148 Spiders (2/2)

\”Oh my God,\” Ty whispered. \”I hate spiders!\”

It was the sound that caught my attention. In Mudgard, there was a type of spider that had specialized organs that produced a sound similar to that of running water. So it was easy for me to deduce that we'd be facing something that looked like a tarantula. And although Luca had definitely foreshadowed this conclusion, I couldn't imagine the size of what we were up against. Not until we were face to face with them.

The first of the giant spiders did look like a tarantula with black and red hair all over its bulbous body. Only, it was the size of a Great Dane. Poison leaked out of its jaws and the eight hairy black legs were tipped in jagged claws.

\”Holy sh**!\” Luca exclaimed.

\”Language,\” I replied in an appeal to brevity over our dire situation. No such luck. We were all feeling the fear. \”Qwipps! Kill this ugly thing!\”

Qwipps launched his arrow. It struck the creature in one of its eight eyes but it didn't kill it. Instead, it just enraged the creature enough to charge us. Behind it, a swarm of giant spiders followed its lead.

\”Shoot it again!\” I yelled.

Qwipps fired another arrow just as the giant spider arrived within range of attacking Luca.

A second arrow pierced it in another one of its eyes.

\”Stop shooting the eyes! It has too many spares!\” I ordered.

\”Hit it in the mouth, Qwipps,\” Varda added.

\”Everyone's an archer now, huh?\” Qwipps complained.

Not waiting for Qwipps to finish the giant spider off, Luca slashed upward with his broadsword, slicing at least two of the creature's front legs.

A loud screech escaped its mouth and it pulled away, suddenly wary of Luca.

\”I don't think they're used to food fighting back,\” Luca guessed.

\”Only merchant smugglers used to pass this way. I doubt soldiers needed to,\” Shanks explained. \”And they're coming from down here too!\”

\”Where are they all coming out from?\” Ty asked.

Just as he'd said that the hole in the wall directly above him and Enna produced the same running water sound we could hear coming out of the spiders attacking us. Soon afterward, a giant spider peeked its bulbous head through the hole.

Enna reacted instantly. She jumped forward and thrust her katana up into the spider's head. And just as it began to screech in pain, she pulled out her katana and quickly decapitated the creature.

Black ichor fell from the severed neck down onto Ty who was right below it.

\”It's all over me!\” he screamed.

\”You're not much of a chosen one, Tiberius,\” Qwipps laughed.

Then he launched an arrow at a giant spider climbing up to us from down below.

\”Muddamit, there's more of them down there now,\” he called.

I glanced down and saw four to five spiders climbing the walls directly below us. A few more of them were on the steps below Shanks. I saw one jump up to attack him and I saw his fist flying out to smack it away.

\”Dean, look out!\” Luca yelled.

I glanced up, a giant spider had just jumped down to attack me, and there was barely enough time for me to raise my sword to block it. However, I needn't have worried about how I was going to repel and destroy this thing because something awesome happened next.

Possibly because he was afraid his friend was about to die an agonizing death—as if I'd be killed by a giant spider that was a mob monster at best—Ty's fears awakened the power hidden inside him.

It began with a biting cold that chilled the skin on my face. Then came the ice spikes I'd seen Ty us in my vision, but these were much more refined than before. Not simply a move that reeked of desperation, but a controlled show of power that really brought that whole 'chosen one' thing to the forefront of our minds.

These ice spikes scattered across the wall all around us, covering the very stone itself into a sheet of ice.

Of course, anything caught by Ty's untrained magic was either covered in ice too or worse, impaled in half a dozen ice spikes. This included the spider that had launched itself to attack me.

Perhaps a dozen spiders had been caught in his area-of-effect attack, and the rest of them who weren't caught quickly backed away in obvious fear.

\”Whoa,\” I said in awe.

\”What was that you said about him not living up to his 'chosen one' status, Qwipps?\”

Just as Varda said that, Ty lost consciousness and slipped. He fell sideways and would have fallen back to the ground dead if not for two things; the elf rope that kept him lined to us and Qwipps catching him before he could truly fall.

\”Muddamit, this kid is heavy…\” Qwipps said.