Chapter 24: 19: Spider And Interloper
8 days before Kei has nothing left to live.
It is unsettling but considering how the time changed from that to a few seconds for the monsters, it's not set in stone. It could possibly be avoided. The puzzling thing it what could occur on that day. I have some idea of what may play out though, meaning gaining more strength is essential. I think I have enough from what is displayed and the similar time of death for the monsters can lead me to conclude that line of thought it likely accurate.
Moving on from this topic, Kei and Kumoko were excitedly jumping around. Kumoko immediately dashed, skittering along the walls with her newfound stats, and Kei, feeling energized, decided to scale the wall down. She darted toward the snake jumping up to punch the controlled snake's jaw only to miss as she jumped a tad bit high.
Leaving them to their experimenting, I monitored them while partially relieved it worked. As troubling as it is, the only foul if something goes wrong is them dying and that's easy to avoid now that I have the hang of it. Kind of at least.
There was a slightly weird feeling I got when tinkering with Kumoko's soul as if something... no, someone... else was there. An unearthly feeling if you will... Putting that to the side, the ruler skill affects all of our exp boosts even with accelerated growth. The only concerning factor is how that would affect Kumoko herself.
Pride usually, as it says, makes the user have really strong egos of sorts. Take, for example, a tsundere, someone who feels a certain way, but is too shy or prideful to showcase their true emotions. In a way, most people are like that as most of us have a fair share of things to hide. But the pride factor is the piece that blocks tsundere from admitting their true feelings.
If one were to be very prideful in a world like this, that may very well be for the best, yet I can't help but ponder if that is truly the case. Isn't there a chance it can accelerate your road to destruction...? If taken to the extreme, I can understand how beings like Araba who are more powerful than her an object that would diminish her pride. She has no hope of defeating them yet. Wouldn't such a thing apply to me as well? It's not necessarily envy of another, but it would harm one pride if they aren't the best in the room correct? And this skill only amplifies that quality.
While it would be cool to tinker with her soul a bit more, boosting her strength, I think I should refrain at the moment, not only due to the chance of her attempting to attack me but the chance of what else she would do if she had the necessary strength.
No wonder she was a loner...
A little distancing wouldn't be all that terrible, would it? Thinking about the scheduling and all the possible things that could happen... I think I should sever our connection temporarily in around a week.
And so, as the two trained and my parallel minds shot magic randomly around, I sat there meticulously staring at a map of the labyrinth but more specifically, a marker.
76 skills, 7 to be taken extreme caution of, and the stats of that of a dragon despite its wingless body. The more interesting thing to take note of was the Skill points which remained in the 40,000 range for quite a bit.
As we all did our own thing in this cave, time elapsed and six days had passed by, marking it nearly a month since we came into this world. I feel like it would usually take a couple of years correct? This time around, I've been experimenting with my skills more than focusing on killing creatures to level up. We have enough food as it is and I've made a couple of breakthroughs... that do not need to be disclosed yet.
Well, the main thing is my ability to perceive magic without the system's help now. While it is far easier with Detection and such, For the past few hours, I've been generating magic to hopefully make this become second nature to me. The magic has been far weaker without detection though, as it takes me longer to picture the surrounding elements in my mind. For example, a fire spell I shoot will be formed 4x faster and be 4x more powerful than what I can do without it. The silver lining in this all is if I understand it enough, the spells would fire instantly regardless of strength output. That and the system freedom I am looking for.
In this period of time, since I haven't really killed anything, I haven't laid any eggs beside the lightning chicken egg, griffin, keythong, and axex from before. Laying eggs consume my hunger stat after all.
If we are to move onto the other 3- correction, 2- now, Kei showed mastery of her lightning skill, maxing it out at level 10 for the first stage. It could evolve at any moment technically. Due to her training in magic as well, her capacity grew as well as her Magic Hoard skill. She also regenerates and uses less magic for the same thing now as well. As for Kumoko...
Lately, she has been acting strange in a way, but that stopped after a bit. She randomly breaks into a dance or lifts her arms as if preparing for something yet nothing comes and then she looks strangely meek and dejected afterward.
She also has been shaking almost as if she was laughing at certain periods in time. The latter and one to be more concerned about disappeared though once she acquired another skill... Perseverance. She bought said skill for 500 points and her skill points went down accordingly.
As a result of that, it made distancing myself from her due to the adverse effects of pride near exempt, right? Seeing as it was so cheap for her to in the first place purchase says something about her personality right? I'm quite curious how much it would cost for someone like Koenji to acquire it. Perseverance, a ruler skill I planned to pick up at some point, basically lets the user stay alive in circumstances that would usually mean death via health stock. Once health reaches 1, this skill starts using magic as a health bar instead and once mana reaches 0, health depletes again. If you have insanely high magic stats, which Kumoko seems to be going in the direction of, it is insanely important.
As with all ruler titles, it comes with two skills. Conviction, which seems to deal equal damage to sins a target has in some way or another. The major upside of its lurking arch it may not work is that it cannot be blocked by anything in the system. Next is Heresy Nullification, meaning her soul cannot be damaged within the realms of the system anymore. That also means she cannot be affected by ruler skills and I cannot manipulate her stats anymore.
There was another skill called Wisdom that she had, one that I couldn't appraise and one that wasn't in Babel. This doesn't make sense, seeing Babel gives all the information about everything in the past. It is within the realm of possibility that an administrator made this skill. The main reason I'm confused is how I can't appraise it specifically, seeing its functions. I can assume it helps with magic and general knowledge but that's about it.
The former can be pulled from the Height Of Occultism skill she has around the same time as Wisdom. This one maxes out rune speed and all types of resistances and damage per her skill lever, as well as increasing her magic capacity and regenerating speed. Isn't that a bit much? If she did magic, she could probably form it as fast as I do with 5 minds...
The next skill is Celestial Power, also magic-related. It applies to the MP, Magic Power, and Resistance stat, reaching each by 1,000. It's like a mix of Ultimate Magic, Deva, and Sanctum in one skill.
Now, that very same spider that looked so dejected before was moving with excitement, shooting poison bullets left and right at the walls. This has been happening since yesterday in intervals and she still hasn't calmed down. I've been supplementing her and Kei with magic if they run out so they can continue training, but Kumoko nearly drains me dry of it whenever I do it. Her magic stat is comparable to mine now, especially considering I'm also firing off magic with precaution at the purple snake in front of me.
Thinking we should get some change of pace, Kumoko, Kei and I entered into the Middle Stratum for the second time, fifth for me. The first time they entered, they voiced their opinions about being perfectly fine away from the lava. This may have been due to how notoriously lava is in our previous worlds so to whisk away their fears, I stood by the ledge. Glancing at them as they looked in fear at what I was about to do, I jumped into the lava, with Kei screaming and Kumoko spinning in circles while screeching.
I went to the surface 10 seconds later and they were directly above where I jumped and scrambled back after seeing me rise from the lava. I stepped on the floor free of any burns or wounds as they looked in awe.
{You can do the same yourself now}
And then we left immediately after that as they vehemently refused.
They looked to be curious but they may have not been willing to try that because of monsters and such as well. The main reason why we have gone there so little is there is little need. Do we need to get food? It's easier to kill monsters in the actual cave. The catfish taste better though, which is why I've made two trips, keeping more subjects. The reason why I'm sure no monster will attack them when they are in lava is because there isn't any in the immediate radius. They all disperse the moment I get here.
I've acquired another title quite recently.
Fearbringer.
How I acquired this? While working and tinkering with the souls of the catfish and eels a couple of days ago, I looked up and saw a sea horse quivering in fear while looking at the display.
What?
Having my wing closer to the heart allows easier soul control, that's why some vital organs are taken out and I'm restoring it with healing magic at full force at the same time. Before I could shoot a spell at the seahorse that watched in fear, it started foaming from the mouth and floated on the top of the water.
In other words, it died.
And seeing as how I got its skills and stats from Diverge, I put it into the catfish I was operating on, as it would level nothing for me anymore. I kept the stats of course. Did a proud creature die because of heart failure? That warrants giving me this title, and this makes hunting much more tedious. Of course, I can always teleport next to them but my magic has been spotty since I turned off detection and I'm not looking to turn it back on.
Moving onto more serious topics, we are here to get the girls to swim. However, I coaxed them into coming saying there was more catfish here, a delicacy all of us enjoy. It might be comparable to eating an uncooked piece of tilapia-drugged fish in Japan, but it's by far the best here. All the food is poisonous after all, although my eggs still are the best to eat for flavor. They, motivated to venture into the lava landscape again, stared at the desolate bubbling lava on either side of me. Then without warning, I flapped my wings, the wind pressure causing them topple into the lava, an expression of panic flooding their face all at once.
As they sunk and clawed desperately at the surface of the lava, they froze in place, figuratively, not literally of course, and probably realized. The lava wasn't hot. And it didn't hurt either. Kumoko still looked slightly panicked as she screeched which led me to believe... She probably hypothesized that the lava number her pain and that she was slowly melting.
{You have Heat Nullification and Swim, you can move in lava freely Kumoko and Kei. It not numbing your pain and eating away at you slowly.}
As I spoke to the two of them, Kumoko stilled a little bit, visibly calming down while Kei yelled at me, "That doesn't mean you can push us in like that!"
With a grumpy expression, she started getting up out of the lava, till I pushed her back down into it with a gust of wind. I didn't necessarily mind her getting out before actually trying to swim, it was just a matter of her reaction. Her clothes, despite being generated by magic, are not lava-proof apparently. Meaning she had nothing on at the moment and rather than have her slander me for being a pervert when I'm a bystander, I'd instead tell her with Telepathy before she knows I see it.
"Kiyotaka, what are you-."
{Clothes.}
At this she halted her words and felt up her body under the lava, noticing the lack of the fabric layer there. Then with her lower face tucked in the lava and her eyes above, she muttered, (Thanks,) via telepathy.
{Use ability conferment on your clothes when you generate them again and add heat nullification.}
I would do it myself but I do not have the skill yet. Seeing as I have the skill points, I may get it today anyway. As I said this too, since Kumoko was keyed in as well, it's like a light bulb flashed above her head in the realization of something. Kumoko swam around a little bit, jumping up above the surface like a dolphin. The moment she stops swimming intentionally, she floats to the surface somewhat rapidly. I can assume that's an intrinsic trait of spiders and it would happen even faster if in water. We have yet to find any water in this cave though...
Onto the main focus of things, we need to find the catfish as our SP stats have run low. Eat the still-alive ones that I'm storing on the side? I'd rather not. I jumped into the lava shortly after too, knowing Kei had already generated her lava-proof clothes. As we swam, I turned on detection on this occasion to broaden my range of sight, and I saw an eel swimming relatively near us, or like away from us. Even the eels are antsy and avoid contact with me it seems.
Due to its swim level, if I kept pace with Kei and Kumoko, we wouldn't hope to catch up so I sped ahead, quickly nearing it. I focused half my magic into a Terrain Bullet and shot it out toward the eel, piercing through its neck, and incapacitating it instantly. Via experiments, this was one of the three magic skills I've gotten to the second tier. Considering how its neck was cleanly decapitated, it may have been overkill to channel extra magic in it as I don't want it to necessarily die yet.
{Got an eel}
I swam towards the eel and began lugging it upward as my other two companions began swimming up too due to my telepathy message. I had 10 seconds before the eel dies for certain. Humans can live without a head for 20 seconds, fish longer.
I wanted to try a little experiment as absorbing the skills will cause them to be wasted right now. Due to that, I teleported to the path we were on before we got in the lava and sprouted a quick plant and watched as a fiery flower grew. I quickly shifted the soul of the eel that went into the living plant.
With all the skills and stats transported in it, the flower began to change shape again and formed jaws of sorts, appearing as a Venus fly trap that can shoot fireballs in a way. Even though it has stats equal to an eel right now, it not being able to move is a massive downfall. I still nonetheless ordered it to protect itself of course knowing this was like making s new creature in a way. This lack of magic at the moment is nearly the only issue though...
A moment later, Kei and Kumoko popped out of the lava looking at the dead eel. Since I put the soul in the flower, it was still technically alive which is why none of our EXP went up due to the lifeless body. Even though this would be a nice meal, with all of us, we would need more.
Leaving it to Kumoko who volunteered to scrape off all the scales with her scythe-like forelegs, Kei looked at the flower. It had sharp fangs and a tongue that stuck out of its mouth and could probably swallow a human whole. It's still not classified as its own species though, as there is another plant monster line that has something similar.
A Fire Chompie?
I'm not sure how many people were reincarnated into this world, but if there would be something worse than a chicken to be reincarnated as, it's a plant. Its stats is in the hundred at the first evolution but it cannot move and if anything strong comes along, it cannot hide from it.
It still has stats 20x my starting strength and considering there aren't many strong things in the upper stratum, it is relatively safe. if it gets to its third evolution, it can walk regardless of which path it chooses. That is rare though according to Babel.
Kumoko finished the descaling within a few minutes, We all began eating the eel and as I was curious, I threw a piece in the air to the Chompie. It opened its jaws wide and it shot out its tongue, wrapping around the meat and starting chewing as it brought it inside its mouth.
So it didn't acquire the gross feeder title...
As Kei looked in disgust at the plant, Kumoko looked at it in partial admiration. This is something that can be considered as a pet right? Not that it would live long enough like an actual one anyway.
As we finished the eel carcass, and my mana had filled a bit, I did a group teleport for Kei, Kumoko and me back to the cave with the purple snake.
"What the..." Kei muttered as she looked around, stumbling a bit. This was the first time I teleported them with me and seeing her reaction after math proves what I thought prior. When teleporting someone, you are like the driver at the wheel, not getting motion sickness one bit but the others are like the passengers, a chance they might get dizzy, a chance they may not. Except this is much worse in a way.
Leaving that on the side, I moved on to the reason I came here.
Trying plant magic again, I focused on exactly what I wanted, picturing it in high detail and describing some of the make-up of the plant and once I opened my eyes, I believe it worked.
Before me stood one of the more popular fruit trees, a peach tree. And, since I channeled 500 MP into it too, the growing process accelerated, making already ripe fruits to eat off it. The main dilemma is that it most likely won't sustain itself down here for very long. The other is its size, or rather mine. I could probably eat the tree all in one sitting so the fruit it bears is more so bite size for me.
It's for flavor anyway I suppose. Ever since I ate the catfish and my eggs after eating all the other poisonous and "flavorful in the wrong way" food, I've been desiring at least something better to eat. Since there wasn't any ice cream in the medieval world, the fruit was the best alternative. So, I continued practicing plant magic to grow a fruit tree. As long as I have mana now, I shouldn't starve either for the most part too. If that explanation feels a bit lacking in purpose, many binding techniques in plant magic allow one to capture a target, making it useful to learn.
Not wanting to linger around thinking idly about something that may not have worked, I went to the nearest fruit and plucked it off with my beak, crushing it inside my mouth to let the juices spread before swallowing it. It's a shame birds don't have teeth, otherwise, it would've been easier to savor the peach. Feeling stares at my back, I stepped to the side and gestured with my wing to permit them to eat and they happily pounced the fruit on the tree, slowly eating it to preserve the taste indefinitely. One must polish their weapons, after all. Otherwise, they would certainly diminish in use.
After the tree was naked of its fruit, we left it standing on the ledge and watched it in slight dismay. The feeling of loneliness was present in Kumoko and Kei but it's understandable, considering the sweetness is foreign in our memories. On that topic, this is the first time we had fruit in these bodies as well. And we acquired it in a rather abstract way as well...
As they sat somewhat dejected, eventually moving to do a task more productive, I stared at the wall. Or more specifically, the eggs in front of the wall. All four are exposed directly in the front and while nothing would really wander up in this area, I'd like to secure them more. They seemed to be a day or two away from hatching, judging their slight movements.
Cupping the eggs under my wings and making a slight divot in the floor with terrain magic, I placed them in the temporary holder. Since there was an indentation in the floor from when I did this previously, I continued down with terrain magic, and made a cavern in the ground 2 times my height, with a sloping floor to the back.
Exhausting 1,000 mana whilst doing this, I formed some plant matter and layered it on the floor to serve as a cushion. I then moved the eggs into the bedded area and the inground nest was complete for the most part. As a finishing touch, I pulled out a spare corpse I had in Item Box and left it there for food for them to eat. It's going to spoil? It will build their poison and rot resistance so it should be fine.
I exited the mini cavern covered the door about halfway with a mesh of leaves and stood on that cliff ledge. I sat idly, regenerating my mana to its full capacity. I looked through the skills I could buy but at the moment, nearly all of them weren't needed. I have 1120 skill points and only see a few that interest me slightly, so I will do my best to save up until then.
{Kei, Kumoko, we are heading back to the Middle Stratum now.}
"Again? I'll be up in a sec then Kiyo!" Kei screamed from down below as she tweaked her face in my direction, looking at me.
Kei landed on her feet since she was attacking the barraggish, and then started to use a new skill. Dimensional Maneuvering. It essentially constructs a platform with magic, allowing one to jump in the air. As Kei did this, Kumoko, silent as a spider, shot a web and threw herself up with perfect precision.
And then, I set up a spell with my mind alone, completing it in 30 seconds, and a new area came into our sight. I explored the middle stratum quite a bit previously, flying through it in search of food. Quite conveniently, I found a slope leading up to the Upper Stratum. I could teleport to our previous spot since I've been there before anyway, but having another part explored on the other side of the labyrinth is beneficial.
That is not where we teleported though, just wanted to mention one of the things I've found. The other, where we are at the moment, is on a cliff ledge in the lava-filled area. Despite the size of this room and the large amount of lava, the most noticeable thing was a tunnel. A tunnel similar to the one we fell through before, leading from the upper stratum to the lower stratum. This one was wider though correct...?
While not going through myself, I used panoptic vision and checked it thoroughly. Only a few monsters like finjicotes were present but more importantly, what caused this? The only creature that comes to mind is a Queen Taratect. I can only assume this is due to Babel's information as well.
There are 5 queen taratects in this world, and apparently one is here. That would explain all the spiders I suppose. I am aware of the base stats of such a creature, a level one ranging from 8,000-10,000 in all stats. And if it has the labyrinth as a house, I wouldn't be too shocked if it was level 30 or higher. That is if it's not a newly evolved, but judging by the tunnel, it hasn't been used in a few weeks. Meaning I would know there to be another since I acquired Babel within that time.
The most pressing matter was exterminating a hundred, give or take, fire wyrms. That and the Fire Dragon that's commanding them. After tracing the fled creatures, I noticed they all went in this direction. Leading me to believe they were either taking refuge under a strong being or joining forces to kill me. Probably a mixture of both.
The fire dragon, Rend, was the one who should be eliminated first, hopefully sending the other wyrms into chaos and disarray. Even a missing commander can harm the strongest army. I'm unaware if one of the higher wyrms, 2x stronger than the eels, can take charge though. Nonetheless, eliminating the strongest threat is the most important here.
Even without detection, I'm sure I could notice the shifting of the currents and sense the immense killing intent directed at the three of us. Specifically me. I dropped by earlier and cut off its tail 4 days back, no need to sweat the small stuff though Rend, you already grew it back. Partially at least. Regardless, the army is nothing to scoff at.
As we continued our stare down, Kei and Kumoko looked at the army with the blood draining from their faces. Their fear resistance raised a level too, During the 15-second span Fire Dragon Rend and I sized each other up.
Rend would refuse to leave the lava, the place where he and his brethren would be strongest. Meaning I either have to stay here as we engage in a long-range assault or meet him head first.
For now, I activated Terrain Spears and shot 20 at the creatures at the forefront, knowing Rend would easily deal with anything I directed at him. For the moment at least, considering how we clearly see what the other is doing now. Unfortunately, of those 20 spears I shot, two of them collided, most of the others being broken by Rend. He remained completely still and shot out a fire breath. The breath thoroughly broke apart the spears with the sheer power behind it, and I only wish my spell would've been more efficient.
My magic is low compared to my other stats after all. As Rend shielded, an array of fireballs shot toward the three of us, like a rain of arrows. In order to stand against it all, I erected a large wall of stone from the floor, the main perk of terrain magic. Adding to that, a wonder barrier on the outside as well.
From there, I left Kei and Kumoko behind the wall, knowing they would join the fight soon enough and activated wrath. Swirling around the back, and due to my newfound speed, before Rend could even react well enough, I pounced him onto the floor. Damaging him greatly in the process, I quickly jumped off of him as he flipped his body in reaction. I had the strength to hold him down even from that but...
The chasm shook again.
And down from that tunnel I assumed wasn't used very often, came the creature responsible for making it. And somehow, said creature, before even coming into sight has an attack prepared.
My danger sense shook my body, yet I was aware this wouldn't kill me in my wrath state. That doesn't mean it wasn't enough to kill every other last wyrm and injured dragon here. Wanting to avoid that fate as a ball of light writhed in the queen taratects mouth, I immediately disregarded Rend and other others. Launching myself off the floor, creating a crater the size of a truck, I slammed into the queen taratect as we fell down the tunnel together.
The upper hand in size for the Taratect, it quickly retaliated and coiled its legs around me, only two being able to wrap around me due to my small size. In a desperate attempt as well, it shot out webbing, controlling it, and successfully caught my right wing. That made me unable to fall it properly but I wasn't one to take hits one sidely.
I appraised the Taratect as fast as possible and assessed its stats. Due to my wrath, I have more 3 times as much health as it does, its stats averaging around 25,000. I dug my cutting-enhanced claws into the queen's torso, knowing not to bother with status conditions due to its immunity.
As its back faced the floor and I stood on top of it, I manipulated the terrain underneath it, making ledges come from the wall to damage it even if ever so slightly. It retaliated of course, and shot dark magic spears into my body while struggling to pierce through properly. My health still took a toll obviously but the spears that did make their way through hit the Taratect itself, of course doing less damage because of resistance.
Seeking to end this battle to assist them back above, I created my largest spell yet in haste to complete it properly. Using a lot of magic points a boulder the width of the tunnel, or the size of the queen Taratect began forming above us, descending downwards. The queen seeing this occur, shot out webbing, completely surrounding me in it, with me unable to break free even with my stats.
We would reach the floor in ten more seconds so instead of putting focus into the Taratect trying to escape now, I needed to do so myself. I began forming a teleport spell, as the Taratect started charging its breath attack and pulled my webbed self in front of it. Aiming and hitting true, I teleported to the side of where it would fall.
I began forming a large spike pillar beneath the falling queen and heard a large screech along with a flash of light from above. The ceiling threatened to fall down and I can assume the boulder that I formed was all but reduced to nothing. As soon as that happened though, the spider landed on the spike, unable to activate dimensional maneuvering. With half my parallel minds, they relentlessly let inferno pillars assault the Queen Taratect. This was the third Magic I got into the second stage, and it's a spider's natural weakness.
My vision which has been red since I activated Wrath grew even brighter as the fire raged. The Queen shooting fire resistance imbued the web around itself and rolled around.
Troubling enough though, as the spider remained with 8,000 health points, my Wrath skill suddenly turned off. All my stats were now their originals, and the power left my body due to another unexpected opponent at the moment.
I needed to finish the spider off as fast as possible but the moment it was doing as well as the landing made it nigh impossible to get close now. The floor was cracking, gaps opening up at rapid speed and another opponent I couldn't see at the moment had an invisible knife to my neck. At the current standing though, it was a plastic one, but even those can get sharper.
Doing the best thing to do, I flew into the air and went up the tunnel to do a temporary retreat and escape from both opponents hopefully. The Queen Taratect isn't in any state to pursue me, but I'm sure the other one there is quite likely to do so. Attacking the Queen would be near impossible, even if it's weakened for him.
While I would teleport to another location, I'd better get back to Kumoko and Kei. As a test, I activated Fate Mystic Eye on the Queen Taratect but at last, it wasn't enough to kill it. It screeched as its 2 front legs disintegrated into thin air but that was all. Although... something about that scream seemed unnerving...
And its status was even more so...
"Seeking"
Was she calling for someone? Who could assist her, one of the strongest creatures in the world?
Well, no matter. I reached the middle stratum once again, seeing Kumoko and Kei surrounded, barely fending off the wyrms, being able to kill a few who overreach their boundaries here and there. Rend sat on the side watching, probably believing his underlings would manage. That and preparing for my possible arrival too I suppose. I then spoke telepathically to Kei as I continued moving.
{Kei. In 3}
(Kiyooooo!)
{2}
(Ah got it!)
{1}
(Pika! Pikaaaaaaa! CHUUUUUUUUUUUUU!)
...No need to shout that....
As Kei screamed, just as we rehearsed 57 hours and 23 minutes ago, with all the magic she could muster, she shot out a thundering charge to an entire 25-meter diameter. The ones closest, the sea horses, died on impact and even the eels remained temporarily incapacitated. Taking that chance, I shot out the light spell I prepared, piercing through half the skulls of everyone who laid down with pinpoint accuracy.
From there, I tried continuing that same spell to kill the standing ones, leaving Rend and the upper wyrms alone knowing they could tank it or deflect it. At that moment, there were 127 bodies scattered about. It's a shame I can't absorb everything at the moment.
I absorbed 20% of their collective total of stats and as I wordlessly drifted in the air, my parallel minds and I focused completely on directing the skills into the place we wanted, transporting them all. The first stop was Kei, the human that reverted back to a Pikachu once her magic ran out, her old clothes scattered on the floor. I controlled the skills to max out swim, fire wyrm, overeating, and the others they had. This alone left me open for 10 seconds, and Kei was unable to move due to me distorting her soul slightly at the moment. The greater fire wyrms and rend wouldn't sit by idly either.
Kumoko, being the only one available at the moment, desperately wrapped web around Kei, slinging her out of the way, as she pulled her along into the air. Fireballs hit the spot from the greater wyrms, forming ruptures in the floor, magma spraying out from underneath like a geyser.
However, the fire dragon that didn't join the attack charged at me who was seemingly spaced out, and used his breath attack on me, knocking my health stock down a couple of thousand. This was mainly due to the direct hit with no resistance put up from me. The breath attack lasted 5 seconds, as it still saw me flying looking off into the distance, Rend narrowed his eyes and roared, most likely in annoyance. From his perspective, it may look like I'm simply ignoring him.
As part of the skills were about to finish going into Kei, Rend charged me and drove me into the lava, submerging the both of us. He persisted going down as far as he could, scratching me and then launching me to the side. Once the skills settled in, I opened up the item box and took out a small sphere.
I decided to take a slight detour though, with my mind at least. While making sure my other 10 minds had a steady grip on the skills, I craned my head and swam backward, evading Rend's attack to take one of my wings.
Realizing I started moving once again, I could see his eye peaking back as he shot past me. From there forth, he began moving more violently at higher speeds. Showcasing that, I can guess one of my assumptions was right. Dragons, as I've said many times before have an abnormally high sense of pride. And this prohibited him from attacking seriously when I wasn't paying attention.
Even if I was in its home territory, my stats were 3x greater than Rend's and I boasted the ability to swim just as well as Rend, and faster due to my higher stats too. Pursuing him, I gradually caught up, and even with him making rough turns to shake me off his tail, I followed imitating his movements. Until he did a loop, diving downwards then striking straight up, slicing into my rib cage with his claws imbued in flame attack. I still was low on magic, Soulful Solomon was still being used by my mind, and I couldn't activate any magic-related skill yet.
However, I still dodged out of the way to the best ability and struck my hind legs claw on Rend, paralyzing him severely. Then Rend began to float to the surface like a dead fish. Even if Rend is a creature like a dragon, it still only has Status Condition Resistance LV 1. This made it quite easy to incapacitate if I got under his skin, quite literally. Imperial skills made such a thing tougher to do, making me have to cut him multiple times before it took effect for certain.
With Rend out of the picture, I refocused my entire set of minds back to transferring the leftover skills. To what exactly you ask? With terrain and spatial magic, I formed rocks and compacted them as much as I could with earth magic 4 days ago, completely draining my mana. After regenerating it more, I used space magic to do so even more, making a near-invincible rock. For anything with stats under 10,000 offense at least. I attempted to destroy it by hitting it at full force and it failed.
Earlier, I theorized that putting skill into an abiotic object was near impossible since most materials would combust from such. If this one did, it would probably work in a similar fashion to a grenade... that can blow up a block.
Furthermore, just one of these would be insufficient. Skills store more energy than stats. The collective amount of skills is more than the stats altogether in most cases. This means that an eel, which has a total of around 3,000 in stats, might have 5,000 with the skills it has. And that means only two of said eels out of the many I killed can fit into one of these. I'm glad I made 20, and due to how much I used mana with earth magic, that was the reason it was already midway into the terrain. Although, I'm sure Kumoko's Pride Title has an effect also.
Another bonus is that you can train and raise stats, like working out of course. My magic raised a bit from such. Either way, of the 20 I spent two days straight making 14 were used till a safe full. I'm not sure if they can explode in the item box even if I hit the limit but I'd rather not find out. It's like a battery, it's best to charge to 80% full, but going past or near 100 especially can deteriorate the battery life.
With all the smaller fry cleared out, there remained 4 near dragon wyrms. Would Kumoko and Kei be able to take them all out when each individual has greater stats than theirs? Possibly not, and Kei is out of magic, her specialty. But of course, their levels soared from all the kills, now sitting at a comfortable level 16 each. This also meant their stats all came back and she had full magic again. Well, let me take Rend with me and leave those two fighting, as they seem to be doing decent so far at least.
Let's take one wyrm with me as well though.
Fortunately, these are of course not as strong as Rend. I threw the injured and unconscious dragon on the floor and using a quick teleportation spell, moved in front of a wyrm. That one specifically tried attacking Kumoko's side and now I was right in its path as it attempted a charge. Knowing I would be fine for the most part, I activated Rock Hardening and Heavy magic on both myself and the charging wyrm and as it collided with me, my legs stayed planted on the floor. From there on, I wrapped my wings around the wyrm and squeezed it tight preventing it from escaping that second, and then I drove my beak into its neck. It fell paralyzed shortly after as I dropped it to the floor.
Vrrrrr.
While it would be nice to help these two to ensure their safety, I can't always protect them. More importantly, though, another skill of mine got deactivated, Battle Divinity. That one rose all my stats up another 1,000 and now without it, while still outclassing the other, I am a tad bit weaker. The being responsible for this is confirmed to have a high level of intelligence, past Kei's at the very least.
I felt an annoyed glare at my back just now for some reason.
Due to it being able to deactivate my skills, it of course can see my full status and is making strategic moves to weaken me. In the end, the goal is to obviously kill me, possibly before i get more power. They are hiding their presence perfectly, I can only vaguely sense them after all. However, it's quite obvious to me at the moment where they are, due to me already pinning them on my map. It's the same tracker I put on Araba as well, an advantage of Soulful Solomon.
I suppose they can't fully appraise the ruler skills and haven't chosen Soulful Solomon as a skill to deactivate yet. It's not oriented to be an attack skill, more like an information and after the demise type skill. I can forcibly destroy the skill while the opponent is alive, but when the person I'm up against doesn't only have a strong soul, they also Heresy Resistance LV9. It's likely for it to fail if they aren't subdued first in layman's terms.
As I thought of this quickly, I grabbed the Fire Wyrm and Rend and began flying up. I canceled Rock Hardening and Heavy Magic beforehand and left Kei and Kumoko with a message.
{Good luck.}
(What the hell does that mean Kiyotaka?!)
{The term good luck refers to-}
(That's not what I meant! AHHHH! Wish you luck too Kiyo!)
What was she referring to then?
:Clown Koji, stop taking over his thought patterns. Let them know his true thoughts:
/Who is them?/
|Possibly the Administrators. Some things Blunty says shouldn't always be taken seriously.|
[Everything he says is dead serious though]
/If they are administrators, can't they just read our minds? I'm sure they can understand what all of us are thinking, otherwise they shouldn't even call themselves a god./
:...:
[...]
{Well, it could possibly be the rea-}
~Why is this ridiculous thinking continuing still...? There are more thoughts than unusual now too, You're using your mind more than you did when trying to decipher the magic perception...~
Why were they so stuck on it anyway...
As they squabbled, although fast due to thought acceleration, it would be nice if they helped me form the space magic, something I had to do by my lonesome now. Creating the rune, all of the spells shown to have finished, I teleported directly behind the culprit who was deactivating my skills. However, the second I teleported, and caught a glimpse of them, they teleported away also. Dropping the still-alive wyrms and dragons off at a designated spot, I teleported once again to the monster. The moment I saw them before my eyes again though, they moved away instantly. This leads me to assume they perform the spell and most certainly have Super Thought Acceleration, along with some amount of Parallel Minds.
Using all my minds together this time, I cast a dimensional magic spell, nigh immediately moving to them, and due to my faster thought process it seems, I lashed my claw out, successfully scraping away at its hard coat. There was less damage than I would've liked though, and it proceeded to teleport away the next second.
One thing that bothers me about this is their skill set. There isn't a single Dimensional Magic or Spatial Magic skill in sight and it's still performing the magic. It isn't using skills then, but pure thinking for it outside of the system in that case. Not even I can manage that with spatial magic yet, due to its extremely high complexity. Another skill is causing it, and I'm well aware of which it is already.
Another one of my skills was sealed off just now too, Paralysis Nullifcation. This is the fourth skill. What doesn't make sense would be why my dimensional magic wasn't sealed off though. If it can seal skills, why not seal that and keep sealing my own until I have none to use? It relies upon and can use the skills I have. This means any skill it turns off, the four-legged creature cannot use. I'm assuming it still sealed Wrath since my current stats overwhelm it and if I used it, the gap would be 30,000 + in just health. Another assumption comes to mind, the former and this one are probably both responsible for their actions. Since it is a ruler skill and one of my most important ones, but mainly due to it being a ruling one, it takes longer to seal the skill. One of the reasons it did that one first I believe.
Regardless, it can't keep on going on endlessly and I'm sure it knows that too. I can arrive a second before it moves away, landing a hit each time and since it's so concentrated, it cannot shield itself. I took careful procedures of exploring nearly every tunnel in these labyrinths in the last week as well. Any place it goes, I can follow, unless it's the bottom stratum. I can only teleport to places I've been before after all, just because I see their marker outside a place I've been, doesn't mean I can teleport. Also, before teleporting, I use Panoptic Vision in each spot. I'm not so stupid as to move around blindly, as a trap being set is always viable for any intelligent creature to do.
I continued this duck chase with the creature, whittling away 2,000 HP but it persisted in moving away over and over again. And I met a dilemma from this as well.
Parallel Minds was just deactivated.
Meaning my 10 helpers were gone, and I was unable to chase it any longer. However, it stopped at one spot while I formed my spell, aiming to move right at its side after doing a survey of the area. Whether it stopped due to it fully believing it would win as a show of confidence, or because it predicted I would turn off the obvious Dimensional Magic Skill now, it bored its gaze directly at my own, as we made direct eye contact for the first time. It had significantly low magic compared to me right now as well, only having a thousand left right now, with me running on 500. However, I used less when generating the spell, so they would be the first to run out. No more teleporting is certain now.
The only issue was how there were 3 markers in the general area, one directly next to the other.
As we locked our challenging gazes, completely aware of the other's movements, the evolved Mowajitz stood in the lava-filled area by me and the nearby Kei and Kumoko.
The two markers alongside each other weren't Kei and Kumoko though.
It was a deer, or more accurately Dark Unicorn now, that had Kei pinned to the floor with one of its legs.
The ticking day, reaching midnight brought a new one along with it and the significance of this is because...
On this day, Kei is supposed to die.
IMAGE FOR STATS
Author's Note
Yoohoo you wonderful people!
GOMEN!
YOU KNOW WHAT I DID IF YOU ARE ASKING WHY I APOLOGIZED!
Anywho... 8k words this time, and this arc (Volume 2 of Kumo Desu novel) shall be closed with the next chapter! Trust me, I'm getting tired of AI Art and games, I should definitely be able to manage a faster update schedule!
As per usual...
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Yippee and bai bai cuties~!
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