EP.19 House of the Spider -3
EP.19 House of the Spider -3
It was something I only truly learned then, but the revulsion of stepping on a spider was something else entirely.
Starting with that squelching sound, the alien sensation transmitted through my foot, and finally the spider's blue bodily fluids bursting out.
It possessed an intensity that could force you into involuntary fasting for about three days.
"Ugh!! Fuck!! Fuck!! Fuck!!"
Right then, I was bisecting human-sized spiders with my sword while stomping the small spiders that were creeping in. I couldn't endure it without cursing my head off.
Thankfully, it was the middle of the night and my stomach was already empty. If it had been daytime, I might have thrown up everything I ate for breakfast...
'Ugh, my kids sure have strong stomachs! Is it because they're Divine Beasts that their sensibilities are like that?'
There was a wolf who killed every spider on the spot, a crow who popped them one by one with her hands, and a fox who made them fight and kill each other.
But the creature currently carrying out spider extermination with the greatest zeal was, naturally, the rabbit.
"This weapon is amazing! One hit kills everything...!"
Like the protagonist of a game famous for pacifying cosmic horrors with a single crowbar, she was smashing every endlessly emerging spider to pieces.
A crowbar made from Fenrir's Tooth. A single hit was enough to punch through the spiders' dorsal plates and crush all the innards within.
In the process, spider fluids splattered everywhere, but Alice didn't care in the slightest.
She was simply happy, feeling euphoric at the act of massacring them with a crowbar.
"Oh man! Fuck!"
I shouldn't have looked; my stomach just turned worse.
I turned my head, feeling like I couldn't take it anymore, but the things that induced nausea were still all around me.
Not to mention the spiders capturing my image with their eight eyes, but the human corpses they'd been gnawing on and left behind were repulsive too.
Every direction was filled with nothing but disgusting existences. The impulse to incinerate them all at once began to boil up.
But if I did that, we wouldn't be able to identify the people killed by the spiders, and who knew what kind of damage the toxic gases from the fire would cause.
So, there was no choice but to endure the disgust and clean them up one by one.
"The lobby area is mostly cleared out. Looks like there aren't any more spiders swarming in, either."
"It took a little longer than expected, but it should be fine. By the way, dear husband? During combat, focus more on yourself than anyone else."
"Ah, so you noticed..."
"I understand you're worried someone might get hurt, but from our perspective, if you get injured we won't be able to focus on the fight. So please, prioritize yourself as much as possible."
"Got it, I'll keep that in mind."
"Good, then let's split up now as planned."
"Yeah, okay."
The operation Yata had drawn up this time consisted of two teams: the team helping the Director rescue the hostages, and the team subjugating Arachne.
Our group was divided into these two teams.
The reason for this classification, she had said, was that the Director and his agents could never rescue all the hostages by themselves, and rather had a high probability of being completely wiped out.
So wouldn't it be better to just tell the Director to stay put? I asked.
She said that in that case, the situation would flow in an extremely complicated manner.
We would encounter Arachne earlier than the time it would take to rescue the hostages, and the hostages would all be killed under Arachne's orders.
Conversely, if we deliberately delayed the timing of encountering Arachne, the spiderlings still in their egg state would hatch en masse, making the fight more difficult.
Therefore, to hit the golden time for both rescuing the hostages and encountering the Divine Beast, she had informed us beforehand that we needed to accept the Director and his agents' help, however small.
"Seon-ju...! Please, please be careful...!!"
"Yeah. Kor, you be careful too, got it?"
"Yeees...!!"
Yata and Kor were the rescue support team. Me, Miho, and Alice were the Arachne subjugation team.
Yata had already pinpointed the locations of all the hostages, but Kor's flames were needed to unravel the spider silk they were wound up in.
That was why the personnel were split like this.
'The reasoning is rational, but the members are incredibly irrational...'
The fox and the rabbit, who had been clawing and brawling with each other not long ago, plus me, stuck in the middle suffering.
It was a combination that could only feel profoundly uneasy.
Could this really end without any problems this time...?
***
The interior of a government agency, now thoroughly familiar.
Yet, perhaps because of the spiderwebs stretching out in all directions, it somehow felt like a different place.
If it weren't for the latest facilities operating normally here and there, you could safely call it a derelict building filled with cobwebs.
To make matters worse, it was the middle of the night, making the scene inside the building feel downright dreary.
Still, a few lights helped reassure me a little.
But the moment I saw the spiders teeming under the lights, I hated those lights with a passion.
"Dear husband? If it's truly too hard for you, please stick right by my side. I'll protect you, dear husband!"
"Boss, standing next to me is more efficient than being with that slow-witted fox."
"The sight of you acting so arrogantly just because you caught one or two of those insignificant pests a little faster is truly ugly to behold."
"In any case, the fox is more incompetent than me. It's a proven fact."
"They do say it's pitiful when someone is too ignorant. Is a rabbit bitch like you, who can't even fight properly where there are masses of spiders, really mouthing off about incompetence?"
"Still, I can toss the fox as bait and run away with just you, Boss."
"That won't be necessary. Spiders are fairly smart animals, so they'll only try to eat a filthy, brainless bitch like you."
-Crackle!
The war of nerves between the two Divine Beasts, sparks flying again.
As expected, just as I thought...
I had been wondering why they weren't fighting yet.
"You know, in a situation like this, can't you go without fighting?"
"But this rabbit bitch keeps spouting nothing but shit-stirring nonsense?"
"Shallow fox. Boss, the fox has a rag in her mouth. She's filthy, so it's best not to go near her."
The atmosphere grew even uglier.
Miho's eyes glowed pale blue as she glared at the rabbit.
Alice glared back, her brow scrunched up as much as possible, looking like a snowball.
If I left them alone for even a moment longer, it felt like we'd soon see the blood of something other than a spider.
It seemed it was time to inevitably pull out the scheme I had prepared beforehand.
"Miho, Alice. I have a proposal for you two."
"What is it?"
"A proposal? What?"
"It's nothing else but this: if we continue like this, you two look like you'll end up brawling. So I'll let you fight in a different way."
"What kind of contest?"
"A contest to see who can exterminate the most spiders. Calculating small spiders as 1 point, medium spiders as 10 points, and large spiders as 100 points—a point battle."
"You mean compete against the fox?"
"Yeah. If you win, not only do you get the honor, but I'll also grant you one wish, whatever it is."
At the words 'grant you a wish,' the two Divine Beasts' eyes flashed, their tails swayed gently, and their ears pricked straight up.
I started to regret putting that wish ticket on the table after all.
"Will you truly grant me any wish?"
"Uhhuh..."
"Even if I ask you to buy me a really expensive, latest-model game console?"
"Of course."
At least Alice's wish fell into the cheap category.
What I was afraid of was the wish Miho would make if she won.
I feared she'd suddenly say she wanted a baby and subject me to 365 days of draining hell.
I was supposed to maintain a host's impartial mindset, but somehow, I found myself wanting to root for Alice...
How ironic.
"Anyway, that's the contest framework I've set up. Are you participating...?"
"Of course I'll participate!!"
"I'll participate too."
"Alright, then from now on..."
"Hold on, Boss. Before that, I have one thing I want to ask."
"Huh? What?"
"How many points is Arachne?"
"Uh, uh... A, a million points?"
I hadn't thought about assigning points to the final boss, Arachne, at all.
But since the ultimate goal was to defeat the Spider Divine Beast, I thought a million points was fairly reasonable.
Seeing that the two Divine Beasts weren't raising any objections to this point assignment, my thinking seemed correct.
However, it was clear that the two Divine Beasts' objective had now become solidified: a will to just kill the boss monster and end things rather than deal with the small-fry mobs.
I didn't have an ability like mind-reading, but I could clearly see what was going on inside their heads right then.
"If there are no more questions, can we start now?"
"Yes!"
"Yeah!"
"Then, let's begi..."
-Patter-patter-patter!!
The fox and the rabbit bolted before I could even finish my sentence.
The rabbit was being her usual self, and the fox, remembering how the rabbit had gotten the better of her during the previous terrorist incident, must have committed a false start as well.
Originally, I would have to apply a penalty, but since both were at fault and they were already far away, there was nothing I could do.
'Being motivated is good, but I really hope nothing major happens because of it...'
The Divine Beasts slaughtered spiders at incredible speed as they dashed their way toward the top floor.
Before I knew it, they were completely out of sight.
I was anxious about being left alone, but since the two Divine Beasts had neatly cleaned up all the spiders as they passed through, I could walk around with peace of mind.
'Anyway, there's a disgustingly huge amount of spider silk.'
Looking around in every direction, it was nothing but spider nests. The spiders themselves had been dealt with, but the webs remained fully intact.
The properties of the silk also remained, and touching it gave a sticky sensation that felt disgusting.
'Cleaning all this up later is going to be a huge pain.'
It wasn't a problem I needed to worry about, nor was it something to think about in a situation like this.
Still, I couldn't help the idle thoughts that popped into my head.
"Huh...?"
While I was looking around with these various thoughts, I discovered a spot that was oddly clean, completely free of spiderwebs.
I took a step back and tilted my head up slightly. A room sign that read: Multipurpose Hall.
I had never been inside, but I was aware through the building's guide map that there was a wide auditorium with a duplex structure.
But why was this place alone so clean, without a single spiderweb? Was there something inside that even the spiders couldn't invade?
I was curious. I had to follow the two Divine Beasts, but my curiosity kept tempting me.
The question was whether to just ignore it and go, or to stop by briefly.
If there was something inside that spiders would avoid, that meant I'd have one more card to play when fighting Arachne.
'Yeah, I can't resist this.'
Still acting cautiously, I opened the door a crack and poked my head out slightly to scan the inside.
The interior was pitch-black, so I couldn't see anything.
I quietly stepped inside and searched for the light switch near the door.
As I waved my hand around, my fingers felt the hard sensation of something protruding.
Without hesitation, I pressed the protruding part in.
Fortunately, not all the power seemed to be out as the lights in the multipurpose hall came on...
"Oh, fuck...!!"
The moment the lights turned on, countless black shapes entered my field of vision.
Seeing them clearly, these existences that had already seemed hideous even in the dimness, dialed my disgust up another notch.
And on top of that...
"To think you would find where I was this quickly... Is a human Companion of a Divine Beast different even among worthless beings?"
In the deepest part of the multipurpose hall, on the stage, there was a single spider, about one size larger than a large bus.
Its eyeballs, bigger than a human head and grotesque, its massive yet razor-sharp fangs, and the liquid dripping from them was slowly corroding the wooden floor.
"I'll just... leave now."
I turned my back to leave without looking back, but the door I had entered through was already blocked, tightly wound shut with layers of spider silk by the spiders.
Spider silk could be burned away with fire anyway, so it wasn't a problem at all.
But... two bear-like spiders moved to block the front of the exit, preventing me from escaping.
"Human, where are you rushing off to? If you wish to leave, you shall become nourishment for my children and then leave."
"What a fucked-up life...!!"
I thought it was a bonus room, but it turned out to be a boss room without the 's'.
At that point, I couldn't help but think some kind of evil spirit was clinging to my life.
Why was it that every time an incident broke out, I was always the only one suffering like this?