I Became a Veteran Who Has to Stir Up Trouble to Survive - Chapter 103

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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[103] Ancient Primordial Forest #3
Deafening roars erupted from all directions.
Primitive monsters carved the earth with each footfall, and trees snapped like twigs whenever wings swept past.
Burning moss and spider silk scattered everywhere, creating a scene as catastrophic as a volcanic eruption.
I weaved through the chaos, desperately trying to shake off the Giant Spider.
Midway through, my stamina depleted, forcing me to revert to human form.
‘Not enough… I have to push forward!’
Every time I felt the earth trembling behind me, I gritted my teeth and drove my legs harder.
The monsters’ roars tangled together from all sides, fireballs rained down, and smoke seared my lungs.
My eyes burned so badly I could barely see ahead.
Whenever my foot caught on a stone, I rolled across the ground and kept running.
As shadows of webbing cascaded overhead, I threw myself sideways with all my might.
Claws raked the earth beside me, tearing up tree roots entirely, but I had no time to look back.
Even in the chaos, the creature refused to lose me.
The Giant Spider would pause briefly when caught up in battles with other monsters, then surge forward again.
Screech—!
Sticky threads flew at me from every direction.
The moment I twisted my body, a monster erupted from beneath my feet, throwing off my balance.
I barely landed using a falling technique, but my knee struck a stone, and a terrible cry tore from my throat.
Something fell from above—whether a log or a monster’s limb, I couldn’t tell—grazing my forehead.
My head spun and blood dripped, but I pushed forward through the haze, refusing to stop.
‘I have to reach that point ahead…!’
The log window in the corner of my vision kept updating, but I’d already disabled the notifications.
A desperate flight for my life.
Yet even this precarious tightrope walk couldn’t last forever.
“Ugh…?!”
A branch, yanked taut by spider silk, flew at my legs.
Unable to react in time, I tumbled across the ground and collapsed.
Everything ached.
Bone-deep pain mingled with the taste of earth and blood in my mouth.
I tried to rise immediately, but my legs wouldn’t obey.
｢Your stamina has reached critical levels!｣
｢If you inhale more toxic gas, you may lose consciousness!｣
‘…Damn it.’
Was this the end?
Despite raising my stats by orchestrating battles between monsters, my body had already reached its limit.
Just a little further, just a bit more…
As I pushed myself up on my hands, crimson eyes bore down inches from my face.
The moment the Giant Spider drove its claws down for the killing blow, a silver arc cut through the flames.
Squelch—!
“I came to help!!”
“Radi?! How did you get here…!”
Radi had torn away the moss from the ground and draped it over her body like camouflage.
As she fired her crossbow again at the stumbling Tarantula, steel bolts pierced through the gaps between its leg joints.
The spider immediately shifted its target and charged, but Radi leaped nimbly and dissolved into the shadows through Shadow Leap.
“Now, Doran!!”
“Well done! …Haaaagh!!”
As Radi tossed me a longsword from behind, I swung it directly at the confused Tarantula.
It counterattacked immediately, but I squeezed out my remaining strength, pulled Radi into my arms, and used Shadow Leap to create distance.
The spider unleashed a barrage of webbing, but this time Radi grabbed my hand and used Shadow Leap to escape the crisis.
Consecutive leaps—only possible because we shared the same skill.
Radi wiped the crimson blood from her lips and shouted.
“That was the last time we could do that…! There really is a way to shake it off, right?!”
“Yes, just a little further!! Right there!”
I sprinted forward, pointing toward an open field ahead where an unusually massive shadow loomed.
We didn’t stop moving even as smoke and flames obscured our vision.
The moment the spider’s presence closed in—
Craaaash—!!
「A colossal Ancient Snake has crushed the Tarantula with its tail!」
「The Ancient Snake is targeting you!」
「The Charm skill is activating! Intelligent serpent monsters recognize followers of Antagon. They will not be hostile to you!」
“It fell for it!!”
Using barbarians to control barbarians.
If we couldn’t shake off the enemy with our strength alone, why not borrow the power of another monster?
Because it charged blindly in rage, I was able to turn the tables and trap it instead.
The reason I deliberately lured it here.
As the Serpent moved on to find its next target, a swarm of beetles descended upon the area.
After a massive horde of insects swept past where the spider had been, a Primitive Mantis pursued with its scythe-like limbs slashing through the air, and countless unnamed primitive monsters clashed in a chaotic battle.
After the deafening commotion subsided, Radi cautiously opened her mouth.
“…Is it… finally dead?”
“You…”
—Kieeeeeek!!!!
A black mass burst from the pit with a horrific shriek.
‘Damn… it’s still alive?!’
How incredibly tenacious.
The Tarantula lurched forward despite most of its body being crushed.
Radi grabbed my arm and pulled, shouting.
“D-Damn it! Doran, we have to go now!!”
“Wait.”
“Wait?! What if it charges at us again?!”
I adjusted my grip on the sword and watched the Giant Spider intently.
Even if I escaped this place, the threats would never cease.
The cold would continue to torment me, and Lenar, Queen of Flowers would return with her schemes.
Since my stamina had been severely depleted in this exchange, the next battle would prove even more lethal.
But what if I could kill that spider and absorb its power?
Not only would I gain formidable abilities, but my survival odds in this Primordial Forest would increase dramatically.
“…This is my only chance.”
I leaped behind the spider and drove my blade directly into its head.
Squelch—!
Once, twice. Each time I brought the sword down in reverse grip, viscous bodily fluid sprayed outward.
My skin burned where the acidic secretions touched it, but I didn’t stop.
The creature thrashed its legs wildly in counterattack.
‘Ugh…!’
Flesh tore, and warm blood streamed from multiple wounds across my body.
I gritted my teeth and endured, suppressing screams, but the creature’s strength exceeded all imagination.
It tried to shake me off its back by slamming itself against the burning Ancient Tree, yet I clenched my teeth and held firm to my blade.
“Doran! …Damn it!!”
Radi rolled across the ground and drove a steel Bolt directly into the Tarantula’s vital point.
Three of its eight eyes burst, spraying black ichor everywhere.
The spider thrashed, and the crossbow string snapped from the flying debris, but Radi didn’t hesitate—she scattered her venom across the creature’s wounds.
As Radi and I relentlessly targeted the Tarantula’s weaknesses, a bone-chilling screech tore through the Primordial Forest.
The spider resisted fiercely, but its damaged body couldn’t withstand the onslaught from all directions.
Thud—! The moment my blade pierced through its cracked exoskeleton and into the creature’s chest, the log window updated.
「You have defeated the ‘Primitive Tarantula,’ Terror of the Great Water Desert!」
「[Antagon’s Rune] is absorbing the Primitive Tarantula’s power! Once analysis is complete, you will be able to transform into that creature!」
「You and Radi have obtained the title ‘Slayer of Primordial Beasts’! Agility and Luck permanently increase by 5!」
「You have leveled up!」
「You have leveled up!」
「You have leveled up…!」
“I… I did it…!”
I clenched my fists and let out a triumphant cry.
Beyond the throbbing pain coursing through my entire body, a dizzying sense of accomplishment flooded in like a tidal wave.
Yet Radi and I had no time to savor our victory—we fled the Spider’s Nest in desperation.
Monsters drawn by the light were pouring out from all directions.
* * *
Two days after escaping the Tarantula’s Nest.
Radi and I were resting hidden in a Tunnel.
I tended to my battle wounds while working to familiarize myself with the absorbed Tarantula’s abilities.
‘As delicately as possible….’
The sensation of drawing thread from my fingertips for the first time felt utterly alien.
The thickness was inconsistent, and my failures to control the viscosity meant the strands kept clumping together.
But through trial and error, I gradually learned to handle it with some degree of competence.
After two days of immersing myself in the work, I leaped to my feet as I tied the final knot.
“…I’ve finished it!”
Ding—!
「You have completed a [Crude Spider-Silk Sweater]!」
「A winter garment woven from spider silk by your own hands! Though it’s riddled with gaps and looks shabby, it’s far better than nothing!」
「Your Dexterity has permanently increased by 1 due to your first clothing creation!」
“Here, try it on.”
I handed the finished sweater to Radi.
Though the stitching was loose in places and the shoulders had stretched out, its insulating properties were undeniable.
Radi slipped on the garment I’d made and marveled as she turned this way and that to examine it.
“Wow… it’s definitely much warmer! I can’t believe such a difference from just a single layer….”
“If my Dexterity had been a bit higher, I could have made it far better. What a shame.”
“This is more than enough! Thank you.”
Radi laughed brightly, her tail swishing with delight.
The crimson markings on her cheeks were smudged, and her hair—singed by flame and hastily trimmed with a dagger—looked disheveled, yet her natural beauty could not be concealed.
As a token of gratitude, Radi placed a piece of insect meat she’d gathered from the Spider’s Nest into my mouth, then returned her focus to maintaining our equipment.
The crossbow string that had been torn during the battle with the Primitive Tarantula had been replaced with cord I’d twisted from my own spider silk.
Moreover, my backpack was now filled with tinder and traps fashioned from the silk.
‘It was fortunate that I gained the spider’s abilities.’
Though I’d brushed against death, I’d acquired an extraordinarily useful power in return.
The synergy with Radi, who frequently handled poisons and traps, was exceptional.
My silk burned readily in flame, so if all went well, I could coordinate it with Karen’s fire magic too.
I chewed on the charred meat of some nameless monster as I rose to my feet.
“Well then… we’ve eaten our fill. Let’s move on. Just a bit further and we should be clear of the danger zone.”
“Yes…!”
「You have disguised yourself as a Primitive Tarantula!」
「A silent hunter of the Primordial Forest! An exceptionally powerful monster capable of detecting any creature approaching within dozens of meters through vibration sensing!」
I set off with Radi on my back.
Still unaccustomed to the spider form, I needed to rest periodically, but my travel speed was incomparable to before.
Through vibration sensing, I could smoothly evade obstacles, and my near-silent footfalls made it far less likely that predators would detect me.
As a result, I was able to cover considerable distance over two days without major confrontations.
As I traveled for some time, Radi cried out softly from my back.
“I can see light over there!”
I lifted my head, and warm, brilliant sunlight poured in ahead of us.
The ancient trees of the pitch-black Primordial Forest gave way to a boundary where blue sky and broad-leafed trees began.
‘At last…!’
Transformed back into human form, I ran forward with Radi at a brisk pace.
We would escape this place alive.
I escaped from the Primordial Forest, a place that had been like hell itself with each passing day.
Though I still had further to go to leave the Great Water Desert, the mere thought of liberation from this unbearable cold and hunger set my legs moving swiftly of their own accord.
It was the moment my feet crossed the boundary where the trees ended and sunlight poured down.
Radi and I were standing in the Primordial Forest.
“…What?”
There was no dizziness, no warning whatsoever.
As if enchanted by something, I simply stood in the heart of the forest.
I stared blankly at my surroundings.
It was a familiar place.
The same Primordial Forest landscape where I had battled for survival these past days.
Ancient trees blocked out the sky, and damp moss carpeted the ground beneath my feet.
The sunlight I had just seen, the boundary line, all traces of it—vanished without a trace.
“How is this possible…?”
Radi clutched my arm, her gaze wavering as she scanned the surroundings.
Had I been so desperate to escape that I hallucinated, even now?
No.
With trembling hands, Radi pointed to a corner of the forest.
There lay rotting, decomposed carnivorous plants and flower remnants scattered about.
The very traces we had left behind when we escaped from the warehouse.
And beside it…
The carriage.
The carriage we had ridden in sat there, now draped in even more vines and dust than before.
My blood ran cold.
‘…Was everything an illusion?’
No.
The nightmarish memories of being trapped in the Spider’s Nest and escaping could not be false.
The carriage, covered in fallen leaves and vegetation, clearly bore the marks of time’s passage.
Then this meant…
‘We had been walking in circles in the same place for days…?’
The space itself was twisted.
A chill ran down my spine.
Radi gripped my arm tightly and whispered urgently.
“A, a scent…”
“…What?”
“F, flowers… I smell flowers, Doran.”
Radi looked up at me with fear etched across her face.
｢The [Maze Garden] effect of Lenar, Queen of Flowers activates!｣
｢Your soul is already bound to this Primordial Forest! As long as the magic persists, no matter how many times you attempt to escape, you will return to the starting point with your companion!｣
｢The [Parasitic Seed] planted within you by the Flower Queen germinates! If you fail to remove the seed embedded in your body within a short time, your body will become extremely weakened and your stats will be stolen!｣
｢Pollen spreads through the air!｣

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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