Chapter 72: Dungeon(5)
Chapter 72: Dungeon(5)
[You have entered the dungeon ‘Queen Spider Arachne’s Nest’.]
[The condition for clearing the dungeon is to hunt Arachne.]
As the message appeared, the dungeon entrance sealed shut. Lina and the others stood at the entrance of the dark, damp dungeon.
“Light.”
Kerry infused mana into the light orb he had prepared. At the same time, the area brightened.
“This place is…”
“It doesn’t have a very pleasant feel to it.”
“I want to finish this quickly and go home.”
Once their surroundings were illuminated, the dungeon’s structure became visible. It was a complex, maze-like layout.
From the floor to the pillars, everything was covered in spiderwebs.
With every step, sticky webs clung to their feet.
“Apply this to the soles of your shoes.”
Kerry applied a dissolving solution that melted webs to the soles of his companions’ shoes.
“Wow, it’s so much easier to move! Husband, you’re the best!”
“You came well-prepared, Kerry.”
“We should move quickly. The entrance of a dungeon is dangerous.”
Lina’s party moved as stealthily as possible.
This world wasn’t like a game; you didn’t get experience points or anything for killing mobs.
It was best to avoid them whenever possible.
Of course, there were times when clearing out mobs in a dungeon was beneficial, but this was not one of them.
It was then, as the party moved silently through the dungeon…
“Kishishi-”
Suddenly, a sound came from somewhere.
Kerry shone the light orb around, but there was nothing to be seen.
Their movements are unusual. So this is their home turf, huh?
“Everyone, stay on your guard. This is a dungeon. The monsters here will be more ferocious and numerous than those outside,” Lina warned the party sternly.
Although it was one of the lowest epic-grade dungeons, in this world, no dungeon was a place to be taken lightly.
“Kerry. Don’t leave my side.”
Kerry nodded.
He had a shield now and could use attack magic, but Kerry was a mage.
It was better to conserve his mana for when it was truly needed.
Just then…
Something like dust began to sprinkle down from above.
“They’re coming from above!”
The moment Kerry raised the light orb, he saw them. A dense cluster of spider monsters.
Damn it. They weren’t there when I checked above just a moment ago. Did they gather while I was looking elsewhere? Fucking fast.
The spider monsters attached their webs to the ceiling and leaped down.
“Kieeeek!”
There were so many of them.
The sight of spider monsters descending on their threads from all directions was enough to give me goosebumps.
But my worries were unfounded.
Lina leaped into the air and began swinging her sword.
In that instant, the spiders that had filled their vision began to fall as chunks of flesh.
Natasha swung her curved sword through the air. The chunks of flesh that had been raining down were sent flying far away.
Kerry gave Natasha a thumbs-up. She smiled shyly at the gesture.
“Hehe.”
“They’re coming from behind, too, Natasha!”
Victoria’s words had barely registered when Natasha ducked low and, like a nimble cat, dashed forward, swinging her curved sword.
Everywhere Natasha passed, spiders were turned into chunks of flesh without so much as a scream.
“Well, it looks like there’s no need for me to even step in.”
“Wouldn’t that be for the best?”
The sight of spider monsters swarming from the ceiling and floor was horrifying, but thanks to Lina and Natasha, they couldn’t even get close to Kerry.
Just then, a seductive voice echoed through the dungeon.
“You’re quite skilled.”
“!”
The one who spoke was that monster from before.
A spider monster with the upper body of a woman and the legs of a spider.
And, as if it were the most natural thing in the world… her upper body was bare!
Her large, beautiful breasts, far surpassing those of an ordinary woman, were in plain sight. Nice. This is what makes dungeon crawling worthwhile.
“…That vulgar breast-monster has appeared again.”
“Protect my husband, Victoria!”
“Leave it to me!”
In that instant, Natasha broke into a full sprint, charging at the female spider monster.
Her movements were on a completely different level from when she fought defensively to protect Kerry.
Other, ordinary spider monsters tried to block her path, but they couldn’t stop Natasha’s charge.
“You… monster of a bitch…!”
In a flash, the female spider monster was pulverized by Natasha’s curved sword. Her chest, in particular, was mangled beyond recognition.
Even after reducing the monster to such a state, Natasha was still panting with rage, her anger not yet subsided.
“Tch! You promiscuous monster. Put on some clothes. Think how shocked my husband would be to see that.”
I wasn’t shocked at all.
Besides, when it comes to being promiscuous, Natasha is second to none. Though, only when she’s berserk.
The area around the party was littered with spider corpses.
Some lay dead with their bellies split open, while others were neatly sliced to pieces.
There were easily over a hundred of them.
Despite the massacre they had just carried out, no one in Lina’s party showed any signs of fatigue.
On the contrary, they looked refreshed, as if they had just had a pleasant workout.
“It seems we’ve cleared out most of the ones nearby.”
“Yes, Lina. Good work.”
“But there’s no end to these grunts, no matter how many we kill.”
“Can’t we just go straight for the boss?”
“The dungeon is structured like a complex maze, so that’s difficult. But it’s not impossible.”
Kerry nodded.
He had scanned the information again in front of the dungeon, so he remembered that part clearly.
[Details - …The easiest way to find the queen spider is to secretly follow the hatched spiderlings. The spiderlings instinctively know how to find their mother, the queen spider, even in a complex maze…]
“We just need to find some hatched spiderlings and tail them.”
So Lina knew, too. Just like a regressor.
“Oho? So we use the hatchlings’ instincts?”
“Yes. From now on, we’ll dim the lights as much as possible and look for spiderlings.”
The party nodded in agreement.
*
By secretly following the spiderlings, Lina’s party was able to find the dungeon boss.
The spiderlings were riding on the back of a giant queen spider. The sight of them swarming on her back was a little disgusting.
Seeing the queen spider, the party hesitated, unable to move rashly.
The reason was none other than the queen spider’s appearance.
The queen spider had the lower body of a spider, but her upper body was that of a topless woman.
The problem was that, perhaps because she was several times larger than the other spider monsters, her female torso was also several times larger.
Which meant… her already magnificent breasts looked several times larger!
“K-Kerry, close your eyes! You mustn’t look at such a thing!”
“How can I close my eyes with an enemy right in front of me! That would be a breach of my duty as an adventurer!”
Damn right!
The massive breasts of the queen spider jiggled before my eyes. That nipple is so big, I’m worried it wouldn’t even fit in my mouth.
This is incredible. And the fact that the queen spider’s upper body is that of a beautiful woman makes it even more so.
“…”
Lina’s face was flushed as she held her sword.
“Perverted spiders! So annoying!”
Natasha stomped her feet in frustration. The queen spider, with her young on her back, looked down on the party from the ceiling.
“…To think you’d invade this far so easily. You’re no ordinary bunch. Those disgusting villagers must have paid a hefty price, I see?”
“Shut up, you filthy breast-spider bitch! Get down here right now. I’ll tear that body of yours into dozens of pieces in an instant.”
“Huhu. Are you applying human standards to us monsters? Clothing is nothing more than a base aspect of human culture.”
In the middle of her speech, Natasha, unable to contain her anger, tried to charge forward.
“Natasha, no. Don’t rush in.”
“Why not, Husband?”
I could see the hole on the queen spider’s lower body, the one that sprayed silk, twitching.
[Name – Queen Spider Arachne]
[Skill – Web Spray]
[Web Spray Details – Sprays a wide-area web in all directions. Just before firing, the hole (spinneret) will twitch twice.
The maximum range of the web spray is 50m. Once the web sticks, it is very difficult to remove…]
Seeing her spinneret—the hole that shoots the web—twitching, it was clear she was about to spray her silk.
If Natasha had charged in, she would have been caught in the web. Of course, we had the dissolving solution.
The problem was that the monsters wouldn’t just stand by and watch while we melted the web.
“Well, now… we’re surrounded.”
Spider monsters revealed themselves from the front, back, left, and right.
This was their home turf. We couldn’t do anything about them using the terrain to their advantage.
Female spider monsters that looked like captains appeared in all four directions. Breasts here! Breasts there!
It’s a crisis, but I’m not complaining.
“Ugh! All these indecent spiders are showing themselves.”
Victoria ground her teeth at the sight of the exhibitionist spiders.
But hearing Victoria call someone else indecent felt a little shameless.
“What kind of lewd dungeon is this? Lina, did you know it would be like this when you suggested we come here?”
“N-No! Of course not.”
Lina, who hadn’t even flinched when they were surrounded by spiders, was now panicking immensely.
She even started rambling about how she never would have expected this.
Just then, the queen spider and the female spiders began to spray webs from all directions.
“Try to dodge this if you can! Huhuhu!”
There seemed to be nowhere to escape the webs that descended upon us like a dense net.
I could see a blue sword aura rising from Lina’s blade, but Kerry had something better.
“Shield!”
Kerry infused mana into his bracelet. A defensive barrier large enough to envelop the entire party appeared.
Layer after layer of webbing piled up on the shield. Soon, the webs were so thick that we couldn’t see outside.
“This should buy us some time.”
“Right.”
“Give me all your weapons. If we coat them with the dissolving solution, we should be able to cut through the webs easily.”
With that, he used up all the dissolving solution he had.
“If it weren’t for these annoying webs, this would be no trouble at all. I’ll smash that bitch with the giant breasts myself.”
“Victoria, you’re the tank. Stay by my side.”
“…How frustrating.”
“…”
Then, the queen spider’s voice came from outside the shield.
“I know you’re hiding in there. How long do you think you can hold out?
I admit you’re strong, but do you really think you can take all of us on?”
“This monster sure talks a lot.”
“Should I go kill her right now, Husband?”
Natasha brandished her curved sword, now coated in the dissolving solution.
With this, she could surely cut through all the webs, and the queen spider would be a pile of meat in an instant.
But Kerry shook his head. Something in the queen spider’s words bothered him.
“You mentioned a ‘disgusting village chief’ earlier. Do you know him?”
“Yes. I know him all too well. I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but that man… that disgusting chief is my sworn enemy.
No! He is our sworn enemy! Even in death, I will tear him and those villagers to shreds.”
“…”
The village chief wasn’t human either, but a demonkin. What is this, some kind of monster war?
The chief I can understand, but why does she hate the villagers so much?
Monsters were not typically friendly to humans, but this level of hatred was a bit strange.
“You lot are all the same, fooled by that chief’s sweet talk.
After I kill you, I will attack the village. That is my sole desire.”
“…”
“Kerry, you shouldn’t listen to the words of such a malicious monster.”
“I know, Lina.”
But for Kerry, who knew the chief’s true identity, he couldn’t help but be concerned.
“That chief and those villagers… they made me this way. I died, yet could not stay dead, and was reborn in this hideous form.”
Hearing that, Kerry started to get the picture. I don’t think I need to hear any more.
“Natasha.”
“Yes, Husband!”
“You can kill her now.”
Natasha’s eyes glinted fiercely.
A moment later, the queen spider had been reduced to a pile of meat that even her own siblings wouldn’t recognize.
*
[You have cleared the dungeon.]
[Preparing dungeon clear rewards. Please wait a moment.]
Dungeons were strange places, even in this world.
Mysterious messages would appear, and the dungeon itself seemed to have a restraining force, making it impossible to leave until the conditions were met.
It’s pretty amazing to see one in person after only hearing stories about them.
Then again, in a world with gods and monsters, I guess nothing should be surprising.
Just then…
A bright light appeared in mid-air. When the light faded, an object took shape.
It was a shield.
[Rewards have been distributed. The dungeon is now open.]
Lina, as the representative, took the shield floating in the air. Just as Kerry was about to use the Goddess’s Eye on it…
Something else caught his eye, more prominent than the shield.
A cocoon of webbing. And inside that cocoon, the figure of a beautiful woman was visible.