzed.

Then, I followed the vines as they slowly descended. They had concealed themselves well, but unfortunately, such tricks were useless against my [Heaven Eye].

This abyss was truly deep.

I'd been descending for quite a while—not even slowly—and still hadn't reached the bottom.

Eventually, the vines carried the creature away from the wall and entered some other kind of space. I landed from afar and quickly followed.

It was pitch black down here, not a single speck of light, but thankfully [Heaven Eye] could illuminate everything for me.

I followed them quickly and soon arrived at another area. It wasn't completely dark—there was a faint glow from some nearby crystals. And in that place, I saw an absolutely horrifying sight.

The vines continued to retreat, dragging the prey they had caught, and stopped in front of a tree—or rather, those vines seemed to originate from that very tree.

At a glance, it looked like a regular tree with a dark black hue. On its trunk were what looked like claw marks left by some creature. The tree had no leaves, but instead had extremely long branches growing in all directions, piercing into every corner of the space.

This must be how it hunted—using its branches and vines to ambush prey.

The captured creature was placed right in front of the tree. Then suddenly, a grotesque mouth appeared on the trunk, almost as if it were smiling, and slowly extended its tongue, which pierced straight through the creature's body.

I thought it would pull the creature in and chew it like normal, but after impaling it, the tongue didn't do anything else. Instead, the creature's body gradually shriveled until only a skeleton remained. Then the tongue retracted, and the tree closed up as if nothing had happened.

That was the first time I'd seen a feeding method like that.

I wasn't particularly scared, though. To me, it was actually a rather "gentle" way to eat. Compared to how I devour prey—much more violently—this was downright elegant.

That tree handled things so cleanly. No fighting, no cooking, not even a drop of blood spilled.

Perfect!

Maybe I should learn from this in the future.

"Hey!"

What?

"Can you not think about such freaky stuff?!"

Huh? Freaky?

How could you call it freaky?

"Just looking at it is disgusting. What else would you call it?"

What's wrong with this guy? Doesn't know how to appreciate anything.

That was the pinnacle of gourmet dining, you know?

Handling prey cleanly and gently, absorbing every last bit of essence without wasting a drop—only then can one maximize their growth potential.

This is the ultimate art of predation that every predator should strive for—got it?!

"The only pinnacle here is how messed up your head is!"

Philistine.

"Pervert!"

Short-sighted.

"Spider freak!"

Hey!

While arguing, I waved my limbs around and accidentally made some noise. It was faint, but the tree somehow picked up on it.

Immediately, dozens of vines shot toward me at indescribable speed.

This is all your fault, you hick!

The situation was too sudden, and I hadn't gathered enough information on the tree, so I chose to retreat for now and regroup later.

"Watch out, there's a hidden vine on your left!"

I quickly halted and changed direction, continuing my escape upward.

More and more vines popped out from the walls during my retreat, but thanks to the Will's timely warnings, I dodged them all. So far, my getaway was going smoothly.

Why is it that every new journey of mine always seems to start with running for my life…