As it turned out, the path forward wasn't terribly far away. When the queen had breathed her last, the wall at the back of the alcove had crumbled away, revealing a passage carved through the rock. The passage was narrow, but not so narrow that I was at all concerned about getting stuck. Setting foot in the passage had been strange at first, when I came face to face with a set of rough hewn stairs carved in the rock. Who in the held had been down here to carve stairs? The ants certainly wouldn't need them, as convenient as they were, I didn't truly need them either. Yet the question remained, why were they here? Unfortunately, there were no answers forthcoming from the blank stone walls of the cavern passage. I called Vipera back into my soul and began the ascent, steadily tromping up the stairs as they followed their meandering path way up through dozens of feet of rock and earth. I had no idea how much time passed as I continued to trudge up the stairs. I couldn't even mark it by my own fatigue, as that was harder and harder to come by when I wasn't in a fight. The increase in stats I'd gained since waking in this strange place was not just for aesthetics. Though admittedly, I did enjoy having muscles now. Where I had been overweight and out of shape when I'd arrived, I was getting closer and closer to looking like someone who belonged on the set of a superhero movie. Soon I'd have muscles on my muscles, and ceps on my ceps.

  Lost in my own thoughts, I startled when the scenery changed. It was a small change, but significant nonetheless. Up ahead, the passage levelled out, and there was a slice of colour cutting through the grayscale gloom. I blinked, staring at it. I'd lived in the gray scale vision my bloodline provided me with for so long now, weeks or months, I couldn't be sure. Colours meant light. Spurred onward by a sudden need for light, for colour, to see the open sky, I scrambled forward. I paid no attention to the cavern as I passed, rocketing towards an opening that came into sight as I skidded around a sudden corner. I broke out into the bright greens and browns of a forest I'd left behind, and the vibrancy took my breath away for a moment. For a long time, I stood there feeling the sun on my face, a gentle breeze in my hair, just taking it in. I was in a clearing, having emerged from an entrance carved in the side of a massive rock. The clearing was massive by the look of it, nearly a kilometre in diameter, filled with soft looking green grass that waved lightly in the breeze. Turning round, I found that the clearing wasn't really a clearing, it was more of a half crescent cut into the edge of the forest. With the cave entrance off on one side pointing deeper into the forest, the other side opened up, revealing open plains and what looked like a massive glittering lake a kilometre or two away. It was a very much an idyllic looking setting.

  Just because it looks peaceful doesn’t mean it is. I had to remind myself that there were monsters on the surface as well. I'd ended up in the situation I was in currently thanks to two of them. A nightmare fusion between T. rex and a spider, and another spider that made me look small in comparison, even in my spider form.

  It was at that moment that the calm tranquillity of the clearing was shattered by a deep bellow, one that was hauntingly familiar.

  Speak of the devil.

  I couldn't help the tingle of fear that crawled up my spine, settling into my guts, as the familiar head pushed its way out of the forest. The head with its malicious orange eyes was followed by its torso and the strange spider like limbs that grew from it, flexing in the air. The monster looked exactly how I remembered it. Dull brown scales covered its massive body, bright orange eyes with a slight glow, which spoke of entirely too much malice and intelligence for any sane being to be comfortable in its presence. A distinct lack of the small arms an actual T-Rex would have, replaced instead by the black chitinous spider appendages that grew from its body near where its shoulders were. A thrill of fear raced up my spine once again, my heart pounded against my ribs, and adrenaline surged through my veins, but I wasn't the same creature I was the last time I'd encountered this monster. Not even close. A person couldn't go through the life and death struggles I had gone through repeatedly in the underground chambers and not come out fundamentally changed. Let alone the levels and skills I'd gained since I'd last come face to face with this particular monster. I triggered [Analyze], and there was hardly any resistance from the creature as I demanded a look at its information.

  I grinned savagely at the monster as it stepped fully into the clearing. A look at its stats was all I needed to know how misplaced my moment of fear had been. Back when I had first woken, this monster was terrifying, and I would have stood absolutely no chance in any kind of confrontation. That was then, this was now, and now was a very different situation. I out leveled the Rex, and I exceeded its stats in every single category, even as a human. If I were to shift to my spider form, it would be even more of a mismatch. I drew my dagger from my [Inventory], still grinning, and a dull green shimmer covered the blade. [Venomous Strikes] was active, and I was pumping more mana into the skill as I watched its approach. It seemed puzzled by my lack of fear. I was slowly getting a feel for my mana, and I knew instinctively that the reason I'd been so exhausted after killing the [Rootmaw Hivequeen] was because I'd dumped my entire mana pool into the skill in one go. I wouldn't be doing that again unless I had to, 0/10 would not recommend doing again.

  The Rex let out another roar, and this time I felt the contest against my Charisma stat. I brushed it aside like it was nothing. The [Arach Tyrant] simply didn't have enough charisma to compete with my own. I was sure it had more than enough to affect almost any other creature on the surface with its roar, the only creature I'd seen so far that had more charisma than the [Arach Tyrant] was the [Rootmaw Hivequeen], and even the ant queen hadn't had as much charisma as I did currently. The Rex had a couple of other skills, though neither were overly threatening and boiled down to, don't get hit by the spider limbs and don't get bitten. Simple concepts.

  Rather than wait for the Rex, I charged forward myself. I remained human, I wanted to test myself, I wanted to see just how far I had come in the underground chambers.

  The [Arach Tyrant] seemed taken aback by my sudden charge, its orange eyes widening in surprise. It recovered quickly, though, letting out another roar that washed over me as ineffectively as the last. As I closed the distance, it lashed out with one of its spider limbs, aiming to impale me. I ducked under the strike, feeling the rush of air as it passed overhead. My [Sprint] skill activated, propelling me forward with enhanced speed. Before the creature could react, I was inside its guard, slashing upward with my dagger. The blade bit deep into the soft underbelly of the Rex, green venom seeping into the wound. The monster bellowed in pain and rage, its massive jaws snapping down in an attempt to catch me. But I was already moving, rolling to the side and coming up in a crouch. I rolled again as the beast spun around, its tail whistling through the air. I couldn't help the grin stretching across my face as I came back up, predatory gaze fixed on the rex. I could feel Vipera in my soul pushing me on; her soul felt just as elated as my own right now.

  The [Arach Tyrant] staggered, its legs trembling as my venom coursed through its system. I didn't let up, knowing that this was a chance to end the fight. The beast's eyes tracked me, burning with hatred. It spun with surprising agility for its size, trying to keep me in view as I darted around towards its side. Sticky strands of webbing shot from its abdomen, attempting to snare me. My [Web walker's Grace] skill kicked in, allowing me to slip through the gossamer nets with ease. I felt a surge of confidence. I felt alive, like my blood was singing in my veins, like something had finally slipped into place. Like this, fighting monsters and emerging stronger, was what I was made for. It was like something had been missing in my previous life, something that left everything hollow, unsatisfying, unfulfilling. As if I'd lived my life on autopilot, drifting through life like a leaf on a breeze, and only now, with my life on the line, was I truly alive.

  Epiphany over, I ducked under another jab from the Rex's spider limbs. I leapt up, grabbing onto the limb at its base. I curled an arm around the appendage, anchoring myself in place as I thrust with my dagger. Over and over like a sewing machine, I plunged my dagger in and withdrew it rapidly, each strike bringing with it a new dose of venom. I didn't need deep wounds to deposit my venom. In a matter of moments, the [Arach Tyrant] seemed to lose the ability to resist and came crashing to the ground, dozens of black veins rippling out from where I'd stabbed it a couple of dozen times. The rex staggered, and I released my grip, shoving away from the beast as it began to topple over. I rolled to my feet in time to watch the beast shudder and then lie still. Its malevolent orange eyes, going dim as the life faded from them.

  I grinned at the system's confirmation of my victory. It felt like a weight had lifted from my shoulders. I was not nearly as defenceless as I had been when I had arrived, able to do nothing but flee in the face of a monster that wished for nothing more than to kill me and eat me. I strode over to the body of the monster from my nightmares and laid my hand against its corpse.

  The screen vanished when I accepted the prompt. Immediately, I withdrew my newest piece of loot, like the greedy loot goblin I was. Pulling the item free from my [Inventory], I found myself holding a pair of bracers. The bracers were made of the same scales that covered the hide of the now rapidly fading [Arach Tyrant]. They had the same dark brown coloration, the cuffs were ringed with deadly looking fangs nearly two inches long, with a rusty orange coloration to them.

  I strapped on the bracers after reading them, feeling a little like a child with a new toy. I triggered [Aura of fear]. I felt a little weaker but not much. It seemed the skill did use mana, but not enough to be concerning at all. I could keep the aura running for hours on end without feeling much strain if I had to guess. I could instinctively feel the limits of the skill much the same as I did much the same as I did with [Venomous Aura] when Vipera was within my soul; [Venomous Aura] had a range of about eight feet right now. The [Aura of Fear] from my new [Tyrant Bracers] was a little bigger at about twelve feet, but then it wasn't a damage or damage enhancing effect like [Venomous Aura], so that wasn't terribly surprising. It would need the extra range to be useful, where [Venomous Aura]'s range didn't matter overly much since I had no way to inflict my venom at range at the moment.

  All in all, a very solid addition to my growing kit.