Chapter 28: I'm Back
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 28: I'm Back
Attercopus was listless.
Her idol, the long-tailed green lizard, had disappeared.
She waited for him day after day, but even after a week, he hadn't shown himself.
…He wasn't caught by that damned crocodile, was he?
Pus worried about the lizard, letting out a sad kieeeng.
"Kieeeng…"
Anthracomartus came closer and nudged her gently.
"Ke'ek…"
It seemed to be her way of offering comfort.
Pus and Tus.
The two were sisters.
To be precise, they weren't sisters by blood.
For one, they were different species.
One was a web-spinning spider, and the other was a venomous-fanged spider.
But they had grown up together since birth.
They slept together, ate together, and lived together. That was Tus and Pus.
One day, the two sisters, who had been living peacefully, were abducted by humans.
It was the Sichuan Tang Clan.
They would lock venomous creatures in one place, force them to fight each other, and then extract the venom of the sole survivor.
Gu-poison.
The sisters' fate was likely to become ingredients for that Gu-poison.
Before the tragedy of having to devour each other could occur, a man rescued them. He had stolen every spider with the potential to become a Human-Faced Spider, which the Tang Clan had carefully collected.
Tus and Pus were among them.
And so, the two sisters, abducted in a way that wasn't quite an abduction, were released here in the 100,000 Great Mountains.
A new start in a new place.
The two sisters put their heads together, united in spirit.
But surviving in this harsh wilderness was no easy task.
For reasons unknown, beasts larger than most buildings roamed about, and even the insects were bigger than Tus and Pus.
As spiders barely 5cm long, there was nothing the two sisters could easily hunt.
Chased relentlessly by predators, they finally arrived at a swamp.
They tried to hunt somehow, but with their non-sticky webs and the small amount of venom from their tiny fangs, there were no creatures they could catch.
They were literally starving to death.
If they hadn't managed to survive on the seeds of fallen fruit, they would have died long ago.
Then, like a comet, a green lizard appeared.
Tus and Pus felt an attraction to him the moment they saw him.
It was thanks to the effect of a title he possessed, but there was no way they could have known that.
A sharp yet somewhat goofy face, green skin, and a plump-looking white belly that made one's mouth water just looking at it.
But the highlight was his long tail, which looked to be twice the length of his body.
It was so captivating that even the timid Tus showed interest in him.
Just his appearance was strangely appealing, but it was only a simple attraction.
However, the lizard showed them something more.
They approached him on a whim, and he offered them a diving beetle to eat—a creature Tus and Pus wouldn't have dared to catch.
Having starved for so long, Tus and Pus immediately rushed to eat the beetle.
Of course, the beetle was still alive and nearly ate them instead, but the lizard ended up saving them.
The sight of him peeling off the beetle's shell piece by piece with his sharp claws.
Tus and Pus's affection for the lizard couldn't help but grow even stronger.
Just as they were overcome with happiness, the lizard did something utterly shameless.
He went and touched Pus's rear end, of all things.
And what's more, he stuck his hand in and pulled out her silk!
The spider sisters were horrified.
They couldn't help but be shocked that he had laid a hand on Pus, who wasn't even married yet.
Tus was angry, and Pus was so embarrassed she didn't know what to do.
Of course, they realized it was because he needed supplies to hunt piranhas, but the shame of having allowed him to touch her rear didn't just disappear.
And yet, when they ate the piranha, they both clapped their hands in delight.
It was a taste they'd never experienced before. What spider in the world could ever eat a piranha? Pus thought that if she could eat this fish, she would let him touch her rear as many times as he wanted.
The little lizard seemed to need a lot of Pus's silk.
He used it to build a nest and to hunt toads.
Saying she couldn't help it, Pus would subtly present her rear.
Strangely enough, Pus found that she quite liked the light pat he gave her rear before pulling out the silk.
Hitting an unmarried spider's rear while pulling out her silk. It was incredibly rude, but the charm of the green lizard's long tail was enough to overlook such things.
Tus was shocked by her sister's change, but she sometimes fantasized about having her own silk pulled out. Of course, she was a venomous spider who couldn't produce silk, so she was left frustrated.
Then, an opportunity came for her as well.
The lizard had told her to bite his luscious, long tail.
Tus refused, saying she couldn't possibly bite her benefactor's tail, but it was difficult to overcome her desire. The moment she took a bite of that long, beautiful tail, her eyes were opened to something new.
Pus liked having her rear patted, and Tus liked biting the tail.
One might think it was a completely messed-up situation, but there were no problems.
After all, the long-tailed green lizard himself seemed completely oblivious.
Tus and Pus thought this happy time would last forever.
But happiness that arrives suddenly also tends to depart suddenly.
A caiman.
A giant crocodile had laid waste to their home.
The last they saw of the lizard, he was luring the caiman far away to save them.
But despite the lizard's sacrifice, Tus and Pus were caught by the caiman.
It was because they had lingered, searching for any trace of the lizard.
It was a foolish thing to do, but everyone becomes a fool in the face of love.
The caiman caught the tiny spiders.
It was strange.
They were smaller than the caiman's pupils.
Instead of eating them, it chose to keep them alive.
Why on earth had the caiman captured them?
The answer was simple.
Because of their inner cores.
The two were spiders with the potential to become Human-Faced Spiders.
The caiman, having lost a part of its own inner core, needed to recover it somehow.
Hunting the spirit beasts scattered about was an option, but a spirit beast that had formed an inner core was not an easy catch, even if it wasn't particularly strong.
So, what it chose to do was raise the two spiders.
So that it could devour them once their inner cores formed.
Pus was forced to produce silk every day, and Tus had to squeeze out her venom.
This was because the caiman believed they had to expend a lot of energy for their inner cores to develop.
It was an endless cycle of exploitation, a state of being unable to die yet barely living.
The sight of the caiman pacing before them was terrifying.
Nevertheless, the two sisters endured.
By relying on each other.
And by thinking of him, the lizard.
"Krrr…"
The caiman's eyes stared at the spiders.
It was a warning to stop dawdling and get to work.
"Kieeek…"
Pus hurriedly tried to produce silk, but no more would come out.
Her silk production had decreased out of sorrow that the lizard was no longer there to pat her rear.
The caiman watched the spider silently for a moment before lifting its massive foreleg.
Pus struggled frantically.
"Kiaaaak!"
Didn't that mean it was going to hit her rear to make the silk come out better?
She would rather die than allow it to touch her precious place.
Seeing the spider's stubborn refusal, the caiman grew inexplicably angry.
"Krrrrrrr…"
Tus grabbed her sister's leg, trying to stop her.
"Kiek…!"
But Pus didn't stop.
"Kiaaaaak!"
I will no longer submit to the enemy who killed my lizard!
Just producing silk until now has been a humiliation.
And now it's not satisfied with that and wants to touch my rear?
"Kieeeeek!"
For my beloved, for my fidelity, I will sacrifice this body!
Pus's will was formidable.
The caiman raised its foreleg again.
In any case, the venomous one is more likely to become a Human-Faced Spider.
Killing one of them shouldn't be a problem.
In fact, making an example of her might make the other one listen better.
A giant shadow fell over Pus.
She still had lingering attachments to life.
She felt sorry for having to leave Tus, with whom she had grown up since they were hatchlings.
And it broke her heart that she would never see the lizard's face again.
Attercopus closed her eyes.
To make the image of him in her mind just a little clearer.
That long tail.
Those green scales.
Kuuung!
…I wish I could have at least heard his voice.
It was the moment she sensed her own death.
"Grrrr…"
The cry of a beast echoed.
It was a different sound from the caiman's.
Moreover, for some reason, the sound felt familiar to Pus.
She opened her eyes.
The caiman's massive foreleg was trembling.
Standing in its way was a giant lizard.
A lizard she had never seen before.
It had deep teal skin and blue eyes.
But something about it was familiar.
The length of that tail, tied with colorful threads and bundles of straw, was all too familiar.
…Why?
No, how?
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
The emotions she had held back for so long burst forth like a waterfall.
A joy that erupted as if boiling up from the depths of her heart.
The feeling in her heart went beyond simple ecstasy.
She fumbled with her short legs, touching the being before her.
It was no longer just an image in her mind.
"Gegegek!"
He was back.