Chapter 6: Futile strugle

"Keep calm, Ben; useless wasting of strength won't free you. You need to think with your brain," Ben thought to himself, calming his breath as he assessed his situation.

His legs were tied down by the web, even though he could move his legs with enough strength, but he had no ground to use his strength on. The best option to free himself was to use his wings, but even one of his wings was stuck to the green fluid.

Even though the web on his wing was thin and very weak compared to the webs on his legs, because his wings were too fragile, he couldn't risk using his strength and damaging his wings, which were the only source of his freedom.

As Ben continued to struggle, he heard a faint, rustling sound in the distance. His compound eyes widened in fear as he realized what the source of this faint, rustling sound was.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Ben muttered, his tiny voice trembling with panic. "I didn't sign up for this when I was born into a mutant mosquito!"

He desperately glanced around, searching for any possible means of escape. His agile mind raced, trying to come up with a plan to outsmart the impending arachnid threat.

"Think, Ben, think!" he urged himself. Realizing that his long fangs were the only sharp parts of his body, Ben took a deep breath and maneuvered his body to use his fangs to tear the web entangling his wings.

The strategy seemed to be working well, as Ben was somehow able to cut the microfibers of the green thread one by one, each time rubbing his fangs against the web. But while Ben was still cutting through the thread halfway, he noticed a huge shadow forming on his body.

He didn't need to turn back to see where the shadow was coming from; his heart raced, and he used all his strength to rub his fang against the web. Even with his strong fang, he was feeling stiff pain while trying to cut against the web.

"System, what is the range of mosquito buzz skills? And will it work on the spider?" Ben asked inside his mind while his body was still performing the repeated action of grinding against the web.

Currently, with your abilities, you can cast a mosquito buzz up to 0.5 meters in range. But since the spider is much stronger than you, this skill will only affect it for 5 seconds.

Ben's mind raced as he considered his options. With each passing second, the sound of the approaching spider grew louder, filling him with a sense of urgency. He knew he had to act quickly if he wanted to escape.

With a burst of force, Ben cut through the green web sticking to his wings, finally freeing his upper body. Ben now looked at the menacing spider before him. The haunting black insect with six legs slowly approached Ben. Its 12 eyes were fixed on him, the green dots on its body matched the green color of the web, and it stood approximately three times the size of Ben.

Ben gritted his teeth, feignedly looking at the approaching spider before him. Green goey liquid was salivating from the spider's mouth, but Ben was unfazed. He grinned as he said, "Sorry, Ms. Black Widow, but you are sleeping hungry tonight."

-Mosquito Buzz-

Ben chanted as soon as the spider entered 0.5 meters of range, and like a subconscious action, his body and wings started to make a rhythmic motion, producing a specific frequency of sound. The sound reverberated through the air, piercing and irritating any creature within earshot.

The waves of buzz were so intense that they could be seen in the air. As the wave of buzz hit the spider, it stopped midway, as if it had frozen in place. The twelve eyes on its forehead were stunned, opening wide in a daze.

[Coodown: 10 sec.]

Without wasting a single second, Ben used all his strength to fly free of the spider web. With a burst of impulse, Ben was able to free his three legs with his first attempt. Thankfully, the green spider web was not as strong as he imagined.

Ben used all his strength again to free himself, but the other webs were strongly stuck to his body, which was taking more time to remove. While still flying, Ben used his fangs to rub against the web while continuing to pull up his body with all his force.

Unknown to him, the spider had already broken through the daze, annoyed and confused, and started moving towards Ben. There were still five seconds left before the skill cooldown was over. Ben used all his focus on freeing his legs without worrying about the spider.

The spider easily walks on the web, closing towards Ben. With a second, the r drew closer. Ben'st raced and used, not caring about any pain or exhaustion. He threw his fangs again against the web stuck on his legs.

[Cooldown: 3sec]

Desperately, Ben freed his two legs from the web. He screamed internally. Each millisecond was feeling like a year to him, and the spider kept moving towards him, one step at a time.

[Cooldown: 1sec]

"This might just work!" Ben thought, his tiny mosquito heart pounding with adrenaline. He raised his head, and his gaze directly matched the spider's eyes, barely a centimeter away. The spider had its mouth wide open; it could attack Ben at any second now.

But Ben looked at it unfazed, as if his eyes were challenging the sipper to try it. Ben didn't know this feeling or where it was coming from, but he knew one thing. He needs to live, and he will.

[Cooldown: 0sec]

[Mosquito buzz is ready to be used again.]

Ben didn't even wait a millisecond; he activated the mosquito buzz skill as soon as the countdown turned to 0, letting his body free-fall to avoid the sharp fangs. Ben unleashed a deafening wave of sound, and the spider froze in its place with his clawlike mouth open.

Ben seized this opportunity, and with all his strength, he buzzed his wings, causing an impulse enough to break the rest of the spider webs and send him half a meter up in the air. Ben didn't believe what had just happened.

He looked back to see the spider still frozen in place. stunned by the mosquito buzz, Ben had managed to escape this trap in a very short time. His heart was pounding loudly, and his blood was flowing so fast that even his lungs were trembling to breathe. Each part of his body was stinging with pain.

As Ben soared through the air, he glanced back, relieved to see that he had managed to evade the mutant spider's clutches. He let out a sigh of relief, grateful that his active skills had come in handy.

"Now that was a close call," Ben said, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and exhilaration. "Note to self: never sleep in the wild."