Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Desperate Lightning Storm Gambit
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My mind raced frantically. A chain of utterly unforeseen coincidences had piled up, leading straight to the worst possible outcome. The situation was beyond dire.
Lize was getting pushed back bit by bit because she couldn’t unleash proper area attacks while protecting me, and Claudia had been limited by her greatsword from the start.
There was no need to even mention Erika, who was moments away from having her blood sucked dry while still alive, gripped in Arachnaira’s clutches.
‘Is there a way? There has to be one.’
I cleaved through a spider lunging at my face with a single stroke, then refocused on brainstorming a solution to turn this around.
First priority was rescuing Erika, followed by making sure Lize and Claudia didn’t get overwhelmed by the swarm of spiderlings. And I had to pull off both at nearly the same time.
I desperately racked my brain, squeezing out every idea. I could think of fixes for each problem individually, but nothing that handled both together.
A way to tackle both at once—there had to be...
‘Got it.’
A flash of insight cut through my thoughts. If I played it right, it would resolve both issues and break us out of this mess.
‘...Can I really pull it off?’
Even I wasn’t confident of success.
If things didn’t unfold as I hoped, or if Arachnaira didn’t act as predicted, we were dead without question. This was a straight gamble on probabilities.
‘No. Staying put means death anyway.’
I steeled my resolve. Yeah. We’d die either way if we didn’t act.
Erika would go first, then a recovered Arachnaira would come for us—either drained of blood or chewed up alive. No difference.
If it was death either way, better to bet on the higher odds.
“Claudia!”
I shouted her name. No time for polite honorifics in this crisis. Her helmeted head turned my way.
“Lightning Storm! Full power!”
Claudia and Lize both flinched at my words. It was a blunt command with all context stripped away, but they knew exactly what it meant.
“Are you insane, Delta?! You’ll die too!”
“Doesn’t matter—do it now! If you don’t, we all die!”
I bellowed, dropping all courtesy. Claudia hesitated for a split second, then shifted her grip on the greatsword, committing to trust me.
To buy her time for the max-power cast, I burst two spiderlings at once while wheeling toward Lize, unleashing lightning indiscriminately around her.
“Lize! You can hold out on your own, right?”
“I can, but what about you, Delta?! Two people’s impossible!”
“Chuck me over there!”
“What?!”
Lize gasped in shock. I was pointing right at the tangle of Erika and Arachnaira.
Erika was struggling desperately to shove the spider queen off, but it was clearly futile. Left alone, she had maybe thirty seconds tops.
“Are you really in your right mind?!”
“No time—do what I say! It’s the only way to save Erika!”
Lize stamped her foot in frustration, eyes darting between her sister on the brink of death in Arachnaira’s grasp, the spiderlings swarming from all sides, and Claudia prepping her Lightning Storm as ordered.
Then, resolve hardening, she unleashed a frost storm, flash-freezing everything around her.
“You sure about this?!”
“Have I ever been wrong?!”
“Ugh, fine! You’re dead meat after this!”
An ice ramp formed under my feet, launching me upward. With a boom, I rocketed into the air straight toward Arachnaira.
A quick glance sideways showed Claudia channeling her Lightning Storm. Sparks crackled as lightning gathered around her body. She spread her stance, greatsword raised skyward.
“Die quietly, you little pest!”
Erika bit her lip, glaring at Arachnaira as its fangs hovered near to drain her blood. Her armor was in tatters.
Then she spotted me hurtling in and her eyes went wide.
I checked my bloodied blade. Buff duration still good. Conditions met. Now, let body take over. I plummeted downward.
Gripped the sword tight in one hand; with the other, seized Arachnaira’s nape. A massive jolt shot through my left arm. I gritted my teeth and braced my weight.
My body flowed into the next motion naturally, just like dropping onto a mid-boss in a rune dungeon.
Left leg stomped its carapace; I spun half-turn to face it, then drove the bloodied sword full-force into its collarbone.
—Shluck!
“Aaahhhh!”
The spider queen thrashed in agony. It released Erika, who tumbled to the ground and scrambled desperately for her fallen weapon nearby.
Sword still lodged in its collarbone, I yelled.
“Erika! Flame Barrier! Hurry!”
“Y-Yes! Right away, Delta!”
Flames erupted from the katana in Erika’s hands. That’d shield her from the Lightning Storm. Lize was surely defended already. Just me left.
I yanked the sword free, kicked off its leg, and leaped upward—positioning myself to hover right in front of Arachnaira.
‘Please, please, please!’
I prayed inwardly as I watched it writhe in pain. Please act just like in the game, exactly as predicted.
“You insolent worm!”
As if answering my plea, Arachnaira’s face twisted in fury and snatched me up.
‘Nailed it!’
What I’d just done was pattern induction. Bosses had must-use moves under specific player-triggered conditions, and ways to force them out.
For Arachnaira, jumping within reach of its upper-body arms always triggered a grab attack.
Under normal circumstances, no way to break free once caught, so the devs probably figured that algorithm would constrain players.
But players exploited it: cast a long windup spell, time a jump to induce the grab, and land a guaranteed hit.
Spell connects, and the hit stun forces Arachnaira to drop you, dodging grab damage.
Timing was a nightmare, but once mastered, super useful. My plan was a variant.
Launch from Lize’s ice ramp high up, drop attack to force Erika’s release, pull sword and jump again mid-descent to induce the grab.
‘Seriously lucky it worked.’
Honestly, even I hadn’t been sure.
No guarantee the drop attack would make it drop Erika—could’ve ignored me in pain and finished her.
No guarantee it’d grab me airborne either, since I’d jumped off its leg, not solid ground.
One slip, and we paid with our lives. But it was the only idea in that moment—no choice.
‘Pure luck.’
I let out a silent sigh of relief, facing Arachnaira head-on as it held me.
“Meet again. Right?”
“You’ve come to die! If death’s your wish, I’ll grant it!”
Gone was the archaic elegance and seductive tone—now just a rasping, crude snarl.
“I’ll chew you up, bones and all!”
Crack. Its lower maw gaped wide beneath its abdomen.
Not that it meant eating me with a human woman’s parts. Better called a spider’s mouth.
Though that was subjective. The positioning led plenty to see it as human genitalia.
‘Safe now, right?’
Grab patterns were two: human mouth sucked blood to death; spider mouth chewed you up.
But grabs mid-jump always 100% used the lower maw chew—my second layer of lightning protection.
“How many times do I have to say it?”
—Krarrrumble!
A massive thunderclap erupted behind me. Arachnaira froze, sensing something ominous.
Signal that Lightning Storm was ready. I peered past its shoulder at Claudia.
Her dark gray steel greatsword was engulfed in lightning, shape barely discernible. Claudia too, wreathed in it. Massive sparks flew around.
Spiderlings convulsed, legs curling as they died before closing in.
“Try it if you can.”
—Kaaaa-BOOM!!!!!!
Then, the lightning struck.