It's Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

* * *

-The movement of the spider side’s leader has been confirmed, Teacher.

Sonia’s assistance was instrumental in discovering the spider king.

Whenever the numerous shadow crows scattered in this forest detected monsters from either side, they would send a signal to the ‘map’ placed in the dungeon,

and she would help by checking the chess pieces moving according to those signals and conveying the exact location.

It’s essentially a remote radar system created with shadow magic of necromancy.

“Tell me the location.”

-Yes. This place is…

“Thank you, Sonia.”

-I’m glad I could help.

We moved according to Sonia’s guidance, and eventually discovered the appearance of the spider king.

It was on the third battlefield since we started searching, or the fourth if we count the very first one we witnessed upon arriving at the coniferous forest.

-Bring me their hearts and heads-!!!

The spider king with a total of fourteen appendages and five eyes.

He was shouting at the top of his lungs in the middle of a battlefield larger than the previous few.

“He’s quite spirited.”

Bring the hearts and heads.

At first, I thought it was just a meaningless shout to boost morale, but soon I realized it wasn’t that simple.

-Kishak!

-Kirruru…!

Thud! Splash!

Individuals that looked like workers or soldiers were really scraping together corpses from the battlefield near that king.

The pile of corpses, both ants and spiders indiscriminately, was considerable in size just by looking at it.

-Ooh… Power… Nutrients are coming!

The king of the spiders was piercing the gathered corpses with eight legs attached to his lower body, sucking something from the dead bodies.

And he was doing this while shaking his body and shouting with mixed pleasure.

…It’s a bit jarring to see a male body, and a tremendously muscular macho one at that, doing this.

‘Why couldn’t it have been a queen. Isn’t Arachne usually a queen?’

“Kaaah-!!”

Regardless of my disappointment or eye health, after absorbing something from the corpses like that, the Arachne King started moving in earnest.

Boom-!!

A big change occurred on the battlefield.

It was the arrival of the power that had nearly pierced the heart of Orea, the queen of the ants and their most capable warrior.

* * *

“Kaaah-!!”

Boom!!

With a sharp shout crossing the battlefield, a huge body is quickly shot forward.

The sight of an enormous body, probably about 3 meters tall, sliding as if skating and shooting towards the front.

It was a scene filled with power that seemed not of this world.

Rumble-!!

If you look closely, you can see that he’s not running, but actually being ‘pushed’ by the ground, but that fact couldn’t diminish the overwhelming feeling of this scene.

“Keuheok…!”

Crash!!

Unmatched valor against thousands.

Every time the king swings one of his six arms, one ant is shattered and sent flying or pierced through.

Whether it’s a mere soldier, warrior, or commander.

Crack!!

Those who simply flew away and perished were rather the lucky ones.

Most ants were kicked by chelicerae that extended like spears, then caught again by muscular arms and dragged back to be used as blunt weapons to strike other comrades.

However, that brutality couldn’t diminish the ants’ fighting spirit.

“It’s the leader of the invading spiders-!!”

“Kill him!!”

“For the Queen!!”

The sight of ants rushing towards the spider king.

Whether they’re common soldiers or monsters of higher ranks, they’re no match for the king, yet there’s no fear at all.

They’re rushing in recklessly, holding the madness Libertas had witnessed before, with the will to buy time against the spider king somehow.

Thud thud thud!!

“I’ll make all of you my nutrients-!!”

However, the king of the spider people had means that couldn’t be stopped simply by numbers.

The unique number of appendages and the various attacks shot from those many appendages.

Crack! Crunch!

“What a delicacy…!! For minions of a cowardly queen!”

The first thing that catches the eye is what the arms attached to the muscular human upper body are doing.

He raises one hand to catch an ant flying from the impact, swings it once to hit another ant, then puts the remaining fragments in his mouth and chews.

He’s committing this atrocious act alternately with both hands.

“It’s useless, insects. Do you think you can stop me-!!!”

Next to be active are the two pairs of chelicerae hanging near the legs of the human upper body.

Clang!!

One pair on the abdomen of the human upper body, another on the front abdomen of the spider body.

The chelicerae that were holding firm with their arms folded usually function as shields protecting the human upper body, but extend one by one when they see an opening.

They were shields when defending, but spears when extending.

Thud thud thud!

Thud!

Holes are pierced in the heads and upper bodies of the ants charging recklessly. Sometimes the waist connecting the upper and lower bodies is severed, and intestines fly.

The bodies of ants torn and sent flying like that couldn’t even simply die.

Those flying upwards were dealt with miserably by the human-form arms, those falling downwards by other legs.

“Come out! Queen of the ants!!”

While the two arms attached to the human upper body and four legs attached to the lower body were mainly active like that, the other legs weren’t idle either.

Crack!! Slurp…!!

“Mmmmm…!!!”

The frontmost pair pierces the bodies torn by the chelicerae and sucks in their nutrients.

If Libertas could check his information, she would have known that his ‘health’ and ‘magic power’ were temporarily increased by this.

Although temporary and with strict conditions, it’s a characteristic that’s efficiently limited as nutrients can be supplied indefinitely on the battlefield.

It was the effect of ‘Taste Ghost’.

Boom!!

The next pair strikes the ground, soon causing an earthquake and overturning the earth.

By continuously using 「Crustal Rupture」, an advanced earth magic that causes vibration and rupture in the contacted ground, he sweeps away the small fry blocking the front at once.

Thud!

“Keuhek…!”

When the balance of those rushing in is shaken by this magic, immediately the chelicerae move to mercilessly cut off the breath of enemies who can’t resist.

This was a magic often used by human magicians who prefer close combat because it uses little magic power and has a surprising effect.

“Try to stop me! Try to kill me!!”

Swoosh!

The third pair of legs had been continuously raising black smoke.

It’s the darkness magic 「Shadow Smoke」 that shakes one’s presence and visible form, scattering the aim of attacks shot from a distance and confusing enemies all around.

“Where… When did he get there?! Keuhek!”

Although it’s at a lower level and the magic itself is incomparably crude compared to Libertas’s, it could at least demonstrate high efficiency on this battlefield.

Boom boom!

“Can you chase me! Can you chase me, I ask!”

And the last legs were casting the earth magic 「Earth Explosion」 that was causing his high-speed propulsion now.

Originally, it’s a magic that ruptures the ground in a straight line to attack enemies with fragments and high heat, but he’s using it for propulsion by taking advantage of the fact that his body is hard and has excellent regenerative power.

“Tell your queen to come out quickly! Aren’t your children dying like this! Did she become scared after being hit once!!”

A king who single-handedly overturns the battlefield and recklessly pierces through the enemy lines.

It was a powerful and spirited appearance, just as Orea, the queen of the Myrmikian Clever clan, had said.

“It’s inefficient and utterly foolish.”

“Why is that? It looks sufficiently powerful to me.”

“It’s just flashy on the outside and utterly insubstantial on the inside. It’s a waste of the title ‘king’.”

However, Libertas’s evaluation upon seeing him was merciless.

Because she immediately saw through the reason why the spider king continuously chews and swallows prey.

“Since it’s a power that can’t be used unless he keeps putting something in his mouth, if a small elite force were deployed to fight, he would soon be isolated and die.”

“Aha…?”

“Despite eating constantly, his power isn’t increasing any further, is it?”

“Indeed, that’s true…!”

Libertas’s gaze, which had been looking adoringly at Serha who was agreeing, followed the back of the spider king’s head as he passed by where she was, and discovered a small figure standing to block him beyond that.

“Stop-!! King Arachne, Tigris!”

“You’ve finally come out. Queen Orea…”

Needless to say, it was the appearance of Orea, the queen and warrior of the ants.

Even though it hadn’t been long since she was treated, she had finally returned to the battlefield.

As if she had no fear of what had happened to her before.

“Let’s go.”

Libertas, who seemed to be briefly observing the appearance of the king and queen, turned her body away as if she had lost interest.

Because she judged there was no more value in watching.

“We don’t need to watch anymore…?”

“It’s obvious it will end in a draw, isn’t it?”

-Tack.

“That’s true…”

Eve and Xue immediately understood and followed their master, but although Serha followed for now, she was still in a state of not understanding.

“What do you mean…?”

“The ants will be more careful and cautious than before…, and the spiders will withdraw as soon as it becomes a prolonged battle…”

The one who answered was not Rita but Xue.

She had been secretly displeased with this child occupying her master’s attention all along. Although she didn’t say it out loud, she was actually a very jealous woman.

‘It seems she’s made a decision…’

While doing so, she also observed her master’s mood.

She could quickly tell that she was lost in thought.

As Xue expected, Libertas organized her thoughts as she walked and spoke to them.

“Let’s go to the spider king’s residence.”

The disposition of the two leaders had been decided.

* * *

The Arachne King was in the state I had expected.

Although there were signs of having fought fiercely and been defeated, there were no deep injuries. Neither the ant queen nor the spider king had managed to land a fatal blow on each other.

However, even in a situation where he had an unfinished enemy, he pretended to be at ease.

“I didn’t expect to see the Dungeon Queen in such a chaotic situation, indeed.”

“I feel the same.”

The Arachne King, who immediately let me in when told that the Dungeon Queen had come, nevertheless acted as if he had no intention of showing me a good appearance.

It’s unknown.

He might not even have the concept of needing to look good to others.

Or it might just be that my emotions are bad so I see it that way.

“…Who are these?”

“Whatever conversation you’ve come to have with me, wouldn’t you need appropriate tribute?”

However, what’s certain is.

“No matter how I look at it, they seem to look like they resemble you.”

“That’s right. These are my children.”

Crunch.

This fellow has touched my sore spot.