Chapter 66: Forest Wave – Second ⓪ – Kingdom
Relics can’t be used!?
I hurriedly checked. No, they can be used… but?
“Oh, but it looks like restriction-type relics still work, yeah.”
While saying that, Bid-san was sniping spider women with the composite bow “Kimuqui.”
She was reliably taking them down one by one with headshots. Incredible.
“I can still use my ‘Spider-Cutter’ relic.”
“I can’t. Well, mine wasn’t that great to begin with, so it doesn’t matter.”
“I don’t have a relic, so I don’t know.”
So there are relics that can be used and others that can’t?
I thought I was probably fine because I had blocked and reflected it with the “Blue Saint Gauntlet.”
Thinking about it, maybe that heavy wave-like something earlier had disabled relic usage.
Hm? Disabled?
“It wasn’t erased, yeah.”
“Yes. It was just made unusable.”
“…A relic that disables usability.”
So it’s not the “Kizumono,” since that one erases relics.
Then what, spiders? We already knew it was that woman’s voice earlier.
The “Non-Real Kingdom” is probably the relic.
A kingdom… a territory! In other words, a relic with a field effect.
So something like that exists.
“Talk later. For now, let’s deal with these things.”
The spider women were cautiously approaching little by little.
Several had already been taken down, but there were still so many that it didn’t matter.
“Garad-san. I can use my relic, so I’ll clear them out.”
“Oh, do it!”
First, I used 【Vanish】 with my gaze. I wiped out the spider women entering range.
“…【Bekkō Hachimonji】!”
Nabel-san cut down the spider women with the “Spider-Cutter” relic.
As expected of a spider-specialized weapon. Though… are spider women even really “spiders”?
However, these spider women—despite being enemies—still weren’t doing anything.
I couldn’t tell what kind of attack they were going to use.
“Whoa, whoa! They’re shooting threads at us!”
Throwing threads from their hands… how cliché.
But if it’s spider silk, it’s no laughing matter.
“Watch out, they’re attacking!”
They stretched out spider legs that looked like strands of hair and stabbed at us.
Hoss-san dodged and cut them down. Threads and spider legs—pretty troublesome.
(“It’s the Evil Eye—reflect it, do it!”)
What—? The spider women’s four red eyes began to glow.
“Whoa!”
I blocked with the Blue Saint Gauntlet, but it wasn’t in time. Damn it.
“Na!”
Dagga shot out from my knife belt.
It deflected something and fell to the ground.
Before picking it up, I immediately used 【Vanish】 to erase the spider woman’s four eyes and take her down.
“Thanks, Dagga.”
“Na!”
I picked it up and thanked it. That was a close one.
“Be careful. These things are using the Evil Eye!”
Garad-san said while swinging his greatsword.
“Evil Eye!? Why can those things use relics normally!”
Bid-san shouted while firing rapid headshots.
Even without relics, she was strong.
“At this point, this number is beyond troublesome,”
Hoss-san said.
“Yeah. We’re retreating,”
Garad-san said.
Garado-san made the decision quickly.
In that case, I stepped forward.
“I’ll open a path.”
“Do it!”
At their immediate reply, I nodded.
The situation was the worst. No more holding back.
“Pseudo-Divine Relic: 【Generous】.”
I felt my hair and eyes glow purple.
I raised my palm toward the spider women.
“【Phantasmagoria】.”
Countless 【Vanishes】 shredded the spider swarm.
Anything it touched disappeared. Powerful.
“【Field Quake】.”
I made only the ground beneath the spider women violently shake, immobilizing them.
A huge opening was created—and I struck it with 【Phantasmagoria】.
Its power was outstanding.
Huh, so 【Dimensional Crack】 doesn’t change, huh.
More importantly, I should have reduced them significantly.
We can escape now.
“Huh? Why is everyone just standing there!? Let’s escape quickly!”
For some reason, everyone was just standing there.
Aren’t we supposed to be escaping urgently?
“Wof. You don’t realize?”
“What are you talking about? Why are you so calm? If we don’t hurry, we’ll be surrounded agai—”
“It’s over, yeah.”
“Huh?”
“Wof-san. That was amazing,”
Bid-san said.
“He wiped them all out by himself,”
Hoss-san said.
All—wait, seriously?
The spider swarm had been annihilated.
【Generous】 in a daze.
“The unpleasant atmosphere is gone, yeah.”
“True that,”
Hoss-san said.
It’s true. That heavy feeling is gone.
“Relics are usable again!”
“Oh, seriously.”
“Why is that?”
“Probably because defeating the spider swarm removed the territory,”
Garad-san said.
“I see,”
Bid-san said.
I see.
Garad-san then spoke to me.
“Good job, Wof.”
“No, I’m just glad everyone is safe.”
“Thanks, Wof-kun,”
Bid-san said.
“Well done,”
Hoss-san said.
“Thank you, Wof-san!”
Nabel-san said.
“No, really, I’m just glad everyone is safe…”
Their praise made me feel a bit embarrassed.
What is this feeling… like I went too far.
And even though we had been in serious danger, I used 【Generous】 without hesitation.
The fact that no one mentioned it afterward… made me feel a little guilty.
Not mentioning relic use is the minimum etiquette of explorers.
Ah, but Nabel-san probably knew from that rumored monster subjugation.
I don’t know if Bid-san and Hoss-san knew.
And Garad-san definitely didn’t.
Still, that etiquette seemed to apply to slayers too.
Garad-san approached the spider women’s corpses and looked down at them.
“…They do have female bodies,”
Garad-san said.
“That’s sexual harassment, yeah,”
Bid-san said.
“Why? I mean, they’re naked, but not erotic,”
Garad-san said.
“True,”
Hoss-san said.
“Yes,”
Nabel-san said.
“What are those looks for? That’s not what I mean. Sigh… even if they’re dungeon monsters, they feel like artificial things. Yeah. Like dolls.”
Garad-san said.
That word triggered a memory from my past life—mannequin dolls.
“So they shoot threads, attack with spider legs, and use the Evil Eye… like dolls?”
Bid-san said.
“Disgusting,”
Hoss-san said.
“It’s troublesome that ‘Spider-Cutter’ works on them…”
Nabel-san said.
Garad-san muttered while looking at them.
“This is the first time I’ve seen anything like this in the Great Forest,”
“I’ve never seen anything like it either,”
“I’ve been beyond the forest, not that I’m bragging. Even there, nothing like this existed,”
Bid-san said.
“You went beyond?”
Hoss-san said.
“Yeah… and there was nothing there. Not even a dump site,”
Garad-san said.
A dump site… well…
Bid-san and Hoss-san looked awkward. Yeah, understandable.
“So this really is a dungeon anomaly?”
I muttered.
Garad-san looked uncertain.
“I fought a giant spider. But I recognize the black mottled pattern on these arms. And the red eyes… though that one had six,”
Garad-san said.
“These have four,”
Bid-san said.
“Multi-eye types having fewer eyes is said to indicate subordinates,”
Garad-san said.
“I’ve heard that,”
“I saw the giant spider, but not its subordinates, so I can’t be sure,”
Garad-san said.
“Actually… I saw spiders during the First Wave. They had black mottled legs and four red eyes. I remember them. They were small, real spiders—not humanoid,”
Bid-san said.
So that’s why everyone was talking about white spiders back then.
Then what exactly are these spider women?
“…The relic was disabled, yeah. The only thing that could be related is ‘Kizumono’,”
Bid-san said.
“But ‘Kizumono’ erases relics. It doesn’t just disable them,” Hoss-san said.
“But… that’s the only connection we have. Something is definitely happening in the Haizen Great Forest,” Garad-san said.
“Hey… this isn’t some worst-case scenario going even beyond worst-case, is it…?”
We answered with faint smiles.
Then I wondered—
Those two voices we heard twice… who were they?
I feel like I’ve heard them somewhere before. But we were saved.
My Kingdom.
My Kingdom.
The unreal Kingdom—my Kingdom.
Once, there was a kingdom.
She was the queen of that land.
Many citizens existed.
Many served her.
Many respected her.
Many worshipped her.
Many received her blessings.
Thus, she proudly fulfilled her duty as queen.
None of her citizens resembled her.
They were completely different and could not even communicate.
They were not her subordinates, nor her kin.
But the queen loved those entirely different beings.
She cherished their short lives.
That is why she was the queen.
The citizens understood that.
As long as the queen was queen, the kingdom was eternal.
It should have been eternal.
But because they were short-lived, the citizens forgot her love.
And because she was long-lived, the queen did not realize they had forgotten.
Eventually, the citizens split into three factions.
The queen noticed their change, but chose to watch over them.
In the end, she was put to sleep by the hands of her beloved citizens.
Deep, deep sleep.
But she never forgot her love for them, nor did she lose it.
So the kingdom exists here.
As long as the queen is the queen.
My Kingdom.
My Kingdom.
The unreal Kingdom exists here.
I AM THE QUEEN.
DAUGHTER OF THE GODDESS OF FANGS.
I AM THE QUEEN.
DAUGHTER OF THE GODDESS OF FANGS.
I AM THE QUEEN… AND THE DAUGHTER OF THE GODDESS OF FANGS.
THIS IS MY KINGDOM.
I, the queen who is the daughter of the Goddess of Fangs, will never forgive.
I will never forgive anything that threatens my kingdom.
Heizen Great Forest.
The unreal Kingdom.
“What… what is that!?”
“Just run!”
“If only we could use relics!”
“Pakira, look out!”
“Lupinas!?”
“…Of the cosmos… damn it—Alcyone Blade!”
BOOOOOOOOM!!
“Riv… sorry.”
“We’re indebted to you.”
“…Hurry… withdraw…”
“Wait! There’s someone over there!”
“Hmm? He’s still alive?”
“Riv.”
“…No choice… buying time…”
“Riv. Don’t overdo it.”
“Riv. Leave the time-buying to us.”
“Here it comes!”
“…Maya Blade.”
BOOOOM!!
“…You’re my opponent… I’ll take you on… okay?”
BOOM!!
“Good… good… we got away… hmm… Liv’s solo performance… huh… Tayugete Blade…”
BOOOOM!!
“…Then… I guess I’ll really go all out… Pleiades Blade… full protection release request… approved… codename Liv Valentine… mission auto mode… activated… relic protocol… limited activation: 10 seconds… release… protocol name: <True Divine Form Relic [————]> is approved…”
KAA—
A bright flash.
FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—
“…Alright… then I’ll really do it for real… Your Majesty…”
That day, the Heizen Great Forest trembled.
And then—
The Second Wave began.