Spider Queen Arachnainera – 5

My head spun rapidly. Unforeseen coincidences piled upon each other, leading to the worst possible outcome, so the situation was severely bad.

Rije was gradually being pushed back because she couldn’t use proper area-of-effect attacks while fighting to protect me, and Claudia’s limitations were clear from the start since her weapon was a greatsword.

Erica, who was caught by Arachnainera and on the verge of having her blood sucked dry while still alive, was beyond mention.

‘Is there a way? There has to be.’

I cut down a spider that leaped onto my face with a single stroke, then focused on thinking of a solution to break through this situation again.

First, saving Erica was the top priority, and next was preventing Rije and Claudia from being overwhelmed by the swarm of baby spiders. I had to achieve both almost simultaneously.

I desperately racked my brain, squeezing out thoughts. Solutions for each individual situation came to mind, but a solution that could handle them together simply wouldn’t appear.

A way to handle both things together, a way to do that…….

‘There is.’

Suddenly, a ray of light flashed through my mind. If I played it right, it was a solution that could handle both things at once and break through this situation.

‘……Is it possible?’

However, even I wasn’t confident that this would succeed.

If the development didn’t go as I intended, or if Arachnainera’s behavior differed from my prediction, I would surely die. This time, it was a gamble relying on probability.

‘No, that’s not right. It’s the same as dying if I stay like this anyway.’

I hardened my resolve. Yes. It’s the same as dying if I stay like this anyway.

First, Erica would die, and then Arachnainera, having recovered her health, would rush at us. So, we’d either die by having our blood sucked dry just like Erica, or be chewed alive and die. One of the two.

If I’m going to die either way, it was right to bet on the side with higher probability.

“Claudia!”

I shouted Claudia’s name. The situation was so urgent that there was no time to add honorifics. Her helmeted head turned in my direction.

“Lightning Storm! With maximum power!”

Claudia and Rije flinched simultaneously upon hearing my words. Though the words were cut short, it was obvious what that sentence meant.

“Are you crazy, Delta?! Then you’ll die too!”

“It doesn’t matter, so hurry! If you don’t use it, we’ll all die!”

I shouted, almost bullying them, omitting all honorifics and politeness. Claudia seemed to hesitate for a moment, then, as if she decided to trust me, changed her grip on the greatsword.

As if to secure time to use it at maximum power, I saw Claudia mercilessly striking lightning around her. I burst two baby spiders at once and turned my body towards Rije.

“Rije! You can survive on your own, right?”

“I can, but what about you, Delta?! Two people is too much!”

“Throw me over there!”

“What?!”

Rije gasped in astonishment. The place I pointed to with my finger was where Erica and Arachnainera were entangled.

Erica was desperately struggling and pushing Arachnainera away, but her limits were clear. If left like that, it would be 30 seconds at most.

“Are you really crazy, you?!”

“There’s no time, so do as I say quickly! Only then can we save Erica too!”

Rije stomped her feet, then alternately looked at her sister, who was on the verge of death caught by Arachnainera, the swarm of baby spiders gathering from all directions, and Claudia, who was preparing the Lightning Storm as I instructed.

And then, as if having made up her mind, she unleashed a Frost Storm, freezing everything around them.

“Are you sure?!”

“Wasn’t I always sure?!”

“Ah, seriously! Just you wait after this is over!”

An ice wall formed beneath my feet, and my body shot upwards. With a *Thump!* sound, my body soared into the air and flew straight towards Arachnainera.

As I slightly shifted my gaze, I saw Claudia preparing the Lightning Storm. *Sizzle*, lightning began to gather on her body. She spread her knees shoulder-width apart and raised the tip of her greatsword towards the sky.

“Die quietly, you tiny thing!”

Erica bit her lip tightly and glared at Arachnainera, who was baring her fangs to suck her blood. The armor she was wearing was practically rags.

Then, upon confirming that I was flying towards her, she opened her eyes wide.

I checked the blood-stained sword. The buff’s duration was still sufficient. All conditions were met, so from now on, I just needed to act as my body led me. I plummeted downwards.

I firmly gripped the sword with one hand and seized the back of Arachnainera’s neck with the other. A huge recoil came to my left arm gripping her neck. I gritted my teeth and supported my weight.

My body naturally connected to the next movement. Just like performing a plunging attack on a mid-boss in a Rune Dungeon.

I stepped on the spider’s carapace with my left leg, turned my body half a circle to face Arachnainera, and forcefully thrust the blood-stained sword into her collarbone area.

-*Thud!*

“Aaaargh!”

The Spider Queen thrashed, unable to bear the pain. Because of that, she dropped Erica, and Erica, who had tumbled to the floor, desperately moved her body to retrieve her weapon lying nearby.

I shouted with the sword still impaled in her collarbone.

“Erica! Flame Barrier! Hurry!”

“Huh? Yes, yes! I understand, Delta-ssi!”

Flames erupted from the katana in Erica’s hand. With this, Erica would also be able to survive the Lightning Storm. Rije would have already finished her defensive preparations. Now, only I remained.

Pulling the sword from her collarbone, I stepped on her leg and leaped upwards, so that I was floating in the air in front of Arachnainera.

‘Please, please, please!’

I inwardly pleaded, watching Arachnainera writhing in pain. Please, move exactly as I predicted, just like in the game.

“You insolent brat!”

And as if in response to my prayer, Arachnainera, with a heavily distorted expression, abruptly seized me.

‘It worked!’

What I had just done was a type of pattern inducement. Each boss had a skill they would invariably use if the player met certain conditions, and naturally, there was a way to induce those skills.

In Arachnainera’s case, if you jumped within reach of her upper body, she would unconditionally initiate a grab attack.

Once caught, there was no way to free oneself by normal means, so the developers must have thought that by programming the algorithm that way, they could restrict player actions.

However, users exploited this by casting spells with extremely long cast delays, then intentionally jumping at the right moment to induce the grab pattern, thereby guaranteeing the spell would hit.

The spell would hit as intended, and because Arachnainera would drop the player due to hit stun, the damage from the grab could be avoided.

It was notoriously difficult to time, but once mastered, it was definitely a useful technique, and my stratagem was similar to that.

Leaping from the ice platform Rije created to soar high, then performing a plunging attack from that state to make Erica drop, and then, after pulling out the sword and descending, jumping one more time to induce the grab pattern.

‘I’m really glad it succeeded.’

Honestly, it was a plan I wasn’t even confident about myself.

Because there was no guarantee that Arachnainera would drop Erica from the plunging attack. She could have just endured the pain and ignored me, killing Erica.

Furthermore, there was no guarantee that Arachnainera would use the grab pattern on me while I was airborne. After all, I hadn’t jumped from the ground, but had made an imperfect leap by stepping on a spider leg.

It was a plan where even if just one thing went wrong, we would have to pay the price with our lives, but this was the only method I could think of in that situation, so there was no other choice.

‘It’s truly a stroke of luck.’

I sighed inwardly with relief, facing Arachnainera, who had grabbed me.

“We meet again. Don’t we?”

“You came to die of your own accord! If dying is your wish, I shall grant it!”

Her initial archaic speech and enchanting voice had vanished without a trace, replaced only by a cracked voice and rough language.

“I’ll chew you up, leaving not a single bone fragment!”

*Rip*, this time, the mouth located beneath her abdomen opened wide.

That didn’t mean she would devour me with a human female organ. It would be more accurate to call it a spider’s mouth.

Of course, that was up to one’s own interpretation. Given its location, there were quite a few people who considered it a human sexual organ.

‘This should be safe, right?’

There were two types of grab patterns: with the human mouth, she would suck blood and kill, and with the spider’s mouth, she would chew up the player.

However, if caught while jumping, only the pattern of being chewed through the lower mouth appeared with 100% probability.

That is, the second pattern that would protect me from the lightning.

“How many times do I have to say it?”

-*Rumble!*

As a huge thunderous sound came from behind, Arachnainera abruptly froze, as if she had felt something eerie.

It was the sound of thunder, signifying that the Lightning Storm’s preparation was complete. I peered over Arachnainera’s shoulder to check on Claudia.

The dark gray steel greatsword was covered in lightning to the point where its original form was hard to discern, and so was Claudia. Tremendous sparks flew around her.

The baby spiders couldn’t even approach, trembling and curling their legs before dying.

“Go ahead and try, if you can.”

-*BOOM!!!!!!*

Soon after, the lightning struck.