A bead of sweat on Lir’s chin slowly fell toward the spider silk stretched between her jaw and chest.
Trian had nocked an arrow onto the bowstring of a longbow far larger than his torso, and Rex crouched, ready to spring into the room and protect Lir at a moment’s notice.
I focused on the uneasiness in my chest and readied myself for the impending battle.
Soon, the small but significant droplet touched the delicate spider silk.
The droplet struck the taut, fine thread and fractured into dozens of smaller droplets, creating vibrations.
These tiny tremors traveled through the intricate web and reached the massive spider hanging upside down from the ceiling.
Without hesitation, Rex straightened from his crouch and prepared to rush in and secure Lir’s safety before the situation became irreversible.
At that moment, Trian’s hand blocked Rex’s path.
“…”
Rex looked at the elf blocking his way with a perplexed expression.
Trian merely watched the movement of the massive spider hanging from the ceiling without saying a word.
Creak… creak…
The spider stirred, making sounds as some strands of its web snapped and tore.
Its long, coiled legs slowly began to unfurl from its body.
Lir closed her eyes, careful not to swallow her saliva for fear of drawing the spider’s attention.
I held my breath, staring at the monstrous spider that could awaken at any moment and pounce on Lir.
…In the worst-case scenario, I might have to use the forbidden technique here.
The spider moved its legs gently without opening its closed eyes, feeling along the web with its legs. The web near Lir’s jaw vibrated slightly, and in sync with its movements, Lir carefully tilted her head up and down.
“…”
The spider seemed to judge that whatever had disturbed its web was not prey—perhaps a speck of dust or debris falling from the ceiling—and slowly curled its legs back under its body.
Lir waited with suppressed relief until the spider returned to a deep sleep.
We had been lucky this time.
There was really no other way to describe it.
If the spider, with its multiple eyes, had awoken and started inspecting the room, the situation would have escalated to an uncontrollable mess.
Once Lir waited a moment longer, she began moving carefully back to the center of the room. With astonishing speed, she disabled the bomb’s circuitry, carefully retraced her steps, and made her way back toward us.
Trian quietly closed the door after Lir entered the room.
Click.
As soon as the door closed, sighs of relief erupted from all of us… except one.
“Ugh…!”
Lir’s legs gave out.
She looked up at me with bloodshot, reddened, large eyes.
I didn’t quite understand why she was glaring at me. It was a plan we all agreed on, wasn’t it?
…Although one person among the four of us remained silent, silence does imply consent, right?
Just stop staring at me like that, considering you didn’t explicitly refuse…
“That was really bad. Absolutely. This was going too far!”
“Sorry! Sorry! After this mission, we can grab some of that chocolate pizza bread, or whatever it’s called…”
“I really don’t feel like going to that place! I just want to eat something normal.”
Yeah, I suppose I was somewhat at fault here.
After all, I was the only one who knew Lir had a hard time rejecting things, and I should have checked separately if she was really okay doing this.
Lately, it’s a situation where Lir might feel a bit betrayed.
“…What’s the matter? You didn’t come to rescue me.”
“I was ready to rush in if anything happened.”
“You just stood there watching.”
“Under those circumstances, doing nothing was the safest option.”
“…Well, yeah, but still! Somehow, I felt abandoned. That was genuinely terrifying just now!”
The elf who had displayed superhuman focus weaving through the spider webs had vanished, replaced by the petulant child-like behavior of the Lir standing before me.
“Calmdown. I’ll buy you an expensive meal later.”
“Then next time, Bin should be the one to find a decent place!”
“…That’s bothersome.”
I thought that to myself, but didn’t say it aloud.
Bringing up that thoughtless comment could lead to unforeseen chaos.
“Really, next time I won’t do this. Absolutely not.”
Surprisingly, Lir cooled down quickly.
Maybe it’s because she has such a good-natured personality, or perhaps the mention of free food swayed her. It was hard to tell.
…How can someone be this simple?
“This is strange.”
As Lir’s relief turned into strength returning to her wobbly legs, Trian alone among us maintained a serious expression.
I asked him exactly what is so strange. Though Lir is currently sobbing and blubbering into my robe, we disarmed the trap and didn’t attract any monsters’ attention, so everything seems alright, right?
“That monster has the habit of instantly rushing to whatever touches its web. That’s why I initially grabbed my bow and prepared to rush in…”
“It was just good luck, wasn’t it? Or maybe the spider was just really sleepy.”
“Is your knee-jerk reaction disabled when you’re sleepy?”
“Huh?”
“To the spider, rushing toward vibrations isn’t something processed by the brain. It’s an unconditional reflex that originates from the spinal cord, not something that slows down because it’s tired or feeling lazy.”
“Didn’t you say earlier it’s better not to think too deeply about strange things happening inside a dungeon?”
“A good soldier learns the difference between bad luck and something nonsensical. What happened earlier was clearly the latter, kid.”
…This brat’s referring to a general in the army as “kid” now?
“True, the monster’s reaction just now was definitely sluggish.”
Rex also seemed to have sensed the same discomfort as Trian and agreed with his observation.
“…We should investigate thoroughly.”
“I concur.”
“What do you mean?”
“Everyone, prepare for a possible fight. It’ll likely just take an arrow, but… Lir, are you ready to stand up?”
Fight? Suddenly?
Isn’t moving quietly and subtly the most important part of this expedition? What are you thinking, wanting to fight that peacefully sleeping giant spider for no reason?
Lir also looked at me, confused and unable to follow Trian and Rex’s conversation.
Why does she always look at me during these moments? I was equally clueless about what they were talking about.
“…Could you explain a bit?”
“An unconditional reflex happens because it always happens. No matter how bizarre the creature, it cannot control its unconscious reactions originating from the spine. This is a clear abnormal phenomenon.”
“…”
“Uninvestigated anomalies on the battlefield have a tendency to result in irreversible catastrophes. Remember that if you want to live long.”
When a 1200-year-old elf says such a thing in a world of peculiar anomalies, you can’t ignore it.
Surviving for over 1200 years in such a barbaric and dangerous time meant he had exceptionally sharp senses and excellent judgment.
“…”
Trian unsheathed a sharp dagger from his waist and carefully approached the door.
After confirming Lir was steady on her feet, he opened the door without hesitation unlike his careful movements at the beginning.
Even with the creaking sound of the door, the spider didn’t open its eyes.
Trian swung the dagger at the spider silk stuck to the wall. The mass of webbing detached and fell.
These dungeon-residing spider monsters should have a level no lower than the early 40s. No matter how skilled Trian is as an archer, the spider silk shouldn’t fall so easily from a casual swing.
Behind the spider silk that fell helplessly at a single motion of Trian’s was a wall of bricks corroded as if soaked in the blood of marauders.
With the spider silk shaking violently, the spider finally extended its legs and slowly descended to the ground.
Its movements were undoubtedly abnormal.
The spiders originally from this dungeon were known for having agility disproportionate to their size.
“…Damn, this one’s way too stubborn.”
Trian murmured while taking the longbow and arrows strapped to his back.
Soon, the spider placed all eight of its legs on the ground and opened its eyes.
…It was an eerie sight.
Even though spiders are typically strange-looking, this one seemed to transcend the typical degree of weirdness.
Instead of eyes where they should be, there was nothing but pitch black darkness.
That wasn’t all that was strange. On its back was what looked like another spider’s head fused to it.
The head on its back still had functioning eyes.
Instinctively, I realized that it was from the spider carcass we encountered previously.
I had seen such creatures many times before.
Thus, the monstrous spider before us was no longer a creature simply driven by instinct.
It was nothing more than a slave controlled by the Marauders.
This colossal monster we assumed to be a giant spider was, in fact, a chimera of two spider monsters.
“Wait. I’ll be back to kill you soon.”
Holding the bowstring and targeting the Marauder hiding behind the chimera, Trian declared with certainty.
*
The Marauder Ifrit, missing one of his legs, sat quietly in the middle of a dungeon room, eyes closed, deep in concentration.
He was just one of the unlucky Marauders who happened to be caught in this dungeon while setting up mana mines throughout the Achilipthus Forest region as per the orders of his superior.
For days he wandered these labyrinths, searching for an escape route.
How long had it been since he lost count?
Inside this fiend’s mind were countless methods for killing humans, elves, orcs, and dwarves, but no knowledge about escaping a dungeon.
Worse, all external communications had been cut off. With no reinforcements to come and assist with the chimera creatures, Ifrit had little choice but to carry out his superior’s final order and roam the dungeon while continuously setting traps with mana mines.
Through countless fights, he sustained numerous injuries, but his core was unbroken, allowing him to somehow survive.
During these endless wanderings, he detected something unusual.
It was the sensation that his laid mana mines were being dismantled by someone.
He’d felt many times before the mines go off—various dungeon monsters had stepped on them repeatedly.
But dismantling? This was new.
Marauders are an efficient race, and it was highly unlikely one would throw themselves into a dungeon to save some mid-level officer.
Thus, whoever had entered was not a comrade.
As soon as this thought occurred, Ifrit quickly sent the spider chimera to cover his blood trail.
The purpose was to wrap the blood-stained room with spider silk so no enemies could chase after him.
This was a fine disguise, and had Ifrit stopped here, Bin and his party might not have stepped into the room where the spider was waiting.
However, Ifrit’s thoughts didn’t stop there.
‘What if they came for the spider itself?’
The purposes of dungeon visitors vary. Some aim to complete the dungeon for vast rewards, while others focus solely on killing as many monsters as possible.
Particularly the poison from the dungeon’s spiders was of excellent quality.
If he had more strength, Ifrit would have experimented with creating an even stronger chimera using the poison glands and fangs from these spiders as primary weapons.
This poison would command a high price in the continent’s black markets.
Ifrit judged that if the intruders’ purpose was the spider itself, his tracks could be exposed. He ordered the chimera to place one of the hidden mana mines in the other room into this one.
It was a mistake.
A large spider sleeping on an activated mana mine.
Any adventurer coming for the spider wouldn’t dare enter the dangerous room unless necessary.
…That was how it was until an elf cracked open the door and performed some acrobatics.
The elf deftly maneuvered through the webbing and quickly dismantled the bomb sitting in the middle of the room.
…The invaders’ purpose wasn’t clearing the dungeon or collecting poison, but precisely to dismantle the mines.
Who could have expected that?
The reason they threw themselves into such a perilous dungeon wasn’t gold, jewels, or monster poison—it was the dismantling of mines.
‘…Is it a mine clearance unit? No, that doesn’t make sense.’
Mine clearance teams were common in busy alleys or strategic choke points.
But this is the middle of a dungeon that holds no strategic importance. There’s no reason for an expert mine clearance team to intervene here.
Not to mention, laid mines give the opposing side the benefit of “blocking monster movement.”
There’s no need for anyone to go through such a dangerous effort to send a mine clearance team deep into this dungeon.
Why?
Why the hell would they do this?
While Ifrit was in confusion, a streak of pure white hair flickered in his peripheral vision.
‘Huh?’
The spider connected to Ifrit’s vision turned its head following the white hair that had briefly crossed its field of vision.
‘Bin.’
The genius mage who had fought toe-to-toe with Grand Marshal Maltiel was now within Ifrit’s line of sight.
‘What is this monster even…?’
“Wait. I’ll be back to kill you.”
Soon after, the arrow fired by the elf archer, whom Ifrit had completely disregarded, plunged into his view, leaving him in darkness.
“…Hmm.”
This situation was incomprehensible to Ifrit’s mind.
One thing was certain: There wasn’t much time left for this creature to live.
