The numbers of spiders coming into the room was slowing down, giving Luna and Teiki the impression that most them had came into the room already. “We just have to finish off these last few groups, then we can go help the others.” Luna shouted. “Yes, but there’s still a lot of them. Will we even be able to finish them off fast enough?” Teiki said as she cut down a few of the smaller ones. Chad had been bitten a few times by the small hatchlings, and was starting to get slowed down from the poison. Luna takes a quick glance over to where Astra was fighting the Arachne. The Arachne had broken Astra’s sword with a heavy blow, and then it grab Astra leg and lifted him up. “Astra!” Luna aimed her bow at the Arachne’s claw, hoping her arrow was enough to make her let Astra go. But before she could fire, she was tackled by a spider from her blindside. The tackle had knocked her bow out of her hands and it landed a fair distance away from them.

“Get off her!” Tei cuts down the spider, and helps Luna up. “Are you alright?” “Yeah. But I dropped my bow.” Luna searched for her bow, but was forced to draw her dagger when more spiders ran towards them. Chad leaps towards one and slams it down. This attracted the attention of them all, and they all jumped towards him, biting him everywhere. Luna and Tei ran to help Chad, cutting down the spiders that had surrounded him. Once they were killed, Tei quickly grabbed a antidote and gave it to Chad, forcing it into his mouth. It can cured the poison, but he had taken too much damage, and could no longer help them fight. Tei reached for another antidote to take for herself when she felt a bite at her ankle. She looked down and saw a hatchling.

The hatching, however, was a different color than the others. It was yellow and had really long legs. Tei smashes it, and tried to get up on her feet. She tumbles down, and her legs was numbed. The numbness spread upward, and she could no longer move. It seemed the spider had a toxin that paralyzes its victim instead of a poison that slowly kills. Luna had not realised that Tei had been paralyzed because she was fighting the last few large spiders around them. She looks over to where the Arachne was, and saw that it was approaching Al who had been knocked down. “Al!” she shouted as she started running there to help, but she was bitten by a group of the yellow hatchlings. She instantly went down.

The Arachne slowly made its way towards Al, already assured of its victory over the group. Al looks over to Luna, and saw that they were getting overrun by the spiders. I really didn’t want to use this. But I can’t die here. He unsheathed his short sword. The sword glowed a faint blue light as he unsheathed it. It was a rusty sword with multiple strange markings and symbols on the blade, extending from the hilt all the way to the tip of the blade. “Rune of Ignore Pain” The symbol in the center of the blade glowed brown. “Rune of Speed” Another glowed a light green. “Rune of Power. Rune of Recovery.” Two symbols glowed. One a crimson red and another dark blue.

Al gets up on his feet, his sword in front, aimed towards the Arachne. “STILL HAVE SOME FIGHT IN YOU?” The Arachne shouted. “I WILL ENJOY FEASTING ON YOUR CORPSE WHEN I AM DONE WITH YOU!” It now charges at Al, raising both its claws and struck down on him. Al dodges to the side, and gave a deep cut to its sides. It quickly spun around a sweep its claw at Al. He jumps over the Arachne and thrusted his sword down on its back. It screeched out in pain. All the remaining spiders in the room rushed over to aid their queen.

Al jumps off the Arachne’s back, and started cutting down all the spiders that hard swarmed his location. The Arachne started swiping down wildly at Al. He avoids the attacks, while still continuing to cut down the other spiders. One of them shoots a web at his leg, and rooted him in place. The Arachne takes this chance and sweeps at him. Unable to avoid the hit, Al strikes down on its claw with all his might. He slams it down to the ground and cracks the claw. The Arachne staggers backwards, screeching out in pain. Al took this chance to cut the web, and kill that last of the spiders. All that was left was the Arachne.

Luna and Tei could only watch as Al fight due to them being paralyzed. “You two ok?” Luna slowly turn her head to see Poku had crawled to them while still covered in web. “Should I cut myself out to go help Al?” he asked. “No. This is a good chance for us to see what he is capable of. We shall continued to observe him.” Luna answered. “How is Astra? Can you see him?” “I see him, he’s alive and awake. I think he’s just waiting to see what you want to do.” “Ok, signal to him to stay down and observe Al.” Poku started sending signals to Astra, and he replied with a thumbs up. “Ok, I think he understands. Do you guys need an antidote?” “No, we our antidote doesn’t cure the paralyzation. We will have to wait for it to wear off on it’s own.” The group then continued to observe Al in his fight against the Arachne.

The Arachne screeched out loudly. “HOW DARE YOU KILL ALL OF MY CHILDREN! I WILL FEED ON YOUR CORPSE TO GIVE BIRTH TO NEW ONES! THE CORPSE OF YOUR FRIENDS WILL BE USED TO FEED MY NEW HATCHLINGS.” The Arachne started glowing red, clearly now in enrage. It charges at Al at a much greater speed than before. It swings its claws at Al, and he tries to deflect it. The blow was heavier than before, forcing Al to block the attack instead, and then knocking him back with the impact. Al quickly bounced back to his feet, and using the speed from his runeblade to try and out match it in speed, and circle around it. But the Arachne was still the faster of the two, and it blocked his path.

The Arachne strikes at Al with one of its claw, and he jumps up to avoid the attack. Anticipating this move, it strikes Al with it’s other claw, knocking him to the wall. The blow from both the Arachne and the the wall was enough to knock the wind out of him. Even though he didn’t feel the impact, his body will still take the damage. He was unable to use his left arm anymore due to dislocating it using it to block the attack. Still, he was determined to kill the monster. After thinking for a bit, he figure he might be able to make it flee now that all the other spiders are dead. If he can just injure it enough, the monster might make a run for it.

The Arachne starts to swipe wildly at Al. He dodges and attack random points on its body, hoping to find a weak spot. The human part of its body seems to be the most vulnerable, but its heavily focus on not letting me get close to it. I will try to find somewhere else for now until I can find an opening to strike it. After striking at random points, and making light wounds on the monster’s body, he notice that there was a part of flesh connecting its legs to its body. After avoiding the random thrashes from it, Al leaps up and strikes down on the fleshy part of the leg. The leg was cut off, and the Arachne cried out in pain, louder than before. Al lands on the ground, happy that he was able to injure the Arachne to this degree. But his celebration was short. From the open wound of the Arachne, sprouted another leg that shot out and pierce Al in his right shoulder.

The Arachne grabs Al by the legs, and then removed her leg out of Al. It lifts Al up to its face. “BEFORE YOU DIE. ANSWER ME THIS. WHY DID YOU COME TO MY LAIR AND ATTACK MY CHILDREN? WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO DESERVE THIS MASSACURE?!” It screeched to Al. Confused by the sudden question, Al answered. “You spiders have been attacking the nearby village and disrupting their work.” “LIES… THE VILLAGE IS UNDER MY PROTECTION.” It hollored. “YOU SEE… THEY AND I HAVE MADE A DEAL. FOR AS LONG AS THEY PROVIDE MY CHILDREN WITH COWS AND OTHER LIVESTOCKS, THEY WILL IN TURN PROTECT THEM FROM OTHER CREATURES. I EVEN GRANT THEM LONGEVITY FOR THEIR CONTINUED SERVICE.” Al was shocked to hear this. Why would they sent us to come deal with these spiders, if they were being protected by them? Then he recall the farm near the village, and that they didn’t have any livestocks in the village. If they didn’t have livestocks, what did they sacrifice? Then he suddenly remember the weird feeling he got in the village, and what they discover in the village. The womens and children.

Al now have discover the reasoning behind the absence of women and childrens in the village. The village has been sacrificing them to the Arachne for protection and longevity. But if they are doing this. Why did they send us in to destroy the nest. Could they no longer be able to provide sacrifices and decided its best to claim ignorance and get the guild to dispose of the Arachne? As Al was thinking, the Arachne suddenly throws him at the wall. He slammed hard against the wall, and the impact made him dropped his sword. Now that he was no longer under the influence of his runeblade, all the damage he had sustain when he was using it affected him simultaneously, and his recovery rate decreased.

The pain was too much for Al to endure. He tried to reach for his runeblade but it was just out of reach. He can feel his mind slowly fading into unconsciousness. “IF THE VILLAGERS REALLY DID SEND YOU TO DESTROY MY NEST, I WILL MAKE THEM SUFFER. THEY WILL DIE HORRIBLE DEATHS AS MY HATCHLINGS FEED ON THEM. BUT YOU. I WILL PERSONALLY ENJOY YOU. I WILL USE YOUR NUTRIENTS TO GIVE BIRTH TO MY NEW HATCHLINGS.” The Arachne slowly approaches Al, now assured that Al could no longer fight back. Al desperately reached for his runeblade, but its distance too far and the pain he is feeling was too much. His vision darkened as he felt fear. A sudden feeling of fear that he was familiar with, and he faded into unconsciousness.

“Well… This looks interesting.”