It was the first time that Edward had to fight an opponent in midair since the Harpies, and this one was a lot tougher. He was unsure of which was the better strategy, diving from above, using gravity to accelerate, or attacking from below, where the spider would have difficulty defending itself. But there was one thing he was sure of, fighting while in the air nullified one of the Arachne’s advantages.

The Arachne was able to display clones of itself which weren’t simple illusions, they were able to use aura to make attacks of their own. Considering that Edward was struggling against the Arachne alone, the addition of such clones would tilt the fight in the Arachne’s favor. However, it seemed that its clone ability wasn’t so simple. They weren’t able to act on their own and it needed to control them. While on the ground it didn’t seem to pose a challenge, Edward had been unable to discern any difference between them. But while in the air, the Arachne needed to design aura steps for both itself and its clones at the same time while controlling their movements. The addition of those new parameters meant it wasn’t able to do all the operations in real-time, the clones had fallen slightly behind, enabling Edward to identify and get rid of them.

This limitation severely restricted their use while they were still fighting in the air. Additionally, aura couldn’t be created out of nothing. If the clones were able to use aura, it meant they were using the aura the Arachne had given them, diminishing its own reserves. Understanding those facts, Edward realized that it would be counterproductive for the monster to use this ability if he kept fighting it in the air.

He stopped backing off, regaining his confidence. As he stopped, he noticed that he already had retreated quite some distance. If he had continued to withdraw, he would have left the area which had been cleared of the webs, incurring the risk of getting trapped in the webs covering the canopy. The Arachne was still following after him, but Edward rushed back into the battle, using gravity to accelerate himself further.

He dived straight at it not using any flourishes, the Arachne was ready and blocked Edward’s attack frontally, however, it was slightly pushed back from the force of the impact. Edward slid past the Arachne and ended below the monster before running up towards it at an angle right at its unprotected belly. The spider didn’t try to change its position, instead, its legs glowed with aura, and it used them as spears plummeting toward Edward. Swearing, Edward hurriedly teleported away, unable to parry six attacks with only two daggers.

Both the Arachne and Edward were annoyed at each other and they charged at each other with renewed fury. Edward charged frontally while the Arachne clawed at him, each finger turned into a deadly blade. He parried the attack while jumping to the side, keeping most of his momentum, the Arachne raised a leg glowing with aura on its side before using it to angrily stab at Edward. The latter teleported above the spider’s abdomen, his momentum carrying him away, but letting him the time to deliver one strike. The Arachne’s skin glowed with aura, ripples spreading from where Edward had managed to land a hit.

The spider hastily tuned around, throwing five aura blades. His teleportation on cooldown, Edward had to form an aura step under his hand, using it as support to front flip to avoid the blades. Seeing that Edward had managed to land a hit on its armor while it hadn’t been able to do the same, the Arachne hissed angrily, the sound spreading far inside the forest.

It rushed at Edward, determined to cut him into pieces. Edward didn’t have the time to charge and gathered momentum, so he was pushed on the back foot. He leaned back, narrowly avoiding an angry blow from the spider. However, the monster didn’t hold back anymore, even as its claws missed him, it slashed at him with its front legs. Edward had to jump back to avoid the hit, but the Arachne was again on him, chaining attacks one after the other, Edward had enraged it by managing to land the first blow.

However, Edward didn’t let himself be undermined. He never let an attack reach him, deflecting a blow to the side, leaning to avoid the next one, and sidestepping away for another one. He was able to leave the series of attacks unscathed. While stepping back, he was trying to circumvent the spider, to attack it from the side or from behind, where its arms wouldn’t be able to reach him. The Arachne didn’t allow him to do so, it orientated itself to always face Edward, and it used its legs to push him back when he was attempting to slide past it.

Being continuously pushed back by the furious monster, to regain the initiative and to avoid ending corners against the webs, he teleported behind it, immediately retaliating. He managed to land another hit before the Arachne turned back, its claws whipping above his head as he removed his aura steps and let himself free-fall to avoid the blow. The spider didn’t even let him fall and chased him back, wishing to stop him from accumulating momentum. Sticking to one’s opponent was a good tactic to prevent them from getting any breathing room, but again an opponent which could teleport it was an impossible task, even more so when the fight was happening in the air.

Edward reoriented himself to fall head first reducing the air drag. When he had accumulated enough momentum, he teleported above the spider, diving at it with extra speed. The Arachne attempted to turn around to parry the blow, but with Edward’s current speed, it was too slow and had to endure another blow to its armor. The ripples from the impact took longer to dissipate this time.

Edward was gaining a slight advantage in this flight, but it only reinforced how crazy his opponent was. To gather such a small advantage, he had to use all his cards. His acceleration was a prerequisite to even being allowed to follow the Arachne movements. His mastery over aura, with the density of his blades and the usage of aura steps, were necessary to both nullify the Arachne cloning ability and to overcome its aura armor. Even his teleportation was only enough to land a few blows on this monster rather than ending the fight.

Edward didn’t know anybody who would be able to stand a chance against this monster. Quintus had been strong but he had been far too slow, he would have been killed in a few blows with the Arachne easily avoiding his attacks. Acanthio was fast thanks to his lightning ability, but by now, Edward was faster than him and so was the Arachne. Besides, he doubted that his lighting attacks would have been able to damage the Arachne’s armor. As for Strobilus, he would have probably fled away rather than fight such a monster.

Realizing that pursuing Edward didn’t prevent him to accumulate speed and to teleport right next to itself to land a blow, the Arachne stopped pursuing him. However, while it had been angry before, it now appeared thoughtful. Even so, the monster stopping in its tracks didn’t mean that it had given up.

With this breathing room, Edward noticed that the surroundings had changed. While he was busy fighting, numerous wasp spiders had reached this place. They were slow and wouldn’t be able to help the Arachne in any way in the fight even if they were throwing their life away. But they didn’t intend to, they stayed on the side, and restrain themselves to their specialty, making more webs. From the webs hiding the sky to the webs on the ground, the spiders were going up and down leaving threads behind them, quickly building a giant cocoon entrapping both the Arachne and Edward.

Obviously, Edward couldn’t let them do as they pleased, but the Arachne would prevent any move on his part. With the addition of new webs, his aura perception would be greatly decreased and he wouldn’t be able to regenerate his mana. Even though right now, being locked in a fight, his mana consumption was by far outstripping his regeneration capability. He was able to hold on only thanks to the additional reserve that his mana provided him by having turned into liquid form.

The Arachne appeared pleased with itself, the question was now if Edward would be able to defeat it before the wasp spiders finished their cocoons and turned the situation to the spider’s advantage.

Edward mused about his options. He had managed to obtain a lead over the Arachne in the last few exchanges, but the fight wasn’t decided yet. A single error could cost him a great deal, the spider wasn’t an easy opponent, and rushing things could do more bad than good. The Arachne didn’t make a move, quietly waiting for him with a smile, as if it was ridiculing him for wasting more time, taunting him to assault it if he dared.

But Edward did have a cheat to expedite the fight, he still had five of Leyla’s bombs. Of course, he couldn’t use them all, he needed to keep some to destroy the portal. That meant he could still waste one or two on the Arachne. Edward controlled one bomb with his aura, keeping it in his back and charging it with his mana. This would decrease his mana reserve, but anyway, letting the wasp spiders finish their cocoons would cause his defeat. He would still be able to fight once it was complete, but with a severely restricted aura perception, it would only lead to a slow death.

Once the bomb was charged, he threw it high above the Arachne which blinked in confusion as Edward’s throw had missed by a good margin. Just then, Edward dived down, completely ignoring the spider and accelerating as fast as he could. The Arachne tensed up, sensing something awry and bracing itself for Edward’s teleportation.

Edward swiftly accumulated speed and teleported above the monster right where he had thrown up the bomb, he stroke the bomb with the flat of his dagger as if he was playing baseball, sending it flying straight toward the Arachne where it exploded right in its face. With the momentum that he had retained even after his teleportation, Edward fell on the spider right after the blast, his aura armor actually having to dampen the shock waves from the detonation. Having taken the brunt of it, the Arachne’s aura armor was weakened, and Edward took advantage of it, landing a few more hits destabilizing it further. He let himself fall to avoid the Arachne’s retaliatory hits, its aura armor had managed to endure both the explosion and Edward’s strikes, but it was fluctuating all over the monster’s body, struggling to sustain the damage.