Volume 4, Chapter 9 – The Man with Choppy Hair

It was less a spider and more a variation of one, like the upper body of a human had been forcibly combined with the lower body of a spider. Including its legs, its body was likely seven or eight meters long, and it stood about three meters tall.

Although one could vaguely make out that the spider’s upper half was that of a well-endowed female with no clothes, its deep purple skin and the black, exoskeleton-like armor sparsely covering its body removed any sense of indecency. From every angle, it was a monster.

“Your Highness!”

Anastasia pulled Fia back, positioning herself between Fia and the cliff. The spider-woman was at least thirty meters away. Its barbed legs made no sound as they stepped on the cliff face, which was why the two of them hadn’t noticed its presence. Of course, that was because Fia hadn’t used [Wind of Exploration]; otherwise, neither the mask nor the spider monster would have been able to hide.

This couldn’t be blamed on Fia. No one would have expected a monster to be lurking in an abyss right after an earthquake.

As for the mask Fia had shattered with a single punch, it was a spawn released by the spider monster. Eight other masks, each with a different human expression, floated around this creature, their terrifying appearance enough to make anyone retreat in fear. In fact, a normal person would have been so frightened they would have collapsed on the spot. It was only because Fia had an extremely high resistance to horrifying things that she had no reaction at all.

Its power is close to the Fourth Rank.

For Anastasia, a single sword strike would be enough to kill it.

Fia commanded in a low voice.

“No need to be tense. This isn’t a difficult monster to deal with. Let’s wait for it to come up first.”

“Understood.”

While waiting for the spider-woman to climb up, Fia scanned the rest of the Abyss with [Wind of Exploration]. The result was that this was the only spider-woman in the entire chasm; there were no other living things.

It must be one of the monsters that fell into the Abyss and was lucky enough to grab onto the cliff face, Fia speculated. Of course, it could also be a cavern monster that had lived underground from the beginning. In any case, it was unlikely to be something that had crawled up from the depths of the Abyss. Its speed was too slow; there simply wasn’t enough time for it to climb from who-knows-how-deep to the surface.

That being said, it was best to confirm with Anastasia. For it to be the only lucky survivor among so many monsters was a bit unbelievable.

“Anastasia, have you ever seen a monster like this?”

“A monster called an Arachne is similar to it, but an Arachne does not have masks circling it.”

“Meaning, this is a completely new monster?”

“At least, as far as this subordinate knows. The World Tree Continent is incredibly vast, and people discover new monsters they’ve never seen before every year. Your Highness need not be too surprised. Please step back, Your Highness. It’s coming up.”

“Mhm.”

Without any sense of tension, the two of them retreated to make space for the spider-woman. The creature successfully climbed onto the land, its glowing white eyes fixed on the sword-wielding Anastasia, its entire body exuding hostility. The human-faced masks circling it observed Fia and Anastasia’s movements from different angles, like minions flying around a boss in a video game.

Seeing the spider-woman raise its bone-spike-like arms, Fia couldn’t help but shrug.

“I was originally thinking of letting it go, since it had just barely escaped death, but it seems it doesn’t want to cherish the opportunity. Those arms remind me of the despair demon general.”

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“There’s no point in talking to a monster with no intelligence. No matter how kind you are to them, they will only bite you in return. Leave this to me.”

“No need. I just learned [Enchanted Blade]. Let me use this for practice.”

“Very well. But please be careful not to go easy on it just because it has a human-like upper body. Some monsters specifically mimic human appearances to lure people into letting their guard down.”

“I won’t go easy on an enemy.”

Although she possessed normal empathy and human emotions, for some reason, she felt no fear or remorse about killing—not like a normal human.

As she thought this, Fia advanced under the spider monster’s gaze. Laevateinn flew into her hand with a thought, and her mana instantly condensed into a layer of faint blue crystal upon it.

Now then, pay the price for your foolishness.

With that silent thought, Fia briefly channeled strength into her calves. A light push-off from the ground brought her before the spider-woman in the blink of an eye. Immediately after, the meter-long blue light blade in her hand slashed straight down at the creature’s head.

Even without a Martial Skill like Milu’s, the power contained in this strike was enough to shatter rock. However, to Fia’s slight surprise, this mere Third-Rank monster actually reacted before the enchanted blade could hit. Its eight spider legs moved in sequence to retreat, and its tubular, bone-spike arms crossed in front of it to block.

Unfortunately, their hardness was slightly lacking.

The enchanted blade easily severed the spider-woman’s right arm, and the left arm also developed spiderweb-like cracks from the immense impact, sending countless bone fragments shooting towards both Fia’s and the monster’s eyes. Fia subconsciously leaped back to create distance.

She could have ended the fight directly with [Bee Shield] Force Field or [Firestorm], but that would have defeated the purpose of practicing with [Enchanted Blade].

It’s a shame I couldn’t cut off both arms at once. I used too little strength—no, its arms are tougher than I thought.

Fia clicked her tongue and gave the enchanted blade in her hand a light swing. Against a normal monster, both arms should have been severed.

Realizing this, Fia suddenly felt a sense of dissonance.

Normally, a monster would howl in pain after being injured, but not only did this spider-woman not cry out, it was incredibly quiet. It carefully shifted its position while watching her warily with its white eyes. Looking closely, one could see that there was no blood flowing from the stump of its arm. The severed right arm, like chaos itself, was gradually melting into the ground.

Not like a normal monster.

…Or maybe I just know too little about the monsters of the World Tree Continent, and that’s why I find it strange.

Just as she thought this, Fia suddenly felt the ground beneath her feet move. Almost instantly, she leaped into the air.

Immediately after, countless pitch-black spikes, each a meter high, burst from the earth where she had just been standing.

And the spider-woman’s attack wasn’t over. The eight masks circling it abruptly stopped. Mimicking the spider-woman, they opened their mouths and, along with several terrifying shrieks that sounded like a computer-synthesized voice, spat out imposing purple beams of light that shot straight towards Fia in the air.

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Anyone who didn’t know better would think I was facing a final boss in a game.

Fia quietly quipped to herself as she weaved and dodged in the air with [Flight]. The combination of the small beams from the masks and the large beam from the spider-woman turned the sky into something resembling a bullet-hell game on easy mode.

The background music is just too loud.

Better end this quickly.

Acting on the thought, Fia dove downwards like a falcon, rushing in before the beams could reach her. Although the spider-woman bent its body and aimed its abdomen at her, spitting out black spider silk, the enchanted blade in Fia’s hand cut through the web with just two swings.

The spider-woman immediately stopped its attack and instead fused its eight masks into one, forming a single, giant human face that was much larger than before, over ten meters in diameter. It stood between Fia and the spider-woman like a shield wall. The mouth and eyes of the giant mask once again began to glow with the purple light that heralded another beam attack.

It’s underestimating me.

Still not using magic, not even deigning to use [Strength Boost], Fia increased the mana output to her enchanted blade. The blade, originally only a meter long, instantly extended to three meters. Then, the enchanted blade made contact with the giant mask. The mask was split in two like butter cut by a hot knife. With another push from Fia, a large hole exploded in the center of the mask with a thunderous boom.

What came into view was the astonished expression on the spider-woman’s ugly face.

Not letting it stay surprised for long, Fia used her elemental wings to descend before it.

Puff.

The enchanted blade easily pierced through the spider-woman’s chest.

“GRAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

The spider-woman threw its head back and let out a pained shriek. Mixed in with the ear-piercing scream was an attack like a mental magic, causing Fia to frown.

Its life force is abnormally tenacious.

“Your Highness, be careful!”

Even without Anastasia’s warning, Fia had noticed the spider-woman’s next move.

This time, the attack was coming from behind.

Countless jointed bone spikes extended from the spider-woman’s back. They curved around its body and stabbed towards her heart from behind.

“Tsk.”

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Fia gathered her mana and used the elemental [Enchanted Blade], enhanced by [Hyper-computation].

Boom!

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Like a firestorm blooming, a grand pillar of fire shot into the sky. The explosion shook the very earth, and the intense heat instantly kicked up a wave of hot air, swallowing the spider-woman in the blink of an eye.

“Hah.”

Pulling out her enchanted blade, Fia, who possessed [Fire Immunity], walked out of the pillar of fire. She first glanced at the charred spider-woman, then used [Wind of Exploration] to confirm that it was truly dead. Only after doing all this did she relax and walk away.

Although it was partly because she had intentionally not used attack magic, this spider monster was still quite difficult to deal with. If all Third-Rank monsters were as resilient as this one, human adventurers would surely be chased all over the place.

Ultimately, the fact that a biological monster didn’t bleed was strange in itself. When her enchanted blade had pierced its chest earlier, she hadn’t felt anything like “flesh,” only the sensation of cutting into a pile of bones.

Anastasia hurried forward.

“Are you alright? This monster was tougher than I imagined. Its attack patterns were so varied it could be classified as a Fourth-Rank monster.”

“Its mana was almost at the Fourth-Rank, so it’s not surprising it was like one—hm?”

“It’s… not dead?”

Anastasia’s eyes widened slightly. Although it was a small movement, she had clearly seen the charred corpse of the spider-woman twitch.

Following Anastasia’s words, Fia turned her head with a frown—it was just as Anastasia had said. The charred corpse was twitching slightly, and the movement was definitely not caused by the wind.

And then.

“Haah!”

A low cry entered everyone’s ears. Immediately after, a beautifully curved blade plunged vertically from the air into the charred corpse. Before Fia could ask, the man, who showed only his profile to them, began to chant in a low voice. Three slowly rotating black magic circles appeared behind him, and a sound like cracking rock came from beneath the ground.

“[Frostflame].”

As the low chant ended, the man pulled out his blade. In that short time, the longsword in his hand was now burning with black flames that stretched over thirty meters. He raised the sword high, then swung it down in a line parallel to the Abyss.

Crack!

“Screeeeee—!!!”

First came the sound of the cliff being split in two, followed by the sight of several struggling, writhing monsters that had been hidden underground. By the moonlight, Fia and Anastasia could clearly see that the monsters falling into the Abyss were more spider-women.

They had been hiding dozens of meters underground all along. The reason the charred corpse had twitched was likely because it was being pushed up by its companions trying to break through from below.

However, more than the spider-women, Fia was interested in the man before her. This man was clearly familiar with the habits of these creatures, knowing things that even Anastasia didn’t.

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The man looked to be in his forties, with choppy blue hair. The lines of his nose and chin were sharp and defined, and a prominent scar ran from his right eye to his nose. Although his deep blue eyes showed satisfaction at having successfully killed the monsters, his overall face gave off a melancholic and slightly decadent air.

Coupled with his stubble and the powerful muscles of his arms, he was the type of mature man who would stand out even in a crowd. Fia could even imagine that if he cleaned himself up a bit, he would surely make countless women scream.

His power is at the Sixth Rank. A decent fighter.

“A bunch of ants.”

Snorting in contempt at the monsters that had fallen into the Abyss, the man with the melancholic air sheathed his sword—a curved blade, similar to a katana—and then turned to wave at Fia and Anastasia.

“Hey, are you two alright?”

He seems like just a kind-hearted person.

Fia spread her hands in response to the approaching blue-haired man.

“As you can see, we’re fine. How did you know those monsters were hiding underground?”

The man raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly.

“Seen it many times, so I naturally know.”

Then, the man walked up to Fia and narrowed his eyes. As he looked her over, his right hand came to rest on the hilt of his sword again.

“A black-haired, red-eyed elf. You… are you the elf princess?”

“Have we met?”

“…Father.”

Following right after Fia’s voice, Anastasia’s whisper, as if the word was difficult to say, reached Fia’s ears. The man also heard Anastasia’s soft call. His entire body went rigid. He stiffly turned his neck to look at Anastasia. His blue pupils, the same color as hers, gradually widened, and a tremor entered his voice.

“An… Anastasia?”

Gazing at the daughter who was so close to him, the man with choppy blue hair trembled slightly. He reached out his hands and subconsciously took a step forward, but then stopped abruptly as if blocked by something. A look of anguish and shame appeared on his face. His lips moved, but no sound came out. He just stared, stunned.

The strange silence was finally broken by the sound of carriage wheels rolling over stones.

The carriage Fia’s group had seen earlier stopped beside the man with a gust of wind. The werewolf woman in the driver’s seat shouted impatiently.

“Clark, what are you spacing out for?”