No no no.
This is too much, even for me.
Sure, the Hero's Status is way higher than those random mobs.
But still, bring a kid like this to a battlefield?
That's beyond out of place.
Ugh.
Looking closer, they're trembling.
Poor thing.
Huh?
What are they trembling at?
Me? Is it me?
More importantly, seriously, why is the Hero in a place like this?
The fact that the Hero is such a small child is surprising enough, but being on a battlefield is just plain impossible.
Is it one of those things? They bring kids to tour the battlefield so they get used to seeing death from an early age?
I guess that's possible?
It was supposed to be a one-sided fight and they were only here to observe, but then I showed up and everything went sideways, so they accidentally charged out?
Hmm.
I don't know this Hero kid's personality well enough to say for sure.
The Hero kid swings a sword down at me.
Well, more like, the sword is huge relative to their body, so they can really only swing it downward or flail it around.
I dodge it lightly.
Unlike the Demon King, this Hero kid is at a reasonable strength level.
The age is a bit unreasonable, though.
Well, that just means they've got a lot of potential.
In that case, crushing them here would be a waste. Much better to wait until they've grown and matured.
The more they grow, the better it works out for me.
Being chosen for the Title of Hero at such a young age means their future is incredibly promising.
Crushing them now would be way too wasteful.
So, Hero kid.
I'll let you go.
In exchange, I'm taking the pathetic adult trembling behind you.
Oh wait, I'm sensing preparation of a big spell.
Damn.
That's going to take out the Hero kid too!
What are they thinking!?
I can't intercept it in time.
I'd be totally fine taking the hit, but it'd be rough for the Hero kid.
Can't be helped.
I'll teleport them to safety.
I lightly evade the Hero kid desperately swinging their sword at me while quickly constructing a teleportation spell.
Ugh, their construction is faster than I expected.
This is bad, they've already fired it.
Flames that scorch a wide area are about to land.
I reduced the power with my Dragon God Force and Dragon Barrier, but the flames still incinerate the surrounding area.
Including me, and the Hero kid nearby.
I was a split second too late.
Amid the sight of the flames spreading explosively, I execute the teleportation.
The battlefield chaos from moments ago is replaced by an eerily quiet silence.
I'd teleported back to the Great Ello Dungeon.
With the Hero kid.
I quickly check on the Hero kid's condition.
Their HP has dropped somewhat and they've lost consciousness, but it doesn't look life-threatening.
Their clothes seem to be quite high quality, so their defense must be pretty high.
Oh, but the white scarf is more than half burned.
First, treatment.
It'd be a waste to let future prey die here.
While I'm at it, I'll fix up the scarf a bit too.
I snip off the burned portions of the thread, connect new strands, and weave them together with Thread Manipulation.
Mm.
A fine job, if I do say so myself.
The scarf must be made of decent thread since the Hero wears it, but now that it's reinforced with my thread, the defense should be even higher.
It'll surely protect against beheading, too.
"Hmm!? This child is a Hero!?"
The old mage noticed us after we teleported in.
Oh right, this guy had Appraisal.
He figured out the kid is a Hero.
Ah, I've got a great idea.
I'll dump this Hero kid on the old mage.
I've been wanting him to leave anyway, and having him take the Hero kid along would be two birds with one stone.
I can get rid of an annoyance peacefully, and return the Hero kid — it's a win-win.
Let's do it.
Once that's settled, I need to communicate.
To communicate, I need to be able to speak.
My Level right now has comfortably surpassed 50 thanks to that massacre earlier.
Meaning I can finally evolve.
So, I'm going to evolve now. Take care of things for a sec.
{Aye aye~} I leave the rest to the Queen.
《Individual Zana Horowa is evolving into Arachne.》 It's been a long road, but I can finally get a form close to humanoid.
Oh, but wait a sec.
An Arachne has a spider's lower body and a human upper body, right?
Won't I lose parts?
Oh no!
I won't be able to do the Eight-Eyed Evil Eye Festival anymore!
No.
More importantly, I'm female, right?
I've always assumed I was female, but can you even tell the sex of a spider?
I was able to lay eggs so I must be female, but with a Skill's power, maybe males could lay eggs too.
There's no way I evolve and end up as some buff dude on top, right?
Actually... that could kind of work?
Could it?
Ah, the evolution's starting.
Wha!?
My body is creaking!
Up until now my appearance hasn't changed much, but this time it's changing dramatically.
Aaagh.
It doesn't hurt thanks to Pain Nullification, but it feels super weird.
My body is growing larger.
It's not even creaking anymore — it's cracking and popping.
I'm growing without even molting.
Am I overthinking things because it's a fantasy world?
My body finishes expanding, and now my scalp starts tingling.
Something is sprouting out.
Huh?
What a bizarre sensation.
It's like my consciousness is splitting in two, even though I'm not using Parallel Thinking.
And the construction of whatever's growing finishes.
《Evolution complete.》 《You have become the Arachne species.》 《All base ability values have increased.》 《You have obtained the Skill Proficiency Evolution Bonus.》 And my evolution was complete.