Chapter 74: Forest Wave Last ②- Guene
Guene responded honestly.
She folded her arms and nodded with a slightly subdued expression.
“Very well. What do you want to ask?”
“…Compared to when we fought earlier, your personality has become noticeably calmer… more obedient, even. Why is that?”
Her earlier high-energy attitude felt like a lie.
“That’s probably because… I was influenced by something inside that giant spider.”
Guene spoke as if she didn’t fully understand it herself.
The giant spider is a dungeon anomaly.
So that was the cause of Guene’s strange behavior.
“That ‘something inside,’ y’know?”
“…The queen…”
“The queen?”
That giant spider could indeed be called a queen.
“Right. When I first encountered it and made it my vessel, I had a vague sense that there were two orbs inside it. One white, one black. The white did nothing. The black merged with me… and I became what you see now. What a blunder! I can’t even criticize the other girls anymore at this rate!”
White and black orbs.
No doubt those were souls.
“By the way, Guene, what do you think of humans?”
She looked down on them, yet still condemned Laada’s actions as cruel. Her true feelings were unclear.
“I hate them. That’s obvious, isn’t it? When I was still a sword, I was treated as nothing more than an experimental object. Of course I’d hate them. In that sense, I do look down on them.”
“Yeah… that makes sense.”
“Can’t be helped, y’know.”
“But that doesn’t mean I think it’s acceptable for humans to commit atrocities. I also understand not all humans are like those who experimented on me. Good and evil exist among humans—and among gods’ daughters as well.”
“So that’s why you broke away from Laada.”
“I was willing to accept some compromise. And the others were being taken down one after another, leaving me no options. I underestimated Laada as well. I thought I could just pretend to obey. But… that was different. That one truly saw humans as insects. His words were gentle, but his actions through Barrow revealed his true nature… When I attacked Barrow in anger for kidnapping and violating innocent female adventurers, Laada stopped me—and I snapped and attacked him. The result… was total defeat.”
Guene’s voice turned bitter as she recalled it.
Barrow… leaving Laada aside, that guy sounds even more inhuman than I expected.
“By the way, I was the one who defeated Raada.”
“What…!? He had already ‘ascended’!”
“He was very strong.”
It felt like fighting Albero all over again.
And for a moment, I genuinely thought I might die. It had been a long time since I felt that way—since the black knight in the forest.
“…That strong?”
“He used a relic called ‘True Ascension Divine Form,’ and it was insane.”
“…Seriously…? No wonder you won, boy.”
Huh. Liv seems to know about it.
Well, that’s Liv for you.
“I’ve never heard of that relic, y’know.”
“A relic that lets one reach divinity… So Laada is dead, then.”
“Yes.”
“…I see.”
Guene lowered her head slightly.
I hurriedly waved my hands.
“N-no, I just did what had to be done.”
In truth, I only killed her because I was about to be killed myself. That’s just how this world works.
“In truth, I came here to obtain the relic that erases other relics… to take revenge on Laada. I also made that giant spider my vessel for that purpose. But it all ended like this… That spider is abnormal. It’s not a normal dungeon monster.”
“That’s because it’s a dungeon anomaly.”
“Dungeon… anomaly?”
Right. They’re hearing this for the first time.
I explained.
This whole land called Haizen is essentially a ground-type dungeon.
And that giant spider is a dungeon anomaly.
“So that’s how it is, y’know… I’m surprised…”
“So this place is a dungeon, and that thing is an anomaly. No wonder it carried so many strange relics.”
“It was sealed inside the Forbidden Land.”
“The seal was broken by Biggs, y’know.”
“Laada was probably involved too.”
“That’s likely correct.”
In the end, it’s hard to say they were unrelated.
At this point, you could blame everything on Biggs.
“Biggs… utterly hopeless, y’know.”
“So the true enemy is the dungeon anomaly…”
A consistent conclusion.
“…So the real enemy is the queen…?”
“Correct. More precisely—the black one.”
“What about the white one?”
“I don’t know.”
“Sounds like split personality, y’know.”
Like Jekyll and Hyde. Two wills in one.
“…Guene… tell me about the queen’s relic.”
“I don’t know everything, but fine. First is the ‘Dimensional Distortion Wall.’ In simple terms, it’s an extremely strong shield. Next is ‘Familiar Generation.’ As the name suggests, it creates subordinates.”
“So the spider girls…”
“The Sword Goddess’s daughters are swords, but also fragments of gods. They can take human form. Not easily, but they can. That ability likely influenced their transformation into spider-women.”
“I see…”
So Guene’s merged form affected the familiars too.
“This body also used the spider woman as a base. But I don’t know why it became like this. I just noticed one day that it was so.”
“Hmm… mysterious, y’know.”
“…And you are?”
Guene looked at Shapeshifter suspiciously.
“I am ‘Shapeshifter,’ y’know. I’m only disguised using a relic, y’now.”
“I see… interesting.”
“…Enough of that… continue…”
“Right. ‘Unreal Kingdom’ disables relic usage within a certain area. However, some relics—like restriction relics—are exempt.”
“And attack abilities?”
“There are ‘Naia’s Claw Strike’ and ‘Atlak’s Thread.’ Claw Strike controls the giant spider legs to attack. If it hits you, a life-corroding curse is inflicted.”
“That’s…”
That’s the same curse affecting Luma and the Puramankurabu girl.
“And ‘Atlak’s Thread’ is an extremely adhesive web. It immobilizes targets.”
“Curse poison is terrifying, y’know.”
“…Yeah…”
“And the cooldowns?”
“I don’t know.”
A firm answer.
“I see. Guene, do you know a relic called ‘Reality Kingdom’?”
“No… sounds similar to ‘Unreal Kingdom.’”
So she didn’t know.
“Why do you ask, y’know?”
“That relic is what caused our situation. Its effect is likely relic nullification or cancellation.”
Something on a completely different level.
It likely disabled every relic on the field at that moment—including mine.
“…That’s possible.”
“…Unreal… reality… black is unreal… white is reality… maybe.”
“How many relics does that spider even have, y’know?”
I couldn’t help but think the same thing. If black and white each correspond to different relics, then just how many are there?
“It is a dungeon anomaly after all.”
Come to think of it, that voice I heard earlier… it might have been the white one.
And maybe that white presence was what allowed Guene—freed from her control—to meet us here.
Talk things through, huh.
Well… maybe talking wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
“…You people. If you intend to defeat the Queen, I will cooperate.”
Guene spoke.
“Is that alright?”
“…About the ‘kill me’ thing…”
“As for that, I acknowledge the loss as a loss. I never intended to be hostile toward you in the first place, and you did eliminate Laada, who was a disgrace to my own kind. I thank you for that.”
“I understand. Please, let’s work together.”
“…Mm… same here…”
Liv extended her hand.
Guene glanced at it briefly.
“But don’t misunderstand. I still hate humans.”
She turned away with a huff.
A tsundere?
A “kill me” type, a tsundere, and a blunt, masculine speech pattern…
Why isn’t she a knightly lady?
“By the way, what is it you actually want to do?”
“I want to be a knight. If I was born as a sword, then naturally I want to become a knight.”
“O-oh…”
A shame. Truly a shame.
“A knight, y’know? I happen to hold a noble title, so it’s not impossible, y’know.”
“Eh, really?”
“So y’know is… a noble… y’know noble…”
Noble… that sounds incredibly wrong.
Guene frowned.
“Hm. Do you need nobility to become a knight?”
“Eh?”
“You didn’t know that, y’know?”
“I have no idea. Then make me a knight as payment for my cooperation in defeating the Queen.”
Her demand was absurdly high-handed.
Shapeshifter looked panicked.
“L-let me think about that, y’know…”
“Think as much as you like.”
This girl… does she even understand how knighthood works?
Even Shapeshifter looked genuinely troubled.
At this rate, she might actually get her way…
“…Mm… now that things have… been settled… let’s go…”
“NOT settled at all, y’know!”
“Indeed. Then we move. I already know the path forward.”
Why is Guene the one taking charge?
Well, I guess I understand why…
Still.
For some reason, she feels like a relative of Narcissus-san.
Well… she is a “kill-me” type after all.
And so, we headed toward the final enemy—the giant spider.