Riven remained still for a moment, focusing on the faint sensation coming through the bond.
The feeling was subtle, but unmistakable.
Several presences.
Not just one.
His gaze shifted toward a side tunnel where the sensation seemed to originate. It wasn't part of the main path leading out of the cave, just a narrower passage branching off to the side.
Frowning slightly, Riven stepped toward it.
The further he moved in that direction, the rougher the ground became. The webs here were thicker too, clinging heavily to the walls and ceiling as if this part of the cave hadn't been disturbed in a long time.
A few steps later he stopped.
Rubble blocked the path ahead.
Chunks of stone lay scattered across the tunnel floor, forming a low pile that nearly sealed the passage completely. At first glance it looked like nothing more than part of the cave's natural collapse.
But as Riven studied it more closely, his eyes drifted upward.
Thin cracks ran across the ceiling above the pile.
"…Huh."
He crouched slightly, brushing aside a few loose stones with his hand.
The edges were sharp. Fresh.
This hadn't been here long.
Riven leaned back slightly, thinking.
When he had passed through this area with the trio, they had stayed on the main path. None of them had cared enough about the side tunnels to investigate them.
Why would they?
And without the predator spider's sense guiding him now, Riven would probably have ignored this place again too.
"…More training it is," he muttered quietly.
He grabbed one of the larger stones and dragged it aside.
The rubble wasn't packed tightly. More like a partial cave-in than a complete collapse. Piece by piece he shifted the stones away, clearing enough space to peer deeper into the passage.
Behind the rubble, darkness stretched further into the cave.
But now there was something else too.
Movement.
Riven straightened slightly as a narrow opening finally appeared between the remaining rocks.
A passage.
And judging from the faint sensation brushing against his mind—
Full of spiders.
Riven stepped forward and brushed the last of the loose debris aside.
The moment he entered, the atmosphere changed.
The air grew thicker, the webs denser. Strands clung to the walls in layered sheets, some hanging loose across the passage like curtains that had never been disturbed. Even the ground looked different here, the stone floor hidden beneath thin patches of old silk.
And it was darker.
Much darker.
The tunnels he had walked through earlier had been dim, but manageable. Since entering the cultivation world his body had strengthened in many ways, and that included his senses. His eyes could pick out shapes in the low light of the cave well enough.
But this part went beyond that.
The darkness here was heavy enough that even he struggled to see more than a few steps ahead.
Riven slowed slightly.
"…Right."
He reached into his ring and pulled out a small stone he hadn't used in quite some time.
The illumination stone.
Holding it between two fingers, he pushed a thin strand of qi into it.
The reaction was immediate.
Soft light blossomed from the stone's surface, spreading outward and pushing back the darkness surrounding him.
Riven blinked.
"…Why did I not think of this earlier?"
He slipped the stone into one of the inner pockets of his robe. The cloth dimmed the light slightly as it covered part of the stone, but it was still far better than stumbling through complete darkness.
More importantly, it left his hand free.
Now the chamber ahead slowly came into view.
The passage widened slightly before opening into a small chamber beyond the rubble. Webs coated nearly every surface here, stretching from wall to wall and hanging in loose sheets across the ceiling.
And something moved.
An ironfang spider emerged from the shadows almost immediately.
A lesser feral.
Its body was large enough to reach Riven's knee, the curved iron-dark fangs shifting slightly as its many eyes caught the sudden glow from the illumination stone.
Before it could react further—
Riven reached for the beast pouch again.
The predator spider dropped to the ground the moment he summoned it.
The small black creature didn't hesitate.
The instant its legs touched the stone it surged forward, moving with a speed that made its thin body blur against the web-covered ground.
The ironfang noticed it too late.
The predator spider darted up the wall beside it and vanished into the shadows for a fraction of a second—
Then dropped.
The ambush was nearly identical to the previous fight.
It landed on the ironfang's back and rushed straight for the head.
One of its thin legs snapped forward.
Another eye burst.
The ironfang shrieked and thrashed violently, but the smaller spider had already anchored itself again, its hooked legs sinking shallowly into the flesh around the creature's eye cluster.
Another strike followed.
Then another.
The fight was brief.
Within moments the larger spider staggered blindly before collapsing against the stone floor.
Riven watched the entire exchange this time.
"…Uh."
The predator spider climbed down from the corpse and bit into the wound it had created earlier, feeding on the dark fluid spilling from the ironfang's head.
After a moment it pulled away from the corpse.
Riven waited.
But nothing happened.
No change.
No sudden transformation.
The small black spider simply stood beside its fallen prey, its thin legs shifting lightly against the stone.
Riven exhaled quietly.
"…Why did I think that would be enough anyway?"
He stepped forward and crouched beside the fallen ironfang.
His hand moved almost automatically now. Yue Lin's dagger appeared in his grip, the blade sliding into the creature's abdomen with practiced efficiency. He searched quickly, cutting along the softer sections beneath the chitin plates.
Nothing.
"Of course," he muttered quietly.
He wiped the blade clean against the stone before storing it away again.
His eyes drifted toward the darker passage ahead.
The bond with the predator spider pulsed faintly once more.
More presences.
Not far.
Riven glanced down at the small black spider still standing beside the corpse.
"…Looks like you're not done yet."
The spider seemed to agree.
It turned immediately, its thin legs carrying it deeper into the chamber without hesitation.
Riven followed.
The tunnel stretched further than he had expected. What he had assumed was a single hidden chamber slowly revealed itself as a deeper pocket within the cave system. Webs layered across the walls and ceiling, some thick enough to obscure the stone beneath them.
And spiders were everywhere.
Not swarming, but scattered throughout the darker corners of the passage.
The predator spider moved first every time.
It never hesitated. Instead, it slipped ahead along the walls or ceiling, vanishing into the shadows before dropping onto its prey with brutal precision.
An eye pierced.
Then another.
The ironfangs rarely had time to understand what was happening before their vision vanished and the small black hunter finished the job.
One corpse after another fell to the stone floor.
Riven walked behind it, watching closely, making sure to loot every carcass.
The spider was growing more confident with every fight.
The next ironfang barely reacted before collapsing.
Another followed shortly after.
But eventually the fights became less simple.
At one bend in the tunnel, two ironfang spiders emerged at the same time.
The predator spider struck the first without hesitation, but the second immediately lunged toward it.
Riven moved.
His foot snapped forward, kicking the charging spider hard enough to send it skidding across the stone before it could reach the smaller hunter.
"Don't interfere," he said calmly.
It stopped moving.
Riven had underestimated his power.
Or overestimated the enemies resilience.
He looked at the predator spider who was done with its fight now too.
It looked back.
Then toward the already dead spider Riven had kicked.
Then back.
"Uh."
Riven started.
"My bad."
They continued on.
The encounters didn't stop.
Sometimes single spiders.
Sometimes two.
Each time the predator spider attacked first.
And each time Riven watched.
Only occasionally intervening just enough to prevent things from going wrong.
It wasn't strong enough to handle everything on its own yet.
But it was learning quickly.
With every kill its movements became more decisive.
More ruthless.
And every time the fight ended the small black spider lowered its head to feed, drinking the blood of its fallen prey while Riven waited nearby,
Afterward he would step forward to search the corpse for a beast core.
Still—
The spider didn't seem to change much.
No sudden evolution.
No transformation.
Riven simply followed it deeper into the hidden section of the cave, letting the small predator hunt again and again as the pile of dead ironfang spiders slowly grew behind them.