A faint tremor ran through the higher branches.
The web around the sacred tree stretched far wider than it had seemed from below. What had looked like a few strands from a distance revealed itself now as a vast structure of silk layered upon silk.
Thick anchor lines ran from the trunk to surrounding rocks, some as thick as a man's arm. Between them hung sheets of webbing that sagged slightly under their own weight, catching the last of the fading light.
It was less a nest and more a construction.
A territory.
Riven stepped forward slowly.
The ground beneath the tree was littered with pale shapes. Old cocoons—six in total—torn open or collapsed entirely.
The smell of death lingered faintly beneath the scent of sap and dust.
Above them, the fresh cocoon swayed slightly.
The movement was weak.
Alive.
The Knight's Order girl saw it immediately.
Her posture sharpened, gaze locking onto the hanging shape as if nothing else in the world existed. One hand moved instinctively toward the weapon at her side.
"We need to cut that down," she said quietly.
Riven gave a small nod.
But his eyes had already moved past it.
He studied the canopy instead.
Every instinct in his body told him the same thing.
The spider was close.
Behind him, the hooded man had tilted his head upward as well, his attention fixed somewhere among the dense strands of silk above them.
Riven hadn't forgotten about him, his attention split so that he could act instantly if he decided to strike.
But the guy didn't intend to do anything like that.
He spoke without looking away from the tree.
"We'll stall it," he said calmly. "You rescue the villager."
Only then did his gaze shift briefly toward Riven.
"I'll split the reward with you."
As if their earlier conversation had never happened.
As if there had never been any tension at all.
Riven's brow creased a little, but he nodded.
Then the branches above them moved.
A massive shape unfolded slowly from the canopy.
Long black legs slipped from between layers of webbing, one after another, until the full body revealed itself. The spider lowered slightly on a thick strand, its dark chitin catching the dying light as multiple dull eyes turned toward the ground below.
Then—
It stopped.
The creature's gaze settled directly on Riven.
And hesitated.
Riven recognized the moment instantly.
Spiders always did that.
Something about that weird mark on his hand.
He stepped forward.
The web beneath his boots shifted softly as he moved toward the hanging cocoon.
Behind him, the hooded man suddenly swore.
"Shit—you're too early."
But the spider didn't react the way he expected.
It remained still.
Watching.
The girl's eyes narrowed.
"Doesn't matter now," she said sharply.
Her blade slid free in one smooth motion.
"Attack it before it moves on him."
The moment shattered.
Steel flashed.
And the fight began just as Riven reached the cocoon.
Riven didn't hesitate.
He slipped the needle back into his ring in a smooth motion and reached for the knife at his belt instead.
Since he intended to keep the spatial ring secret, he had gotten into the habit of carrying the knife openly.
The familiar weight settled naturally into his hand.
Two quick steps carried him beneath the hanging cocoon. The silk strand holding it was thick but taut, stretched from the upper branches like a rope.
Riven slashed once.
The blade bit cleanly through.
The cocoon dropped.
With his only hand occupied by the knife, he couldn't catch it before it struck the ground, so a small yelp rang out from inside the moment it landed.
Then he immediately shelved the knife and dragged the cocoon sideways, away from the clearing where the fight had begun to erupt.
Behind him, steel rang against chitin.
The spider shrieked.
Riven didn't look back yet.
He lowered the cocoon onto the grass, pulled the knife out again and cut through the outer layers carefully. The silk peeled apart under the knife, thick strands sticking slightly as he worked them loose.
Inside was a small body.
A boy.
No older than seven.
His face was pale beneath the layers of silk, eyes closed, breathing shallow but steady. The fall had probably taken the last of his strength.
Now he was completely unconscious.
Riven sliced away the final strands binding the boy's arms, shelved the knife and lifted him free from the cocoon.
"Still alive," he muttered quietly.
He dragged the boy a short distance down the slope, far enough that the webbing thinned and the clearing opened again. There he set him gently against the base of a rock where the ground was clear of silk.
The boy didn't stir.
But he was breathing.
Riven stood and turned back toward the tree.
The fight was already well underway.
The spider had been wounded several times. Dark fluid seeped from long cuts along its legs and thorax, dripping slowly onto the silk beneath it. One of its limbs dragged slightly, the joint clearly damaged.
It wasn't as overwhelming as Riven had first assumed.
Strong.
Very strong.
But not quite on the level of the Greater Feral Gale Scorpion he had fought before.
Still, the beast was far from harmless.
The Knight's Order girl moved with controlled precision beneath the webbed canopy. Her blade flashed in quick arcs, cutting through strands of silk the spider launched toward her before they could bind her. Each strike carried discipline behind it—clean lines, efficient movement, no wasted motion.
She stepped in and out of the creature's reach with practiced timing, her sword biting into one of the spider's legs before she twisted away from the counterstrike.
The hooded man fought very differently.
Where the girl's movements were structured and direct, his were fluid and unpredictable. He slipped through the spider's reach like a shadow, a thin curved blade appearing and disappearing from his sleeve as he struck.
One moment he was standing beside a rock.
The next he was beneath the spider's body, carving a deep gash across its underside before rolling away as the creature slammed its legs down in retaliation.
Something about the man's movements tugged at his memory.
The fluid footwork. The sudden bursts of speed. The way his strikes appeared from impossible angles before disappearing just as quickly.
Assassin techniques.
For a brief moment, Riven was reminded of a certain group.
He frowned slightly.
Then shook his head.
His attention returned fully to the fight.
Both of them were strong.
Strong enough that neither seemed overwhelmed even facing the creature directly.
Roughly his level.
Without transforming.
Which meant the spider was already losing.
The creature lashed out again, its wounded leg slipping slightly against the webbing as it tried to reposition itself between the two attackers.
Its movements were growing less coordinated.
Blood continued to drip from its wounds.
Riven watched for another moment, weighing whether he needed to step in.
But the decision was made for him.
The fight was already about to end.
The spider lunged once more.
A wounded strike.
Its leg stabbed forward toward the Knight's Order girl, but the motion lacked the speed it had shown earlier.
She stepped inside the attack instead of away from it.
Her blade flashed.
Steel bit deep into the joint of the creature's front leg.
The limb snapped sideways with a sickening crack.
At the same moment, the hooded man appeared beneath the spider's body again.
His curved blade drove upward.
Once.
Clean.
The strike pierced the softer chitin beneath the abdomen.
The spider convulsed.
Its legs thrashed wildly for a brief moment before the strength left them.
Then the massive body collapsed against the webbing with a dull, heavy thud.
Silence followed.
Only the faint rustle of silk shifting in the wind remained.
The two stood still for a moment longer, watching the corpse carefully.
When the creature didn't move again, the girl lowered her blade.
The hooded man wiped his knife against the spider's leg before sheathing it.
Then both of them turned toward Riven.
And the boy.
They approached quickly.
The girl knelt beside the child first, pressing two fingers lightly against his neck.
A breath later she exhaled in relief.
"He's alive."
The tension that had held her posture since entering the hilltop finally loosened slightly.
"He's just unconscious," she added.
"That's good," the hooded man muttered.
Then his attention shifted to Riven.
The moment he began walking toward him, Riven's posture tightened.
His hand drifted slightly closer to his knife.
Ready.
The hooded man stopped a few steps away.
Then, to Riven's surprise, he bowed slightly.
"My apologies," he said calmly.
The Knight's Order girl straightened and gave a small nod as well.
"Yes. Sorry about earlier."
Riven blinked.
For a moment he wasn't entirely sure he'd heard them correctly.
The hooded man continued.
"We've had bad experiences with mercenaries joining missions halfway through," he said. "People who freeze when things get dangerous."
"So we test them first," the girl added.
"If you'd backed down earlier," the man finished, "we'd have known not to rely on you."
Riven looked between the two of them.
Then back toward the dead spider.
"…You're together?" he asked flatly.
"Yes," the girl replied.
The hooded man gave a faint shrug.
A short silence followed.
Then the girl extended her hand.
"I'm Alena."
The man beside her spoke next.
"Kade."
Riven hesitated a moment before answering.
"Riven."
But he didn't extend his hand.
He wasn't about to let his only hand get tied up, no matter how upright they seemed.
Alena lowered her hand a little awkwardly.
Kade cleared his throat and glanced back toward the spider.
"We should check for a core," he said. "Then take the boy back to the village."
Alena nodded and carefully lifted the unconscious child.
Kade moved to the corpse and cut into the spider's thorax with practiced efficiency. He searched briefly before leaning back.
"No core."
Riven felt a quiet sense of relief.
If there had been a beast core, it might have sparked another argument. And Kade clearly wasn't weak enough to dismiss lightly.
Better this way.
Alena adjusted the boy in her arms and started down the hill.
"Let's return him," she said.
The three of them began descending together.
Riven walked slightly behind the pair, his gaze drifting back toward the massive spider corpse one last time.
The creature's legs alone would fetch a decent price.
Bosu could almost certainly sell parts of it.
But dragging it down now wasn't possible. Not without explaining how he planned to carry something that size.
And his spatial ring wasn't something he intended to reveal.
Riven looked away from the corpse.
He would find a chance later.
The body wasn't going anywhere.
They continued down the slope.
As they walked, something else became noticeable.
Alena and Kade had stopped pretending.
Their movements were subtly synchronized now. They walked close enough that their shoulders brushed occasionally. Once, Kade reached out briefly to steady her as they stepped across a loose patch of stones.
Small gestures.
Familiar ones.
Not the behavior of two strangers working a job together.
More like a new couple.
He almost thought that if she wasn't carrying the boy, they'd be holding hands by now.
Riven watched them for a moment longer before looking away again.
If they really were together…
Then Kade couldn't be from that place.
Not if he was with someone from the Knight's Order.
Surely.