So I’m a Spider, So What?, Vol. 6

by Okina Baba

  [Pain Nullification] [Pain Mitigation LV 3] [Vision Enhancement LV 5] [Night Vision LV 10]

  [Vision Expansion LV 2] [Auditory Enhancement LV 3] [Olfactory Enhancement LV 2] [Taste Enhancement LV 2]

  [Longevity LV 5] [Magic Hoard LV 5] [Instant Body LV 5] [Endurance LV 5]

  [Herculean Strength LV 5] [Sturdy LV 5] [Monk LV 5] [Talisman LV 5]

  [Acceleration LV 5]

  Skill Points: 21,000

  Titles:

  [Monster Slayer] [Monster Slaughterer] [Dragon] [Champion]

  >

  Earth dragons.

  Three of them, no less.

  Earth Dragon Kagna, Earth Dragon Gehre, Earth Dragon Fuit.

  Dragons are a unique existence even among monsters.

  They are the evolved form a wyrm can take after many years.

  Dragons are said to live deep in nature, far from human influence, and they punish any fool who dares to set foot in their land.

  Guardians of nature.

  S-rank monsters who wield absolute power.

  And there are three of them here.

  Even I feel fear in the face of three dragons.

  In fact, this is my first time seeing one.

  There have been occasions where dragons have appeared in human territory, but these are usually young individuals who have only recently evolved.

  S-rank though it may be, an immature dragon that is overconfident in its abilities can possibly be defeated by humans.

  Although even then, victory is likely to come at a significant cost.

  However, the three dragons currently before my eyes are no such novices.

  Fuit’s level is slightly low, but the other two, Kagna and Gehre, are high-enough level that it has likely been some time since they evolved.

  These are true guardians, with a presence that would put any young whelp who appears near a human settlement to shame.

  And now, these dragons are baring their fangs at us.

  It would be impossible not to be frightened.

  The spiders seem to feel the same way.

  Even the nine in the center are in a panic, frantically shouting at one another via Telepathy.

  But the dragons will not wait.

  Gehre leaps forward.

  The lithe and slender dragon is as fast as its appearance would suggest; it closes in on the spiders in an instant and swings its swordlike claws.

  The spiders on the front lines are simply sliced in half, without even a moment to react.

  Other spiders fire back with thread, but the dragon dodges it with ease.

  What incredible speed.

  I knew this from the moment I saw its stats, but seeing it in action is all the more stunning.

  Gehre is a high-speed physical fighter.

  It uses its speed to continue attacking and then dodging back, making short work of the spiders.

  Then, as Gehre drives them into a corner, the spiders are assaulted by an explosion.

  It’s Kagna’s breath attack, loosed from some distance away.

  Kagna’s majestic appearance is akin to a living fortress.

  Standing motionless, it launches another breath.

  Its destructive force is such that any spiders who take a direct hit from the attack disintegrate without a trace.

  The spiders retaliate with magic of their own, but it isn’t causing even the slightest amount of damage.

  Kagna’s defense is flawless.

  Its enormous body means that its speed is slow, but in exchange, it excels in defense.

  The spiders’ magic, which has buried countless Lower Stratum monsters, cannot make even a scratch on Kagna’s scales.

  Gehre tosses the spiders around with speed, and Kagna strikes with powerful breath attacks while they’re distracted.

  Even if the spiders try to fight back, attacks simply don’t work on Kagna, and Gehre is too fast to hit.

  Just one earth dragon would be dangerous, but now there are two of them working together.

  This horrifying combination is inflicting huge losses on the spiders, who have thus far defeated Lower Stratum monsters without a problem.

  And on top of that, these two are not the only opponents.

  Whenever the other two pause for even a moment, Fuit keeps the spiders in check with perfectly timed attacks.

  Fuit uses magic to block the spiders trying to flee from Kagna’s breath attack, cuts the thread that attempts to capture Gehre, and circles around the battlefield whenever possible.

  Kagna’s and Gehre’s movements are difficult to follow in the shadows, but Fuit may well be causing the most casualties.

  Though its level and stats are lower than the other two, Fuit might well become the most powerful of them all soon enough.

  Its instincts are simply remarkable. It knows exactly what to do and when to do it.

  This is not good.

  At this rate, the spiders may be wiped out entirely.

  There are still many of them, but if their attacks are ineffective, their numbers are all but meaningless. They may well lose this battle.

  As I keep an eye on the fighting, I quickly construct magic runes.

  I cannot simply stand here watching the spiders and the earth dragons fight.

  No, I have been constructing runes all this time.

  I am preparing to use the most powerful attack spell out of all the magic available to me.

  The problem is whether it will hit its mark.

  I can barely follow Gehre’s movements with my eyes, so I doubt I can hit it with magic.

  And while Fuit is not as fast as Gehre, it is flitting about the battlefield so much that it would be difficult to aim.

  By process of elimination, that leaves Kagna as my only choice.

  But even Kagna is faster than the other monsters of the Lower Stratum.

  Its speed pales in comparison to its other stats, but it is still in the thousands.

  I must catch it while it is distracted somehow, or it will dodge my spell.

  Just then, a group of spiders charges at Kagna in a suicide attack.

  Did they know what I needed, or was it simple coincidence?

  More than half of them are blown away by Kagna’s breath, but the few survivors manage to wrap thread around Kagna.

  The enormous dragon writhes. Even an earth dragon cannot escape the spiders’ thread so easily, it seems.

  As Kagna struggles, more thread is wrapped around it, constricting its movements.

  At that exact moment, my spell is complete.

  “Get back!” I call out to the spiders, though I know not whether they will understand.

  The spiders scuttle away from Kagna, and I unleash the spell at the dragon with all my might.

  Inferno Magic level 2: Inferno Spear.

  An enormous spear of flame assaults Kagna’s body.

  Fire is my best element of magic, and Inferno Magic is its most powerful form, so this spell is the highest-level magic I can use.

  It manifests the most destructive power of any of my spells.

  The spiders’ thread wrapped around Kagna is engulfed in flames, and Kagna’s enormous body disappears into the hellfire.

  The Great Elroe Labyrinth, normally cloaked in darkness, is lit up by the blaze.

  But that is only for an instant.

  Then the fire disperses just as quickly.

  Kagna reappears, shaking off the flames.

  Completely unharmed.

  But how? I cannot believe it.

  Certainly, I suspected my spell would not be enough to defeat Kagna. The difference in our stats is simply too vast.

  Even then, I thought I would at least inflict a wound.

  But it had no effect at all.

  So this is the might of a dragon.

  The rumors are true, then, that magic does not work on them.

  If this spell will not work on Kagna, then I have no way of harming it at all.

  As I stand painfully aware of my own worthlessness, K
agna’s eyes turn toward me.

  Its mouth opens, the sparks of a breath attack gathering.

  No!

  I fling myself aside just in time, avoiding a direct hit from the breath.

  Nevertheless, it grazes my body.

  Drenched in cold sweat, I crawl along the floor, fleeing as fast as I can.

  I must escape, or I will die!

  The world is far wider than I realized.

  When I think how other beasts like this might well exist outside of my knowledge, it proves to me all over again how little I know.

  I am aware of the existence of legendary-class monsters, but now I realize that I had never truly conceived of how frightening a thing that must be.

  These dragons are S-class, a step below legendary, and already they are fearful beyond measure.

  I do not stand a chance against them.

  Returning to the front lines, Kagna assails the spiders with its breath.

  Gehre aims for the gaps this creates in the spiders’ ranks, disrupting their formation further.

  As Gehre digs deep into their ranks, the spiders attempt to surround it, but Fuit keeps them too preoccupied.

  There are still plenty of spiders left.

  But they have no way of fighting back against the overwhelming power of the earth dragons.

  At this rate, it is only a matter of time until the spiders are all wiped out.

  Determined that I at least should survive, I begin to prepare a Teleport spell, when suddenly a spear of darkness pierces Gehre’s body.

  My Inferno Spear was unable to break Kagna’s hide, but this spear has undoubtedly gone straight through Gehre.

  The dragon lets out an anguished roar that echoes through the cavern.

  With Gehre’s body pinned down by the spear of darkness, the spiders swarm to attack.

  For all that Gehre was able to nimbly dodge attacks until now, it has no way of doing so while wounded and trapped in place. Its giant body is all but swallowed up by a wave of countless spiders.

  Given Gehre’s high defense, it might still survive but for the fact that the spiders are aiming at the wound the black spear created.

  No matter how high one’s defense might be, it is of little use if one’s open wound is under attack.

  The wound begins to expand, with more gashes opening up around it.

  Not even a dragon could survive this unharmed.

  Fuit attempts to free Gehre, only to suddenly sink into the ground.

  Fuit’s body produces a horrible sound as it’s crushed downward, as if being pushed down by an unseen force.

  A Heavy-attribute attack!

  I remember the master using the same kind of technique.

  But to be able to pin even an earth dragon to the ground would take incredible power.

  As Fuit is pressed into the earth, the surrounding spiders cover the dragon in thread, rendering it utterly immobile.

  The heavy attack stops soon enough, but by now, Fuit is already bound by thread and being swarmed by spiders.

  Soon it will meet the same fate as Gehre.

  The spiders attempt to flock around the remaining dragon, but Kagna is like a moving fortress, brushing them off easily.

  However, that’s only until one particular spider arrives on the scene at a far faster speed than the others—indeed, even faster than Gehre.

  Speeding up to Kagna, it swiftly slices deep into Kagna’s leg with its scythe-like front legs.

  Naturally, Kagna cannot remain standing after sustaining a wound like that.

  Dragged down by its own immense weight, Kagna crashes to the ground with a resounding thud.

  And again, the spiders swarm over the fallen dragon.

  Right before my eyes, Kagna, Gehre, and Fuit have all been buried by a mountain of spiders.

  Each of them tries to escape, but their movements are restricted by thread, and soon they cannot struggle any longer.

  I never imagined that such immensely powerful earth dragons would meet this sort of fate.

  I look at the nine spiders, the leading players in this victory.

  They are the ones who pierced Gehre with the black spear, who crushed Fuit with a Heavy-attribute attack, and who cut down Kagna’s leg.

  These nine spiders are truly on a different level from the others.

  In some ways, they may even match that great being in strength.

  I do feel fear in the face of that power, of course. But even more so, I feel excitement.

  The spear that first pierced Gehre was likely Black Spear, a Black Magic spell.

  Which puts it on the same grade of magic as the Inferno Spear I produced.

  And yet, it was far more powerful than mine.

  Perhaps the difference is due to my lower stats.

  Still, I believe that the true secret behind that spear’s strength was the sheer amount of magic power it contained.

  Instead of simply using the spell in accordance with the skill, they added extra magic into it.

  It’s simple enough to describe, but I know how difficult a feat that truly is.

  It would be akin to guiding a tumultuous stream through a tiny canal.

  Usually, the canal would simply break.

  Once that happened, the excess magic power one attempted to use would be released in a misfire as the rune fell apart. In the worst case, it could even cause a backfire.

  But they used such a technique with utmost ease.

  It must be possible.

  If these pioneering spiders were able to do so before me, there is no reason I cannot do the same.

  After I learn this technique, I’ll be a step closer to the pinnacle of magical prowess!

  As long as I can find a way to acquire this skill, I’ll be able to increase the power of my spells while perhaps even learning of a quicker way to produce runes, as I had hoped!

  Might I even learn to give lesser spells the same degree of power as advanced spells like Inferno Magic?!

  And if that speed of construction becomes the standard, it will revolutionize magic!

  Can I really do such a thing?

  I certainly shall!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Hmm?

  So the three dragons buried beneath the spiders have breathed their last.

  Somehow, it seems that I have been counted as part of the battle, and I have acquired the title Dragon Slayer.

  In spite of the fact that I was of such little help.

  Though I truly thought I would die, in the end, it was a valuable experience.

  …Yes, it really was meaningful.

  Even if I could do nothing of any use at all.

  MEETING OF THE PARALLEL MINDS #3: THE THREE EARTH DRAGON BROTHERS

  “Yooooo! They’ve got a new guy now?!”

  “We can’t beat three of these things!”

  “No, I think we can win, but still…”

  “I mean, I figured Kagna and Gehre would be together, but who knew there’d be a new one, too?”

  “Looks like Coach Kagna scouted a pretty talented player.”

  “I guess Kagna’s real skills lie in management, not defense?”

  “This isn’t gonna be as straightforward as fighting Araba one-on-one!”

  “I mean, they’re all weaker than Araba was, but it’s a hell of a lot harder, since there are three of them at once.”

  “Yeah, but there’s not just one of us anymore, either! Behold! Our incredible forces! We’ll overwhelm them with sheer numbers!”

  “I dunno—that’s not go
nna work if most of our army’s just small fry.”

  “Well, it’s our job to back them up, then.”

  “And what are we gonna do about the freaky old geezer?”

  “Can’t see him, don’t hear him, he doesn’t exist. In other words, just leave him alone.”

  THE FOUL-MOUTHED GIRL AND THE TOO-FRIENDLY BOY HERO

  Hey there, this is Aurel, everyone’s favorite eight-year-old.

  That damn geezer isn’t back yet.

  What the hell is he doing, leaving a lovely young lady like me all alone?

  I mean, I know Master Ronandt is a super-talented mage and all, but I don’t think that makes it okay to just ditch an eight-year-old in some far-off land to set off on a journey or whatever.

  What am I supposed to do?

  You can’t blame me for calling him a geezer instead of “Master” right now.

  Anyway, since he left me without any directions, I got that Empire big shot Tiva to give me some work to do for now.

  The town I’m in at the moment has some Ohts Army people as well as a few Empire Army guys.

  I’m basically doing grunt work for them.

  Good thing the geezer at least introduced us that first day.

  Otherwise they probably would’ve chased me out, being like, Who the hell’re you?!

  This town is being occupied by an invading army, and I’m just a kid from the Empire, who is an ally of that army.

  If I had to go it alone here, I’d probably be killed in some damn back alley.

  Not my idea of a good time.

  “Oh, Aurel, perfect timing. I was just heading out for a bit of shopping. Would you mind coming along to carry my things?”

  Mister Tiva asks me to do odd jobs pretty often.

  Well, it’s phrased like a request, but I mean, he’s looking after me because I’ve been dumped by my old employer.

  It’s not like I can say no.

  “Yeah, ’course.”

  “You could at least say ‘yes, of course,’ you know.”

  The older man smiles gently.

  Sorry ’bout that.

  I’m from the sticks, so I ain’t about to start talking all proper.

  But Tiva’s a real good guy, helping out a foul-mouthed brat like me.

  He’s so nice, I might just have to switch masters from that old geezer.

  I follow the older man into town.

  “I’m sorry, Aurel. I hate to make a small child like you help carry things for me, but as much as it pains me to say it, nobody else is free.” Mister Tiva apologizes.