The fog had lifted slightly by morning, revealing the valley below in pale gray light. The Settsu River slithered through the landscape like a silver ribbon. Mist clung stubbornly to the cliff faces, curling over rocks like restless spirits.
Raizen woke to a sharp poke in the ribs.
"Move. I said move," Kaito said cheerfully, though his tone was tinged with exasperation. "You've been lying there like a corpse for twenty minutes. You're giving me a headache just by existing."
Raizen groaned, trying to sit up. His shoulder flared with pain, veins dark and swollen under the skin. He winced. "I feel like a corpse," he muttered.
"Not the point," Kaito replied, shoving a cup of cold river water into Raizen's hands. "Hydrate. If you die before breakfast, I swear…" He waved vaguely at the valley below. "The Weaver wins? Is that what you want?"
Aoi crouched nearby, arms crossed, eyes flicking from Raizen to Kaito with a mix of disbelief and irritation. "You know, some of us are trying to survive. Some of us don't need comic relief," she said.
Kaito grinned. "Ah, lighten up, Aoi. You've got enough tension in your eyebrows to carve the cliff into a sword. I'm doing this for morale."
Mika, sitting silently on a rock, rolled her eyes. "Or making it worse."
Raizen finally sat up, shoulder aching like fire, and looked around. Haruka had already laid out herbs, bandages, and a small assortment of dried food. "Morning," she said, deadpan. "If anyone complains about the taste of moss jerky, you'll be tasting your own disappointment."
⸻
Healing and Strategy
Haruka knelt beside him. "We can't move fast if you don't stabilize. The poison… it adapts to stress. So no heroic charges, no staring down monsters in dramatic silence, no…" She narrowed her eyes at Kaito, "gesturing wildly while shouting your own name."
Kaito waved a hand dismissively. "Fine, fine, no heroic charges. Got it. I'll just sneak up behind the Brood Lord and… wait, actually, that might be a bad idea."
Raizen ignored him, focusing on Haruka. She pressed a heated poultice to his shoulder, murmuring chants under her breath, carefully drawing the poison outward. The veins darkened further, twitching like living shadows.
"It's slow," she warned. "But you'll recover if you let it. This is the first stage of real healing—blood circulation, cleansing herbs, mental focus. Pain is part of it. Don't fight it, don't fight yourself."
Aoi shifted uncomfortably. "Pain is part of it," she echoed, eyes on Raizen's face. Her fists flexed automatically. "If anything tries to touch him while he's like this—"
Mika snorted softly. "That's called a personal boundary, Aoi."
Aoi scowled. "Not funny."
Kaito leaned back, smirking. "I'd pay to see Raizen try to fight three of your temper tantrums. That's probably more lethal than the Weaver."
Haruka's eyebrows shot up. "Kaito, don't test him. He's currently more poison than man."
Raizen managed a weak smile. "Thanks, everyone. Really. Feeling popular today."
⸻
Scouting the Valley
By mid-morning, Raizen was mobile enough to walk, though slower than usual. The group moved carefully along the cliffs, scanning for movement or unusual patterns.
Senji led the way, using his knowledge of terrain to detect faint disturbances in soil and foliage. "The Weaver doesn't rest," he said quietly. "Every step you take is observed. Even this far from the city, threads still extend across the valley. Scouts will report to Warriors. Warriors will report to Weavers."
"Great," Kaito muttered, kicking a loose stone. "We're basically the Weaver's Wi-Fi network. I feel so connected."
Aoi ignored him. She stayed close to Raizen, scanning for ambushes, hands ready. Even in daylight, she moved like a shadow. Mika mirrored her on the other side, calm and precise.
Haruka watched Raizen, occasionally brushing strands of his hair out of his face. "You need to pace yourself. Don't push too hard. The poison could spike at any moment."
Raizen nodded, keeping silent. He already felt the lingering pulse in his veins—the black blood twitching like coiled threads beneath his skin.
⸻
The First Scouts of the Valley
The quiet was broken by the snap of a twig. Senji froze immediately, hand raised. Aoi crouched, shifting her weight. Raizen gripped his sword, slower than usual, but his calmness remained intact.
Three Tsuchigumo Scouts emerged from behind a ridge. They were human-shaped but twisted—limbs slightly elongated, skin pale, eyes reflecting the morning light like glass. They paused, observing.
Kaito groaned. "Can't we just… talk?"
Mika's eyes narrowed. "Not a chance."
Senji whispered, "They're testing formation again. Move carefully."
The Scouts attacked simultaneously, darting forward with unnatural speed. Raizen raised his blade, stepping into the first strike with precise timing. His body was sluggish, but his mind was sharp. He parried one scout's swipe, pivoted, and slashed at the other's shoulder—enough to slow it down.
Aoi and Mika moved like mirrored shadows. Aoi ducked under a swing, elbowing a scout's jaw, then flipped over its back to land a crushing kick to its spine. Mika struck joints and pressure points with clinical precision, leaving two scouts incapacitated before they realized what happened.
Kaito waved his sword wildly, striking one scout in the side. The attack was clumsy, but the scout stumbled, giving Haruka the opening to sweep her polearm in a wide arc. Bones snapped. Black ichor sprayed.
Raizen felt the poison surge when he blocked a final strike. Pain flared up his arm like fire, but he focused. Step, parry, twist, slice. One final clean strike. The scout collapsed.
⸻
Aftermath and Discovery
The Scouts lay defeated. The valley seemed to hold its breath again. Raizen leaned on his sword, breathing shallowly.
Senji knelt near the ground. "They left something."
Everyone turned. Senji traced faint glowing sigils in the soil—the Weaver's communication markers.
"They're coordinating," Senji explained. "Not just in the city. Across the valley. Any move we make, they can sense it."
Aoi flexed her fingers. "So they know we're here. Great."
Kaito sighed. "We're basically the Weaver's GPS now. Fantastic."
Haruka pinched the bridge of her nose. "Kaito. Just… don't."
Raizen exhaled. "Then we need a plan. And we need to move before more show up."
⸻
Camp on the Cliff
By nightfall, the group made camp near a narrow cliff overhanging the valley. The fire was small, shadows stretching unnaturally. Black threads twitched across the rocks, remnants of Weaver influence.
Raizen sat quietly, letting Haruka finish her work on his shoulder. Aoi stayed beside him, almost silent, eyes scanning the dark. Mika leaned against a rock, arms folded, expression unreadable. Kaito, of course, tried to start a conversation.
"So," Kaito said, poking at the fire, "anyone else think Raizen looks like a very brooding, very emo Buddha right now? You know, very contemplative, very deadly, slightly poisoned?"
Aoi shot him a glare sharp enough to slice stone. "Shut up. He's trying to heal."
Kaito raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine. But I call it 'poisoned Buddha mode.' It has a nice ring."
Haruka muttered, "I swear if you get eaten by a Weaver because you're busy making jokes, I'm leaving you for the spiders to deal with."
Even Raizen allowed a small, almost imperceptible smile.
⸻
Foreshadowing the Brood Lord
From the cliff, the shadows shifted unnaturally. A massive silhouette moved among the fog—a Brood Lord. Limbs thicker than any Warrior, its head obscured by mist, yet undeniably alive.
Senji's gaze hardened. "That's no Weaver. That's the Brood Lord."
Raizen's hand tightened around his sword hilt. Poison or not, he felt the weight of what was coming.
Aoi instinctively positioned herself in front of him again. He didn't protest. Not yet.
Haruka sighed. "If it comes, we'll fight. But we need a strategy, not a frontal assault."
Kaito groaned. "And I suppose I'm volunteering as morale booster again. Fantastic."
Mika simply watched the silhouette in silence, calculating, patient, already planning for what would come.
The fire crackled. The fog swirled. And in the distance, the Brood Lord watched.
The hunt had only just begun.