Chapter 38: VS Arachne’s Clone

I am a pacifist.

If I could get by easily, like with Tina or Ellis, I didn’t want to cause unnecessary friction.

“Ah! This feels weird!”

“Ufufu, it’s my first time manifesting inside the tower.”

There will be a brief position change.

Compress Ari into SD Ari, and decompress SD Ellis to make her all plump, wow, pwah, kya.

…………In the city, I got to see a side of Ellis that you’d never see at the guild house.

As I was watching.

“Traitors……………!”

“Kyahaha, what are they saying?”

“Arachne. Our master is very generous, you know? Even with a body like that, he might still take you in.”

No.

I’m not into monster girls…………….

But Ellis’s words seemed to have the opposite effect.

“Shameless…………! Have you………… forgotten your pride…………… as a demon……!”

Arachne retorted, her face turning red.

“Ahem, does pride feed you? Our master is an amazing cook? He can make even weird ingredients taste delicious?”

Weird ingredients?

I don’t use anything I can’t eat.

“Yo………Lee……..?”

Why are you wagging your tail at that point?

Now that I think about it, her title was “Devourer Demon.”

What does she eat?

The people trapped in the cocoons were only slightly emaciated, but there were no skeletons or signs of cannibalism.

Unable to contain my curiosity, I whispered into Ellis’s ear.

“Ahaha. Are you curious?”

A strange smile spread across Ellis’s face.

Then, as if she were about to lick my ear, she brought her lips close and whispered.

“I feed on human vitality. I intoxicate them with my poison, making them dream such intense dreams that they don’t want to wake up, and then I ‘devour’ the vitality that flows from their imagination. Fufufu.

What.

That’s just infinite Tsu■Yomi.

Recalling when I was poisoned by Arachne’s venom.

It felt like the dream I had when I fell asleep hugging Tina, you know, mhmm, uhh, chuchu, mamma…………

Is this game.

Really for all ages?

The setting is on the level of an adult game, isn’t it?

“But if that’s the case, wouldn’t I be in danger even if I recruit her?”

“Oh my, you’ve already put such a cute collar on me, just like you would on a slave puppy. Fufu, if only I could take this off at home, I would have already taken your virginity, kyahoo~.”

The heroes’ hearing is quite sharp.

As Ellis slightly crossed the line, Rumi immediately growled and bit Ellis’s arm.

“Ellis! Bad words!”

I desperately managed my expression and turned my attention back to our 0-intelligence strategist trying to persuade Arachne.

“Minotaur meat, if eaten raw, isn’t tasty, right? If our master cooks it, it’ll definitely be really, really delicious.”

“Grilled………… meat……………”

What.

Is her intelligence 0 but her charisma 100?

Why is the persuasion working so well?

Arachne’s mouth watered slightly, and a drop fell to the floor.

“Huuuu…………! Lies…………! Arachne………… won’t be fooled…… twice……!”

Raw meat.

Maybe I should try yukhoe next time?

Since it’s a monster, would there be parasites?

While I was lost in such trivial thoughts, the persuasion seemed to have failed.

Kwaang!

The wild Arachne clone roared!

Watching the boss monster instantly inflate its size several times over, I quickly swapped the positions of Ari and Ellis.

Then, I swiftly aimed the debuff—One-Turn Revolver—and bang!

Ting

“Reveal yourself!”

The sound of the BB bullet tearing through the air echoed grandly, and Arachne’s eyes immediately turned to me.

“Kung! Kung kung!”

By now, my synergy with Rumi had reached its peak.

Without needing to say anything, Rumi barked appropriately to draw aggro.

Glancing at the information.

“Oh boy.”

For a clone.

Its stats are almost on par with, or even exceed, the 15th-floor boss I remember.

How much energy did it gather on the 13th and 14th floors?

The patterns seemed almost identical too, as the moment the battle began, small spiders started descending from the ceiling on webs.

“Rumi! Hand over aggro to Saha and focus on the adds! Tina, support Rumi! Ari, focus on the boss!”

After giving appropriate instructions, I quickly stuck close to Yohena.

Through several crises, I’ve learned one thing.

In a life-or-death moment, the only one who can save me is Yohena.

“Hak.”

Yohena let out a sharp sound because I was too close, but soon she began fulfilling her role as the saint—buffing and healing.

Saha swung three massive weapons, slamming the largest hammer into Arachne’s torso.

At the same time, flames exploded with a bang.

“Kyahahahaha……!”

“……?”

Arachne reflexively burst into laughter.

What’s that?

Does it mean it’s ticklish? But the damage seemed pretty significant.

“Woof!”

Glancing over, I saw Rumi grabbing a small spider’s leg, spinning it around, and hurling it against the wall.

“Yap!”

Tina followed up with Magical Tina Beams, pew pew.

This side seems fine.

“Ari? Turn slightly and aim for the butt.”

“Okay!”

Even instructions that might sound strange are now followed perfectly by the heroes.

Why aim for the butt?

Because that’s where the butt is………… No, not really.

It’s because webs keep sliding out from there, heading up to the ceiling.

If those webs keep piling up.

“I’ll………… cover you……………!”

Special pattern.

Clumps of webs fall from the ceiling, creating traps that bind your feet if stepped on.

Even when facing the raid version of Arachne.

Stupid melee AI (like Rumi) would step on them and trigger patterns that would blow up my outfit.

But as the saying goes.

The true support is the one who eliminates the source of damage.

I don’t miss it. 

The storm of space-time.

But that teaching has been a great help to me.

Facing monsters, I’ve realized that eliminating the source of damage is indeed possible.

Especially with monsters wielding weapons, simply disarming them can drastically reduce their combat power.

Pop

“Kyaaaaaa!”

The web blockade operation seemed to have some effect.

The momentum of the webs steadily climbing to the ceiling began to slow down.

“Hmm.”

There’s always a strange sense of satisfaction when such deductions prove correct.

As we chipped away at her health.

“I’ll………… never forgive youuuuu…………!”

Arachne, having filled her rage gauge, signaled a big attack.

“Saha, now!”

I immediately signaled Saha.

Suddenly.

The spacious temple, with its spider colony backdrop, transformed into a night sea.

Bang! Bang!

And instead of the ceiling, fireworks burst in the blue night sky!

In that frozen moment, Saha shyly shook her chest once, gripped her hammer tightly.

And with the illusion of a crashing wave behind the frozen Arachne, she swung with all her might.

At that moment, fierce flames engulfed the hammer.

As time began to flow again.

And the space returned to normal.

Saha (in a swimsuit)’s ultimate skill.

‘Phoenix that Parts the Raging Waves’ was activated.

“Whoa…”

“So cute!”

A small phoenix, warm and comforting, appeared beside all the heroes, including me.

For.

Three hits nullified within the duration.

If you level up the skill, the number of nullified hits increases, making Saha (Swimsuit) the absolute queen of the fire deck.

Although it’s slightly weak against multi-hit attacks, there’s no better OP skill for countering big single hits.

And usually, the most threatening meta is the death spear.

And Arachne’s following pattern was a classic wide-area death spear.

As Arachne’s legs slammed the ground, the earth shook, and a massive shockwave surged.

Even thick webs shot up from the ground, trying to pierce my precious lower half.

·Piyuu!

The phoenix chirped refreshingly once.

And as if the attack never existed, it melted away.

And the largest phoenix.

The one wrapped around Saha’s hammer, not going piyuu but crying bwaaang.

“Kyahahahahahahaha……………!”

It struck Arachne, setting her ablaze.

……………I decided not to think about why she was laughing while burning.

Maybe there’s some all-ages system that converts pain into tickling.

Or not.

Anyway, the perfect counter punch left Arachne in a groggy state.

“Now! Rainbow-colored full assault!”

For a moment, it seemed like a hook popped above the heroes’ heads at my nonsensical command.

Rumi and Tina, having wiped out the small spiders, went yap yap.

Ari kept shooting arrows at the butt, pew pew.

Saha kept hammering Arachne’s head, thud thud.

In no time, her health was chipped away.

How about that!

This is the full power of a fully farmed hero team!

Even though debuffs last indefinitely until the target dies, I still got to experience being a pseudo-DPS by firing my Love & Peace Revolver, pew pew.

…………I’ll never waste gold again.

This time, I mean it.

Anyway, once her health dropped to 50%.

“Huuuu………… I’ll………… be baaaaaack….!”

Normally, we’d enter phase 2.

But perhaps because it’s a clone, Arachne cleanly retreated here.

Enemy general! Defeated!