Arachnaine, the Spider Queen.
This is one of the bosses that must be defeated to progress through the main story in the Silver Dawn Knights route. It was this boss that Claudia set out to subdue at the beginning upon the lord's orders.
However, since I was only given a rough location without any information, I don't think I would have ever thought that it would be this type of monster.
As her nickname, Spider Queen, suggests, she is also a boss with the appearance of an incredibly large spider called Arachnaene.
To be exact, just the lower body.
The lower body was in the form of a spider with eight legs and a creepy pattern, but it had a peculiar appearance with the upper body of a human woman attached to the head of the spider.
It was even quite pretty. Even considering that the censorship was worried about showing a woman's naked body as it was, the upper body was covered up to the neck with leather.
Because of this, she gained a cult-like popularity among a certain class that favored Monmus, and even if you didn't necessarily like Monmus, she was quite popular because she was one of the few beautiful women in B4.
Moreover, one of the death gods was of that type, so it was even more so.
The pattern itself was nothing special, as expected from an early boss, and even considering the Bella mode, there were only about 10 of them. There was also only one phase.
Considering that the bosses in the second half have an average of over 20 different patterns, they were definitely on the easy side.
Except for one pattern that summons countless baby spiders.
This pattern appears twice in total, once when your stamina drops to 60% and once when it drops to 30%. This can be said to be the biggest challenge of the Arachnaine in Bella Mode.
In vanilla, it just summons about 50 spiders and you can kill them one by one by rolling, dodging, and hitting them appropriately. If it's too much trouble, you can use an area-of-effect magic to clear them all out.
But in Beulah mode, it was different.
The number summoned jumps up, and when it's reduced to 60%, 250 monsters pop out, and when it's reduced to 30%, a whopping 750 monsters pop out at once. That's why it's 1000 monsters.
There were countless cases where computers that barely met the minimum specifications would become overloaded in the second situation, causing the main unit to make a noise or simply crash because they couldn't handle it any longer.
First of all, the baby spiders' stamina was so low that they would die if they were to be touched by anything. It was only 1 in the first round, and even in the highest round, it was only 11.
That's because there are just so many of them, and they're coming from all directions at once.
Even like her own mother, the spider queen, she accumulates venom. Once she allows her baby spiders to attack her, they either die from stiffness or from squirming to death from the poison.
"That's why I said I needed a type of attack magic that could continuously sweep a wide area. You're the perfect fit for that, Erica, right?"
Or you can use the magic you get by hunting a burning golem.
In order to deal with the baby spiders reliably, an attack that could project damage 'continuously', 'over a wide area', and 'quickly' was essential, and the magic that fit those conditions perfectly was the reward for killing the Burning Golem.
Flame Rotating Ring.
A spell that creates a ring of flame centered around the caster for 30 seconds.
The casting speed was fast, the duration was relatively long, and the mana consumption was low, but in return, the damage was miserably low. However, even with that miserably low damage, the baby spiders could be sent down in one shot, so it was perfect for targeting the summoning pattern.
The strategy itself is to use magic, run like crazy, and burn the baby spiders when the pattern starts, repeating this until the boss room is completely cleared. That says it all.
"...."
"...."
"...."
The expressions on Lize, Erica, and Claudia's faces gradually darkened as they listened to my explanation.
Iris said that she was a monster that didn't suit her and that she couldn't hold us back. After all, there had to be at least one person who had to guard the castle.
"Now I understand why Mr. Delta was so insistent on being able to attack from a wide range. Baby spiders… … ."
"And you say it has poison in its teeth and claws? I have to catch it before it gets close."
"When you first said a thousand spiders, I was like, what on earth is that? Then it makes sense. There are also colony-type monsters among the monsters, so I think they're roughly the same type."
The knight commanders spoke one by one. All three seemed to be grumbling about how disgusting it was, but they showed no fear of Arachnainera.
"Here we are. We've arrived."
The horse stopped. The knight commanders followed me and stood in their places. We were at the entrance to a valley covered with thick forest.
Inside, it was dark because the trees were so thick that it was clearly daylight. Only a few ray of sunlight could be seen through the leaves.
"It looks like a place with a lot of bugs."
Erica said with a frown. I agreed. I didn't know it when I saw it in the game graphics, but when I saw it for myself, it was just like a jungle.
"Okay. Then let's check again."
Slung, we each took out our weapons. The words were well hidden in the jewel we used when we went to catch the rock raccoon last time.
"Where is the poison applied?"
"It's a spider-shaped lower body. A human-shaped upper body is fine. You said that you'll be infected with poison even after a few hits, so keep your distance except when attacking."
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"Spider web attack?"
"It's best to avoid it if possible, but if it comes at the same time as another attack, avoid the other and take the spider web attack. Even if you get hit once or twice, you can quickly get rid of it."
"If it hits more than that, I won't be able to take it off, so you have to buy it yourself."
"I already explained to you what kind of behavior you're going to show… … Oh, just in case, I'm saying this. The place we're going to fight might be a little bit creepy. I'm telling you not to be shocked. Do you understand?'
"… … How gross is it?"
"It's hard to explain in words. Just prepare yourself mentally because you'll know when you see it for yourself."
You could just think of it as a deteriorated version of the bug dungeon you'll have to visit later.
In other words, the bug dungeon, which is a strengthened version of the Arachnaine boss room, is a den beyond imagination.
The final inspection was over, and we headed towards the Spider Queen's boss room. I, who knew the way, took the lead, while the other three each surrounded me from the side and back.
The road was extremely rough. There were tree roots everywhere, so I almost lost my step several times. In addition, there were all kinds of weeds and the plant stems were so strong that they couldn't be cut properly.
It would have taken much longer if Lize hadn't cleared the way by freezing all the plants in her way and then destroying them.
"… … It's here just by looking. Right?"
"Somehow I can already guess what the interior will look like."
Where we stopped was before the path went much deeper into the valley.
Covered in cobwebs instead of weeds, trees, and plants.
Lize stomped on the floor once and then lifted it up. The bottom of the silver sabaton was covered in sticky cobwebs. It wouldn't come off easily even after a few kicks.
"Can we really move this properly?"
"Avoid stepping on areas with a strong gray tint if possible. It will be difficult to move properly."
In the game, in areas covered in spider webs, rolling is fixed to the slowest rolling speed, and you cannot walk or run quickly, so you must walk. It was right to avoid areas covered in spider webs.
"It's gray everywhere?"
It's just harder to find a place that isn't covered in cobwebs.
"That's why I'm trying to do it. I can't help it."
"Can't this be burned?"
"Uh… … Well. I'm not sure. How about giving it a try?"
After hearing what I said, Erica, without hesitation, breathed flame into her sword and swung it horizontally. The flames swept through the spider web, but she was not burned.
"It's not working."
Erica gave up neatly and stepped back.
Actually, at first I thought about asking Lize to freeze the ground and go, but I thought it would be better to fight on the spider web than on the ice, so I gave up.
"But I think it'll be okay inside. Let's go in."
From now on, it was a straight road, so Claudia took the lead and entered the valley. Next was Lize, third was me, and last was Erica.
In the middle, a dozen spiders as big as my thighs appeared in a line, but Claudia single-handedly swung her greatsword and quickly cleared them all away.
The things that just came out were baby spiders that appear in the Spider Queen's summoning pattern.
As we went deeper, the spider webs surrounding the valley walls became thicker and thicker, and the number of spiders swooping in decreased. A musty smell wafted from all directions.
"… … Ugh."
Soon we arrived at the Arachnaine boss room. As soon as we did, Erica groaned. The other two didn't show it, but they certainly didn't look happy.
The whole place was covered in green eggs.
Round eggs were stuck all over the walls, even the ceiling and the floor near the walls, which were covered with spider webs. Beyond the egg shells, the silhouettes of baby spiders could be faintly seen.
The places where eggs were not laid were covered with spider webs, and the places where spider webs did not cover eggs were laid. Dried, dried-out human corpses were a bonus.
"Oh, are you a guest?"
A very seductive voice was heard from between the eggs, and the Spider Queen stepped forward. Perhaps because of the spider webs that covered the floor, there was no sound of footsteps at all.
As the distance gradually grew closer, I could finally see it clearly.
The lower half of a giant spider, entirely green and with a creepy pattern, and the upper half of a pretty woman attached to the head of the spider's body. It was undoubtedly the Spider Queen.
Her dark green hair was long and hung down to her waist, and her pale skin, almost gray, was clearly visible because she was wearing nothing as an upper garment. Her eyes and lips were green.
The Spider Queen, who had noticed us, spread her arms wide to the sides as if welcoming a guest. Her bare chest heaved greatly in time with the movement.
I was about to follow the other knight commanders and prepare for battle, but then I stopped for a moment, thinking I must have seen something wrong, and looked at Arachnainera again.
'... ... Huh?'
Why are you naked?