Chapter 5: 1.5 Trolling around

About half a deer later, the rain started to clear up but the skies remained cloudy and dark. I was still not full, which made me wonder exactly where and how big my stomach was. Even though the ''meal'' was certainly enjoyable, eating for hours on end eventually became... boring.  

Did spiders not inject venom into prey and then slurp it up like some kind of soup through a straw? 

The thought disgusted me but it would probably be a much quicker way to get this done and over with in certain scenarios. I was fortunate to have plenty of time now but what if I had to stay on the move? I was definitely not looking forward to discover more freakish organs that I didn't know about, I had seen enough spider anatomy for a lifetime. I should consider myself lucky that I didn't have half a dozen or so eyes that I would have to learn how to use.  

A roar sounded through the cave, whoever or whatever it belonged to must have been large and heavy judging from the weight it carried. It was followed by words yelled that sounded much more to what I was used to, a male human voice, for sure. It sounded like they were either in an argument or directly fighting as whatever words were spoken by the human were always followed up by beastly roars, as if it were taunting.  

'Damn kids.' I thought sarcastically, wanting to be left in peace, 'Get off my lawn'. 

After I added some more wood I walked out to the entrance and saw my suspicions confirmed. There was a tall short-bearded human male wearing a strapped leather tunic at the edge of the clearing. He wore a bow and a quiver with several arrows on his back, a belt with a long knife, two canteens, and an empty scabbard. Judging from his outfit I would have to assume he was some kind of archer. Unfortunately for him, he was locked in melee combat with a far taller creature. 

That even taller creature was a blueish grey monster. It had skin that seemed to have pebbles embedded in it, two large lower jaw tusks that curled slightly upward, short, pointy elf like ears, and red eyes full of bloodlust.  

He wore a simple loincloth that covered up the bare minimum, his large muscled chest was full of scars and cuts, some of them dripping blood. A skull on a chain around his neck made me think this was not the nicest of creatures you could meet. He had large nails protruding from his bulky fingers that were gripping a massively sized mace. I thought mace, but it was really a large cubic stone that was fastened on top of what looked like a tree trunk with wrought iron strips, that didn't mean it did not seem deadly. This looked like a troll, not the internet kind of troll, but an actual deadly warrior troll, and not a friendly one at that.  

The human ducked behind one of the smaller trees as the massive troll took a swing. The tree simply snapped in half and the swing was still going. What was this guy's strength? Yes, he was slow, but that swing just now would have killed any human back on earth, no amount of armor would protect you from that amount of blunt force trauma.  

His speed seemed to be the reason of his many cuts, as the human was wielding a much more handleable sword and jumped forward adding another cut to the troll's chest, who in turn responded with a roar. The human jumped back a few steps into the clearing and taunted the troll by gesturing with his hand in a ''come at me'' manner. The troll eagerly obliged and charged, brought his hammer down from above his head which was too easily sidestepped by the archer who slashed the troll's side, yielding yet another cut but it appeared his sword didn't penetrate deeply. The troll's skin appeared to be incredibly tough.  

This process repeated itself several times, the human taunting and the troll responding. Did the human think this was a battle of attrition? One good hit would take him out, and it seemed the larger creature was not tiring at all, in fact, it seemed the more he missed, the angrier and faster he became.  

This might turn sour for the shorter creature if this continued on for much longer. I had already decided I would help him, maybe I could get back to civilization with his help. I was just wondering how I would go about it. If his sword didn't manage to seriously injure, I doubted my spear would.  

'Actually', I thought, 'I could try what I was thinking about earlier'.  

I walked outside grabbed one of the coconuts that was now filled with water, emptied it and moved it to my fangs. I filled it with my venom which didn't seem fully replenished yet as I was only able to fill it halfway before I ran dry.  

Still, it would be enough to dip the tip of my spear in. If what I had experienced earlier was any indication for the future it was that this stuff was quite potent. I would just have to get the water again later. I should still have a fair amount and I needed this more at the moment. I went back inside, grabbed my spear and went back outside. I put the venom filled coconut back down in the pit it was in earlier and put the tip of the spear in it. I even twisted it as if I were dipping soft ice in sprinkles.  

The combat taking place in the clearing had moved towards the middle and seemed to be reaching a tipping point. I think the troll got some glancing blows in there as the human archer seemed to have slowed down and his right leg seemed to misstep every now and then. I ran towards the fight while the blue skinned giant had his back turned towards me.  

He roared as he was about to swing down from above again. I interrupted his attack and I thrust me spear in his side, it didn't go deep at all, I was barely able to cause a papercut. It seemed to temporarily faze him as he took another moment before he brought down his mace. This gave me enough time to give him another cut before I had to back off. I was about to strike again but he swung his mace from the ground in front of him in one swift motion sideways into my direction and had to jump my front legs from the ground to not be turned into mush.  

I was able to take a few steps back on only two legs before gravity forced me down again. By the time I landed the human had landed an attack from behind, just below his knees which caused it to roar in rage in my direction.  

I had to cover my ears as the reverberations of his bellow pounded against my eardrums. Why did everything I had to fight with have to be broken in one way or another?  

I had earned its ire apparently, as it was fixated on clubbing me to death, I only got very few more hits in as I spent most time on not actually dying. In the meantime, the other warrior had kept attacking in the same spot that he had before, causing blood to drop down the troll's calf. I got a few scrapes on his arms here and there when he was lifting his weapon from the ground but nothing significant. It really looked like this would be a death by a thousand cuts, I hoped it wouldn’t have to get to a thousand, we'd be here for a while. 

Apparently, it had enough of me as it suddenly swinged back to the human who didn’t see the attack coming and barely managed to parry with his sword but it knocked him back onto his back. This was bad.  

''Hey, you big ugly, I'm right here.'' I shouted as loud as I could. Ugh, this voice really wasn't made for shouting. 

''Come and get me.'' I yelled again as I aimed and speared at the wound below his knee knowing he should be more vulnerable there to my venom.  

I could actually see his blood start to sizzle and take on a darker hue as it dripped down. I was certain I would have vomited back on Earth if I were to see something like this even if it was on TV but right now my stomach appeared made of iron and it wouldn't budge.  

After making sure he got a good dosage of my venom it appeared to have a renewed interest in this pesky spider. He could have finished the human off and then return his gaze to me; it really was as stupid as it looked. It made a quick swing that I couldn't dodge entirely and it smashed into my lower right arm, the one that wasn't holding the spear. I could feel bones shattering and screamed in pain. Pain shot through my entire body as my vision went hazy. The only thing I could do was take steps back and I panted heavily. Reaching for breath I could hear the troll's laughter as he inched closer.  

The human continued his assault as the troll was closing the distance between me and him, even as I kept stepping back towards the cave. The pain was overwhelming and it took me immense amounts of effort to try to stay functional. I couldn't move my one arm anymore as it hung limply at my side.  

What was happening? The whole world felt like it was shaking, I had never felt so much pain in my life. And I wasn't even out of trouble yet, I couldn’t focus anymore, all I could do was backoff and hope the human could finish the job. Maybe the venom would take effect?  

He did seem slowed down somewhat but it didn't quite seem enough yet. I stepped back further and felt something against one of my legs. I looked behind me and saw that I had just knocked over one of the coconuts filled with water. Great, can this get any worse? 

'Snap out of it!' I repeated probably a hundred times.  

I needed to keep my wits about me or I was done for. I could feel the heavy steps of the troll through the hairs on my feet and quickly concocted some kind of plan. I picked up the coconut with venom while pretending to be too injured to move, it wasn't far from the truth, really.  

When he came within striking distance, he took a moment to gloat at my misery before making a move, even as the human was still adding cuts and slices to his back, he just stood there, without a care in the world. I swore I would wipe that grin off his face.  

I took the coconut as he reached for his weapon and unleashed hell on him. Getting the venom everywhere I wanted it to go, all the cuts on his chest and more importantly, his eyes, which still shone red with rage even as they were covered with the green liquid. That red slowly died down and I saw his eyes literally melt before me.  

He roared even loader than before swinging his mace wildly around his body as I had to cover my ears again and back off. His sinister smile from before was replaced by horror and I saw a mixture of red green and white flow from his eye sockets. The sight was extremely gruesome and I do believe I saw the human back off before emptying his stomach on the grass. Yep, he would not be forgetting that sight anytime soon, neither would I, to be honest.  

A gruesome tactic, but an effective one.  

I stepped back further in both pain and wariness. My arm numbed from the shattered bones and pain. The troll fell to his knees and was still trying to smash me, randomly swinging his weapon around and pounding the earth. It turned into a really sad sight.  

The fog in my mind slowly dissipated but the white, hot pain remained. I could really go for some heavy painkillers right now, just please knock me out. Normally that wouldn't have been a problem but there was no quick ride to a hospital right here, maybe not even the medical knowledge to get my arm fixed. 

'Please let this be a magic world with healing magic', I desperately hoped even though I had previously not believed in such things.  

The existence of creatures such as this troll, the goblin and the strange buck had given me hope, though. 

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Speaking of the troll, he seemed to be nearing the end of his death throes, his movement slowing, his breathing becoming heavy and his roars of anger dying down. He would not be for this world for much longer, I guessed the venom finally started to do its job. He had been a tough adversary but it still seemed to work, slowly, but it did work. His eyes literally melting out of his face had shocked me, though. 

I was still ''sitting'' on the soaked grass with my legs curled underneath me, panting heavily from the pain and worries about medical aid when another shot of pain coursed through my body. I looked down and found an arrow embedded in my shoulder. I looked in the direction of the human and saw him nocking another arrow. 

''Dude, what?'' I screamed, ''I just saved your ass, what are you shooting at me for?'' 

Another arrow came flying but bounced off of the chitinous part of where my hip would be. 

"KELE SEN HELVT PETO!" He shouted.  

Whatever language that was, I had no idea, I guessed potato wasn't what he meant. 

''Stop it!'' I shouted back.  

''KELE!" he shouted that word again as he let loose another arrow, this one missing completely.  

Seriously? The first human that I find decides to kill me after I had saved his life.  

This was just great. I mean, I knew I was a monster but I had showed him no hostility and helped him out when he would have died for sure yet this is how I was being repaid, Just great. 

After he had shot his fourth arrow which had narrowly missed my face, I had enough. I was not going to let someone walk over me like that, there was no way. I stood up as I felt rage flow through me. The pain in my arm seemed to be numbed by my fury, my feeling of betrayal. He would regret his mistake just like the troll did. I couldn't believe I was thinking these things, I had never been a violent person but this... this infuriated me. It certainly didn't help that my life was put on the line... again, and I did not intend to lose it yet.  

So, I stood up and charged. Even from a distance I could see his hands shake and he completely failed his next shot, it flew high over my head. It would be his last. In an instant I had pinned him to the ground, his eyes shooting full of fear, he reached for his knife but I had already sunk my fangs in his belly. I had not even cared to avoid his leather armor, my fangs pierced straight through and injected whatever little venom I had built up into him.  

His eyes soon became lifeless and the realization kicked in that I had just killed a person. Given it was in self-defense, but that didn't mean I enjoyed it. It was a necessary action to survive, but it was completely unnecessary for this man to die. I had even tried to stop him.  

I really shouldn't overthink this as much as I was. It would be better to spend that time looking for a way to get my arm healed. I no medical knowledge to speak about, and this didn't seem as simple as ''set a splint and the ouch will go away''. 

Nope. Today was not a good day, it started off okay, then everything went to shit, my arm was completely busted and now I had an arrow stuck in my shoulder too. I eyed over the arrow again, it didn't seem to be buried deep enough to hit anything important and the amount of blood was, pretty minor.  

Actually, it seemed to not have done much damage at all, who would have known that my smooth skin was so tough?  

My adrenalin rush ended and I felt my arm on fire again. I still managed to find the mental capability to actually check the man's belongings. His sword, bow and arrows and knife could be useful. His canteens that were still full would help me out now that I lost two coconuts worth of water. I took another look at his bearded face and closed his eyes. 

'Why?' I sighed. 

I couldn't just leave him here, could I? What about the troll? His body was still, adorning the clearing. I would have to move both of them, can't have people think I am a monster feeding on innocents, right? Not that he had been innocent, and not that I was not a monster, technically speaking.  

I found a chain around his neck that was hidden by his facial hair and. An iron tag with characters that I had never seen before was attached to it, a small silver bow engraved to the right of the incomprehensible characters was the only character that somewhat made sense to me. I would have to assume that this guy was not some random bandit and that this was a name tag for a somewhat professional army soldier. I guessed that meant he at least deserved a burial, I could do that much for him, even if he had tried to kill me, soldiers who gave their lives deserved respect, I remembered that much from my old life in the States.  

So, I dragged his body back in the cave where I would be taking care of myself first. The arrow still stuck in my shoulder would have to be handled properly and while I was no doctor, there were some basic things that almost everyone in modern times would know. For one of those things, I had my hopes settled on at least one of the hide canteens that I had looted from the soldier. 

I sighed as I walked back to the cave entrance, picking up the last coconut with contents as I did so. 

I put some more wood on the fire before taking the first canteen and removing the cap. I took a deep sniff and didn't smell what I was looking for, I assumed this was water. I then took the second, opened it and sniffed.  

''Bingo'', I said in relief. 

Alcohol, great to get you drunk to numb pain, but I would also be using it to disinfect the wound after I had pulled the arrow out. I gulped not looking forward to experience more pain than I already had. I took another look at the arrow lodged in my shoulder, the metal arrow head had not pierced my skin completely which gave me hope. As long as it hadn't hit an artery, I should be fine, right? I 

took a sip of the contents and was hit by it, hard. I had never had anything this strong before and I felt it burn down my throat as I quickly swallowed it, then closed the cap again. 

'Holy, this stuff packs a punch'. 

I shook my head from the kick and prepared for what I was about to do. As a backup plan I put the knife's blade in the fire, to heat and disinfect it. In case the bleeding was excessive I would have to cauterize the wound, I prayed that I didn't have to, the heat in my arm was hard enough to deal with as it was.  

I took another sip of the still almost full canteen of alcohol. I was lucky to have this much, either the guy was not serious about his job, or he was lucky to never have gotten into a situation in which I found myself now.  

I don't know exactly what happened but for some reason my legs seemed to no longer want to support me as I felt my abdomen and middle segment drop to the floor. I wasn't drunk, was I? Sure, whatever was in that canteen was strong, but I still felt completely fine, only my spider parts seemed to refuse to obey my mind. The pain in my arm and shoulder slowly ebbed away as I could feel the liquor take effect. I would have to be careful to not drink too much, I had to be focused enough to get this done without making a complete fool of myself. I tore several strips of cloth from the human's shirt in preparation, he had no need for it anymore, after all. 

I had no idea how to do this professionally so I just did what I thought made sense. I soaked some cloth in alcohol and cleaned the area around the wound. After that I took hold of the arrow and took several deep breaths. I would do this fast, like ripping off a band-aid to just get it done and over with without too much pain and suffering.  

I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the worst as in a swift move I removed the arrow from my shoulder. I opened one eye to see if I had actually pulled it out as the hellish pain I was expecting remained absent. The arrow was in my hand and not in my shoulder anymore. I opened my other eye and saw that some blood oozed from the wound but nowhere near as much as I had feared. I pulled the knife out of the fire and tossed it aside, thankful I wouldn’t be needing to do that.  

I drenched another strip of cloth in alcohol and wrapped it around the wound as best as I could. There was pain, of course, but I could deal with this, this was nothing compared to how my arm had felt before.  

With my body fixed as far as I could actually fix it, I turned my attention back to the corpse next to me. I wanted to bury him but it was getting dark outside quickly and for some reason my legs refused to obey me. I guessed it was the alcohol, it had to be. I felt completely fine, well, other than the somewhat numbed pain, but anything below my waist was all wobbly. My legs where spasming, curling inward and tapping around on the stone floor. Frankly, it creeped my out. If I didn't know any better, I would say it looked like a mating ritual that some animals conducted.  

So, I would delay the burial until tomorrow, I noticed I would also have to get new firewood first thing in the morning as I was running out. I tossed the last large log that I had in the fire hoping it would keep things going until morning.  

''So, wood first, then a burial, then maybe some exploration?'' I recounted. I would still have to find a steady supply of water after all.  

I tried laying back on my bulbous abdomen again and relax but it wasn’t easy to do when everything below me kept moving and wobbling back and forth, and up and down. 

I sighed. This was going to be a long night.

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