As Kyouka draws her new blade, the statues make an all-out attack, swarming the small group. After several minutes of fighting, the group is out of breath, standing among the shattered statues as they realise they've won, at least for now. Kyouka in particular notices that her new blade performed exceptionally well, carving through her enemies almost without resistance. Chitsukiko leans against Jian, before angrily looking at Kyouka. "Y-You didn't..." She wipes sweat from her brow. "You didn't think about asking us before you started a fight? We could have died!"
"We're not sure either, aside from the fact that your lord was assassinated." Yatsebe's father frowns, whilst Yatsebe puts her hand on Midori's shoulder. "I'm glad you were all right."
"Oops." Kyouka gave a childish reply as she stares in awe at her new weapon. "Well, we came out alive. So, no need to sweat the small stuff." She shrugged, taking the sheath from the well dressed statue. For now, she straps it next to her current blade. "Alright. Now then... how do you guys plan on taking this home?" She points at the exquisite set of armor, while grinning as she pats her new blade.
Jian took a knee, quite exhausted from the fight, 'Hah, that was... unexpected. Maybe we should grab the armour and sword and return to the surface to try another day?'
Chitsukiko undoes the armour, placing it piece by piece into the packs they brought with them. As they begin to walk out, however, Kyouka hears a scuttering noise from above, as Jian hears something else, a female voice speaking to him. "Well done! Well done... Thank you for removing those pesky statues, and getting yourselves nice and exhausted. Now, if you wouldn't mind, my friend is a little hungry..." As he looks up, Jian sees what Kyouka sees. The massive spider crawls down from the ceiling, mandibles chittering as it eagerly looks upon its next meal.
While Chitsukiko leaves, Kyouka remembers to reload her matchlock. But as they're about to leave, hearing the spiders return. She sighed as she looks up, thinking they were simple pests. Up until she saw the huge arachnid, "Great! Just great! I already have a sparring partner to test out my new sword!" She exclaimed in excitement as she draws her new blade.
'By all the spirits,' Jian looked at the spider, before he looked to the others, 'We have to go and quickly, we can't fight that thing in our state.'
"Tse. Fine." Kyouka groaned, though she wanted to fight. Risking other people's lives for a quick thrill wasn't her cup of tea. She immediately sheathes her sword, and uses her matchlock to fire. "Go!" She yelled, knowing the ronin would probably be paralyzed from seeing such a beast.
'Don't play the hero, let's go,' Jian tried to sway Kyouka and grabbed the Ronin by the hand, fearing she'd freeze up otherwise, he looked to Chitsukiko, 'C'mon, this way.' He tried to flee through the way they had come in.
"I'm no hero! I simply want to see how much strength I'll need to use to cut this guy down!" Kyouka replied as she fired right into the giant spider's many eyes. After that she retreats, while slowly attempting to reload.
The creatiure lets out a piercing shriek, one of its eyes popping as a bullet pierces it, and darts forwards to attack. It stops as the group gets back into the tunnel, massive body too large to fit inside, but the reprieve is brief. Soon, they hear the telltale sound of spiders rushing towards them in the cramped space.
'Good shot, but quickly now! Before they surround us,' Jian said, and brought up the rear of the group, weary if the big spider would find another way to them again. There was no telling what kind of tunnels were around them unseen.
"Its head, huh?" Kyouka said to herself as she ran with the group. "Anyway, I think returning to the large area we first met those bastards in, is a bad idea. Hell, maybe that big thing was even watching us the whole time." She called out, "So... how about we try the stairs leading up?"
'We have no idea if there is a way out up there,' Jian said, 'But you are right, the big one could be waiting for us in the cavern, even if it isn't it's little friends are.'
"Alright! Looks like we have our destination." Kyouka cheers as they backtrack to the throne room. However, instead of going back to the spacious cavern. They head up the stairs, while keeping theor eyes and ears open for the little spiders.
“Thank you,” Midori gave Yatsebe a warm smile. “Well, nothing we can do about lord Yokuboo now, I just hope there won't be any more deaths. The country really does not need any more chaos or destruction right now, when the new Emperor's reign is just starting.”
She's handed a cup of tea by Yatsebe's father. "Indeed. Tell me, do you have ambitions here in the capital? Things you'd like to achieve?"
