Vwoooom!
“Shit, fu—”
Kwaaang!
The moment I threw myself aside, the boulder flying over my head slammed straight into the cave wall.
Rumble, crumble.
Scattering stone dust, a resounding crash, the ground shaking beneath us.
This wasn’t a battle. It was practically a demolition site.
At this rate, we’d have to worry about the cave collapsing before that monster killed us.
“Liv! What do we do now?!”
Aileen asked, panting.
All she had in her hand was a single torch.
Even fleeing by that faint light seemed close to reaching its limit now.
The flame was shrinking little by little in the wind and damp.
We did have spare torches, but… if we kept running like this, we’d soon lose our sight completely.
“…Wait.”
I spoke briefly, catching my breath.
From start to finish, the bastard had only chosen fights that favored it.
It aimed at us precisely with those red eyes in the darkness and never once came down.
I had fired Water Bullets once or twice, but this cavern was wide and complicated.
The thing moved as if floating, winding itself along its webbing, easily dodging my magic.
Now there was only one way.
Just as we couldn’t see properly in the dark—
I had to put it in the same situation.
[Sea Fog]
The groundwater seeping through the floor, and the water I’d saved in my canteen.
I released all the mana I’d gathered and gathered while running.
Shaaaaa—
Moisture carrying a cold chill began to spread through the air.
Before long, a pale mist rose from our feet and slowly began swallowing the entire cavern.
Slip.
I immediately took Aileen’s hand and hid ourselves in a corner of the cavern.
Kwaang! Tukwaang!
Explosive roars burst out.
As if flustered, the monster began swinging the boulder wildly.
Just as expected.
Its attacks no longer fell anywhere near us.
Slip.
I shifted slightly and checked.
I had wondered if it could pinpoint our location through vibrations or the flow of air, but no.
It really did seem to rely on sight.
‘Whew…’
My heart, which had been pounding urgently from all the running, slowly began to calm down.
Aileen looked at me silently, as if asking if I had a plan.
I looked at her for a moment, then gave a small nod as if to tell her not to worry.
Now, neither side could see the other.
An even playing field.
In that case… from here on, it was my turn to pay it back.
I slowly closed my eyes and focused mana into them.
In my mind, I slowly recalled the spell.
[Blue Eye]
My vision was dyed blue, and the outlines in the darkness slowly emerged.
Only then did I see it.
A body rising upright, eight legs stretching out on either side.
As expected, it was a spider.
Only, it wasn’t the small, cute bug I knew.
Its body was large enough to reach past my waist, and it radiated a pressure that couldn’t be ignored.
Hanging from the ceiling, the spider moved here and there as if riding along ropes, swinging the boulder with its legs like a flail.
‘Ugh, that’s disgusting as hell.’
I released Blue Eye and raised my mana again.
Now there was more than enough moisture around me.
The mist lying low over the cavern floor trembled faintly in response to my spell.
The fog caved inward, and a round sphere condensed above my palm.
A cold sensation traveled along my fingertips.
[Water Bullet]
The Water Bullet left my hand and slipped through the mist as if gliding.
This time, it wouldn’t see it either.
It wouldn’t be able to sense the position in advance and dodge like before.
‘Go.’
The blue sphere cut through the air—
Shwaaaak. Thud.
And struck something dead on.
What followed was a horrible high-pitched sound, like glass being scratched.
“Kishiiiiik!!”
It was the monster.
Given the situation, it was unmistakably a scream.
The entire cavern buzzed with that sound.
At that moment, the flail that had been swinging boulders so mercilessly finally stopped its pendulum-like motion.
Silence settled inside the cave, and through the mist, Aileen, holding her breath, looked my way.
I nodded slightly.
The first hit had landed, at least.
But it still wasn’t enough.
The thing flinched, but soon writhed again and raised itself up.
“Shaaaak!!”
This time, as if enraged, its movements became even more violent.
There was force behind the sound of the boulder swinging, and the air trembled.
Those disgusting legs scraped across the ceiling as they moved.
“This won’t end it.”
I steadied my breathing and lifted my eyes.
Above, near the ceiling, the huge boulder was slowly swaying again, suspended by spiderwebs.
‘I need to make it come down.’
I didn’t know how durable the thing was, but I didn’t think I could finish it off with the mana I had left.
Worse, even the mist I’d spread was sinking lower and lower because the space wasn’t completely sealed.
The thing was still hanging from its web, using the boulder tied to the end of the web as a weapon.
……The boulder?
If I could just cut the strand supporting it, wouldn’t the thing lose its weapon and have no choice but to come down?
Tukwaang!
Right on cue, I heard the thing’s boulder-flail smash into the ground nearby.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
I kicked off the floor and ran, pressing myself against the wall where the webbing connected.
That sticky, thick strand linked the boulder to the ceiling.
I immediately pulled out my flail and brought it down on the web.
Vwooom. Clang!
“…What the?”
The flail bounced off, and a sharp pain spread through my wrist.
The spiderweb was as hard as metal; this wasn’t a weapon, it was practically ore.
“You call this shit a spiderweb…?!”
I gritted my teeth and gripped the flail again, but the pain rising through my wrist told me this wasn’t it.
Beside me, Aileen also scraped at the strand with her dagger, but it only made a grating sound and didn’t leave a single scratch.
“This won’t work. It doesn’t look like it’s going to break at all…”
Aileen said, breathing hard.
At that moment, the boulder embedded in the wall began to shake slowly and pull itself free.
It was showing signs of being retrieved soon.
‘Damn it… what do we do?’
Just as I stood there blankly, as if my body had frozen—
Whoosh.
Right beside me, with a sound mixed with wind, a spark leapt out.
The tip of the torch Aileen was holding. Its flame brushed past one strand of spiderweb stretched along the floor.
Chiiik—
The white spiderweb began burning away in an instant.
‘…No way!’
I immediately snatched the torch from her.
Then, without hesitation, I brought the flame to the spiderweb.
Whoosh.
The fire caught faster than I expected.
Like dry wood, the spiderweb began to burn.
Amazingly, as if some kind of oil was mixed inside it, the flame spread quickly along the strand.
“Kishaaaaaak!!!”
The monster must have noticed too, because it let out a sharp shriek from the ceiling and thrashed.
But it was already too late.
The spiderweb burned rapidly, and soon, the thing’s only weapon would disappear.
I adjusted my grip on the flail and took a step back.
The preparations were complete.
‘Come down.’
The monster struggled, trying to hold out until the end.
It swept its rough legs through the webbing, trying to shake off the flames, but the sparks rushed along the strand like starving beasts.
The speed of the burning was faster than any of its flailing.
In the end, the thing had to make a decision.
Thud.
First, it abandoned the boulder it had been swinging like a weapon.
Then it tucked in its eight legs and curled its body into a ball.
In the next instant, its bulk cut through the darkness and fell.
Boom!
The entire floor shook.
Dust and bits of stone flew up, and I reflexively shielded Aileen as I lowered myself.
‘It’s here.’
At last, we were at eye level.
Now it, too, was on the same ground as us.
In the mist, the shape of the giant spider wavered.
A body far larger than I had expected.
Each of its legs was covered in thick, stiff gray hairs.
It almost felt less like looking at a spider and more like staring at a gray wolf.
“Kishaaaaak!”
A high-pitched scream like shattering glass tore at my ears.
My heart dropped.
But at the same time, I clearly heard where it was.
‘So that’s where you are.’
I swallowed hard and carefully loaded a Water Bullet.
Moisture condensed at my fingertips, gathering into a small, heavy sphere.
Click. Click. Click. Click.
The sound of eight hard legs moving over stone grew closer and closer.
That meant it had noticed me too.
Rustle.
Red eyes gleamed within the thinning mist.
“Kishiiik!”
Clickclickclickclick—
The instant it found me, it charged without hesitation.
Shwack. Thud!
I fired the Water Bullet at the monster rushing straight toward me, then immediately threw myself backward.
But the Water Bullet bounced off its hard front leg, and the thing approached me with its speed intact.
‘The legs won’t work.’
A wall born from the difference in weight class.
A head-on fight was impossible.
Then, a sharp metallic sound rang out.
A silhouette flashed through the mist.
It was Aileen.
“Hup!”
She seized the opening while the spider was focused on me and stabbed into its side.
When the tip of her blade pierced its body, green fluid splattered and the spider let out a grotesque scream.
“Kieeeek—!”
Unlike the legs, its body didn’t seem to be covered in shell.
Reflexively, the spider swung a leg, and Aileen was flung away into the mist.
“Kk—!”
Aileen vanished from sight with a short cry.
The spider turned, trying to pursue her.
“Damn it, this is screwed…”
I rushed over late, but unbelievably, Aileen was alive.
Her face was twisted with pain, but fortunately, she didn’t seem to have any major external injuries.
“Kisik…”
And the spider was looking around elsewhere, unable to see her.
It seemed unable to perceive a target directly below it.
‘No way… can it not see beneath itself?’
Its tall stance, the position of its eyes, and the mist.
Perhaps because all those conditions had overlapped, a blind spot had formed in its vision.
……This is it!
“Hey, you bug bastard, over here!”
I shouted to draw its attention, then sprinted with all my strength in the opposite direction.
Behind me, along with an enraged cry, came the sound of hard legs striking the ground.
The moment I judged I had put enough distance between us, I dropped flat onto the floor.
Scraping together every last bit of mana I had left, I prayed with desperate hope.
‘Please… please…’
Click, click, click, click.
Maybe my prayer had been answered.
One chitinous leg cut through the mist and swept right past my eyes.
The smell of dirt from the floor touched the tip of my nose, and above it, the spider’s leg brushed past the back of my hand, which was sticking out slightly.
Its massive body passed directly over me.
“Kishik?”
The thing let out a questioning cry, as if it sensed something was strange.
That meant I had completely vanished from its sight.
Now.
[Water Bullet]
The final strike, using every last bit of mana I had left.
The Water Bullet slammed directly into its fully exposed abdomen.
Kwa-aaak!!
As the Water Bullet struck its body, the spider screamed so violently that its spine seemed to buckle.
The transparent stream of water burrowed into its torso, and the spider’s fluids splattered in every direction.
“Kishaaaak!!”
The thing flailed its legs into the air.
The more its body shook, the more thick fluid poured out.
It seemed I had hit something vital inside.
Instinctively, I curled my body and rolled while still lying prone.
Bang!
One of the spider’s legs stabbed into the spot where I had just been.
The stone shattered and fragments flew, and a shard that reached as far as my chest nearly stopped my breath.
“Kh, ugh! Ptoo!”
Spitting out the fluid that had splashed into my mouth, I barely managed to get myself up.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As if sensing the threat to its life, the spider went berserk and swept wildly in every direction.
It was fast and violent, unlike what its size suggested.
“Aileen!”
Behind me, I saw a silhouette gasping for breath within the mist.
It was definitely Aileen, who had been collapsed until moments ago, but now she was standing.
Even as she staggered, she held her sword.
And… she moved before I did.
Shuk—
A shadow flew through the mist with a short sound.
The blade shot straight toward the monster’s face.
One of the spider’s many eyes.
The one weakness not covered by its outer shell.
Sink.
The blade pierced that eye with perfect accuracy.
A monstrous scream rang out, loud enough to tear the eardrums.
“Kiiiiiiiik!”
The thing spat out a sharp shriek.
At that moment, its balance clearly broke.
Its center of gravity tilted toward its lower abdomen, and several of its legs jerked up on their own.
Then came the counterattack.
Aileen barely managed to block the swinging leg with her sword again.
But before that overwhelming force, she was sent flying backward.
Crash!
She managed to stand by bracing herself on her sword, but her legs wavered.
The wound she’d suffered earlier seemed quite deep.
…I couldn’t just stand still either.
The opening Aileen had created for me.
I drove straight into the monster’s side.
The blind spot between its legs, directly under its body.
The place where I had driven in the Water Bullet earlier.
“Haa…!”
I forced my way through the gaps between the monster’s enormous legs and raised my flail toward the underside of its lower abdomen.
Clang!
The first blow bounced off a leg.
But I’d expected that.
I had never planned to end it in one hit.
I gritted my teeth.
Gathering all my remaining strength, I gripped the flail again.
This time, deeper. Harder.
Bang!
The flail tore into the spider’s massive body and lodged itself inside.
Sticky fluid burst out like an explosion.
The stench stabbed into my nostrils and ran down my cheek.
“Haaaaa!”
I twisted the embedded flail as it was.
I churned it like whipping batter.
Crunch. Cr-runch.
The sound of organs tearing and being crushed.
The sensation of mucous flesh ripping traveled through to my fingertips.
The monster’s body twisted.
A scream like a wail burst out, vibrating through its throat.
At that moment, one of its swinging legs cut through the mist and flew at me.
It grazed my cheek, slicing away flesh as it passed.
Slash—
Blood sprayed.
Warm, sticky liquid ran down my cheek.
But I didn’t stop.
“Ghhh—”
The legs grazed, scraped, and tried to crush every part of my body.
Even as my whole body became covered in wounds, I didn’t let go of the flail.
Its insides were soft and squelching, and my flail kept spinning, and spinning, inside them.
“Ki, kishiiik…”
The monster’s cry was no longer even a scream.
Pain, confusion, and fear.
Its massive body swayed in midair and tilted.
The silhouette shook, and then—
Thud.
The spider collapsed as if pouring down over my head, stirring up dust within the mist.
Then came silence.
“Hah, hah, hah.”
I rolled out from beneath it in a twisted posture and sank to my knees.
My heart was pounding up to my throat, both arms were trembling, and my entire body was soaked.
But I felt it clearly.
……It was over.
The thing had fallen.
Truly, it was over.