The Laughing Swordsman

Apollo swung his bokken at the air.

The way he saw it, the weaver would either charge at him or spit more acid.

There was no time to hesitate, so he simply hedged his bet arbitrarily.

Unfortunately, the spider did not charge him.

It spat acid.

His bokken passed right through the acid, splashing it over himself.

His skin sizzled and burned away, revealing his bright red flesh.

Apollo giggled.

"Off to a bad start..."

He smiled, but his lips were burnt off, giving him a sinister look.

His body slowly regenerated.

Apollo put away the two eagle berries. He twisted his head to look at the weaver with his blind spot.

The weaver seemed to be confident now that Apollo had been hit by the acid. It skittered forward disturbingly, its legs leaving afterimages in their wake.

Apollo's bokken flashed, sending a blade of wind to the weaver.

However, with incredible agility, the spider scurried to the side.

In the next moment, one of the spider's legs shot towards Apollo's heart.

As for Apollo, he charged forward.

Right before the spider leg pierced his heart, his bokken flashed.

The spider shrieked.

Its leg had fallen off.

The spider was already having difficulty keeping itself balanced. However, it did not remain there helplessly.

Three of its legs shot out, but one strike was off target. That left two legs that made their way towards Apollo.

As for Apollo, he did not stop advancing.

He brushed right next to death, letting the legs get right next to his chest.

Then, his free hand traced the blade of his bokken.

With a snap, both legs fell helplessly to the floor.

The spider shrieked in fear.

It attempted to retreat but did so clumsily. Losing so many legs greatly hampered its agility.

By now, Apollo's acid burns had healed over.

His eyes widened in glee.

He was going to make this thing suffer.

The muscles in Apollo's legs strained.

Suddenly, he bolted forward, appearing ahead of the weaver.

Apollo let out a flurry of strikes, directly taking off three of its legs.

Now, the spider only had two legs left. One on its left and another on its right.

The remaining legs could no longer support its weight.

Its body fell to the ground. The weaver dragged itself backward with its remaining legs, leaving a line in the dirt.

In a last ditch effort, it spat out dark green venom.

Apollo held his bokken with both hands.

The venom spread out like a blanket, ready to encompass Apollo.

But then, the bokken swung towards the sky, challenging the stars.

The venom abruptly shot out to Apollo's left and right.

The old man let out a girly yelp while ducking behind a tree.

Some of the venom passed right by his face.

Apollo's free hand traced the blade of his bokken.

Then, it snapped out.

The weaver's remaining legs fell off.

It let out a wail filled with despair.

Apollo rested his bokken on his shoulder and laughed mockingly.

"What will you do now?"

His head tilted the side like an eerie horror monster.

The spider could no longer move. The only thing it could do was shriek in pain as its wounds bled.

Apollo's laughs grew in intensity and cut off intermittently.

He did not give it a peaceful death.

Apollo watched over the weaver as it slowly bled to death.

He was like a caretaker.

A caretaker of death.

The old man nervously peered over the tree.

Should he be more scared of the monsters or the kid laughing his head off?

...Well, the kid didn't attack him.

It would probably be fine to stay with him.

After he calmed down, that is.

Eventually, death had swung his scythe, claiming the weaver's life.

Apollo's laughs died down, though his smile was still unnaturally wide.

The old man cleared his throat.

Still hiding half of himself behind the tree, he waved towards Apollo.

"Hey... you ok?"

Apollo's head twisted to face the old man.

"Yeah."

The old man scratched the side of his head.

"Ah, that's good."

There was a moment of silence.

The old man cleared his throat.

"Anyways..."

He blinked awkwardly.

"Want to go get some gardener fruit?"

Although Apollo was clearly a little unhinged, that did not bother the old man.

He himself was struggling to keep his sanity so he didn't mind getting a companion with a few odd quirks.

Apollo's eyes went back to normal.

"Sure, let's go."

The old man nodded.

"Alright, follow me."

Apollo walked over but still caught up quite easily because of how slow the old man was walking.

This was mostly attributed to the fact he kept stumbling over the tree branches.

At one point, the old man looked off to the left.

He smiled.

"Hehe, some plants in the forest act like parasites. They attach themselves to the corpses of gardeners and use them to grow."

There was a set of branches that grew from a withered corpse of a gardener. These branches had a small amount of grey foliage. There were a few circular blue fruits on top, the gardener fruit.

The old man reached out and picked one of them up.

The gardener fruit started to wriggle.

It attempted to break free of the old man's grasp, but it was like a fly in a spider's web.

The old man popped the gardener fruit in his mouth without much hesitation. It was clear he had done it many times before.

The old man made loud chewing sounds. He was enjoying the flavor.

After he swallowed, he let out a sigh.

"Ahh... that hits the spot."

Apollo casually picked one of the fruits as well.

Once he felt the fruit struggle, he raised his eyebrow.

"It feels like a small child."

The old man chuckled.

"The gardener fruit is more or less that."

Apollo casually tossed the fruit into his mouth.

It tasted like a blueberry.

Apollo shrugged his shoulders.

"Not bad."

The old man smiled.

"The only problem is if the black birds see you eating them. I lost my eye escaping from a swarm of them once."

Apollo looked up to the sky.

"Like those birds?"