My Relic, Danger Discernment, tells me about threats using colors and points.
White means safe. Or friendly.
Red means a harmful threat or danger. Or hostile.
Black means a deadly threat or danger.
Two red dots—that's a Worm. A harmful threat, and it's hostile.
One white dot is sitting on the roof of that three-story building.
Safe and friendly—that would be the black spider woman up there.
I'm confused. I don't understand.
"Wof! What are you doing?"
"Giza. There's a black spider woman over there!"
"What? Huh, she got away."
Whether she noticed us or not, the black spider woman vanished.
Then, as if spawning from nowhere, the red dots multiplied. Worms. No wait—there were way too many.
They kept on multiplying. This was… red turning into black.
"Giza, let's run!"
That moment, countless Worms burst out of the ground all at once.
"Whoa!"
"Aah!"
The instant I thought we were about to be attacked, my body was suddenly lifted into the air and yanked away.
"Aaaagh!"
"Kyaaaah!"
I was yanked backward by something on my back and went tumbling.
W-what the hell just…?
"Wof, are you safe?"
"Y-yes. Giiza, are you?"
"Unharmed. We seem to be on a rooftop."
A rooftop… so that's where we'd been pulled to.
"Giiza, there's a string on your back!"
"You've got one too."
These were obviously spider threads. I suddenly felt a presence behind me.
"…"
When I turned around, it was there.
Everything except the black color was the same as that spider woman.
"What are you?"
Giiza raised his Estoc in a guard stance.
The color of my Danger Discernment was white after all. Not an enemy.
Meanwhile, the black bits were writhing in a mass. Even just the black specks were unsightly.
I didn't want to look down, and if I fell, I'd die.
"——…"
The black spider woman said nothing and just sat there.
Or rather, she was looking at me.
"She doesn't seem hostile."
"Yeah, seems that way."
Did she understand that we'd helped her?
Giiza withdrew her sword without hesitation.
"Giiza. That worm — what was it exactly?"
"No idea. Nothing like that was in the reports."
"...You mean it showed up out of nowhere?"
"Either way. We can't just leave it be. Something has to be done."
Giiza said with a grim expression.
It was written all over her face — she had no idea what to do.
Same here. I had no clue how to properly deal with a worm of that size.
"...———"
The black spider woman silently pointed in a direction.
Under the collapsed Finger Rocks, was it?
"Is something over there?"
"...That's where, if I remember correctly, the monster that destroyed the Finger Rocks is buried."
"...Let's go take a look."
"Right."
"......———"
The black spider woman seemed to be guiding us.
She understood our conversation. What the heck even was she?
We walked along the rooftops. Where it got narrow, I jumped.
Where the gap was too wide to cross, the black spider woman flung us over with her thread.
"So that monster that destroyed the Finger Rocks — what was it about?"
"From what I heard in the report, it was a large one. Not a local monster."
"That means..."
"The way I see it, either someone brought it out, or something being smuggled got loose."
"Smuggling?"
"This is a trade city, after all. Can't rule it out."
"So someone smuggled it in?"
"Well... that 'someone' has actually been identified in the report."
"Huh? Who is it? Have they already been caught?"
"No, not caught yet... A man in a red mask."
"Biggs!?"
Biggs. That guy again! That bastard!
Seriously — is causing trouble the only thing he's capable of?!
Anger was rising up inside me. The irritation wouldn't calm down.
This was the first time in my life I'd ever wanted to kill someone this badly.
Arrived at the collapsed Finger Rock.
There was the corpse of a massive monster.
It was flipped over, belly exposed, its head and upper body buried under rubble and collapsed buildings.
"...What is that?"
"A red gem?"
From the slashed-open belly of the massive monster, there was a mysteriously glowing red gemstone.
The gemstone gave off an eerie light.
"I thought there'd be a lot of worms."
"There are. An unbelievable number, burrowing into the ground—ah! Giiza. The worms are coming from the gem!"
When the red gem trembled, worms came pouring out as though being born from it.
It looked like a birthing scene. Disgusting. One after another, they just kept coming.
"That's the culprit!"
"Let's destroy it right away."
"But how do we destroy it? I'm... frustratingly better at close-range combat. I can't do long-range."
Because the surrounding buildings had been caught up in the destruction, the distance to the monster's corpse was considerable.
Getting down to ground level was impossible. The surrounding area had gone pitch black.
"............"
But it wasn't as though there was no way.
I used the Pseudo-Divine Transformation Relic to become [Generous].
My hair turned purple, my eyes turned purple. Hm? The black spider woman was making a suspicious face.
It's harsher than expected, though not by much. Why is that?
"So that's the [True Divine Transformation]?"
"No, this is the [Pseudo-Divine Transformation]."
Unfortunately, I still can't use the [True Divine Transformation].
I've got a taste of it through [Levform], so I'd like to eventually be able to use it.
"So what are you planning to do now?"
"Like this."
I created countless [Banish] orbs in midair.
And I launched all of them at the red gemstone at once.
"[Phantasmagoria]!"
The red gemstone and parts of the monster's carcass were erased.
Then the reaction from the pitch-black ground didn't just vanish or turn red—it stopped showing any reaction at all.
"Incredible. The only thing left is the worms, but even that many—Wof!?"
Giiiza panicked because I had jumped down to the ground.
I landed on the surface. Just as I thought—no reaction. Maybe because the red gemstone was gone.
"Did it disappear together with them?"
"Wof! What are you doing? Don't be reckless!"
Giiiza and the black spider woman descended as well.
"I'm sorry. The reaction was gone, so I thought it was safe."
"So you really were using some kind of Relic, weren't you."
"Ah, sorry. I actually have a Relic called Danger Discernment — it can tell friend from foe and sense danger."
"So that's how you detected the worms."
"I should have told you sooner."
"Nah, asking someone about their Relics isn't great etiquette. But, well... trusting me enough to tell me — that's, um. Honestly... I'm glad."
"Huh?"
"Right. Now it's just the corpses..."
Giiiza turned away, her face bright red as she tried to play it off and change the subject.
"If that's the case, we still have time, so I'll go ahead and clean them up with Phantasmagoria."
"Please do."
I used Phantasmagoria to eliminate the giant monster's remains along with the building debris and rubble.
"...Come to think of it, about that red-masked man."
"What about Biggs?"
"A report came in from 'Thousand Faces' just the other day."
"A report?"
"Yeah, a job-completion report."
"...Don't tell me."
"According to the report, the red-masked man is already dead."
"Wait — Biggs is dead?"
Huh? Dead?
I just stood there, completely dumbfounded.
"Following up on the valuable informant's intelligence, we conducted an investigation. A broken red mask was found. We also obtained a report from the Delver Knights in a nearby town. According to it, when Peony Monkshut — a Rank-I delver and captain of the Subjugation Knights — dissected the stomach of a strange monster she had slain, a male corpse wearing a broken red mask was found inside. More than half the body had been melted, but there was apparently no doubt he had been wearing part of the mask."
"......So Biggs had been... dead all along."
"That's what it comes down to."
I was stunned.
This man, who had done nothing but brazenly cause me grief over and over, had already been dead.
No way. Somebody tell me this is a lie. I'll kill you for it.
"......"
"Wof?"
"All I ever wanted was to be the one to kill him with my own hands... I didn't actually want him to be dead..."
When I slumped forward in defeat, Giesa patted my head.
Seeing that, the black spider woman patted my head too.
"Hey. It's all I can do, but cheer up."
"......——"
The kindness of those two — one swing, one body — nearly brought me to tears.
Thanks to them, I pulled myself together and managed to erase everything just before active hours ended.
Ah, I learned that the truth is, at times, cruel.
Still, I really did want to kill him.
I wanted to kill him so bad.
Yeah, I really wanted to kill him.
————————————————————————————————
Everyone. How are you doing? Are you well?
It's gotten properly cold and feels like winter now.
The flu is going around.
Everyone, please take care not to catch a cold or come down with anything.
Thank you always for your continued readership.
If you've read this far, found it interesting, and feel you'll keep looking forward to what comes next—
Especially Wof! Mineha! Pakira! Knife! Hoss! Narcissus! Witch! Neckia! Nabel! Black Spider Woman. Gyyyza!
Gesuo! Bidd! Young Lady Seilan! Crab! Goddess of the Knife! Megadia! Annakruetzen! Torquetam and Thunder Fang and someone from Kerberostarn! Old Man Struuuum!!
Biggs (deceased).
Someone among the First-Rank Delvers! Everyone else! Everyone else… (including inanimate objects)!! If you feel that way about your favorites—
Please, if you could follow and/or drop a star, it would genuinely encourage me to no end.
Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh.
"Oh right, I haven't followed or starred yet. Come to think of it, I'd forgotten that kind of thing even exists. Ah, right, there is. That system"—if you've just remembered this because of me, then hitting that button would make me incredibly, incredibly happy.
Follows and star ratings from readers are the greatest source of motivation, drive, and everything else for writing.
It's true. It really picks me up. It really encourages me!
It's also effective for health and warding off illness (results may vary).
Please, I'm counting on you!!!