I can understand he was irrational due to his phobia , but literally dropping his sword to go pummel the spider with his fists was kind of dumb... He had the sword in his hand, it's not like he forgot to unsheathe it in his panic.
My fear of spiders is definitely that irrational, I have left my room and ran 2 blocks away because I saw one in the far corner, I came home a few hours later...