The shadow tethers snapped apart all at once.
The remaining four spiders surged forward in unison, their bodies crashing toward Rune as crystal legs stabbed and jaws snapped from every direction.
Unable to move, his foot still fused to the floor, Rune twisted and leaned as best he could, fighting to avoid the worst of it.
Some strikes slipped through. Crystal edges scraped across his arms, raking his torso, each impact sending sharp pain through his body.
He staggered, breath tearing from his chest.
Rune swung wildly at the incoming legs, no longer precise, no longer measured. Each strike was driven by instinct alone, aimed only at survival.
Blows glanced off, knocking limbs aside, throwing attacks off course, cracks spreading across crystal surfaces without breaking them completely.
It was just enough to keep him standing.
Rune spotted an opening and moved immediately.
The first strike of Triple Judgement landed, the blow bringing one spider to a halt as its body stiffened.
The second followed cleanly, cracks spreading across its crystalline shell as light seeped through the fractures.
He drew back for the third.
Pain exploded through his shoulder.
A spider behind him drove a crystal leg straight into his back, the limb tearing free an instant later and spraying blood through the air.
Rune staggered, vision blurring as his balance nearly gave out. He sucked in a sharp breath, forced himself upright, and swung his axe.
The third strike landed.
There was no eruption.
Only a small burst of light, weak and contained, no different from an ordinary attack.
Rune clenched his teeth.
'Damnit. The entire sequence must have to flow together for it to trigger.'
Rune flipped his axes in his hands, movements quick and practiced.
Four decisive blows followed, each one landing solidly against the spider whose body he had already cracked. There was nothing flashy about it. Just clean, forceful strikes.
The crystalline shell finally gave way, the body breaking apart and collapsing at his feet.
He twisted to avoid more incoming attacks, narrowly slipping past snapping legs. The spider behind him remained the greatest threat. With his foot still locked in place, he could not turn fully to face it.
A strike whistled past his head.
As it missed, Rune seized the opening.
He pivoted just enough and unleashed a perfectly timed Triple Judgement on another spider in front of him. The sequence flowed cleanly this time, the final strike landing and finishing it in a burst of light.
When the glow faded, only two spiders remained.
One in front of him.
One at his back.
'I've got nothing left.'
Drawing out his element was becoming harder by the moment. His right arm barely responded anymore, numb and unsteady, and his foot was still bound fast to the cavern floor.
'And I'm not getting out of this.'
The two remaining spiders moved with purpose now, their attacks timed carefully. One pressed from the front, the other from behind, forcing Rune to stay reactive. There were no openings to exploit. Only constant movement, constant defense.
He slowed.
Each dodge took more effort than the last. His breaths grew ragged, legs trembling as stamina drained away, his body struggling to keep pace with the demands he was forcing on it.
'So this is it.'
The thought crept in uninvited, heavy and unwelcome. He had pushed too far, taken on more than he could handle.
Then he heard it.
A sharp whistling cut through the cavern, the sound of something tearing through the air at high speed.
THWUMP!
BANG!
Two nearly simultaneous impacts slammed into the spiders.
Both monsters shattered instantly.
The force vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving only falling fragments and ringing silence in its wake.
Rune collapsed backward onto the stone, chest heaving up and down as he tried to catch his breath.
[Physical Power increasing… +9]
[New Perk: Perseverance]
The rewards for the battle didn't matter right now, someone had save him from certain death.
He turned his head, searching for the source of those arrows.
There was nothing.
No movement. No figure. Only the cavern walls stared back at him.
He turned again.
Two arrows stood embedded in the ground where the spiders had been moments before, each formed of thick, dense earth. Cracks ran along their shafts as they held for a brief instant.
Then they dissolved, sinking back into the cavern floor as if they had never existed.
'What the hell was that?'
The image of the earthen arrows lingered in his mind, sharp and vivid, tugging at something buried deep within him.
[Memories of the World activating…]
The cavern faded.
A young man stood in a forest clearing, his face unmistakably Rune's. He wore simple, tribal clothing, worn and practical, blending easily with the natural world around him.
Ahead of him grazed a great stag.
Its antlers branched wide and high, crowned with countless points, the kind spoken of only in old stories and legends.
The young man crouched low within a thicket, bow drawn, breath steady as he tracked the stag's movements. Every muscle was taut, waiting for the right moment.
Then the ground trembled.
A massive boar burst from the undergrowth to his side, tusks lowered, charging straight for him.
He did not move.
The bow remained drawn. His posture did not change.
An arrow of earth slammed into the boar from the side, striking with crushing force and dropping the beast instantly.
The dull thud echoed through the clearing.
At the sound, the great stag reared back, startled, and fled into the forest, vanishing between the trees.
"Damnit, Miri! I almost had it!"
A young woman stepped out from behind a nearby tree, dressed in the same simple, tribal clothing. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and in her hands she held an intricately carved bow nearly as tall as she was.
"You are too reckless," she snapped. "You would have let that boar spear you with its tusks just to take that shot."
She paused, her expression hard but worried.
"I have to protect you from yourself."
"I was tracking the Forest's Sovereign for a week," he shot back. "One shot. I was one shot away from completing my trial."
"Stop complaining," she said flatly. "Or I will tell your sister how reckless you were."
The world began to blur.
The forest faded, its colors washing out as the vision unraveled, and the cavern rushed back into place around him.
Rune sat there, chest rising and falling.
"That was me," he murmured. "Really me. From a different life."
The realization settled slowly, heavily.
"I only half believed the god who brought me here. I just went along with it because I thought anything would be better than my real life."
Silence followed.
Then Rune started to laugh.
A short breath at first. Then more.
"Ha… it's all real. All of it was real."
'Miri...who was she?'
Rune didn't notice, but a single tear formed and rolled down his cheek.