“This is unwise,” Luneira muttered.

  “Probably,” Joel agreed. “But I need to know. If this isn’t handled, we need to figure out our next move.”

  Everyone nodded and Joel led the way over to the fence. It was one of those short, chain-link ones, and he stepped over with a small hop. Jess was a moment behind him, while Amanda, being much smaller, gratefully accepted a hand. Luneira and Jenny were over before he could offer to help them as well, while Timothy helped Marlene cross over to the grassy side on their own.

  Dale, seeing them move, had brought his people over and they were climbing the fence on the other side as well. Both groups then slowly made their way over the grass. It was crisscrossed with burn marks. Where the web was thickest, it still smoldered and there was a strange smell in the air. Not quite burning plastic, and almost like burning hair. Joel grimaced and hoped it wasn’t the spider making that smell. It was going to get so much worse if it was.

  They crossed the oval, carefully checking their feet in the tall grass. When Joel stepped on a piece of as yet solid web, it didn’t stick to his boot. Which was a relief. If it remained sticky, that would be a problem.

  “Oh, fuck,” someone muttered.

  Joel turned and saw a younger man pointing at something in the grass. A woman beside him covered her mouth and turned away. Joel walked over and saw what they were looking at. It was the sunken, desiccated face of a person bound in silk. The outfit they wore, and the leash still clutched in their hand, was that of an older man. Probably the one that went missing from the old folks’ home.

  “There’s another one,” someone pointed off to one side.

  “Keep an eye out,” Joel said warily.

  “They must have been considered part of the web or something,” Jess murmured. “Dying during the day and becoming an ornament that stuck around to be in Morpheus later.”

  Joel nodded. “Not cool Morpheus.”

  There was no response.

  Joel kept his eyes locked on the eaer. It was larger up close. The size of a small box-truck. With its legs partially curled beneath it, the thing looked horrifying, more so the closer they got. The small hairs on its body smoked and gave it a spiky appearance where they’d burned down.

  “Okay, everyone,” Joel called for a halt. “Let me try something.”

  He cleared his throat, though, ready to try his new skill. And unlike the others, where he had to announce them, he felt an urge for something else.

  “Oi, crusty arse land-octopus without the fucking intelligence! Wake the fuck up!”

  There were a few snickers around him, but that ended when the ground rumbled. Joel froze in shock, as a massive hatch opened in the grass beneath the eaer.

  “IT MOLTED!” Joel roared as a pair of long legs slammed into the ground before them.

  The empty spider molt pitched to one side, tumbling to the ground as what was now an enormous trapdoor spider tore itself free. Two massive fangs flexed and droplets of venom sprayed around as the eaer desperately tried to claw itself out of the hole.

  “SOMEONE HIT THE FUCKING THING!” Joel roared as the eaer pulled its abdomen free.

  “BLOCK!”

  The spider lunged, and one of the fangs slammed into his shield. The other came over the top, and only by sheer luck did it miss stabbing down into Joel’s arm. There was a cry, and Joel felt the eaer recoil as someone struck it. He caught a glimpse of movement going over the top, and Joel could only assume that was Jenny.

  The eaer pulled back, rearing up, as its fangs flexed. A heavy mass glommed onto Joel from behind, pulling him away, before a burning arrow slammed into the eaer’s underbelly. To Joel’s disgust, it actually made a noise. It let out a high-pitched whistling scream as it staggered around, trying to escape the small burst of flames. That was enough for Jenny, who leaped away. But not enough for the poor soul with the wood axe who was swinging for its leg.

  The man was roughly batted aside by the same flailing limb he was about to chop. The others had pulled back, while someone darted off to collect the injured man. Joel hoped he was alive, but the way his body tumbled through the grass, he wasn’t sure. Only Marlene would be able to do anything for him, and she, along with Timothy, were running over to help.

  “SUMMON!” Jess yelled.

  Buster’s snarling form rushed out and yipped hellishly at the flailing eaer. Which finally brought its attention to the game. The eaer slammed its forelimbs on the ground as Buster darted beneath it. Rushing for a back leg, Buster clamped his jaws on a limb at random and was spun around by the sudden spot. Which must have hurt the eaer as it let out another whistling scream as it kicked the leg, ripping it free of Buster’s mouth.

  “Hey! Eight-limbs of fucking useless!” Joel yelled.

  The eaer spun right around and tore straight for him. Joel almost fell back as the fangs whipped down towards him once more. Only this time, he rushed to meet it. Following the same pattern as Buster, Joel darted under the strike, narrowly avoiding having his head knocked on the underside of the eaer as its fangs struck the ground. Which anchored it in place as he wound back his sword.

  He picked the same one that Buster had chewed, leaving a trail of score marks from his pointed teeth. With a roar, Joel swung with all his might. The sword came around in a wide arc and slammed into the lower joint of the leg. There was a horrible crunch sound, almost like striking styrofoam, before the sword ripped out the other side. The eaer screamed as it spun, but Joel was ready for it.

  “BASH!”

  As those fangs flew around, he swung his shield, smacking into its face. The spider recoiled like he’d punched it in the nose, and Jenny appeared above it, slamming her blades into the top of the eaer’s head, near its eyes. The horrible creature reared up as Luneira once again grabbed hold of Joel and pulled him back. Right in time for Jess to take another shot. The burning arrow struck it in the joint of the abdomen and it slammed to the ground once more.

  “AHHHH!”

  Joel grimaced as he saw her. The woman from earlier. The eaer’s leg pierced right through her torso. It had gone in under her ribs, punching through her stomach and out her back. Joel watched her horrified grimace twist to shock, until she went limp, still stuck on the limb.

  “Tina!” someone roared.

  The eaer, while injured, was still very much alive and angry. It ripped its limb around, throwing the dead woman across the field where her body tumbled to a stop further out in the grass. A man who must have known her ran in.

  “CHARGE!” Joel screamed.

  To Joel, his speed increased, and he dropped his shoulder. He slammed into one of the eaer’s legs. It buckled, and the monster staggered back slightly, but the strike was underwhelming and poorly aimed. Which made him an easy target for those fangs as it bit down and tossed him aside.

  The horrible screaming cut off as he slammed into the ground, but Joel could still hear him gurgling as Timothy escorted Marlene around the battlefield.

  That was one definite dead. Two more likely. Joel looked around, spotting Buster lunging for another back leg. They had hurt the thing. But their attacks hadn’t been as effective as he’d hoped. Getting under the thing had worked, but for a single painful wound, it had taken three of them and it was still moving around just as easily as when they started.

  “RETREAT!” Joel ordered. “Get the wounded and run!”

  “Fuck!” Jess snapped. “Come on!”

  Joel watched the others and saw the way the eaer regarded them. Like a lion choosing its prey while the herd ran by.

  “Sorry Jess,” Joel shuddered. “OI! Seven legged fuck-stick!”

  Chapter Ten

  “You listening to me, you gimpy legged fuck!” Joel roared.

  The eaer was, in fact, listening. Joel had just enough time to duck behind his shield as a massive forelimb slammed into his shield. Unfortunately for him, he was too late to use his block ability. The impact knocked him to the side, where he landed on his stomach. The eaer didn’t waste a moment.

  It rushed over on seven legs, with Buster still clinging to one at the rear. The eaer picked itself up, flexing those fangs as Joel rolled onto his back. And right as those fangs descended, Joel pulled his shield up.

  “BLOCK!”

  The same thing happened as the first time he’d blocked this strike. One massive fang slammed into the shield. The second slipped over the limb, but with a forward trajectory this time. Joel jerked his head to one side as the fang pierced the grass beside his face. Amanda appeared above him. She let out an angry shriek as she slammed a dagger into one of the eaer’s eyes.

  The eaer shrieked in pain as it pulled itself away. Amanda lost grip on her knife, but she didn’t seem all that worried by it as she leaned down over Joel.

  “Up,” she snapped. “Get the fuck up!”

  “Right.” Joel nodded as he rolled to his knees.

  A flash of orange whistled overhead as Jess took another shot. The flaming arrow slammed into the abdomen of the eaer, spreading another burst of flames.

  “You were supposed to run,” Joel snarled at Amanda.

  She shrugged. “We did. Till we realized you weren’t.”

  “I was buying you time⁠—”

  “You were going to kill yourself, dumbass,” Amanda said with a glare, before looking down. “Please don’t make me watch the guy I had my first time with die.”

  Joel looked around. The group he was with had mostly dispersed. Though they hadn’t gone far. Marlene and Timothy were hanging back with the few wounded they could get. Dale had a group huddled down on the road while Jess stood with Luneira and Jenny.

  “We’ve hurt this thing,” Amanda insisted. “And if it’s freshly molted, that means it’s soft right now.”

  “Shit.” Joel grimaced. “If we leave, it’s only going to come back even tougher.”

  “Exactly,” Amanda agreed. “So, how do we kill this thing?”

  Joel turned his attention to the giant spider. It was using its forelimbs to grate at its face, where Amanda had left her knife. Buster was prowling around behind it, having released the eaer’s leg at some point. And Jess was holding back her next shot, since she wasn’t sure of the plan and couldn’t hear Joel and Amanda talking.

  “I’m going to keep it distracted,” Joel announced. “Tell Jess to try different elements and see what hurts it most. You and Jenny are to pick any weak spots you can find. And Luneira. I need her to hobble the thing.”

  “Okay,” Amanda said with a small nod. “Please don’t die? Please?”

  “I’ll do my best,” Joel said with a smirk and turned to the eaer as it scratched at the embedded knife like a deep splinter.

  “Oi! Seven legged fuck-stick! Wanna go for six?!” Joel called as he brought his shield up into position.

  The eaer let out a hiss and darted towards him. Joel watched it come and timed the strike. This time, he expected the massive limb that swatted around from the side. Rather than block, he rolled forward. The eaer reared up, trying to keep its soft underbelly away from him. Which only gave Joel more room to swing as he hacked into another leg on the left side.

  The eaer let out a shriek as it pitched to one side. And then shrieked again as an arrow made of electricity crashed into its belly. The blue sparks rocked around the fine hairs covering the spider. It didn’t seem to injure the thing very much, but it froze for a moment, giving Joel the chance to pull away and to the side. That brought him out of Jess’s firing line and gave him a look at Luneira who was closing in on the back leg that Buster had savaged.

  The distraction of the magical arrow only lasted a moment, though. The enormous spider slammed down on its six remaining limbs and darted forward. Joel saw it coming through and rather than block, he rushed forward to meet it.

  “BASH!”

  His shield snapped forward and crashed into the spider’s face. And it didn’t work. It was like hitting a truck. The spider barreled over him, clearly surprised by the attack, but not stopped as Joel tumbled backwards through the grass. He felt something in his chest snap, and when he finally stopped, there was pain as he breathed.

  “JOEL!” Marlene cried as she rushed over.

  “No time,” Joel snarled and picked up his sword. Luneira was tugging on one of the eaer’s legs, while Buster matched her energy on the other side. The eaer was turning around as a green arrow smacked into its side. Whatever that was, it hurt, and the eaer ripped the leg Luneira was holding off the ground. The slime girl was flung through the air, splattering amongst the trees in a shower of gore.

  “LUNEIRA!” Joel snarled. “Bolster! Here you fugly kitty! HERE!”

  The eaer seemed to shudder. Almost as if it didn’t really want to turn to address him. But it did, and that was when Jenny appeared beside it. With the eaer’s focus entirely on him, it was unprepared for the blade that struck deep into the joint between the thorax and the abdomen. The eaer twisted away from the blade, but Jenny had already vanished. Amanda was waiting nearby, waiting for a clear moment. Her ability wasn’t quite as useful. She could move quickly and make herself hidden, but it wasn’t a literal teleport, like Jenny’s blink ability.

  “JOEL WAIT!” Marlene called out.

  “Get Luneira!” Joel roared back.

  He could taste blood. Which meant something had gone wrong in that tumble. He didn’t let it slow him down, though. Charging ahead, Joel met the spider head on. It batted at him with a forelimb. Joel countered with a swing of his sword. Neither did any appreciable damage, but an arrow struck the side of the eaer. This one wasn’t magical, and the impact was hard enough to make the giant spider cringe back in pain.

  Right before Jenny blinked into view, she appeared in midair, directly above the arrow. She was spinning and lashed out with her foot, kicking the base of the arrow already embedded in the eaer. The shaft sank further into the creature, making it hiss and lash out at where Jenny would have been before she blinked to safety once more.

  Joel recognized the moment its attention had shifted and took the opportunity. As the eaer turned to face whatever had just struck it, Joel swung for the creature’s face. The hammer shaped tip of the sword bit into the mandibles and the eaer reared back. Only this time, as it did so, it tore the blade free of its face, severing one of its enormous fangs in the process.

  It was in pain, and it showed by pulling back. The eaer covered its head with its forelimbs and hissed pitifully, before another green arrow slammed into its side. The eaer hissed and started to rotate, putting its back to Jess, as Amanda appeared before it. She had another knife handy and stabbed into the wound created by the solid, embedded arrow.

  In response, the eaer spun around. Like it was trying to shake off something stuck to its back. Which gave Joel an idea. Staring at the back of the abdomen of the giant spider, he took a deep breath. Ignoring the stabbing feeling in his chest, Joel rushed forward and leaped. His high strength stat carried him further up the eaer’s body than he originally intended. But it also gave him some advantage as gravity took hold and brought him down once more. With a mighty swing of his blade, the hammer shaped tip hacked into the eaer’s back, sinking deeply into its carapace.

  The spider reared up, and Joel held on. His sword stayed anchored in place and he used it to brace his feet against its back. The eaer spun, trying to dislodge him, before swinging its forelimbs up over its head to dislodge him. Only it could just barely reach the back of its head, leaving him completely out of reach.

  In its confusion, it missed Jenny’s approach. She came from the side that still had Amanda’s knife buried in its eye. She aimed for the next in line. Though she slashed across its face rather than stabbing. The eaer chittered angrily and twisted around, batting at the space it felt its attacker coming from. With Jenny’s blink ability, it struck nothing but air. Another arrow slammed into its side, well away from where Joel was standing, and the eaer responded by turning around once more.

  Joel was left gripping his blade tightly as it charged towards Jess. She had a panicked look in her eye as she realized what was happening. But not before Joel hauled the blade sideways in its back. The twisting motion must have hurt it, because its straight lunge shifted in the same direction as Joel was tugging. Its legs flailed and Jess dived out of the way while Buster came roaring up. It barked and snarled, biting and nipping at the eaer’s remaining legs.

  That caused the spider to stop and rear up once more. Joel felt gravity shift as everything went up. He responded without thinking by jumping alongside the eaer. The blade lifted free of the wound and Joel wound back for another strike.

  He landed hard. Right in the middle of its back. The tip of the sword slammed down ahead of him, burying deep into the eaer’s head. He didn’t think the blow was enough to kill it, and the eaer didn’t seem to either. It reared up, and this time it kept going. Joel lost his footing, dangling from the embedded sword for a single moment before he let go. The drop to the ground was a little more than the drop from a nearby roof. With a broken rib, it left Joel gasping as he landed hard.

  “JOEL!”

  Jenny blinked into view beside him. She grabbed his arm and hauled as the eaer continued to pitch backward. It let out a hissing cry as it crashed down on its back. Jenny ignored Joel’s pained grunts as she dragged him free. The blast of wind ruffled the grass and caused her to stumble. The eaer wasn’t dead, but it wasn’t in a good state either. Its legs writhed and kicked as if trying to run, but its body wasn’t responding properly.

  “We have to kill it!” Joel snapped as Jenny finally stopped pulling him.

  “We will,” she nodded. “But you don’t even have a sword right now.”

  Joel grimaced and nodded his head as Jenny turned back to the eaer. Amanda’s strange ability meant he only caught a glimpse of her as she rushed in. Slipping between two injured legs, she stabbed into the joints and darted out a moment later. Jenny was more active, blinking to land atop the eaer, before driving her blades into the softer belly of the monster, carving deep grooves in its carapace.