"Is it dinner or lunch?" Talen muttered, examining the scorpion's corpse.
Talen gently placed his hand on the monster's shell, kneeling. 'Are you even edible, buddy.' He thought, gazing around the dense forest again. He saw nothing but fruitless trees.
"You're gonna have to be." Talen groaned, patting the corpse as he stood up.
Placing his cold, calloused hands on the jian's warm hilt, Talen clenched his teeth, jerking it out of the scorpion.
Immediately, sticky green blood showered Talen. With the battle's adrenaline gone, the putrid stench of the blood hit him.
Coughing, Talen jumped off the scorpion's corpse, heading towards the severed pincer. 'At least it'd smell better.' Talen thought, afraid of the smell invading his mouth.
The sun sunk further south, an hour converging into hours.
As they did, Talen used his jian to carve the flesh out of the pincer, which to Talen's astonishment was edible. After which, he gathered as many dried leaves as he could starting a fire.
Sitting in front of a blazing fire, below the beautiful canvas of the Physical Realm, Talen roasted the scorpion's tasteless meat. "Better than starving." He muttered, scrunching his face as he took another bite of pink meat.
'Nightmares for me tonight.' Talen thought, glancing at his leaf tent.
Focusing on his measly meal, Talen ate skewer after skewer of meat, creating a mountain of skewers between his legs.
'That should last me the week.' Talen thought, swallowing his last mouthful of meat. 'Moving on.' He thought, glancing to the last piece of tree branche to his side.
Grabbing it, Talen used his jian to meticulously mold the branch into a perfectly balanced throwing spear. Once he completed his crafting, he placed it into his leaf quiver of fifteen similarly well crafted spears.
His previous encounter with the scorpion proved to Talen how in need of a ranged weapon he was.
"That's more than enough." Talen yawned, stretching. "Time to hit the hay." He continued, his sleepy eyes landing on his leaf and branch tent.
Standing up, Talen headed to his tent. His jian remained clenched in his fist, eyes scouting for potential danger as usual.
When suddenly, Talen's ears picked up a scream. It was no ordinary scream. It was a scream of pure agony, agony that even Talen failed to recognize. 'Never heard that type.' He thought.
Following the scream was the familiar sound of metal clashing against metal.
Someone was fighting not far from Talen. An empty smile crept its way onto his face. 'Chaos monster or candidates.' Talen thought, turning around, his smile turning into a grin.
Grabbing his leaf quiver, Talen sprinted towards the fight. His grip around the jian, iron hard.
As he sprinted, the fight grew louder and more violent. 'I'm gonna miss it.' Talen thought, going into the Zone. Immediately, his speed increased dramatically.
He now flew through the forest, leaves rustling past him in a blur. The sound of metal clashing grew louder, so did the faint metallic smell of blood.
'Here.' Talen thought, jumping onto a tree.
After climbing up the tree, Talen was able to spectate the fight.
Talen sat in the tree. Below him was a large clearing, and in it was the fight Talen heard.
Below, in the clearing, Talen watched as Henry struggled to escape from a Chaos Monster.
The Chaos Monster was a massive, pitch-black spider with sharp metal spikes protruding out of it. At the end of its poison sack, a large, grotesque tail lay, with similar spikes on it.
Its night-black eyes brimmed with savage intelligence and murderous bloodlust.
Talen remained crouching in the tree, observing Henry's struggle. 'He's not gonna last long.' He thought, sighing.
Henry was not just struggling against the spider; he was surviving by a hair's length at every turn.
Sighing, Talen's observant gaze shifted focus, tracking each of the spider's movements, each taunting strike.
Until it all finally clicked into place. 'This ugly little thing is toying with him, not hunting him.' Talen thought, smirking as he glanced at Henry.
His body was littered with small wounds, blood dripping out of them, whitening his face.
He frantically scrambled around, attempting to escape the spider, his broken katana persistently in hand.
"Hey Henry, how's it down there!" He shouted. 'The spider might be a Tempest, but it's not that intelligent.' Talen thought, jumping to another tree.
Stopping, Henry looked around, startled by the voice. However, he was not in a situation to do that.
Noticing his distraction, the spider hurled its tail at Henry.
The tail smacked into Henry, flying him into a tree trunk. Henry met the trunk with a thud, coughing more blood as he landed back on the ground.
Talen watched, his pupils collecting raw data, his brain analyzing.
Satisfied with the information, he shouted at Henry again. "Focus is key, Henry!" He jumped to another tree.
Hearing the voice again, Henry stood up, cradling his sides. "Who are you?" He groaned back, dodging the spider's poison web.
Talen replied. "No time for that. Short version!" Jumping onto another tree.
Dodging the spider's tail, Henry hesitantly replied. "Landed. Met Lillian. Teamed up!" Dodging another shot of poisonous web.
He rolled on the ground, avoiding its spiked tail, groaning as he continued, his tone heavier. "I-it ate her!"
Listening to Henry's fragmented story, Talen now knew who the scream came from.
Jumping to another tree, he observed the spider further, formulating a plan to slay it.
'Time to punish you for playing with your food.' Talen thought, glancing back at Henry he shouted. "It's Talen. Can you keep the spider busy?" He paused. "And how long do you have left in the Zone?"
Henry was beyond occupied with dodging the spider's attacks. After a few dodges, he managed to squeeze in a moment to reply. "Two minutes max. Maybe!"
Cracking his knuckles and neck, Talen stood. "That should be enough, if you're lucky." He muttered, wrapping his mother's scarf around his wrist, his hands gently grazing it.
Raising his head, Talen shouted at Henry again. "From now on, you're my puppet. Do exactly what I tell you!" He jumped to another tree.
Hearing Talen, Henry was baffled, but he had learned his lesson. He kept doing his best to stay alive for a minute longer. "Why should I?" He replied.
Talen chuckled a dry chuckle at Henry's reply. "You wanna live or not, Hen?" Talen waited, but Henry just kept dodging. "Thought as much." Talen jumped to another branch, going over his findings.
From his analysis of the spider, Talen had discovered its weak point, which it diligently tried to keep hidden. 'Trying to hide it just made it more obvious.' Talen thought, smirking.
Landing on a new tree, Talen locked his eyes onto the soft red spot under the spider's tail. 'Either the heart is there, or an important organ.' Talen thought, glancing at Henry.
Closing his eyes, he drifted into the Zone. Opening his eyes, the whites turned a lifeless shade of black, the iris and pupil stirring into a swirling mist of vibrant purple.
Using his enhanced mind, Talen inspected the Poison Spider again.
He noticed more holes in the spider's defenses, more opportunities to attack its weak point.
Talen smirked, glancing at Henry. 'Shall we.' He thought, standing up. "Sprint to your left once your back is to the old tree. Stay there." He commanded Henry.
Hesitantly, Henry obeyed Talen's command. After all, he had nothing more to lose just his life is all.
Dodging another poison web, he sprinted to his left, dodging more attacks. Once his back was to the old tree, he stopped, his breathing growing increasingly labored.
Looking around, Henry was pleasantly surprised. Where he was now gave him more room and cover, making his surroundings more useful. 'This Talen guy isn't all bad.' Henry thought, a wry smile shivering onto his lips.
Standing on a tree right behind the spider, Talen thought. 'Perfect.'
Reaching into his quiver, he grabbed a throwing spear.
Clenching it hard in his fist, he leaned back, summoning all his strength into his arm. Veins bulging, muscles tensing.
He waited for the perfect chance to strike. He waited and waited, but it didn't present itself. 'Gonna have to make one then.' Talen thought. "Bait it into using its tail!" He barked, the order.
Hearing Talen's orders, Henry retorted. "I don't know how!"
"Get in close!" Talen shouted.
Henry flinched, another small wound added to the collection on his body.
Focusing, he continued dodging, hesitation evident in his every move. He knew getting close to the spider would evolve the difficulty of surviving to a whole new level.
What he didn't realize, however, was that the poison spider wasn't done toying with him. Talen was betting on that.
Hesitating further, Henry clenched his teeth. He rushed in on the spider. 'It's do or die.' He thought, sprinting at the spider.
The perfect chance Talen had meticulously pieced, now lay before him.
The spider raised its tail high, preparing to drop a heavy, final stab on Henry. Talen's gamble had failed him, however, his bet revealed the Poison spider's weakness.
He leaned back further, commanding his all into his arm. He launched the wooden spear at the red spot.
Following it, Talen threw another and another. Raining his spears down on the spider's weakness, leaving behind only three in his leaf quiver.
The spears, illuminated by the starry sky, decended on the spider, as if heaven sent.
As they did, Talen jumped off the tree he was hiding in. Before he landed, the first spear already met its target.
The first spear hit the soft red spot. However, it was too hard for it to penetrate. It broke on impact, only leaving behind a tiny crack.
The next spear hit the same exact spot. Similarly, it couldn't penetrate, only deepening the crack. So did the next one, and the one after it.
The spears kept striking the same exact crack made by the first, deepening it until it was deep enough that the final spear was able to penetrate, lodging itself deep into the spider. Pitch black blood sprayed out of it like a fountain.
The Poison Spider roared in similar agony to Lillian. Raising its head high, it began violently smashing its tail on the forest floor, trying desperately to dislodge the spear, but it was pointless.
Observing the panic from below, Talen grinned, standing up.
He shouted at the spider. "Try all you want, it ain't coming out, spidey!" The spider paused in its agony. Silence reigned in the clearing.
It turned its head slowly, eyes of darkness staring into Talen's purple eyes. "What, a big boy like you is afraid of a little needle?" Talen scoffed, raising his jian in front of him.
Glaring at him, the Poison Spider roared an ear-shattering shriek like scraping metal.
Using both their hands, Henry and Talen clutched their ears trying to block the spider's shattering raw.
The roar echoed through the forest.
It echoed to where Calistis had just slayed a Chaos Monster, she looked up. "What is that?" She whispered, pulling her sword out of the monster, more blood spraying out. She began walking towards the sound, clenching her bloody knight sword.
The roar echoed to where Valen built his tent. Hearing it, the hairs on his hand stood on alert. He stood up, clutching his Viking war hammer, looking to where the roar echoed from. "That sounds strong." He declared, as he began preparing to journey to the roar.
The roar reached where Kestis was stalking a chaos monster. The roar scaring it away.
Clenching his jaw, eyes burnt with rage, he lashed out. "I cannot even hunt in peace now." He turned his head, looking towards the nest of the Bird of Plague far away in a distant mountain.
'This trial cannot be too boring. I simply will not allow it.'