They heard him long before they saw him, his boisterous laughter ringing out through the camp.
When they reached the gate, Archie was already waiting for them, the same bottle of alcohol in hand. He took a long swig before grinning.
"Ahhh, ther' she iz!" he said, strolling up to Zora. "Ow was the drink? Care fuh anuvva?" He thrust the bottle toward her.
Zora's stomach did a backflip at just the thought of tasting it again. "No... no, I think I'll pass," she said, waving him off.
Archie shrugged and turned to the gate. "Off we go den…"
As they followed him, Zora asked, "So how exactly do you plan on getting us past all of the spiders? You know… since they're literally covering everything." She gestured to the writhing blackened sky.
Archie let out a laugh and signaled to the guards. "Watch an' lurn."
He stopped just at the entrance of the open gate, took another swig, and burped. Then, casually, he set the bottle on the ground beside him.
Squatting low—so low his stomach touched his thighs—he raised his fist.
"God, that's so gross," Ivory mumbled.
Then… Archie started snoring.
Zora blinked. She looked at Paul, then Tori. They all shared the same baffled expression.
"Uh… I'll go wake him up," she said hesitantly, stepping forward and gently tapping his shoulder. "Archie?"
His eyes snapped open.
"AH!" He swung his fist wide in reflex.
The shockwave blasted Zora backward. She slammed into the guard shack with a crash, the impact knocking the wind out of her.
"E way iz clea'! Run fowud an' dun' stop!" she heard him bellow.
A hand grabbed her shirt and hauled her up. "Yer gonna need a boost, sorree abou' that!"
Then she was airborne.
"R-Ricochet," she gasped, he quickly zipped into her chest and she activated his power.
She crashed into the dirt beyond the gate, rolling several feet before coming to a stop.
Zora groaned just as something crashed into the ground beside her.
"HE BLEW A FUCKING HOLE IN THE WALL!" Tori screamed, grabbing Zora by the arm and yanking her up. "RUN!"
They bolted into the forest.
"Siri!" Zora gasped, still struggling to breathe. Catching the signal, Ricochet floated out and Siri shot into her chest in his place.
Zora's vision blurred—then shifted. The moment Siri synced, she snapped her head skyward, and just like that, she was there—falling, high above the treetops.
She sucked in a breath and spun in the air to get her bearings.
Holy shit.
Below, chaos reigned.
Paul—fully armored—was crashing through trees like a wrecking ball, Ivory and Lena clinging to his shoulders. They were doing their best to keep the spiders from crawling up his back, Lena disorienting them and Ivory grabbing strands, sending them flying. Webbing hissed through the air around them like missiles, forcing him to duck and weave with the weight of three lives on him.
Tori zipped around like a streak of lightning, her Eidolon made for this kind of high-speed insanity.
Behind them? A writhing black river of legs and fangs, closing in with terrifying speed.
How the hell are we supposed to get away from them? Panic started to rise in her throat—
Then she heard him.
That booming, joyous, drunken voice echoing through the woods:
"LE'S RUM-BUL!"
Zora turned her head to a higher point in the sky and teleported again, landing just above the treeline for a clearer view.
Where the hell is Archie? Her eyes scanned the canopy.
Suddenly—BOOM!
An explosion rocked the landscape. The trees below trembled violently. Even Paul stumbled, momentarily losing his balance.
And then… silence.
If only they could see it.
With a single punch, Archie had obliterated the entire horde behind them. Not a tree was left standing. Spider limbs rained down like grotesque confetti.
"That fatass did that!?" Nexus shouted
Zora teleported onto Paul's head, helping Ivory and Lena fend off the remaining stragglers.
"They just keep coming!" Lena shouted.
Suddenly—snap!
Webbing latched onto her ankle.
"Lena!" Zora cried, watching her get yanked into the forest mid-scream.
She prepared to teleport after her—
"Don't do it!" Ivory yelled, grabbing a thread and sending another spider flying. "We can't lose you too!"
"Behind you!" Ricochet shouted.
Zora jumped to the left just as spider fangs crashed into the space she'd just occupied.
Suddenly, Paul's entire body jerked sideways as something heavy slammed onto his left shoulder, forcing him to stumble mid-run.
"Dammit, Paul!" Ivory shouted trying to keep her balance.
Then—pop! pop! pop!
Every spider clinging to Paul vanished in a burst of gore. Explosions rippled across his armor until not a single spider remained.
A loud burp echoed from the impact point.
Archie had caught up.
"O'kay, yer can slow dahn now," he said casually, strolling into view with his bottle in one hand and Lena tucked awkwardly under his other arm—her face partially buried in his massive gut.
Paul slowed to a halt, bending down so the others could hop off.
Tori landed with a grunt, boots kicking up dirt. "I fownd this li'l un frollickin' off in th' woods," Archie added, setting Lena down like a sack of grain.
She stumbled upright, brushing webbing from her arms.
Then Archie turned to Zora with a grin.
"Yer lot are quite weak, aren'cha?"
Zora stared at him. "Weak?"
Archie nodded, plopping down onto the dirt with a heavy grunt. "Them spiders ain't strong in th' slightest. You shouldn't've 'ad any issues dealin' wiv 'em."
For the first time since they met him, he didn't seem drunk. His brown eyes were sharp—focused—as they swept over each of them with quiet judgment.
Paul's armor crumbled away as he stepped forward, the massive hulking golem he was turning to dust, tension still lingering in his jaw. Zora turned, scanning the others.
Lena had tears streaming down her cheeks.
Tori and Ivory avoided Archie's gaze entirely.
And Paul… Paul just looked hungry.
"I don't understand," Zora muttered.
Archie pointed a thick finger back toward the path they came from. "Ow many spiders did yer kill?" he asked, then answered for them. "They weren' strong. None o' 'em were partic'larly fast, or smart, or 'ad any notewor'thy abilities."
Zora glanced again at the team. They all shook their heads.
"Ex-ackt-ly" Archie stroked his beard, rising back to his feet with surprising ease for someone his size. "Yer might 'ave strong Eidolons—but yer weak. Yer 'aven't developed 'em at all."
The silence stung more than the truth.
Grunting, he turned and began walking toward the trees. "It's goin' t' be a long journey fuh yer lot. Come on. We're only abou' a mile out… an' we need t' be ten."