Chapter 42: Deadly Beauty
Arthur’s eyelids trembled, and very slowly, he opened his eyes a little, at that moment he saw in a hazy manner a human figure standing before him, extending her hand toward him.
He felt something soft touching his chest, and starting from his heart he felt warmth spreading through his entire body, removing the coldness of death.
His convulsed features relaxed, and involuntarily, he released a faint sigh indicating his relief.
Then slowly, his eyes closed again, and despite his intense exhaustion, and his overwhelming desire to sleep, he remained semi-conscious, and for some reason memories began passing through his head like a film reel.
He remembered many moments of his life, and in the end, his memories stopped at an old hazy memory, when he was just a child of eleven years old.
He remembered his kind parents while they prepared to go on a trip from which they never returned, and he remembered the last hug his mother gave him before she left. A warm, gentle hug, full of tenderness that he had greatly missed.
As though he had returned to that moment in time, a feeling of tranquility and peace washed over him, and for the first time in a long while, calm settled over his mind.
His thoughts fell silent, all his fears disappeared, and the intense suffering he had gone through no longer meant anything, he forgot it, along with everything else.
A small smile appeared on his face, and he enjoyed this beautiful moment to the fullest, and why not, since he did not even know if he was alive or dead.
Perhaps what he was currently experiencing and seeing, was the last flashes of his consciousness before fading, or so he thought at first, for after a short while, the beautiful warmth he felt suddenly disappeared, replaced by hellish pain, which brought him back to the bitter reality.
’Damn, my body hurts, did I not die...? Well, I think I did not, given what I feel.’
He let out a muffled groan tinged with sarcasm, and waited a little until he regained full clarity, then opened his blue eyes, from which that faint golden gleam had disappeared.
At that moment, he saw before him an extremely beautiful human woman, wearing white silk garments, gently placing her soft hand on his chest.
The woman withdrew her hand, and stood upright, and looked at him with a kind of coldness, her eyes were red, extremely mysterious.
His mind went blank, and for a brief moment, he forgot his pains and everything else. He continued staring at her with a dumb expression, astonished by the extent of her breathtaking beauty.
His heartbeat quickened, and a familiar stirring arose between his hind legs. For the first time since arriving in this world, he was overwhelmed by an important feeling he had completely forgotten about, which was emotional and sexual attraction to females.
’Am I dreaming? What is such beauty doing before me? Perhaps I am dead after all, no, wait..., something is not right.’
He calmed his troubled self, and suppressed his desire, and with difficulty averted his gaze from the captivating woman.
He scanned his surroundings, and found that he was inside a large forest, and around him the ground was filled with blood and scattered remains of corpses.
This frightening scene made him immediately realize that he was not dreaming, he was still inside the savage forest, and everything he was currently experiencing was real, and this meant that the woman before him was real.
A shiver ran through his body, and cautiously he took a careful look at the woman, and this time, he noticed something he had overlooked earlier.
The lower half of her body wasn’t human at all, but resembled that of a relatively small spider with eight legs.
Her entire body was over three meters long, and she was holding him aloft with her silk threads.
In addition to that, her pure white clothes were not truly clothes, but merely a large robe that covered her entire body, made completely from thin silk threads, woven together with extreme precision.
’Oh, shit, it is that savage spider.’ He swallowed hard, and his body stiffened.
As though the spider woman had read his thoughts, her lips twisted into a wicked smile, and she extended her soft hand toward him again, but this time she did not touch him gently, but grabbed him by the throat.
She lifted him slightly until they were eye to eye. Then she said coldly:
"So what else are you hiding, surprise me, do not make me regret the little vitality I wasted on healing you, otherwise..."
She unleashed her killing intent, and tightened her grip on his throat, which made him struggle to breathe.
Arthur remained as calm as possible, and even though he did not understand her words, he knew with certainty that she was warning him.
His life was in her hands now, and if he did not meet her expectations, whatever they were, he would most likely perish.
"Alright." He nodded, showing signs of obedience.
"Heh! Very good." The spider woman’s smile widened further, and showed a kind of sarcasm, but deep inside she was surprised by his ability to remain calm.
She concealed her killing intent, and loosened her grip, so he regained the ability to breathe. After that, she removed the silk threads restraining him, then threw him aside carelessly.
Arthur felt intense anger, yet, he showed no displeased reaction, on the contrary, he quickly got up from the ground, and stood with full obedience like a pet dog.
He bowed his head, and avoided looking directly at her. He did not think about fleeing, and did not try to impose his personality. It was clearly pointless to do so, so the best and safest option was to go along with her for as long as possible.
’What exactly does this spider want from me, I have given her everything I own in terms of meat, yet, she still desires my thin body, damn, can she not simply let me go?’
His return from certain death did not make him feel better, and did not make him happy that he had survived, it only increased his tension, and anger. He had grown extremely tired of being on edge all the time.
Despite the many things that bothered him, he tried to remain positive, for after all, there was nothing he could do, other than wish and pray that everything would pass well.
’What will I do now, I cannot communicate with her, so how will I be able to know what she wants, tsk, this is truly a problem, and worse I do not have anything she might truly want.’
The two stood facing each other, separated by only a few meters, and because neither of them took the initiative to speak, the place fell into an awkward silence that made the already strange atmosphere even stranger.
Time passed very slowly. Little by little, Arthur could no longer bear it. He felt like a prisoner waiting for the judge’s verdict.
’Say something, what is taking you so long? Are you going to eat me or what?’ He sighed sarcastically, trying to calm himself.
He stole a quick glance at her face, and examined her serious features with extreme caution. Her eyes were fixed on him, but at the same time, she was not staring intently at him, she was distracted, thinking about something.
Arthur had dealt with various types of humans in his life, despite his introverted personality, he was somewhat good at communicating with others, and had a good ability to understand their expressions, and because of this he immediately realized she was feeling confused.
’Wait, is she unable to make a decision about me?’ He wondered. This was unexpected for him.
’This is not good, in the first place, what makes her this hesitant, my body is completely devoid of Vitality currently, and eating me is like eating a worm, just release me already.’
The spider woman noticed him looking at her, and a slight frown appeared on her face, and after thinking about the matter for another minute, she walked toward him.
’Damn.’ Arthur trembled, and with great difficulty prevented himself from acting impulsively. He drove his claws into the ground, and remained fixed in his place.
The spider woman stood directly before him, then placed her hand on his head, his heartbeat quickened, and even though she showed no hostility, he was certain she did not merely want to pat him.
And as he had expected, in the next moment, five thin black silk threads came from her fingers, they drilled through his flesh, then his solid skull, and little by little penetrated into his head, and from there, spread to the rest of his body.
"Ugh." Arthur let out a muffled cry. He felt intense pain in every part of his body, and an annoying dizziness came over him, and blood flowed heavily from his nose and ears, yet he remained fixed in his place, and continued staring at her.
He had been through worse, and suffered more intense pain, so this was not something new, and in addition to that, his frequent exposure to pain had made him more resistant to it.
This was a positive thing from a certain angle, but unfortunately, it does not change the fact that pain, no matter how accustomed to it one becomes, remains pain.
After three minutes, the silk threads had spread throughout his entire body, forming a massive interconnected network, running alongside his veins and arteries.
The spider woman sweated heavily and panted in exhaustion. Spreading her silk threads through his body had been very difficult in her current condition.
The moment she finished, she withdrew her hand, which had five black silk threads at the tips of her fingers, they quickly broke off, and burrowed back into his body like parasites.
She took a deep breath and looked directly into his eyes. A strange expression appeared on her face. Truly, she was shocked by his ability to remain standing so calmly.
"That’s better," she said in a strange tone.
Arthur was surprised, and opened his mouth a little, for unexpectedly, he understood what she was saying.
