The Male Slave of House Sianella - Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Spider Hunt (2)

[Beginning to protect Sione Sianella.]

[A portion of your power has been conditionally unlocked.]

The ability I gained after saving Sione from those demon worshippers.

Perhaps thanks to my will to protect Sione, after feeling my physical abilities and mana capacity increase.

I immediately began squeezing out mana.

If my timing was even slightly off, that house-sized spider's venomous fangs would obviously pierce Sione's head.

My actions were more urgent and swift than ever before.

Since a bug that size wouldn't be blown away by a mere breeze.

Whoosh!!!

I used 40% of my total mana at once to create flames.

"Get down!"

There was no time to waste being polite.

At my loud shout, Sione, who had been walking ahead thoughtlessly, turned to look at me.

"Huh?"

Perhaps because I was wearing a fierce expression while creating a fireball.

Shock filled Sione's face.

Regardless.

I threw the fireball before it was too late.

Bang!!

An explosion rang out above Sione's head.

"Shaaaa...!!"

Fortunately, the arachne was hit by my magic in time.

The explosion pushed its body back, causing it to fail in crushing Sione's head.

Then the arachne glared at me fiercely with six eyes dripping with madness.

Well, its prey was about to enter its mouth, but it failed its hunt due to my interference.

It was natural for me to earn the spider's resentment.

The arachne began moving its eight legs to create distance from us while remaining wary.

Being allergic to bugs with more than three pairs of legs, its appearance was so disgusting that my expression twisted involuntarily.

While watching the spider's movements, I asked my trouble-attracting master:

"Are you alright?"

"...I thought I'd die of shock."

"If I had been even slightly later, you truly might have lost your life."

Sione nodded while maintaining maximum composure.

She must have seen that cursed spider being blasted away by the explosion above her head.

Sione must have also sensed roughly how the situation was developing.

Soon I could see Sione's gaze following the arachne with clear eyes rather than a dumbfounded expression.

"I can sense dark energy from that arachne."

"...Indeed, it showed no fear even after being hit by fire. So it's been corrupted by magi."

...The situation had become more troublesome.

Even handling a normal arachne would be somewhat difficult in my current state.

With it being corrupted by magi, it would be even harder.

Despite being just a spider, its body was as large as two adult men.

If such a spider, already naturally tough, was also steeped in magi...

Obviously a few arrows wouldn't affect a creature that had forgotten pain due to magi.

"Can't we run away?"

I immediately shook my head at her words.

"We can't escape from it, at least not in this forest. If we try to run, it will shoot webbing to snare our ankles. If we show any weakness, it will immediately try to sink those venomous fangs into us."

"...We're trapped in its backyard."

"Exactly."

Sione's expression perfectly described our situation.

This kind of forest was where arachne went most berserk while hunting.

If we tried to just run, that spider would obviously spit out threads like phlegm to bind us and drain our blood while hunting us.

Since we had no choice but to fight in this situation.

I immediately loosed an arrow while speaking:

"Be careful of the threads it spits. Once caught, I'm not sure if even I could free you."

"Shaaaa!!"

As soon as it saw the shot arrow, its four pairs of legs kicked off the ground to launch its body.

Then it climbed up a nearby tree at a terrifying speed.

How could something with such a huge body climb trees so well?

I gathered mana to prevent it from escaping further up into the trees out of sight.

A whirlwind burst forth, sending leaves flying.

Twang!!

The bowstring released with a cry.

The arrow flew straight through the rising leaves at an incredible speed.

"Shiiiiik!!"

My arrow buried itself in the arachne's abdomen.

The creature shrieked in an indescribable voice, apparently displeased by the sharp piece of iron deeply embedded in it.

'The improved mana efficiency isn't bad.'

The slightly improved mana efficiency thanks to Siabel was not bad.

I could clearly feel that the mana required for creating whirlwinds had decreased from before.

Though creating flames hot enough to burn the arachne still consumed a lot of mana.

I should be able to use these small winds several more times.

That's when.

Whoosh!!

I heard something cutting through the air beside me.

"I still can't hit it from this distance."

Sione had also begun aiming and shooting arrows at the arachne.

Though her arrows couldn't reach the arachne due to the distance.

It was enough to divide the creature's attention that had been focused on me.

The creature quickly climbed to the treetop as it became aware of Sione again.

"...This isn't good."

Though I created another whirlwind and shot an arrow, I couldn't stop the arachne's movement.

Rustle rustle.

The arachne began moving busily while hiding itself in the thick leaves.

'This is driving me crazy.'

I should have prevented it from climbing the trees somehow.

In the end, the arachne had secured the high ground.

In this situation, not only did we have to look up to track its position.

We also had to dodge or cut through the webbing that could be shot at us at any moment.

Suddenly the rustling sound of leaves brushing against the arachne stopped.

Shiiik!!

Sticky webbing was shot at Sione from behind.

"Ah...!"

Sione, who had been drawing her bowstring, obviously couldn't dodge such a sudden attack.

I immediately created a gentle breeze to quickly grab and embrace her.

Meanwhile.

"Shiiiik!!"

Now what was it thinking?

The arachne that had climbed all the way up the tree threw its body down toward my head.

"This is really crazy."

Along with Korean words that escaped involuntarily.

I briefly met Sione's eyes.

"...Ray?"

"Don't call me..."

I threw Sione, whom I had been embracing, with all my might.

"Just protect your head."

"What do you... kyaaah!"

Judging by her startled scream continuing, she must have rolled several times.

Unfortunately, with my own death seeming imminent, I couldn't spare any more attention for Sione.

That eight-legged cursed monster was in free fall above my head.

I needed to quickly escape before being crushed to death under it.

I immediately retreated backward on a gentle breeze to face off against the arachne.

Thud!

Its eight legs touched the ground.

Though I had thrown Sione and immediately pulled back my body, the distance between the arachne and me wasn't very far.

"Shaaaaak!!"

Thanks to that, it charged forward while brandishing its larger pair of venomous fangs responsible for paralytic venom among the two pairs on its mouth.

Whoosh!!

It immediately shot multiple threads.

Though I tried to dodge using spirit magic.

Not only was the distance disgustingly close.

The spider's threads flew so fast that I couldn't dodge them all with just a gentle breeze.

"Damn it."

Sticky webbing pressed against my right foot, restricting my movement.

Before, arachne were just monsters I could easily take down with one draw of the bowstring.

Why had my life become so tragic?

I looked at the spider charging toward me while raising its inner pair of small fangs containing deadly poison along with its paralyzing fangs.

Since I'd die pathetically if I took this head-on.

I gathered all my remaining mana.

I couldn't accept dying to just one arachne.

Instead of my usual wind, I drew up fire spirit magic to its maximum that I could handle.

Spirit power infused with flames began concentrating in my sword.

The sword didn't turn red from being unable to handle the temperature.

Spirit flames had the ability to burn only what the caster wished.

The problem was that mana draining away rapidly caused extreme fatigue.

'I'll have to give up one arm.'

Since it would obviously try to bite me regardless of ordinary attacks, being corrupted by magi.

I aimed for its brain right behind those disgusting eyes.

However, it was obvious I'd get bitten somewhere while tearing up its brain.

I planned to give my left arm to those huge fangs.

The dangerous part of an arachne was its inner fangs, not the outer ones.

Its paralytic venom wasn't strong enough to stop the heart.

Just enough to prevent movement.

"Shaaaa!!"

It extended its huge fangs.

Before it could bite my head or shoulder, I quickly offered my left arm to it.

"Fuck, seriously...!!"

Crunch.

It really fucking hurt.

Since those outer fangs responsible for paralytic venom were also used for tearing prey's flesh and crushing bones.

Its fangs crushed my left arm while injecting paralytic venom.

Even if my left arm became a rag, as long as I survived, they could call a priest to heal me somehow.

Without hesitation, I thrust my sword infused with all my remaining mana between its many eyes.

Whoosh!!

Powerful flames burst forth from my sword that had penetrated into the spider's head between its numerous eyes.

"Shaaaa!!!"

I felt the strength leaving the fangs biting me.

Its brain must be getting scrambled in real time.

It was amazing it was still biting down.

Frustrated by it still gripping my arm, I twisted my sword using every last bit of strength I had.

"Shaaaa..."

Only then did life begin fading from the arachne's six eyes.

"Hah... hah..."

I gasped for breath.

Since there was nothing good about leaving my left arm pierced by its fangs any longer, I hurriedly retrieved it.

Finally, extreme fatigue came flooding in.

The paralytic venom must have spread too, as even moving a finger became difficult.

Thud.

My legs could no longer support my body and I collapsed backward.

Though I needed to do something about the blood continuously flowing from the hole in my arm.

Not just my legs, but even my right arm wouldn't move easily.

Then my eyes began trying to close too.

Perhaps because I had burned through all 50% of my remaining mana at once, the effects of mana exhaustion seemed greater than expected.

Finally, I turned my head to look at where I had thrown Sione.

That kid, at least she had loyalty.

Sione was crying while looking at me as if heartbroken.

Soon she approached and seemed to be saying something as her mouth moved, so I watched her wondering what she was saying.

Though I tried to open my mouth to ask for healing, no sound would come out.

And finally, before long, my vision faded powerlessly to black.

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