After escaping from the forest that became the den of the Arachne, we finally entered a familiar stony passage. Ashidaka Rem had finally stopped after a long period of running at top speed.
ăRem⌠Please donât run like that againâŚ..ă
ăKISHIâŚă
Feeling that I was angry at her, she folded her legs and laid her body on the ground as if slumping down. I also felt the shine of her eight red eyes dulled quite a bit.
Come to think of it, this was the first time I rebuked Rem. Since Rem seemed to have her own soul, it was no wonder that she felt distraught after being scolded by her master who raised her.
The fact that she felt that way about me made her even cuter in my eyes, even if her current form was that of a ghastly black Ashidaka spider.
ăBasically, you just need to follow my instructions when Iâm riding on your back. But, Iâll leave the decision to you if weâre attacked by Monsters. I trust you Rem, thatâs why I can leave you to protect my back.ă
But that was natural, she was a servant that I created after all. As long as my opponent wasnât a cheat with domination abilities who could enslave everything on sight, Rem would never betray me.
ăKISHAA, SHAAAAA! ă
Regaining her motivation, Rem raised a lively warcry. Uhm, well it might look like Iâm being threatened by a monster spider but, I guess she just raised a joyful cry.
ăWell then, letâs get going.ă
ăSHAA! ă
We continued our journey after I got on her back again, accompanied by the rustling sounds of Remâs long legs.
Come to think of it⌠This Rem avatar was surprisingly versatile.
Even though so many things happened, one after another, I managed to advance into the dungeon until this point. There was a time when I went solo, there was a time when I was hugging Mei-chanâs thigh and there was a time when I was surrounded by the beauties of 2-7. From those experiences, I have to say that walking through the dungeon was awfully tiring. Finding out that there was no need for me to walk on my own feet made me feel that this skill of mine was another kind of cheat.
ăW-What an amazingâŚ. Slacker skill.ă
I bet this is the kind of emotion that people who tamed horses for the first time in history felt. I felt the true wonder of vehicles for the first time in my life as we advanced at moderate speed.
ăSHAA.ă
After we left the rocky passage, Remâs legs stopped as soon as we entered the next forest dome.
ăWhatâs the matter? ă
ăSHASHA.ă\nIt seems we encountered another demon.
I descended from Remâs back at once and unsheathe my red knife. I didnât hear any sound, but somehow the alarm in my head kept ringing.
ăBUGOOOOOO! ă
The demon that was sensed by Rem beforehand appeared in the next moment. It didnât have any intention to hide its presence when hunting its prey so it directly charged towards our direction while raising a boar-like roar. The ground trembled with each of its steps.
ăItâs a great boar! ă
At a glance, the assailant was nothing more than a boar with a large and stout stature and a light brown fur. Its black hoofs were similar to the material that was given to me by Tendou that I used to construct Remâs legs.
Despite its huge size, this Great Boar wasnât a boss monster. Its stature was a characteristic of its race. However, I couldnât let my guard down since the boarâs ordinary rush attack was enough to break my bones. And this great boar had not only two, but four tusks. A weak shaman like me would turn into mincemeat the moment I was hit by its charge.
ăWeâre going to counter with threads. Rem, match my movements!
ăKISHAAAAA! ă
It was basically a sitting duck if it kept rushing in a straight line. Moreover, now I also had Ashidaka Rem who could use acid threads like myăRedhair Twineă. The two of us would be able to stoââ
ăBOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ă
ă!!!!! ? ă
Oh crap. Both my ăSpiderweb Twineăand Remâs yellow acid threads were barely working on the great boar. It charged through the waves of our thread attack without taking any particular damage due to the effect of its rush.
ăKISHAA! ă
ăUwaaa! ă
We were blown back senselessly by the great boarâs charge.
Or so I thought, but Rem realized the danger immediately and threw me outside the collision course to save my life.
That was a close call. Even if the great boar was charging like an idiot, I shouldnât forget the fact that my opponent wasnât a program but a living being who lived in this alternate reality. Being thrown to the side sent me off the course of that rush.
I wasnât too sure about my ability to dodge such a charge unless I had power and mobility rivaling those of ăKnightsă or ăWarriorsă.
ăBUGO, FUGOO! ă
Since both I and Rem managed to dodge that charge at the very last second, the great boar stopped its charge after a while and then turned around to charge at me again.
Holy crap! I wonât be able to dodge its next charging attack. I have to stop that boar no matter what.
But what the hell could I use to stop that pig? I was almost convinced that it could go through theăRotten Bogă without any issue. And worst of all, itâs solid black hooves would most likely be tough enough to withstand the acid bog. No, I was wrong, If I used ăVile Mud Dollă,âŚ. Fuck, this plan wais no good too⌠I mean Remâs body was made out of mud, she wasnât that powerful.\nAhh, FUCK, FUCK. Even though I was a little bit stronger than before, I realized that my power was nothing compared to the powerful.
ăBUGOOOOOO! ă
W-WAIT A FUCKING MINUTEEE, IâVE YET TO DECIDE MY PLAN!
Well it wasnât like this monster was going to stop its attack no matter how loud I screamed in my heart.
ăKISHAAAAA! ă
Rem raised a war cry as she jumped in front of me to protect me by becoming my meat shield. However, she most likely would become mincemeat due to the weight difference between her and the great boar. That would mean I had to sacrifice her in vain.
ăAAAH GODDAMNIT⌠I GUESS I REALLY HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO USE THAT FUCKING SKILL!ă
I had no choice but to use every curse at my disposal even if that might end up in failure.
ăSpread, ăRotten Bogăă
I threw a pebble which had my blood on its surface and the pebble expanded a few meters in front of me. That pebble was only a makeshift mark for my curse but, it was better than nothing.
Even when it saw the eerily boiling bog in front of it, the great boar didnât even try to slow down. Well, it was natural for the great boar to be so confident about its penetration power. [ED: ( ͥ° ÍĘ ÍĄÂ°)]
Well then, from here on out was the real deal. I had to rely on the combat experiences I accumulated untill now.
ăCurse thy body, it shall fell into endless feverââăRed Feverăă
Iâve chanted its full aria since this guy had been neglected by me for a long time. My current priority was to shift that great boarâs trajectory.
Unfortunately, I had yet to find out the effect of the Red Fever.
Anyway, this strike would decide everything. One misstep and I could kiss my life goodbye.
ăHIYAAAAHďź ă
I threw my Red Knive that was tied with black hair bind like a pitcher in baseball manga. My aim was the great boarâs left foot.
ăBUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ă
HELL YEAH, ITâS A STRIKE!
Instead of its left foot, I hit its left shoulder with my red knife, whoâs flames burned furiously roasting it. However, the great boar kept charging forward ignoring its roasted shoulder as if to show its pride, leaving only around ten meters between us.
I needed another push to stop that boar.
ăGOOOO!ăăReverse Dance Butterflyăďź ă
I held plenty of the oinment A that I kept as an emergency stock. I used it all as the catalyst for this curse. The shining butterflies that were flying in packs were rushing towards the charging great boar.
\năRem, Letâs hurry up to the next area.ă
Guess Iâve no choice but to give up on the core of this great boar. I donât know what kind of monsters would come after us if we stayed in this place that was reeking of blood.
ăSHAAAA! ă
Remâs cry wasnât a reply to meâŚ. Oh man, why the hell do those demons keep coming at me one after another! ?
ăRem, enemy position! ă
My old dull sixth sense once again let me down. This place was looking like nothing more than a calm forest and yetâŚ
ăKISHAAA! ă
Rem fired her thread instead of replying. Naturally she wasnât aiming for me, her acid thread shower was shooting upward, spread in all directions.
ă!!!!! ?ăăSpiderweb Twineă! ă
Because something came again right when I let down my guard, I reflexively fired web-type black hair bind in the direction Rem pointed at andââ It coiled against the pure white thread.
ăW-WAAAAAAAAAAH! ă
Panicked, I ran to hide below the shades of the tree as fast as possible. The spiderweb net was falling slowly as it struck the white thread. The lump of that white thread fell on the ground in front of me, along with the appearance of the ambusher.
The one who raised a hysterical roar was a being with the lower-half of a spider and the upper-half of human.
ăArachne⌠So it was chasing after me.ă
Though I couldnât recognize the differences between arachne faces, I didnât think they were similar to Goma, which you could easily find loitering all over the place. It somehow found out about my escape.
ăKISHISHI, KISHI, KISHIKISHIKISHI.ă
Even though its ambush had failed, this guy still chose to come from the front since it was quite confident of its own strength. Alternatively, it simply didnât want to let go of any prey that they caught once before.
ăGuess I have no choice but to defeat you.ă
It easily caught up with us even though Ashidaka Rem ran at its top speed. The Arachneâs mobility was terrifying. In addition, it was also proficient in tracking down an escaped prey.
Well since I already escaped from the Arachne but it still managed to find me, I guess my only option was to defeat it.
ăBring it on you bastard! Iâll make you regret your decision of chasing after me! ă
Since I had nowhere to run, I loudly challenged the arachne to attack me.