In hindsight, I really should have gone with a spell shard for this. I’d even been told in advance that it would run away if I hurt it without killing it. Still, I doubted that eye would ever be the same again. From what Shildris had told me, the Lord of the Lake was an ambush predator that dragged those who got too close into the water before eating them. At first I’d thought it sounded like a giant crocodile, but as she’d continued her description, it had sounded more frog-like. Apparently it had a long tongue, so even if you weren’t very close to the shore, it could still get you. Maybe that’s why I didn’t care about “playing fair” against it.
“No use crying about it now,” I sighed.
“Aw, now it’ll be even harder to kill it.”
“Oh?”
“It’ll be more cautious of you now,” Shildris explained. “Anytime someone hurts it, it avoids that person deliberately. That’s one of the reasons it’s been around so long. My father once gave it a nasty scar on its belly when he was younger, but every time he came back to try and finish it off, it wouldn’t go anywhere near him.”
Yeah, I really should’ve used a spell shard. Even a weak one might have finished it off with my stats. “So if we want to kill it, we’ll have to find a way to lure it out.”
“Yeah, it’s gonna be a pain,” Shildris sighed.
“Let’s look around.”
That’s exactly what we did. We walked around the shore of the lake, which, as you may recall, was absolutely gigantic. We walked for hours, keeping an eye out for signs of the Lake Lord. As you might imagine, we didn’t see it at all, but we did run into a few other monsters, which Shildris happily slaughtered. She was eager to get experience for her new familiar, so I let her handle everything. We even saw some arch-goblins.
“Are those goblins?” I asked as Shildris sliced them to gory bits.
“No, arch-goblins. Regular goblins are too weak to survive in this forest, but occasionally a group of arch-goblins will travel here from another forest. They take on enemies in the Grimwood in the hopes of eventually becoming a goblin king, or another upper-class monster. This group had five, which is about average. Smaller groups don’t survive long here.”
The group of arch-goblins in question were dead before she even started explaining. Shildris made short work of them, even though she was outnumbered. Unfortunately for them, the difference in strength was just too great. Her familiar mostly just supported her, biting at her enemies’ ankles to distract them. They made a great team.
As Shildris searched the bodies for spoils, I noticed the biggest spider was nearby. It was easy to tell because none of the others were more than half that size. I walked closer to it, to see if it would try to ambush me. Of course, it wouldn’t really be an ambush if I was expecting it, so I guess I was just baiting it into attacking me.
Regardless of my expectations, I really couldn’t have predicted what happened next. As I got close, the nearly mountain-sized spider started trembling.
“M-Mercy! Please! I wish for no quarrel!” it begged in a booming feminine voice.
It spoke to me in the ancient language I’d learned from Redimir. Starting a conversation was the last thing I thought it would do. Good thing I didn’t shoot first and ask questions later like I had with the Lord. It even almost sounded cute.
“Peace upon you, then,” I said. “Am I indeed speaking with the huge spiderlike creature, or are you perhaps something else hidden nearby?”
“Y-You’re absolutely right, I’m the mountain spider in front of you. I mean no harm to you or yours. My kind only eat the fish in yonder lake. We are the mortal enemies of the beast you wounded earlier. To think you crushed his eye with nothing but a simple rock. I’ve never seen such might. I tremble in awe of your power.”
Yup, it was trembling all right. With how big it was, I supposed I was lucky it didn’t soil itself.
“You say you eat fish. Does that mean you swim, or do you obtain them another way?” The beginnings of a plan were taking shape in my mind, and I was really interested in what sort of support these creatures might be able to provide.
“We do not swim, but we produce a unique type of silk that we use to catch them,” the spider replied. “We weave a large net from threads made from our silk, and cast it into the water. When it fills with fish, we haul it to the surface. Our bodies are built to stay hidden as we enjoy our meals.”
If the Lord of the Lake was steering clear of me, maybe we could trap it and force it to the surface. Couldn’t hurt to ask.
“Hey, do you think you could catch the Lake Lord with one of your nets?” I asked.
“Even if I could, he’s far too powerful for me to reel in,” said the spider. “I’d be forced to let go in order to avoid being dragged under.”
“What if you had help?”
“You mean, if others pulled the net along with me?”
“Yes. Would your net be strong enough to catch the Lord if you had enough power to pull it in?”
“If he were pulled in quickly enough, then yes. If given time, I’m certain he could thrash his way free.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” I decided. “You create the strongest net you can, one that can hold the Lake Lord long enough for me and my people to help haul him up. Once we’ve got him on land, I’ll take him out before he can retreat again.”
“Very well,” the spider said. “I’ll begin at once.”
I looked over at Shildris—since she didn’t know the language the spider and I were speaking, I needed to fill her in. When I turned my head, though, I noticed she was trembling too.
“L-Lilac! I-I-I-It’s, it really is a huge spider!”
“I told you—”
“Please forgive me for doubting you!” Shildris cried with a deep bow.
After that, I was able to explain the situation. Shildris became a lot braver when she realized the spider was more afraid of me than she was of it.
“So,” I proclaimed proudly, “once the net gets done, we’re going fishing.”