Chapter 135: Arachne
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 135: Arachne
…The three witches and two humans headed for the city they had planned to visit beforehand. How the party traveled to their respective cities was quite simple.
“This is a scroll enchanted with ‘Spatial Movement’ magic. Anyone can come and go from this city by infusing it with magic power, but… the same applies if it falls into the hands of a monster, so be careful not to lose it.”
After receiving the spatial movement scrolls from Regina, they each traveled to their assigned cities.
Yohan, in particular, had experience using the scrolls he'd received from Margaret several times, so he traveled to the city more skillfully than the witches.
The moment he entered the targeted city, Yohan lowered his stance and gave a signal.
“Stealth.”
“Stealth.”
Yohan and Elesis immediately activated their optical camouflage function. Their bodies began to turn transparent, and soon, they vanished completely from sight.
Now hidden, Yohan tried to communicate with Elesis through his helmet.
“Ah, Elesis. Can you hear me?”
[—Loud and clear.]
“I can hear you fine, too.”
Although they couldn't see each other, they could pinpoint each other's locations by sound—so Yohan and Elesis moved cautiously, careful not to be detected by any monsters.
There had to be a witch in this city. Though he hadn't yet figured out which one it was…
‘If my teacher were here, I wouldn't have a thing to worry about…’
Unfortunately, one thing was certain: it wasn't Evangeline in this city. If his teacher had been here, she would have undoubtedly smashed all the monsters to bits and charged toward his city by now.
‘Is Beatrice… here?’
Yohan considered the identity of the witch in this city as he observed the thin threads spread throughout it.
Beatrice was the most likely candidate for a thread-wielder, but he had to keep in mind that the threads could belong to a monster, not a witch.
“Be careful not to touch the threads.”
[Roger.]
The two moved cautiously through the city. They occasionally encountered monsters, but none of them noticed the optically camouflaged pair.
If a monster detected them by means other than sight, they quickly dispatched it and tossed the corpse aside.
Inside this city, teeming with unintelligent monsters, there was no need to dispose of the bodies. The other monsters, drawn by the scent of blood, would take care of them on their own.
“Found her.”
As he ventured deeper inside, Yohan spotted Beatrice in the distance, bound in a bundle of thread. Everything below her head was wrapped in thread, making it impossible to tell her exact condition, but her pale complexion suggested she was in grave danger.
Yohan, who had been scanning the surroundings for monsters, realized there were none nearby and quickly dashed forward.
Arriving in front of Beatrice, the two cut the threads with the energy swords built into their forearms and pulled her free.
“Beatrice, are you okay?”
Holding her in his arms, Yohan shook her shoulders, trying to wake her. As expected of a sturdy witch, despite being bound for some time, Beatrice soon managed to open her eyes.
Beatrice slowly opened her eyes and spoke, trembling.
“Yo-han… be careful…”
“Be careful? What do you mean—”
—Oh my, how did you get out?
And in that moment, Yohan felt a chill run down his spine. Because even though he hadn't heard any footsteps or sensed any presence, a monster's voice had reached him.
When he cautiously turned his head, he saw a giant spider monster—a massive arachnid body with the upper torso of a human.
Arachne.
This spider monster with a female form snatched Beatrice from the ground and began to spin thread from its body, wrapping her up again.
—Hmmmm, what's this? Did the thread come loose?
Unaware of the optically camouflaged Yohan and Elesis, Arachne tilted her head and looked around.
Yohan, who had forgotten to breathe for fear of being discovered, carefully exhaled and circulated the magic power within his body.
His body was enhanced enough to withstand the suit's output, and in the next moment, he charged forward fiercely.
—Hahahaha! I've got you now!
The moment Yohan charged, Arachne shot thread from her mouth as if she had been waiting for it.
She knew there was something there, something unseen that had rescued Beatrice. She had read the flow of the air as Yohan moved and tried to bind him.
As a monster with thread-manipulating magic, Arachne believed she could bind anything. So she thought.
“Hup—!”
The thread Arachne spat out vanished completely, destroyed by Yohan's swinging energy sword. Astonished, Arachne kept spitting out thread, but it disappeared the moment it touched not only his energy sword but also his body.
For Yohan, who possessed the paradoxical magic of nullifying magic, magical elements were completely ineffective.
—No, what in the world is this—!
Belatedly coming to her senses, Arachne realized her thread was useless and swung her leg. Size is power. A human immune to magic was certainly unusual, but that didn't mean he could overcome a monster's strength.
He seemed arrogant, armed in that strange armor, but Arachne resolved to crush him, armor and all, and slammed her leg down.
—Die!
As her sharpened leg aimed for him like an awl, Yohan narrowly dodged it and then grabbed onto it.
Crack, snap—!
As he gripped the leg with the power of his suit, Arachne's leg snapped and broke. Unable to comprehend what had just happened, Arachne staggered for a moment before looking down at her shattered leg and letting out a scream.
—Kyaaaaaaah!? My leg, my leeeeg—!
Hearing the intense shriek that echoed throughout the city, Yohan carefully slipped out of Arachne's line of sight.
While he had been holding off Arachne, Elesis had shrewdly taken Beatrice and fled.
A former holy knight, indeed. She knows exactly what she needs to do. Should I say she's quick-witted?
Yohan left the screaming Arachne behind and quickly escaped the area.
“Elesis, where are you now?”
[I'm heading back to where we first arrived.]
“Okay, meet you there.”
After ending the communication, Yohan ran toward Elesis's location.
—Gyaaaaaaah!
Clutching her broken leg, which was gushing green blood, Arachne trembled with uncontrollable rage.
How dare a human. A mere human—not only did he scar her beautiful body, but he also ran off with her prey?
It was unforgivable. Absolutely unbearable.
—Die, just die. This whole city, every last thing, just diiiie—!!
Arachne unleashed her magic power, manipulating the threads she had spread wide across the city. The city was already as good as her nest.
The widespread threads began to pull taut. Drawing in the city's debris, swallowing up monsters, all toward one spot.
—You can't escape.
Her eyes gleaming, she ground her teeth at the thought of the human who had shattered her leg.
Rumble, rumble...
Yohan froze at the sudden sound.
“…What the?”
Cautiously looking around, he saw buildings in the distance begin to rush toward him. Buildings don't have feet, so seeing them charge in his direction, a horrified Yohan quickly turned back the way he came.
“Elesis! Elesis!”
[Yohan! Is it happening on your end, too?]
“You too!?”
Hurriedly contacting Elesis, Yohan realized she was experiencing the same situation.
He knew this was being done by some kind of magic, but he had no confidence he could stop it.
His magic—that is, the magic that nullifies magic—literally only nullifies the magic itself. It couldn't nullify the physical phenomena caused by that magic.
Even if this phenomenon of buildings being pulled to one spot was magic, he couldn't instantly stop the moving buildings.
It was the same as shutting off the engine of an oncoming train. Engine off or not, you'd still die if you were hit by a train that had already built up speed.
Getting hit by a building was no different.
‘What kind of monster is this…’
He could never have imagined a monster capable of gathering an entire city. Yohan bit his lip and sprinted deeper inside. While running, his energy ran low, and he even had to turn off his stealth function.
He wasn't the only one surprised by the fact that the city was moving. The monsters that had been living off humans in this city began to appear one by one from all over.
Even in this situation, Yohan killed any monster that opened its maw at him, and when his path was blocked, he climbed over buildings—doing everything he could to avoid being crushed.
And so, when he finally made it back to where Arachne had been—he spotted Elesis in the distance, carrying Beatrice on her back.
—Heeey, so that's what you look like?
But before he could join Elesis, Arachne spotted him first and approached.
Gulp—Yohan swallowed hard, silently drawing his energy sword and preparing to fight.