by Okina Baba
But as I try to do so, my body is pulled back toward her.
Mother has opened her huge mouth and is sucking in air.
The catfish in the Middle Stratum used this same technique.
I’m guessing she’s using the Satiation skill to inhale large amounts of air and pull her opponent toward her.
When the catfish did it, I barely felt a pull at all.
But this time, my opponent is Mother, whose stats and size are beyond comparison to the catfish.
I’m blown backward as if hit by a typhoon, raging winds dragging my body toward Mother’s mouth.
Either her stomach or her fangs await me on the inside.
I activate Wind Magic to neutralize the suction, then use Repellent Evil Eye on my own body to propel myself away from Mother.
I’m so busy resisting the pull that I have no time to heal my legs.
But as I desperately struggle against the gale-force winds, they suddenly stop all at once.
Immediately, a chill runs through my body.
I attempt to flee, making no effort to hide my fear.
Seconds later, something invisible shakes the entire room.
It’s the large amount of air that Mother just inhaled.
She used her Expel skill to fire it out in a ball.
It’s just air.
But it’s still too much.
The mass of compressed air rocks the Bottom Stratum with power equal to the giant breath attack Mother did before, crashing through my body.
I managed to avoid taking a direct hit.
And yet, my body is racked with pain.
Just the shock wave was enough to cause a ton of damage.
Lowered stats or no, Mother is far more powerful than any monster I’ve ever seen.
I manage to catch myself in midair to try to reposition myself.
But I don’t have time, because just then the floor comes flying up toward me.
Or rather, the thread that’s been made to look like the floor.
It shoots right at me in hot pursuit.
I try to escape upward, only to be dumbfounded by what’s coming down toward me.
The ceiling is falling.
Or rather, the thread that’s been made to look like the ceiling.
It wasn’t just the floor.
The floor, the walls, and the ceiling have all been covered in thread.
And now everything is closing in on me.
I’ve got nowhere to run.
The tidal wave of thread bears down on me, enveloping my body without even giving me a chance to resist.
Since it’s completely wrapped around me now, I can’t cut off a limb and escape this time.
To do that now, I’d have to cut up my whole body.
But if I don’t escape, I’m going to be crushed.
I have Immortality, so I won’t die, but if I get knocked out, the Demon Lord will definitely catch up to me.
Then it’ll really be the end for me.
Even with Immortality, there are ways for her to deal with me for good.
I try to calm my panicked feelings and think of a way out.
If I don’t hurry, Mother is going to trample me.
I use Black Magic to try to break through the thread, but it doesn’t work at all.
This thread must be unbelievably tough to withstand my magic attack power of 18,000 without so much as a scratch.
I realize now how terrifying it is to be on the receiving end of the thread I’ve relied on all this time.
I try to teleport, but I’m too panicked to make the rune properly.
On top of that, since it’s a complicated spell, it takes a while to create the rune.
I doubt Mother will spare me for even that short amount of time.
Abruptly, the magic construction I was working on dissipates.
Why?!
No, I can’t panic.
This is no time to hold anything back!
Rot Attack!
I apply Rot Attack to my scythe and cut up the thread.
Even Mother’s thread is weak to Rot, so I’m able to cut through it.
However, it’s like cutting through cloth with dull scissors.
I put all my strength into cutting through the thread with my scythe, then into using Fire Magic to tear through the remaining thin, sticky layer.
Once I get my tattered body free from the restraints, I’m greeted by the sight of Mother’s foot.
As it speeds closer, it fills my entire field of vision.
There’s no time to avoid it.
I think I hear some kind of sound, like a crunch or a snap or a splat.
Somehow I manage to get my head out intact, while the rest of my body is crushed under Mother’s foot.
It’s the return of the decapitated spider head.
I use Telekinesis to float my head through the air.
But it’s difficult to control. I can’t move the way I want to.
I’ve been having a hard time activating my magic, too.
The reason for all this is Mother’s Dragon Barrier skill.
It’s a skill that produces a barrier with the same properties as Dragon Scales and its related skills.
In other words, it interferes with the construction of magic.
It’s basically like my kryptonite.
Normally, this skill would make a barrier around only the user’s immediate vicinity, but she’s expanded its range to prevent me from invoking magic.
Even with Height of Occultism, I can’t use complicated spells in this condition.
Which means I can’t use Teleport.
I can’t escape.
I’ve got nothing but a head left.
My magic is being partially blocked.
I’m doomed.
No matter what I do, I can’t see any way out of this situation.
The tidal wave of thread bears down on me again.
Mother starts charging up her breath to finish me off.
If I get killed now, temporary or not, I’ll never wake up again.
Unbelievable.
This is what I get for naively thinking I could win this fight without any preparation just because my stats are higher.
After all the times I’ve trapped and defeated others, now I’m the one caught in a trap.
I guess this is karmic retribution.
My punishment for getting carried away.
My life flashes before my eyes.
When I was born as a spider, I ran away from Mother and my siblings’ bloodbath.
I made a home, only to have to run away when humans burned it down.
The humans chased me until I fell into the Lower Stratum.
And then I ran away again, this time from Araba.
I ran away from the terror of the Lower Stratum by escaping into the Middle Stratum.
Once I got back to the Upper Stratum, I was thrilled to finally not have to run away all the time.
But once I got outside, my life consisted of running away from Mother and the Demon Lord.
Ha-ha. In retrospect, most of my life as a spider consisted of running away from things.
I didn’t want to run away. I wanted more than anything to get strong enough that I wouldn’t have to do that anymore.
But despite my hopes, I still spent my whole life on the run.
Yet in the end, I’m going to die because I walked right into a trap.
It’s so stupid I could almost laugh.
I’ve got nothing to be proud of.
I’m nothing like Araba, which died satisfied, knowing it’d done everything it could.
I wanted to keep living.
I didn’t want to die.
So I kept running away from anything that could kill me.
I stood my ground only when I had nowhere else to run or when I knew I stood a chance of winning.
I never knowingly went into a truly hopeless battle of my own free will.
I was always on the defensive, never starting a fight
I knew I couldn’t win.
Even when I fought Araba, I made careful preparations and challenged it only when I was confident I could win.
But I neglected those preparations this time.
And Mother was even more determined than I expected.
I figured the Demon Lord was at least as intelligent as a human, since she used spoken language. I should’ve guessed that her subordinate Mother would be fairly smart, too, especially considering what I’ve seen her do so far.
And yet, I was convinced that I could beat her, just because my stats were higher.
That was my fatal mistake.
And Mother didn’t miss that chance, even though her very soul was being devoured, which she’d surely never experienced before.
I have no doubt that having your spirit get devoured is more terrifying than I can imagine.
But Mother didn’t give up, even with her power disappearing by the second. She kept struggling, clawing for victory until it finally came into her grasp.
Come to think of it, that’s the same way I won when I was backed into a corner all those times.
I never expected us to have something like that in common.
If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m her current victim, I’d probably be like, You go, Mom!
But this is it for me.
After all that running away, I’m going to die in the stupidest, most anticlimactic way possible.
I can’t turn things around now.
But I’m not gonna go down that easily!
You’d better believe I’ll keep fighting until my very last breath!
At the very least, I’ll make sure Mother always remembers me as a powerful foe who kept her on her toes till the end!
If she does, then it’ll seem like my life had a little bit of meaning.
Now, time to struggle in vain for all I’m worth…!
I like that attitude!
Suddenly, a voice rings out in my head.
It’s one of my Parallel Minds, who’ve been fighting a spiritual battle with Mother this whole time.
She must have noticed that I was in a pinch and returned to this body to help out.
But just having one Parallel Mind come back won’t be enough to make any difference…
At that moment, an incredible amount of power surges through me.
Wh-whaaaa…?!
What just happened?!
Well, where do you think all of Mother’s lost stats went?
My prodigal Parallel Mind, the former magic brain number one, sounds decidedly pleased with herself.
If she had a face, I’m sure it’d be wearing a smug grin right about now.
Heh-heh-heh. During the fight with Mother’s spirit body, we started eating it. A spirit body is really just a soul. And stats and skills are the soul’s power, right? It only makes sense that eating her soul would give us the power she’s lost, y’know?
So you mean that for every bit Mother’s stats went down, my stats went up?
Eeexactly!
Former magic brain number one sounds gleeful.
At the same moment, all the other Parallel Minds that were fighting Mother come back to me, too.
And as a result, my stats rise up unbelievably high.
Now, time for our counterattack!
On magic brain’s command, all the Parallel Minds start building magic together.
The resulting spells completely defy Mother’s Dragon Barrier, tearing through the approaching tidal wave of thread like it’s made of paper.
Then Mother’s breath attack is met head-on by a breath of my own, which pushes it back and blows her away.
Even I’m stunned by my own power.
Multiple Healing Magic spells kick in at the same time, growing back my lost limbs in little more than an instant.
Still half in shock, I take a fresh look at my stats.
Status: HP: 21,622/21,622 (green) +0 (details)
SP: 17,097/17,097 (yellow) (details)
Average Offensive Ability: 21,153 (details)
Average Magical Ability: 28,280 (details)
Average Speed Ability: 25,021 (details)
MP: 29,618/29,618 (blue) +0 (details)
: 4,111/17,097 (red) +0 (details)
Average Defensive Ability: 21,104 (details)
Average Resistance Ability: 28,107 (details)
Skills:
[HP Ultra-Fast Recovery LV 6] [Height of Occultism] [Magic Divinity LV 7] [Magic Power Conferment LV 10]
[Magic Conferment LV 2] [Magic Power Super-Attack LV 2] [SP Rapid Recovery LV 10] [SP Minimized Consumption LV 10]
[Destruction Super-Enhancement LV 6] [Cutting Super-Enhancement LV 7] [Piercing Super-Enhancement LV 4] [Piercing Super-Enhancement LV 6]
[Impact Super-Enhancement LV 6] [Status Condition Super-Enhancement LV 10] [Battle Divinity LV 10] [Energy Conferment LV 10]
[Ability Conferment LV 7] [Energy Super-Attack LV 4] [Divine Dragon Power LV 7] [Dragon Barrier LV 2]
[Deadly Poison Attack LV 10] [Enhanced Paralysis Attack LV 10] [Rot Attack LV 6] [Heretic Attack LV 8]
[Poison Synthesis LV 10] [Medicine Synthesis LV 10] [Thread Genius LV 10] [Divine Thread Weaving]
[Thread Control LV 10] [Psychokinesis LV 7] [Throw LV 10] [Expel LV 10]
[Dimensional Maneuvering LV 10] [Swim LV 2] [Kin Control LV 10] [Egg-Laying LV 10]
[Concentration LV 10] [Thought Super-Acceleration LV 3] [Future Sight LV 3] [Parallel Thinking LV 9]
[High-Speed Processing LV 10] [Hit LV 10] [Evasion LV 10] [Probability Super-Correction LV 10]
[Stealth LV 10] [Concealment LV 2] [Silence LV 10] [Odorless LV 3]
[Emperor] [Conviction] [Hades] [Corruption]
[Immortality] [Heresy Magic LV 10] [Wind Magic LV 10] [Gale Magic LV 1]
[Earth Magic LV 10] [Terrain Magic LV 3] [Shadow Magic LV 10] [Dark Magic LV 10]
[Black Magic LV 7] [Poison Magic LV 10] [Healing Magic LV 10] [Spatial Magic LV 10]
[Dimensional Magic LV 7] [Abyss Magic LV 10] [Demon Lord LV 8] [Perseverance]
[Pride] [Rage] [Usurp] [Gluttony]
[Sloth] [Wisdom] [Destruction Super-Resistance LV 5] [Impact Nullification]
[Cutting Super-Resistance LV 5] [Piercing Super-Resistance LV 5] [Shock Super-Resistance LV 5] [Flame Resistance LV 8]
[Flood Resistance LV 1] [Gale Resistance LV 4] [Terrain Resistance LV 5] [Bolt Resistance LV 1]
[Holy Light Resistance LV 9] [Dark Resistance LV 6] [Heavy Super-Resistance LV 4] [Status Condition Nullification]
[Acid Super-Resistance LV 7] [Rot Super-Resistance LV 5] [Faint Resistance LV 8] [Fear Super-Resistance LV 2]
[Heresy Nullification] [Pain Nullification] [Suffering Nullification] [Night Vision LV 10]
[Long-Distance Vision LV 1] [Jinx Evil Eye LV 8] [Inert Evil Eye LV 7] [Repellent Evil Eye LV 5]
[Annihilating Evil Eye LV 5] [Five Senses Super-Enhancement LV 10] [Perception Expansion LV 8] [Divinity Expansion LV 9]
[Celestial Power] [Ultimate Life LV 10] [Ultimate Movement LV 10] [Fortune LV 10]
[Fortitude LV 10] [Stronghold LV 10] [Skanda LV 10] [Taboo LV 10]
[n% I = W]
Skill Points: 164,500
Titles:
[Foul Feeder] [Kin Eater] [Assassin] [Monster Slayer]
[Poison Technique User] [Thread User] [Merciless] [Monster Slaughterer]
[Ruler of Pride] [Ruler of Perseverance] [Ruler of Wisdom] [Wyrm Slayer]
[Fearbringer] [Dragon Slayer] [Ruler of Sloth] [Monster Calamity]
[Champion]
>
W…h…a…t?
Something’s wrong with my stats.
Sure, they were starting to get a little high to match the power creep that’s been going on with my enemies lately, but they weren’t anywhere near this.
On top of that, I got some weird skills, and they’ve all gone up a bunch of levels and stuff.
I definitely never had Dragon Barrier, Divin
e Thread Weaving, Egg-Laying, or anything like that. Did I copy them from Mother somehow?
A bunch of my skills even got maxed out.
Just when I was almost done for, I’ve suddenly gotten a huge power-up.
I thought that only happened to shonen manga protagonists?
Does that mean I’m a protagonist now, too?
Hey, I know you’re confused and all, but we should probably finish Mother off now.
Former magic brain number one brings me back to reality, so I look to where Mother landed.
There, I see that she’s been heavily damaged by my breath attack.
She’s trying to get to her feet, but her legs can’t seem to support her huge weight anymore.
It looks like she can’t even stand up now.
She was such an overwhelming force, and now she’s lying frailly on the ground.
A wounded mother whose own child stole her power away.
Of course, it’s not as if I actually have a motherly image of her at all.
I’ve been calling her Mother this entire time, but I don’t think of her as my parent.
All I associate with her is the fear I felt the first time I saw her.
Maybe I’m just a bad daughter, like I was in my previous life.
That reminds me, I wonder how my parents from my old world are doing?
The fact that I can’t even remember their faces anymore probably reflects poorly on me.
I’m sure even detached parents like mine would think so.
Well, I should probably say a few words for my parent in this life, at least.
Mother, you were amazing.
Your stats were impressive, of course, but what’s really amazing is how you were able to corner me in your weakened state.
I’ll never again let my guard down because an opponent seems weaker than I am. It’ll be your first and last lesson to me, Mother.
Good-bye.
My Parallel Minds unleash their magic in unison.
Thus, the most powerful creature in the Great Elroe Labyrinth breathes her last.
I successfully overthrew Mother.
Consequently, the Parallel Minds that were fighting her soul have come back to me.
At the same time, Mother’s control over me vanishes completely, and the faint connection I felt before disappears.
In other words, there’s no longer anyone trying to control me, and my link to the network of spider souls that centered around Mother is gone.