Collision
Para and Anu stared at Bastet in bewilderment.
—[That's a face I haven't seen around here...]
—[If we don't know it... it must be newly born, or recently evolved.]
Luckily enough, this Bastet character didn't seem to be on their side.
Whether it was an act to lower the fourth squad's guard or not was still unclear.
Pulling Bastet to their side. Not a bad idea at all.
But I had no clue how to win her over.
As I pondered a method, Para hurled a question at Bastet.
—[Are you our enemy?]
—[Enemy? What do you mean, nya?]
—[I'm asking if you intend to fight us.]
—[No intention to fight, nya.]
—[Then get lost. No time to deal with you.]
—[......]
Oh. Not bad at all?
Para had just poked at Bastet's nerves.
Evidence: Bastet's brow furrowed ever so slightly.
Anyone would get annoyed hearing "get lost" from a stranger.
Doesn't look like they're pretending not to know each other.
While Para and Anu kept Bastet at bay, Arachne glanced sideways at Azeras and spoke up.
—[Azeras. She's a guardian of the labyrinth?]
—"Explorer hunter... probably, same... "
—[Explorer hunter?]
—"Monsters that hate... and hunt explorers. High chance... they were forcibly... subjugated by the Domination Trait... "
From Azeras's explanation, most explorer hunters had a history of being dominated.
And due to brutal treatment under the Domination Trait holder, their hatred for explorers was beyond imagination.
Not every Domination Trait holder treated monsters poorly, of course.
Para and Anu decided to ignore Bastet, shifting their gazes forward and bellowing at the fourth squad.
—[You lot! The first to reveal the explorer's position gets spared—special mercy!]
—[First come, first served! We keep our word!]
Obviously, the fourth squad wouldn't bite.
Arachne let out a disbelieving scoff.
—[What the hell?]
—"Ridiculous... "
Azeras ignored the offer too.
The Giant Caterpillar carrying the fourth squad roared in fury, rejecting it outright.
—[Abeol, abberoraral!]
—[Kool, kkul...]
...was snoring away, bound in threads.
Para sighed and asked once more.
—[Last chance. No one to reveal the explorer's position?]
Azeras and Arachne brushed it off.
The Caterpillar shook its body in refusal.
—[Aberoraral! Fuck off!]
With everyone rejecting the offer, Para and Anu's brows twitched faintly.
Iris zoomed in on their faces.
A natural-born cameraman with real talent for filming.
Anyway, the tension was powder-keg tight—battle could erupt any second.
Of course, the ominous atmosphere hung heavy, but neither side moved rashly yet.
They were still sizing up each other's forces.
In that heavy silence, I lowered my voice and cautiously called to Arachne.
"Kinoya."
—[Yes, Father.]
"Want to try swaying that Bastet girl?"
—[Pull her to our side? How?]
"Offer her some tasty fish."
—[Fish? Hmm...]
"You guys send some over."
Arachne pondered briefly, then whipped her head toward Bastet.
—[Hey! Bastet!]
—[It's Bastet, nya.]
—[We'll give you fish later, so help us take down those ugly bastards!?]
—[What's fish, nya?]
—[Huh?]
—[Asked what fish is, nya.]
Bastet tilted her head quizzically.
Flustered, Arachne turned to Iris.
—[Ah, Father. How do I explain it?]
Just say it's something delicious.
As I opened my mouth to say that—
—[Foolishness...!]
Bam! Golden sand exploded outward.
Anu's foot slammed the sand, launching him forward.
Sand swirled around him as he crouched low like a beast, charging at Arachne.
The distance closed in an instant.
That moment— from Anu's flank.
Azeras's foot sliced through the air.
Thud!
—[Guh!]
The precise gut strike knocked Anu off course.
Launched airborne by the impact, he tumbled across the sand.
He ground his teeth, propped himself up, and glared fiercely at Azeras.
—"Don't touch... my friend's body. Or die... "
—[Fine. I'll kill you first.]
The battle's curtain rose.
The Giant Caterpillar retreated to safety with the mummified skeleton on its back, watching the fight.
—[Rise.]
At Para's gesture, hundreds of sand giants erupted upward.
The desert quaked at their emergence, a sandstorm whipping up.
In response, Arachne summoned countless spider spirits.
—[Wrap yourselves in thread to bulk up!]
At her command, the spider spirits spewed white threads from their bodies.
The threads endlessly coiled around them, forming thread armor.
The armor resembled Dog Spiders exactly— just massively larger, rivaling the giants in size.
Para and Arachne issued simultaneous orders to their summons.
—[Advance!]
—[Take them all down—not one giant spared!]
The sand giants marched, shaking the earth, waves of sand rising with each step.
Opposing them, the thread-armored spider spirits surged forward.
And finally—
The two forces collided.
—[By Pharaoh's command, annihilate the enemy!]
—[Kill every last one!]
—[Purge the rebels!]
—[Siii!]
—[Siii!]
—[Siiiik!]
The ground plunged into a vortex of chaos.
In the sky, Azeras and Anu clashed fiercely.
Boom! Shockwaves ripped the air with every collision.
Their movements accelerated, fists and kicks blurring beyond the screen's capture.
Only faint afterimages lingered in their wakes.
The fierce aerial exchange raged on.
Below, the feed cut back to Arachne.
Behind the spider spirits, Arachne secretly compressed thread balls.
After much effort, a dense ball completed. She cracked her eyes open, red glow flashing, locked on Para.
—[Absorb.]
With her whisper—
—[Ah, no... what is this...!]
Blue light poured from Para's body into Arachne's thread ball.
Likely absorbing his power.
Thud.
Para dropped to one knee, strength drained.
—[Soul-draining power... what kind of monster...]
Not going down easy.
Para thrust out his arms, roaring in rage.
Sand surged into him, restoring his strength—he stood firm again.
But just a temporary fix. The thread ball kept sucking.
Para moved to destroy it before more loss.
Craaaack— He grotesquely gaped his mouth.
Black energy gathered into a sphere.
—[Annihilate.]
As his voice echoed, black laser beams erupted.
The massive beam swept horizontally, cleaving the vast desert in two.
As if the world itself split.
Sand giants vaporized in the black light.
Thread-armored spider spirits too.
And Arachne—
—[...Close call.]
Her human torso severed from spider lower body.
Luckily, not fatal.
White threads from the cuts reconnected torso and body seamlessly.
As heaven and earth shook in transcendent battle—
Iris panned to Bastet, sitting beside the Giant Caterpillar.
Bastet murmured blankly.
—[Fish... fish......]
Then she bolted up—
—[Dunno what it is, but sounds edible, nya. And tasty, nya.]
She spread wings and soared skyward.
—[Gotta help to get some, nya.]
She roared at the lofty SSS-grade Solorb.
—[Aooooonya!!!]
· · · · · ·
—[You called?]
The steadfast sun began tilting, sinking toward the ground.