With the appearance of five giant worms that could easily swallow a school bus whole, everyone immediately switches into battle mode. We look around as the monsters go in and out of the ground, circling us like a bunch of thirsty sharks that have just stumbled on fresh prey.

I quickly grab my draconic hilt and send a wave of mana into the purple crystal serving as the pommel. In a flash, mesmerizing pinkish smoke forms a long line from the dragon’s jaws which soon takes the shape of a girthy pole with the actual hilt and purple gem at the very bottom.

Since our opponents are Sandworms, the nasty, tough, persistent bugs with bodies protected by incredibly durable chitin armour, I pick the best possible weapon that has any chances of doing anything to them without aiming specifically at their insides through their round maws filled with rows of sharp teeth.

An impressive double-sided hammer forms at the top of the violet-purple pole, revealing its function as a massive war hammer. Its size is nothing to scoff at and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to wield such a heavy-looking thing if I was my past self, without the help of my high stats, new body, and the subservience of the artefact. And, fortunately, even though it’s quite sizable, it’s still believable without looking utterly stupid.

“We should split up and have each group focus on one!” Kamil shouts while activating a few of his defensive abilities.

“No!” Paul immediately shoots him down. “Group up and stay together! They can’t attack all at once if we are all in the same spot! Only one will be able to come at us at a time!”

At least one person is using their brain properly. No surprise he ended up as the team’s leader. I’m not sure how much he knows about Sandworms from this world but his decision is the best possible one in the current situation. He always could quickly pick up on the tiniest details and make great use of them.

Something covers my body in the form of a sapphire layer that quickly disappears into thin air. Feeling magic flowing into me, I glance behind my back and find Natalie on one knee while playing her acoustic guitar. Her music is lost in the rumbling the worms create but it doesn’t seem that we need to hear it perfectly for the magic to settle in.

One of the Sandworms finally grows tired of just watching and surges out of the ground, making an arc with its massive body that clearly is going to close the circuit exactly where all of us stand. A deafening roar reverberates through the air as the hideous mouth looking like a multi-levelled, rotating meat grinder descends onto us.

“All dodge right!” Paul commands and we move as a group.

The monster’s movement isn’t incredibly fast and we have more than enough time to jump to the side before it plunges itself into the dried-up earth, continuing to dig forward as it disappears into the hole it creates like a slow train entering a tunnel.

Everyone tries their best to make use of the Sandworm’s short moment of potential vulnerability and a myriad of attacks surge at its dark brown body. 

Shino, Kamil and Marcia activate a skill each, covering their weapons in colourful hues, and slash at the monster’s armour from up close. Teffith prepares a thrusting technique and follows after them. Ghilerie and Paul both seem to use Arcane Arrow and send the projectiles forward with a loud whizz while Natalie calls on multiple instances of Wind Blade from her magical repertoire.

As all the attacks hit the monster’s body almost at the same time, I slam my war hammer into its fleeting side shortly after them. We then observe as the Sandworm gradually disappears into the scorched earth with just a few shallow cuts in its exoskeleton and a small cracked pit created by my blow.

We move away from the hole it leaves behind itself and group up again, watching the other enemies with the utmost attention.

“What the fuck are we supposed to do?” Kamil shouts into the open. “We’ve barely scratched that fuck’s back!”

“They have incredible Tremor Sense and it’s a double-edged sword for them!” I reply. 

Paul catches on within a second and draws his bowstring back in a blink again. The tip of his arrow starts buzzing and trembling the longer he holds it back.

“Thumbs into ears and mouths open!”

Everyone follows without hesitation and he releases the arrow high into the air, doing the same as he has advised us to immediately after the feathers leave his fingers.

The projectile whizzes through the air and explodes with a powerful seismic shock that passes through our bodies with a pressure strong enough to be comparable to getting hit with a wall of wind, forcing a few people to take a step back to remain standing. It then hits us again. And again. And again. Totalling at seven pulses, the shockwaves finally stop.

We look around and notice that all the worms have hidden away under the ground after getting hit a few times. The earth is still rumbling so they haven’t run away and are just circling under us for now. But, that gives us some time to discuss the strategy.

“Their receptors are located around one meter away from the maw’s edge. A solid hit in that area can give them an insufferable concussion. Slashing and piercing weapons will take ages to push through the armour so bring out the most heavy-hitting skills you have,” I quickly continue where I left off.

“How are we supposed to hit them there when they are moving all the time? Their heads are almost permanently underground unless they come out to attack,” Teffith asks after stepping closer to me.

“The insides of their mouths should be vulnerable. I can try preparing a spell and having them lured into swallowing it,” Natalie chimes in with a suggestion of her own.

“That could work,” Paul agrees. “I assume that after we succeed in incapacitating one as you said, Alastair, we then all have to attack the same spot while it’s unmoving to cut its head off?”

I nod. “That or slice through as much of its mouth from the front, chucking spells and arrows inside too, and hope to deal enough damage for it to run away. You can also try to pierce the brain through there but it’s not that easy to figure out which side is up and down. Both of these tactics are much more dangerous than the beheading one.”

“I can make short work of its gums with our Dragonewt friend while our archers and Nat butcher it from a distance,” Marcia adds.

“Kamil-san and I have the strongest single-strike skills so we can try cutting its head off in the meanwhile. It would be too crowded in front of its mouth anyway,” Shino comments next.

Kamil nods. “I’m going to turn these worms into a fucking fish bait!”

Marcia snorts at him. “And what are you going to use it on? A leviathan?”

“We can figure that out later. First, let’s get past the fish bait stage.” I chuckle and shake my head. “I’ll let you guys have the first strike while I check something.”

Right on time, the worms begin resurfacing again and drilling through the ground towards our new position since we have moved slightly away from the previously created tunnel to avoid getting pushed in. Everyone puts their guards up and awaits the next attempt to swallow them whole.

Dividing my focus between watching our opponents and pulling up my system windows, I hastily navigate to the What’s Mine Is Yours skill and open the catalogue of abilities I can kindly borrow from my Partners. The chilly aura won’t be of much use in our current predicament and the cooldown has already finished.

While fishing for something useful, I watch how another Sandworm surges from the ground and soars towards our group with a similar arc to its sibling, if any of them are actually related. 

Natalie has been ready and an impressive Fireball forms above her head after she raises both hands up. She calmly calculates the trajectories of the worm’s mouth and her projectile and launches the giant ball of swirling flames straight into the Sandworm’s fully open maw.

The spell explodes on impact and covers the monster’s front with a fierce inferno. Unfortunately, the Sandworm continues on its path like nothing has happened and pushes through the cloud of fire to continue falling on the people it has targeted; its mouth singed only a little bit, without any more serious damage visible.

We manage to jump away in time and the giant locomotive of flesh and chitin buries into the ground, causing it to tremble strongly. The others try a few attacks that don't cost them a lot of mana or energy but, as everyone expected, don’t cause their opponent any harm.

“Looks like fire isn’t the best choice here,” Ghilerie comments.

“I should have known considering how hot it is around here,” Natalie responds in her usual calm manner but with a hint of disappointment hidden in her melodic voice.

“Don’t beat yourself down, Natalie-san. I would have tried the same. In games we have played together, monsters with high fire resistance from the outside were usually vulnerable to it on the inside,” Shino tries to cheer her best friend up.

“Unfortunately, this is not a game, even though we do have an RPG-like system,” I join in and pat Shino and Natalie on the shoulder. “But, fortunately, I found what I’ve been looking for. It’s my time to shine now.”

Marcia snickers. “Haven’t you been shining constantly since we left the capital? Any more and I’ll need some quality sunglasses.”

I chuckle. “Sorry if it looked like that. I did not plan on stealing the spotlight from any of you. I just can’t sit back when I have the chance to help.”

“Do whatever you need,” Paul nods at me. “None of that will matter if we end up dead. And another one is coming.”

Shortly after Paul finishes, one of the worms that have arrived closer, tightening the circles it has been making around us, surfaces with obvious intent. But, almost immediately, another one does the same from the opposite direction and we watch how they crash into each other above us, screeching in what we assume is frustration as both worms bounce to the sides and burrow into the ground having completely interrupted each other’s attacks.

“Glad to see that the strategy is working,” Teffith comments.

“Fortunately, they are as smart as a rock,” I add. “Here comes another one. Be ready to jump in.”

I fix my grip on the hilt of my heavy war hammer and take a comfortable position on my feet as a single Sandworm soars towards us this time. Focusing my senses to their utmost limit, I wait for the perfect moment.

I have only one shot. They are big and stupid but the chances of them noticing what I’m after aren’t that low.

The massive maw filled with rows of teeth descends onto us and the rest of the group jumps away, leaving only me in the spot. I can feel the confusion coming in through my bond with the girls that have become my Partners but I don’t let it disrupt my concentration.

Just shortly before I end up swallowed by the hideous beast, I activate Crushing Fury that I have borrowed from my lovely dwarf wife and a powerful burst of energy surges from within the depths of my body to every corner of it.

A savage war cry escapes my throat as I push myself to my right strong enough to break my footing while also reeling my weapon behind my back from the same side. Arriving outside of the edge of the Sandworm’s mouth, I dive my feet hard into the ground, creating two small craters under my soles, and redirect the whole momentum I have gained into my war hammer by suddenly stopping.

The wide and extremely powerful swing connects with the side of the monster’s head just moments before it reaches the scorched ground and a deafening impact shakes the air, sending a mighty shockwave around. 

Amongst loud screeching and cracking of its almost completely shattered chitin armour, the Sandworm’s head is sent flying to the side, tumbling over the sand and earth, before it stops moving completely. Only weak shivers plague its body as it tries to slither away.

The rest of the party waits for no signal and they all dash past me to take their positions before another worm decides to have a go at us while its sibling is knocked out of the competition to eat as many people as possible.

Just as planned, Marcia, Teffith, Natalie, Ghilerie and Paul assault its open maw while Shino and Kamil both charge a powerful ability side by side. The samurai girl takes a drawing stance with dark energy gathering around her sheathed katana and the Hero raises his sword in both hands above his head as a swirling golden mist surrounds it.

She attacks first and starts repeatedly making a slash and bringing her sword back to the sheath which is ominously leaking with black smoke. One after another, violent arcs of pure darkness slam into the monster’s neck, digging deeper and deeper through its armour with each impact.

After cutting through about one-third of the Sandworm’s body, she stops and falls on one knee while breathing heavily. Kamil takes it as his cue and makes a step forward. His longsword suddenly shines like a sun and gains in size enough to make the incapacitated worm look like a carrot lying on a chopping board, waiting for the inevitable.

The extremely sharp pillar of light slams into the Sandworm from above just at the spot where Shino has been cutting into it and immediately dives almost halfway in. But, unfortunately, it doesn’t go completely through and Kamil struggles to push it down any further while the enemy is starting to slowly stir, somehow still not dead with such an enormous cut.

With the aggressive energy of Crushing Fury still coursing through my veins, I push myself forward and arrive at their position in two quick strides. I lunge into the air with a loud shout much higher than I would have assumed I ever could and slam my war hammer into Kamil’s golden blade of light from above. 

Another earth-shaking impact sends off a shockwave in every direction as my blow finishes what the Hero has started and buries the holy sword into the ground, beheading the Sandworm completely. The bottom end of the monster keeps spasming and writhing after breaking free from the top end but the beast is effectively dead.

I quickly deactivate Sirgia’s skill before I launch myself at the rest of the enemies in blind rage and craving for a battle that fills my mind to the brim. It’s an unbelievably powerful surge of strength on top of my already high stats but, just as she said, it’s hard to control yourself in this state. It should be great for short bursts of power, though.

“Sensei! Are you fine?” 

Shino’s voice reaches my ears and I walk out from the small patch of bloody carnage behind the monster’s head.

“I’m good. Don’t let your guards down. There are still four of them. Can you guys do that again?” I ask.

“It’s a bit draining to continuously use that skill, but I’ll do my best,” she answers enthusiastically while catching her breath.

“Group up!” Paul’s orders travel through the air and we all nod at each other.

Summoning the best of my mana and energy potions from my storage ring, I walk closer to the duo on my way towards our leader’s voice. After reaching Shino, I throw them at Kamil and pick her up from the front, causing the timid girl to quietly yelp in surprise before wrapping her legs behind my back and throwing her arms over my shoulders.

“Sorry, but we do not have the leeway to mind the place,” I say to Shino and pull her into a kiss while still walking forward.

A little bit startled and shy at first, she quickly catches up on my intentions and pursues my mouth actively as I try to pass her my supposedly energetic saliva while we passionately make out. Supporting my short Japanese girlfriend’s soft butt with my free hand, I cast Rejuvenate too, which results in Shino releasing a few quiet moans into my lips.

Paul spots the three of us coming to join them and looks at our group in confusion as Kamil walks shortly behind me and Shino fervently kissing each other while he chugs the potions I have handed to him. 

Marcia grins at me and I can spot a few smiles from the other girls, except for Natalie. She has the same calm and neutral expression as usual while… giving me a sneaky thumbs up by the side of her waist. 

This girl… Best friend Shino could dream of, for sure.

“Do I also get the free recharge package of kissing and groping or do I have to earn it first?” Marcia asks with a playful undertone. “And I sure hope I can choose a different place to place a kiss on.”

I roll my eyes at her while letting the crimson-faced Shino down. “My saliva works like highest-grade potions for my Partners. That would be pointless.”

“Saliva isn’t the only liquid your body can produce,” she answers with a mischievous smile.

“You are not going to suck me in the middle of a fight and in front of everyone to recover a little. And we have no time. The last thing I want is getting caught with my dick in someone’s mouth when another worm bursts out.”

I can see Teffith opening her mouth to say something on the side and I quickly point a finger and squint at her, forcing her to remain silent and not speak those words that I know exactly what they would be. I don’t need everyone knowing that I can bust a nut whenever I want. She smiles at me softly, catching the attention of others.

We do not continue this banter because one of the Sandworms makes a move and we focus fully on the battle again. Thankfully, it doesn’t look like they have figured out the reason why their friend has died by our hands and keep trying to bite into this dinner squirming in front of them.

Making use of the same strategy as with the first one, we manage to bring down two more worms in a similar way before the remaining ones increase the distance but still circle around us without showing the signs of abandoning this encounter. I have, of course, helped Shino recover the same way and shared a kiss with both Teffith and Ghilerie to rejuvenate them too. Marcia has theatrically shown her exhaustion and extorted a kiss too, greedily sucking on my lips.

“What now? They don’t seem eager to attack anymore,” Natalie asks after around three minutes of nothing but the worms traversing underground around us.

“We need a way to lure them out or we won’t be able to safely—”

*CRACK*

Interrupted, I immediately shoot my gaze towards the source of the loud and earthy crack, noticing a branching fracture coming from the edge of one of the tunnel openings the worms have created while attempting to swallow us.

*CRACK* *CRACK*

It starts widening and traversing towards us while another hole joins it in sending those fissures in various directions.

*CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK*

“RUN!” Paul shouts and we all do exactly that.

One of the worms surges out of the ground and starts diving in and out repeatedly on the same path as us, chasing our party from behind while creating more pitfalls.

“What the fuck is happening?!” Kamil yells as we dash forward.

“They have burrowed underneath us and are trying to collapse the surface!” I yell back, realizing why they haven’t resurfaced for three minutes straight.

“Where’s the other one?” Ghilerie asks, looking around.

A powerful trembling, gradually increasing in intensity, almost makes us trip.

“Below!” Marcia shouts and, exactly at that moment, the second Sandworm bursts out from the ground under our feet.

We are sent into the air and I can see parts of the ground collapsing all around us, uncovering a dark abyss that spans wide and deep. While soaring through the sky alongside chunks of hardened, dried-up earth and the giant worm, I notice that the others have somehow managed to find each other in this chaos and fly closer. Everyone except for me, Natalie and Shino. The three of us fall in different directions.

I make a decision in a split-second and activate Crushing Fury again, rotating myself just right to land my feet on a jagged block of sandstone. With a powerful squat, I thrust myself towards Natalie, who is struggling to manoeuvre around the debris with her Wind Magic.

She notices my approach and tries to keep her face on mine as I arrive closer to her position.

“Alastair! We need to get to the othe—ugh?!”

She isn't able to finish her sentence as I slam into a big chunk of earth just by her and immediately hit her in the side with a spinning kick that sends her body soaring towards the grouped others. I will apologize for that later. She will be fine. She’s a skilled healer. Shino has her movement skill so the choice was obvious.

Before I can do anything else, all of us plunge into the underground depths created by the Sandworms. And not only, I think. They wouldn’t have been able to dig out so much earth in that short moment. We’ve been unlucky enough to fight above a natural cave system.

I hit many shelves, corners and protrusions while falling, avoiding getting impaled or cut into two by anything any close to sharp. Both the still active Crushing Fury and my body’s own toughness save me from any serious injuries and I only get some bruises now and then.

After around fifteen seconds, I spot a flash of someone’s skill and attempt to get closer to that. It seems that luck is on my side because I tumble into everyone falling together and the light was Natalie’s skill to cushion the landing. 

They notice me and quickly form a human ladder to grab my hand before we are split by a wall or something. Shortly after I get pulled to them, we reach the bottom and Natalie’s ability creates something akin to an ethereal pillow that puffs air to the sides as we hit it. Deflating completely, it drops us to the stone floor from up close.

~Sensei! Sensei! Where are you?!~ Shino’s voice rings in my head, surprisingly, without the seductive tone.

I glance around and notice that she’s not with us and the only one currently absent. Everyone else is here.

~Calm down. I’m fine and I’m with the others. What about you?~ I ask.

~Thank gods. I saw you get pushed away from me and I didn’t get to you in time. I’m okay. In some dark cave currently. I’m going to use my Shadow Step to find you guys by following the path to your position, Sensei.~

~Wait. That’s not exactly the best idea. You might end up in the middle of some monster’s den while jumping ahead. We don’t know what we can find down here.~

~But…~

“Alastair?” 

Teffith’s voice brings me out of my mental conversation and I notice that everyone is staring at me.

“Ah. Sorry. I’ve been speaking with Shino mentally. We can more or less feel each other’s positions. She’s quite far from us.”

“That’s bad. She’ll be alone in an unknown land,” Ghilerie comments.

“Shino is strong. She can handle herself. And Al said she can feel him too so we just need to regroup,” Marcia joins in.

I rub my chin while they start exchanging thoughts about our situation.

“I will bring her here,” I finally make a decision and interrupt the conversation.

“What? How? Why?” Kamil furrows his brows in confusion.

“I can switch places with one of my Partners once per… twelve days now. No matter the distance. As you said, she is strong, but I know more about this world and I’m currently the strongest amongst us, by a huge margin. Plus, I can summon a friend to help me out in a crisis. She’s a Tier 5 Arch Succubus. Shino will be able to fight better alongside all of you.”

Silence falls onto us as my words slowly sink in. I didn’t mean to sound like I’m putting myself above them, but that’s just how things are, without sugarcoating anything. I have the highest chances of coming out of this unscathed when going alone.

I can feel the faint worry and anxiety from Teffith and even some traces of it from Ghilerie so I smile at them to reassure my companions. Teffith smiles back with a nod while my new elf friend still seems a little uncertain.

“Since I don’t hear a no, please, explain the situation to Shino after she appears here. She will definitely reject the idea if I run it by her.”

Everyone nods and I dive into my connection again.

~Sorry for suddenly going quiet. We had to discuss something. Are you in a safe spot right now?~

~No problem, Sensei. Yes, I think I am. Why?~

I invoke the Heart Swap skill and experience the familiar pull but much stronger this time. In an instant, my vision returns from the pitch-black darkness and I find myself in a different place, immediately bringing up a small flame above my finger through Livelihood Magic. A light brown tunnel spans around me.

~Sensei! Why did you do that!~ Shino’s voice rings in my head and I can sense her slight worry through our bond.

~You are the strongest after me. They need you. I’ll manage. Ask them to explain the rest. Let’s try to regroup and find an exit. Don’t worry about me.~

She doesn’t answer for a few moments and then I perceive something akin to a mental nod.

~Thank you. Take care.~

~You too, Sensei.~

With that resolved, I turn my attention to the place where I have landed after the transfer. First, I get rid of that little flame and send some mana into my eyes. Most of my senses have been gradually increasing since the big change in physique and sight hasn't been lagging behind.

After a moment of adjusting, I start to be able to see everything quite comfortably. I’m pretty sure part of that is thanks to my Primordial heritage. I don’t think they had perfect Darkvision but they surely had great sight.

Since I don’t know what I could be facing, I leave my artefact in the war hammer form. The tunnels seem wide enough to take a proper swing and the ceiling is so high I can’t see it in the darkness. And, it’s not like you can only take swings with such a weapon. People forget you can still partially use the long grip like a stick and the sharp purple crystal should be decent for stabbing.

Therefore, I take a few short minutes to fix my bruised skin with Rejuvenate and head out, trying to follow a path leading towards the position of the girls I have Partnered with. Thanks to the fact that there are four of them in the same spot, the signal is pretty clear. Shino’s presence feels the strongest, of course.

Around fifteen minutes in, I begin hearing light skittering somewhere ahead. Many sharp tippy-taps hit the stone ground in a steady rhythm.

“Oh gods… Please, don’t let it be what I think it is…”

The skittering clearly heads towards me so I move closer to the nearby wall and raise my hammer, hiding behind the corner. In just a moment, something walks into my range and I mercilessly bring the weapon down after recognizing the creature’s shape.

A faint splat echoes through the corridor and a quiet, low screech of a dying entity follows after it.

“Because of course, we had to fall into a cave with giant fucking spiders! This one was almost as big as a dog!”

I quickly notify the girls connected to me about my findings and focus on the upcoming battle. A myriad of those tippy-taps is now speeding my way after I reduced one of their kin to a puddle of dark blue liquid.

Assuming that the other spiders will be as soft and squishy as the first one, I reshape my weapon into a sword-whip form and prepare for combat. This will give me more movement and better chances versus multiple enemies than that war hammer.

Three of the not-so-little spiders dash into my tunnel and hiss in dissatisfaction after noticing me. I don’t give them a chance to act first and swing my flexible whip-like blade at the skittering bunch looking like black widow spiders with white legs, black abdomens and dark blue patterns over their trunks.

The deadly rope cuts through one of them before the spiders react and jump aside, landing on the opposite walls. Their determination to get me doesn’t diminish even slightly and they work their eight thin long legs to their limits.

Of course, I don’t just keep stepping back while doing nothing and guide my weapon through the air like a coiling snake into the left attacker. It jumps to the ceiling to avoid the strike but half of its legs get caught in the swipe and it drops onto the ground while hissing.

Reeling my whip-sword back, I mutilate the fallen opponent which is lying belly up and swing towards the last enemy. Already witnessing me killing two of its companions, it does a better job at avoiding getting cut by the rows of blades moving in a seemingly chaotic and uncontrolled fashion and lands just in front of me.

Unfortunately, it must have assumed that my sword is the only way I can attack and defend, which proves to be a huge mistake as I drive my heel straight into its thorax from above with enough force to rival the hammer. It splatters against the ground in a similar manner to the first spider I have bested, screeching wistfully until all life fades out of its body.

"Ugh. Even with magic, that will be a pain to clean up."

I don’t have time to even send a silent prayer its way as a bunch of its kin skitters into the corridor decorated with the four spider corpses.

“Oh, boy. Here I go killing again.”

I’m fairly sure they won’t just let me pass through their territory peacefully so I begin the massacre. Spider fragments, intestines and corpses fly around and crash into the walls as I dance in the middle of the swarm while leading my whip-sword through the air. They start spitting some dark sapphire liquid at me but none of that lands, fortunately. I bet it’s poison.

After ten minutes of uninterrupted slaughter, the skittering stops. I’ve murdered around fifty spiders, I think. Sorry, little ones, but it’s you or me. I just hope you weren’t like some weak-ass grunts standing guard to something bigger. I can live without meeting this world’s equivalent of Shelob.

Confirming that nothing else seems to be lurking around, I resume my journey through the tunnels. There’s much less webbing than I would have expected. I’m pretty sure most species do produce it in this realm. Unfortunately, I don’t think I read about this particular kind. I would remember such an appearance.

Noticing the increased presence of thicker and more voluminous webs, I decide to do the smart thing and head through corridors with the least of them or those looking like they are leading away from this underground lair of unfamiliar spiders. I’m still walking towards the others, which is good.

Unfortunately, after walking through a few passageways with fewer and fewer traces of white silk, I step into a bigger chamber and immediately notice that I’m standing on a shelf by the ceiling of a wide and tall cavern. And, just my luck, it’s not empty.

「No freaking way…」I think to myself after starting to recognize the shapes moving down below.

To get a better view and additionally reduce my visibility, I slowly lower myself to the ground and quietly move closer to the edge of the shelf, peaking over it just a little bit with my eyes. 

Down there, on the ground, a bunch of horse-sized spiders of the same colour scheme as the ones I have encountered earlier walk around the chamber while clearly handling certain tasks. But, the shocking part is the fact that in place of their heads, naked, blue-skinned female bodies rise up.

Arachnes. 

There’s no doubt. We fell into a den of Arachnes. And from what I know, they aren’t exactly the warmest and most welcoming community. While they are sapient and intelligent, most of their kind is simply speaking… vile and ruthless. Of course, not every single subspecies, but the vast majority. And especially those living this deep underground.

I dislike the idea of having to slaughter spider women but they will label me as prey the moment they notice me. They have zero interest in interacting with any other race or species. Well, besides killing and eating them.

I was really sad when I learned that the majority of Arachnes are considered monsters by the inhabitants of this world. You can find peaceful tribes living on the surface, and even some individuals in the towns outside of the Human lands, but that’s very rare. And my first encounter with these fascinating beings just has to be a kill or die situation.

My ear twitches a little when it catches something peculiar. I quickly focus more on my hearing and my brows rise in surprise.

“I brought the Sklyaghven the hunters found in the Hrajaki a few hours ago. What to do with it?”

“Put the carcass down at the far end. We will bring it to the Ljugu swarm soon. Their feeding time is nigh.”

I can understand them! I’m not sure which language they are speaking exactly, but it’s definitely one that I have learned or it’s a dialect similar enough for me to process it decently well. I wonder if the Ljugu swarm was those dog-sized guys. The Arachnes won’t be happy after they find out that I slaughtered their foot soldiers or border guards.

“Ah!”

“Watch where you are going, you abomination!”

A quiet cry of pain catches my attention and I move my eyes towards the source. One of the spider-women is currently using her thin legs to hit… a normal woman? It’s hard to see this far in the darkness even with my enhanced vision and the big abdomen of the Arachne obscures the sight but I’m pretty sure that’s a fully humanoid girl. Is she a prisoner?

I almost let out a gasp when the Arachne finishes bludgeoning the poor girl and starts walking away, letting me clearly watch how the very thin, pale-skinned woman with short shining silvery hair uses her legs to raise herself back up from the ground. And, no, even though she has normal human-like feet, she uses six black spider-like spikes that clearly come out of her back similar to a certain spider-themed superhero when he activates instant kill mode in the suit he received from a certain billionaire who has a lot to do with ironing jokes.

She plops herself back onto her human feet and begins collecting something from the ground that must have fallen out of her hands after she collided with the Arachne. 

Another spider-woman passes by her and slaps her in the face with one of her white spider-legs for no reason.

“Filth,” she throws at the humanoid girl with noticeable disdain.

The abused girl takes it like it’s nothing and continues with her task, whatever it is. I observe her for a little longer, catching words like monster, freak or fiend when the actual spider women mention her between themselves.

“Hmmmmm…”