The Anticipation of a Good Fight

"Trains. Gotta love em." I exclaimed as my face squished against the rain splattered window, I sat besides, as I rode in one of The Orochi Isles many trains, giving me a reflected glance at my tan, untidy, hair and burgundy red eyes.

A small part of me was worried about the rain, after all I was still in my regular getup.

My unbuttoned, sleeveless jacket, and a pair of loose-fitting slacks.

I could feel as everyone close enough to see me looked in my direction with concern in their eyes as they saw my face pressed against the glass window.

"That so Robius Frost? I seem to remember you complaining to Master like a man-child before we departed." My talking black and white fox named Kukiri teased in response to my previous statement, as she sat atop my lap.

"Yeah, well I was just kidding! Just look at this we're almost already at Mainland Torik! And we started back at Kume! We could go anywhere in the Orochi Isles at this speed and arrive there before the day's over!" I shouted loudly in disbelief continuing to scare my fellow passengers.

"That's a little bit of an overstatement. Still, it is fast, I wonder what else Tokuma Jiroki has up his sleeves."

"We may never know remember? He disappeared after his wife died." I concluded completely mesmerized by the shifting view of the heaven piercing, buildings of Torik's massive, and lively, city.

********

As I departed the train with Kukiri perched on my shoulder I was inarguably at Torik, the largest island of the Orochi Isles and the central one at that. Because of it's location it had an abundance of resources and every Orochi Islander had probably been there at least once, that was if they weren't raised there.

Even with the stormy weather and rapid downpour of rain, there was still countless people just at the roofless train station alone, either departing from the train, or entering it for its next stop.

"What was the quest again?" I asked my all-knowing and now soaked fox as I looked at my surroundings like an overly excitable kid.

"Are you serious? How could you forget when you're the one who grabbed it!? Never mind don't answer that, a Jōrogumo was spotted in the eastern shopping district we've been tasked taking care of it, in case you forgot our guild isn't doing too well so it's crucial we do this job, especially in such a well-known district." She replied with a disappointed sigh as her ears drooped to outwardly express her displeasure. "And do try to be fast, it's uncomfortable out here."

"I forgot how much you hate the rain. Eastern district you said? Well let's go I'm starving and I wanna try some famous Torik crab, after we're done." I concluded as I slid my hands behind my head without a care in the world.

"Just don't forget why we took the job to begin with." Kukiri reminded stopping me in my place.

"I totally forgot! We're broke as shit!" I exclaimed as everyone made sure to give me a wide birth of range. "Where is the damn spider!"

"It's still in the eastern shopping district remember?"

"Of course, I do...Just a quick reminder of the way to get there wouldn't hurt though, you know for the audience."

If it was at all possible for a fox to face palm Kukiri would've been doing just that as she jumped off my shoulder and led the way.

"Just follow me. And once we get paid, we're getting a damn umbrella. Fox size if possible."

********

"Hmm, let's see female. Long Red hair in a ponytail, stormy green eyes, I assume you're Kenki Asuma?"

I simply nodded as I stood in front of the elderly man who sent my guild the quest I was on. The longer I stood in the relentless rain, the more I regrated not bringing my umbrella.

"Right, this does say your registered as a Epsilion ranked Runie in the Azure Ursine?"

With an impatient smile I nodded at the old man who stood comfortably in a noodle stand, completely dry. "Yep, that's me. Thats why I'm wearing my guild's crest. You know the giant blue bear on the back of my SLEEVELESS robe." I exclaimed, being sure to emphasize on sleeveless hoping to guilt trip the man.

Typically, my choice of clothing wasn't a problem due to the infamous heat of the Orochi Isles but given the rain, and the wicked breeze. It was getting a little chilly, and my calf length shorts which allowed the cold wind to circulate my legs, didn't help.

"You should know you're not the only one I sent the contract to. Jorōgumo are no laughing matter, not to mention Runies' and Runists' are primarily support, you should wait for the other guy."

"You did notice the Epslion part, right? It's just a spider it can't be that bad." I protested proudly.

There are nine ranks in a guild, Iota, Theta, Eta, Zeta, Epsilion, Delta, Gamma, Beta, and Alpha in ascending order. Alpha is also known as the guild master and Betas are vice-leaders. Every guild has different standards for ranks but reaching Epsilion is always impressive and is even considered High Rank for most guilds.

Being a Runie I couldn't simply cast a spell out of nowhere like a Mage or Sage. Instead, I used a rune pen and hovered it over a previously invisible rune which I could draw on any surface.

"Sorry gotta go." Using the swiftness rune, I just activated I was able to quickly dart away. Not to be rude but because I really wanted a warm bath, and I was getting seriously cold.

"But wait miss! Jorōgumo are strong enough to kill entire parties!" The contract shouted in vain, as I pretended I was out of earshot.

********

My quest stated the Jorōgumo was in the eastern shopping district so I couldn't waste anytime seeing as that was a highly populated district.

Not to mention what Master had said before I left...

"Kenki, you've been a great asset to this guild. That being said, you're not improving, the way I see it you have two options, kill the Jorōgumo in this request. Or leave our guild, failure is not an option."

I knew Jorōgumo were meant for entire parties, but I'd always done quests solo. In all honesty...

"I don't think I can do it." I admitted as I dashed from roof to roof whilst being pelted by a barrage of needlelike raindrops. "What am I saying? This'll be a breeze!"

As I darted over the alleys, I heard the shriek of a female civilian somewhere nearby and immediately rushed to it's source, fortunately I was still in Torik, and people had better things to do then stare at some random girl leaping from roof to roof.

I quickly hovered my pen over another rune and leapt from the roof to the ground unfortunately a Runie can only have one time activated at a time, so swiftness rune was deactivated.

The Featherfall rune slowed my descent to a survivable speed, and I was able to see a young girl weeping into her hands as she shook uncontrollably, a clear sign that something bad was nearby.

Deeper in the alley was a void of black darker than a moonless night, where the occasional web as thick as my arm would stretch from.

"Stay behind me," I said sternly. Jorōgumo preferred male victims so she wasn't in any immediate danger, but I could tell by her terror that she witnessed something horrible and was in shock.

"She took him, he lost all control and just walked into her." The girl muttered in shock. It was clear to me she wasn't moving anytime soon. Jorōgumo were known for being sadistic so chances were her friend was still alive even if he'd rather not be but telling her that could've filled her with false hope.

"You should go. It's not safe here." I warned as I continued forward to the void, while the girl retreated.

I entered the dark void and was immediately blasted with a horrendous smell reminiscent of rotten meat and bile forcing me to involuntarily turn my head.

Along the dark brick walls hundreds of large spiders skittering over the mummified corpses which were webbed to the walls.

"How did it get this bad? Someone should've noticed something was up and contacted a guild. And yet the contract was only recently forwarded to our guild."

As I got deeper into the alley the spiders grew in size until they were larger then my upper body.

Suddenly one that was on the wall and possibly the largest yet opened it's mouth and breathed a cone of flame, fortunately I knew of Jorōgumo and their spawn's ability to breath fire, and I activated a Flame Immunity rune to counter it's flame and made my counterattack by transforming my pen into a runic arming sword with a bright glow allowing me to eliminate the threat while illuminating the alley.

"Guess that means I'm getting closer." I said before a gentle motherly voice echoed from the depths followed by the crackling of thunder.

"What are you doing here darling? I have no quarrel with maidens such as yourself. "Leave now and I'll forgive your transgression." The voice offered.

With a wide diagonal slash from my rune blade, a wave of light propelled forward towards the voice. "I'm gonna have to decline, your time is up!"

I began to release a barrage of Light Waves from my blade, only for them all to completely miss as the gargantuan women-arachne hybrid gracefully swung from her thick webs effortlessly, even in such a tight area, her maneuverability was far greater than anything her size had a right to be, as she continuously dodged my attacks while simultaneously closing the distance between us with each agile swing she made.

She slammed her eight spear like legs with insane precision at my location each with enough force to easily tear through the strongest of non-magical armor.

However, she wasn't the only one with maneuverability as I was able to swiftly roll in between her legs, and under her torso with mere inches to spare.

Even though she was now closer to the exit of the alley, we both equally wanted to keep the public out of this, though for different reasons.

"Your too slow darling." The women spider said as dozens of smaller spiders began crawling up my legs pinning them to the ground with webs. "It's a shame too, you're so pretty."

I briefly looked to make sure that the girl left. Fortunately, she did however in her place was a completely soaked, tan-haired boy, with burgundy eyes. He was dressed just as poorly as me with an unbuttoned jacket and a pair of loose slacks. Oh, and he was arguing with an equally soaked black and white fox.

"Oh, looks like we were too late." The boy said dumbly. "There's already someone here."

"Run!" I shouted. I didn't have to fear as much for the girl because she wasn't a priority for the Jorōgumo, but the boy was different. Like I said Jorōgumo prefer male victims, so he was immediately deemed a greater priority then me and even though he was barely in the alley and therefore within eyesight of any passing pedestrian, she charged at him with the same terrifying speed she used with me.

And yet the boy continued arguing with his fox.

"You moron!!" I exclaimed hoping he would at least acknowledge my warning.

With no other option I switched to a rune allowing me to quickly get between the boy and the Jorōgumo.

"Are you deaf!" I shouted after which I heard a fast clap from the boy behind me which I could only assume was a tease from an ignorant civilian.

As much as I wanted to let him die, he was a civilian and as a guild Runie it was my responsibility to protect him.

"Just get out of here! I'll take care of this." I shouted as a nearby lightning strike illuminated the inner alley revealing a hoard of spiders.

"I have to push her back before she hurts someone." I whimpered under my breath.

"What do you think Kukiri?" The soaked boy continued to argue.

"We're obviously staying. Don't forget we have a job." The annoyed fox answered. "Besides I didn't suffer through the rain for nothing!"

The Jorōgumo wasn't about to simply watch the two argue and attempted to lunge at them only to be met with the sharp edge of my rune blade as I swiftly sliced one of its arms open.

However, the rapid switching of runes began to take its toll. As my body grew heavier, I had no hopes of dodging her next strike which launched me against the wall with enough force to crack it.

"You will die for that!" The Jorōgumo shrieked in wrath as hundreds of her spawn engulfed my defenseless body in webs.

'Master was right. I'm no stronger than that day...'

Just as the webs began to completely engulf me, I saw the boy was still dumb enough to stay. "Ru..." I attempted to warn the boy but was cut out by webs tight enough to completely compress my muscles.

"Damn it. I'm sorry about this, I'll make it up to you..." The boy said as my vision faded to black.

The boy's voice was the last thing I heard before falling unconscious.