Keave turned around.The velvet stone was no longer an ordinary, alluring rock. From its yellow surface, long, thin legs began to sprout—eight of them in total. The yellow color had turned completely black, and those legs were now covered in tiny, dark hairs.
With a mix of astonishment and disgust, Keave muttered,"What is this disgusting thing? Why is everything here so disgusting?"
Drace kept his face serious but replied with a faintly mocking tone,"How would I know?"
The three of them turned back once more.They had come quite far from the stone creature, yet even from that distance, they could still see it. The thing was moving — sniffing the air, turning its head left and right — and slowly advancing toward them.
The expressions on their faces were hard to read, but a single cry burst from all their mouths at once:"Run! Get out of here, now!"
The once-velvety stone had now gained speed.It moved between the trees like a gust of wind, breaking branches as its eight legs scuttled in a grotesque rhythm. Its pupils twitched violently, and thick blue veins bulged beneath its eyes.
Rudra, Keave, and Drace ran with all the strength they had. Their breaths were sharp, hearts pounding in chaos.The ground beneath them trembled lightly with every thud of the creature's steps — as if the earth itself shivered in fear.
"We need to hide somewhere! The spider is behind us!" Keave's trembling voice cracked as he gasped for air.
"You really think there's a place to hide in a forest without a single blade of grass or bush?" Rudra panted, his lips quivering as he struggled to speak.
Drace turned to glance behind them.Nothing. There was nothing there.For a fleeting moment, relief surged through his chest like a warm breeze after a storm.Between shallow breaths, he managed to say steadily, "Maybe… maybe it stopped chasing us."
His lips still trembled as he looked down the path.Sensing the change in his tone, Keave and Rudra turned too. Their eyes searched the darkness — but no shadow, no trace of the creature remained.A brief wave of joy rippled through their hearts.
"Let's… let's take a moment to rest," Rudra muttered, still breathless.
They exchanged a weary glance and halted, their chests rising and falling rapidly.The air around them was thick and damp; their lungs hadn't even begun to recover when—
Rudra turned again. Nothing.But as his gaze drifted toward the trees ahead, his pupils widened — frozen in dread.For a heartbeat, he stood utterly still.Then, as if a bell had struck inside his mind, he bolted forward without a word.
Drace and Keave, still catching their breath, didn't understand."Rudra?" Keave called softly — but when they turned to see what he had seen, their words caught in their throats.
Only one sound escaped them—"WTF…?"
Without another thought, their bodies moved on instinct, legs pounding against the trembling ground.
From above, the spider-like creature emerged again — crawling across the tree trunks, leaping from one to another with its eight hideous legs, inching closer and closer in a sickening rhythm.
The spider had grown even more grotesque now.Its entire surface was covered in bulging blue veins, and its eyes were blotched with twitching green patches that pulsed and flickered like living sores.
"Where the fuck are we?!" Keave shouted, his voice breaking between gasps, his lips trembling as he spoke.
"As if we know!" Rudra and Drace yelled back in unison, their voices ragged and breathless.
Rudra was in the lead, running with the speed of a fire bullet.Drace followed behind, his pace that of a lion in pursuit.And farthest behind was Keave, struggling to keep up at the speed of an ordinary human.
"There's nowhere to hide in this goddamn scrap-heap of a jungle!" Rudra shouted, his voice echoing through the trees. "We'll have to fight it! This thing isn't playing hide and seek with us anymore!"
Drace shot back, his tone fierce but tired, "Rudra! We don't have any weapons — not a blade, not a gun! And none of us are strong enough to take on that monster!"
Keave screamed through his panting, "We're already lost in this cursed forest, and the mark I made to find our way back is gone! The only thing we can do now is run — before it turns us into its next meal!"
"I don't want to die like this!" Rudra shouted, his voice cracking.
Keave, forcing himself to stay composed, turned back once more — and what he saw made his heart twist in horror.The spider was no longer just crawling awkwardly on its filthy legs across the treetops.It was drooling some strange, greenish, sticky substance from its mouth — a slimy liquid that hissed and smoked as it hit the ground.
"Drace… Rudra…" Keave whispered in a low but audible voice,"This disgusting creature is spitting something from its mouth!"
Both of them instantly turned back — and as soon as they saw it, their faces twisted in sheer disgust. They quickly turned away again.
Under their breath, they muttered,"Goddamn fucking thing…"