CH 223

Episode 223 – Demon Arachnid

The Demon Arachnid landed on its back, but it didn’t seem to have taken much damage as it had soon regained its footing. Now that I’m seeing it from up close… it sure looks powerful.

The hairs covering its body were dense and thick, and the eight long and narrow legs were many times longer than its body, each leg coming to a sharp point at the tip. Its scissor-like mandibles looked like they could tear a human in half without any difficulty. Although it was hard to tell at a glance, its jaws could secrete a deadly venom, and it was said that one bite would lead to death.

But the most important thing to keep in mind was the thread that could be sprayed from the end of its abdomen. Just like the threads that laced the entire area, once ensnared by that thread, it would spell the end. Without even a chance to run, you would be brutally feasted upon by the Demon Arachnid’s powerful jaws.

Of course, the threads could be dissolved by the grey slime liquid, but there was no time for that in the middle of battle. That said, I couldn’t just apply it to my body beforehand since it would interfere with my movement, so the only way to deal with it was to not get entangled in the threads in the first place.

To prepare, I had already properly ingrained in my head the information I had gotten from Tobias and the projections on the monitors. I internally sorted out the current situation as I looked on at the Demon Arachnid, which hadn’t moved from its spot at all aside from the jittery, unnatural movements of its head.

Under this tense situation, having to wait for the Demon Arachnid to make a move was the most excruciating thing, but I couldn’t move first against it. With its body color that imitated the color of the walls and the threads that stretched throughout the stage, it was clear that despite its repulsive outward appearance, it was an extremely cautious and cunning monster that waited for its opponents to make the first move. If I moved first against this kind of opponent, I would simply be playing into its hands.

I patiently endured this unpleasant gap of time, waiting motionlessly for it to move…

As if it finally got tired of waiting, it raised its two frontmost legs and started barreling in my direction. I immediately gave the signal to Aruna to start the attack, and I held my sword at the ready with one hand while reaching into my belt holder with the other.

“[Power Arrow], [Haste].” (Aruna)

Although Aruna fired off the [Power Arrow] right on cue, the Demon Arachnid dodged it easily, and positioned itself so that I would be in the way of Aruna’s line of fire. The position it was in was the only one where I would be cutting off Aruna’s line of fire, but I had predicted this.

I lobbed the ball of bread flour at the Demon Arachnid’s position before it could dodge, scoring a direct hit. The white powder scattered upon impact, sticking to its thick, dense hairs. It immediately backstepped to create some distance, but I immediately threw a series of Bomb Grass balls at it. A large pillar of fire rose up in front of me, and a shrill noise reverberated harshly throughout the stage, as if the Demon Arachnid was grinding its mandibles together.

The powder explosion that I meant to go for early in the fight went perfectly. I thought it might have settled the match, but, unfortunately, I could see the Demon Arachnid crawling out of the pillar of fire. As expected, it won’t be that easy to win…

""

However, it didn’t have any of the calm composure it had displayed when we had been squaring off against each other earlier. It appeared to have gone wild, its legs moving about violently. It was closing the distance fast, but its movements were linear and lacking in composure.

Dodging the two front legs that were swinging down at me in a straight line, I ducked under its reach and slashed at its legs with tight movements. I stuck close to the side of the Demon Arachnid to prevent it from taking distance.

The Demon Arachnid’s long and sharp legs were extremely troublesome to deal with when used as weapons, but it wasn’t that scary if I attacked from close range.

‘When fighting an opponent with a long reach, it’s fundamental to bring the fight to a close range since they lack a small turning radius.’ This was one of the fundamentals of combat that I had heard from Kirty so many times.

No matter if it was a monster or something else, I must never forsake the basics against any opponent. Instead of focusing on scoring a single strong attack, I had to go for attacks with tight, minimal movements while sticking close to the opponent’s sides and flanks.

The Demon Arachnid was frantically moving its eight legs, trying to land some kind of damage on me, but it couldn’t hit me because of the Quickgrass and Aruna’s [Haste].

If the Demon Arachnid had at least tried to gain some distance, it might’ve had a chance since I would have to be wary of its threads… But the match was pretty much decided by this point.

I continued to fight without getting careless, even though the battle situation was firmly in my favor. One by one, the Demon Arachnid’s legs stopped working. The Demon Arachnid had sustained considerable damage earlier when it was hit by the powder explosion, and after I lopped off the fifth leg, it fell to the ground, unable to stand up again.

I could see a black liquid that looked like venom dripping from its strong, vicious mandibles, which were gnashing ferociously as if it still wanted to kill me.

“…I need to finish it off, huh?” I muttered to myself. I raised my sword overhead, then cleaved downwards, separating its head from the rest of its body to end it with as little pain as possible. For a while after its head was sent flying, its body continued to writhe in agony. Eventually, its movements slowed as it turned to ashes to be reabsorbed by the Dungeon.

Perhaps because it was only the Boss of the 15th layer, we managed to defeat it easier than expected. We had secured the advantage from the start by perfectly landing the powder explosion, so we won without even having to use those items and plants that I had prepared beforehand. It didn’t have any room to use its threads, which were the biggest threat to us, so I would call this a perfect victory. Other than the Two-Mino, the Demon Arachnid was a Boss that we would have to learn to defeat easily, so I felt that this was the best possible result.

I was about to return to the two waiting in the rear guard when I noticed something glowing at the spot where the Demon Arachnid died.

“…Hm? The Demon Arachnid’s mandible…?” (Lewin)

I walked closer to check it out and saw that one of the scissor-like mandibles that I had been eyeing earlier had fallen off. I was reluctant to pick it up since it was venomous, but from the looks of it, it didn’t seem to have any venom on its surface.

I carefully picked it up so I wouldn’t cut my hands, then wrapped it in a cloth and placed it in my belt holder. In terms of size, it was about the size of a dagger so it could probably be made into one. But since it was a Boss drop, it might also fetch a good price.

Plus, there was a chance that Aruna or Rosalie might want it. Having retrieved my first Boss drop, I once again made my way back to the other two.