Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Rat-Spider Queen
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"What's your name?"
"Rain."
"Hmph, I knew from the start you were giving off bad vibes, and here you are, living up to that name! What a bratty little downpour you are."
"Actually, my name's Sun."
"What? Don't bullshit me! It'll show right on your ID tag."
As Rain bickered with the archer Rem, they delved deeper into the heart of the Crimson Mountains, where signs of human presence grew scarce and eerie cries began to echo around them.
Two pre-bought potions clinked at his waistband, and he gripped his staff in hand.
Bart had promised to protect him, so don't worry—but Rain's silence stemmed not from tension, but from an intense sense of déjà vu.
"......"
The sweltering heat of the Crimson Mountains and the nonstop chatter from his party member beside him... Suddenly, the backs of the hero party's figures flashed before his eyes, leaving a pang in his chest.
"Is this your first time adventuring, brother?"
"Yeah."
"Have you studied the habits of Rat-Spiders?"
He hadn't.
His body once hunted the 'Ancients' who served the Lords of the Abyss. He had no need to know about continental monsters.
"Just know they're divided into ruling class and ruled class."
Bart explained.
According to them, Rat-Spiders were split into queens, soldiers, and workers.
"Workers are pests that chew on trees, but they flee at the sight of humans. Only the soldier class attacks people."
"And the queen?"
"She leads the horde, commanding her Rat-Spiders. They say taking down a queen equals slaying a thousand Rat-Spiders."
Rem, who had been leading the way with seasoned steps while tracking traces of Rat-Spiders hidden in the brush, scoffed.
"Don't even think about trying to hunt one. That's for elite adventurer parties like Bart and me. They don't even come to the surface to begin with."
Yeah, no plans to hunt one.
At least, not before learning the bounty for slaying the queen Rat-Spider.
* * *
Rat-Spiders were massive creatures with horrifying forms.
As their name implied, picture a rat's head on a spider's body.
But they were craftier than rats and stirred a primal revulsion in humans more than spiders.
"Hyah!"
An axe blade sliced through the air, cleaving the monster's flesh and spraying blood.
Screeeeech...!
Screeeeech...!
The whistling arrows followed with trailing tails, piercing the rat's forehead precisely as the sound faded, triggering death throes.
"Nailed it—that's twelve!"
Upon reaching Rem's favored hunting ground, Bart and Rem tore into the Rat-Spiders with ferocious momentum, their skills impressive even by Lin's standards.
"Bart, more adventurers incoming! No time to rest!"
"Got it!"
Adventurers shared info by nature, so the hunting ground buzzed with other parties spaced about fifty meters apart.
─Whoa, how much is all that?
─The money's multiplying?!
Slumping under a tree shade, yawning lazily as he watched, it was boredom incarnate.
"I really don't have to fight? We're splitting profits four ways, right?"
The escort priest Sammy leaned against a tree, reading her holy book, and smiled faintly.
"Yes. Just light the campfire when we camp later. Or make some drinking water."
"That's it?"
"You two never intended to have brother fight when you recruited him."
"What're you talking about?"
Rain replied indifferently, clasping hands behind his head and flopping onto the grass. So damn hot.
"Like I said at first, you two just wanted to help him out. You did the same for me before."
Sammy had needed money for her priest exam; the pair heard her story at a tavern and dragged her into their party regardless.
"She's already earned enough for the exam but keeps at it. Being with you two lets her feel the gods' love."
So that's the gist.
They're the type who help others. Good people. Like Rista.
- Come on, Lin.
Come to think of it, the smile Bart flashed when Rain trusted him earlier... it resembled Rista's... Hold on.
"Sammy, you know anything about Tureina?"
"Who doesn't know her?"
"Has the church branded Tureina a heretic or something?"
Heretic... Sammy tilted her head, then furrowed her brow as if recalling something.
─Gaaah, grraaaah!
A agonized scream rang out, freezing every adventurer in motion.
Boom... The ground shook from a heavy impact. Adventurers' eyes widened in tension as they pinpointed the source.
Something huge and terrifying approached, its blood-soaked maw chewing on a screaming adventurer.
"W-What is that?!"
"N-No way!"
It was huge.
Insanely huge.
He'd figured adult-man-sized at most, but this one dwarfed Bart by double from shoulder height.
"Q-Queen? On the surface?"
Seasoned adventurers felt cold sweat chill their limbs. Rookies stumbled back, screaming in flight.
"No! Don't show your back!"
Silver-rank adventurer Bart yelled urgently.
「Rat-Spiders' threat level changes with or without the queen's command.」
So wrote grand adventurer Ryutim in his 『Adventurer's Log』.
「Normally a ragtag mob, but true to their 'army' moniker, with their commander—the queen—nearby, they become a slaughter machine more precise than dwarven mechanisms.」
The Rat-Spiders' eyes etched with the queen's mark began glowing with baleful light.
Rookie adventurers must not have seen those eyes or heard Bart.
Rat-Spiders pounced on fleeing adventurers, sinking fangs deep into their necks.
"That's why rookies are...!"
Rem uncorked the gourd at his waist and poured every last drop down his throat.
Rising to assess as Rain whistled unwittingly.
'Booze? Kies's archery...?'
Drunken Shot's foundation was intoxication, needless to say.
Intensity dictated the archery's power; downing a full gourd meant spiking to near-Limites in one go.
But the risks were real: vomiting mid-fight or passing out.
'Interesting. Let's see your skills.'
Three arrows nocked in an instant.
Screeeeech...!
The arrows wriggled oddly in flight, skewering the heads of Rat-Spiders lunging at adventurers.
"Quit spacing out and fight! Unless you wanna die!"
Rem bellowed, and urine-soaked adventurers on death's door gripped weapons with trembling fingers.
"Rem, killing grunts is pointless. We need the queen."
"I know! Sammy, heal those rookies! Rain, protect Sammy!"
"Y-Yes!"
Before Sammy could reply, Rem nocked five arrows and loosed at the queen.
Screeeeeeeeech...!
Arcing up, right, left, down—yet all converged on one spot.
'Kies's simultaneous impact shot...!'
Now famed as Drunken Shot's secret technique. The queen's left eye pulped, eliciting a pained screech.
"Grrrrrr...!"
"Grrrrrr...!"
Dozens—no, hundreds—of Rat-Spiders surged toward Rem at the queen's command.
"Huuuuh!"
But a giant met the fleshy wave head-on: Bart. One axe swing mulched a dozen-plus into gore and blood spray.
Between swings, Rem's arrows slipped through, piercing Rat-Spider skulls.
Path cleared, Bart gripped his double-headed axe two-handed and leaped skyward.
"Amazing!"
"Black Bart lives up to the name!"
"Why's that monster still silver-rank?"
The leg power launching his plate-armored frame that high was monstrous.
Bart roared, slamming the axe vertically into the queen's crown. Gravity amplified the hefty blow.
All expected it to bisect her... but the axe halted mid-air after tearing skin and cracking skull.
'That...?'
Bart sensed wrongness via warrior's instinct; Rain felt chilling familiarity and shouted.
"Bart! Dodge! Drop the axe! Touch it and you're dead!"
Bart released and rolled aside instantly.
Barely in time.
Bubbles boiled from the cleaved wound, spewing inky poison forward.
Gurgle...!
Bart's prized black axe liquefied, dripping as black sludge that withered touched plants.
Meanwhile, the queen's wound healed in seconds.
"What the hell? Super regen...?"
Rem's eyes flickered not with tension, but shock.
The queen pounced on disarmed, exposed Bart.
He clutched her jaws bare-handed in gauntlets, avoiding being bitten—but power disparity was clear.
"Ugh, uwaaaah...!"
Gauntlets crumpled, arm bones snapped; Bart groaned in agony.
"Bart!"
Rem dodged Rat-Spiders while peppering the queen with arrows to no avail.
Hellbent on killing Bart, she ignored embedded shafts, jaws inching closer.
'That's definitely...'
Rain paled for graver reasons, fingers numbing.
'Dark Poison... that repulsive chill and stench.'
Unmistakable.
Dark Poison eroded souls—a fearsome ancient Abyss power wielded by black magic masters.
Why Fire Dragon's Shrine Maiden Fride, era's top cleric, joined the hero party.
Why Archmage Lin resorted to Juyeo Soge Daeban for suspended animation.
All because of this poison's threat. So a master black mage empowering the queen might lurk nearby...
'Black magic strong enough to buff monsters? Black Church remnants still around?'
Rain inhaled sharply, asking Sammy—who chanted holy wards over a neck-bitten adventurer.
"How much...?"
"Pardon?"
"How much for that thing...!"
No need to intervene. No blame for sitting out.
He just wanted to run.
Anything but fight a Dark Poison user. Trauma clawed his brain, breath quickening.
"Uh, about twenty gold coins! Like I said, equivalent to saving a thousand, and deep underground so hard to hunt... normally!"
This body wasn't fully recovered.
One mistake forcing Juyeo Soge Daeban again... waking alone in another world...
The thought chilled him.
"Twenty coins. Okay, twenty...!"
Intervening only for the needed cash. A quarter covers black market books with change.
'Not altruism or party loyalty...'
Just money. For me.
The archmage rationalized, wetting parched lips with dry saliva.
Though Bart's smile and Sammy's voice crossed his mind.
- Like I said, you two just wanted to help brother out.
Not gratitude.
Just that another fool dying before him would haunt his dreams.
"......Magic barrier formation, deploy—fourth circle."