Oak’s arms were really feeling the strain of climbing up the slope of the sphere. Thank the Corpse-God for potholes, he thought as he dragged himself, all of their supplies and the hellhound dangling under him up another two feet.

The giant spider had followed on their trail like an evil shadow for some time. Then it suddenly sped up, rushing up the slope with speed that defied expectations, which almost gave Oak a heart attack. Luckily, it did not attack them straight away. Instead, it had circled around and passed them by, likely choosing an ambush position about sixty feet above their current location.

Since then, there had been no sign of the monster. Oak presumed the spider had not moved from its chosen murder spot at the mouth of an alleyway, but he could not be sure. It seemed content to wait and let its food come straight to it, which would have happened if the sounds Oak was making as he climbed had not bounced back to his ears from the eight-legged monster, revealing its horrific form.

Ironic how sound can reveal an utterly silent hunter, he thought, desperately searching for a safe haven where they might have a fighting chance.

There was no way he and Geezer could face the spider in battle if they were climbing up the slope at the same time. Oak could not even draw a weapon without the risk of plummeting to his doom and dragging Geezer down with him. The hellhound‌ was even more defenseless, since he was hanging from the harness attached to Oak’s waist.

On Oak’s left was a four story building sticking out into the void from the slope, with plenty of room to fight on top of the outside wall. He started moving sideways across the street to get to it. The spider stirred when he changed direction and creeped to the very edge of the alley it was hiding in, sneaking a glance around the corner down at Oak and Geezer from the safety of the shadows.

Its fangs were rubbing against each other menacingly as it watched Oak struggle to get across the street.

Climbing sideways proved much harder than climbing upwards. Every step and shuffle towards the side of the street sent Geezer swinging under him, threatening to drag him from the cobblestones and send them both to their deaths. Oak’s hands were clammy with cold sweat, and every hold he took felt like the one that would betray him. He was acutely aware of the spider's gaze as he tried to hurry towards a better battleground.

A couple feet from his destination, Oak’s right foot slipped, and he held onto the stone with a white knuckled grip, so afraid that for a moment his world shrank on itself and the only thing he could feel was the crevice he had jammed his fingers into.

Heartbeat thundering in his ears, Oak tried to make his limbs move, but they would not budge. Come on now, it's just a couple of feet away, he thought to himself, trying to persuade his hands to find new holds. A heavy presence settled upon him, dripping with rancor and spite. It felt like Ma'aseh Merkavah itself was waiting with bated breath, hoping he would fall and break his body on the cobblestones below.

Never has two meager feet seemed like such a vast distance.

His hands shook but refused to move. If I stay here I will die, Oak thought, but it did not seem to help matters.

Geezer. If I stay here shaking on the slope, I will kill Geezer.

Oak moved his left hand and found a new hold.

When Oak finally scrambled on top of the outer wall of the four-story apartment building and dragged Geezer up there with him, he felt an immense sense of relief. If the spider had attacked while they had been hanging from the cobblestones with nothing but empty air under their feet, Oak would not have given himself and Geezer good odds.

Now with a solid surface under his boots and room to swing his blade, things were different. He avoided looking in the spider's direction. There was no need to. The tapestry painted to his mind by the waves of sound bouncing around the slope revealed the monster agitatedly moving back and forth, debating whether it should strike now or keep waiting.

Oak quickly let Geezer loose from the harness, ripped the door of the apartment building open, and lowered his rucksack into the darkness. He motioned for Geezer to follow the rucksack inside so the dog would be safe from harm while he got the spider's attention.

Geezer did not do as he was told. The dog sat down next to the door and refused to budge.

“Fine, be that way,” Oak grumbled but petted the hellhound anyway, out of gratitude. It felt good to have someone by his side.

The spider was still debating with itself, so Oak decided to make it clear that if the thing wanted to eat, it would have to fight for its dinner. It was not so easy to intentionally provoke a giant spider into attacking, but he talked himself into doing it, since waiting around was also a terrible idea.

His falchion cleared its sheath with a satisfying sound and he pointed it straight at the monster's hiding place sixty feet above him. “Here I stand. Either retreat to whatever deep and dark hole spawned your horrid ilk or get down here and fight me,” Oak said calmly, staring straight at the spider’s black eyes.

The spider stilled, then clicked its fangs together.

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“Oh yes, I see you, you wretched abomination,” Oak said. “I have enough food and water with me to last for days, so let's not turn this into a waiting game. I have places to be.”

With the chance of a surprise attack lost, the spider charged from the alley. It was hungry and it would not let its prey escape. Even if the spider was the size of a horse, it was certainly much more graceful. It was running full tilt across, and then down the sloping, almost vertical street. Its eight legs gripped the cobblestones so well it almost looked like it was moving on flat ground.

When it was about twenty feet away from the building Oak and Geezer were standing on, it jumped right towards Oak.

Oak cursed and hopped back, barely avoiding being squished into paste by the monstrosity as it landed on the wall of the apartment building. The spider wasted no time, rushing forward, ready to sink its fangs into his face. Instead of running away screaming, like he really really wanted to, he stepped forward to meet the charging spider, and took a mighty swing at it with his falchion.

The hairy, brown and gray-colored monster seemed surprised, dodging back at the last second to avoid having its face cleaved in two. It hissed furiously at Oak and twitched back and forth, looking for an angle.

Geezer circled behind the spider, body low and hackles raised, a deep, rumbling growl spilling from between his teeth. The sound was lower than it had any right to be. For a tense second, all was still. Then the spider rushed forward once more with explosive speed and Oak dodged left, swinging his sword once more. Both parties connected. Oak cut off the spider's right front leg, while the monster clipped him with the rest of its legs and sent him sprawling.

Just as the spider rounded on Oak fangs at the ready, stump dripping blue ichor, screeching in pain and fury the likes of which the creature had probably never felt before, Geezer showed his worth. The hellhound bit the spider in the ass and started ripping the flesh apart.

If the monster had been mad before, now it was apocalyptically furious. It bucked wildly, all remaining seven legs twitching and slamming the brick surface of the wall. As Geezer held on with grim determination, Oak stumbled upright and set the spider's face on fire with a concentrated burst of flame.

Abandoning all reason, the spider started running towards the man responsible for boiling most of its eyes. Oak barely had time to raise his blade before the giant arthropod collided with him, and the force of the charge sent him flying backwards. Oak landed roughly, rolling on the bricks until the bottom of a balcony finally stopped him.

The impact was not gentle, and he shook stars from his eyes as he scrambled back up.

Oak brought his sword up once again in the nick of time, as the spider closed the distance and tried to burrow its fangs into his shoulder. He held onto the spine of the blade with his left hand and to the hilt with his right, pressing the edge against the fangs and staring right at the horrifically burned, still smoldering face of the spider.

The little hairs around the spider's ravaged eyes were burning merrily. The monster gave him a hate filled look with its only remaining good eye, and pressed him against the bottom of the balcony, bringing its entire weight to bear.

Naturally, he let go of the spine of his falchion and punched the spider in the eye.

The spider jerked back, spasming in pain, and tried to futilely rub its ruined face with its remaining front leg. Oak and Geezer did not let the opportunity go to waste. The hellhound climbed onto the spider's back and bit down, tearing off a chunk of flesh, while Oak took two quick steps to the right and cut off two of the spider's legs with a savage swing of his blade.

Horrid screeching filled the air.

The spider went down, stumps bleeding blue ichor, splattering the bricks under their feet. The monster spasmed violently and one of the back legs struck Oak in the chest, sending him flying once more. This time, he landed right on the edge of the wall and rolled over it into the emptiness below before he could stop his momentum.

In a stroke of blind luck, Oak fell only about five feet before he grabbed the corner of an open window and stopped his fall. He swung there, breath caught in his throat, staring at the streets and buildings below him, so far away.

Fuck me.

If he dropped, he would have a moment to think before he splattered on a street or went through the roof of some building. I never thought I was afraid of heights, but this little trip is really making me reconsider that notion. He had to try twice to get his falchion into its sheath, but in the end he managed it and took hold of the edge of the window with two hands.

As he was about to pull himself inside the apartment building he was hanging from, a pair of giant spider legs suddenly appeared from around the corner under him. Another spider had joined the party, and it was hanging upside down on the horizontal wall of the building. The monster crawled around the corner and rushed toward him.

Oak screamed in fear and sent the hottest blast of flame he could conjure right at the charging spider's face. Getting lit on fire seemed to be the last thing the monster had expected, because the spider let go of the wall it was hanging from and fell down into the city below. It left a smoke trail behind it as it fell.

The spider’s front legs beat its ugly face to put out the fire, and it hissed like a kettle on the boil all the way down. It landed hard, crashed onto the sloped street and rolled down until it splattered against a wall of some storefront, leaving a wet smear behind it.

+ 1 Soul

+ 1 Fuel

Right. I’m about done with spiders for the foreseeable future. Freakish thing just had to be hiding in a blind spot behind the building so the Ears of Amdusias could not find it.

He climbed through the window and tumbled down onto the wall, which was now a floor, since the entire structure was almost sideways. Oak breathed a sigh of relief. He closed his eyes for a second, just rejoicing in the feeling of not hanging over certain death. When he opened them, a spider the size of an average sheep was flying towards his face.

Oak screamed again and kicked the creature in the abdomen as hard as he could, sending it flying over him, all of its eight hairy legs twitching every which way. He scrambled upright, drew his cleaver and cut the monstrosity in half as it tried to jump at him again.

+ 1 Soul

“I am so fucking done with spiders,” Oak growled as he looked at the creature in disgust. Somewhere up above, Geezer yelped in pain.

By the fucking Chariot. I will tear that abomination limb from limb.