Ah… This one’s no good.
The crack gets bigger, and the thing above the lake is gradually exposed.
And my instincts are yelling despair.
“Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiih!”
This thing is huge, nothing like an army spider general.
It breaks through the spider string and comes out. It has a big white membrane on its stomach, and the air trembles as it howls loudly while glaring at me.
《Army spider queen》
《C rank monster. A special variant species of army spider. On its own it’s a C rank monster, but its true terror derives from the immense swarm it leads. There are records of such monsters bringing a big country to the brink of destruction.》
C rank. A monster that really brings out the desperation.
It’s only one rank between D and C, but when it’s this big, it feels like a very large wall.
I feel things getting dark in front of me as I see the results of Appraisal. A monstrosity like this was in the Kingdom of Minowa…
“Kyuu.”
I immediately use Rapid Movement and start running. I have no time to hesitate, so I don’t waste time turning my back to the army spider queen.
“Gih!”
“Gih!”
A swarm led by army spider generals comes after me.
“Kyuu.”
The army spider queen still hasn’t moved. It’s just the generals after me.
“…”
Calm down.
As I run, I take a deep breath to calm myself.
If I just empty my mind and run, the country will be finished. I need to do something.
Let’s assume the army spider queen can’t move right now. If there are records of it bringing a big country to the brink of destruction, then I can’t beat it. The moment it moves out, it’s over.
It’s not moving, and it was inside that lump of string until just now.
With both these facts in mind, I’m going to assume it can’t move.
“(Freeze.)”
That means that right now, the army spider generals are my opponents.
Let’s ignore the queen. I’ll take it on after I evolve.
This is all I can do, so with that decision made, I freeze the path I came from with magic.
“Gihh!?”
The ground is slippery, so all the spiders stumble and slide in awkward positions.
The army spider generals are no exception. They try to advance, but can’t quite.
“(Felsfliegen.)”
I start creating rocks with magic and throwing them at the spiders.
They’re sliding too fast to dodge, which intensifies the impact of the rocks.
Their numbers go down, as they can’t do anything against my magic.
“Gih!”
“Gih!”
But army spider generals aren’t so weak. They’re tough, it’s like my rocks aren’t making a dent.
“Kyuu.”
Change of plans.
I start wrapping my lower body around a branch and go up. And I jump down just as an army spider general is passing.
“Giih!?”
I’m trying to throw off the posture of one of the army spider generals, so I use Gnaw on one of its legs that’s wide open for an attack.
“Giih!”
Another army spider general swings its leg at me, that’s sharp like a blade.
“Gih!?”
I activate Guardian Barrier to block it, and continue attacking the other army spider general to bite the leg off.
When the leg is severed, I create a metal rod with magic and insert it in the opening.
“(Be mad with rage.)”
Then I transform the pipe when it’s inside the army spider general, destroying its insides with thorns.
An army spider general is very tough on the outside, but that changes once I get in.
“Kyuu.”
One left.
I can move on the ice. My enemy is still sliding, and I quickly approach the army spider general while its posture is still screwed.
First, magic. I use wind magic to make the army spider general that somehow managed to face me fall over even more, and wrap myself around it.
My snake body is long. I can wrap myself around an opponent in a way that they can’t move.
“Kyuuu!”
In that state, I can use magic to strengthen myself and tighten even harder to try to kill it.
“…Gi, gii…”
I’m pretty strong when strengthened with magic.
It goes better than I hoped, and the army spider general slowly loses its strength.
But then a shadow appears over me, blocking the sun.
“…Kyuu.”
And then.”
“Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiih!”
I hear the army spider queen.
Ah, it’s over. There goes my hypothesis.
As I sit here in a daze, it drops its giant body to the ground.
“Giih!!!”
Swinging its legs at the ground as it falls is enough to shake it greatly and create big cracks.
That was just leg movement. If it actually hit me, I’d be dead. And the cracks make it harder to escape.
With one move, it made things clear to me.
‘Will you evolve?’
However…
“(Is it connected!?)”
I smile at god, who dropped a string of hope to me.
