As the adrenaline faded, Rowan began to realise how tired the fight had truly made him. The lack of blood, which hadn't been replaced yet, also left him swaying. Staggering to a wall, he sat down against it, and tried to focus his aether on his blood.
Only his blood was constantly moving throughout his body, and it was much harder to create than to repair, he found. If he let his ability work naturally, he could feel the infused aether convert into blood, but had no idea how it actually did so.
'It's a lot harder than it seems, it'll likely take some practice until I'm really proficient with this.'
Taking the time to let his stamina recover as well, he looked over to where the egg sac was pulsating, and beyond to where Gid and his teammate were. They were both still unconscious, which was a bad sign, but Rowan hoped they would recover enough to be able to walk. Even with aether boosted strength, he doubted he could carry two people the same size as him all the way to Cork.
Rowan passed the time by staring at the spider's young, and wondered how many people had been killed by the beast. He didn't have any idea how many it could possibly be, but with the time to look around properly now, he saw countless bones spread throughout and into the floor of the room.
The majority of them were likely other beasts, but Rowan saw unmistakable human skulls amidst the collection.
'I would be joining them now, were it not for my ability. Speaking of, I should check if it says anything different now…'
---
(Fear of the Flesh – Fear of Injury) (mastered) (understanding: 20%)
Your body recovers at an abnormal rate, debilitating injuries disappearing in minutes.
You have mastered this ability, and can now direct it with your will.
---
More information now appeared to Rowan, including a second descriptor after the new 'mastered' mark.
'Understanding likely refers to how I don't know how to regenerate my blood yet. Sigh, I guess I have even more practice to go.'
Though he lamented the training, he was in fact eager to grow stronger, and appreciated how straightforward it seemed to be. With sufficient understanding, his regeneration's efficiency could reach untold heights, massively increasing its capabilities.
Satisfied with his recovery, he climbed to his feet and walked towards where the others were tied up against the wall. Carefully, he set about cutting them down. He got Gid's teammate down without issue, gently lowering her to the floor, but trying to be gentle, but ultimately failed to prevent an ungraceful landing on Gid's part.
Gid awoke at the impact, and startled to his feet woozily, swaying to keep his balance. He was obviously still under the effects of the toxin, but he still sluggishly readied himself for combat. But after seeing it was only Rowan in front of him, he slowly lowered his hands.
"Rowan? What happened? We were in that room, and then all of a sudden we were here? All I remember was a terrible pain before I woke up on the floor."
Rowan stepped to the side and gestured to where the spider lay dead.
"That thing abducted us, and took us back to its lair. My regeneration was enough to fight off its toxin, so I woke up and killed it. It was a quick fight, but a damn dangerous one."
Realising that they were in its lair, Gid quickly scanned around, before his eyes settled on the girl Rowan had propped up against the wall.
"Bea! Oh my god, is she alright?"
Gid asked the question even as he started to examine the wound on her side. Her complexion was also much worse than Gid's was, extremely pale, with beads of sweat on her forehead.
"She's likely been here for longer than us, it's impossible to say how long the toxin will be in her system. The positive is that her injury isn't bleeding, so she's at least safe in that aspect."
Gid nodded, before he quickly scanned the rest of the room. A moment of silence followed, as Rowan watched Gid struggle to process what Rowan had already realised.
"Oh."
Gid sat frozen, cradling Bea in his arms, his eyes locked on the spider and its egg. Rowan took the time to stand back against the wall, to let Gid have the moment to process what he was going through.
It didn't take long, however, as Gid shakily rose to his feet.
"I sort of knew they hadn't made it, when I woke up alone. I suppose the fact that Bea survived is good enough in the end, right?"
Rowan didn't answer, instead sharing a quick glance with Bea's unconscious body. Time would only tell if they could survive, who knew how much toxin had been pumped into her body to keep her asleep.
"We need to move. If those baby spiders start attacking us, we won't be able to crush them all."
Rowan didn't elaborate further, instead moving around the perimeter of the web room, searching for any sign of the right direction to go. Ultimately, he found nothing, and completed the lap next to Gid and Bea.
Sighing, he looked down, past the interwoven silk and bones, and wondered how high up they might be.
"We'll have to go down in order to get out, but I'm not sure how safe it's going to be. For all I know, one wrong string cut and this whole place collapses. But we have to get out anyway, so may as well risk something."
With that, Rowan began slowly cutting through the silk strands of the wall, trying to create a slope down and out that they could easily carry Bea through. It was fortunate the silk was inert, now that the spider was dead, so it wouldn't be impossible to cut through the walls and floor.
It would take a long time, however, and Rowan's stomach strongly disliked that prospect.