I circled along the edge of its web instead of backing away, my steps cutting through leaves and roots as the creature adjusted to track me, its legs stabbing down in intervals, forcing me to keep moving without pause.
I could have run.
The forest behind me was open enough, and if I had chosen to pull away instead of engaging, the spider wouldn't have caught me easily. But I didn't take that option. Instead, I kept moving around it in a wide circle, adjusting my steps with each strike of its legs, letting it track me while I stayed just out of reach.
My eyes kept flicking toward the web.
There was movement inside it. The captured creatures were struggling weakly against the bindings, their bodies twitching just enough to show they weren't fully dead yet. Whatever this thing was doing, it wasn't killing them immediately. It was holding them alive.
That changed things. If I dealt with the spider first, everything caught in that web would be free to finish off.
