When we got back to the guild, the girls and I split up to figure out the Evil King's whereabouts.
"Sorry to bother you, but do you know where the Evil King resides?" I asked the worker who registered us.
"I do, but why are you asking? You can't possibly be thinking of storming his castle alone," she asked worriedly.
"I'm not going to be alone. My party is going with me. Can you tell me where it is?"
Unfortunately, the worker had already passed out before I finished talking. Now that I think about it, I really chose a bad person to ask.
I left the comatose worker and walked over to Touwa, who was reading some books.
"Have you learned anything yet?" I asked.
"Yes. Unfortunately, the Evil King's castle is a long way away from Kaishi Town. We're going to have to walk a long distance to get there."
"Couldn't we rent a vehicle?"
"No. Unfortunately, nobody offers rides to that area or allows anyone to rent a vehicle to go there. We'll have to walk."
"A little walking never killed anyone. Why don't we go ahead and head out? The sooner we get this over with, the better."
Touwa agreed so I got the rest of the girls together so we could get a move on. Once we were all gathered, Touwa spoke.
"I have determined the location of the Evil King. Now that Hana has the proper equipment, I believe we are ready to take him on. Are you all ready?"
"Who do you think you're talking to? Of course we're ready! Let's kick some *** (butt)!" Mari exclaimed, raring to go.
Chuckling, we left the guild, starting our final adventure on the new Kaiyo. As we walked to our destination, we were attacked by a weak monster that looked similar to a bear cub.
"Hana, you should try out your new sword before we face the King," Yuri suggested, looking excited.
"O-ok. Promise you'll back me up if I need help? I've never used a sword before," I replied nervously.
"Of course!"
I charged at the little bear and clumsily swung my sword down. The bear dodged by rolling to the left. The bear then leapt at me, baring its fangs. Panicking, I swung my sword at it. Since the bear couldn't dodge, it was cut in two. Blood covered the end of my sword, almost making me throw up.
"You did it, Hana! It was a little touch and go there for a while, but you did it!" Yuri exclaimed, running over to me.
"Yeah…" I said weakly.
"Are you ok? You look pale."
"I'm fine. I never realized that taking a life like that would be so... disturbing."
"You get used to it. Honestly, we all really don't like killing either. Well, Shitai's an exception of course," Yuri explained, eyeing the sadist as she examined the dead monster. "Anyway, we try to avoid killing, but it's a necessity sometimes."
I nodded, understanding why Yuri asked Shitai to kill Hebi instead of doing it herself.
As we journeyed on, the girls left defeating weaker monsters to me so I could get used to Kojomaru. After what seemed like the hundreth monster, I finally got the hang of using my sword.
"What's that?" Akino asked on the fifth day of our journey, looking ahead of us.
We all looked to see what she was pointing at. In the distance, I could make out a town with what looked like a white veil over it. As we got closer, I saw that the veil was not actually a veil at all. It was something a lot more sinister.
"Woah! Look at the size of that spider web!" Akino exclaimed.
"That's strange. According to the map, this town is called Tori Town. Why would there be a spider web covering a town full of harpies?" Touwa asked, frowning deeply.
"W-why don't we just l-leave?" Kiku stuttered, shaking.
"I know! I know! Back at the guild, I read that one of the Evil King's generals is a spider human hybrid! That's why there's a big ol' spider web!" Akino informed us, ignoring Kiku.
"W-we really d-do not have time f-for this, r-right? W-why don't w-we just g-go around t-the town?" Kiku trembled.
"Are you ok, Kiku? It's odd to see you trembling and stuttering. Are you afraid of spiders or something?" I asked the quaking princess.
"O-of course not! I-I am not a-afraid of a-anything! I-I am just c-cold all of a s-sudden!"
"Ok then. Have it your way. Are you ready guys?"
"Alright! Let's kick another general's *** (butt)!" Mari shouted, running toward the town.
The rest of us followed, though Kiku hesitated before joining us. When we got to the entrance of the town, nobody prevented us from entering. I couldn't help but think that this was a bad sign that we were walking into a trap.
As we walked through the town, I saw many skeletons hanging from the web overhead. I shivered, thinking about how terrible their deaths were. Suddenly, I heard some whispering from above us. However, when I looked up, I saw nothing there.
"Did you hear that guys?" I asked the others, who had stopped walking.
Before anyone could respond, a long string shot down from above and wrapped around Kiku. She screamed so loudly I thought my ears would bleed. Everyone rushed to help her, but she was quickly pulled up into the giant web.
"Don't worry! I'll get you down!" Mari shouted up to her as she created a fireball.
"Don't! You'll burn everyone and everything to ashes if you do that!" Touwa shouted, grabbing Mari's arm.
"**** (darn) it! What are we supposed to do then?!"
"I think it would be best to take cover for now. There's no telling if or when another string of silk will come down."
As we turned to leave, someone spoke. When I turned around, I saw a spider woman looking down at us smugly.
"Where do you think you're going? Don't you want to come play with your friend? She looks awfully lonely. You don't have to worry though, I'll play with her if you want," the woman smirked, rubbing Kiku's face.
I could tell Kiku was on the verge of tears. She was so scared that she couldn't even scream.
"Get the **** (underworld) away from her!" Mari shouted, ready to jump onto the web.
"Tsk. Tsk. I wouldn't do that if I were you. You don't want me to hurt your little friend, do you?"
Worried Kiku might be harmed, Mari backed down. She may have been reckless, but she wasn't stupid. Charging in would only result in her and Kiku's deaths. We need to come up with a plan to defeat that woman.
"We should retreat for now. There's no way we can beat her if we just rush in," Touwa said, putting a hand on Mari's shoulder.
"Tch. Fine."
As we walked away, the woman laughed derisively. I could tell she was enjoying our plight. The girls and I snuck into one of the houses that didn't have as many spider webs on it. When we opened the door, I heard some scuffling noises in the back of the house.
"Hello? Is anyone home?" I asked nervously, fearing the worst.
As we walked closer to the back of the house, a small head popped out from behind a wall. Just as quickly it disappeared.
"Hello? We're not here to hurt you. One of our friends was captured by that spider woman so we need some shelter. We're going to try and figure out how to stop that woman and rescue our friend," I said, looking in the direction that the head disappeared.
After I had finished speaking, I heard some whispers from the dark room. Finally, a thin, frail looking harpy stepped out.
"Hello. Sorry for the rude welcome. You see, my people and I are very wary of everyone nowadays since Kumo has taken over our little village and has feasted on our neighbors. Are you really serious about defeating her?" the harpy asked, hope in his voice.
"Yes. Like I said, she has captured one of our friends and after seeing all of you living in fear, our only choice is to defeat her!"
The harpy's eyes brimmed with tears.
"Thank you all so much! We thought we would never be able to live in peace again! You have my word that we will do everything we can to help you defeat her!" he said to us before turning to the room. "Everyone, come on out! These girls are here to save us! We must help them!"
One by one, harpies walked out of the room. All of them looked thin and sickly. The children looked up at us with dead eyes. Seeing all of these people suffering made me extremely sad… and angry. Kumo was going to pay for what she did to these people!
"From what we've observed, Kumo's webs are nearly impossible to break free from. She seems to be able to create about ten strings in one sitting before having to take a break. Other than that, we haven't been able to find any major weakness," the harpy said after everyone had entered the room.
"I see. In our party, we have a sword, a water user, a fire user, a plant user, a ground user, an electricity user, an ice user, a darkness user, and a poison user. Obviously, we can't use fire or electricity in this situation since both of those powers would destroy everything… I guess we'll just have to try each one and hope for the best," Touwa concluded after analyzing the situation.
"A-are you sure that's a wise decision? I-if you go out there without a plan, it could lead to your deaths!" the harpy exclaimed, worried.
"Don't worry about us! We're stronger than we look! After all, we were the ones that took down Hebi!" Mari replied smugly.
"Y-you all took down General Hebi?! I-incredible!"
"Heh! It was nothing! We've defeated stronger enemies than her!"
With that, we left the house. I hope we'll be able to defeat Kumo and save Kiku.