Free and Unfettered 124 Mephisto's Long Suffering Day

Mephisto looked at the village with new eyes. Though she did not understand the human's speech previously, her Master had imparted her with the knowledge, so she was now able to listen and report back.

Though she would usually have left this part of the job up to her minions, this time, Master had requested that she go, so here she was in the Hopcaper tribe.

Feeling the vibrations in the ground, Mephisto was able to pinpoint the exact location of every person in this tribe. The Toxic Spider waited near the exit of the tribe, where her Master was convinced that the traitor would pass through.

Her Master used the word 'traitor', and it was impressed on Mephisto how grave of a situation this was. To the spider, she felt like such a notion was nigh impossible, but then again, these two-leggers were not under her command. The thought that one of those under her might ever be a 'traitor' was inconceivable, since they operated on a hive mind.

Mephisto waited patiently in her smallest form, because she was an apex predator who knew how the hunt went. One did not catch prey by being impatient. A predator lay in wait for its prey, stalking them without notice. Only when the prey was at its weakest and most vulnerable would they strike, landing a deadly blow.

Even in death, they would not know how they died.

The sun shone down on her body, and though she was in her smallest, most unnoticeable form, she felt great basking in the sunlight. She had not been able to do much of this lately because of those smelly walking two-leggers, but since Master was posting her here, she would take the chance to enjoy it whilst it lasted.

All too soon, the sun's rays grew dimmer and dimmer, leaving her with a cold body. Mephisto couldn't help but sigh regretfully as she stretched out her eight legs. It would soon be time for the smelly two-leggers to appear. She did not like them at all.

Not only did they smell terrible, they stank of death and other unnamed activities. They made ugly, piercing sounds that made her feel like she was having a bad headache. Not only that, they didn't want to stay down when they should have already received a fatal strike, which enraged her more than it should have. It was just so unnatural! Had it been up to her, she would avoid them at all costs, but for her Master, she would go anywhere.

Mephisto would be very glad when Master finally took care of all the remaining smelly two-leggers, leaving only Master's nice scent around for her to enjoy.

She also wanted to visit that big yellow-haired two-legger who liked to play with her. She heard her Master call him something like… Jasper? He always jumped so high, and liked to cover his face, like playing hide-and-seek. Not only that, he also liked to try and make his body smaller to match her. Wasn't that so considerate of him? He made sounds that appealed to her baser instincts as a predator. All in all, she liked him very much.

As a few stray dead two-leggers came near the walls of the tribe, Mephisto looked at them somewhat sympathetically. Though she did not like them, they were still lost from their herd. Why else would they come here on their lonesome without many others?

Mephisto watched all of this happen without any movements on her part, before she suddenly felt the vibrations of someone coming here hurriedly. Instantly, all of her eyes faced the direction where the running two-legger was coming from.

Swiftly, the Toxic Spider moved to intercept the runner. Master was right, as she always was!

As the two-legger quickly jumped onto the wall and jumped off, Mephisto attached herself to black pants, climbing up to rest on the two-legger's shoulder, firmly latching herself there so that no movements could cause her to fly off. It was of no trouble, mainly because of all the practice she got whilst staying on Master.

Master's movements during her spar was always quick, vigorous and almost abrupt, but Mephisto liked it. Her Master was different from everyone else. Master was the best.

Mephisto watched curiously as the two-legger she was attached to avoided the other smelly two-leggers, or rather, the smelly two-leggers avoided him. Wasn't that strange? Why did she not have this ability so that the smelly two-leggers would avoid her?

Mephisto was strangely offended by this notion. She was definitely stronger than this two-legger traitor, so why did they not avoid her instead? Did those dead two-leggers not think that she was a bigger threat? How could they?

The traitorous two-legger moved erratically, and had she not known where the bait had been planted for this two-legger, she would have wondered what in the world he was doing.

Patiently, Mephisto waited for this two-legger to slowly discover and follow the trail that had been left out for him. She felt a bit of sympathy for him, since it didn't seem like he was all that bright in the brain department. Surely, he could see that everything was leading him in a particular direction?

Why was he checking all of the leads placed out for him one by one? Mephisto just couldn't understand. Why was the two-legger wasting time when it was already in the middle of the night?

Frustrated but still calm, Mephisto waited for this dumb two-legger to receive a brain or perhaps a sign from the heavens. When he finally, *finally* moved towards the direction her Master was in, Mephisto held back the urge to pat the dumb two-legger on the back. She almost thought that they would not get there before the sun rose.

They were close – so close that Mephisto could almost taste her Master when the dumb two-legger suddenly veered course.

Mephisto, "???"

Mephisto clutched her head with her front two legs, showing a surprisingly human reaction. What in the world did this two-legger think he was doing?!

The two-legger proceeded to make various turns around before finally arriving at the desolate-looking village. Mephisto had never felt so relieved to see it. She almost felt like her IQ was dropping the longer she stayed on this two-legger. How could anyone be so… so stupid?

Elated, she waited for the traitorous two-legger to proceed to Master's dwelling, only for him to open the first door he saw. Then, he opened the next door. And the next. And the next.

Mephisto, "…"

This was going to take a while.

Mephisto sighed inwardly, despairing. Had she not been given explicit orders to avoid startling this traitorous two-legger, she would already have killed him.

Being a spider was hard. Mephisto sighed again, looking longingly in the direction where her Master lay.

Chapter end