Hitori had an inexplicable sensation of freedom, like he’d recently been released from a lifetime in shackles. He looked around. He somehow broke free of his bindings. His sword found its way back into his hand, smeared with blood from his now deceased captors. Wickham was still alive, unfortunately.

Also, it appeared that someone was behind him, fighting a horde of Canopy Weavers. He wasn’t sure how he failed to notice them coming in. Each attack was a staccato burst of machine gun like snaps, punctuated by a cannonesque roar.

How did he miss that? Also, who the hell is Wickham?

Hitori looked at the hideous tree creature in front of him. That was definitely Wickham, although Hitori had no idea how he knew that. Looking at him up close, Hitori realized a few things.

First, he used to be something not unlike a Canopy Weaver. As a guess, Hitori would say his Vital Net fused with the dormant one in a tree when it was on the brink of collapse. A last ditch effort to save his life. Not something Hitori ever heard of, but he could imagine some mechanism or another to make it happen.

Second, he was one ugly son of a bitch. Seriously, he never looked at a spider up close, and now that he had, he wished he hadn’t.

Third, for some reason, Wickham appeared to be struggling with something internally. Wrestling with his inner demons? Hitori suppressed a laugh.

“Young Seishin!” Li Athens said, inches from his face. Given she hadn’t been there a second ago, Hitori toppled backwards with an incoherent cry. She leaned over him, reclosing the distance. “I know it’s your own time, but it’s still not a great idea to be sleeping.”

“Ms. Athens! We don’t have time to coddle him, slap him upside the head and get back here.”

“Bridget?” Hitori yelped. He turned to see if he heard correctly. Indeed, there she was, beautiful as ever in spite of the tie-dye of blood. She looked mildly annoyed. “What are you doing here?”

“Saving your stupid ass, obviously,” Bridget said. She punctuated the sentence by punching a Canopy Weaver into pieces. “You’re not allowed to die until I’m done with you.”

“Aw, thanks Bridget, you’re so sweet. I’m glad we’re pals,” Hitori said under his breath.

“What’s that? You got time to be a smart ass, you got time to wake your lazy friends. Every damn beast in Wychwood wants your hide, and I’m sure your team’s slacked off enough today.”

Li vanished by the time Hitori twisted back front, no doubt appearing somewhere behind him with a flurry of blows. This was a rare chance for Hitori to see Li in battle, which he forwent so he didn’t get a very personal opportunity to watch Bridget in battle too. In his current state he wouldn’t last a blink.

Instead, Hitori turned his attention to rescuing his teammates. He rolled to his feet and rushed to a line of roughly human shaped cocoons attached to a wall of silk. Luckily for him and his team—although not fortunate in general—Canopy Weavers preferred to dine on live prey. Their webbing applied the paralytic arte from their venom, trapping a creature in stasis until it was time to feast.

Hitori picked a hopeful looking bundle and peeled away the layers of silk. It wasn’t a lucky draw, which was true in multiple ways. Inside was a desiccated human corpse, shriveled into a husk of leathery skin. He couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, but the cheap armor suggested an amateur mercenary, around C-Rank.

His next draw was an improvement, theoretically. He found Gordon tucked away, alive but unconscious. If Hitori didn’t know any better he’d say Gordon simply fell asleep. He was looking for Chandra, who would be able to revive the others without burning a lot of Vital Energy.

That reminded him, he should search for his Dragon Stims. In fact, his Ranger should have a few Wolf Stims. It would be astoundingly irresponsible for a mercenary to walk around without at least a couple on their person.

Hitori was depressingly unsurprised to discover Gordon was astoundingly irresponsible. He briefly considered wrapping him back up.

He sighed and refocused. Carefully paring away the silk was tedious work, and he wasn’t sure how long his allies could maintain the defense. A quick check showed his rescuers were standing, but their slowed pace ushered Hitori to quicken his.

He went through the remaining cocoons in less than a minute, possibly slicing a team member or two in the process. He found a few corpses, his remaining teammates, and a stranger who was likely a Tag Hunter, before finally getting to Chandra. She was, predictably, in the last possible bundle.

Unlike the others, Chandra was struggling against her locked up Vital Net, eyes twitching behind closed lids. She was splattered with blue blood and her fist was clenched tight enough to pierce skin. Hitori finished clearing away the rest of the webbing and eased her to the ground.

A quick check revealed she was the only responsible member of his team, as she had a pair of Wolf Stims in a satchel on her back. The two wouldn’t have even half as much Vital Energy as one Dragon Stim, so Hitori had to make the most of them. The best way to do that would be to apply both simultaneously.

There was also a small bump in efficiency if a Stim was applied directly to the torso. It was so minor an effect no one bothered, but Hitori wanted every advantage he could get. He made a small bunch of Chandra’s mesh shirt after unhooking it from her waistline, exposing a patch of skin. He prepped both Stims in a second, then applied them with one hand.

Chandra shot up with a growl, punching Hitori hard enough to knock him away and onto his back. One of her hands was guarding her body, and with the other she managed to claw her fingers a few inches into the dirt. Her face was a mask of ferocity.

In spite of the dire situation, and the pain in his chest, a tiny smile escaped his lips. Upon seeing Hitori, Chandra relaxed her body and turned away. She fumbled with her shirt as she clasped it to her belt.

“Are you alright?” Hitori asked. He rolled to his knees, within arms reach of Chandra.

“Sorry,” Chandra mumbled. She finished readjusting her shirt.

“For what? If anything I should be sorry for dragging you guys into this mess, but I’ll beg forgiveness later. We need to get out of here.”

Chandra looked around. Comprehension exploded through her with lightning force and she jumped to her feet. Hitori followed her up.

“The others!” Chandra said. “Are they okay?”

“They’re alive but unconscious,” Hitori said. “Plus another woman, probably a Tag Hunter. I was hoping you’d have something to wake everyone without wasting energy.”

“Yeah, I always keep the Detox sigil. Help me get everyone out of these cocoons.”