Chapter 15: Running Dry

From within my cavern of flesh, I held silent watch, swiveling my head in response to the noise around me. Blood dripped, turning me to the right. Fangs rustled, turning me to the left. A leg stepped too close. I struck.

My fangs sunk into the too-close leg, rewarding me with the now-familiar taste of Aridae and blood. Venom spilled through the hollows in my fangs, dripping down. I pulled back, waiting for my next chance to strike. As I did so, the thought-light flickered, revealing the Great Core’s reward for my aggression.

Lesser Core Skill: [Mana Venom III] Increased.

[Mana Venom IV] Acquired.

I didn’t feel any difference in my venom, not yet. I could only think that [Mana Venom IV] signified the strength of mana-venom that I created from now onwards, rather than making the venom that I had already made stronger.

Did that mean that the Great Core hoped for me to survive? No, it expected me to live on. It foresaw my - our - triumph.

The thought did much to warm my insides, creating a sensation that was far different than the continuing sear of the fire-pain from my mana overuse.

Another leg came close. That, I bit too. Over and over, I bit and I bit and I bit - leaving four more Aridae to lay nearby, hanging from the threads and twitching lightly.

Another leg came close, this one far larger than the rest, dwarfing them in size. It bristled with thorn-like spikes, covered in thick black hairs that seemed to envelop the light around it. For a moment, I froze. For a moment, I thought that the mother had come. For a moment, I was caught again - stuck in white threads stained crimson, pierced by fangs again and again and again and again and again.

It wasn’t that.

The leg was a little too small - just a little, though.

Before I could break from my frozen state, it swept forward and knocked my corpse-shell away and over the edge, leaving me exposed.

Above me, the large Aridae that had emerged from the matriarch’s alcove loomed. The infants that had swarmed underneath it were gone, pushed back by the sight of their older, braver brethren that had died from my venom.

As fast as I could, I struck. My head blurred, fangs stabbing outward with a speed born of both terror and a form built for striking. The bite landed, my fangs sinking into resistant flesh, far hardier than the others. Still, I held on, injecting the remainder of my venom in a panic.

It wasn’t much.

The battle had exhausted what I had stored; in the end, the venom I used had to come from somewhere, and my venom sacs were absolutely emptied. It was enough to force the Aridae to rear back in pain, but only that.

As it pulled back, I was pulled with it, my weight doing little to resist being hauled along in its wake. I ripped from the threads that I had anchored myself to, my tail unwinding from the fibers beneath me. As the wind rushed past me, I caught hold, coiling myself around the leg and winding up its length as fast as I could. The leg came back down, but my head had already reached its highest joint, nestled near the bad-thing’s enormous fangs.

I bit down again, trying to anchor myself more securely.

In front of me, I could see the Aridae’s fangs, drops of slow-venom collecting on the ends. Its tiny front-legs wriggled and reached, but I had found a degree of safety - the bad-things had no neck, unlike me. They couldn’t turn their head.

An obvious defect that only a lesser Core would have made.

Still, just because it couldn’t reach me didn’t mean I was safe. Slow-venom continued to travel up my length, loosening my grip and threatening to leave me vulnerable. With my venom temporarily gone, I didn’t have a way to defeat the Aridae, either. Only stall.

And what would stalling achieve but provide more time for the mother to arrive? While I had the chance, I twisted upon myself, grasping onto the bad-thing’s leg with blood-slicked scale-flesh. I contorted and coiled until, finally, I had become a giant lump that no longer twined much of the way down the Aridae’s leg - instead, I curled around myself and the Aridae’s leg enough to bring my tail near my head.

My scale-flesh tightened around the bad-thing, and I released my fangs. At that moment, the Aridae jerked its leg, desperately trying to shake me off. I tightened my coils even further, pushing against the slow-venom and the slick-blood that resisted my efforts. When the bad-thing stepped down again, I bit down again.

This time, sinking into my own tail. Small though they were, my wounds had taken their toll, each leaking their own bits of lifeblood and wetting my scale-flesh. In the midst of battle, I hadn’t been able to heal them.

Though the fight still continued, I knew that I needed to take the chance while I had it. My venom was gone; I couldn’t see a way that I could actually defeat the enormous Aridae, who I assumed to be the father of the bad-thing brood due to its sheer size.

Itching assaulted my scale-flesh as [The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail] began to take hold. It was a slow process; not nearly enough to actually close the wounds. Still, it would hopefully manage to stop the bleeding - that was a much greater concern, especially given the way that my vision had begun to pulse and waver again.

The Aridae father continued in its attempts to dislodge me, but my slowly increasing health allowed me to cling on tighter. Its fangs rustled uselessly; its forelegs twitched incessantly. Still, I held on, my scale-flesh itching furiously.

Around us, the Aridae were in chaos. I could hear them, rustling their fangs and moving across the threads, looking for a position to reach me. Glimpses of the gathered bad-things flashed into my vision as we turned, reared, and whirled. Infant Aridae rearing up on their hind legs, far too small, their fangs unable to reach me without jumping - risking a miss that injured the Aridae that I had claimed as my ride. Juveniles that might have been able to reach me more easily, yet couldn’t with the constant whirling and twirling mixed with the remnant unsteadiness created by the bad-dreams.

That same unsteadiness had likely been what allowed me to reach my position in the first place, bogging down the large Aridae’s thoughts enough that it didn’t realize I couldn’t actually harm it anymore - that it should just stand still and let the others finish me off.

Even more, it gave enough time for something else.

Resistance: [Venom Resistance - Basic IV] Increased.

[Venom Resistance - Basic V] Acquired.

Once more, the slow-venom was pushed back, reducing the numbness that had run its way up my length and sought to loosen my grip.

I thanked the Great Core as the slow-venom retreated, letting out a hiss of praise that worked its way past the tail in my mouth. With my ability to move increased and my wounds partially-healed, I let go.

My venom sacs were still dry, unable to be replenished by the acceleration provided by [The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail]; it could only do so much. Still, I twined further up the Aridae’s body, seeking victory - or, at the very least, to inflict pain.

My travel was defined by continuous bites into the Aridae-flesh, both in order to anchor myself and out of pure spite. It didn’t do much, without my venom, but it made me feel better - that was, until I sunk my fangs into the first eye.

The ebony orb squelched underneath the pressure, flooding my mouth with a disgusting array of juices and fluids. The Aridae shrieked, thrashing with even greater vigor than before. My hold on the bad-thing, anchored into an eye rather than more durable flesh, failed me.

It ripped through the remainder of the eye.

I fell through the air.

I tumbled and twirled, spinning as I dropped.

And dropped.

And dropped.

I hit the mana-water pool with a thunderous slap, making my vision go black.