Chapter 54: Urushi and Fran

「This dog is?」

『Dog…?』

「Wuu…」

As expected, it must be pitiful to be seen as a mere dog.

『It’s something I summoned.』

「I was surprised when it came out all of a sudden~」

『Fran, this is Urushi. It’s a Darkness Wolf that, as I said, arrived via my summons.』

「Urushi?」

「Kuun」

「Good boy.」

When Fran strokes its head, Urushi raises a joyful voice.

「There, there.」

「Whuu」

… This guy is a Wolf, right? It’s acting just like a big dog would…

「Nn.」

「Hah, hah, hah」

「Cute.」

As the nape of its neck, its muzzle, and its chin are rubbed Urushi closes its eyes out of pleasure and licks Fran’s face. Hey, hey, didn’t you eat a giant Spider just a little while ago? You should probably wipe up your face, Fran…

Well, that aside, Fran’s safe so how should we proceed? I guess first we should meet up with the rest of the Adventurers. I was a bit impatient so I didn’t worry about it before, but this Dungeon was dangerous for Clad and Frion, right? If they ended up dying I’d have trouble sleeping at night.

「Hey, you guys, get up.」

「Uu…… Nnh…」

「Huh…? Where…?」

「In a panic, you guys triggered a Transition Trap and got caught up in its effects.」

「Ah, right, the lil’ kid was too!」

「’S she a’right?」

It seems that after becoming unable to fight after being transferred, these two passed out due to poisoning and bleeding. However, while in a light-headed state, they caught glimpses of Fran defending them.

「Y’saved us.」

「Thank you.」

Oh-ho. The fact that they bowed their heads is worthy of praise considering they’re Clad’s companions. If they had acted haughty towards their benefactor I would have punished them a bit.

「Ohn」

「Uwo! What’s that?!」

「W-W-W-Wolf! It’s a Demonic Beast!」

They didn’t react very well, huh. They’re finding it hard to even stand up — or should I say that they’ve been completely paralyzed from shock? They’re just sitting on their backsides looking up at Urushi with desperate expressions.

「A-A-Amanda! Please, save us!」

「Oou?」

「Hii! Its tongue! Its tongue is–!」

「Urushi, no.」

「KUUuuu…」

When Amanda explains that Urushi is Fran’s companion the two manage to settle down.

「T’ make such an ‘ighly ranked Demonic Beast yer companion…!」

「S’ th’ first time I’ve seen a Demonic Beast Weapon!」

After saying so, their eyes became full of respect towards Fran once again. They’re completely captivated by Fran. It seems like they’ll begin calling her ‘Big Sis’ any moment now.

「Ah, anyways, what’ll we do now?」

「Yeah, where’re th’ others?」

「They went looking for you guys.」

How should we go about finding everyone else…?

「Urushi: look for Humans?」

「Oon!」

With that, Urushi laid down and stared at Fran.

「Ride?」

「On, Oon!」

「Nn. Thank you.」

「Oh my, it’s quite intelligent, isn’t it?」

Urushi’s back is still high up even when it lays down, so Fran simply climbs up.

「Soft…」

「Aun!」

Fran holds onto the back of Urushi’s neck, and I fix her in place using Telekinesis. Like this, she won’t be shaken off.

But what should we do about Adventurer A and B? They won’t be able to keep up with us on foot, but it’s dangerous if we leave them here. Should we ask Amanda to escort them?

「Urushi: carry?」

「Onn」

Urushi gently looks up at Fran and gives her a short nod.

「Like dogs?」

「Huh? Tha’s kinda abrupt, lil’ lady… Dogs… Well, I guess I like dogs, but–」

「Alright.」

「Eh? Uoo–!」

Urushi lifts the nape of Adventurer A’s leather armor with its mouth, just like how a parent cat would carry its kittens.

『Are you alright with giving them a lift?』

（Wafuun!）

Well, alright, but don’t pick up Fran like that.

「Then, I’ll carry you.」

「Eh? Amanda will?」

「That’s right, so behave yourself alright?」

「Uwaa!」

Amanda picked up Adventurer B and placed him under her arm despite him clearly being larger than her. What an odd sight to behold.

「Then, let’s go.」

「Hwoooon!」

With that, Urushi starts running. By the way, I’ve been sheathed and am assuming my usual position on Fran’s back. I’ve sealed up the crack on my blade for the time being, but I should wait until we leave the dungeon for a complete recovery. Until then, I’ll just have to patiently settle with emergency repairs.

「Urushi: amazing. Running through the sky.」

『That’s thanks to Aerial Jump Lv8.』

Unlike Aerial Jump Lv1 that we possess with effects similar to multistage jumping, Lv8 allows Urushi to perfectly run through the air. It seems that it’s quite a pleasant experience for Fran.

「Spiders ahead.」

5 Trick Spiders can be seen heading towards us.

「Go.」

「Hhwoon!」

Oi, oi, Urushi, even if you don’t plan on slowing down there’s no reason to speed up, right? Even the pitiful screams of the Adventurers are being ignored.

「Huhoon!」

Called upon by Urushi’s roar, jet black spears rain down on the spiders. Furthermore, the spiders on the left and right were torn to pieces and scattered about just as Urushi entered the next passageway. Most likely, it was Urushi’s doing when its forepaws moved at lightning speed.

『――Flare・Blast!』

「――Fire・Arrow」

「――Wind・Cutter!」

In the nest-covered passageway, magic is fired in rapid succession to create a way through. Although the strength of the nests themselves are considerable, they’re unable to endure the continuous barrage. Like that, we run through the cave without stopping while eliminating any spiders along the way.

「There’s no response.」

「Hii… Hii…」

「Ha… Hah…」

Amanda mutters so with a composed expression, while the two Adventurers look like they’re barely holding onto their lives.

After running for a while, we arrive in front of an especially large passage. Inside was a large amount of spiders. Because of the numerous nests set up in the vicinity it’s hard to see, but seriously, the number of spiders here is amazing. However, the presence of Humans can also be felt. Most likely, these presences belong to Cruz and the others. How is it that they managed to break through to this point? Perhaps there’s an alternate entrance?

Well, either way, we won’t be stopped by something of this level. Firing magic in rapid succession, we break through the passage and arrive at some sort of great hall. It’s about double the size of the room we fought Army Beetles in at the Goblin Nest.

Spiders jostled around in such a room. Not only on the floor, nests had been set up all over the ceiling and walls, amounting to more than 50 total. Inside that spider-filled hall was Cruz, as well as the others. Isn’t it unreasonably dangerous to challenge this room with their fighting potential? Testament to that, they were cornered against a wall. Some of them had Status abnormalities.

「Damn it, e’en if I cut an’ slice ’em…!」

「If the path of retreat wasn’t blocked off…!」

It seems that they went too far in and got trapped.

At the center of the spiders was a remarkably large spider. Poisonous-looking purple hair is grown over its entire body, arousing a feeling of discomfort.

Race：Trickster Spider：Demonic Bug：Demonic Beast Lv13

HP：196 MP：110 STR：71 END：89 AGI：103 INT：61 MGC：45 DEX：108

Skills:

Keen Hearing：Lv5, Playback：Lv3, Leap：Lv1, Poison Spray：Lv3, Lasso：Lv4, Trap Remodeling：Lv7, Trap Perception：Lv6, Trap Creation：Lv6, Confusion Poison Generation, Confusion Fang, Shell Enhancement, Infrared Sight, Enhanced Molting, Paralysis Poison Generation, Paralysis Fang, Deadly Poison Generation, Deadly Poison Fang

Description:

A Highbreed of the Trick Spider species, this demonic beast makes use of traps while hunting. Its ability to modify traps with the Trap Remodeling Skill in Dungeons is particularly troublesome, with turning simple Poison Spray Traps into fatal ones, or redesigning Transition Traps to lead to their own nests being notable examples. Its physical abilities are low, making it weak in close combat. Threat Level C.

Magic Stone Location: Head

So it was present in the Dungeon after all. A Trickster Spider. Its Status far surpasses the other spiders, too.

It’s the boss of the spiders that caused Fran to have a terrible experience!

『Alright, let’s take our revenge!』

「Nn.」

「OOooon!」