Author: James Webster | Banner: Christian Salabert

The cool stench arose from the canopy treetops on Monster Island. The sounds of birds silenced at the approach of a giant. The ground quaked as the black form trampled through the foliage. The deadly beast, Kumonga, with its eight ruby-like eyes, gleamed with hatred as it moved forward. Mimicking a machine, the grotesque spider crawled. The black pole legs, spearing into the ground like daggers. The arachnid had felt the presence of another. The tainted smell of blood flew through the air. But the prey was nowhere in visible sight.

Yet Kumonga knew better. He could literally taste the essence of the beast. Each corrupted thought of feeding flesh, and spilled blood, threw the tension into frenzy. The meal would be soon. Great ribbons of lusting foam dripped from its hollow bony fangs. Its sense of bloodlust rising like crashing waves on a shore. Adrenalin now coursed in its veins. The kill was near and it would be something for him to savor.

Suddenly the giant spider’s thoughts were broken, shattered by a loud beastly roar. Kumonga quickly turned its body just in time to see the tyrant charging. The jade green scales, glimmering in the sun. The ivory teeth, flashing with savoring drool. Powerful strides on ropes of muscled flesh moved the titan’s mass in blinding speed. The might of Gorosaurus was met.

The mammoth spider raised up and was in momentary shock at the sudden appearance of the creature. But even more so when the beast too rose into the air, rearing its hefty weight upon its barreled scaly tail. The taloned back legs, pulled against its oily skin, as the chiseled stone body lifted higher and higher. Fear bored into the eight-legged behemoth when it realized the true nature of the show.

A loud bone cracking sound shattered the air. The saurian slammed full force with its coiled legs upon the exoskeleton body of Kumonga. The arachnid screeched a banshee cry of maddening pain as its body was sent backwards, slamming into the ground. The huge dinosaur hissed and then began to mirthfully crush its downed foe. Stamping, raking, and clawing with its powerful three scythe-like clawed feet. And with each step and each cut, another shriek of torture bellowed.

Gorosaurus roared in frustration and quickly jumped off the battered arachnid. Howling again, the leviathan swung its massive tail into the mutant spider’s lifeless shell. The fevering whack sent the spider hurtling through the stale air. Moments of ebbing sands of time ticked by, before the many-limbed foe landed hundreds of meters away. Tearing through the earth, sliding on it’s back, Kumonga plowed through. Leaving only an open stretch of wounded earth in its wake. Dust and dirt hovered in the blue sky, surrounding and blinding the spider’s half glazed view.

Then, without warning, another tonnage of weight bashed against the mutant. A sharp, numbing pierce of icy torment raced through its body. Followed soon by another and another. Waves of pain flooded the arachnid’s tattered mind, only the cries of screeching horrible rage seemed to relieve what little it could. The dinosaur, though, continued to beat the spider’s soft underside with its fleshy tail. Kumonga’s legs flailed wildly at the attack. Sneering a fence of ivory sword teeth, the emerald lizard placed one of its massive clawed feet upon the prone body. New flashes of horror assaulted the downed black creature as Gorosaurus opened its rowed dagger mouth and prepared to grab hold of the beast with pike-like teeth.

Death raced through the spider’s mind in the next few precious seconds. Willing its body, the creature moved every limb it could. Only by luck of the slimmest chance, two of the arachnid’s dagger-like legs struck the enraged behemoth. Gorosaurus howled in pain and immediately released its hold. The creature’s legs were like swords, slicing deeply into his upper leg. Weeping wounds now graced the tyrant lizard’s thigh, wounds that were too much for the animal to stand on. Roaring in utter defiance, the being fell to its side, losing its balance.

At last, the tide of battle had turned, and Kumonga summoned its strength to flip back over. The sky next, was filled with the sound of a low hissing noise, as the Spiega began to spray the fallen titan. Thousands of sticky white strands leapt from the beast’s fanged mouth, extending hundreds of feet. Gorosaurus watched in pain as the sticky eggshell wisps of silk floated down and made contact with his pebbled skin. The milky gossamer substance was cold and dried almost as soon as it touched him. The huge dinosaur fought back fiercely, but it was fruitless. The web was too strong, and far too thick.

Hours ticked by before the gigantic spider finally stopped. Stepping forward on the motionless saurian, the creature finished the job. Extending from its mouth, a small needle like barb plunged into the tough skin. Injecting the helpless creature, the spider had won. The venom clogged the veins and arteries of Gorosaurus, running through its blood stream like light across the voids of space. Great gouts of air blasted from the lungs, and the stone idol-like mountain of bone cracked.

Cold flesh now covered the beast. The once powerful kaiju whipped its armored tail limply, and twitched its crocodilian jaws before falling as still as a great fallen oak. A sea of sanguine fluid spurted from its throat while organs burst from deep within. Gushes of drenched black blood, flooded the parched earth like rivers of insanity. Red and glistening the plants remained, their surface tainted by the loss of Gorosaurus. The dinosaur was a hill of dead meat, the organs all but shutting off, one by one.

Moving forward, the spider Kumonga fed on its hard fought meal, warming its mouth with the cup of victory.

Winner: Kumonga (Universal)