Starbound: A Space Odyssey 79 The Great Hunt 1

*Puchi*

Another giant, white spider fell on the ground with an arrow pierced right in the middle of its eyes.

Around the corpse of this spider, there was another seven more, that were killed earlier by the same method, a single arrow in its weak spot.

This giant spider had more than one meter of height, they are very nimble and have a deadly poison in their fangs.

But against the silent and stealthy killer, they were unable to even flee.

John left from his hiding place that was above the spider's nest and approached the body.

"Another nest..." John retrieved the arrows from the spider's bodies and helplessly sighed.

He had been in the Ceremonial Hunting Cavern for one full day by now.

He had been traveling forward in full speed, searching for the prey that he had to hunt.

Even after one day inside the cavern, he was unable to see a single Floran hunter.

[They should be a lot deeper than where I'm currently...] He frowned as he thought until there. All the hunters were one day ahead of him, he needed to hurry up.

His journey would have been smooth if it wasn't for the uncountable White Demon Spider's nests that kept appearing to block his way forward.

These creatures had a complete section just for them in the Universal Bestiary Codex.

In the Codex they are categorized as a creature of Tier 2 of danger. But their poison was more than enough to kill a person in less than seconds if it got inside the bloodstream.

Basically the best strategy that the Codex give is to kill the creature before it got the chance to approach.

The catch was that in the Codex the White Demon Spider was written to only reach about one meter of height, and not the two meters that John was killing.

Sometimes such information errors happen, mainly because such creatures can also suffer from mutation, adapt to their environment, and thus the changes in physiology.

But from the first moment John entered in the cavern he was able to feel that this place was a lot different from any other that he ever entered before.

He wasn't able to explain how different it was, but he was able to feel it.

The place was able to bring a peace of mind for John, one that he never felt after the destruction of Earth.

The longer he stayed in the cavern he was able to feel his senses, and body strengthening.

It was a strange sensation. After every battle he could feel his body becoming stronger.

It felt like he had always been shackled and then when he got inside the cavern he was finally free from the limitations, and shackles of the world.

[That's probably why they would make their young Floran hunters enter in this place for training.] John finally came to an understanding as to why the Florans would make the Great Hunt always in this exact place.

After he finished taking and cleaning the arrows, he resumed his journey.

The deeper he went in the cavern, the darker it gets.

The place around him were almost illuminated by luminescent mushrooms in the wall and glowing ores.

John wasn't using flashlight because some creatures would be attracted by the light. And he was neither using night vision because the energy that keep it running also attract creatures.

At the first moment he entered in the Ceremonial Hunting Cavern he tried to use the night vision, but it ended up with him attracting a horde of creatures.

Later on, he tried flashlight, but the results were the same as the last one.

To speed up his process and to try to not get involved in unnecessary fights, he decided to not use those things.

He was cautiously walking in the stone pa.s.sage, but in the next moment he suddently felt a killing intent locking onto him.

*Swish*

John immediately ducked his head.

The incoming object went pa.s.s at the place John's head was. He wasn't fast enough he would have ended up with his head pierced.

John placed up his guard and swiftly retreated toward a huge rock.

After he was safe and sound behind the rock, he popped his head out and took a look at the object that almost went through his head.

When he saw what the object was, his face went to a complete change.

It was an arrow. A arrow made of wood and stone.

"Floran hunter..." John a.n.a.lysed his surroundings and then glanced back at the arrow.

He was in a huge disadvantage. The cavern was way too dark for Human, and his opponent was cautious, it knew how to hide its presence after a failed attack.

[He's waiting for another chance...] John's expression soured when he thought of the Floran's strategy. [They are really going for the kill...if I wasn't fast enough, I would have become a corpse by now.]

Seconds, then minutes pa.s.sed by, John stood unmoved in his spot with his bow in hands, ready to attack at the moment's notice.

The Floran didn't tried to carry out another stealth attack since John already knew about his existence and was ready for the possible next attack, making it way too difficult to have another chance to stealthly kill John.

John decided it was about time to leave, so he cautiously left his hiding place.

After every each step he would glance around him, searching from places the could be used for an ambush against him.

John went deeper into the cave while following the sources of light.

"Huh?" John looked forward, surprised for a moment.

Right in front of him there was a huge metal door blocking his way.

He tried to push it open, but it didn't bulged a single centimeter.

[Why would a door be here...?] John was in deep thought when he started to feel something.

He was able to feel that someone was watching him from the darkness behind him.

There was no killing intention, yet, so it wasn't that much dangerous.

He stood unmoved like he didn't felt the Floran watching him at all.

As for how John was able to feel the presence from the Floran that was clearly hidden, even he was unable to explain.

It was one of the effects that the cavern had in John's body. His senses had been greatly enchanted, enchanted enough to even rival Floran's senses.