The Burrowing Spider
An unidentified blade erupted from the earth. Joseph had no idea what it was — but something like that did not appear by chance.
"Flame Bite!"
Joseph swung his staff and loosed the spell at once. A mana orb bloomed from his hand, slammed into the ground, and burst into flame.
"Prepare for battle!"
Derik shouted in the same breath. The mercenaries grimaced and rushed forward, locking together into a wall of shields. If Joseph hadn't been standing there, they wouldn't have moved this fast. No — they would have moved just as quickly. Just in the opposite direction.
The ground split open, and a strange sound rose from beneath it — a shrill, keening scream, like the strings of a violin snapping one after another. Then something thrust itself rapidly from the soil: a massive spider, grey-shelled, with forelegs like a mantis.
"It's a Burrowing Spider!"
"What's that thing doing outside the forest?!"
Someone among the mercenaries shouted, but there was no one to answer. Burrowing Spiders typically dug pits in dark, damp places, snaring passing beasts the way an antlion traps its prey. Why one would sink a burrow in the middle of a road like this, none of them could say.
The earlier Flame Bite had clearly connected — the creature staggered, wounds scoring its body in a dozen places. In that opening, Derik issued his orders at once.
"Forward!"
The wall of shields surged ahead, making straight for the mercenary whose ankle had been sliced through, now lying on the ground.
"Now!"
At Derik's command, the nearest mercenary seized the fallen man by the scruff and hauled him behind the line.
"He's clear!"
Derik turned and shouted to Joseph — the obstacle had been pulled out of the fight.
"Well done."
Joseph swept his staff. Three mana orbs rose into the air around him and began to spin.
Can't let my guard down for a second.
He clicked his tongue. Honestly, a demonic beast or two wasn't much of a threat anymore — not unless they came as an ambush. But for them to burst out from every direction at once, as if they'd been lying in wait for this exact moment...
What a goddamn world this is.
Every time he prepared himself, every time he steeled his nerves, something he hadn't anticipated came exploding out of nowhere. As if the universe were itching to sabotage any chance he had at a peaceful life.
"Flame Bite!"
Joseph launched a mana orb as he recited the incantation. Judging by the creature's condition, it at least didn't seem resistant to fire magic. Better to force-feed it flames and finish this quickly.
That calculation went spectacularly wrong.
The moment the orb flew toward it, the creature rolled its legs with sudden force and put a burst of distance between them. Joseph had already spoken the incantation — the spell vomited flame into empty air and vanished.
"What?"
Joseph sucked in a breath despite himself. That movement was uncomfortably similar to those black things he'd seen in a certain dungeon.
Every multi-legged bastard fights like this, huh...!
He cursed inwardly as he assessed the situation. Unlike the cockroaches, this Burrowing Spider showed no intention of fleeing. It simply stared at them, making a faint, eerie hissing sound.
This is why I hate bugs.
The disgusting things had no expressions. You couldn't tell if they were terrified or furious.
A deep drone rose behind the spider. Flying insect beasts began to climb in earnest, rising high into the air. It wouldn't be long before they noticed this group.
Joseph glanced up. The Cry Peeper was still circling in the same patch of sky.
Waiting to come down once this is over?
There was no way to know. Maybe it planned to ambush whichever side was left standing — Joseph's party or the beasts.
Either way, there's no need to fight.
Those creatures weren't sitting still and watching, either. Joseph thought it over for a moment, then called to his men.
"Everyone, fall in on me!"
Derik and the mercenaries backpedaled quickly. Once they'd returned to the front of the wagon, Joseph issued his next order at once.
"Load the wounded onto the wagon and move out immediately."
"Yes, sir!"
The mercenaries scrambled into motion, looking all the more grateful that they wouldn't have to fight. If this had been an ordinary contract, they might already have abandoned their employer and cargo and run. Guild reputation mattered if you wanted the next job — but it didn't matter more than your own life. And yet they hadn't fled. They'd held their ground somehow, and now they followed Joseph's orders.
They'd seen his magic just now, and they were beginning to understand. Even the spells he'd used against lesser beasts until now had been held back.
"The rest of you, follow the wagon. Move slowly."
"Yes, sir."
But as the wagon lurched into motion, the Burrowing Spider — which had been sitting still until now — began to twitch. Then, with the same eerie scream it had first unleashed, it charged.
"It's coming!!"
The mercenary at the rear shouted in alarm. Eight legs kicked up clouds of dirt as the creature closed the distance at a speed that outstripped even the accelerating wagon.
"Wh-what?!"
The rear mercenary's voice wavered as he looked back at Joseph. A demonic beast was charging them, and the mage didn't seem to be doing anything. Joseph's face still looked fairly composed. Even so, the mercenaries' eyes were full of unease.
"M-Mage!"
The man beside him called out, but Joseph didn't answer. He simply watched, his expression set.
Then the creature hurled itself at the rear mercenary's shield.
"Aaaagh!"
The mercenary thrust his shield forward in desperation. He figured it would shatter — but he thought he could at least deflect the blow once.
The creature's long, sharp forelegs unfurled in a single motion. The two limbs that had looked deceptively short swept over the top of the shield and drove toward his face. His eyes went wide at the hook flying straight at him.
He knew, in that instant — before the chill even had time to race up his spine — that his skull would be pierced and he would die.
And in that moment, a mana orb surged up from beneath the spider's belly as it hung in midair.
The orb crushed through the Burrowing Spider's carapace and dragged it skyward.
"Wh-what?!"
One of the mercenaries blurted, stunned. Joseph looked at the creature hanging in the air and murmured a quiet incantation.
"Fire."
The mana orb had already punched halfway into the creature's gut. There was no need to make a spectacle with Flame Bite — Fire would do. Flames bloomed inside the Burrowing Spider's belly. It thrashed a few times in midair, then crashed to the ground as a lump of charcoal. Whether because it was an insect or not, the impact didn't make much noise.
"Sorry about that."
Joseph patted the still-dazed mercenary on the shoulder by way of apology. He'd just used the man as bait to kill the Burrowing Spider in a single blow.
"If I hadn't, it would've dodged the spell again."
Joseph remembered how the creature had heard his incantation and immediately put distance between them. It wasn't like the wild dog beasts that charged mindlessly, or the kobolds seized by frenzy. For a bug, it had a measure of intelligence. Unlike the cockroach beasts, there were no walls here to hem it in, so pinning it down quickly wasn't easy. So he'd done the opposite — given it an opening.
Call the mercenaries in close. Hide a mana orb behind his back. Then, the instant the creature lunged, fire the orb up between the mercenary's legs.
"Y-yes, sir..."
The mercenary answered blankly, then found himself looking down at his lower half. His trousers were soaked. He hadn't even noticed when he'd wet himself.
Ordinarily the other mercenaries would have snickered at the sight. This time, they all pretended not to notice. They belonged to different companies, but they weren't so lacking in camaraderie as to mock a man who'd just stepped back from death's door. If this was going to become drinking-story material, it would need at least a little time.
"I'll see that you get extra pay later."
Joseph said it with a bitter look. He didn't want to use people as bait if he could help it. Methods like this felt uncomfortably close to the people he'd always found so distasteful. But for now, this had been the best option.
Just as he'd planned, the flying insect beasts were still circling near the campsite, paying this group no mind. The Cry Peeper overhead hadn't moved either.
"We slip out quietly, just like this."
"Yes, sir."
The wagon headed south again at speed. Only after the sun had set did they make it back to the campsite where they'd spent the previous night. Startled and exhausted by the sudden ordeal, the mercenaries collapsed onto the ground.
"Setting up camp here doesn't seem like a good idea."
"No, it doesn't."
Joseph nodded at his retainers' words. They'd put some distance between themselves and the northern forest, but that was no guarantee another demonic beast wouldn't come bursting out. And with a wounded man on their hands, there was no reason to linger here.
"How's the wounded man?"
Auk shook his head at Joseph's question.
"We've stopped the bleeding, but... he lost a lot of blood. He's in bad shape."
It looked like the Achilles tendon had been severed. He'd survived thanks to the quick work stopping the blood, but a wound like that might well end his mercenary career. Even if they sought out a priest of the Church, ordinary people paid a considerable sum for treatment. The priests of this world had to eat too — they didn't hand out healing magic for free to anyone who wasn't a noble.
If I poured the entire bounty from this subjugation into it... would that be enough?
Joseph had no way of knowing. But the fact that even a man hired to train his private soldiers might have to quit mercenary work over a wound like this left a sour taste.
Come to think of it, is there a Church in Caladon?
Joseph didn't believe in gods, as a rule. He hadn't in his previous life, and he didn't now. Even as a mage standing at the peak of the mystical, putting faith in an unseen god didn't come easily. He regarded the priests' divine magic as simply another form of energy — divinity, distinct from mana. As a result, he tended to forget the Church even existed. Caladon, for a city of its size, was particularly sparse when it came to priests.
I should look into it when I have the time.
This incident had driven the point home. No matter how much stronger Joseph had become, this world was still crawling with dangers. He was far from ready to stroll through it at his leisure. If the creature had gone after someone else instead of the rear mercenary — if it had attacked one of Joseph's own retainers — that man would be a cripple now. They'd been lucky enough to receive a priest's help in Malešov, but they couldn't count on that every time.
Joseph's gaze drifted to the cloth-wrapped staff. The holy relic embedded in it left traces of divinity in his magic.
If I could make use of that...
Perhaps he, too, could wield healing magic the way the priests did.
If I could just manage that, I wouldn't have to flinch at the threat of injury every single time.