Ch.132Chapter 132

The Wendigo possessing Quick moved around, adapting to its new body. Just as when possessing birds or deer, controlling another creature’s body was more uncomfortable than expected.

“What… exactly are you doing in front of me?”

The spider woman crossed her arms and muttered in disbelief. The sight of a mouse doing stretching exercises before her was simply absurd.

What mouse in the world would leisurely stretch while under threat?

Once the Wendigo became sufficiently accustomed to the body, it looked into the spider woman’s eyes and spoke.

“I apologize. This is my first time possessing a mouse.”

Flinch.

At the word “possessing,” the spider woman’s mouth, split into four parts, twitched.

As she seemed ready to let out a terrible shriek and crush Quick with her legs, the Wendigo raised its front paws to calm her.

“Calm yourself. Quick is merely a mouse… and I don’t know which god you speak of, but I am no god.”

“You expect me to believe that? Only gods have enough time to visit this useless snow-covered land!”

The spider woman glared fiercely at the Wendigo with bloodshot eyes.

Eyes swirling with madness and hatred, devoid of even a trace of reason.

The Wendigo immediately realized that the spider woman was not a being capable of rational conversation.

Only madmen can converse with madmen… unfortunately, the Wendigo was perfectly sane. In such situations, it was wiser to guide the conversation toward what the other party wanted to say.

“…Yet you also live in this snow-covered land. What circumstances brought you to such a place?”

The Wendigo casually posed the question to the spider woman.

Judging by the human-like atmosphere in the spider woman’s lair, she clearly had a personal history.

The Wendigo’s guess proved correct, as the spider woman grabbed her head and staggered. As the spider’s legs wobbled, the mice were startled and scurried to avoid her.

“I, I am not meant to be in such a place…”

‘Well, she’s properly insane. Losing her composure when questioned by someone she just called a spy.’

While the spider woman was recalling her fragmented memories, the Wendigo signaled to the mice to escape.

Having completed the original purpose of investigating, there was no need to leave them in this dangerous place.

The mice stood on their hind legs, beat their chests, and let out sorrowful cries.

“Squeak! Squeak squeak squeak!”

‘…I wasn’t planning to let Quick die either.’

The Wendigo was bewildered as it understood their cries. The mice had interpreted the signal as meaning they should escape while Quick distracted the spider woman.

Of course, in an unavoidable situation, Quick might lose his life too…

The Wendigo, who had no intention of sacrificing him, felt uncomfortable. It felt like being a piece of trash who had used the mice as disposable pawns from the start.

…Though that had been the backup plan if necessary.

‘Now I definitely need to keep him alive and bring him back, if only to ease my conscience.’

“I, I am not someone who should stay in a place like this. I must return to the kingdom and become queen!”

Having successfully recalled her memories, the spider woman closed her grotesquely split mouth and moved her human mouth as she cried out.

The Wendigo hoped her story would be tragic enough to justify unleashing a murderous spider upon the world. If not, she would have to pay for her sins with her life.

The spider woman slowly began to speak, recalling her glorious past.

“I am… I am Princess Zeloa of the Sparti Kingdom. The rightful heir and the one destined to wear the five-colored crown as queen!”

‘The Sparti Kingdom… never heard of it.’

The Wendigo thought that the spider woman, Zeloa, might be much older than expected.

Besides the Empire and the Old Empire, many kingdoms existed in the world. To the south of the Old Empire, there were quite a few kingdoms building their strength while dreaming of past glory.

However, from what the Wendigo had learned from Skadi and Geron, no kingdom called Sparti existed.

Most likely, Zeloa’s kingdom was one forgotten by history.

To resolve the situation with the wild-eyed Zeloa, the Wendigo told a lie.

“I know of the Sparti Kingdom’s reputation. I understand it was a mighty and prosperous kingdom.”

“So you understand the kingdom’s greatness. You may be a god’s spy, but at least you have discerning eyes.”

Zeloa, apparently deeply attached to her kingdom, nodded with a savage smile. As if doing the Wendigo a favor, she spoke about her kingdom’s greatness.

Her ancestors and parents had subjugated more than six cities, beheaded false kings, and to raise true warriors, they threw children off cliffs…

“What?”

The Wendigo sighed in disbelief. Waging war to expand territory was common throughout history, but how could anyone treat children’s lives so callously?

When the Wendigo sighed, Zeloa smiled and mocked its foolishness.

“In a world where the weak live miserably and die unhappily, what’s a life worth? If they survive the cliff, they can become glorious warriors of Sparti.”

“……”

Glory or not, throwing children off cliffs seemed like madness…

The Wendigo wondered if Zeloa wasn’t insane but had always been this way. Her ideology was disturbingly twisted.

Zeloa, recalling those glorious days, clutched at the air and ranted passionately.

“Our wisdom attracted the attention of many gods. Especially… Nergal loved us dearly.”

They built a massive statue for Nergal using captured slaves, and Sparti held life-threatening gladiatorial contests every year.

The wisdom of the Sparti royal family, who perfectly understood the god’s cruelty, was sufficient to earn Nergal’s favor, and Sparti’s warriors subjugated the foolish with their strength.

Zeloa had considered it a true honor to shoulder this glorious task.

At least until she became a hideous monster due to a god’s curse.

“If it weren’t for that damned god!!!”

BANG!!!

As memories she’d rather forget surfaced, Zeloa revealed her grotesquely split mouth and violently swung her legs at the ground and walls.

Her hard spider legs shattered ice and rock indiscriminately. Obviously, if Quick’s fragile body were hit, it would be torn to pieces.

The Wendigo used its light body to jump across the debris and hide.

If the irrational Zeloa attacked Quick in anger, its life couldn’t be guaranteed.

With her broken personality, she would surely blame Quick rather than herself for any mistake.

Peering out from behind the debris, the Wendigo asked Zeloa:

“What grudge did that damned god have to curse you like this?”

“It was… because of a man. Just, just because of a handsome man, he cursed me! Me, who received Nergal’s favor!”

The reason for cursing the sole heir of a royal family favored by gods was merely because of a man…

‘Would a god curse someone for something so petty… actually, maybe.’

It seemed unlikely that a curse would be cast for such a trivial matter, but thinking about it, it wasn’t impossible.

The gods of this world were honestly quite childish.

When her plaything of a man fell for Zeloa, she incurred the wrath of…

“It was a just war! What’s wrong with skinning the flesh of my enemy?”

‘…A curse alone was quite merciful.’

The Wendigo was amazed at Zeloa’s wickedness. It was a kind of talent.

How many humans in the world could live proudly after flaying someone alive?

Considering that the god only cursed her without taking her life, whoever cursed her must have been quite kind.

Perhaps due to her excitement, Zeloa continued to spill her past memories. Maybe she was unburdening herself after finally meeting someone capable of conversation.

She was supposed to be the greatest warrior queen who would usher in Sparti’s golden age.

Countless heroes risked their lives courting her for a single night.

She even planned to use armored spiders, which were like her own children, as weapons of war to destroy the kingdom that followed that accursed god…

“Only, only to show my anger to that god did I lurk here. Even though decades have passed, I will surely—”

“Did you just say decades? I think you’re mistaken about something.”

Zeloa, who had been muttering in her own world, turned her head at the Wendigo’s comment.

Her face was eerily empty, as if it was hard to believe she had been angry just moments ago.

“What did you just say?”

“I said you seem mistaken… but it appears it’s not a mistake after all.”

The Wendigo shook its head, recalling the scent it had detected in Zeloa’s words.

She had known all along that she hadn’t spent just a few decades in this cave. She simply wanted to deny that fact.

The Wendigo told her the truth in a matter-of-fact voice.

“It’s been 4000 years since the gods disappeared. I’ve never heard of a kingdom called Sparti. It probably perished long ago and vanished into history.”

“Ha! You dare mock me? I’ve counted each day, gnawing on flesh and blood, to take revenge on the god. Surely today is…?”

Zeloa twisted her lips and looked around at the walls, but all she saw were broken and scratched surfaces. The calendar she had created to keep track of time was nowhere to be found.

It was understandable. Even humans despair after wasting two or three years, let alone decades.

She couldn’t bear the fact that as time passed, only her hideous body changed.

Zeloa staggered toward the wall. After feeling it for a while, she finally realized something.

‘When did my body become this large?’

As evidence that her memories were wrong began to emerge, Zeloa’s eyes trembled and her breathing quickened.

Watching this, the Wendigo inwardly clicked its tongue.

‘She’s on the verge of complete breakdown.’

In a way, it was remarkable that a princess of a kingdom had endured being a monster for decades.

The Wendigo decided to give Zeloa one last chance to die as a human.

“It’s been 4000 years since the gods disappeared… but recently, they’ve started to return. If you’re lucky, the god who cursed you might have returned too.”

“God?”

“Yes. After 4000 years, that god’s anger might have faded. If you ask for forgiveness now, you might return to a human body…”

Flinch.

The Wendigo stopped speaking and stepped back. An unpleasantly sticky killing intent erupted from Zeloa.

Zeloa muttered with a chilling smile.

“Yes… it’s not too late. I’ll make that god, that bastard who deserves to be torn apart, regret ever touching the princess of Sparti!”

“Sparti has already disappeared, as I just said… oh no.”

The Wendigo hastily dodged Zeloa’s leg as it flew toward him.

Zeloa wildly swung her legs at the invisible Wendigo. Her cave no longer mattered to her.

She cackled madly, raising her arms toward the ceiling, praising her own revelation.

“I am the rightful heir of the Sparti Kingdom. I am the kingdom itself, and subjects can simply be taken by force!”

People with strong pride and rigid minds tend to spout nonsense when their logic falls apart.

That was exactly Zeloa’s state. Despite denying her own life, she was acting as if that hadn’t been her intention.

The Wendigo climbed onto a protruding part above the entrance and looked down at Zeloa with contempt.

‘She rejected her last chance to die as a human.’

If she had been reasonable, the Wendigo would have spoken to Alfodur on her behalf.

Convinced that killing Zeloa was the only solution, the Wendigo provoked her.

“So you’re saying you’re a coward who couldn’t even take revenge while the Sparti Kingdom perished. Why not go deeper and live peacefully with your children—”

“Shut up!!!”

The most powerful provocation is to state an undeniable truth.

Zeloa, who had never once thought of the armored spiders as her children, flew into a rage at the Wendigo’s provocation and lunged forward.

Timing its move perfectly, the Wendigo threw itself to the floor and ran with all its might toward the entrance as Zeloa’s body collided with it.

CRASH!

Zeloa’s massive body was itself a formidable weapon. With a thunderous sound, the entrance collapsed, and the Wendigo listened to the rubble with some hope.

“Mouse… die…! Damn… spider… break through!!!”

‘As expected, this wasn’t enough to kill her.’

Zeloa’s voice was booming even through the collapsed debris. The Wendigo turned away in disappointment.

Dozens of armored spiders were rushing to dig out the collapsed cave, but none paid attention to the mouse running on the ground.

How could they care about such things when their one-of-a-kind mother was trapped in the cave?

“SCREECH!!!”

“Such filial children.”

The Wendigo muttered, watching the armored spiders pushing each other as they dug at the cave.

It would have been truly moving if Zeloa had loved her children even a little.

‘If she had been that kind of woman, she wouldn’t have been cursed in the first place.’

Setting aside its thoughts, the Wendigo escaped from underground through the tunnel it had used to descend.

Fresh air greeted it, along with mice anxiously looking at the cave entrance.

“Squeak! Squeak squeak!!!”

The mice, overjoyed at the return of their hero(?), Quick, who had sacrificed himself for them, rushed to nuzzle his face, but…

‘There’s no time for this.’

The Wendigo gestured toward the reindeer it had prepared in advance. They needed to get away from this place quickly.

Realizing the seriousness of the situation when their leader gave commands with comical gestures instead of proper speech, the mice ran toward the reindeer.

After confirming that all mice had boarded the reindeer, the Wendigo released its possession. Quick, regaining consciousness, looked around in confusion.

“Squeak squeak!”

“Squeak?”

The mice, having completed their mission, surrounded their proud hero Quick and nuzzled his face.

Though confused by his comrades’ welcome, Quick raised his whiskers proudly, thinking that good was good.

…Whether he would still feel that way if he knew he had provoked a deranged monster and fled was another matter entirely.