Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? Volume Chapter 11

That catfish was delicious. What a feast.

My Taste Enhancement skill even rose to level 7.

I guess I was really focused on eating, huh?

But you can’t blame me!

Everything I’ve eaten until now has been disgusting!

Obviously, I want to savor it when I get to eat something good!

In addition, Overeating rose to level 8.

I still have plenty of stock left, but since it probably increases the amount I can conserve, there’s certainly no disadvantage to raising that.

Plus, I’m curious to reach level 10 and find out what the derivative or evolved version of Overeating might be.

It’s a very convenient skill as it is, so my hopes are high.

There’s something else I’m concerned about, though.

That would be the Pride skill.

Pride is one of the seven deadly sins.

And there’s also a deadly sin called Gluttony.

Overeating. Gluttony. They’re rather close in meaning.

I can’t help but be leery.

What if the evolved form of Overeating is Gluttony?

The effects of Pride are almost disturbingly powerful, and if Overeating evolves into Gluttony, it’s possible it would have similar effects as another skill from the “deadly sins” series.

In that case, I’d feel as anxious about it as I do about Pride.

Well, it’s still only level 8. No point in worrying about that yet.

Besides, it’s gonna level up whether I want it to or not, so it’s not like worrying will do me any good anyway.

Well then, guess it’s time to keep exploring and search for more catfish.

Catfiiiish!

I wander around the Middle Stratum on the lookout for catfish.

However, I don’t see a single one.

Hmm. I guess if they’re submerged in the magma, I wouldn’t notice them.

The first time I ran into one, it just so happened to be peeking out of the flow, after all.

If they normally run deep, they’ll be hard to find.

If you ask me, I should have a useful skill for enemy detection by now.

Thinking back, it does seem like I’ve been able to pick things up more accurately than you’d expect with mere intuition.

I mean, I’ve never once been caught off guard by a surprise attack, and whenever I feel like I’m in danger, I’m usually right.

This is just a guess, but I think it’s probably just my natural instincts as a spider.

I’m probably detecting stuff like the flow of air without even realizing it.

In that case, it makes sense that I didn’t notice there was a catfish so close before.

If my senses rely on the flow of air, then of course I can’t detect threats that are underneath magma.

I may not be able to sense surprise attacks coming from underwater or underground, either.

In which case, being near the magma is dangerous.

If something suddenly jumps out and drags me in, that’ll be the end of the story right there.

Plus, it’s risky being near magma in general anyway, so I’ve been trying to avoid it.

From now on, I’ll have to stand far enough away that I’ll be safe even if a monster appears.

You know, like right now.

If I had to sum up the creature that just leaped out of the magma, I’d call it… Hmm, an eel?

Yeah. An eel-like monster with scales and limbs.

LV 2Status:HP: 1,001/1,001 (green)MP: 511/511 (blue)SP: 899/899 (yellow): 971/971 (red) +57Average Offensive Ability: 893Average Defensive Ability: 821Average Magical Ability: 454Average Resistance Ability: 433Average Speed Ability: 582Skills:[Fire Wyrm LV 4][Dragon Scales LV 5][Fire Enhancement LV 1][Hit LV 10][Evasion LV 1][Probability Correction LV 1][High-Speed Swimming LV 2][Heat Nullification][Life LV 3][Instantaneous LV 1][Persistent LV 3][Strength LV 1][Solidity LV 1][Overeating LV 5]>

Uh-oh. This eel is really strong.

It’s this strong, and it’s only “average”?

Actually, judging by its skills, I wonder if this eel is also part of the catfish’s evolutionary line?

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No, now’s not the time to worry about that sort of thing.

The eel is about fifty feet away.

It’s already noticed me and has totally locked on.

I have the higher speed stat, but its other stats totally leave mine in the dust.

Worst of all, its red stamina gauge completely outweighs mine, even considering my Overeating stocks.

Even if I can outrun it, there’s a good chance it’d catch up to me when my stamina runs out.

Hopefully, it loses interest before that happens, but…

My yellow stamina is low anyway, so I can only maintain my top speed for short bursts.

Once my instantaneous stamina runs out, I’ll get short of breath, so I might get caught that way, too.

Can I get away?

Just as the question occurs to me, my vision of the eel splits in two.

Foresight must be activating.

The blurred version of the eel looks like it’s about to spit something out.

Moments later, the real thing does the same, expelling a fireball.

So the basic tactics are the same.

But this blast is even faster and larger than the ones the sea horse and catfish made!

I move out of the way in a hurry.

Thought Acceleration is working, but the missile’s velocity is so high I can barely tell.

It lands right where I’d been standing a moment before with a boom.

Even with the help of Foresight and Thought Acceleration, I was just barely able to avoid it.

What the heck? I thought I’d gotten away more quickly than that.

So it’s this skill’s fault. Maybe it increases the eel’s accuracy rate.

In which case, it could be hard to keep evading even for me.

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I may be in serious trouble here.

I dodge another fireball.

The next one flies at me, though, before I can recover.

At this rate, escaping won’t even be an option.

The aftershock of the explosion shaves off a little HP.

If I move at top speed, I can definitely dodge these, but my yellow gauge will drain rapidly.

If I’m constantly sprinting, my yellow stamina bar will deplete before I can blink, leaving me short of breath.

Then I’ll be finished.

Foresight and Thought Acceleration help me predict the path of the flaming missiles and avoid them.

But the eel can anticipate my movements, too, and corrects the trajectory of its shots.

Who will outwit who? It’s like a high-speed, high-stakes game of chess.

The big difference is that while the eel doesn’t lose much if it misses, I’ll die if I make a single misstep.

I’m extremely grateful for my skills leveling up at a time like this.

The velocity of the incoming fireballs seems to slow down just a tad.

That said, my perception of my own movement speed slows down, too, so I have to be careful.

I evade more fireballs.

Then, thanks to Foresight, I see the eel try something different.

It still looks like it’s going to exhale something, but it’s sucking down way more air than before.

Time to let loose that peak speed I’ve been holding back.

I dash past the monster at a clip that blurs the scenery around me.

Behind me, powerful flames burn everything to a crisp.

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This is a move that can be used when the Fire Wyrm skill reaches level 4.

I didn’t get hit directly, but my back feels scorched by convection alone.

My HP decreases bit by bit.

At this rate, things’ll only get worse, and if I take a direct hit even once, I’m done for.

But I can’t come up with a single plan.

All I can do right now is keep bobbing and weaving and wait for my chance.

The feeling that my life is being slowly taken from me has me hot under the collar, no pun intended.

Another fireball flies toward me.

Between the eel’s level-10 Hit skill and Probability Correction, its aim is incredibly accurate.

If I didn’t have Evasion, Thought Acceleration, and Foresight on my side, I doubt I could dodge it.

All right! It’s not enough to turn the whole situation around, but I’ll take whatever advantage I can get.

I check the eel’s remaining MP as I avoid the fireball.

It’s definitely gone down, but it still has over half remaining.

Since Flame Breath has such a wide range, it seems to use a lot more MP than Fireball.

That’s great and all, since it means it can’t shoot that one after the other, but I kinda hope it tries to preserve its MP by not using it at all.

There’s no guarantee that Foresight will save me every time, so I’m not sure if I can keep avoiding it.

I’ll have to keep as close an eye as possible on the eel.

Before I finish that thought, Foresight shows me the image of the eel charging another Flame Breath.

I dash off at top speed once again.

But this time, instead of firing it straight forward, the eel swings its head sideways and sweeps the ground with fire!

Flame Breath already has a huge attack range, so now it’s spreading ridiculously far.

Crap! It grazed me a little.

Even though it barely touched me, my HP goes down by 10.

Part of my back and one of my hind legs got hit.

The leg is in a bit of pain, but I can still move it fine, I think.

Still, this might slow me down a little bit. Shoot.

At this point, my stubborn Fire Resistance skill level finally goes up.

Great timing.

With higher Fire Resistance, my HP Auto-Recovery rate should exceed the rate of heat damage.

The amount of recovery will probably be minuscule, but it’s a world of difference from having none at all.

I check the eel’s MP.

Good. It’s less than half now.

The rate of MP consumption seems to be about 10 for Fireball and 50 for Flame Breath.

But even with half its MP gone, I’d guess the eel could still use Flame Breath about four more times if it wants to.

That’s not good.

I move to put some distance between myself and the monster.

Trying to prevent that, the eel launches a fireball as it follows me.

Just as I intended.

I doubt it can charge that Flame Breath while moving.

If I keep juking around and goad it into spitting more fireballs, it’ll eventually run out of MP.

If I can hold out until then, I should get a chance to strike back, hopefully.

For now, I keep evading.

I’m constantly doing my best to get as far away as I can, but avoiding getting hit takes top priority.

I carefully choose my escape routes so I won’t get cornered by the magma.

One wrong step, and I’m toast.

It’s like I’m on a tightrope.

YES!

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My skills keep leveling up, probably because I’m so concentrated on this battle.

Fire Resistance and HP Auto-Recovery are the two skills I’ve been hoping to level up, and now it’s happening!

I celebrate for only an instant. But that instant is nearly fatal.

The eel initiates Flame Breath.

This is completely unexpected. Foresight didn’t even warn me.

There’s no way I can dodge this.

The breath erupts from the eel’s mouth.

Immediately, I kick off the ground with all my might, jumping into the air.

The stream of fire scorches my legs.

Fighting back the pain, I use Energy Conferment while extending a thread toward the ceiling.

Energy Conferment consumes red SP to strengthen things.

With this skill, I can spin some thread capable of withstanding the heat of the Middle Stratum for a short period.

Still, it’ll only last a limited time, so I quickly pull on the thread to raise myself to the ceiling.

Then I cut the silk before it burns.

I stare down at the eel from the ceiling.

It glares at me from the magma.

It’s great I escaped to the ceiling and all, but overall, this situation is still untenable.

When I’m sticking to the ceiling, I inevitably move more slowly than when I’m on the ground.

I already had my hands full avoiding the eel’s attacks on terra firma. There’s no way I can keep it up on the ceiling.

I have to get back down ASAP, or I’ll get shot down instead.

However, the eel isn’t in such great shape, either.

Its MP has gone down considerably.

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Looks like it could summon three more Flame Breaths or sixteen more Fireballs.

Compared with when we started, that’s pretty low.

But it’s still more than enough to knock me off my perch.

Will I make it back down to the floor, or will it nail me first?

This is no time to be stingy with my skills.

Mental Warfare, activate!

Mental Warfare is a skill that consumes red SP to temporarily increase physical stats.

Red stamina is my lifeline, so I’ve never activated this before. But in this situation, I can’t be reluctant about spending SP.

I set off right away, aiming for the nearest wall.

But apparently, the eel anticipated this.

It launches a fireball as if to hedge me in, seemingly knowing exactly where I wanted to go.

This would be tough to dodge while clinging to the ceiling.

I’ll have to stop worrying about my red stamina bar for now.

I avoid the approaching fireball with the highest speed I can muster.

My best option is to push through Mental Warfare and hope that SP Reduced Consumption and SP Recovery Speed will offset the loss.

I have to get to the wall before my yellow gauge runs out.

It keeps firing, and I keep dodging.

However, this is making it difficult to get close enough to the wall.

While I’m busy with acrobatics, my yellow stamina bar keeps dwindling.

Crap. If I run out, it’ll be even harder to stick to the ceiling.

I have to avoid that outcome at all costs.

But it’s no use. The eel’s flawless aim prevents me from getting anywhere.

Finally, the yellow gauge runs out.

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Fatigue immediately assails my body. Before I can think, another fireball homes in on me relentlessly.

Damn! I can tell that I won’t be able to dodge it, so I deliberately release by grip, leaping into empty space.

The fireball explodes in my immediate vicinity, the blast brushing against my body.

I manage to prevent myself from going into a tailspin, drawing on Energy Conferment again.

The reinforced thread shoots out, adhering to the wall, and I instantly scuttle along it.

Another shot passes through the space I’d just evacuated.

Swinging through the air like a pendulum, I narrowly avoid falling in the magma and manage to land on the ground.

Without so much as a beat, another fireball flies at me.

I use the momentum of my landing to roll out of its way.

This is rough. As punishment for continuing to move even after my yellow gauge expired, my breath is ragged and my exhausted body aches.

I force myself to ignore it with the powers of Pain Nullification and Pain Mitigation…

…because I can see the eel is about to unleash another Flame Breath.

Whipping my spent body into action, I take off at maximum velocity.

The edges of my vision fill with red flames. The heat approaching from behind is palpable.

I keep running, trying to shake it off.

Somehow, I’ve avoided the Flame Breath.

I let out the air I was unconsciously holding in my lungs.

My yellow stamina gauge starts to recover.

There’ll be no more fireballs now.

The eel is finally out of MP.

With no more means of attacking from a distance, the eel slithers onto land.

As it turns out, its head is the only eel-like thing about it.

The rest of its body bears an uncanny resemblance to a Chinese dragon.

Even with its MP gone, its eyes are still fixed on me.

This thing has definitely decided I’m its enemy.

At first, it felt like it might’ve just decided to crush me because I was a bit of an eyesore, but somewhere along the way, its fireballs took on a more serious tone.

By the time it started using Flame Breath, it was definitely coming at me for all it was worth.

Seems it didn’t care for having its attacks continuously dodged.

Even if I ran away now, I doubt it’d let me go.

Its MP might be gone, but its SP is still going strong.

My stamina, on the other hand, has been whittled down considerably.

Since I kept moving after my yellow bar ran out, my red stamina bar has gone down too much for comfort, too.

I still have my surplus from Overeating, so it’s not like I’m completely immobile or anything, but if it comes down to a battle of stamina between us, the eel will definitely be the winner.

I can’t run.

That leaves me with one choice. I have to fight and win.

Based solely on the numerical values of our stats, I don’t stand a chance.

But numbers aren’t everything.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my battles here, it’s that skills are the biggest deciding factor, for better or for worse.

I mean, considering the huge difference in our stats, it’s a miracle I’ve survived at all.

And the source of that “miracle” has to be my set of skills.

It’s only because I’ve been exploiting them to their fullest that I’ve been able to compensate for the inherent difference in our strength and even forced the eel onto land.

The gap in our stats is definitely huge, but it’s not enough to decide the battle.

If I play my cards right, I can still traverse the gulf.

Not to mention, I can see all of the eel’s skills, too.

Since it’s out of MP now, the only ones I have to worry about are the combination of Hit, Evasion, and Probability Correction.

That, and the defensive power granted by Dragon Scales, the last level-3 ability granted by Fire Wyrm.

The final threat is the sheer physical size of the eel’s massive body.

That alone is enough to make it a formidable enemy.

But I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Namely, my strongest means of attack: Deadly Poison.

The target’s defense means precious little in the face of my powerful venom.

It can erode even Dragon Scales, eating away at the flesh beneath.

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In the end, my skills are all I can rely on.

That’s the only area where I outperform the eel.

Although, even that’s debatable depending on how well I use them.

Both of us are lacking in the defense department.

This’ll be a sudden-death match, where whoever lands an attack first wins.

Which means my winning move would be…

The ground-based second round begins without a bell.

The eel’s long body coils back and forth.

After our exchanges thus far, it seems quite wary of me.

This eel is pretty smart compared with most other monsters, though not as smart as those monkeys.

Which only makes my job harder.

The eel moves as if in time with the Divine Voice (temp.).

Body unfurling, it lashes at me with its tail.

I dodge it, of course, but the beast’s attack doesn’t end there.

The tail sweeps sideways, zeroing in on me again.

I edge farther back to avoid it.

This time, the eel’s head comes at me instead, swapping places with the tail.

That’s exactly what I was waiting for.

As the world moves around me somewhat slowly thanks to Thought Acceleration, I fix my eyes on the eel’s approaching mouth.

Just as I judge that it’s about to get too close for me to dodge, I activate Poison Synthesis.

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Then I immediately evacuate.

It’s the same strategy I used against the catfish. However, it has a huge effect.

The poison goes down the eel’s throat, just as I planned.

Its HP rapidly decreases.

In agony, the eel’s body whips around violently.

I retreat beyond the reach of its writhing.

In the end, if both sides are strong enough to kill the other with a single blow, the winner will be whoever lands an attack first.

Which means the one who comes up with the better strategy to land that blow wins.

That, and my evasive ability surpasses the eel’s accuracy.

Even with level-10 Hit and Probability Correction, it couldn’t outdo my combination of Evasion, Thought Acceleration, and Foresight.

So as soon as the eel was lured ashore, my odds of winning skyrocketed.

Still, it’s not over yet.

Despite all my talk about a single deathblow, that one attack probably won’t be enough to kill it.

Even the catfish didn’t die after one attack, so there’s no way that would work on an even stronger species.

Besides, the eel still has another skill on its side.

Its HP is rapidly recovering right before my eyes.

It’s a level-3 ability from the Fire Wyrm skill.

It consumes SP, and HP is recovered by a corresponding amount.

Although it can’t recover fully because of the amount of SP it has, it’s still enough to resist my Deadly Poison.

On top of that, as I evaluate the eel’s Appraisal results, it gains Poison Resistance level 1 and HP Auto-Recovery level 1.

The poison in its body is still eating away its HP little by little, but the peak of the damage has passed already.

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Still, it’s not like I’m just gonna stand here and watch the thing revive itself.

I make the sturdiest thread I can and wrap it around the eel’s body.

It’ll burn up right away, but that doesn’t matter.

All I need is to immobilize it for even a moment.

Luckily, I manage to do exactly that.

In that instant, I target the eel’s face and activate Poison Synthesis in rapid succession.

Globs of poison strike liberally.

The eel tears through the restraints and thrashes wildly.

But the poison has already seeped into its eyes and mouth, draining its HP mercilessly.

The rate of damage is far too high for its new Auto-Recovery skill to counteract.

And it’s far too powerful for its new Poison Resistance skill to combat, either.

A shield whipped up on a moment’s notice can hardly withstand weaponry I’ve been perfecting my entire life as a spider.

Without enough SP left to spend on recovery, the attack proves too much for the eel.

Ooh, evolution.

Wait, evolution?! Already?! Isn’t this a little soon?! Last time with the monkeys seemed really fast, too!

Well, I can worry about that later.

For the moment, I want to savor my victory.

I wooon!

Whoo-hoooo! I won, I won! That eel was super-strong, and I beat it!

Amazing, right?! Am I hella strong or what?!

Heh. Heh-heh.

I fought head-on, barely even used my thread, but I still won.

That means I’m not weak anymore, right? I’m sooo strong!

Yahoooo!

That eel was a formidable enemy. It was no joke. A real fight to the death.

But in the end, victory is mine!

I’m number one! Heh-heh-heh-heh.

I did it! The winner is me! Ha-ha-ha!