The spiked spider jumped as it neared 6, aiming the two spikes on its head toward 6's own head.
6's foot touched the ground just as the spider jumped. Not wasting any time, 6 dropped down as fast as he could, hoping he could dodge the spider before the spikes pierced through his skull.
Soaring just over his shoulder, one of the spiders leg smacked 6 as the rest of it passed harmlessly over him.
Just the impact of the single leg brought a wave of pain to 6, leaving him sure that he would have a nasty bruise on his shoulder tomorrow, and even more sure that the spikes on the spider would have penetrated through his skull easily, even with the Protective Blessing of Trivrium coating him.
He rolled toward the larger spider, bringing his entire body to the floor as the spiked spider once again flew just over his body as he dropped.
Now he knew what the spikes on its body were for.
More importantly, he knew he needed to take down the large spider as fast as possible, else the constant dodging would tire him out before he could deal with both spiders.
Activating [Intensified Blood Flow] as he moved, he jumped up from the ground, vaulting over the body of the spiked spider as it lunged once again, using it as a platform to throw himself toward the large spider.
Falling to the floor after being used to propel 6 forward, the spiked spider jumped directly to the ceiling, running along it faster than 6 was beneath it, arriving directly above the large spider before 6 was even halfway there.
With his knife drawn, 6 continued running, hoping to not let on the fact that he knew the spiked spider's intention and that he had a plan to deal with it.
Despite activating [Intensified Blood Flow], giving himself a substantial boost, 6 remained moving at as similar a speed of movement as possible, doing his best not to giveaway the fact that he was faster and stronger now.
As the spiked spider through itself off of the ceiling, aiming to impale him from above as he struck toward the large spider, 6 back stepped, pulling away and leaving the spider on a path toward the floor rather than through him.
Before it could make contact with the floor, 6's knife was already moving, striking toward the spider with the full force and speed of his buffed self.
With a clink, like the sound of metal striking metal, 6's knife bounced off of the spiked spider's back just as it landed on the ground.
Unphased by the blow, the spiked spider jumped to one of the nearby walls to line up for another go.
By now, the large spider had reacted to the sudden movement around it, realizing that there was an intruder.
Slowly, it began moving toward 6, a nice change of pace for him after the lightning fast movements of the spiked spider.
Not letting his total failure of an attack affect him, 6 switched gears, now totally focused on killing the large spider after realizing how tough the spiked spider's body was.
Gripping his knife tighter, and able to move at his full speed after failing to kill the spiked spider with his trick, 6 ran toward the large spider one again.
He didn't even manage two steps before he heard the spiked spider jump once more, forcing him to jump to the side to avoid being skewered.
Resuming his sprint, he jumped toward the large spider, striking the spider's head with his knee.
As he did so, forcing the spider's head to recoil from the sudden blow, he used both hands to thrust the knife into its head from behind, ignoring the fact that if it was successful in piercing the spider, the knife would stab directly into his own knee.
Unfortunately for his need to kill the spider, but fortunately for his weak desire to not stab himself in the knee, the knife failed to stab through, piercing only about an inch deep before stopping.
The spider was so tough that had 6 not had [Intensified Blood Flow] active, his knife may not have pierced the spider at all.
To make matters worse, it didn't seem to mind the wound at all, moving as if it wasn't affected in the slightest.
No goo was on 6's knife either, indicating that he failed to even draw blood with his attack.
The spider's square head pulled back, away from 6 entirely, drawing the entire head into its body like a turtle, leaving 6 stunned.
Frowning, 6 pulled away, intending to put some distance between himself and the large spider.
Just as he did, however, the spiked spider jumped toward him from the ceiling behind him, forcing him to jump forward to dodge the spikes, putting him back in front of the large spider.
Rather than finding another vantage to attack from as usual, the spiked spider instead ran toward 6 in an arc.
6 pulled away, not wanting to allow the spiked spider near him as he had no idea how it would attack him next, especially as he didn't know what the large spider was planning, as it hadn't moved much since pulling its head back.
Suddenly, the spiked spider jumped once again, but this time away from 6, toward the wall on the opposite side of the room.
Puzzled, 6 glanced its way, not wanting to be shocked by whatever move it pulled next.
Luckily for him, it allowed him to witness the spider shooting out 2 strands of web, one from the a spike near the front of its back, connecting the web to the ceiling, and the other from the tip of one of its legs, which was pointed toward the wall it was jumping toward.
When the web from its leg made contact with the wall, rather than sticking to the wall as expected, it pushed the spider away from the wall with a massive amount of force.
Using the web on the ceiling, it swung to the opposite side of 6, approaching him from behind.
Though the speed was much slower and easier to manage than the usual speed of its jumps, the unexpected turn took 6 by surprise, and as he dodged, he landed just in front of the large spider once more.
The spiked spider once more ran toward 6, not intending to et him catch his breath, and slashed towards him with one of its feet, using the spikes on the joints as a weapon.
By now, 6 had noticed that the spider was extremely focused on keeping him in front of the large spider for some reason, basically corralling him like a shepherd dog.
Whatever the reason, 6 knew it wouldn't be good for him, and he needed to break from the spiked spiders attack and get away from the large spider.
For this goal, 6 switched up from his defense, dodging style, doing his best to attack and put pressure on the spiked spider instead.
He was sure that if he just tried to move, dodge, jump over, or position himself in anyway to separate from the large spider, that the spiked spider would interrupt him with an attack, forcing him into a less advantageous position.
If he could catch it off guard on the other hand, he would have a chance to gain some control over the fight.
6 met the leg of the spider as it slashed toward him with his knife, catching upon on of the spikes, interrupting its slash.
He pushed forward, using the advantage of his larger size to push the spider back, and followed up with kick to the side of the spider.
Luckily, the spikes were round and weren't sharp on the edges, or attacking the spider from basically any direction would be dangerous.
Though the kick did almost not actual damage to the spider, considering the even his knife didn't injure it, it did knock it off of its feet, rolling a few feet away. It landed on its feet, however, and immediately jumped to the ceiling, then jumped at 6 again, aiming to impale him or force him back in front of the large spider.
As 6 was prepared for the spider to do exactly as it had, he was ready for when it jumped toward him.
With the side of the knife, he slammed it against the spider's two spikey horns, knocking its head up and away from stabbing him.
That didn't stop its momentum, however, and it continued forward into 6.
The underside of its head made contact with 6's shoulder, and with all of his strength, 6 threw it across the room, launching it into a wall.
Unable to land on its feet this time, the spider smacked onto the wall and fell toward the ground, before one of the spikes on its back shot out a web toward the ceiling.
With surprising force, the web pulled the spider up to the ceiling as if it was a grappling hook, and the spider remained still on the ceiling as it looked at 6.
Seeing it freeze, 6 froze in his spot as well, satisfied with his current position, which was out from in front of the large spider and a good distance away, enough to be able to react to whatever the large spider did once its turtle-like head returned.
The spiked spider continued staring at 6, its beady eyes not leaving him.
6 was uncomfortable with the eye contact, but as the spider currently had the advantage of distance as well as position, he was content with allowing a pause in the combat, giving him time to consider his options and decide on his next course of action.
Firstly, whatever the large spider was doing had to be avoided, and then he needed to deal with it before it could pull its head back inside its body. He wasn't strong enough to do any real damage to its body if it was as tough s the head, which from its appearance it probably was, so his only option was taking it out through the eye or mouth as he had done to the last large spider he killed.
Secondly, he needed to think of a way to deal with the spiked spider.
It was fast, too fast, and he couldn't bet on stabbing it in the eye as he could the slowly and bulky spider behind him.
Nor could he simply outrun it. It was way, way too fast, and it could definitely keep up with him no matter what he did.
He needed a way to disappear from its sight without it seeing where he went, that way it had no way to follow him.
While 6 was thinking, the spiked spider tilted its head, looking at him as if it was gloating.
The face of the spider itself showed no change, but 6 could swear it was almost smiling at him, as he heard a rumbling from behind him.