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70. Not Spiders
🕑 Added 2024-06-07 14:00:06 +0000 UTCIke checked the rest of Orin’s book, but found nothing else in the vicinity of the Abyss with a description that included breaking through metal or hard objects. He sighed, tucking the book away. It was possible that there were creatures that could bite through porcelain that weren’t listed in the book, but he couldn’t set off into the forest in hopes of finding some random creature that would let him cut porcelain when he had an answer in his lap. After all, he had no idea when the city lord would come back for his army. The sooner he started tapping the puppets, the more goo he could acquire.
He sighed aloud. Turning to Loup, he shook his head. “Guess we’re hunting spiders, girl.”
She sat up. Her ears perked forward at the word hunt, and her tail wagged.
“Don’t get excited about that,” Ike muttered to himself. He shouldered his pack and set back out through the forest.
Every so often, Ike paused and scaled a tall tree, looking around from the higher vantage point for the kind of forest where spiders thrived. Dead wood cloaked in silk, trees that were little more than balls of web, or maybe lush young forest, with short trees and big clearings where bugs would gather. A spot deeper into the Abyss and off to the right caught his eye, and he headed in that direction. Whenever he lost his way, he’d simply climb back up a tree and look for it again. Loup waited patiently at the bottom while he climbed, taking the opportunity to rest.
At last, they drew up to the edge of the spider forest. Half-dead trees spread through the forest ahead of him, clad in heavy white webs. Webs blanketed the ground. They spread between trunks in blankets and stretched in thick ropes from branch to branch and tree to ground. Little palm-sized spiders skittered along the white strands, and tiny black specks too small to make out, that he knew were spiders without being able to see them clearly.
A shiver crawled over his skin, and he ran his hands over his arms. “Yuck.”
Loup charged forward and pounced on one of the palm-sized spiders, squishing it. She dashed over to the next one and pounced on it, too. Left and right, she dashed across the path, gleefully squishing spiders.
“At least someone’s enjoying it,” Ike remarked. He picked up a clean stick from before the spiderwebs started and poked the ground, checking that there was solid earth beneath the white blanket. The stick met resistance. He walked forward, swiping webs out of his way and poking the ground as he went.
Loup dashed around him, as excited as he was reluctant. Spider after spider died to her blissful jumps. The hand-sized spiders skittered up into the trees to escape the relentless wolf. Ike watched them go. Lowering his head, he nodded approvingly at Loup. “Good job, girl.”
Loup looked up at him, her tongue lolling out. She tilted her head.
Deeper into the web-cloaked forest. The webs grew so thick as to block out the sun. The further he went, the darker it became. From the brightness of a cloudy day, the webs drew thicker until it turned to twilight. Ike kept his head on a swivel. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled. The sensation of tiny little feet crawled all over his body. Although he knew it was all in his head, he couldn’t help but smack his legs every now and again. Loup drew closer to him, her ears swiveling. She no longer chased the little spiders, now on high alert.
Loup senses it, too. We’re drawing close to something. Something big.
The spiderwebs around them trembled. The trees groaned. A shadow blacked out the sun. Overhead, the tic-tic-thwack of snapping spider threads rang out. The shadow burrowed toward them, tearing through the web.
“Loup! Run!” Ike shouted.
Ike and Loup dove in opposite directions. A giant spider broke through the web and smashed down where they’d been moments ago, its sharp toe-tips piercing through the web and earth alike. The spider pulled its feet out of the earth one at a time and turned to face Ike, its multitudinous dark eyes gleaming with a filthy intelligence.
Ike tossed his pack aside, drawing his sword in the same moment. Lightning flickered over his limbs, and he dashed in, charging the spider before it could charge him.
Startled, the spider jumped into the air. Ike knelt, charging Lightning Clad, then burst up into the air after it. He struck upward, unleashing the first strike of the River-Splitting Sword. Mana rushed through his arm and through the sword. The mana flowed out with the strike, slicing through the spider’s mouthparts and one of its mandibles.
Huh? Weren’t those supposed to be super hard? Ike stared at the sliced mandibles, then looked up at the giant spider.
The spider staggered back, screeching in pain. Ichor ran from the slice on its face. One of its eyes oozed, ruptured by the blade strike. It struggled to keep its feet, woozy from the pain.
“It’s the wrong giant spider!” Ike snarled, frustrated. He charged the spider, lifting his sword high.
The spider found its footing. It roared and lifted its front claws to stab down at Ike.
Loup charged at it from behind. She threw her shoulder into its rear legs.
The spider stumbled, barely catching itself on its front claws. It stared at Ike in abject horror.
“Die, monster!” Ike shouted. He slashed horizontally, severing the spider’s front two legs.
The spider sagged forward. It barely supported its weight on the stubs of its front legs. Ichor leaked onto the ground. It snapped at Ike with its single remaining fang.
“Let me put you out of your misery.” Ike pulled his blade back. He set his feet apart, one in front of the other. Activating Lightning Dash to its full power, he raced at the spider. A second before he crashed into it, he released the third form of River-Splitting Sword, a vicious downward strike. Splitting River Stone.
The spider barely had time to jolt in surprise before his sword passed through it. It fell apart in two halves. Ichor poured over the webbing.
Ike staggered back, panting. He wiped his brow. Looking at the dead spider, he took a deep breath. “Thank goodness.”
Loup trotted over to his side. She looked up at him, tilting her head.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll clean it up. Who knows? Maybe there’s something worth selling in that thing.” Ike retrieved his pack and drew Rosamund’s head out. After that fight, his core was a little low on mana. Might as well top up before I push on.
He cut himself a hole in the spiderweb and started a fire on the dry ground, settling in to cook up the gunk for mana. As he sat there, watching the smoke discolor the web above him, he raised his brows. You know, I could just burn this whole place down. Those fangs I’m after are probably fire resistant if they’re hard enough to cut porcelain, right?
“Hey.”
Ike almost jumped out of his skin. He grabbed his sword and whirled toward the voice, ready to attack.
