by Okina Baba
And yet, it is not that simple.
If this swarm of spiders is the same one I know, do I even stand a chance of winning?
And yet, given the timing of the matter, it must surely be them.
Then, indeed, this is an impossible task.
“Come now, Aurel. We must run away!”
“Huh?!”
My bold declaration is met with a wild shout from Aurel.
“Don’t be a dumbass! All those soldiers are fighting out there right this very second! If you’re not gonna work now, what’re you even good for?! Without your magic, you’re just a useless old geezer!”
Isn’t that going a little too far?!
Hrm. But my magic isn’t nearly strong enough to stand up to those spiders.
“C’mon, please! Sir Hero… Julius is out there fighting! You gotta save him!” Aurel looks at me pleadingly, her eyes brimming with tears. “Aren’t you the strongest mage in the world? Just go out there all full of yourself and beat the crap outta those monsters like you always do! I’m begging you, please!”
Aurel’s plea fills me with consternation.
I am not the strongest mage in the world.
After all, I was soundly defeated by the master.
Surely, I cannot take on those nine spiders, each of which rivals that great being in power.
I have no choice but to run…and yet.
“You ran away?”
A voice echoes somewhere in the back of my mind.
Those are my very own words from a long time ago.
“Was that oath of ours a lie? I thought we were supposed to protect humanity together! Where did you run away to? Why?!”
My far younger self cries out deep within me.
That was when the previous sword-king vanished.
During his reign, the people of the Empire called him a god of swordsmanship.
That man was my comrade and friend.
“With my sword and your magic, we will protect humanity,” he once said to me.
We fought side by side, protecting the Empire from the demon invasion.
I thought we would go on fighting together forever.
I never once doubted that.
And yet, one day he suddenly disappeared.
He fled from his own duties like a coward.
From his rank as the strongest swordsman in the world.
From his role in the very future of humanity.
I felt that I had been betrayed.
And at the same time, I swore that I would never run away.
Not from my rank as the strongest mage in the world, not from the expectations of the people, and not from the future of humanity that rested squarely on my shoulders.
…Why was I so determined to reach the pinnacle of magic?
…What was the reason that I so passionately sought more power?
Ah, I remember now.
I remember why I’ve been striving all this time!
So I can protect the people in the stead of the former sword-king who fled from his role!
And yet, I thought to run away from peril that threatens the people because I cannot win?
Unbelievable.
I must do no such thing.
My magical prowess exists for the purpose of protecting people.
If I run away, I really will be nothing but a useless, creepy, naked old geezer.
“Do not cry, child.”
I pull the clothing out of Aurel’s hands and hurriedly put it on.
“Leave it to me.”
I will not run away.
Not from my rank as the strongest mage in the world.
Even if that is a false, unreliable title, I must not run away from it.
Victory would be a difficult task.
But I can at least save the hero who Aurel is so worried about.
I rush outside, leaving Aurel standing there in shock.
When I arrive, the battle is in a grim state of affairs.
The soldiers have no battle formation or strategy to speak of, simply trying to fight back against the spiders that press down on them.
I doubt that formations would work against the spiders anyway, since they can move freely through three-dimensional space.
They leap over the soldiers’ shields, attacking them from behind. No wonder their formations are in tatters.
“Do not think poorly of me for this, sisters, brothers.”
I aim for a place where many of the spiders are gathered and use a large-scale Fire Magic spell.
I still have not mastered the art of packing more magic power into a spell.
But the spiders are naturally weak against fire, so even a basic Fire Magic spell has an impact.
If the nine ringleader spiders don’t show up, I may be able to take them on after all.
“Here I go!”
I spray Fire Magic around as much as I can without catching any of the soldiers in it.
All over, spiders burn up into cinders.
Losing their numbers and their momentum, the spiders begin to be driven back by the soldiers, who have regained some fighting spirit thanks to my assistance.
Among them, I see one short-statured young man.
That must be the hero Aurel was talking about.
Goodness, such a small child should not be taking part in a battle like this by any means.
Looking past him, I see another spider bearing down on him.
The boy is unable to react in time and simply gazes up in horror at the fangs closing in on him.
Quickly, I blow the spider away with a fireball.
“You’ve worked hard, my boy. Leave the rest to me.”
No sooner do I speak to him than the boy collapses, perhaps exhausted from the physical and mental strain.
I catch him before he hits the ground.
“Master Ronandt!” Just in time, Tiva comes running up to me.
“Take care of him for me.”
I hand the boy off to Tiva, then turn to face forward.
Before my eyes, the spiders I lived alongside not long ago stand ready for a fight.
BABY SPIDER BEATDOWN
The Demon Lord, Vampy, and Mera have all gone into town.
To kill time, I’m amusing myself by remodeling the puppet spiders as usual, when suddenly, I detect a warp in space.
The telltale sign of a Teleport spell.
Someone’s about to warp here.
Who? I don’t even need to bother wondering.
I’d recognize that waaay-too-perfect manipulation of space anywhere.
Just as I suspected, Güli-güli appears before me.
If there’s anyone else in the world who’s this good at Teleport, well…let’s just say I hope there isn’t.
As an administrator, Güli-güli uses Teleport even more precisely than I do.
Even though I have Height of Occultism, too.
I doubt anyone else could be on this level.
“It’s been a while.”
The puppet spiders are visibly alarmed by Güli-güli’s arrival, but I nod as calmly as I can.
“We don’t have much time, so I’ll cut straight to the point: Your copies are on a rampage. Please do something about it.”
Come again?
Hmm? What did he just say?
My copies are on a rampage?
Wait, what? Does he mean my Parallel Minds?
“Perhaps it would be faster to show you.”
With a wave of his arm, Güli-güli creates some kind of screen floating in the air.
What kind of magic is that?!
But what’s on the screen is even more alarming than the screen itself.
It’s the town where Vampy once lived.
And a huge swarm of white spiders is attacking it.
Say whaaaaaaaat?!
“You see? If this is not your doing, I would like you to stop it.”
Huh? Whuh?
“And if this is your doing, I shall have no choice but to react accordingly.”
/>
Ignoring my confusion, Güli-güli’s voice takes on a dangerous tone.
“I believe I told you before that if your actions lead to results that run counter to mine, you shall find me standing in your way. Did I not?”
Uh-oh. Am I in trouble?
I don’t think there’s any way even I can win against an administrator, right?
In which case, there’s only one correct answer.
“I’ll go stop them.”
For once, I make a firm statement out loud.
Mostly because if I didn’t, he’d probably kill me on the spot.
With that, I waste no time in starting to prepare a Teleport spell.
“You will, will you? Good.”
Güli-güli looks relieved.
I guess this was a pretty tight spot for him. If he laid a hand on me, he might very well be making an enemy of D.
Doing what he says right now is best for both of us, really.
What the hell are those Parallel Minds doing anyway?!
Are they stupid? Do they want to die? I hope so, ’cause I’m gonna kill ’em for this!
I haaate it when other people hold me back, but I never expected my own damn selves to hold me back, too!
As I rage inwardly, I notice the puppet spiders in a panic in front of me.
Oh yeah. What should I do about them?
Since they’re under orders from the Demon Lord to keep watch on me, wouldn’t leaving them here mean they’re technically shirking their duties?
The Demon Lord might get mad at them for that, even though they didn’t do anything wrong.
I guess I’d feel a little bad.
Maybe I should give them the option to at least be able to say they were watching me the whole time.
“Want to come, too?”
The puppet spiders look at one another, then nod in perfect sync.
Okay.
Then let’s go!
I teleport us behind the army of spiders.
Wouldn’t want the townspeople seeing what I look like now, after all.
Ideally, I should probably be helping the people fighting on the front lines, but I’ll just have to hope they have it under control.
What I need to deal with personally are those idiot Parallel Minds of mine.
Their spider army is so huge, you can’t even see the ground, but I don’t need to search to know where the Parallel Minds are.
They are me, after all.
Besides, when there are nine specific spiders who are emitting an aura totally different from the rest of the swarm, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that those are my Parallel Minds.
At any rate, I should probably shove my way in there and talk to them.
I don’t wanna endanger the puppet spiders, so I’ll have them hang back for now.
“Hey, dummies, what’s the big idea?”
My words come easily enough for once. Maybe it’s because it’s my own selves I’m talking to.
“Geh?! The main body! You’re onto us already?!”
One of the Parallel Minds responds to me with Telepathy.
“You wanna tell me what exactly’s going on here? Güli-güli showed up to complain to me about it.”
“Whaaat?”
“That Güli-güli sure acts fast.”
“So fast he was gonna kill me if I didn’t stop you guys! Cut it out, will ya? Seriously, what d’you think you’re doing?” I make no effort to hide my annoyance.
The Parallel Minds look at one another, then turn to me like I’m the one being unreasonable.
“What d’you mean, ‘what’? It’s obvious we should kill all the humans.”
Huh?
Excuse me?
I don’t quite understand.
“You’re not making sense.”
“If you don’t understand that, you’re the one who’s not making sense.”
…Ahhh.
I guess I do kinda get it after all.
I mean, I guess I already knew, or I wouldn’t have chased them out of my mind and into new bodies in the first place.
These guys aren’t me anymore.
They’re similar but not quite the same.
In other words, they’re their own people.
And now these other people are becoming a huge pain in my ass.
If I don’t stop them, Güli-güli’s gonna kill me, so I have no qualms about crushing them.
That being said, one against nine isn’t exactly ideal for me.
Huge as the rest of the spider army might be, their stats are so low compared to mine that I can honestly just ignore them.
But even without counting them, I’m still outnumbered.
And my opponents are my own clones.
That means their stats and skills should be the same as mine.
The biggest difference is probably that I’m a half-human, half-spider arachne, while these guys are still the same small spider monsters I used to be.
But there are nine of them.
If I try to fight all of them head-on, I’m not gonna be the one who comes out on top.
So instead, with no preamble whatsoever, I draw close to one of the Parallel Minds.
Then I swing the giant scythe in my hands, piercing through its head.
“Wha—?!”
“Have you lost your mind, main body?!”
You’re the ones who’ve lost your minds!
I use the front scythe-legs of my spider half to slash at the impaled Parallel Mind.
In the meantime, finishing up the preparation of my large-scale Dark Magic spell, I unleash it on the rest of the agitated Parallel Minds.
No matter how fast they might be, they can’t avoid my attack if its scale is too large to escape completely.
It hits all of them at once.
Of course, that spell isn’t going to kill them.
Since they have the same stats as I do, any magic that can be invoked that quickly won’t be able to finish them off.
But it’ll work just fine as a preemptive attack.
I’m sure the Parallel Minds weren’t expecting me to attack them out of the blue.
So, before they can stand back up, I finish off the one I stabbed with my scythe.
Even I can’t do anything if my head is crushed. That’s where your brain is, after all.
Without a brain, you can’t think, which means you can’t do anything.
Luckily for me, the main body, I have both a spider head and a human head, so as long as one is intact, I can still keep functioning.
I know that for a fact, since my human head got blown off during the fight with Potimas and I still managed to get by.
But these Parallel Minds have only the one.
Psh, these boring old spiders without a human half couldn’t beat me in a hundred years!
With the head still impaled on my giant scythe, I use my spider scythes to tear this one to pieces.
One down.
Eight to go.
With one of their number taken out, the rest of them seem to fully recognize me as an enemy now.
Each of them is starting to prepare its own magic.
Seems like six of them are going to cast instantaneous spells, while the other two are charging up more powerful magic.
I’m guessing the six are going to try to pin me down with a barrage of spells so that the other two can finish me off with the big guns.
As if I’m just gonna let that happen! Divine Dragon Barrier, activate!
This is the extra-powerful form of Dragon Barrier, which dampens the power of magic.
It’s the same method the Demon Lord used to render me powerless before, so these guys won’t be able to use magic now.
At least, that’s what I thought at first.
But then I barely manage to dodge the spells that come flying at me with no regard for the barrier at all.
Crap. This isn’t gonna work.
One of the other Parallel Minds is using a Divine Dragon Barrier of its own to cance
l mine out.
Black Spears come flying at me, so I dodge them or cancel them out with my own magic.
As an arachne, I have two heads and even two hearts.
That means I can do two things at the same time.
Specifically, I can activate up to two spells at once.
But there are eight opponents.
The math of two heads against eight still doesn’t work out in my favor!
I can’t quite manage to dodge or counter them all, so some of the spells hit my body.
Individually, of course, the attacks don’t do that much damage.
But as they say, too much straw will break the spider’s back.
Judging that things will only get worse from here if nothing changes, I charge toward the two who are preparing larger-scale spells.
I take a few hits from the other six on the way, but they’re not gonna be fatal wounds, so I’ll have to ignore them.
Realizing I’ve abandoned defense in favor of attacking, one of the Parallel Minds speeds over to stand in my way.
This one must have realized that magic wasn’t slowing me down, so it’s planning to stop me with physical combat.
The Parallel Mind shoots thread at me, which I stop with thread of my own.
Then I swing my giant scythe down at the Parallel Mind, but it swings up its own scythes to block me.
The result: My giant scythe slices right through the Parallel Mind’s body, scythes and all.
Sliced in half by a single stroke, the Parallel Mind turns to dust and disappears.
Sure, our stats might be roughly the same, but this was bound to happen.
Why? Because of Rot Attack.
Rot Attack imbues any physical attack with the Rot attribute, a powerful attribute that controls death.
It’s so strong that even when my stats were total garbage, it was able to take out a far more powerful monster in one hit.
However, that high power comes at a cost, since the Rot attribute hurts the user as well.
To put it simply, whatever body part I use Rot Attack with gets totally ruined.
When I first got this skill, I used it on one of my scythes to attack a monster. As a result, the monster turned to dust, and my scythe got destroyed.
So it’s basically a self-destruct attack that harms the user in exchange for dealing a huge amount of damage to the opponent.
Because I had Rot Resistance, it only did that much damage to me, but apparently if I hadn’t had that resistance, it could’ve killed me with one use.