by Okina Baba
“As I said, that was a reward for your hard work.”
Oh, right.
I suppose I owe you one, then.
Thanks.
“You’re quite welcome.”
So you gave me the whole Wisdom thing and let me max out Taboo, and now you want me to save the world?
“I have said nothing of the sort. You are free to do whatever you wish in this world. I will not stop you, nor will I direct you. I am simply an observer.”
I sure hope so…
“You don’t seem to trust me.”
I mean, you’re an “evil god.”
“True enough.”
Oh, I know.
What were the hero and Demon Lord trying to do with that crazy magic anyway?
“I think perhaps they were trying to defeat me.”
Why?
“It seems they were inclined to think of administrators as the enemy. Perhaps someone else was instigating them.”
Doesn’t that mean they were stupid beyond saving, then?
Ugh.
I can’t believe I died because a couple of morons basically just caused a huge traffic accident.
That’s sooo dumb.
“Well, I’ve done my part, so what you do now that you’ve been reincarnated in a different world is up to you.”
Oh, right.
I guess.
You know, that was a pretty nice thing to do for an evil god.
Seriously, thanks for saving my butt.
“Don’t mention it.”
So who do you think was instigating the hero and Demon Lord?
“It wouldn’t be any fun if I told you that part. You’ll just have to see for yourself.”
Sheesh.
That’s what you won’t tell me?
“Things will be more entertaining that way.”
Rude.
By the way, you mentioned earlier that you based our species on what matched our soul’s wavelength or whatever, but…I’m a spider, aren’t I?
“You are indeed.”
So my soul was closest to a spider’s?
“Yes, the wavelength matched quite well, it seems. Most of the others were reincarnated as humans, incidentally.”
Say whaaat?!
Why me?!
Why am I a spider?!
I want to be a human, too!
How come I got stuck playing a survival game from birth?!
“Your frustration is understandable, but it’s because you were born as a spider that you were able to get such a big head start. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, don’t you agree?”
Head start?
“Quite. The others are all still babies.”
…Ohhh.
I get it.
I guess it hasn’t been that long since I was born.
“There is that, but it also happens that you were born much faster than a human would be. In terms of the Earth calendar, you were born about six months earlier than they were.”
Huh.
So I got half a year’s head start, and now I’ve been growing like crazy while they’re still in cribs going “goo-goo ga-ga”?
“Yes, indeed. Do you have any other questions?”
Yeah, why did you make such an annoying system in the first place?
Couldn’t you have fixed things without it somehow, being as powerful as you are and all?
“I wasn’t trying to fix anything. I am an evil god, remember?”
Yeah, I suppose.
“Well, I look forward to seeing what exciting actions you’ll take next.”
Or you could stop watching me.
“Oh, but I will watch. With a bag of chips in one hand and a game in the other, most likely.”
Well, doesn’t that sound nice.
What, are you still in Japan?
“Indeed.”
No fair!
“These chips are delicious. Oh, there’s that new ice cream that just came out, too. Maybe I’ll try it later.”
Die!!!
Ice creeeeam…
“I’ve got chocolate and vanilla. Which do you think I should have first?”
Shut up and die!
Don’t talk to me about delicious desserts!
“Perhaps I ought to indulge a little and eat both at once.”
Gaaah!
“Now, that’s enough joking for today. I’m rooting for you to defeat her, you know. I hope you’ll survive and keep entertaining me.”
Sure. I’m not gonna die until I get to slap you in the face and steal your ice cream!
“I can’t wait. Well, good-bye for now.”
The smartphone poofs away.
That so-called evil god just talked at me for a while and left.
With the cell phone gone, I take some time to release the tension from my body.
I put on a show of having a light conversation, but I was actually pretty nervous.
D claims to be an evil god.
And that thing about having a spider self-destruct button might’ve been a joke, but the part about being able to kill me at any time is for real.
That “evil god” could kill me as easily as switching on a TV with the remote.
For some reason, D seems to like me enough to keep me alive for now, but that could change at any time.
It’s just like D said: The fate of the world, the life and death of others, all of that is just entertainment to them.
As is the choice whether or not to kill.
D doesn’t care, as long as it makes for an enjoyable show.
And I don’t think D actually reincarnated us out of a sense of obligation, like they claimed.
Most likely, D did it because it would be more amusing that way.
That’s my guess, at least.
I am grateful that D reincarnated me after I died.
However, that means we reincarnations are nothing more than D’s playthings, no matter what we do.
And that bothers me.
But there’s nothing I can do.
I’m sure that cruel god knows that I feel this way, too.
I bet that jerk gets a kick out of it.
ESCAPE FROM THE GREAT ELROE LABYRINTH
I’m walking through the hallway.
I reach my classroom, open the door, and enter.
Most of the students are already inside.
A cluster of boys is laughing together.
In the center of the group is Natsume.
Next to him, Sakurazaki smiles wryly.
I don’t know what they’re talking about, but I’m sure it’s nothing good.
As I head to my seat, I see Hasebe sitting at the desk next to mine, deep in conversation with Temarikawa and Furuta.
I put my bag on my desk and head over to Kanata and Kyouya, who are chatting by the window.
Out of the corner of my eye, I catch sight of Wakaba quietly sitting at her desk.
Shinohara doesn’t seem to be here yet, so no one is teasing her.
Suddenly, I notice a spiderweb on the window opposite the one where Kanata and Kyouya are standing.
For some reason, I can’t tear my eyes away from it.
When I finally do look away, a girl is standing in front of me.
She looks dark and eerie, almost like a ghost.
Yet her eyes alone are glittering brightly.
This is the girl who’s been secretly nicknamed Rihoko.
Her hand reaches toward me…
“Agh?!”
I jump up without thinking.
Looking around, I know that I’m still in the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
That’s right. This isn’t the high school I went to in my old life back in Japan. It’s a labyrinth in another world, one that’s full of monsters.
So what was the dream I just had?
Did it mean something?
Ever since we entered the Great Elroe Labyrinth, I’ve been having strange dreams.
It’s been a long time since I dreamed about my past life.
At this point, I can barely even remember what everyone looked like then.
If I try to picture Natsume, all I can see is Hugo’s face.
Even my memory of my own face is starting to get hazy.
But I can’t forget Rihoko’s face, even if I want to.
I reach for Julius’s white scarf around my neck, trying to calm my mind.
There’s still a little more time left for resting.
I have to go back to sleep to restore my physical strength.
But even knowing that, I still spend the rest of the night wide awake.
After the encounter with the Nightmare’s Vestiges, the journey has gone surprisingly well.
Thanks in large part to the freshly evolved earth dragon devouring all the monsters in the area, we’ve hardly had to fight at all.
Most likely, the presence of the Nightmare’s Vestiges had something to do with the absence of monsters as well.
But we haven’t seen a single trace of a Nightmare’s Vestige since.
And now, at long last, we’ve almost reached the exit of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
“A pit?”
I repeat Basgath’s words uncertainly.
“Yep, that’s right.”
Most likely, empire soldiers will be waiting for us at the main exit of the labyrinth.
In order to avoid them, we’re taking a side route to get to a different exit some distance away.
This exit, as it turns out, is a pit.
Basgath explains as we walk.
“There’re a few giant holes in the labyrinth, which we call pits. Rumor has it that if yeh go down into the hole, you’ll reach the Lower Stratum, but hardly anyone’s ever come back. What few survivors there are say there’s an unthinkable amount of monsters down there. And they’re all way stronger than anything here in the Upper Stratum.”
There are still many mysteries surrounding the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
Even Basgath is only familiar with the Upper Stratum.
The Lower Stratum…
I’d definitely rather not experience a danger zone like that.
“Anyway, one of these pits leads to the surface. It’s a hole that was made by a legendary-class monster who could well be called the ruler of this labyrinth: the queen taratect.”
Basgath explains that around the time when we were still babies, the infamous “Nightmare” came out of the labyrinth.
And as if they were acting in concert, the queen taratect destroyed a huge chunk of bedrock to get outside as well.
Then she went on a destructive rampage, demolishing forests and even smashing a mountain.
Fortunately, there were no humans living there, so there were few casualties, but it’s said that even to this day, you can clearly see remnants of the destruction.
It’s a bit hard to believe, but apparently it’s all true.
Imagining that power directed toward a human settlement sends chills down my spine.
I guess it makes sense that even Basgath would be traumatized by his encounter with the Nightmare, since it’s categorized on the same level as the queen taratect.
If I ran into a creature like that, I might freeze up completely.
“Thing is, this pit is also home to monsters called finjicotes. They’re giant bees, and they’ve made their nest there. They’re not much trouble on their own, but their real strength lies in numbers. And you have to fight ’em while climbing up a vertical wall. It’s why it’s rarely used as an exit.”
That makes sense.
Just like the entrance being in the water dragons’ territory, there’s got to be a pretty good reason no one uses it.
Still, we’ve got Fei on our side.
If we ride on her back, we can blast our way through a whole swarm of monsters.
“So we’re countin’ on you.”
“Sure. But first, please face the other way.”
Near the entrance to the pit, we turn our backs on Fei and wait.
Behind us is the rustling sound of Fei taking off her clothes.
Since she’s returning to her dragon form, if she didn’t take her clothes off, they’d get ripped to shreds when she got bigger.
But of course, there are no changing rooms in a labyrinth.
That’s why we have to look away while she strips down to transform.
However, no one said we couldn’t listen.
Catching on to me somehow, Katia promptly blocks my ears.
I’m a healthy young man, you know. You could at least let me hear it…
But I have a feeling I’d get yelled at for saying that, so I keep it to myself.
“Sorry for the wait.”
Fei’s voice reaches my mind through Telepathy.
Turning around, we’re greeted by Fei in her dragon form.
Right away, we get on her back.
Now that I’ve seen her in human form, it occurs to me that Fei is a girl. Which means that I’m on a girl’s back.
It never bothered me before, but now that I’m aware of it, I can’t help feeling awkward.
“Get your mind out of the gutter, will you? Consider our current situation.”
Again reading my thoughts, Katia hits the nail on the head.
I mean…she’s right, of course.
But I wasn’t trying to mess around or anything.
A young man can’t help it if certain things preoccupy his mind at times.
“Could you not have a lovers’ quarrel on my back, please? I will shake you off.”
“I’m sorry.”
Fei sounds particularly disgusted.
I refocus on the matter at hand and let Fei fly.
As soon as we enter the pit, countless bees fly at us.
They really are giant, too.
But as far as I can tell from Appraisal, their stats aren’t all that high.
Fei fends them off easily with just her claws and tail.
The rest of us use magic to shoot down the bees buzzing around us.
They’re certainly not much of a threat.
But the sheer number makes them pretty annoying.
“Oh, enough already!”
Fei seems to feel the same way. With an irritated cry, she opens her mouth wide.
Then a breath attack fires from her mouth.
Reducing all of the bees around us to cinders.
It probably isn’t as powerful as the queen taratect’s attack that broke through the rock ceiling, but by the time the breath is over, the bees’ numbers have very visibly decreased.
“Now let’s get out of here!”
With the bees gone, Fei ascends through the pit.
Before long, the rock surface all around us vanishes, replaced by a big blue sky.
Finally, we’re outside again.
After so many days, the light of the sun is so bright that I have to squint.
We’ve succeeded in getting out of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
GUERRILLA WARFARE
I’ve been in the Middle Stratum for several days now.
Time to solidify my plans.
First off, I’m definitely not gonna be dumb enough to attack Mother head-on.
Even with my evolution and my new Immortality skill, I simply don’t think I can beat her.
Her stats are so overwhelmingly better than mine that even a zombie attack wouldn’t do much.
In which case, the smart choice would be to wait until my Parallel Minds take care of things.
Besides, I distinctly heard D say this:
“I’m rooting for you to defeat her, you know. I hope you’ll survive and keep entertaining me.”
Survive.
D knew I’d just acquired the Immortality skill but still used the word “survive.”
That means that even with the Immortality skill, it’s not impossible to die.
There must be some kind of loophole to kill someone even if they have the Immortality skill.
Otherwise, I don’t think D would’ve phrased it that way.
F
or one thing, I could still get sealed away forever.
I’d rather not get trapped in concrete for eternity or something like that.
I should probably just think of Immortality as a last resort.
In which case, the next problem I have to deal with is that puppet spider.
But I don’t think I can beat that thing in a head-to-head battle, either.
Maybe I could try to take advantage of its weaknesses or something, like I did with Araba, but my odds of winning still wouldn’t be very high.
Let’s put that off for now.
I’ll avoid Mother and the puppet spider and set my sights on the rest of the spider army instead.
Specifically, I’ll hide away in the Upper Stratum, wait for my chance, and destroy them one by one.
It’s guerrilla warfare!
I guess it’s possible that there’s more than one of those awful puppet spiders, but as long as I make sure to teleport away the second things get dicey, I’m hoping that I’ll manage somehow.
In the end, I’m really just buying time with half-hearted attacks until my Parallel Minds can beat Mother.
I’m counting on you, Parallel Minds.
I’d better flee from the Middle Stratum now that danger is approaching.
Yep. She’s still pretty far away, but Mother has entered the Middle Stratum.
That means I can’t stay here any longer.
Otherwise, I would’ve just hidden in the Middle Stratum for as long as it took. But Mother won’t let me get away with that.
She’s like a devoted mom, really, forcing her shut-in daughter to get out of the house.
All right, all right, Mother.
I’ll go out for a little bit.
Now I’m up in the Upper Stratum.
Hey, US. It’s been a while.
Is it me, or has this place changed a bit since the last time I was here?
Specifically, the huge number of spider monsters crawling all over the place.
Mother must have laid eggs up here.
She has an Egg-Laying skill, which does exactly what it sounds like it would do.
She can produce children all by herself, with monogenetic reproduction.
I’m sure that’s how I was born, too.
Normally, these baby spiders would go around eating one another or getting eaten by other monsters. This time, however, Mother’s control has united all of them to chase after me.
She probably doesn’t expect them to be able to kill me, but she can use them to figure out where I’ve appeared.