Author: Joshua Reynolds | Banner: Stephanie Hughes

It came without mercy. Puny villagers were little more than an annoyance to its armored exoskeleton. A kaiju of such relentless aggression that it had once taken the monster king and the prince kaiju to combine their power to thwart it. It was a man-eater, and a kaiju eater. Nothing could stop its insatiable appetite, and finally the arachnid reached Faro. How? Who knows.

Why?

To feed.

It took less than a day for Kumonga to ensnare the dozen or so huts in webs and feed on the trapped villagers. Slowly and methodically, he picked them out of his nets. Like a spider enjoying a buffet of flies, Kumonga fed without remorse. Not one single native escaped.

But an island god of thunder beckoned. His roar was heard for dozens of miles in every direction and as Kumonga digested his human meal, the ground began to shake. The jagged, rocky mountains that poked at the blue sky began to crumble, sending wave after wave of black rock rolling. The spider’s purple eyes were fastened on the silk-covered wooden wall the natives had constructed.

With ease, King Kong’s hairy hands tore through the webs and the wood. The spider slowly backed up, a needle-like stinger emerging from his mouth and sucking back in. At sight of the horrid spider, the Eighth Wonder beat his chest and lifted his human-like face into the air, releasing another booming war cry.

This cry mattered little to Kumonga. To the spider, the great ape was nothing more than another snack!

Before Kong could take another step closer, a spray of white silk burst from Kumonga’s face. The island god was taken by surprise and stepped back, bringing his hands up to his face as webbing quickly began to build. Kumonga moved in closer, his mouth releasing click-like noises as he continued to spray his webs. Soon Kong’s entire forearms were coated.

Knocked off balance, Kong fell back-first into the dead remains of several cocooned huts. The ape let out a series of snarls and groans as his fists struggled to rip the webs away. Kumonga slowly approached, keeping low to the ground as his stinger emerged from his face. Shaking his head, the Eighth Wonder lashed out with his foot. Before the arachnid could stab the weapon in, Kong’s flat foot smashed against the spider’s upper part of its face. Kumonga lifted into the air and fell upside down, legs kicking wildly.

The great ape took this time to focus his immense strength and, with a loud rip, the webs ripped apart, freeing his arms. The ape beat his chest, but suddenly realized the web that had once cocooned his arms now glued his hands to his chest! The ape again backed away, struggling to get his arms unstuck once more.

Kumonga had flipped himself back over and moved forward. The spider balanced itself on the tips of its eight legs, putting his face right into Kong’s. The ape again stumbled back, almost falling as Kumonga’s stinger emerged from his face. Enraged by this miss, the spider came back down, trying to embed the weapon in his foe’s knee. Kong leaped back, still struggling to again free his arms.

Using his superior speed, King Kong turned and ran back, struggling to remain balanced until he found his target: a pile of rocks. It was a gathering of boulders the natives made in cases just like this. The last time they were used was against a gigantic octopus some time ago.

The ape kicked them like a soccer ball. Several truck-sized boulders came crashing down on Kumonga. The spider released a series of clicks, annoyed as the boulders chipped and broke against his head. This distraction gave Kong enough time to again focus all of his strength, but this time pain came with the tear as his soft, mammalian flesh was torn off with the webs!

The Eighth Wonder let out a painful cry as his wounds let out trickles of red. Now able to use his arms again, Kong reached down, grabbing handfuls of the heavy rocks. Like a baseball winding up a pitch, the great ape launched several boulders at once. The rocks smashed into Kumonga’s face, being pulverized into pebbles as Kumonga was forced back.

The spider hissed and lowered its head closer to the ground. More and more rocks bounced off his exoskeleton, splintering it and sending small streams of strange fluids flowing. Kong snarled and charged forward, lashing out with muscular hands. He moved to the side, careful to avoid the stinger and reached down, grabbing two of Kumonga’s left legs.

The arachnid let out several quick “cracking” noises as his needle-like stinger repeatedly stabbed the air. Without effort, Kong hoisted Kumonga over his head. The spider’s long limbs flailed about as the ape turned around, throwing the spider at the remains of the wooden, silk-covered wall. The ruins fell into a cloud of dust, but before Kumonga could recover, Kong was on him!

Roaring as he charged, the ape again grabbed one of the predator’s limbs. Holding on with both hands, the ape pressed down on the body with his leg until finally…..

SNAP!

The leg popped right out of the body! Kumonga let out a scream as goo squirted out over Kumonga’s face. The ape tossed the appendage away and began to smash his foot into Kumonga’s thorax. The spider hissed and began to crawl away, but the ape was on him again. Dragging him back by two more legs, the ape swung and released him in a quick motion. The super arachnid was again hurled like a rag doll. It landed face-first on the ground, flipping upside down as several holes and gashes in its exoskeleton spilled fluids.

As Kong approached, the island god was blind by rage. The spider reacted just as quick, going solely on instinct, the arachnid’s stinger launched out. The ape suddenly screamed in sheer pain as the needle stabbed right into his big toe, underneath the large nail! The toe began to swell, blood being trapped underneath the nail, along with the venom that was quickly being transported through the body.

The ape fell back, grabbing his foot in pain. The spider again managed to flip itself over, moving forward awkwardly. The great ape reached out into the air as if trying to grab something to hold on to as his leg gave out. The venom was spreading quickly, and his vulnerable, mammalian cells were helpless against it. Kong fell back with a thud, grabbing his throbbing foot with his hand.

The other hand was held up front, palm open to protect himself. Kumonga hissed and began to spray more webs at the island king. Strands of web began to dangle from Kong’s arm as he began to wave his face and scream in horror. The webs collected, engulfing his entire arm and soon his chest and torso. Kumonga continued to advance, creeping forward on his remaining seven legs.

The spider stopped the spray for just a brief moment, his violet eyes reflecting the image of the struggling King Kong. With a happy chirp, the arachnid began to spray again, this time at an upward angle. Like rain, the web began to fall onto Kong’s vulnerable head. As the venom spread up from his foot, the webs covered his face. The ape’s eyes looked around frantically and he began to thrash. His arm was cocooned, and now his head and shoulders were also.

The great god fell back, still thrashing as Kumonga began to spray his lower body and legs. As the ape’s good leg kicked at the ground, a downpour of white silk cocooned the rest of his body. In less than two minutes, Kumonga had completely wrapped the Eighth Wonder in its sticky threads. The fifty-meter cocoon struggled and writhed on the ground, but under the effect of the lethal poison, Kong was helpless.

Kumonga chirped again and crept forward. His face mere inches away from Kong’s side, his stinger shot out, stabbing into the cocoon. The ape’s gagged screams rang loud again and again as Kumonga kept injecting more and more of his vile venom into his body. After six injections, the thrashing and moans began to stop. Like an oversized, dead fly, the once mighty King Kong was spider food…

And Kumonga had to do little more than wait for his chemical cocktail to dissolve the ape’s inside… allowing him to drink his meal…

Winner: Kumonga (Universal)