Was the sight of me drawing out my fighting spirit while glaring at the vengeful spirit spider that surprising?
“Are you thinking of fighting…? Against that?”
Laute turned to look at me with a blank face and uttered those words.
Thinking of fighting, she says. Is that even a question?
“…Of course we have to fight.”
I answered without even turning my head.
Of course we have to fight. Or what, should we just die without resistance?
Moreover, it’s not like we can die cleanly and instantly. Most likely, we’d be tightly bound in spider webs and become spider food or part of a spider’s nest.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want that.
So―
“Ms. Laute, get a grip on yourself. If you don’t want to die like a dog.”
With that advice, which might be my last, I added more strength to my gripped longsword and launched my body like an arrow towards the vengeful spirit spider.
“Kigigigigi!”
The vengeful spirit spider spread its fangs wide and raised its sharp forelegs.
The legs, bristling with hair between the gaps in its carapace, were several meters long, and at the tips were claws as sharp as scythes.
“Come, my son…!”
The vengeful spirit spider swung its raised forelegs like blades.
A speed surpassing my slash. In the blink of an eye, its claws were already before my eyes.
“Kuh…!”
I hurriedly lowered my upper body to let the spider’s foreleg pass over my head.
Whoosh!
A terribly savage sound of air being cut passed by my ears. If it had hit directly, it would have been enough to burst my head inside the helmet and then some.
“Kieeek!”
Acidic liquid spewed from its wide-open mouth. I planted my left hand on the ground and rolled sideways to avoid it.
An amazingly quick reaction speed.
Perhaps due to survival instinct, my extremely heightened reflexes were drawing out performance beyond the usual from my body.
It felt like the odds had increased ever so slightly.
Tsss!
The missed acidic liquid melted the soil and rocks, emitting smoke.
“Haah!”
I raised my body like a compressed spring snapping back and swung my gripped sword diagonally upward.
Screech!
The blade and carapace sparked with a sound of metal scraping. It felt like swinging a sword against a shield. My hand tingled slightly.
“Damn, it’s tough…!”
“You brat!”
It didn’t seem like I had inflicted proper damage. Still, perhaps it couldn’t contain its anger at being attacked?
The vengeful spirit spider raised two legs attached to its side and brought them down towards me like driving stakes.
“Tch…!”
I stopped my sword mid-swing and jumped backward to avoid the spider’s legs.
Crash!
A thunderous sound echoed through the cavity. The spider’s missed claws struck the ground, carving deep grooves.
Rock fragments scattered by the impact reached me, bouncing off my armor in all directions.
“Phew…”
I let out a hot sigh, soothing my brain and lungs that had heated up from the intense movement.
That power, if I had taken it head-on, could I have deflected it? Honestly, I wasn’t confident.
‘Still…’
Still, it was strangely slower and weaker than I had expected.
Was it because the vengeful spirit was that of an ordinary old man, not a warrior’s soul?
Its movements seemed somewhat clumsy, to the point where if there was a ranking among vengeful spirit spiders, this one might be at the very bottom.
“Kieeeeek!”
Of course, it wasn’t particularly reassuring.
Although it wasn’t a thrust with full power, my sword had only managed to scratch its carapace, while…
“You run well… Just like back then…!”
The vengeful spirit spider’s attacks were so lethal that even a single direct hit would likely decide between life and death!
“I won’t let you escape!”
The vengeful spirit spider lowered its head as if bowing, exposing its nape and back.
Countless spikes protruding unevenly across its entire back shell gleamed, reflecting the light of the fallen torch.
Spine wave.
An attack that fires dozens of spines containing paralyzing venom all at once to capture the enemy alive.
As the explanation from the novel flashed through my mind, I hurriedly rolled my feet and threw my body sideways.
Papapapapak!
A rain of black spines poured down on the spot where I had been standing just moments ago. It looked like a shotgun had been fired at the ground.
“Over there!”
As if it had anticipated me dodging sideways, the vengeful spirit spider fired black spines again towards where I had thrown my body.
There was no way to avoid it. My feet hadn’t touched the ground yet.
“Kuk…!”
I bit my lip and threw off my cloak in front of me, hoping the tough cloak would at least slightly deflect the direction of the spine wave.
And then.
“Haaap!”
Short gray hair blocked my view.
It was Laute.
She stretched out her left-hand shield forward, taking the full brunt of the black spines flying towards me.
Crash!
Wood chips scattered like rainwater falling on asphalt.
Holes were punched through the sturdy round shield, with spine tips protruding through.
“Ugh…!”
Her back shook. Laute gritted her teeth against the impact and was pushed back far. Leaving long footprints on the mine shaft floor.
“Haa… Haa…”
After blocking the spine wave like that, Laute lowered her shield slightly, breathing heavily.
With holes punched through it like lotus roots, it looked more like trash than a shield now.
“Are you alright, Ms. Hilde?”
Laute turned to me and asked, stumbling over her words.
A face mixed with desperation and determination.
Whether from the shock or fear, her limbs were trembling, but at least she hadn’t let go of her sword and shield.
Has her fighting spirit returned, at least? That’s fortunate.
“…Thanks to you.”
I straightened my posture and expressed my gratitude.
Thanks to her, I was able to avoid a great mishap.
Although the spine wave probably couldn’t pierce steel armor, if I had been hit directly in areas without steel plating, I would have been helplessly paralyzed.
“Kiiiiek…!”
The vengeful spirit spider let out an irritated shriek, having lost the fish it thought it had caught right before its eyes.
Its wrinkled face distorted hideously, reminiscent of a rotten rag soaked in grease.
“Ugh…”
Laute let out a nauseated groan, shrinking her shoulders slightly.
“Calm down and listen. I’ll draw its attention from the front, so Laute, go around to my opposite side and look for an opening. You can do that much, right?”
I spoke as if soothing her.
I’ll take all the aggro, so you just do free damage from behind.
A longsword warrior drawing aggro and a sword-and-shield warrior doing free damage. Somehow the roles seemed reversed, but this was the best we could do for now.
If I put Laute in front of that thing, she’d become a human skewer in less than five minutes.
“Ah, yes. I’ll try…!”
Laute nodded.
“Good. Then, let’s go!”
I nodded back, then rested my longsword on my shoulder and rushed towards the vengeful spirit spider.
“Haaaap!”
While forcibly suppressing my sense of crisis and anxiety with an intense battle cry.
“Kigigigik! Yes! Come to me! To your father!”
The vengeful spirit spider spread its forelegs wide as if welcoming me.
I thought it would fire another spine wave, but whether that needed recharging or not, it was clearly poised for close combat.
“Don’t make me laugh…!”
I increased my speed even more and dove into its front. To give Laute time to position herself behind it.
Whoosh!
Scythe-like claws flew in with a sound of cutting air.
Two, no, three. It was using one more leg.
I kept my eyes wide open to the point where my eyelids felt stiff, capturing all of its movements on my retina to predict and respond to its next action.
“Kiiiiiiek!”
The first claw aimed diagonally at my shoulder. I rotated my body halfway and deflected it with my sword blade, letting it graze my pauldron.
Clang!
A heavy impact landed on my shoulder.
The spider’s claw left a deep scratch on my pauldron as it slid off and plunged into the ground.
One deflected, for now.
Shuuuu…
My body slid sideways from the recoil of deflecting the first claw.
I kicked off the ground to increase my sliding speed, pulling my body out of the arc drawn by the vengeful spirit spider’s second claw.
The last claw approaching next.
Whoosh!
The spider’s third claw aimed for my lower back, closing in from outside to inside as if embracing a child.
At the same time, its wide-open fangs stretched out, aiming for my neck.
“Come into your father’s arms!”
Front, back, and sides. It was an encircling attack that perfectly blocked all directions I could move.
However, there was one spot.
One empty weak point.
“Don’t talk like you’re my father!”
Ta-!
I threw my body towards the direction my instincts pointed to, the only path to survival.
“Kiiiit?!”
The vengeful spirit spider hurriedly raised its head.
That’s right. I kicked off the ground and leapt, throwing my body over its head.
Since I couldn’t respond to incoming counterattacks if I jumped too high, I jumped just enough for my toes to barely graze its smooth head.
“Looking like that and still calling yourself a father? That’s ridiculous.”
I switched my longsword to a reverse grip and shouted, looking down at the spider’s bumpy carapace back.
A truth that might be shocking to it.
The reason why it couldn’t be my father.
“You’re female! You’re a queen spider!”
“Kieeeeek!?”
The vengeful spirit spider let out a cry of shock at the truth it had finally realized.
The tip of my reversed longsword plunged like an awl into one of its bulging eye sockets.
And then.
“Uuugh… Uaaah!”
Simultaneously, Laute, who had circled behind it, thrust her blade through the vengeful spirit spider’s spinneret like a stake.
“Kieeeeeeeek!”
The vengeful spirit spider, pierced from front and back, let out a resentful scream.