Ch.1313. Opening (3)

Lea gripped the axe so tightly her hands turned pale white. Harvey and Robin froze in place, their faces stiffening. Baby spiders filled every inch of the cave, from the floor to the walls.

“Robin… drop your bag first.”

At Lea’s words, Robin silently put down his backpack. Harvey had a dagger in his hand, while Robin pulled out the mace he kept in his backpack. Sweat seeped into their palms. In their years as adventurers, they had faced many dangers. They had nearly lost their lives due to mistakes. But never had they so clearly faced death as they did now.

“Don’t think about anything else. We need to focus on breaking through here first.”

She was speaking to Robin and Harvey, but also to herself. If they fell here, they wouldn’t be able to save the hero fighting in the cavern beyond.

“That spider bastard. I thought it was strange that it just let us go.”

Harvey spoke with a trembling voice.

“So it didn’t matter whether we went in or not.”

“Hold your weapons properly. If things go wrong, we might need to try to get at least one person out.”

Lea tried not to think about what would happen next. She didn’t believe they could break through, but she had to fight with the determination to do so. She gripped her axe tightly and drove the blade into the mouth of a spider that leaped toward them.

==

The light emanating from the Holy Sword like a heavy, silent mist was too pure to be sunlight, yet too bright to be moonlight. It wasn’t as tumultuous as lightning, yet too destructive to be candlelight. If anything, it resembled distant galaxies and star clusters watching over the world, or the sublime otherworldly glow of a meteor streaking across the horizon and disappearing beyond mountain ridges.

“What… the hell is that?”

Aragrid’s voice was filled with shock. My body rose limply like a puppet, drawn by the light. It felt as if someone had threaded strings through the joints, bones, and muscles of my limbs and was pulling them to raise my body. The power flowing into me from the Holy Sword was that violent.

“How… a dying man…”

My ears were ringing. My bones, flesh, muscles, and blood vessels—every cell in my body was sounding an alarm as it absorbed the power flowing in. Honestly, this pain of enduring this power was far worse than the pain of broken bones and torn flesh. My body felt like it was collapsing inward while simultaneously expanding outward. I didn’t think my body could withstand this for long. I needed to end this quickly.

I gripped the Holy Sword with both hands and took up the stance again. The sword’s light intensified. With the intense magical current running through my entire body, I became like a heated gun barrel, and the Holy Sword became the projectile to be fired at the enemy. Seeing my stance, Aragrid contorted his face and stretched his hand forward.

“You think I’ll let you!”

Spider webs rushed toward me. The webs that had coiled like snakes at my feet formed nooses and caught my ankles. As soon as my ankles were caught, the webs spread like a net and clung all over my body.

“I’ll kill you right there.”

Aragrid showed his teeth in a vicious grin. He made a slight pulling gesture with his hand, and the spider webs tightened, trying to pull my body. The webs began to stretch with a sound like tearing cloth as they took the tension.

“…Why?!”

I wasn’t being dragged. I felt a pulling force as if hundreds of horses were trying to drag me, but my body didn’t budge an inch, as if it were a deeply rooted old tree—as if to justify the pain being inflicted on me. Aragrid’s expression turned to shock, then he pulled even harder, bringing in his own arms to help.

“Let’s see how long you can hold out. I’ll tear your limbs right off.”

My body and the spider webs were screaming. I tried not to lose concentration as I pulled against the webs, but the balance between Aragrid and me remained unbroken and tense. As a result, Aragrid and I were stuck, bound by spider webs and unable to move. In this situation, the spider had the advantage. While Aragrid and I were engaged in this tug-of-war, the baby spiders that had begun to surround me would eventually bite my body to pieces.

Then, the voice that had been echoing in my head spoke again.

“[Resistance isn’t always the answer. Use the power given to you.]”

The moment I understood the meaning of those words, I relaxed my body. The tightly pulled spider webs became like a bowstring launching me the moment I stopped resisting. Simplify the movement. I focused all my senses on the tip of the sword, recalling the movement I used to stab and kill the ash-gray bear. The magical power that had been dispersing like mist from the Holy Sword settled into the blade and shone even more brightly.

KAAANG-!

I heard a sound like a fighter jet tearing through the sky. It seemed to be the sound of the strongly concentrated magical power tearing through the air with the Holy Sword. The pressure on my body increased accordingly. It felt like the wind would tear me apart along with the air. I endured the pressure and pulled back my arm, ready to end Aragrid’s life.

Body.

I launched the Holy Sword, intending to pierce Aragrid’s abdomen. And at the last moment, Aragrid abandoned the fight and everything else, pulling on the web to launch himself to the opposite side of the cavern.

KWAAANG-!!!

The Holy Sword created a massive crater in the cavern wall, collapsing it. I was inwardly shocked and broke into a cold sweat at its tremendous power.

‘…Still, the attack didn’t connect.’

I felt the blade cut through something, but it didn’t seem to have pierced Aragrid’s body as I had intended. I clicked my tongue as I looked at the green fluid splattered on the floor. Through the rising dust, I could trace the fluid to find Aragrid.

“You… you dare!!!”

Aragrid’s “upper body”—that is, the junction where the woman’s body connected to the spider’s body—was half-severed and about to fall off. The part corresponding to the spider’s abdomen had also been torn by the sword wind, spilling its entrails, and the three pairs of legs attached to its sides were twitching and convulsing.

“I will devour you for certain-!”

Aragrid’s voice changed to a terrible noise like metal being scraped by a knife as it reached the end. Rrrip. Aragrid’s mouth tore open as if it had a zipper.

Aragrid, who had opened his head like lifting the lid of a garbage can, reached out and scooped up baby spiders like a shovel. No, I couldn’t call it a hand anymore. The “arm” that had resembled a human’s was now transformed into a spider’s limb with three segments.

Gulp, gulp.

The baby spiders were sucked into Aragrid’s mouth without resistance, like paper scraps being pulled into a shredder. I tried to finish him off before he could fully recover, but I hesitated and lost time when Aragrid sprayed poison in all directions.

As I faltered, that voice commented again.

“[Tsk tsk. You don’t even know how to properly use the Holy Sword.]”

I deliberately ignored those words and gripped the Holy Sword differently. After devouring dozens of baby spiders in an instant, Aragrid’s upper body began to wobble, losing its human form and melting down like candle wax.

Crack, crack, crack.

Along with the sound of breaking shells, Aragrid revealed himself again. The human upper body was gone, and this time it was just the form of a giant spider. The strange and somewhat beautiful appearance with a human torso protruding was gone; now it was just a large, disgusting spider.

KIEEEK-!!

Perhaps because the vocalization organs changed when the human upper body disappeared, no human voice could be heard. With such an appearance, it seemed wasteful to call it by name. Spider monster. In my mind, its designation changed from Aragrid to spider monster.

The light of the Holy Sword rose again. The pain eating away at my body was gradually becoming familiar. As the pain dulled, my body found stability. Now I felt I could use this power as I wished.

“…I’d like to kill you as slowly as possible and test a few things.”

I muttered as I exhaled. The spider monster shrieked sharply as if in response to my words.

“But thanks to you, I need to hurry.”

I could see it. Before activating the Holy Sword, I had just been swinging the sword blindly, but now I could somewhat see the path the sword should take. I could read the traces of the sword’s path in the flow of magical power spreading from my heart throughout my body, to my legs and arms. I raised my sword and aimed at the spider monster. Their escape route had been blocked when the wall collapsed from my first attack.

KIIIIEK-!!

The spider monster jumped up with its remaining offspring. Use the power. I lowered the tip of the Holy Sword without taking my eyes off them. In a situation where I didn’t need to overwhelm them with speed and power, there was no reason to charge at them.

First, one. The head of the first falling baby spider flew into the air. Before the cross-section could separate, the body of the next spider was split in two. The abdomen of the next spider was pierced, and a flash of light ran like a crack through the mass of falling spiders.

==

“…Robin.”

This was the third time she called. Robin gave no answer. Judging by the slight movement of his collapsed body, he wasn’t dead yet. Lea turned her head to look at Harvey, who had fallen beside him. His condition wasn’t much different from Robin’s.

If left like this, both would die paralyzed and eaten by spiders. They had used all their recovery potions. There was no way now to detoxify the poison slowly accumulating in their bodies from the spider bites.

“I don’t have much time left either.”

Lea felt her muscles gradually stiffening from the poison. Far from sending one person ahead, they hadn’t even managed to break through properly. Lea tried not to think about what would happen next. She didn’t believe they could break through, but she had to fight with the determination to do so. Staggering, she moved her arm to pull her axe from the spider’s body. The spider trembled at her feet, then flipped over and died.

Click, click.

Spiders were slowly gathering around the dying prey. Harvey’s fallen lantern illuminated the spiders, casting shadows over the adventurers’ heads.

KIEEK!

One spider rushed in impatiently, only to have its head split by Lea’s axe. The faster she moved her body, the faster the poison spread through her bloodstream. Lea was using her mana to slow its effects as much as possible, but she couldn’t hold it off forever.

“Kuk-.”

Starting with that spider, they began to rush at the adventurers one by one, as if testing them. Each time, they were either blocked by Lea’s shield or had a leg chopped off by her axe, but the spiders didn’t care and persistently attacked until their last breath. With each spider that fell, Lea’s movements became more sluggish.

Thud.

Lea’s legs had completely stiffened. She collapsed to her knees in front of Robin and Harvey.

She had always thought about death. As an adventurer, you never knew when you might die. She had lived with the thought of always carrying a will. It wasn’t uncommon for companions to return as mangled corpses the next day. Adventurers lived with the saying that they never knew when they might die. Lea, though she didn’t show it outwardly, thought she was prepared for death.

But when the situation actually came, what she felt was fear. Preparation didn’t mean readiness. Lea closed her eyes, breathing heavily. Even as all hope was fading like a candle in the wind, she still wanted to live.

“Hero…”

Was he still holding out down in that cave? Was he still holding onto hope, or had he despaired like her, or had he already been hunted by that spider monster and was being eaten in a miserable state? Seeing spiders as the last thing before death—what a wretched fate. Lea slowly lowered her trembling eyelids.

KWAAANG-!!!

That’s when the unexpected happened.

A thunderous sound echoed from deep within the ant tunnel. The spiders made clicking sounds and became agitated, then suddenly gathered together and rushed toward the depths of the tunnel. Lea blinked like someone suddenly awakened from drowsiness and quickly turned her head toward where the spiders had disappeared.

With the space that had been filled with noise now empty, all that remained were the occasional sounds of Robin and Harvey’s breathing. Lea held her breath and sensed the flow of magical power that had begun to stir in the depths of the space.

Thud.

Thud.

KIEEEK-!!

Sounds could be heard. Metallic sounds, the sound of flesh tearing, the screams of spiders, something heavy hitting the wall. The impact sounds were like the beating of a giant drum. The sound grew louder, seemingly matching the slow beating of Lea’s heart.

Thud.

Thud.

When the sound reached the space right in front of her, Lea sensed a familiar presence beyond the passage.

KWAAANG-!!!

The ant tunnel’s wall burst open. And through the flying dirt appeared a baby spider with trembling legs. The spider desperately stretched out its front legs, only to be stepped on by someone approaching from behind, spilling its blood and brain matter on the floor. That foot pushed the spider’s corpse aside and slowly began to step forward.

Step, step.

The footsteps walked through the passage and stopped in front of Lea, who was collapsed on the floor. In Lea’s eyes, she could see the blade of a sword glowing softly like a lantern.

“Is everyone alive?”

At the sound of the hero’s voice, a bright smile spread across Lea’s face.