Acrophobia

While Kitezh was alone taking on two hybrid spider dragons, Jadwiga and Marigold were put in a somewhat similar situation. Though, unlike Kitezh, they couldn’t hide with invisibility.

Jadwiga and Marigold were up on a wooden pedestrian sky bridge. It was normally a path that goes up high along the mountainside, giving the viewers a great view of the Whistle Mountains.

Up against the two girls was a large dragon head breathing out smoke. Just like the other dragon hybrids Kitezh fought, this one also had sharp incisors. However, this one appeared to have its midsection swapped with a spider. It retained the long, thin peacock-feather-like tail.

“Gwah!”

The dragon head jerked forward, and its legs began to scurry forward on the ground. It traversed on the bridge, making several clacking sounds.

“Get away from us!”

ZAP!

Marigold shot a ray of electricity from her wand at the creature. However, the dragon just shut its eyes, and kept crawling forward.

“Huh? It didn’t work?!” exclaimed Marigold.

“Your electricity was only effective against normal spiders. I think this dragon thing is a lot tougher against it,” explained Jadwiga, as she reached into her bag.

Jadwiga formed her hands into a gun shape and shot a red gemstone. It was one of her reddites. It smashed into the dragon’s face. However, although the dragon looked in pain, its legs continued to run forward.

“We need to run!” yelled Jadwiga.

They ran across the catwalk. It made a semi-circle shape around the side of the mountain. The dragon charged forward and collided with the railing, causing the whole catwalk to shake.

“I think it’s down, I’m going to kill it!” shouted Marigold.

As soon as Marigold pulled out her wand for an attack, the dragon’s spider legs scurried over the railing.

“Ah! Is it going to surprise attack us?”

“You can get ready to attack, but this dragon is tough,” said Jadwiga.

FWOOOOSH!

“Huh?! There are flames from under the bridge!”

BOOM!

The bridge exploded into fire and wood at the end of the semi-circle section.

“Damn, it’s trying to attack us from underneath. We can’t attack it like this!” yelled Jadwiga.

BANG!

“AAAH! JADWIGA, HELP!”

The dragon suddenly appeared behind Marigold, grappling her with its spider legs.

“Damn, this thing is fast!”

BAM!

Jadwiga shot a yellite stone at the Dragon. It swiftly let go of Marigold, and retreated under the bridge in seconds.

“What the hell are we going to do? We’re not going to keep guessing where it’s going to pop up!” complained Marigold.

BOOM!

Another explosion was emitted. This time, it was around the other end of the semicircular bridge.

The catwalk began to sway, making the two girls lose their balance. They both gripped onto the railings.

“This thing is trying to trap us. We’re stuck in the middle of this bridge.”

Suddenly, the sound of legs patted the bridge again. The dragon’s head appeared over the railing.

“If electricity can’t work, I’ll try my ice attack!”

ZAP!

Right before the dragon was hit, it scurried below the bridge again. The icy blast created a thin layer of ice on the bridge.

Marigold put her hand on the railing that was not hit by the ice. She could feel a chill coming from it.

“This should stop it from coming up here!”

ZAP!

Marigold used her ice powers to freeze the rest of the railing on their walkway. The railing covered in a white ice.

TAP TAP SCREEEECH!

The dragon attempted to climb on top, but its legs couldn’t get a grip on the frozen railing. It was desperately scratching on the railing now.

“Good thinking, Marigold. Though we’re not going to kill this dragon thing like this,” said Jadwiga.

They ran over to one side of their bridge and saw the huge gap.

“There’s no way I could make this jump. Even if I could use my grappling hook for this, the dragon is going to see me and go straight for me anyway,” explained Jadwiga.

“If the dragon’s legs are actually part of the spider, maybe we can take those out. Electricity was effective against them in that tunnel. However, I can’t seem to get that thing, as it keeps hiding!” Marigold followed up.

They looked back at the dragon, still attempting to climb up the bridge again.

“Huh, why does it keep trying to go up the bridge on one side so much? It seems it isn’t attempting to climb up on all the locations,” Marigold questioned.

Jadwiga looked around the area. Within the semi-circle walkway, there was a large, sturdy tree that was within hand's reach. While lush with leaves, she was towards the top due to her elevation, creating more sparse branches around a thinner base. Jadwiga wondered why the dragon hadn’t attempted to climb up that.

Jadwiga thought back to when the dragon first charged at them. She realized how its behavior worked, and had an idea.

“Marigold, I need you to be prepared to use an electricity attack. You’re going to be aiming for that tree. That’s where the dragon is going to be,” Jadwiga instructed.

“Okay, but how is the dragon going to be on that tree? Wouldn’t it start spraying fire at us from up there, or even jump on the bridge?”

“In theory, no, it won’t.”

FWOOOOSH!

As Jadwiga explained her theory, the dragon underneath the bridge was blowing fire at the center point of the bridge section the two were standing on.

Marigold agreed with Jadwiga’s plan. There were no other options as time was running out now. Marigold had to stick with this plan no matter what.

Jadwiga climbed up on the railing, and used her grappling hook to zip onto the tree in the center of the semi-circle bridge.

She gripped on the tree, and saw the dragon blowing flames underneath the bridge

BOOM!

The bridge exploded with wood and debris once again. The whole bridge was bisected, causing it to sway downward. Marigold tried to hold onto the railing, but it was too cold for her hands.

The dragon crawled up on the burning end of the bridge and back on top. It was now in the section opposite to Marigold, preparing to attack the lone bridge she was standing on.

Marigold shook in place, knowing there wasn’t anywhere to run. She could feel the support beams under the bridge strain.

SHANK!

“WHOA!”

A sharp object slashed the dragon. It looked at the tree where Jadwiga was shaking around on the branches, as she gripped back on the bark. She had unintentionally grabbed its attention when, in reality, she lost her grip when using both of her hands to attack the dragon.

The dragon then twisted its legs to face Jadwiga. The dragon’s head jerked upward. The spider sprang from the bridge and straight for Jadwiga. It was now at face-to-face range in front of the spider.

However, Jadwiga did not fear. She quickly climbed up higher on the tree.

The dragon started crawling around the tree, causing lots of rustling noises against the branches. Though there was nothing strange about its movements.

Despite all its efforts to hunt for Jadwiga, it was not going any higher from its point. The dragon’s head just looked up at Jadwiga.

“This creature is a dragon with a spider’s body. Based on what we have seen, the spider reacts to where the dragon is pointing its head before it moves. Once it starts moving, it goes straight forward, despite where the dragon actually wants to go afterward. The spider's legs stop moving once it hits something that changes its terrain or obstructs it.”

Jadwiga looked down at where she was gripping.

“This high point of the tree has very few branches in the way. So now, the dragon has its legs stuck running in circles around the tree.”

The dragon was ready to attack using flames. It readied its incisors for an attack. Jadwiga was ready to make her escape with the grappling hook.

“It’s going to attack! Marigold, use your electric spell at the spider legs no-“

But Jadwiga saw nobody on the bridge.

“Marigold?!”

Jadwiga used her grappling hook and zipped herself back on one of the bridge sections. Her eyes did not play any tricks. She did not see Marigold at all.

SWOOOWSH!

Something big and fast struck Jadwiga off the tree. She felt a brisk breeze, yet something was gripping her body to the point that it felt like her skin was going to tear off.

She looked up carefully. It was a dragon’s claw that grabbed her. She could see the wings from above soaring through the air.

“AH! JADWIGA! WHAT’S GOING ON?!”

Jadwiga turned her head and saw that there was another talon. It was gripping Marigold’s body.

“I don’t know, but we need to, WAH! AHK!”

Jadwiga was suddenly flung into something. It was something like a cushion, with cotton everywhere. However, as she tried to pull her arm off, she realized the reality.

“Jadwiga, we’re in a giant funnel web!” shrieked Marigold.