So I’m a Spider, So What Vol 2 — Part 7 of 8

Part 7 of 8

Next, you have to manipulate that magic power.

You picture the magic power inside as a dense liquid. Then you will that liquid to move as you desire.

In essence, this is Magic Power Operation. It’s even better if you can move it quickly or in complicated patterns.

Usually, you’d go through lots of training and gradually learn how to manage it, but thanks to Height of Occultism, I can manipulate mine however I want.

Then comes constructing the rune.

Each variety of magic has its own set, so you choose the corresponding rune, which is then automatically formed for you.

Once it’s constructed, you picture it sort of like a pipe, I guess?

The construction speed also varies based on your stats.

Again, since all my rune stats are maxed out, the rune gets generated the instant I select it. Seriously, it’s like I’m using a cheat code.

Finally, you pour some magic power into the completed rune, and the magic is complete.

It sort of feels like liquid flowing through a pipe.

When the liquid reaches the end, it finally becomes a phenomenon that affects the physical world.

At that point, if you increase the amount of liquid flowing into the pipe, the attack power of the magic increases, and if you increase the speed, it shortens the amount of time it takes to activate.

However, that also applies an extra load to the pipe.

Depending on its thickness, there’s a limit to the amount of liquid the pipe can hold at a given moment. Therefore, it has to be made sturdily, or it can burst under the pressure.

If that happens, the rune can’t bear the load, so the spell might misfire or even backfire.

More advanced magic has longer and more complicated runes, so the chances of accidents become higher.

To stabilize the rune, you have to build a bigger, stouter pipe.

This is no problem for me, either, thanks to Height of Occultism.

You have to go through this whole process just to activate a single spell.

But here’s the thing! Since I have Height of Occultism, I don’t have to bother worrying about any of that junk!

I can operate my magic power as easily as I move my body, and as soon as I select a spell, an optimal rune is forged instantly.

I can activate magic as easily as pouring water into a glass!

Since there aren’t any monsters handy at the moment, let’s try out a spell with easy-to-test results.

Guess I’ll start with the level-2 Poison Magic spell, Poison Shot.

Heretic Magic is no good without a target, and frankly, Shadow Magic doesn’t seem like it’d be that impressive.

As for Abyss Magic… Yeah, I feel like that’s a tad too advanced for my first try.

All right, here goes! Construct rune! Fill it with magic power! Poison Shot, activate!

Almost instantaneously, something black and round appears before my eyes and streaks forward.

Oh, whoa!

It was so easy it was almost anticlimactic, but still. I used magic.

Awesome. I’m kinda moved.

Poison Shot doesn’t seem very powerful, though.

It doesn’t utilize my Deadly Spider Poison after all.

Apparently, instead of using my poison, this Poison Magic spell generates and fires its own.

As opposed to my Deadly Spider Poison, it employs a blend developed exclusively for this spell.

Yet even with my crazy magic attack power, it still isn’t as strong as my Deadly Spider Poison.

If I use more magic power, I could make it stronger, but in that case, I’m better off just using Poison Synthesis.

So even though I have this magic, it might not come in handy very often…

Well, next up, I’ll test out the level-1 Poison Magic spell, Poison Touch.

It’s supposed to be a spell that causes poison damage to anything you touch, but I should’ve known there’d be a catch.

At first, I thought it was pretty strong for a level-1 spell, but go figure—it also hurts me.

It’s another suicide-bomber technique. Is it just me, or do I have way too many of those?

It might be handy for deliberately raising my own resistance, but otherwise, I’m not gonna use it.

Oh, but what if I combine it with the level-3 spell, Poison Resist?

Poison Resist is a spell that temporarily increases your poison resistance, so if I use them both at once, I might be able to use Poison Touch.

Still, since I have Poison Synthesis, there’s no real reason to do that.

Why would I go out of my way to activate this sad, weak, self-destructive power?

Since it’s so ineffective, it wouldn’t even help much with proficiency.

I can probably still find a use for Poison Shot, but Poison Touch seems totally worthless.

Next, I’ll try out Shadow Magic.

It’s, well…yeah. Pretty unimpressive. I could probably make some great shadow puppets now, but that’s about it.

I can’t test Heretic Magic without a target, so I’ll have to try it next time I run into a monster.

Although, since it’s a kind of mental attack, I don’t know if I’ll be able to tell whether it’s working just by looking.

Lastly, there’s the final boss lurking in the back. Abyss Magic.

The thought of trying this makes my heart pound. For various reasons.

I mean, it’s gotta be pretty crazy, right?

When I got Professor Wisdom, I tried Appraising it one more time, but the description was unchanged.

I still have no idea what the spells actually do.

Obviously, it’s some kind of advanced Dark Magic, but that’s pretty much all I know.

It could be a really powerful asset if I learn how to use it, but not knowing what it might pop out is pretty disturbing.

Thanks to Height of Occultism, I’m not too worried about failing, but it still scares me.

However, out of all the magic skills I have, this is the most magical-seeming magic of all.

I mean, it’s got that sinister, “dark arts” kinda ring to it.

How could I not get excited?!

All right, let’s start by trying the level-1 spell, Hell Gate.

Here goes! Construct rune!

…Huh?

W-wait a second! Even with Height of Occultism, I still can’t control it?!

Why is this construction so ridiculously difficult?! Ugh. I can’t do it.

The stupid rune slipped out of my control and fell apart while it was still being formed.

Like, how could that happen?

Height of Occultism is supposed to be the best magic skill there is, just like the name implies.

And even with that skill, I still can’t do it?

If it won’t work for me, then how could anyone in the world use Abyss Magic?

And if it’s this hard to construct, what kind of crazy effects does it have?

What’s the point if even the level-1 spell is too hard for anyone to do?

So if you used the level-10 spell, Hell of Treachery, would it end the world or what?

Ha-ha, I’m sure that’s not the case. Right? It can’t be…right?

Well, if the level-1 spell is this hard, I guess I’d never be able to use the higher ones anyway.

No, wait. I can’t give up so easily.

Sure, it was hard. But I only just started using magic. I’m still a beginner.

Other magic users probably work really hard, practicing and raising their skill levels and stuff, but I skipped all that by getting these cheat skills.

In other words, I’m not used to it yet.

That’s why I can use simple magic thanks to my skills, but I’m too inexperienced to use the really advanced stuff yet. I bet that’s all it is.

In which case, the answer is simple. Practice makes perfect!

So hey. Body brain.

Hey, information brain. I know what you’re getting at, but…

Oh good, you already know?

Mm-hmm. What are we gonna do about information if you do that, though?

I dunno, can’t you pick up my slack a little?

In theory, sure, but if I’m doing twice the work, I probably won’t be as efficient…

Hmm.

Wow, perfect timing!

Hello, me number three.

Hellooo. Don’t worry—I heard everything. Now that I’m here, it’ll be fine!

Great! All right, number three. You’re gonna be magic brain!

Okay, I’m on it.

So, with Parallel Minds leveled up, I can have three different minds going at once.

The body brain and information brain will stay the same.

And the new magic brain will practice magic, focusing on Abyss Magic, as we go.

Thanks to the Ruler of Wisdom title, my magic proficiency should improve easily, meaning that if I level up Poison Magic and Shadow Magic, too, they should be useful eventually.

On top of that, if we’re in battle, the magic brain can independently assist with magic.

Poison Shot doesn’t have much going for it on its own, but if used in cooperation with the body brain, its utility value would skyrocket big-time.

It could be used for all sorts of things, like diversions or sudden attacks.

And information brain’s role in assessing the situation is important, too.

We’re like the Holy Trinity here.

Man, I’m impressed with myself all over again.

My stats have gotten way higher, and now I can move around and shoot magic at the same time.

I know I wouldn’t wanna fight me, would you?

Wow. Am I super-strong or what?

All things considered, my Middle Stratum campaign is going pretty well.

I’ve defeated a ton of monsters, leveled up a bunch, and my skills are growing, too.

In the meantime, Overeating finally reached level 10.

I braced myself, wondering if Gluttony would be next, but instead I got:

<Gorge: Allows the user to ingest food beyond normal limitations. HP, MP, and SP will recover accordingly. In addition, the excess can be stocked as surplus. Surplus is stored as pure energy, so the user will not gain weight. The amount that can be stocked increases with higher skill levels.>

Well, it’s not Gluttony, but it’s still pretty amazing.

Basically, instead of just being stocked as SP like with Overeating, it’ll also be applied to HP and MP.

The amount that can be stored for those is lower than for SP, but that doesn’t make it any less impressive.

Really, any increase to my low HP is enough to make me happy.

And with the effect of Perseverance, when my HP and MP improve, so do my chances for survival.

I already have an excessive amount of MP, but if I can stock on top of that now, so much the better.

I don’t really benefit from the not-gaining-weight part, though.

I mean, I didn’t gain weight before, either. I wonder why?

The description of Overeating said the user gains weight in proportion to how much they stock, but even when I stuffed myself as much as I could, I never gained any weight.

I don’t know if it’s some special predisposition because I’m a spider or something, but since now it’s more certain that I won’t gain weight, I guess there’s no reason to worry about it.

That’s right. Before the skill leveled up, I had reached the max amount of possible Overeating stock.

The max increased by 100 with each level, stopping at 900.

Now that it’s evolved into Gorge, the upper limit’s risen a bit more, but I’m guessing it’ll stop again at 1,000.

It’s probably my anti-wasteful nature as a Japanese person to feel like I need to use my SP once I can’t stock any more.

Which is why I’ve been trying to consume as much SP as possible with my normal movements.

Specifically, by jumping or running as I move forward.

By doing this, I also earn proficiency for skills like Skanda.

As a result, both that skill and some others have leveled up.

Instantaneous and Persistent advanced that way, too, and finally maxed out.

They evolved into Acceleration and Durability, respectively, adding a multiplier to the growth rate of the corresponding stats.

With that, I now have plus corrections on all my stats whenever I level up.

Although my magic-related ones already progressed insanely quickly thanks to Wisdom, and I’m already plenty fast thanks to Skanda.

Hmm. I’m supposed to be a high-speed physical type, but looking at my stats, I seem more like a high-speed magic type.

Professor Wisdom is the main reason for that, but I can’t say for sure whether I’ve actually become a magic specialist now.

I mean, even though my magic-related skills have all gotten better…

…they’re still not as strong as Deadly Spider Poison.

So when I’m in a serious scrap, Deadly Spider Poison is my main trump card while magic is more like a support skill.

There really isn’t much I can do about that.

My Spider Poison and Spider Thread are the two main reasons I’ve come this far in the first place, after all.

If magic appeared out of nowhere and surpassed them just like that, it’d feel like all that hard work had been for nothing.

Ugh, I wanna use my threads agaaain. Get me out of here alreadyyy.

When I reach the Upper Stratum, I’m gonna build a home right away and spend some time doing skill research there for a while.

After that, I’m honestly not sure what’s next.

I know I’m not supposed to worry about it, but I can’t quite put it out of my mind.

Administrators. Skills.

If I want to know more about all that, I’d have to ask someone with more information.

But what do the people in this world think of the administrators anyway? I have no idea.

Really, if you think about it, I can’t communicate with anyone here, huh?

You’ve got me!

And me!

Yeah, but you guys are just me! I’m talking about other people, like actual OTHER people!

Whew. Man, now that there’re enough idiots on board, it’s extra-hard for me as the information brain, aka the only smart one.

Anyway, yeah, communication.

I didn’t do a lot of communicating in my past life, either, but I was able to get data just fine thanks to the Internet.

But not anymore. I have Professor Wisdom, but I can really only look up information about skills.

Besides, even if I could check it, I wouldn’t be able to get to the bottom of things.

Any information that might be connected to the administrators can’t be Appraised.

Really, from a global perspective, I’m just some homebody who’s never once been outside.

I’ve been in the Great Elroe Labyrinth all my life.

Can you blame me for not knowing anything about the state of the world when I’ve been trapped inside without any input?

If I want to know more about the administrators, I need to get out of this labyrinth and interact with the various people who live in this world.

But I’m a monster, and I can’t talk. How am I supposed to carry on a normal conversation?

Well…I can’t do anything about being a monster, but maybe I can find a way to talk after all.

One option is to gain the Telepathy skill.

The other is to evolve into a certain monster.

See? There’s another new tool Professor Wisdom gave me: an evolution tree.

Studying it, I can see at a glimpse what kind of monsters I can evolve into in the future.

Whenever I evolved up until now, I just picked mostly going by my gut, but apparently, I had the right idea.

Looking at my evolution tree now, I can see that I’ve been choosing poison types and relatively rare species. Including my current species, Zoa Ele.

But that’s not the point right now.

The real matter at hand is the intel I found about a certain monster that appears further down the line of my evolutionary tree.

Arachne. A monster with the lower body of a spider and the upper body of a human.

As a concept, it’s pretty well known even back in Japan.

If I want to evolve into that form, it’ll be a bit of a long haul, but I can do it.

And if I have a human upper body, I’ll probably be able to talk.

The problem is I’ll still be a monster, so I don’t know if humans will be willing to talk to me.

Either way, though, being able to have a human body—even just half of one—would be huge.

Sure, I’ve gotten used to my spider body and all, but what kind of healthy former human girl would want to spend the rest of her life this way?

You wouldn’t, would you?

If I have the opportunity to become even partially human, of course I’m gonna go for it.

But there’s no point dwelling on that now.

It’ll be a long time before I have to decide whether to go that route.

I have to get out of the Middle Stratum before I can even consider leaving the labyrinth in the first place.

I’ll worry about the rest later.

EARTH WYRM ATTACK

Shortly after we get back to the school, it suddenly appears.

To be precise, it must have been following us the whole time.

“Wh…what…?”

I hear someone groan in disbelief.

That’s how terrifying its presence is.

The earth wyrm.

An incredibly high-powered monster that should never be in a place like this.

And yet, here it is, baring its teeth at us on academy grounds.

“Natsume! Is this another part of your scheme?!”

Ms. Oka confronts Hugo in a rage.

“D-don’t look at me! If they planned anything like this, nobody told me!”

Hugo looks genuinely panicked. I don’t think he’s lying.

“Hey, guys, what the hell is this thing?!”

Hugo turns on the group of criminals arrested for working with him.

“It was supposed to be the ace in the hole for our plan.”

“So you guys prepared this?!”

“That’s right. A summoner contracted it. But apparently, it’s no longer under his influence.”

“What? Who was it?!”

“It’s me, but I can’t stop it now. It was too strong for me to control in the first place. It was docile enough when I first captured and contracted it, but now it won’t obey me at all!”

The criminals, all similarly hysterical, rush to answer Hugo’s questions.

I barely resist the urge to slap a palm to my forehead.

What kind of idiot summons a monster they can’t control?

In my time with Fei, I also acquired Creature Training, a skill necessary for summoners.

But it only lets me handle monsters weaker than myself.

It is possible to form a contract with a stronger monster if they agree to it.

But that only works if there’s mutual trust between both parties.

Otherwise, it’s entirely possible for the monster to betray the summoner. Like what’s happening right now.

The wyrm flexes its sharp nails and beats its huge, log-sized tail.

The students and their seniors who were participating in the exercise are trying to intercept the beast, but the difference in power is clear.

It’s no wonder. Appraising it, I can see its stats are all around 2,000. It’s incredibly powerful, even for a wyrm.

“Well, doesn’t this look great!”

Fei, who’d come out to greet me, communicates her unease through Telepathy.

“At this rate, we’ll all be killed. I have to help!”

“Wait just a minute! I won’t allow that. It’s too dangerous!”

Ms. Oka tries to hold us back.

But I can’t just ignore all the people being injured right before my eyes!

I shake Ms. Oka off and run toward the wyrm.

“Well, if that’s how it is!”

“I’ll come with you, Brother!”

“Let me heal you!”

Katia, Sue, and Yuri follow.

I start preparing magic as I run—the water spell I learned in class.

Activate! A sphere of water flies toward the wyrm.

Just before it hits, though, the attack disappears as if it evaporated.

“It has Imperial Scales!”

Imperial Scales, an advanced version of Dragon Scales possessed by upper-class wyrms.

In addition to a simple increase in defense power, it interferes with the composition of magic spells.

This nasty skill makes landing both magic and physical attacks difficult.

“Students, get back!”

One of the teachers yells at us, but we can’t stop now!

I rank among some of the strongest people here.

I can’t back down just because I’m a student.

“Sue! Back me up!”

“Right!”

Sue and I release more water magic simultaneously.

The spells combine in midair.

Like me, Sue’s highest aptitude is water magic.

If we combine our powers, it might be enough…!

This time, the Water Shot hits the wyrm’s body without scattering.

The wyrm roars in discomfort.

This could work! It’s not a lot of damage, but at least we can penetrate its defense!

Following our lead, the other teachers and students start combining their spells.

Katia and Professor Oriza work together to shower the wyrm in fire magic.

Then, when it shrinks away, the people who specialize in close combat push in for the attack.

The damage still isn’t much, but it’s not nothing.

But just as I start feeling hopeful, the earth wyrm stretches its neck.

It’s preparing a breath attack.

“Retreat!”

Someone shouts, but there’s no time!

Instead, I take a step forward and activate Magic Warfare and Mental Warfare at full power.

At the same time, I use skill points to pick up Light Attack.

Filled with light, my sword intercepts the wyrm’s breath.

“Aaaargh!”

Hang in there, body! Come on!

“Honestly! You’re so reckless!”

I hear Fei.

At the same time, the breath attack abruptly stops.

My sword swings toward the wyrm’s exposed neck and slices right through.

* * *

“Don’t move, okay? I’ll treat you in just a moment.”

As the Word of God informs me that I’ve leveled up, Yuri uses recovery magic to heal my body.

My arms are in particularly bad shape. If the breath attack had lasted any longer, they might’ve been blown right off.

The thought makes my body tremble belatedly.

Sue and Katia wanted to come check on me, but before they had the chance, they were pulled away to help care for the others who’d been injured.

I don’t want them seeing me like this anyway.

When it happened, I was just focused on the battle.

But now that it’s over, the terrifying realization that I could’ve died is sinking in.

At the same time, the sword still clutched in my hand as if frozen in my grip looks terrifying to me now.

The feeling I experienced when severing the earth wyrm’s head remains vivid.

This is what it means to take a life. This is a real battle.

I was confident I could fight because of my high stats and skills.

And in theory, that’s exactly what I did.

But now that the battle’s over, I’ve realized something.

I didn’t have a clue what combat really means.

Is fighting always this scary?

Killing…?

Slowly, I release the sword.

My fingers move stiffly, as if they’re numb with cold.

Only when Yuri finishes healing me do they finally let go completely.

Assuring me that everything’s okay now, Yuri is dispatched to heal others.

My injury is all right now. But I can’t say the same for my mental state.

Honestly, it’s pathetic.

Sure, I didn’t expect to fight something so huge in my first battle, but I shouldn’t be freaking out this much.

Especially when the fight’s already over.

My older brother Julius fights battles like this practically every day.

If I want to catch up to him, I should be able to get over something like this without a problem.

And look—now a few people are eyeing me worriedly.

I have to smile and reassure them I’m okay.

I’m sure that’s what my brother would do. Come on. Smile!

…I can’t do it.

I’m scared. Scared that I could have been killed. Scared that I killed a living thing.

How can my brother, or any of the inhabitants of this world, do such a terrible thing so easily?

How could Hugo try to kill me like that?

If it’s this upsetting just slaying a monster that had to be defeated anyway, how could anyone stay sane after killing another person?

Why would anyone even consider such a thing?

Or is it just that Hugo had already gone mad a long time ago?

That’s definitely possible.

Hugo had the title Monster Slayer.

It’s something you receive after defeating a host of monsters.

Which means Hugo’s already killed tons.

That he’s done what I just did over and over.

Maybe he grew accustomed to it somewhere along the way.

Numb to the act of killing.

Will that happen to me, too, someday?

I’m terrified. Just imagining it makes it hard to breathe.

I inhale deeply and try to calm down.

I still can’t sort out my feelings about all this.

But if the person who’s supposed to lead the way to victory is in such a sorry state, it’ll be hard for everyone else to celebrate.

I don’t think I can smile just yet, but I should at least try to put on a dignified air.

Even if it feels like it’s a little late for that.

Just then, I notice Fei nearby, looking at the fallen earth wyrm.

Fei was the one who saved me.

At that crucial moment, she bit the wyrm’s neck, interrupting its breath attack.

If she hadn’t, I might have been killed.

“Fei, you saved my life. Thank you.”

I push down the fear threatening to rise again as I offer a belated thank-you.

“Sure. Don’t mention it.”

Fei continues staring distractedly at the dead wyrm.

“What’s the matter?”

“Take a look at my status.”

Puzzled, I obediently Appraise my vaguely depressed-looking companion.

Then I notice her new title.

[Kin Eater]

As its name suggests, it’s a terrible title conferred on those who have eaten the flesh of a blood relative.

“It…can’t be…”

“I don’t see any other explanation, do you?”

Fei must have bitten right through the wyrm’s neck.

If so, her grant of this title would make sense.

In fact, that’s the only way it could have happened.

“I wonder if that wyrm came here…looking for me?”

It’s…not impossible.

Fei’s egg was found in the Great Elroe Labyrinth, a dungeon far from here. If that wyrm wasn’t one of Fei’s parents, I can’t see any other reason why it would have come all the way here.

In which case, a parent who’d come looking for its kidnapped offspring might have been killed at the hands of that very child.

Which means I decapitated one of her parents right in front of her…

“Ugh…bleegh!”

I empty my stomach.

My first real battle has become a truly bitter memory that will be forever seared into my mind.

DESPAIR OF THE DEFEATED

“Shit! I won’t let it end like this! This is my world! It exists for me, only for me! Like I’d accept this ending?! Not a chance in hell! It’s not over until everything is mine!”

“Damn that elf! I’ll have my revenge! She’ll goddamn well rue the day she messed with me!”

“I’ll take everything from her someday! Just like she did to me!”

“Just you wait! I’ll destroy all she holds dear! Then I’ll beat her to a pulp while she wails and cries over their remains!”

“You watch! I’m gonna take this world back for myself!”

THE DUKE’S DAUGHTER AND THE NOISY REINCARNATIONS

“Fei, are you okay?”

“I’m fiiine. Sure, it was a bit of a surprise, but…even if that was one of my parents, it’s not like we ever met, right?”

“Gotcha. Make sure Yuri doesn’t find out about this, all right?”

“Good point. If she found out I have Taboo now, she’d probably kill me.”

“Hmm? Did someone say my name?”

“Huh?! I definitely didn’t!”

“Don’t pop up out of nowhere like that! It’s bad for my heart.”

“What do you mean? I just walked over here quite normally.”

“It’s all right. I’ll just have to scare you as compensation for the year I just lost off my life.”

“What?! Why?!”

“Oh hey, so are you giving Shun a pass on your missionary work today?”

“Oh, I already did it earlier.”

“You did, huh…?”

“Why, I couldn’t possibly abandon my mission to convey God’s greatness to others! Even if you don’t understand it now, I’m sure the time will come when you all recognize God’s glory!”

“Can’t wait.”

“I just realized, this whole blind faith thing is a bit like those ridiculous siblings.”

“Oh yeah, I think I know what you mean. Shun is a Follower of Julius, and Sue is a Follower of Shun.”

“Quite so! He treats me like a religious fanatic, but he doesn’t realize that he’s a hero fanatic himself! Isn’t that just awful?!”

“That’s rich coming from you.”

“I guess I kinda get what you mean, though. When it comes to Julius, that guy never shuts up.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard enough tales of the hero’s bravery to teach a class on it myself.”

“Like the one where a poor village couldn’t afford to pay for monster extermination, so he saved them free of charge?”

“How do you feel about that, as part of the Church the hero is supposed to work for?”

“Well, he isn’t supposed to do things like that, but…he makes up for it by donating to the Church himself, so the higher-ups can’t really complain.”

“That’s royalty for you. Is he loaded or what?”

“Yeah, he’s got the support of the whole kingdom behind him. If the hero were just a commoner, he’d probably be wielded like a weapon and sent out on all kinds of dangerous missions. But if anyone tries to force Julius to do too much, they risk making him an enemy of the Church.”

“Seems complicated.”

“Yeah, and apparently, Julius takes it upon himself to do dangerous work like that anyway.”

“He’s quite the hero!”

“I’ve actually met him, too, and he totally lives up to the hype. His existence itself is a miracle.”

“I guess with an older brother like that, you’d either rebel or end up worshipping him.”

“Maybe it’s better this than rebelling, then?”

“Sure, I think so. Wanting to follow in his brother’s footsteps is the manly thing to do.”

“I’m not sure how convincing that is, coming from a former man.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m still a man on the inside, thanks.”

“No you’re not.” “Yeah, right.”

“What’s with the instant rebuttals?!”

“Ah-ha-ha. Still, I’d love to meet Sir Julius for myself.”

“You haven’t? Aren’t you the future saint?”

“I’m still just a candidate for now. As long as the current saint, Lady Yaana, still lives, it’s strictly hypothetical. As a mere future saint, I have no relation to the hero. A new saint is only born when the current saint or the current hero passes away.”

“So if the hero dies, the saint gets replaced even if she’s still alive?”

“Of course. A saint only serves one hero. So if Sir Julius died, a new saint would be chosen even if Lady Yaana lived… Ah, but it’s improper to speak of such things.”

“It’s all right. Shun may be blinded by admiration when it comes to Julius, but nobody’s invincible. There was even a time when he fell into a demon’s trap and was poisoned. If a full-blown war with demons breaks out, there’s no guarantee even Julius would survive.”

“That’s true. We can’t talk about it in front of Shun, but apparently, fighting a real demon is quite difficult.”

“Yes, and the long-silent demon lord has started moving again.”

“Yeah. According to the rumors, it might’ve been right around when we were babies.”

“It seems like a lot happened around that time, doesn’t it? The religious war between the Word of God and the Goddess, the appearance of the Nightmare of the Labyrinth, and so on.”

“The goddess is a false idol!”

“Ah, sure, sure. The Nightmare of the Labyrinth… That was the spider monster that dealt Julius his first and only defeat, right?”

“I overheard him talking about it with Shun. It sounds almost like the demon lord!”

“What if it really was?”

“How could a spider be the lord of demons? I thought all demons were humanoid.”

“Yeah, but maybe it had a Humanification skill, like what you’re after, Fei.”

“You know there’s no such skill as Humanification, right?”

“Oh, so there isn’t…”

“There’s not. Although, I suppose it’s possible there are skills that could do something similar.”

“Well, they say demons look exactly like humans, so if a monster could disguise itself as human, it could probably mingle with demons.”

“That’s misleading. Demons really ought to at least have horns or something.”

“Wouldn’t that make it a devil, not a demon?”

“I’ve never heard any such distinction.”

“Hmm. Say, this is just a thought, but…a new demon lord took over right around when we were born, right? Could you imagine if the demon lord was one of us reincarnations?”

“Yo, don’t even joke about that. Besides, that’d mean the demon lord was a baby at the time, too.”

“Oh dear. I’m sorry.”

“I doubt a baby could become a demon lord so quickly unless it spent every waking moment from the time it was born moving around and leveling up.”

“Wow, talk about a horror story.”

LORD OF THE FIRE SEA

Wow. This sucks.

A lake of magma stretches in front of me as far as I can see. And this time, there’s no path through it.

Did I take a wrong turn somewhere?

I don’t think that’s possible. The layout of the Middle Stratum is pretty much just a single, fairly expansive passage stretching ahead.

It’s more than half a mile wide, though, so I don’t know if “passage” is really the right word.

Anyway, that means I have to cross this magma lake to advance.

Luckily, while there’s no path, there are at least some small islands dotted throughout.

With my jumping strength, I can leap from island to island, or even go by way of the ceiling if I have to.

Man, how would a human ever get past this, though?

I bet they can only survive in the Upper Stratum.

I mean, logically speaking, how could anyone conquer a labyrinth that’s bigger than Hokkaido?

They’d have to be a hero or have some legendary power or something.

I don’t know if that sort of thing even exists here.

Maybe if an administrator took a liking to a beautiful youth and gave them a special ability or something?

Wow, that’d be unfair.

You should give it to me instead!

No dice, huh? Okay, I guess that makes sense.

Whoops. I got a little off track for a second there.

Anyway, yeah, technically, I can get past this, but there’s a problem.

There are tons of monsters lurking inside.

On top of being enormously wide, this magma lake is pretty deep, too.

At its deepest, it can go as deep as six hundred feet.

If there’s that much magma, shouldn’t it cool down and harden or something?

Apparently not. It forms a huge freaking lake.

And in this expansive, deep lake, there are tons of monsters.

I’m supposed to cross this?

Man, what’s up with this labyrinth?

I don’t see how anyone’s supposed to beat it.

Ugh. Well, it’s not like I have any other choice, so I’ll just have to cross it.

I’m sure it’ll work out somehow, right?

Besides, I was able to beat that eel, so I doubt anything else would pose much of a threat. I doubt there are too many monsters around as strong as that.

Even if there are, I’ll just beat them at their own game.

I’ve evolved since I fought the eel, literally and figuratively. My stats have gotten crazy good, my skills have improved, and most importantly, I can use magic now!

Heh-heh-heh, I couldn’t touch monsters while they were in the magma before, but now that I know magic, no hole-up-at-home strategy will work against me!

I’ll snipe you with my magic! Bwa-ha-ha!

I have new skills besides magic, too.

First of all, Evil Eye.

I got my second Evil Eye skill, too. This time, I chose Paralyzing Evil Eye.

Petrification was tempting, too, but it takes a long time for its effects to kick in, and worse, I can’t eat something that’s been petrified.

So instead, I chose paralysis, which renders things immobile much more quickly while keeping them perfectly edible.

I also learned a skill called Magic Warfare.

You can use it to consume MP in exchange for raising stats. I happened to pick it up just by focusing on cycling magical power through my body.

So basically, this is the MP-consumption version of Mental Warfare, which uses SP. But thanks to Height of Occultism, I don’t need to worry about spending my MP.

Even if I keep it active all the time, it recovers more quickly than the rate of consumption.

So at the moment, I’m keeping it active all the time.

As a result, now my stats are even higher.

I’ve also been occasionally activating Mental Warfare with an eye for my amount of Satiation stock, slowly raising its skill level.

If I activate both at once, my stats improve drastically, so I can use that as a trump card for sure.

Satiation is a pretty amazing skill, as it turns out.

I mean, it even stocks automatic recovery.

So my HP and MP stocks have been bolstered in no time.

My MP, especially, is getting to the point where I can’t possibly use it all.

I can activate Magic Warfare, keep both Evil Eyes on nonstop—and even practice magic—and still have plenty of MP to spare.

Height of Occultism is crazy powerful. So is Satiation, which stocks any excess.

Although, I haven’t been able to save as much MP because of the magma damage.

So now that I have magic as a long-range-attack method and my stats are vastly improved, I’m sure I could take down an eel without breaking a sweat.

Which means there’s no reason to be afraid of a little magma lake!

If any small-fry attack me, I’ll just bring ’em down and eat ’em.

Time for my first jump!

I leap over the magma and land on a little island.

It’s a little scary, but I can always retreat to the ceiling if I have to, so I think I can make it work.

I’m still hopping my way across.

Hmm. It’s going so smoothly that it’s actually a little boring.

I haven’t been attacked by a single monster.

Honestly, I was so prepared for a fight that it’s almost more of a letdown than a relief.

No, it’s fine, though. Peace is a good thing.

But if it’s too peaceful, I could run out of SP, so it’d be nice if a monster would attack once in a while. Purely as a food source, of course.

If it’s a tasty monster, so much the better. Like catfish, or catfish, or maybe catfish.

C’mon, can’t one poke its little head out of the magma for me?

Sploosh.

<Elroe gunesohka LV 17

Status: HP: 2,331/2,331 (green) (details) MP: 1,894/1,894 (blue) (details)

SP: 2,119/2,119 (yellow) (details) : 2,315/2,315 (red) +264 (details)

Average Offensive Ability: 1,999 (details) Average Defensive Ability: 1,876 (details)

Average Magical Ability: 1,551 (details) Average Resistance Ability: 1,528 (details)

Average Speed Ability: 1,657 (details)

Skills:

[Fire Wyrm LV 9] [Imperial Scales LV 2] [HP Auto-Recovery LV 2] [MP Auto-Recovery LV 1]

[MP Lessened Consumption LV 1] [SP Recovery Speed LV 3] [SP Lessened Consumption LV 3] [Flame Attack LV 5]

[Flame Enhancement LV 3] [Destruction Enhancement LV 2] [Impact Enhancement LV 4] [Cooperation LV 5]

[Leadership LV 7] [Hit LV 10] [Evasion LV 10] [Probability Correction LV 8]

[Presence Perception LV 4] [Danger Perception LV 7] [High-Speed Swimming LV 7] [Overeating LV 8]

[Impact Resistance LV 6] [Heat Nullification] [Longevity LV 1] [Instantaneous LV 8]

[Persistent LV 9] [Herculean Strength LV 1] [Sturdy LV 1] [Technique User LV 4]

[Protection LV 4] [Running LV 5]

Skill Points: 11,250

Titles:

[Monster Slayer] [Monster Slaughterer] [Commander]

Something came out?!

It’s a wyrm.

It’s way more legit than the eel. A real, 100 percent genuine wyrm.

Judging by its skill set and such, it may be an even-further-evolved form of the eel.

You couldn’t even call this thing a fish. It’s a fire wyrm, plain and simple.

Aah, this is not good!

Imperial Scales is a superior version of Dragon Scales, with a much higher effect.

I didn’t care about its effect of interfering with magic construction and weakening magic’s power, but now it poses a big problem.

The eel’s Dragon Scales probably wouldn’t have been strong enough to dissolve my Height of Occultism–enhanced magic, but this fire wyrm’s Imperial Scales may just do the trick.

Plus the Hit / Probability Correction combo that gave me so much trouble when I fought the eel is still going strong.

Not to mention, now it even has Evasion.

And it’s fully loaded with fire-attribute attacks, my biggest weakness.

But the most dangerous thing of all might be its Cooperation and Leadership skills.

My Detection skill is alerting me about monsters popping out of the magma, one after the other.

Cooperation and Leadership have effects that absolutely live up to their names.

Cooperation improves the ability to work together, and Leadership makes subordinates follow commands.

They’re both skills you get with the title Leader, which is an extra layer of trickiness.

This title has the effect of slightly raising the subordinates’ stats.

I’m completely surrounded by a swarm of monsters.

And the fire wyrm is their boss.

I know I said I could beat an eel no problem, but no one told me something this strong was gonna show!

Body brain!

Yeah, let’s run for it!

Our decision is immediate. I don’t think I could even beat this freak one-on-one, never mind with a whole army of flunkies.

In that case, running is my only shot.

The footing here is bad—no, it’s the worst—but it’s still my best option.

I jump over to an island opposite the fire wyrm.

Immediately after making the move, Detection informs me the island I was standing on before has gone up in flames.

Oh, geez! I know it was tiny, but still, it got swallowed whole!

I don’t think I can escape across these things.

The fireballs that wyrm spits out are too huge and too powerful.

Even with my new and improved stats, if I get hit with one of those, there’ll be nothing left.

I land on the next island, then immediately leap toward the following.

But while I’m in the air, a bunch of sea horses pop out of the magma and pepper fireballs at me.

It’s like antiaircraft fire.

Countless projectiles fly in a beeline toward me with pinpoint accuracy, as if the sea horses had trained together for this moment.

I’ve seen sea horses in groups before but never working together like this. Thanks to the leadership of the fire wyrm, though, they’re attacking in perfect sync.

I feel like I’m fighting a whole army.

No sense holding anything back.

On top of Magic Warfare, I also invoke Mental Warfare.

Then I shoot an Energy Conferment–enhanced thread toward the ceiling, using it to escape to the ceiling before my modified silk catches fire.

Tons of fireballs pass by directly below me, almost grazing my feet.

But already, a much bigger fireball is zeroing in on my spot on the ceiling. It’s one of the fire wyrm’s.

I race along the ceiling and manage to avoid the missile.

When it connects, the fireball destroys a portion of the cavern, scattering flames and debris everywhere.

If that hit me in the air, even if I still had HP left, I’d plunge into the magma.

The sea horses put up another fusillade.

I avoid most of them and douse the rest with Poison Shot.

Poison Shot has some degree of physical attack power.

If it hits something flying through the air, it can cancel it out.

And since Poison Shot is a simple spell and I have Height of Occultism and a portion of my mind dedicated purely to magic, I can even use it rapid-fire.

Of course, I can’t produce them fast enough to counter every single fireball this army of sea horses chucks at me, but I can at least use it to offset the ones I can’t dodge.

Until a fireball that I can’t dispel comes barreling toward me.

A really, really humongous one.

And it’s from the direction I was headed.

I can’t avoid it on the ceiling, so I let myself fall, landing on a nearby island.

Immediately, a bright-red flower blooms on the ceiling.

I look forward.

That wasn’t the wyrm’s fireball.

Instead, my way forward is blocked by eels.

Not just one, but three.

I’m in checkmate.

Eels at the front gate. A fire wyrm at the rear.

If it were just one eel, I might be able to break through, but getting past a group of three will be virtually impossible.

So I turn back toward the fire wyrm, since there’s only one of those, but it’s closing on me with its army of countless sea horses.

On top of that, it’s accompanied by a fourth eel.

This is bad.

The only way I can survive is by avoiding the enemies’ attacks and reducing their numbers.

Even small-fry like the sea horse can be big trouble in such large numbers.

I have to bring those numbers down if I want to stand a chance.

There’s nothing funny about being assailed by a wall of fireballs!

Right now, the only saving grace is that the fire wyrm’s leadership is actually too perfect.

Basically, the attacks aimed at me are a little too accurate.

There are so many of them that it would be a simple matter to carpet the whole area, leaving me with nowhere to go, but instead, they all target me directly.

As long as I have somewhere to run, I can avoid them.

I sprint off to the side, trying to break through the siege of the fire wyrm and the eels.

As I run, I activate magic.

Poison Magic level 6: Poison Fog.

As the name suggests, it’s a spell that generates a toxic cloud.

It’d be great if I had a spell that would directly attack a wide range in one shot, but this is the only weapon in my arsenal capable of affecting multiple enemies at once.

It’s not as strong as my Deadly Spider Poison, so it won’t drain their HP in an instant, but if they keep breathing it in, the poison will gradually eat away at them.

If I can just keep escaping, this fog should reduce their numbers significantly!

But of course things won’t be so easy.

Some of the sea horses come on land to block my path.

Grr, out of my way!

I swing my scythes toward the standing sea horses.

Each of the scythes bisects a sea horse to my left and the right.

That’s how strong my scythe attack has become with my improved stats.

Swinging my forelegs back, I cut down two more sea horses.

At the same time, I jump straight into the air!

A fireball smashes into the ground where I was standing less than a second ago.

The blast accelerates my body all the more, and I reach the ceiling without using any thread.

But the aftershock alone was enough to decrease my HP significantly.

Catching sight of an eel getting ready to unleash a fireball, I synthesize some Deadly Spider Poison half out of desperation.

Paying no attention to how much MP it consumes, I maximize the amount.

Instantly, a huge ball of poison far bigger than I am appears and drops.

The giant glob of poison collides with the eel’s fireball and bursts in midair.

The majority is evaporated, but what’s left falls down like rain.

There may not be much, but it’s still my Deadly Spider Poison.

Even that tiny amount manages to bring down several of the weakling sea horses.

Perfect.

I scurry along the ceiling before the next fireball arrives.

As I move, I synthesize more Deadly Spider Poison, spraying it everywhere.

The fire wyrm and the eels hesitate. Maybe they’re afraid to disperse the lethal concoction with their fireballs.

They frantically scramble to avoid the falling poison.

The Poison Fog is taking effect, too; one by one, more of the sea horses fall.

Hey, this is going pretty well. If I just keep scattering poison as I run, maybe I can get away.

Wha…?!

Shoot. I’m molting.

If this happens while I’m on the ceiling, it’ll slow me way down.

Sure enough, as soon as the peeling husk stops me in my tracks, an eel lands a direct hit on me with a fireball.

Ow! Hot! I’m gonna die!

I’m falling.

Luckily, there’s an island directly beneath me.

Safe! I managed to avoid landing in the magma. Lucky me.

Good thing that shot came from an eel and not the fire wyrm. Otherwise, I’d have gone up in smoke on the spot.

Still, one hit from the eel’s fireball has me living on Perseverance.

It’s already drained my usually excessive stock of MP in half.

I never imagined that molting, after helping me out so many times, would screw me over like that.

But I survived!

A giant figure approaches, interrupting my relief.

One of the eels is charging me, its body covered in flames.

I’d escape, but there’s no time.

I use Rot Attack on one of my scythes.

Immediately, intense pain runs through the leg, but I ignore it.

Just barely dodging to the side of the charging eel, I raise my Rot-infused scythe and chop away.

Despite the eel’s Dragon Scales, the scythe slices through with no resistance.

Rot Attack really is terrifying.

I can’t believe I killed an eel in one blow.

Pieces of its body sink into the magma.

Part of it stays intact, of course, but the areas where it was cut collapse as if they’ve turned to sand.

Meanwhile, thanks to my molting, my self-destructed scythe is fully recovered.

Now there are three eels and the fire wyrm left.

Thanks to the Poison Fog, most of the sea horses have been downed.

Part 7 of 8

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