… we fall!

Sely feels the weight of her body return, her view of the hair receding, and…

I have to hurry or I'll crash…

“Wah!”

“AH!”

Sely ends up against Endya, whose web has not yet been torn.

The scolopendras are descending from the peaks and only now does Sely notice their features: they have humanoid faces, with varying degrees of monstrosity. Some more, some less chelicerae. More or less horns and antennas.

Demihumans like her, but at least six or seven times her height.

“Sely! Help me! Help me! What are those!?”

Sely turns her focus back to Endya. Still smeared with her spiderwebs yet free, she pulls the knife from her belt.

“What are you doing, you don't want to…!”

“Shut up Endya, I'll cut the web! We're pretty low but we could get hurt.”

“Sely, I don't know… no! No! They're getting closer, those monsters are getting closer!”

Sely doesn't look, she knows full well that they are getting closer. She feels their paws and their earthy smell.

With quick gestures, she cuts the web and falls beneath her with Endya.

He screams and turns pale. But Sely doesn't have time, she rudely brings him up.

“Let's run away!” The girl shouts, starting to run in the direction indicated by Wylco.

“What are you doing!? There are spiders over there! They will eat us!”

“Trust me, it's our only chance! If they told the truth in the village, there would be bad blood between spiders and insects because of the Marquise!” Sely continues running without looking back.

“True, anf… it's like this… but, please wait for me!”

“Endya run faster, please! If we reach the spiders they won't have time for us, they will surely clash with the scolopendras!”

“Anf… it's so!? Ah, they're behind us, Sely! They're behind it!”

“Don't turn and run! If we arrive, we will take advantage of the confusion to free Filo and escape!”

“Who!? Are you stupid? There are no cobwebs here because the king's nest is elevated, but on the way back we will get entangled if we run blindly like this!”

Sely doesn't have time to respond. Endya's defeatism is not part of her survival repertoire.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

I have to save Filo, he knows the way.

⁂

“Hmm…” Filo moans as he regains consciousness.

Around him, hundreds of shadows stamp and scream, running in every direction and jumping between the branches. An unusual stench; the smell of putrescent sap, attracts his attention.

What is going on?

What do they say to each other? They seem to speak the common language…

Trying to raise his hand to his face, the young man realizes that he cannot.

“Well, what does that mean?”

Panic comes with memories.

He was having a rinse in the stream. There were no webs around, he seemed calm.

Instead, they hit him with jets of cobwebs. Shots so precise they stun him. This also explains the headache.

By concentrating, the voices stand out and the shapes emerge.

Spiders.

Spiders everywhere chattering worriedly.

Damn, they got me.

“Invasion! Invasion!”, “Quick! Over here, over here!”

They shout things like this and no one pays attention to Filo. He ignores the reason but it is clear that something big is happening.

Sely doesn't seem to be with him and this reassures Filo.

Smart as she is, she will certainly have managed to save herself.

Studying the situation, Filo realizes that he is only cocooned up to the pit of his stomach.

It's an incomplete job, whoever was imprisoning me was alerted by this chaos.

Not bad.

Tied badly like this, Filo can press a button.

That button.

The one with the shovel.

But the exact moment he does so the web breaks. Here a centuries-old tree falls.

“OH! And what is that!?” His eyes bulge at that gargantuan insect.

Long as far as the eye can see and as wide as a tree.

The spiders attack him but are skewered by his thousands of legs and thorns. The large mandibles chew the victims, spreading their tongues everywhere. The very long whiskers lash the bark and break the branches.

That.

That's a goddamn self-propelled nightmare and Filo is in its path.

The shovel with the snap handle certainly can't help him.

⁂

“Here!” Sely continues to make her way through plants. She jumps over roots and shrubs, avoids holes, and luckily doesn't come across cobwebs at head height.

It's like he said. In this area, the webs are higher up, a sign that we are close to the king's lair!

Wait for me Filo, I'm coming!

A tree falls in the background and a roar is heard. Sely would like to stop and study the situation but she still hears the sounds of the hunters.

Endya is further behind but is ultimately able to keep up. The two do not speak, breath is not wasted.

Small troops of spiders cross them. Endya screams but they continue indifferently.

Everything is as planned.

The deeper you go, the more spiders grow in number.

Sely ignores them and they appear to ignore her. She's almost there, she's very close.

“Hey, you're that girl!”

Sely continues but her voice persists.

“Stop! I'm glad you got free, but from there you'll only end up getting killed.”

Those words intrigue the girl who stops and turns towards the source of her voice.

“Wylco.”

“Whoop, yeah, yeah,” the spider is on a branch scratching its head with two legs.

“They're chasing us, we have to go and save Filo.”

“Uh,” the spider swings from the branch with the thread. “I understand, but look, you've put some distance. You have certainly exceeded our contingents. For now, he is safe here.”

Sely looks around. Indeed it is so. Nobody is chasing her anymore.

“Hey, you disgusting spider!” Endya intrudes on the conversation by throwing a branch at Wylco.

“AH!”

Excellent dodge.

“What are you doing!? Don't you know that I am the son of the king of spiders!?”

“Not to mention, but I am the son of the mayor of Vanoge!”

A new plant echoes dejectedly in the distance.

“Guys, calm down for a moment.” Sely tries to maintain order by getting in the way. “Wylco what's going on over there?”

“Hmm-Hmm, nothing-nothing. But maybe let's go, huh? How about?”

“What's going on over there? Is that where Filo is!?”

“Here, here…” the spider fiddles with its legs as if it were twiddling its thumbs.

“Wylco!”

“Ngh! Yes, it is! But there is that giant monster there!”

Sely draws her gun and points it at the spider, in full frenzy.

“Lead us.”