Ch.135Chapter 135

Voltorn’s rage exploded, crushing the innocent armored spiders’ shells. The sight of him wielding lightning and swinging his axe atop a mammoth was truly terrifying.

In an ordinary battle, the enemy’s morale would have collapsed long ago, leaving them with no option but to send out a challenger to face Voltorn, but…

“Kieeeeeek!!!”

“Just as ill-tempered as its mother.”

Unfortunately, the armored spiders didn’t retreat even as their brethren were being slaughtered. Rather, the thick smell of blood seemed to excite them, making them leap toward Voltorn like moths to a flame.

They charged forward with the sole determination to kill at least Voltorn’s mammoth, swinging their front legs even as their bodies were being torn apart.

There’s no defense against frenzied suicide charges—even a mammoth armed with thick fur and tough skin couldn’t avoid slowing down.

At least not until the Wendigo’s avatars began slaughtering the armored spiders charging at the mammoth.

The Wendigo’s avatars rushed at the armored spiders, wielding weapons like axes and clubs that were suitable for crushing hard shells.

“□□□□□□!!!”

“Kieek?!”

Though the armored spiders knew no fear, they were ultimately just living creatures.

When the Wendigo’s avatars let out ghostly wails as if representing their master’s will, the armored spiders hesitated, bound by the shackles of instinct, and that momentary stiffness was enough to lead to their deaths.

The armored spiders that had dared to charge at the mammoth were slaughtered like livestock by the Wendigo’s avatars and tumbled to the ground.

And watching this scene, a massive armored spider spat out saliva and lunged forward.

It had spotted an avatar that was particularly large among the others—the command entity that the Wendigo had created to directly command his avatars on the battlefield.

It was partly detected because it looked different from the other avatars, as it was created with special care, but…

“Seems like we’ve been spotted!”

“Only a fool wouldn’t notice when you’re commanding with your fingernails.”

It wasn’t strange that it was noticed since the Wendigo was directly commanding by moving his hands.

The armored spider that charged forward, pushing aside and trampling its brethren, boasted a size comparable to Voltorn’s mammoth. It opened its vicious mouth wide and rushed toward the Wendigo.

…Not knowing it would be sent flying by Gulmarg’s club. Gulmarg, who had been waiting for his turn, leaped forward with gleaming eyes and swung his club with a short battle cry.

With a thunderous sound like an avalanche, the armored spider’s head was completely shattered, and its body flew sideways after briefly hovering low.

Gulmarg’s club, without holding back any strength, was not light enough for a monster just slightly larger than a mammoth to withstand.

Gulmarg looked at the corpse he had created and smiled with satisfaction.

“Hmm!”

“Marriage may be a significant matter, but I feel like I’m seeing many new sides of you here.”

The Wendigo crushed the head of an armored spider charging at him with one hand and expressed his bewilderment.

Originally, Gulmarg had the image of a taciturn warrior with insight, but when it came to Angrid, the person—no, the Ogre—became quite passionate.

However, Gulmarg struck down an armored spider with his club and said firmly:

“The most important thing is family happiness. Pursuing family happiness is the simplest and happiest goal.”

“Hmph, at least my son-in-law has some sense. Family is the most important thing in the world.”

Is it really normal to talk about family while beating down monsters?

The Wendigo looked incredulously at Gulmarg and Voltorn exchanging pleasantries while covered in blood, then turned around. The Hrimtur warriors, who had already reached nearby, were laughing wildly as they struck down the armored spiders.

Even the whalers on bear-drawn sleds had made a wide detour and were driving stone spears into the backs of armored spiders emerging from the holes.

‘I guess my worries were unfounded.’

He had thought there might be a big problem when he heard talk of marriage or proposals, but the subjugation was showing overwhelming superiority.

At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before they dragged out the Jeloa hiding in the tunnels…

‘…Tunnels?’

The Wendigo flinched as he recalled something he had overlooked. Come to think of it, there was no reason for the enemies to emerge from just one hole.

No matter how mentally broken she might be, she was still a princess from a kingdom of war maniacs—would she really stubbornly stick to frontal assaults?

She might be foolish enough to hide in such a distant land, and with luck, she could be that stupid, but…

Crack.

“…Bad predictions always tend to come true.”

“Wendigo, what did you just say?”

Voltorn, who had been busy splitting armored spider skulls, asked with puzzlement when the Wendigo muttered.

Since he couldn’t hear what the Wendigo was saying beside him, he naturally wouldn’t have heard something breaking deep underground.

At that moment, there was a violent earthquake that seemed to split the ground. Before Voltorn could understand the situation, the Wendigo urgently shouted at him:

“The armored spiders that revealed themselves were just bait. From the beginning, the goal was to drag us underground!”

“What do you mean… using all those armored spiders as mere bait!?”

Voltorn expressed his bewilderment at the Wendigo’s explanation. There were over thirty armored spiders visible, varying in size, and it was hard to believe they were all just bait.

Moreover, those armored spiders were essentially Jeloa’s offspring. It was an insane act incomprehensible to Voltorn’s family tradition of loving one’s family.

The Wendigo glared at the ground that was beginning to collapse and clicked his tongue.

“She’s a woman who hates her own children from the start. She probably thinks she can just give birth to more later if they die!”

“What nonsense is that!? What about her children???”

“Shut up and quickly tell the warriors to retreat!”

Regardless of Voltorn’s shock, the Wendigo patted the mammoth’s rear. The mammoth understood the Wendigo’s intention and turned around, heading at full speed toward the Hrimtur warriors.

Voltorn shouted something to the Wendigo and Gulmarg who remained behind, but due to the collapsing ground and the screaming armored spiders, his words didn’t reach them.

The Wendigo sharpened his nails and asked Gulmarg:

“It seems we’ll have to go down below to kill Jeloa… are you ready?”

“Of course. I promised. I promised Angrid I would bring her the enemy’s head.”

Gulmarg answered with a determined expression, beating his chest.

How could he break his first promise to his partner?

After confirming Gulmarg’s resolve, the Wendigo swung his nails toward the shell of a dead armored spider.

With a slight resistance, the nails cleanly embedded themselves.

This should make it easy to descend even walls made of stone.

Having completed his preparations, the Wendigo threw himself toward the hole without any hesitation. He controlled his speed by using his nails embedded in the wall as he descended.

“Hmm… good method.”

Gulmarg nodded as he observed how the Wendigo descended. He had been wondering how to go down, and this provided a good example.

After all the Wendigo’s avatars had descended, Gulmarg followed by jumping down and…

“Hup!”

He swung his hand with fingers extended toward the wall, just as the Wendigo had done. It was a brutish method that would have broken the fingers of an ordinary human or even a Hrimtur.

Crack!

However, it was quite an efficient method for Gulmarg with his monstrous strength and surprisingly sturdy body. Gulmarg descended toward the bottom, leaving finger marks on the wall as if he were climbing down a rock face.

* * *

Fortunately, the tunnel wasn’t that deep. Originally, Jeloa and the armored spiders couldn’t make their nest too deep because they needed to procure food.

However, that didn’t mean it was low enough to be safe if a large monster like an armored spider fell.

Upon reaching the bottom, the Wendigo frowned at the remains of the armored spiders sacrificed for Jeloa’s scheme.

“Even for enemies, it’s not a pleasant sight.”

“Wendigo’s words are right.”

Gulmarg jumped down next to the Wendigo after climbing down the rock face and nodded in agreement with his words.

From the perspective of an Ogre with strong family values, Jeloa’s action of pushing her children into danger, even if they were unwanted, was not to his liking.

But was Jeloa’s will the most important thing to the armored spiders?

“Wendigo, armored spiders are coming.”

“Yes, and they’re coming from multiple directions, not just one.”

The dozens of tunnels connected to the cavern were like a maze. The problem was that the armored spiders knew this maze well enough to navigate it with their eyes closed.

Gulmarg lifted his stone club and asked the Wendigo:

“Which way should we go?”

“Hmm…”

The Wendigo fell into contemplation at Gulmarg’s question.

While he himself was in an avatar’s body and didn’t care, Gulmarg’s life could be in danger if they were unlucky, so he couldn’t move carelessly.

Moreover, if Jeloa had any sense, wouldn’t she have prepared something around the pit she dug?

The Wendigo surveyed the surroundings as the cries of approaching armored spiders grew louder.

If there was anything that could help with his judgment…

“Huh, come to think of it, we don’t need to choose a path.”

“?”

When the Wendigo burst into laughter and uttered a puzzling statement, Gulmarg looked at him with confusion.

The Wendigo’s eyes were fixed on Gulmarg’s large and mighty stone club.

* * *

The curse placed on Jeloa was terrible for a narcissist like her, but it wasn’t without power.

The children she gave birth to were monsters that ordinary humans couldn’t approach, and despite her hideous appearance, she herself physically transcended humans.

Moreover…

“The god’s minions have fallen into the trap. You’ll pay dearly for interfering with my rightful revenge.”

A curse is ultimately a power based on mysticism.

It wasn’t so strange that Jeloa, who had lived with the curse for a long time, developed a talent for handling mysticism.

Jeloa observed the Wendigo and Gulmarg through the eyes of an armored spider and wore a triumphant expression. She firmly believed they were minions of the god.

Otherwise, why would such alien beings come to this barren land? Because they liked giants?

‘That can’t be. Besides, why would anyone be interested in those barbaric creatures?’

Jeloa sneered as she recalled the appearance of the Hrimtur.

To a warrior, a wound is nothing but a shame for allowing an enemy’s attack, yet those fools proudly displayed them.

Why would such people suffer in this worthless land? They must have followed their god’s orders and hidden in this remote place, as befitting minions of a god.

Lost in her convenient delusion, Jeloa opened her mouth and emitted pheromones—war pheromones ordering the death of the intruders in the tunnel.

As she emitted the pheromones, Jeloa snickered and twitched her lips.

‘Even if they are god’s minions, they are still living creatures. I wonder how long they can withstand monsters attacking from all directions, including the ceiling.’

After emitting all the pheromones, Jeloa once again accessed the mind of the armored spider that had observed the Wendigo and Gulmarg.

Just imagining them panicking as they grasped the situation made her laugh…

“?”

But what she saw through the armored spider’s eyes was an empty cavern. Jeloa frowned and accessed the minds of nearby armored spiders.

‘It seems there was someone quick to assess the situation.’

However, escaping the pursuit of armored spiders in the maze-like tunnels was impossible!

Jeloa was convinced that the Wendigo and Gulmarg could never escape from the tunnels.

At least until she saw Gulmarg breaking through a wall and crossing into another tunnel through the eyes of an armored spider.

When Gulmarg swung his stone club at the wall with an indifferent expression, the wall collapsed as if by magic.

The armored spiders were bewildered when Gulmarg and the Wendigo’s avatars escaped through the hole in the wall and tried to chase after them, but…

“Kieek!?”

“Kieeeeek!!!”

The armored spiders, hindered by their large bodies, got stuck in the debris and howled at the retreating Wendigo and Gulmarg.

“……”

Jeloa trembled with her mouth, split into four parts, wide open in astonishment.