Theodore fired his rifle at the spiders that charged towards him. Carefully aiming and shooting all of the spiders all while making sure that he kept his distance from the spiders.

One of the spiders that was able to get near him attempted to use one of its legs as claws, only for Theodore to jump and aim his rifle at the spider and firing.

Looking at his surroundings once again, Theodore grimaced as he saw an additional 15 more spiders come out of the large hole in the middle of the tree.

Looking behind him, Theodore saw that he was slowly running out of space to run and keep his distance from the spiders.

A small bead of sweat rolled down from his face as he sighed.

‘The three of you better hurry up. I’m fighting for my life here’ Theodore thought to himself as he aimed his rifle once again and began to fire his rifle at the spider closest to him.

————————————————————————————

“Come on, we need to hurry up!” William shouted as he slowly climbed the large tree.

“Yeah, yeah I know. We need to hurry.” Helios said near William, like him he was also climbing.

Pyry was also near the two as he also silently climbed alongside the two. As Pyry was climbing his wolf ears began to pick up some low growling right above him.

Trusting his instincts, Pyry pushed himself away from the tree as a figure of a spider fell down from here Pyry was originally.

“Spiders! Above us!” Pyry shouted as he created a small ledge platform made out of ice on the tree.

Looking back again up above him, he saw that there was a spider that was falling towards him. Pyry took several steps back as he focused his gaze at the spider.

As the spider landed on the ice platform, Pyry attacked it as it was forced to block all of Pyry’s attacks.

But due to Pyry’s immense strength the armor and outer shell of the spider crack from Pyry’s punches. Capitalizing on this, Pyry struck once again at the cracked armor finally breaking it.

Making one last attempt to attack Pyry the spider lunged at Pyry only for Pyry to side step and grab the spider by its head and slamming it to the tree wall.

After taking out the hostile spider, Pyry took a deep sigh of relief as he looked around him and saw that both Helios and William were also alright.

‘... Are, you two alright.” Pyry asked.

William and Helios landed on the ice platform that Pyry created and rested for a moment.

William sat down at the floor while Helios leaned at the wall.

“We're both alright.” William said as he attempted to reassure Pyry. “Right Helios.”

Helios scoffs, “Like hell I’m going to let myself be taken out by some worthless spider.”

Pyry nodded, looking back up h3e saw that there were several more spiders that were now looking at the three of them.

“We have more incoming.” Pyry said.

“Yeah, yeah, we know.” William said as he stood up and looked at the spider.

Helios also walked towards Pyry and looked up to the spider. “Now, any bright ideas William. We could really use them.”

“Yeah, I have a few.” William said as he looked at Pyry. “Pyry, can you make some more ice platforms like this going up?”

William asked.

“Why?” Pyry asked.

“Because it’s clear to me that all three of us are doing fairly well when we're in some solid ground, even though it’s made out of ice,”William said.

Pyry nodded as he understood what William was talking about. The three of them would do far more well when they have some solid ground to stay on.

The only one who might do well fighting in this type of situation is Theodore, but sadly he isn't here to help due to being already preoccupied with his own group of spider’s.

The spider all jumped down as Pyry used his magic to create several more ice platforms from the edge of the tree.

William and Helios both smiled as they finally had something to stand on, even though they're standing on slippery ice.

“Finally, I can do something fun for once. Helios said as he unsheathed his saber and entered into a formal stance. “On guard.” he said, smirking.

The spider lunged at him with the intent to kill him when they got close. But they neer got the chance to get near him, as Helios gracefully dodged each lunge of the spiders.

Almost like a bullfighter gracefully invading all of the attacks, Helios dodged all of the spiders. Finally deciding that he shouldn’t dodge any more Helios used his saber to stab the spider right in the head.

Another spider lunged him as he gracefully dodged the attack before countering with his own attack.

Eventually, he was able to kill all of the spiders, relaxing his posture while Helios looked at Pyry.

He saw Pyry engage the spiders in a close quarters brawl inside what seems to be an ice dome.

Helios sighs before focusing his gaze one again right behind him. another pair of spiders came down.

“You stupid insects won’t let me rest now, would you?” Helios said as he looked at the spiders. “We’ll no matter, I'll just kill you all again, and again, and again.”

————————————————————————————

Back to Pyry, after creating several platforms for both William and Helios to fight in, Pyry focused back onto his own platform and created a small fighting arena on his platform as several spiders fell down at the middle of the platform.

As the spiders fell down and looked at Pyry with the desire to kill, Pyry gestured to the spiders to come and attack him.

All of the spider’s lunged at him as Pyry dodged the lunge but he didn’t dodge by moving to the side of backwards. He dodged by moving forward. As he got close, Pyry sent a large and powerful uppercut at one of the spiders.

Keeping up his momentum, Pyry moved onto the next spider as he punched and kicked, again, and again, and again.

By now there were only 2 spiders left that were in front of Pyry. Cracking his knuckles together, Pyry looked at the spiders.

“...So, which one of you are going to move first?” Pyry asked.

Neither one of the spiders moved, Pyry sighed as he looked at the two.

“...Fine, let me be the one to take the first strike.”

Pyry crouched down as low as he could go and glared at the two spiders as if they were his prey. At that moment another three more spiders dropped down.

Pyry grinned as he saw the three spiders drop down. Now hopefully the spiders would have some confidence after this.

Now that the spiders have replenished their numbers, somewhat. All five spiders charged at Pyry.

Pyry looked at all five of the spiders and in an instant he sprinted and ran towards the spider in the front. The spider in front of Pyry lunged at him.

Pyry responds by side stepping away from the spider and attacking the smaller spider on the left. Sending a strong and powerful punch at the spider. It was sent back with the force of an avalanche.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Looking to his right, Pyry struck the next spider with a well placed kick, before taking a few steps back to avoid a spider lunging and slashing at him.

Moving closer in front of the spider, he grabbed the spider by its head and pushed its head down as Pyry also raised one of his knees. The spider was momentarily stunned by the attack only for Pyry to kill it with a powerful punch from his left arm.

Not wasting another moment, Pyrrhic sent the spider in the far right a powerful punch from his right arm.

The spider in the middle, the one who initially jumped at him, turned around and roared at Pyry, angered at the fact that it’’s brothers and sisters were killed by him. In response, Pyry looked at the spider and growled at it.

Charging towards Pyry, the spider raised both of its sharm mandibles at Pyry. Pyry, who stood there, looked at it and moved aside. As the spider flew by him, he grabbed the spider by its main body and performed a German suplex at it.

Quickly standing back up and looking at the now dead spider, Pyry jumped off of his platform and looked to his right and saw Helios also climbing alongside him.

Noticing Pyry, Helios looked at him, “Sup, guessing by the fact that you're here, you must have already dealt with your fair share of spider’s already, right?”

Pyry nodded, “Yes, Ihave.” He confirmed, “Where’s William?” He asked.

“Still fighting his fair share of spider’s.” Helios said. “He’ll probably be fine. We should get up there and help Theodore fend off those pesky spider’s.”

Pyry nodded, but he glanced down with worry to William who was currently busy killing two spiders to notice him looking at him fight the spider.

Helios saw this and looked at Pyry. “You shouldn’t be worried. We need to trust him and besides, he’s our leader.”

Pyry didn’t look convinced and looked at the wall for a moment, before mumbling to himself.

“... To you.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

————————————————————————————

William dodged another pair of sharp spider mandibles attempting to slash him by jumping forward.

Using his two blades, WIlliam strikes the spider’s at their legs causing the two spider’s to fall down.

Quickly standing back up and looking at the spider, William glared at the spider and raised both of his blades before striking down the spiders.

William looked at the now dead spider and sighed before looking up and seeing both Helios and Pyry climbing up.

“Huh, guess the two of them must be going up to help Theodore and that mysterious person up there.” WIlliam said to himself. “Well, I guess I should also come up and help them as well.”

His hopes were dashed as five more spider’s dropped down and charged at William.

“Me and my words.'' William said to himself as he dodged a spider that lunged at him before using one of his blades to strike at the spider and stabbing in its body before moving onto the next spider.

Moving through the now four spider’s, Wilia looked around his surroundings. Nothing but ice and tree bark.

As WIlliam was dodging the spider’s william struck down another spider by stabbing it and throwing its body at another spider.

William looked at the now remaining two spiders. He focused on the two remaining spiders and after confirming that there were no more spiders that were going to come down. William charged forward and quickly killed one spider.

The last spider, in a desperate bid to kill William, charged at him only for William to dodge and using his magic, created a rope and tied it around the spider’s neck and forcefully pulled it,causing the spider’s head to be beheaded.

William sighed as he sheathed his two blades and looked at the now beheaded spider. Shaking his head, William looked above him before beginning to climb up as well.

“Don’t worry Theodore, I’ll be coming, no need to worry.” William said.

————————————————————————————

“Oh geez! Oh geez! Oh geez!” Theodore shouted as he continually dodged all of the attacks that the spiders sent.

‘Crap! I need to reload soon.’ Theodore thought to himself.

Aiming down his rifle at one of the spider’s heads Theodore pulled the trigger causing his gun to fire and killing another spider.

Now that his rifle was out of ammunition, needing to reload, Theodore carefully jumped and dodged from spider to spider, making sure to ot be caught and killed in the process allowed for Theodore to be in the position that the spiders were initially at.

Theodore’s luck also turned around as right behind him as a cold breeze to his left and a burning breeze to his right brushed off him.

And at that moment, both Helios and Pyry were able to climb up the tree and help Theodore.

“You guys came!” Theodore exclaimed as he saw the two.

Helios scoffs. “Of course the two of us would come.”

Pyry nodded, he chose to not say anything. Crouching down, he looked at the crowd of spiders and smiled, he was going to enjoy this. Pyy charged at the spiders and engaged all of the spiders

Theodore chuckled as rubbed his head in embarrassment. “By the way, where’s WIliam?”

“Still busy fighting a couple more spiders. He’s probably climbing up this tree right about now. But for now, we need to deal with this.” Helios said as he looked at the small crowd of spiders currently fighting Pyry. “How many shots can you send before having to reload?”

“I can fire six shots before I can reload, why?” Theodore said as he grabbed a clip of bullets and reloaded his rifle.

“I needed to know to be sure.” Helios said as he looked at the spiders fighting Pyry. “And we should help Pyry, we can't have him grab all of the glory now can we?”

Theodore chuckled as he aimed his rifle at the spiders. “Yeah, we can’t have all of the fun.”

Theodore fired his rifle and hit a spider right behind Pyry, killing it instantly. At the same time Helios charged as well into the crowd of spiders, focusing on the spiders, Helios gracefully evaded and slashed at the spiders. With Pyry and Helios engaging the spiders in close-quarters combat, and Theodore firing shots from behind, they slowly but surely all three of them were eliminating the crowd of spiders.

Tgheodore fired another shot and struck a spider right at its leg causing it to fall, allowing Helios to slice the spider in half.

Grabbing another clip of bullets, Theodore began to reload his rifle, as he did, he heard a spider that was growling right behind him. Quickly reacting, he ducked down and moved out of his original spot. He looked at where he was originally and saw a spider, it had pure black skin and armor with red strips at some ends. Sharp mandibles and legs. It was certainly intimidating.

Theodore looked at the spider and analyzed as much as he could. The spider attempted to pounce on him, only for Thedore to move back and aim his rifle at the spider and fire at it.

As Theodore’s bullets hit the spider, all his bullets did was make a small dent on the armor.

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me.” Theodore said to himself.

The spider pounced once again at the spider. Theodore moved out of the way from the spider and fired at it.

The spider attempted to use its sharp legs to stab and slash at Theodore, but it was unable to hit him.

Theodore continued to dodge all of the attacks sent his way by the spider; he was unable to fire any more shots at it as he was more focused on dodging the attacks from the spider.

This repeated until the spider was hit in the back by wIlliam who was finally able to arrive.

The large spider screeched out in pain as it quickly glared at William in fury.

William quickly went to Theodore’s side and asked.

“How are you doing?” William asked.

‘Doing just fine.”

“Where’s Helios and Pyry?”

“Right behind us, currently fighting that small crowd of spiders.”

“That's good,” William said as he looked at the spider that was still glaring at him. “But for now, we need to deal with that spider first.”

Theodore reloaded his rifle before quickly firing at the spider. The spider quickly moved and charged at the two of them, raising its large and powerful legs, the spider attempted to useit s makeshift blades and stab and slash both wIlliam and Theodore.

William charged and clashed with the spider. Using one of his blades to block and using the other blade to stab the spider.

The spider shrieked out in pain as William pulled out the blade and shifted himself to move himself to the left side of the spider and used his right blade to stab the spider again.

The spider focused itself on William, completely ignoring Theodore, attempting to stab William.

Then the spider was suddenly shot by Theodore, he shot the spider right at its injury where William initially stabbed him earlier.

William grinned and attacked the spider while it was still in pain. There he was able to give the spider several more cuts and stas.

The spider was still standing as William moved towards Theodore and the two of them looked at the spider.

William gave out heavy breaths as he was exhausted. “Damn, that spider sure is tougher than the ones we were dealing with initially,” he said.

“greed.” Theodore said, not as exhausted as William since he only provided William with cover fire and didn’t engage the spider in a close quarters fight. But he was still tired from fighting.

THe spider on the other hand looked like it had seen better days. Its once terrifying yet magnificent armor was now dented and cracked, it had been stabbed so much to the point that it could be said that it would die any minute now.

The spider still looked like it still had some fight in it, using the last ounce of strength that it had charged at both William and Theodore.

“Bang”

A single shot was fired and the spider was now dead. But the shot didn’t come from Theodore. But from behind the spider.

Behind the pier was a silver haired man who was wearing a three piece suit that made him look more like a businessman than anything. He was also wearing gloves that covered his hands. On his right hand was a revolver with smoke coming from the muzzle, signaling that it had initially been shot.

The silver haired man briefly looked at the now dead spider before quickly looking at both William and Theodore. he chuckled and gave the two of them a smile.

“Hello I am Yuri Dragonov. It's a pleasure meeting you.” Yuri said as he introduced himself.

William and Theodore looked at the silver haired man as he introduced himself.

Helios and Pyry, after fighting and killing all of the spiders that they were fighting, the two of them walked towards William and Theodore.

Helios looked at Yuri for a moment before speaking.

“... Did he just steal your kill?” Helios asked.

“Ye-yeah, I think he did.” Theodore said as he looked at Yuri, he was annoyed because he and WIlliam fought that spider for so long and only for it to be killed by some random stranger.

Helios twitched in annoyance and disdain as he looked at Yuri. “What a disgrace, stealing someone’s kill.”

Pyry nodded as he also looked at Yuri in disdain. “...Agreed, you are a disgrace to all hunters.”

Wiliam looked back at all of his teammates and attempted to calm all three of them down.

“Now guys, I’m sure he didn’t mean to steal our kill.” WIlliam said to his three teammates.

“Sorry boss but I don’t think I would be able to follow your orders about this one.” Theodore said as he looked at Yuri.

Yuri for his part didn’t look concerned about the fact that Theodore, Helios and Pyry looked at him in disdain. In fact, he revels in it.

“The three of you,” Yuri said as he looked at the three. “Keep looking at me like that, I like it in fact.”

Helios’s eye twitched, “Don’t tell me he’s a masochist?” he said.

“I think I’m going to puke.” Theodore said.

“Then aim it at him, I don't care.” Helios said.

By now Dolian also walked towards Yuri and patted him at the back. Dolian looked at William and the others and smiled at them.

“Hello everyone! I see that all of you have already met Yuri.” Dolian said, “I would also like to introduce to all four of you his long time friend.”

“Don’t tell me that friend of his is a sadist, I’m going to puke if that was the case.” Helios said.

“You and me brother.” Theodore nodded as he looked at both Dolian and Yuri.

Pyry also nodded but he specifically looked at Dolian, he looked at him most likely because like him, he's a Fauna.

Then suddenly a corpse of a spider was suddenly dropped right in front of Dolian and Yuri. The spider’s body was covered in slashes and injuries while all of its legs were amputated. As for the spider’s head, it was removed from the body.

William and the others were immediately alarmed but Yuri chuckled as he looked at all four of them amusingly.

“Don’t worry, It’s just him doing his work.” Yuri said.

Dolian curiously looked at Yuri and asked what was on everyone’s mind.

“Who’s him?” He asked

And as he said it, Yuri’s friend came as he dropped down from the sky, somehow.

Yuri’s friend stood up as he looked at wIlliam and the others.

He had pure black hair, dark purple eyes and was wearing a full body coat and armor that covered his body. The other noticeable feature about him are his cat ears atop of his head. The designs of his coat also looked exotic, like it came from the far east.

He looked back at Yuri and Dolian, before looking once again at William and the others.

“Hello.” He said as he greeted them. “I am Blake Yoshikage. Please refer to me as Blake.”

Making the first move William walked towards him and offered him his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, I’m William Lark.” William said.

Blake took WIlliam’s hand as they both shook hands.

Looking back at teammates, William said, “Come on guys, you all should introduce yourselves.” he said.

Helios looked at William for a moment before sighing.

"You're too trusting.” Helios said.

“Agreed.” Theodore said as Pyry also nodded.

Helios, Theodore and Pyry also introduce themselves. As they all were introducing themselves, A high pitched scream cried out, forcing everyone to cover their ears

Especially Pyry, Blake and Dolian, all three of them were forced to cover their ears since they have enhanced hearing.

After the scream subsided, William looked at te other’s and asked.

“Is everyone okay?” WIlliam asked.

“We're doing just fine.” Helios said. ‘Asie from the fact that our ears are still ringing. Dammit, it hurts.” Helios said

“Yeah, if your ears are ringing, my along with Blake and Pyr, our ears are bleeding over here.” Dolian said.

“You, shut up.” Helios said as he turned to Pyry, “Are you alright?” He asked.

“... I think I am fine.” Pyry said.

“Good, because we still have some more work to do.” Helios said.

Dolian sweat dropped. “You told me to shut up because you don’t care about me, but you asked Pyry whether or not he was alright. It is unfair!” Dolian said as he gave crocodile tears.

Theodore went to the edge and looked down.

“Uhh, guys’ you may want to see this. Theodore said.

Everyone went to the edge and also looked down and understood what Theodore was saying.

"Well shit” Helios said. “Now this is a problem.”

“...Agreed.” Pyry said as he looked down.

What was down below them was a big hoard of spiders that were slowly climbing up the tree.

“I don’t think we would be able to fight all of those spiders.” Yuri said.

Blake looked down at all of the spiders. “We don’t need to,” he said, “we just need to buy enough time and kill the queen. If the queen spider dies, then all of the spiders that serve that queen will also die.”

Helios looked at William for a moment before saying. “Well, you heard the cat, we need to kill that queen.”

William nodded. “Yeah, but I doubt all of these spiders down below are going to let us anywhere near close enough to the queen to kill it.”

“The four of you should go, We’ll buy the four of you some time.” Dolian said as he, Blake and Yuri looked Down at the spiders. “I don’t know how long we're going to be able to hold these spider’s off, but we can guarantee about ten to fifteen minutes before these spider’s get to that hole.”

William nodded as he looked at DOlian. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

Dolian smirked. “No, problem. now you should go.”

William turned to his team, “You heard Dolian, have 10-15 minutes to kill that queen spider. Let’s get going!”