As Radis calmed down and returned to her senses, she finally looked at the monster with more impartial eyes.
Compared to what Radis remembered, Arachne seemed to be different.
The spiderās shell, which was supposed to glint in the light as though it was made out of iron, had lost its luster and was dented here and there.
Her upper human form also seemed to be in a bad condition.
When Radis first encountered Arachne, she looked like a young, beautiful woman. But right now, her hair was white and her skin was so dry that it looked like sheād crumble any minute now.
Besides that, it didnāt seem like she had any intention to regenerate herself.
[ Place, to that placeā¦ ]
Arachneās shaky front legs buckled beneath her.
Still, she continued moving forward.
The monster looked towards the bottom part of the Tree of Tartarusā trunk.
āThatā¦ā
Radis knew that place.
In her previous life, she and the other members of the subjugation squad fought for three days and nights against the monsters who were guarding the Tree of Tartarus.
She had survived in the end, but by no means did she win.
Most squad members had lost their lives, and the rest had been eaten away by the powerful miasma that poisoned their bodies. All they could do was groan away in pain.
āNo, you canātā¦ Tez, wake up. Merrick, open your eyes, pleaseā¦ā
She had dazedly walked around amongst her squad members who were barely breathing. Then, at that moment, a strange light entered her periphery.
It was a magic stone.
It was that same magic stone that had the brilliance of five colors.
The spoils of her final battle.
Strangely gravitating towards it, Radis had picked it up and brought it back to the Tilrod residence, butā¦ That magic stone eventually fell into Margaretās hands.
āWill that still be here?ā
Keeping her guard up, Radis followed after Arachne.
Her surroundings matched her memories.
At the base of the Tree of Tartarus, there was a huge crevice to show a hollow interior.
But there was no magic stone there.
[ Place, to that placeā¦ ]
Arachne continued to let out the same crying sound.
Then, she slumped down in the middle of the hollow crevice.
There was another noise.
It was the sound of her outer shell breaking as her trembling legs gave in.
It didnāt seem likely that the spider would rise again.
However, it didnāt look like Arachne cared at all.
Arachne continued to cradle the shiny egg at the base of the tree, right in the spot where the magic stone was supposed to be.
[ It is done. ]
And she didnāt move anymore.
[ ā¦ā¦ ]
In reality, all the sounds Radis could hear were only the monsterās squeals, but as Arachne was still breathing, she was clearly muttering something to herself.
Raising her sword, Radis approached Arachne.
The monsterās spider body continued to break under her, and at the same time, black blood flowed out to a puddle.
[ ā¦nce. ]
The metallic smell of Arachneās blood was unbearable, but Radis kept walking closer while holding her breath.
[ ā¦of the providenceā¦ the wishā¦ balanceā¦ ]
With a hardened expression, Radis backed away.
āWhatās this?ā
She couldnāt hear the monster.
Some monsters were also intelligent enough to communicate with each other.
Itās generally known that the closer a monsterās form was to that of a human, then the higher its intelligence and communicative abilities were.
Mermaids could talk to each other using a language that humans couldnāt understand, and the elves also had their own ancient script.
But that wasnāt the case for Arachne.
Although her upper body resembled a human, the only sound that it should be able to make were squeal-like screeches.
To compare an Arachne to animals, sounds were no different from a dogās barking and a birdās chirping, and this enough was its ālanguageā.
āWhat the hellā¦ happened toĀ me?ā
Her heart pounded and her entire body began to tremble uncontrollably.
In the first place, she already thought that it was impossible for her body to absorb miasma from a magic stone.
But apparently, that wasnāt all.
āAs if Iāmā¦ a monsterā¦ā
Goosebumps rose all over her skin.
Radis dropped her sword.
āNo. Thatās impossible.ā
One of her arms was wet with blood.
It was from when she had cut off Arachneās spider head earlier and when she had gotten injured from its spikes.
The wound itself wasnāt big.
But she was rather relieved to see bright red blood flowing out.
āIām human.ā
Even if she had memories of dying once, even if she could absorb miasma from a magic stone, even if she could understand what Arachne was sayingā¦ She was a human being.
āIāmĀ human.ā
She had to be.
The blood flowing out of her arm trickled down to the floor.
āIām huā¦ā
Buckling from loosened tension, Radis collapsed to the floor.
She closed her eyes and breathed heavily, her face now covered in her hands that were stained with sticky, black blood.
So now, Radis couldnāt see.
She didnāt see how Arachneās black blood, which had been pooling on the ground, and her own red blood both slowly disappeared as though being absorbed.
Then, the eggās soft glow brightened into a stronger luster.