Corvayne had a moment to look at the Spider before it started to circle him, slower than he expected. The girl was trying to scramble away from it, and Corvayne stepped away from her, hoping that the monster would focus on him given he was armed.

The armed insect passed it's two knives between it's hands once, then twice, six red eyes on it's head blinking separately. In the firelight Corvayne guessed that Kirae had been right, it was about the size of a large goat. It's face had some sort of plating on it, perhaps it's mandibles. No large fangs, so unless they were hidden it probably didn't inject venom. Given how fast it had killed the three bandits that had been near the fire, there was likely no need for it. The shape and black carapace reminded him of a spider but it only had six limbs.

“That's it. Eyes on me. She's not a threat.”

Gary came running down the slope into the room and Corvayne quickly strafed to get front of him. The insect vanished then popped into view flipping it's blade backwards like an assassin, then noted where Corvayne went and the insect pivoted back to get out of spear range, watching Corvayne. Corvayne didn't dare take his eyes off the insect but grabbed Gary's shirt before the man could charge further at the bug.

“Stop!” Corvayne commanded him, and Gary froze.

“It's going to kill you if you fight it. The thing moves too fast. I'm going to keep it's attention on me. Get that girl, and get her out of here.”

The bug clicked at him a few times, tapped two of it's limbs together, scratched the ground, then fluffed it's wings. Corvayne had no idea what it meant but kept his weapon up, not moving to attack but slowly shielding Gary's path along the wall to where the girl was.

He had fought fast things before. Mirage Vipers. You couldn't fight them by thinking. It took too long. You had to just move. He loosened himself up a little, thinking about the spear dance. It was like letting his shadow limbs just act, but with his whole body. Trust yourself. Just put your weapon in the enemies way. They either bleed or retreat.

Gary reached the girl and the monster turned, and Corvayne used his boots of running and [Flows-Like-Water] to intercept the insect's path. It vanished and appeared right in front of him, one knife sliding his spear aside while it's other tried for his hand. Corvayne moved back and the blade bounced off his haft, but a third limb on the monster formed a bladed three finger knife palm and aimed for his inner thigh. Corvayne's shadow hands shot out and he lowered his gravity to push himself back off the monster's wrist. There was a wet sound as it managed to grazed him and for a moment Corvayne was sure he was going to see half his leg missing, but instead a glob of jelly broke off from his pants and orbited him. He felt the cold air of the ruins only a moment before the leg resealed.

When it vanished the next time, Corvayne pushed his shadowy arms out and pivoted, and the bug vanished before it could plunge a knife into Gary. He caught sight of where it had moved, near the fire, but the spider didn't waste time, popping in to try to jab him then away with a faint puff of something Corvayne felt rather than saw. Corvayne risks a glance behind him at Gary putting himself between the monster and the girl, holding his own spear in a useless parry.

The bug appeared next to his disciple causing the girl to scream and Gary pivoted, trying to block and stop it from getting at the woman. The monster in midair moved it's knife from a path at Gary's throat to slice his wrist. Gary dropped his weapon and fell to the ground, clutching his hand as it started to bleed and shrieking.

Corvayne used [Cross-Skill: Whirling Axe] and flung a blade of green at the insect, and it avoided getting sliced apart but had one of it's knives knocked loose. It then popped into the corner of the room. Corvayne watched as it fluttered it's back wings and then reared it's butt at him. He was expecting it to try to shoot a dart or acid, but instead it birthed another knife, several teeth on it's back carving or weaving a clear hilt on the blade. One hand reached behind it, then armed again with two knives it vanished vanished. Corvayne guessed where it would show up and activated [Juxtapose], swapping him with surprising ease.

He aimed his spear at it's back and the thing caught it with a limb it flexed around. Corvayne didn't draw blood as whatever it's hand or claws were made of seemed to be as strong as his spear. The monster flicked one of it's other limbs out and sliced his hand before it landed and hissed and chittered at him.

Corvayne called back, eyes straining to both stay on the bugs lightning fast movement as well as not blinking. “Gary get up! Get her out of here!”

The spider hissed and dove at him, and Corvayne just barely got his spear up to push the bug out of the way rather than slice it. There was a sudden itch on his cheek, suggesting a very fine cut. He hoped that the spider hadn't landed a serious wound on him. He couldn't feel it make another cut on his neck that was dripping blood, just he registered something warm was hitting his shoulder. Either he had gotten grazed or another shard was popping out.

“My fucking hand isn't working!” Gary cried out.

While he was trying to talk the spider vanished and he felt something hit his armor in the heart. Not hard like Argyles staff, but almost perfectly aimed. Another glob of jelly popped out as the spider-thing vanished.

Corvayne ducked and felt a blade glide by his ear. He felt the tip of his ear sting and he resisted the urge to check if he was missing a chunk. The monster was above him, and Corvayne slapped it with low gravity before it reached him, slowing the monster's fall and causing it to tumble as Corvayne rolled away from it then pivoted to stab it, only hitting air.

It appeared again far away and used what must have been a spell to just pop into the right orientation without any of it's legs moving. It was a hint it wasn't bending time, as was something like a tug of war with his power as the monster fixed it's own weight, then hissed and clicked and tapped the ground at Corvayne.

Gary and the girl were now both slowly edging their way to the door. Corvayne closed ranks as he heard Wick call from the entrance. “What the hell is going on?”

“Wick DON'T come in. The monster is insane-”

The spider moved then, popping next to Gary. Corvayne used [Juxtapose] on Gary and felt the knife try to jab his leg but fail to get purchase with the Jam-Jammies, summoning another meteor. It slashed at him again, it's blade close to his eyes but Corvayne moved a little bit away as something clicked with it's pattern of attack. It charged him with a one-two aimed at his face then his leading arm. He backed away a little and lifted his arms out of the way and felt the flat of the blade for a moment. The next attack was from the side but he knew the monster would go in low and that he could avoid being cut open by pivoting.

The bug was fighting with the exact same style that Untouched-By-Arrows taught him. While the spider could appear anywhere, it wasn't too different from his instructor's footwork and insane speed. Corvayne was just as outclassed but it felt like any number of sparring matches that he had done before. He felt the instincts he had honed on the dirt arena in his village take over.

Untouched, in an odd coincidence, called his style 'Spider Queen' and it was a brutally efficient style that depended on reading the enemy, so Corvayne stopped thinking, stopped trying to score hits and just fell into the spear dance, using his weapon only to discourage the little trades where a knife might open a cut or try to snip a muscle or even hit the straps of armor. He didn't bother trying to leverage his reach, as his weapon was just too slow even held like a quarterstaff. He didn't feel slow. It felt like everything had slowed down, and suddenly he could see both the spider's rapid movements on the ground near him, and his arms seemed to sense when it was warping, letting him turn, and duck, and sometimes even leap over the razor sharp blade.

It might have been a minute, or two, but the bug relented and blinked back, stopping near the fire. It took a few breaths, little feelers wiggling, holding it's knifes out ready for an attack, but just watching Corvayne.

Corvayne slowly took his spear, and placed it at rest next to him. He didn't think about what it meant, just watched and let his body move. If she attacked, he'd stop her. If she sat there, he'd do nothing.

The spider looked at it's knives, then put one to it's face, which unfolded to show off what looked like three tiny human jaws. They started moving and quickly became a blur, then there was a deep hum as it ate it's knives, one right after the other, creating a small puff of grit. The bug dusted it's hands off, then pointed it's back forward and started squeezing a different weapon out. A bone two handed Katana fell into the bug's hands and it shifted into a stance, then used [Draw].

Corvayne used [Flows-Like-Water] as a reflex and managed to avoid getting tagged by it's blade. It was only because the monster was like a centaur version of Moon-Laughing-with-Stars, using four legs to charge better then his katana instructor could but still the tell-tale explosive hunch into a slice. He could feel the essence of the beast it's attack even while he slipped around it in his flow state. It felt to him like an army of ants in lockstep, the strong feeling a sign of mastery of the two handed katana.

The spider swung around and readied a shadow step. Corvayne took a deep breath as the spider blurred then activated [Juxtapose] and felt a disjoint. The monster turned and spun and Corvayne ducked under [Great Crecent Moon Drop], leapt above [Swaying With A Hunter's Touch], bent backwards as the spider rushed him while using [A Breeze Through Open Trees]. There was a moment where the spider stopped, and tried to use [Sheath The Life] by tapping it's blade on the ground.

Instead of spurting blood everywhere, Corvayne just shrugged at the monster, who seemed confused and used [Sheath The Life] again, looking between it's sword and Corvayne and trying a third time.

“You know you need to hit me for that to work.” Corvayne said.

Any levity in his voice drained when saw the spider holding it's blade in front of it in a stance he didn't recognize. Suddenly his flow state was broken as he realized it was about to bust out some totally new move and he had NO idea how he had dodged all of those previous strikes. Sweat started to pour down his neck as he thought about his instructors had always dismantled him after toying with him. Worse, he was in a spot where Wick was behind him.

Corvayne activated [Cross Skill: Shield Wall] forming a wall of crossed spears as the monster slashed the air and a black Crescent flew out and crashed through his ghostly defense as if it was made of paper. Corvayne felt a ripping sensation on his right arm, and a burning sensation on his left. The force against his chain mail knocked him over, rolling him like a wrecking ball into Wick and Hari behind him. The only good thing was they sounded dismayed rather than mortally wounded.

Corvayne used his good arm to push himself up and saw the spider looming over him and rolled over to cover Wick as the monster raised it's blade.

There was a pause, and Corvayne cracked an eye open to look behind him at the monster.

The monster still had it's sword up, but one of it's legs was gently reaching for his neck. Instead of a brutal chop, there was a little prick as it pulled a little tiny black splinter from him, dropping it's sword with a click to stare like it had never seen black crystal before, both hands cupping it.

Corvayne picked up Wick and grabbed Hari and pulled them to their feet. He noticed his arm was covered in blood. Whatever the shard was doing to the monster, he wasn't going to waste it.

“RUN!”

Brines and Seru and Kirae were already moving away from them, with the girl they rescued supporting Gary as they jogged away from the room. Corvayne considered picking up Hari and Wick but stopped as the Spider appeared between him and Seru ahead, blade slung over it's shoulder and it's hand pointing at him.

Hari started to draw her rapier but Corvayne clamped her hand. He knew better than to tangle with it. It was as good as any master, and so he waited for Hari and Wick to back up and start making for the tunnel, then used [Flows-Like-Water] to move right through it, pounding ground to get to the tunnel.

A moment later it was in front of him, sword pointed out forcing him to stop. It ignored the two girls running past it. Hari turned back. “Corvayne!”

Corvayne held his hands up. “You two. Go. It wants me.”

Wick had to grab Hari, who looked numb. “Don't be stupid! Corvayne's got this...”

Seru stopped to run back and help Wick drag Hari away. “We'll get Grunt and Spears down here... just stall it!”

Corvayne nodded, eyes not entirely leaving the blade pointed at him. “Thanks Seru. Whatever happens, I think I was wrong about you before.” He saw Seru wavering. “Go! Before it changes it's mind.”

With that, he was alone in the tunnel, silent but for his own and the insect's breathing, blade pointed at him.

It clicked at him. Corvayne just shrugged. The monster lowered it's blade and Corvayne waited, seeing if it was testing him. The spider blinked but didn't attack, instead moving near him to hold up the black shard it had pulled from him, waving it practically in his face.

Corvayne lowered his hand and used his spacial ring to produce another one. “Are you hungry for them or something?”

The thing seemed excited, grabbing the little chunk of metal or crystal and bobbing a little bit, and it would be almost comical except for the beatdown it had delivered not two minutes ago, and that it had grown an extra two limbs while losing a pair of eyes in the span of two seconds. If it didn't have the sword a few inches from him, he'd have thought it was a different monster all together.

Then it turned to face the direction his friends had gone.

Corvayne tried to move to block it, and the monster held it's sword and pointed to his side, behind him, gesturing at him, then back, waving its arms around. He didn't know what it wanted, but he knew that if it decided to shred him, he'd be dead. If it decided to spare him and hunt his friends... he'd be alone again.

Corvayne blinked and the monster in front of him was gone. He turned and saw it running down the tunnel the direction Wick and Hari had gone, and Corvayne could only say 'FUCK!' as he started to run after it.