Giant Spider

The Spider Nest lay inside a natural cave in the valley. The withered vines hanging over its entrance were coated in thick, sticky gray dust-which was actually a web formed from countless tangled strands of spider silk.

The adventurers had cleared away every dead branch and shrub outside the cave and built fires all around, creating an open space for fighting the Giant Spiders. Sharpened wooden stakes lined both sides of the entrance to keep the beasts from escaping in other directions.

With a few more hours, the adventurers could have made their position twice as secure, but the Mage did not want to waste any more time.

Renato and six other adventurers spread out across the clearing, each with several sharpened wooden sticks planted at his feet. They would do most of the spider-killing, while the three men carrying polearms guarded either side of the entrance to stop any spiders that got past the barricade.

The crossbows were cocked. Renato raised his shield and held a javelin ready in his right hand, and the Mage behind them began casting.

The Mage produced a metal box out of thin air and set it on the ground, making Renato even more certain that he possessed some kind of spatial item.

Next, the Mage took a handful of clay from his pocket and scattered it over the metal box, forming signs with his left hand as he chanted an incantation.

In an instant, the metal box rose into the air and expanded, finally transforming into a clay statue even taller than Big Guy.

Hearing the thunderous impact as it landed, none of the adventurers wanted to find out just how heavy the golem was. They scattered, giving it room without being asked.

Heavy footsteps passed beside Renato. Looking at the golem before him, he could not help imagining himself facing it.

What would I do against an enemy like this? It isn't fast, but my sword and javelins probably wouldn't do much to it. Unless I had a polearm like Marcus's military billhook, all I could do would be to run and hold out until the spell wore off...

While Renato was thinking, the Clay Golem had already charged into the cave, making the entire ground seem to tremble for a moment.

A series of sickening crashes rang out, but Renato no longer had time to think about the Clay Golem. Like cold water poured into hot oil, Giant Spiders erupted from the cave in a surging tide, charging furiously at every living creature!

At the entrance, spears and billhooks slammed into the Giant Spiders' bodies, shattering their hard chitinous shells and spilling pools of revolting green innards.

A Giant Spider rushed up to Renato and reared its calf-sized body, displaying a pair of thick forelegs. Its fangs opened and closed frantically, grinding together amid green venom with a chilling click-click.

Renato had already hurled all five of his javelins into this Giant Spider, but they did not seem to have done much damage. The enormous creepy-crawly in front of him even had the energy to threaten him.

"Looks like it's back to my old trade after all." Renato drew his longsword, stepped forward, and attacked.

His sword swept sideways, its edge striking the spider's front leg. The blow should have severed the limb, but instead it rang out like metal striking metal.

Renato was stunned, but muscle memory took over the fight. He instinctively ducked, narrowly avoiding the Giant Spider's grasping forelegs, then sidestepped and circled behind it.

Its soft rear abdomen lacked the hardness of its forelegs. His longsword easily pierced the shell and churned everything inside to mush.

Green chunks and white fluid spilled everywhere as the Giant Spider writhed wildly on the ground, struggling in vain.

Without looking back at the half-dead Giant Spider behind him, Renato faced another opponent.

A badly wounded Giant Spider suddenly lunged at Renato. In the firelight, he could even see a metallic gleam on its two sharp forelegs.

With nowhere to retreat, Renato raised his shield. The two forelegs pierced straight through the oak like javelins, catching him off guard once again.

Fortunately, the spider's forelegs missed his arm. Renato immediately dropped the ruined shield, gripped his sword in both hands, and brought it down hard on the spider's head with the full force of his body!

Its eight red compound eyes shattered along with its skull, and the enormous creepy-crawly became a twitching corpse.

That shell would've been worth a fair bit. What a waste, he thought.

"Quick! Give a brother a hand!"

Beside a Giant Spider's corpse, Little Finger was wrapped from head to toe in white, sticky webs. He tried to cut himself free with his shortsword, but not only did he fail to sever the silk, he became tangled ever more tightly.

The Giant Spider beside Bagg apparently decided that the web-bound little man would be easier prey than the big man wielding a huge axe in front of it. It turned and charged at Joe.

Amid Little Finger's trembling screams, Renato snatched a sharpened wooden stick from the ground. The Giant Spider was slow enough to give him time to aim. After judging how far ahead to lead his target, he hurled it at the creepy-crawly in front of Joe.

The crooked shaft could carry little force, and its wooden point was useless against the hard chitinous shell, leaving only a faint white mark.

But the attack from an unknown direction confused the dim-witted Giant Spider for a moment. It lashed out wildly at the air around it, and Bagg caught up and smashed its rear with his axe.

As Bagg pulled the spider silk off Joe, he said in his deep, booming voice:

"Little Finger, you screamed like a woman just now. Now you're shaking like one, too."

"Fuck you! I nearly died! It's all your fucking fault, Big Guy! You're the one who let that spider through!"

Hearing Joe's shaky voice, Renato strongly suspected that he had wet himself in terror and the spider silk was simply hiding it.

The battle outside the cave was over in moments. The creepy-crawlies that had been swaggering about just minutes earlier had all fallen, and foul-smelling spider blood and innards covered the clearing.

But the adventurers had not escaped without casualties. Contrary to what they had expected, the first to fall was not one of those fighting the Giant Spiders head-on in the clearing, but an adventurer guarding the cave entrance.

The adventurers had underestimated the Giant Spiders' climbing ability and overestimated the protection offered by their sharpened wooden stakes.

A spider had leaped down from the stakes, its forelegs piercing the flimsy leather and tearing through a young man's chest.

He's beyond saving, Renato concluded.

They moved the young man onto a reasonably flat rock. His chest heaved violently, and blood surged out in streams, staining the earth beneath him red.

Renato did not remember his name and had barely spoken to him. Only Marcus crouched beside him, holding his blood-covered hand and leaning close to hear his last words.

The young man's lips moved, but he could not form a single clear syllable. Whatever he murmured in his final moments was impossible to make out. Soon, he lost consciousness, his limbs twitching. Marcus held his hand tighter and whispered a prayer to some god.

He died, lying quietly on the ground, forever remaining in the Phantom Forest.

There was no funeral, no headstone, not even a grave. They divided the dead man's possessions among themselves: a few dozen copper coins, an old spear, and a battered suit of leather armor.

Renato took a dagger because his own was far too dull. Its edge was chipped in several places, and it could not even cut bread.

Just like wolves. Looking at the young man stripped bare, Renato could not help thinking of the wolf pack on the Misty Path.

To survive, they could not waste a single scrap. Even a companion's corpse had to be devoured whole.