Free Origin ARS (Origin A.R.S. Book 2) by Scottie Futch Page B

slot, unless it could be dual-worn, was available for tagging. His quilted cloth armor was considered under-padding for his main armor, so he could add it to that slot. It saved a lot of time.
    Completely geared up and ready, Scott dumped the crap items from his inventory. They would be fine inside the sanctuary area, and he would have a lot more space for items that he gathered during the hunt.
    The sorcerer strolled toward the mine entrance, a look of dedicated resolve on his features. Unlike the last few days, Rhea was not around to bring out his goofy and playful side. Playtime was over. He did not know what had changed within him that caused him to become so gleefully destructive, but he had come to terms with it over the last two weeks.
    He had once been a soldier, but he had rarely had to fire his weapon at anyone. Despite being a trained soldier, his business had mostly been nothing more than standing around and waiting for things to happen.  Now, killing truly was his business... and if the Fayth that he had accumulated recently was any indicator, business was good.
    Chapter 5: Secrets and Strategies
    The dim light of a torch stone provided both illumination and difficulty for Scott as he silently stalked the corridors of the mine. The light afforded him the ability to see, but it also generated many shadows in the area that granted his opponents more places to hide. He considered using more than one of them, but his supply was limited.
    Unlike Rhea, he did not receive many of them in his drops. He believed that he had enough of them left to grind the monsters in the mine until the bonus ran out, but he would have to procure more of them when he went to sell his loot in town.
    He heard the change in the musical score long before he saw his next opponent. That was partially due to how the world worked, and partially due to the fact that his next opponent was lying in wait in a location high above his head. A soft hissing noise provided a clue to its actual location. Scott looked up just in time to be hit with a thick strand of sticky webbing.
    He shouted out a loud curse, “Shit!” then tore at the webbing in a desperate attempt to remove it. In this mine, spider web based attacks could only mean one thing.
     
    <<< * >>>
     
    You have been entangled with webbing!
    Your movements are slowed.
     
    <<< * >>>
     
    “Shit.” cursed the sorcerer once more. He had not been able to remove the web fast enough.
    His opponent was another one of those damned shadow weaver spiders. They were a major pain in the ass even when there were two people in the party.
    The shadow weaver skittered through the shadows on the roof of the mine. It was quite agile despite the fact that it was easily the same size as a normal man. The open area that Scott had entered had a much higher ceiling, more like a natural cave than a manmade structure. That great height would make it difficult to attack the annoying monster at range. He would have to lure it closer. Unfortunately, shadow weavers were slightly cunning. They would avoid coming within striking range of their opponents.
    The music grew louder in tone and developed into a heavy percussion style reminiscent of a beating heart. Drums beat loudly, ominously, in the background. That meant that the monster that he faced was strong enough to do serious damage if he let it. He had not heard that particular musical score until he had come to this mine, but whenever it had played he had faced a hard fight.
    Another hissing noise escaped the spider and webbing shot down once again. Scott was prepared for it this time. He leapt backwards and managed to narrowly avoid being hit by the annoying attack. It did no damage on its own, but the status effects were deadly. The spider skittered around a little more. It was planning out its next strike. Scott could feel its calculating gaze upon him. The sorcerer decided to take the fight to the creature.

The main issue that he had with these things was