Episode 13 – At that moment, a huge hole was punched into the side of Arachne’s human face. Numerous pellets penetrated her face and protruded from the opposite side.
“Screeeeeech!”
An unimaginable and horrifying scream erupted from Arachne’s vocal cords. One side of her jaw was completely ripped off. It was an elaborate shot made possible by the light sources in the surroundings.
Then Arachne and Dalloway saw the man beneath them. He was only about 10 meters away from Arachne.
“You monster!”
“Who the hell is that guy? Kill him!”
Before even receiving an order, Arachne moved, filled with rage. Her face, with the flesh torn away, was horrifying enough to appear in nightmares, but it didn’t seem to be a fatal injury as she busily chased after the man.
Bang! Ping!
The second shotgun blast came. Arachne ran, covering her face with her blackened arms. Her arms, as hard as steel, deflected all the bullets.
Seeing this, Drake ran without looking back. Dalloway was initially bewildered but soon regained his anger and screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Kill him! Kill him! We need to eliminate the witness!”
As he yelled, Charles was stealthily approaching from behind him. This was all part of Charles’ planned strategy. Drake was filled with anger rather than fear.
Having seen the spider trying to devour a person, Charles had earlier instructed Drake to draw its attention. Meanwhile, Charles intended to seize that magic book.
“Haha! Kill and snatch it! Kill that nerd who dares to use magic!”
“Shut up!”
Charles, walking stealthily, stopped instinctively. The shadow of Dalloway, cast by the torchlight, looked like it was overlapping with something invisible. There wasn’t just one Arachne but two.
When training recruits, it’s important to continuously and repetitively educate them. Because when one experiences it, the body moves automatically even in a panic situation. Charles was the same. Despite the overwhelming fear, his experience in the game allowed him to think rationally.
The second spider was completely invisible, as though using optical camouflage. Arachne receives such stealth effects under the blessing of the Shadow Assassin when night falls.
Charles knew this in advance, which is why he discovered it first. Predicting this had a significant impact. He was able to dodge the first leg of the spider coming at him.
The spider’s stealth was lifted the moment it attacked. The revealed Arachne had an even larger and more grotesque appearance than before.
“Graaaaah.”
A beastly roar was heard, causing Dalloway to look back in surprise.
“D-D-Professor Charles Hexen?”
Charles was puzzled seeing Dalloway recognize him. He shouldn’t have had any connection with Dalloway.
Ah, then he remembered. Dalloway had attended his Ancient Hermes class.
Unlike Drake, who had no connection at all, Dalloway seemed willing to talk.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came here looking for a missing student.”
“…You’re out of luck. I quite liked you, Professor.”
Reading his intentions, Arachne advanced menacingly with a look of seeing a tasty meal. Charles spoke.
“That magic book. It’s going to betray you soon.”
“What?”
Dalloway gestured for Arachne to stop. Arachne looked at her master with a dissatisfied expression. Somehow, Dalloway felt a chill.
“Only highly trained wizards can handle the magic book. Did you self-study the Ancient Hermes language?”
“This…it was translated into our language. I still couldn’t understand what it meant even after looking at it for a long time.”
Charles felt something strange about those words. Translated? That was something high-level investigators could do. Especially investigators related to books…
“Listen carefully. If Arachne doesn’t consume human flesh, it will betray its master. No matter how much you try to force it using the contract written in the magic book, it won’t work.”
“Well, that’s good. I can offer you and that man who ran away as food here.”
“I’ve already told people outside. I said I’m coming to see Dalloway. If I go missing, you’ll be a suspect. You might be fine, but what about your family?”
Charles made provocative remarks, observing Dalloway. He could sense no spirituality from Dalloway no matter how hard he looked.
Those who do not possess spiritual power cannot access magic. But for some reason, he was able to use the book to control Arachne.
“Argh! Family? Don’t talk nonsense! What have those bastards done for me? I’ve always been stuck in a hellish pit because of that family!”
Dalloway’s expression twisted. Arachne started attacking in an instant. Charles leaped and fled backward.
“Now I understand. Dalloway isn’t handling the magic book using spirituality. He’s using emotions like anger and hatred to use the magic book. Creatures from other worlds react to strong emotions.”
“Wow! It’s the attack of the nerds!”
“You’re too noisy.”
“J-Just a moment!”
Charles locked the lock of the Paginarecor instantly, causing its illusion to disappear and silencing the voice. Such noisy chatter during battle would make it difficult to concentrate.
Arachne lunged, stabbing with her forelegs. It was a simple stabbing pattern, so it was avoidable by sight. This was possible because Charles’ physical abilities far surpassed those of an ordinary person.
Charles pulled out his revolver and fired six shots at Arachne’s face. Three missed, but the remaining three embedded in the forehead, cheek, and cheekbone of the human face. He escaped from Arachne while it was momentarily in pain.
Seeing it for real, the monster was more horrifying than imagined. Is this the difference between games and reality? It felt all the more real.
His heart raced with adrenaline. The distant screams of the enraged Arachne gave him goosebumps.
“Kill! Kill! Kill!”
Dalloway shouted, engulfed in madness.
Human emotions don’t last that long. Just as deep sorrow fades, anger and hatred also disappear emptily after being fully expressed.
Once those emotions are gone, Dalloway, the master of the magic book, would become Arachne’s meal. It would be good if they could escape by then, but the sound of Drake’s shotgun was heard again consecutively.
“I can’t wait. I need to end this now.”
As he pushed through the forest, the giant spider approached to kill Charles. The movement wasn’t that fast. The large size sacrificed speed.
Charles considered using the magic book but got caught up in the thought that he could cast a spell right now. It felt different from playing the game.
“To use a Lightbringer’s Spear, I need a sample mixed with sunflower seeds and Ifmuna powder… Somehow, it feels like I don’t need a sample.”
Casting a spell without preparation was something only high-ranking wizards with heightened enlightenment could do, yet Charles felt he could do it.
Charles soon discovered the reason. Entering the mental world through a short meditation, he saw the brightest star in the sky with the power granted by the Tablets of Revelation.
It was his origin. Reaching out to it, he thought of granting that origin. Returning to the real world, Charles felt the sense of borrowing a spell.
“I’m casting a spell on myself!?”
Feeling the two different sensations, he reached out his hand, causing a massive whirl of light to surge forth. The “chant” needed for the spell was unnecessary. The “sample” was also not needed as the spell was completed.
A spear of incandescent brilliance appeared in the air. The spear, moving faster than a bullet, precisely hit the body’s mass of Arachne, who had been hovering around, causing a mighty explosion.
Boom!
All beings in the forest were astounded by the sound as if a cannon had gone off. The sound was so loud that it might have been heard back at the dormitory through the fog.
“Unbelievable!”
Charles felt exhilaration at the spell he had cast. The most bothersome part of playing as a wizard in the game was spellcasting.
To cast a spell, one had to open the magic book, read the script, recite it while looking at it directly, hold out a sample, and activate it. This cumbersome task was necessary for an ordinary human being. Ordinary spiritualists had ridiculously low enlightenment levels.
There was no time to marvel at his accomplishment; he had to move quickly.
“I need to seize the magic book from Dalloway immediately.”
Leaving the burning Arachne behind, Charles ran toward Dalloway. Just then, the forest rustled. Startled, Charles pulled out his gun, but it was still in the middle of being reloaded.
“It’s too late to cast a spell!”
As he hastily rummaged around his waist, someone appeared. It was Drake. Relieved, Charles began to reload slowly.
“What’s going on?”
“I shook off Arachne. No, to be precise, Arachne that was chasing me suddenly stopped and turned back toward the lake.”
“…”
Charles had an idea of what was happening. The Arachne, having lost its companion, intended to eat Dalloway and seize the magic book.
“Run! We must snatch the book from Dalloway’s hands immediately.”
Charles and Drake ran quickly. They arrived to see Arachne gripping Dalloway’s neck and sucking his blood.
Sluuuuurp!
The sound was loud enough to be heard from a distance. Dalloway quickly turned into a mummified state as his blood was drained. Meanwhile, Arachne had completely regenerated and healed the wounds on her cheek.
Eventually, the magic book ended up in Arachne’s hands. Seeing Charles and Drake approach, Arachne tossed Dalloway onto the ground.
“The explosion that burned my companion scared this guy. What a shame. If he had continued being angry, he might have lived. At least until I extracted the seed.”
Arachne licked her lips regretfully, now even able to speak. With the magic book in hand, she had grown stronger. Her appearance began to change.
Her body grew larger, and her entire body was covered in black fur. Even the naked female upper body was covered in black fur, making it unrecognizable as human.
Charles glanced at Drake, whose eyes were filled with fear. The intangible aura emanating from Arachne was driving Drake into terror, so Charles tapped his shoulder.
“You humans are quite brave. Not being scared of me.”
“You, you monster!”
When Drake aimed his loaded shotgun at Arachne, Charles pointed the gun down, causing Drake to look puzzled.
“Why?”
“Hold on.”
Arachne was in a very dangerous state. Unlike Dalloway, she would use actual spells if allowed to use the magic book. They needed to prevent her from using it.
Ahem.
Catching his breath, he shouted.
“Hey, you bitch!”
“Huh?”
“What!?”
At the sudden outburst, both Arachne and even Drake looked at Charles in disbelief.
“Did your mother lay with a spider to create a worthless inferior species like you? Go back to the other world and suck your dad’s fur some more!”
“You, you, you bastard! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!”
“Heh. Survive, survive, survive, survive!”
Charles’ provocative(?) taunt made Arachne completely lose it. The Arachne, who had intended to brutally kill Charles and Drake using the magic book, changed her mind entirely and charged at them.
“I’ll kill you! I’ll tear you to pieces!”
As Arachne charged in anger, she saw something strange in mid-air. A brightly shining butterfly was fluttering around. Arachne briefly turned her gaze to the white butterfly but soon redirected it back to Charles and Drake.
Before they could even respond, Arachne extended her arms toward Charles and Drake. And she tore them apart in an instant.
