Then it started climbing, along with a half dozen of its minions that peeled out of the surroundings.
Vir watched in horror as the massive spider ripped a leg off its fallen minion, eating it as it hoisted itself up the Godhollow, its eight limbs anchoring it to the trunk as surely as if it were on the ground. It didn’t even move any slower than before.
Taking a deep breath, Vir continued lunging his way up the enormous tree. The spiders were fast, but he was much, much faster when using High Jump. He made it to the lowest bough that soared a hundred paces high with time to spare.
The question was what he should do now. The spider queen and its minions would be upon him in seconds, and while Vir was now out of their death trap, he doubted his pursuers would give up soon.
He peeked down—the minions had raced ahead of their queen and would arrive first.
Flight warred with Fight, and Fight had won.
If they think they’re the only ones who can set traps, I’ll be happy to prove them wrong, he thought, bracing himself.
The first spider poked its head onto the bough, only to receive a katar to the face. The second one blindly followed and received the same treatment. Both fell off the tree into the darkness far below.
The next pair were smarter. They climbed onto the underside of the bough and popped up on Vir’s flanks simultaneously.
Too bad for them. Such a simple tactic wasn’t nearly enough to deceive him. He kicked one off the limb and sliced the forelegs off another before sprinting to the next enemy.
Vir jumped into the air and launched his last chakri, killing the spider as it stepped onto the bough. Vir landed on the dead beast, retrieved his chakri, and skewered the spider behind it, all in one fluid move.
It turned out that killing a bunch of these things had made him quite proficient at the task.
Vir had no time to revel in his victory—the spider queen had arrived.
He would not win facing off against the beast here. The spider’s bulk restricted its movements atop the limb, yes, but Vir had no defense against its web attack. Which meant he’d have to engage the spider at close range, against those devastating limbs that allowed the heavy spider to climb up a tree. Not to mention that stinger.
No, he needed a better plan. One that put him in as little danger as possible. Vir eyed the boughs around him. None were ideal. He needed one that sat on top of another, less than twenty paces above the lower one.
Thanks to his earlier scouting efforts, he knew such locations were somewhat common. If he traveled far enough, he’d no doubt find it.
Vir nicked the queen’s forelegs with his katar, forcing it on the defensive. But the attack was just a feint. He Leaped and backpedaled away from the spider. As much as he wanted to turn and run, he’d be a sitting duck for its web attack.
The beast fired its sticky webbing, forcing Vir to throw himself aside to dodge it. He barely made it.
The queen hissed, threatening him with its forelegs before continuing the pursuit.
C’mon, c’mon!
Vir searched the nearby boughs for anything that could work. His heart throbbed in his ears, jumping to another limb with the spider queen hot on his heels.
The queen spider shared the same Life and Shadow prana pathways as its minions, which meant aiming for the base of its head was a viable strategy.
He just didn’t know if his attack would penetrate its chitin.
Which meant he had to test it to be sure.
Vir waited for the spider to launch its next web attack, which he again dodged by a hair’s breadth. Instead of running, he jumped into the air, throwing his chakri with all of his might.
The disk hit the spider’s back and bounced right off. A tiny slit of blood shone on its silver hide.
As I thought.
Not only was the queen bigger, its chitin was tougher, too.
He needed more power, and he had a way of obtaining it. He just hoped it’d be enough.
Vir took off again, spotting more minions tailing him on parallel branches. It was only a matter of time before they ambushed him.
Scanning his surroundings meant taking his eyes away from the ground in front of him, and he tripped as his foot caught on something. Looking down, he saw more white webbing on his shoes.
He could hardly believe this.
The queen was waiting for its minions to distract me! Just how smart is this thing?
And it hadn’t even attacked him! It aimed for his feet—an easier target.
The spider queen approached the helpless Vir, chittering smugly.
Vir furiously sawed at the webbing to extricate himself.
No time! He wasn’t going to make it.
In a last act of desperation, Vir Leaped, tearing the webbing with his supercharged lunge. His leg roared in protest, pulled two different ways at once. Luckily, the pressure didn’t last long. He broke free, just a split second before the spider’s venomous stinger impaled itself onto the bough where he’d just lain.
That was too close, Vir thought, wiping sweat from his eyes. Thankfully, he wouldn’t need to run anymore. He’d arrived.
Vir looked up at the bough that stretched above the one he was on. Perfect.
Readying his last chakram, Vir took a deep breath, and High Jumped. He bounded straight up, paying no attention to the bough that he was on a collision course with. His eyes were glued to the spider that had just launched its web attack.
Chakram in hand, Vir threw it at the incoming webbing. The two attacks met midair, with steel winning against the organic substance. His disk sliced through half the webbing before getting tangled in it, and together, they sank like a brick to the distant forest floor.
With barely a half second to prepare himself, Vir tucked his knees to his chest and reached out with his arms, grabbing a vine that grew on the underside of the bough he’d just collided with.
Using both hands to keep himself pinned in place, Vir hung upside down, staring at the queen below. The seconds stretched agonizingly on as the spider readjusted its aim.
He’d learned earlier that the beast couldn’t fire off its webbing attack in quick succession. If this plan was to work, he had to rely on that. Ten seconds was all he needed for High Jump to charge. But the spider also required a similar amount of time for its web attack.
Not one to leave things to chance, Vir briefly let go of the vine with his right hand, just long enough to fire his last chakri, forcing it to abort its attack to protect itself.
Five, Six, Seven…
The spider aimed again, and Vir knew he’d be too late.
Good enough, he thought. With whatever prana he’d accumulated in his legs, he cut the charge short, activating High Jump prematurely.
It wouldn’t be nearly as fast or as strong as the fully powered version, but he didn’t need it to be. This time, weight and gravity aided him.
Vir hurtled at the spider, now directly below him, his katar extended out in front.
With the speed of an arrow, his blade plunged into the spider’s chitin, eviscerating its armor. Vir’s bones rattled from the impact, but he held doggedly on as the spider juked and bucked under him.
It tottered perilously close to the edge of the bough. With the beast about to fall off in its death throes, Vir yanked on his katar blade, intending to escape…
Only to find his weapon buried within the beast. There wasn’t any time. He let go of the katar and backflipped off, right as the spider jumped.
Vir landed on the very edge of the bough. The spider found only air to support it.