Reincarnated as a Land Shark???

Chapter 25: The Wicked Webs

The massive wall of webbing looms above me ominously, just waiting for some unlucky creature to walk into it. I study it cautiously.

Hmm... like I thought, this definitely wasn't made by a normal-sized spider.

Thankfully for me, whatever put those webs there doesn't seem to be around. I'm safe for the time being, but I should be careful. If I get stuck in there I might not be able to get back out.

Spiderwebs are tough and sticky... I'm tempted to flick a rock into it with my tail to see it stick there but refrain. If I accidentally alert the spider that something is by its web, I'll be in trouble.

But what do I do? Should I just... leave this here?

It's the sensible thing to do; just walk away and never come back to this neck of the woods. It would certainly invite less trouble in the future I'm sure.

On the other hand, another fact about spiderwebs just so happens to be prodding me in the brain.

Spiderwebs don't lose their adhesive qualities in water.

Thinking back to my house-building endeavor of not long ago, a thought comes to mind.

If I had these webs... couldn't I construct an entire house using them to stick the rocks together?

I could, but then comes the question of how on earth I'm supposed to get the webs out of the trees without getting stuck in them.

Maybe if I had something to wrap them around...

There are plenty of trees with branches that fit the bill.

I head over to one that seems web-free and climb up its surface, surprised by how easy the climb is. I don't maul it even half as badly as I did with the last tree I climbed. Is it because my climbing skill went up from the waterfall incident?

I'm kind of surprised I'm reaping the benefits of that already, but I'll take what I can get. I break a good-sized branch off of the tree and climb back off, breaking all the twigs off of it and holding it up in my jaws.

Alright, I have a stick.

Now what?

If I had thumbs this would be a whole lot easier. Without them, I have to precariously balance on my hind legs and hold the stick in both foreclaws, sticking it straight into the web. I give it a few tugs to make sure it's good and stuck, then begin to twirl it.

It's not easy, and the trees the webbing has been stuck to sway ominously before the web tears from their limbs. Soon enough, I have a big cotton-candy roll of webs.

Mission successful!

Gained the skill Trap Removal lv 1.

I take a moment to turn and look at what I've done. There's a huge hole in the wall of webs that gapes like an open wound. I feel like whatever made that wall isn't going to be too happy about me wrecking it... but then again, it's not like it can't just remake the webs.

I try to think about what the spider is going to do when it finds this, but at the same time I can't bring myself to feel pity for a spider. I've never liked spiders in any life, so I don't feel that bad about repurposing its web for my experiment and (possibly) to build my own home if said experiment is successful.

I relocate the stick from my claws back into my mouth, careful not to let the web get stuck to my skin. I can't imagine it would be fun to have to rip it off later, and it would be especially bad if the water really doesn't work to help lower its adhesive qualities.