Li led Azhar and the wyrm to their first target: a gathering of giant spiders. They skittered across a massive clearing in the forest, their tawny and hairy black bodies crawling across the carcass of a deer they had slain. Their sickle-like fangs sliced into the deer, tearing off chunks of meat and bone.
There were only three of them, and if there were more, Li would have reconsidered using them as a target. Giant spiders were tough creatures, and these were, judging from their banded red legs, jumping variants. Jumping giant spiders were, unlike regular spiders, active hunters, choosing to hunt down their prey with relentless speed and powerful pounces instead of waiting in a large web.
As a result, they tended to cooperate on hunts, though afterwards they dispersed to live independent and individual lives. They about half the size of a man – comparable in size to the wyrm – and three of them taking down a particularly large deer was not out of the norm.
