Ike charged toward the wolf spider. The huge spider jumped, startled, but not overly concerned. It lifted a foot, aiming to squash him.

Ha. How the tables have turned.

A shadow fell over Ike. The foot hurtled toward his head.

Ike kicked off the ground. Lightning crackled after him. He dashed under the giant spider. The monster’s foot struck the ground. It lifted it and found nothing. Confused, the spider turned, looking for Ike.

Under the monster’s body, Ike crouched. Lightning covered his legs up to the hip. He leapt up. A shockwave cracked over the ground, rustling the grass and sending a cloud of dust into the air.

The spider jumped as well, leaping in surprise. Its stomach receded from Ike. Ike clicked his tongue. The Lightning skills are way too loud, with all the thunder they set off.

But that’s fine.

A tiny figure appeared high in the sky, even higher than the spider. Wisp dropped down on the spider, her leg lifted to drop an axel kick on it.

In midair, the spider spun. It extended one of its extra-long legs and kicked Wisp away. She flew off, vanishing over the trees.

“Wisp!” Ike shouted.

No reply. He landed on the ground under the spider, then immediately kicked off again. The spider dropped down toward him, no longer able to jump away.

Wisp had told him: wolf spiders didn’t have webs the way other spiders did. It wouldn’t shoot web or maneuver using it, the way she or any other spider monster might. It had a powerful jump, but they could use that against it.

The way we just did.

Orin’s book hadn’t been as complete as Wisp’s information, but it had backed up everything she’d told him. Since he knew she wasn’t lying, he’d decided to go ahead and trust her. If nothing else, the spider didn’t feel super dangerous to me. I can probably kill it myself, if I need to.

As the spider dropped toward him, Ike activated his skills. Lightning crackled over his arms. The spider clawed at the air, startled. Its twitching did nothing to save it. He slashed upward, putting the full force of his jump into it.

The sword bit through the spider’s carapace. Green ichor spouted out. Ike’s eyes widened as the wave of green goo flew toward him. Oh, shit…

Splat. Ike and the spider landed on the ground. The green goo soaked him. He grimaced, disgusted. I just got these clothes from Ket. I really can’t keep an outfit clean.

The spider’s legs slipped. Its cut stomach dropped toward Ike. The whole underside of the spider bulged outward. Guts blooped out. Ike fled out from under it. As he passed, he slashed through one of the spider’s legs.

Roaring, the spider reared. With its remaining legs, it smashed toward Ike.

“Fuck off!” A bolt of white silk struck the monster’s face. Wisp’s small body reappeared, one foot forward. She smashed into the spider and caved its front end in. The spider’s whole face dented into its body. Cracks appeared over its back and stomach, and more ichor spurted out.

The spider reeled. It staggered, almost falling as it stepped onto its severed leg.

Ike darted up and sliced into the monster’s face where Wisp had cut. The slash bisected his first slash, and the monster’s remaining ichor gushed out. It shuddered, then dropped to the ground with a heavy thump.

“Everything but the fangs!” Wisp shouted, sprinting toward the monster’s body.

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“Go ham,” Ike returned. Ignoring the squelching and cracking from the rear of the giant spider, he looked up at the fangs. He stepped back, tilting his head to get a better angle on the fangs. They dangled from the spider’s face, the frontal carapace crushed all around them. He wrinkled his nose. That’s going to be annoying to cut.

Loup walked up beside him. She looked at the fangs, then looked at Ike.

“Hey, could you jump up and grab onto the fang? Stretch out the flesh at the base?” Ike asked. It’ll be easier to cut if she puts tension on the fang.

Loup tilted her head. She paced over to the fang, then crouched and leaped up. Her jaws clamped around the fang, and the flesh at its base grew taut.

Ike leaped up and slashed, cutting through the base of the fang. Loup and the fang hit the ground. She dropped it, then hopped up and latched on to the second fang. Ike severed that one, too. Loup landed and paced away, standing at a near distance.

Retrieving the fangs, Ike backed out of the clearing. He nodded at Loup. “Let’s give her some space.”

Loup lowered her head and fell in behind him. Out of the clearing, Ike went just far enough that the sound of Wisp chowing down on the massive spider grew distant enough to bear, then sat. He drew a stone over and scratched at it with the tip of the fang. The fang cut through stone, leaving white dust and a shallow cut behind.

Excellent. He reached into his pack and drew out Rosamund’s head. Rosamund twitched, but couldn’t shake strong enough to seriously struggle. Tipping it upside down, he ran the fang around the edge of her neck, just under one of the most jagged, sharp protuberances. Her struggles grew stronger. He clamped his hand down on her chin, pinning her in place. A line appeared behind the fang. Two, then three more scrapes, and the jagged edge fell away.

Ike grinned. He slipped Rosamund’s head back into the pack. And that confirms it. It works.

The chewing sounds continued. Ike drew the ruined sword out of his pack and scraped the excess flesh away. Slowly, he cut off the bloody remains. When only the fangs remained, he drew out a scrap of cloth and started polishing them. He pressed his lips together, almost smiling. How long is it going to take Wisp to eat that thing? It’s huge, but still.

Just as he thought it, silence came from the large clearing. Footsteps drew up behind him. He turned and found Wisp there, her lips still stained with green. She grinned, displaying green-soaked teeth. “Delicious.”

Ike resisted the urge to wretch. He managed a smile instead.

Wisp chuckled under her breath. She nodded at the fangs. “What do you need those for?”

“Why’d you recruit me to help hunt?” Ike countered.

Wisp snorted. She shook her head.

“Where’d this super tough spider come from, anyways? I thought monsters outside of the Abyss were supposed to be weak,” Ike muttered.

“Not all of them are. Sometimes monsters wander into the area from far away,” Wisp informed him.

“But that one? It barely knew how to fight. It was just huge, that’s all it had going for it,” Ike pointed out.

“Huge and annoying,” Wisp muttered under her breath. She reached into her mouth and made a face, then tossed something at him.

Ike caught it reflexively. A wet loop of metal landed in his hand. It was far larger than Wisp’s mouth, at least big enough to fit around Wisp’s waist and as wide as his thumb.

Gross. Ike flinched, but stopped himself from throwing it away. He peered at it. Clenching it between his forefinger and his thumb, he turned it around, looking at all its angles. Small crystals were set into the outside of the ring. Ornate, swirling lines connected the crystals, not unlike the lines that had swirled around the outside of the skill orb he’d gotten Lightning Dash from.

“What is this?” Ike asked, turning to Wisp.

“I don’t know. People stuff,” she said.

He delicately clenched it in both hands and tilted it back and forth, taking a second look at it. Is it one of those large tribute monsters that the other cities sent the city lord? That would explain why it didn’t know how to fight.

“Does it mean something to you?” Wisp asked, curious.

“Not really. But I know someone who might know,” Ike quickly added, when Wisp’s face drooped with disappointment. He held up the ring. “I’ll take it back to the city and ask Ket about it.”

“Okay. Good. I’m worried there’s human bullshit happening in my forest, and I don’t like it. Like that,” Wisp explained, gesturing over her shoulder.

“The big spider?” Ike asked, glancing at the wreckage.

She nodded. “You noticed too, right? It was low Rank, just big and bloated. It either mutated to grow really big for some reason all on its own, and then just happened to fall into the Abyss…or humans did things to it.”

“Ah,” Ike said. I did notice that it was relatively weak for such a large monster. His grip tightened on the metal ring. And then it had this thing in it? Yeah. This whole thing is starting to look a little suspicious. With the puppets also in this forest, I can’t help but wonder if it’s all connected, somehow. A plan of the city lord, maybe.

Her eyes lit up, and she grinned at Ike. “Bring me back information about that thing, and I’ll show you the whitefeather grass.”

“Works for me.” Ike stuck the loop over his shoulder and nodded at Wisp. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“Mhm. If you come to my forest, I’ll know.” Wisp hopped into a tree and waited for him to go.

Ike tossed her a wave and walked off. Before I head back to Abyssal, I want to go check on the puppets. I don’t yet know for sure that they have gunk in them. But now that I have the fang, I can find out!