—— Take thisssss!!!!
I poured every ounce of my strength into the threads I’d spread, channeling my [Thread Control] skill into them.
Dragging along the monkeys that were desperately trying to crush my legs and torso, I ran across the sheer cliff face.
I was already pushing myself beyond the limit, and every time one of those monkeys lunged at even the smallest opening, they wounded my freshly healed body from the recent level-up, rapidly draining my HP and sending sharp pain coursing through me.
But I couldn’t afford to stop.
If I did, the only thing waiting for me was to be trampled and reduced to a miserable corpse.
I used a protruding rock to make a sudden U-turn and, using the momentum and centrifugal force, flung off the monkeys clinging to me, binding them with thread and then yanking them down to slam them into the ground.
At the same time, I gave instructions to all the threads I’d controlled to their absolute limit:
— Abandon adhesion to the wall.
Following my command, the threads lost their grip and plummeted downward—dragging with them countless entangled monkeys.
With a thunderous roar, the mass of threads and monkeys became a kind of mass attack, gouging into the cliff wall with its sheer weight, crashing down and crushing even the monkeys on the ground below, raising a cloud of dust as it obliterated everything.
Once one part collapsed, the adjacent walls got dragged along and collapsed as well, spreading the destruction in a chain reaction.
Having immediately dashed back up to my simple home base, I looked down at the scene below while listening to the continuous level-up announcements.
Whoaaa… Well, after defeating that many, it makes sense that I’d level up.
However, that only took out part of the horde. There were still plenty of monkeys left, and the battle wasn’t over. Not even a short break in sight.
Reinforcements kept arriving, and to make matters worse, some of them were nasty ones.
《Bagragratch LV3》 《Bagragratch LV4》 《Bagragratch LV6》
Giant monkeys with long crocodile-like snouts lined with rows of jagged sharp teeth, easily twice the size of the regular monkeys.
Their species name was similar to Anogratch, the monkeys I’d been fighting.
— These guys… they’re the evolved form of those monkeys!
Damn it, what should I do?
Even now, the monkeys were swarming up, overwhelming me with sheer numbers and sacrificing themselves to destroy the sticky threads as they climbed, while the giant monkeys were casually lifting boulders several meters wide, getting ready to hurl them.
Whoa, dangerous!!
One of them hurled a massive rock—probably several tons—without even wavering in posture. It stabbed into my simple home base with terrifying speed and mass.
What insane power… And now I’ve got no cover left. What do I do…
As I racked my brain in growing panic, suddenly a beam of light pierced through one of the monkeys behind me.
A monkey, its torso blown open by the light, let out a death cry and collapsed just like the first monkey I ever took down.
That was the trigger—about half of the monkeys ignored me and ran toward the source of the light in the darkness.
In this pitch-black labyrinth, the dazzling light, though not fired rapidly, rained down relentlessly, killing multiple monkeys at once.
Dozens of shots had already been fired, and despite dozens of monkeys disappearing into the darkness, the beams kept precisely skewering the monkeys without pause.
Perhaps not wanting to overlook the dwindling numbers, one of the giant monkeys shifted its target from me to the mysterious light source and vanished into the shadows.
With half the swarm rushing toward this new enemy, the pace of monkeys climbing the walls slowed dramatically, giving me breathing room to deal with things.
This allowed me to focus on the movements of the remaining two giant monkeys without missing a beat.
One of them took a running start and leaped nearly a hundred meters toward me, but I threw a net of threads at it, diverting its path and slamming it into the cliff wall.
I injected spider venom into its face to finish it off while simultaneously preparing more threads.
The other giant monkey tried to flank me from behind by scaling the wall in a wide arc, but as I spun around, I wrapped threads around it.
Then, while it was immobilized, I forced spider venom down its massive throat.
《Experience has reached the required level. Individual, Small Taratect has leveled up from LV8 to LV9.》
Phew, that was close. But too bad for you! I saw right through that!
Feeling smug over the smooth counter I’d just pulled off, I quickly assessed the situation around me.
Perhaps due to their insufficient numbers or the absence of the giant monkeys, the regular monkeys were showing signs of hesitation and confusion, their coordination falling apart into utter chaos.
Only a handful remained, far fewer than before. They faltered, unsure whether to advance or retreat.
And it seemed that the monkeys who had stopped moving made for perfect stationary targets—
One after another, the remaining survivors collapsed.
The beams of light flew in, cutting off escape routes, rapidly reducing the number of mobile monkeys. All that remained were pitiful ones immobilized by my threads, unable to resist the approaching grim reaper.
Once there were no more monkeys moving within sight, and I let out a breath of relief—this time, the beams of light turned toward me.
Whoa—hey, wait!!
It looked like a laser, but it was just laser-like—the speed was slow enough to track visually.
If you could see it coming, it wouldn’t instantly hit you, so I dodged at the last second and kept running.
But no matter how erratically I changed direction, sped up, or slowed down, the beam accurately tracked me, continually landing right behind me as though it could read my movements—it sent chills down my spine in terror.
Thankfully, the rate of fire was the same as before—still slow—and I figured out that thick rock could block it without being penetrated.
Having run nonstop and nearing my SP limit, I took cover behind a massive boulder that had fallen when the wall collapsed, using it as a shield in case another beam came.
Oddly enough, the beams stopped coming—but I still couldn’t see the culprit. In this situation, where they could strike again at any moment, I couldn’t go around finishing off the monkeys or safely eat to recover my depleted SP.
If I focused and strained my ears, I could hear a faint slithering sound. That small noise was slowly approaching me.
And when that crawling, scraping noise came within clear audible range, I cautiously, carefully peeked out from behind cover to look toward it.
And when I caught a glimpse of the green mass for just a moment, I activated [Appraisal].
Small Kokedama (Kokemori Mari) — LV9
Status
HP: 52/52 (Green)
MP: 504/1102 (Blue)
SP: 36/59 (Yellow)
59/59 (Red) +28Average Attack Ability: 33
Average Defense Ability: 76
Average Magic Ability: 1080
Average Resistance Ability: 76
Average Speed Ability: 52《Status Appraisal Failed》
Wait—huh!? What is with these insanely lopsided stats!?
And there’s a Japanese-sounding name displayed next to the species title!?
I was so shocked that, carelessly, I left my face poking out and froze up in a daze for a moment.
I quickly yanked my body back behind the rock, but despite the obvious opening I’d shown, no attack came flying at me.
Puzzled by that fact, I concentrated on the presence just beyond the boulder.
I agonized over what to do next.
Ahhh, what should I do?
Maybe… just maybe…?
The thought crossing my mind—I was almost certain it wasn’t wrong.
Just like I’m a reincarnator in the form of a spider, there’s a very high chance that the thing over there is also a reincarnator like me.
If that’s the case, then communication… well, conversation might be impossible, but maybe we could exchange intentions somehow?
…Though there’s still the anxiety of not knowing whether they’d respond.
After all, I’m a spider, and they’re… some kind of Marimo? A fuzzy green ball?
Would either of us even be able to speak in the first place?
Well, even if we could talk, I’m a hardcore loner, so conversation is kinda…
Still—Kokemori Mari? Kokemori… Kokemori…
I feel like I remember someone with that surname, but I can’t place it.
I mean, I recognize all my classmates’ faces, but I never really kept track of who was who.
I just wasn’t interested, honestly…
While I was dithering like that, a voice echoed directly into my mind.
(You… who are you? Your soul… it’s unusual…!)
Startled, my body jumped, but I forced myself to stay still.
(I won’t attack you, so could you come out?)
The words resonated directly into my head in Japanese.
The voice was distinct from the usual system announcement, and somehow, it felt vaguely familiar from my old school days.
—Alright! Time to steel myself. A girl’s gotta have guts!
I cautiously stretched out my front leg, showing it from behind the rock.
After waving it up and down slightly and waiting a few seconds to confirm nothing happened, I mustered my courage and crept out from cover.
Honestly, compared to the life-or-death battle I’d been fighting against those monkeys just a moment ago, I was trembling so much I looked pathetically weak now—but hey, can’t be helped!
The status gap is huge, and loners short-circuit when people talk to them, okay!?
With my mind and heart in chaos, I nervously approached and faced the green sphere in front of me.
(Hey, what’s your name?)
With a trembling foreleg, I scratched letters into the dirt.
(…Eh? Wakaba Hiiro!? Wakaba-san!? Wait, really??)
She sounded extremely flustered, but honestly, on my end, I just wanted to run away for different reasons.
(Eh…? But… you’re a spider… and inside is… no, wait… huh??)
Her thoughts trickled into mine, disjointed and confused.
Well, yeah.
If the class’s biggest loner turned into a spider, of course she’d be bewildered.
(………………Ah, sorry, I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Kokemori Mari. Nice to meet you, Wakaba-san.)
To express “nice to meet you,” I bobbed my head up and down vigorously.
(By the way, Wakaba-san, you can’t talk? Oh, I’m using a skill called Telepathy to speak to you!)
She explained the mechanism behind the voice in my head, and I conveyed that I didn’t have enough skill points to acquire it myself.
(I see… hmm, inconvenient, but guess it can’t be helped.)
She seemed to mull it over thoughtfully.
(…First things first, let’s clear out any remaining monkeys and secure the area. Then we can talk properly!)
I’m fine with cleanup, but please spare me the chit-chat…
And so, together, we wiped out every last remaining monkey.
After that, we shared everything we’d been through since reincarnating, empathized over our mutual hardships, and exchanged info about each other’s stats and skills.
My life as a spider had gone way past Hard Mode — it was straight-up Nightmare difficulty, or KMD (Kumoko Must Die) edition — but it looked like she’d had it pretty rough on her end too. Still, she got to live safely after being born, and she started with ten thousand skill points? I’m jealous beyond words!
While inwardly fuming at the gods for such unfair treatment, I thought to myself:
Living alone in this labyrinth is tough.
That’s why, having more companions lowers the risk.
If that’s the case, I don’t mind teaming up with someone.
Since I can’t talk, she’ll do all the talking and I’ll just nod or shake my head. Simple enough.
I glanced sideways.
The fuzzy green Kokedama ball, slightly larger than me, quivered gently.
Relying on her impressive abilities, I resolved myself.
I will survive and escape this great dungeon… no, we both will. That’s my renewed determination.
Yes, I decided to call her Koke-chan and conveyed that to her.
(——Ahaha, sounds good. We’ll always be together… right, Wakaba-san? Because we’re comrades…)
She sounded a little too chipper, but considering how much suffering we’d both been through, maybe raising our spirits together is exactly what we needed.
Also, being called “Wakaba-san” feels a bit awkward—so from now on, I want her to call me Kumoko.
(Okay! Nice to meet you, Kumoko-chan!)
Her voice was so bright it made me forget we were deep within a dark underground labyrinth.
For now… I guess the next step is evolution?
***
I walked down a long, gloomy corridor.
Ahead of me, despite her small frame, strode the strongest being in this castle, cheerfully leading the way.
That figure—appearing as a young girl—was none other than our current master, the Demon Lord.
“Oh, Balt! What’s up? Why are you standing there?”
With a casual tone that, in a way, matched her appearance—or perhaps was entirely unbefitting of a Demon Lord—she spoke to me.
“I’m preparing for the meeting, Demon Lord.”
“Ahaha! Thanks as always, Balt-kun.”
Despite her words, the Demon Lord’s demeanor showed no hint of actual gratitude as she routinely shoved her tasks onto me.
Well, I was used to it by now.
“So, Demon Lord—where are you headed?”
“Hm? Oh, just going to check on that child.”
By “that child,” who did she mean?
“Ah, not the white one.”
Ah, that one then.
“Even though she’s always like that, when she meditates she becomes unbelievably quiet. In those moments, it feels like the whole world is being rewritten.”
Considering that person is usually one of the biggest troublemakers, it’s hard to imagine.
“You should see it at least once, Balt. Her magic control is pure artistry.”
The Demon Lord murmured softly, her gaze seeming to look into the distance.
“She should be freer… but we’ve dragged her into our affairs…”
A shadow passed across her expression for an instant, but the next moment she was cheerfully back to normal.
“Well then, time to get today’s annoying work over with!”
And just like that, the Demon Lord passed by me.
I let out a quiet breath, careful not to let it show outwardly.
Another dreary day begins anew…
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