54. Webbed Whimsy: Lost in Time’s Playground
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*This chapter is unedited and may be filled with errors or inaccuracies. It might also be boring for some readers but is a necessity for the future plot. Despite this, it is fine if skipped as I will add explanations whenever relevant.
 
***
Unknown PoV
 
Location: 9th Floor of The Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick
 
It was just another day as they roamed across the caves created by the one they referred to as [Mother], while occasionally hunting food to grow stronger and help her. But today they were being rather playful.
 
Their playfulness stemmed from the fact that the food on the floor had been depleted, and it would take some time for it to respawn, leaving them eagerly awaiting the next feast.
 
Instead of weaving intricate webs or plotting the world’s domination and eventual destruction at their hands, they decided to engage in a chaotic game of tag. 
 
With tiny legs scampering all over the place, they giggled and tumbled, creating a cute and fluffy scene. Some even attempted acrobatic stunts, attempting spins and flips that ended in a mess of spider legs. 
 
With all their infinite energy to cause chaos, it was a wonder that they remained confined to this particular floor ‘quietly’ as ordered by their progenitor. None of the servants that roamed the mighty halls of Nazarick could control them. Or rather, they didn’t dare to. 
 
Well, not entirely. There was one guardian who was given certain leeway in regards to this matter but we will get to that soon enough.
 
Anyway, whether they were maids or majority of the floor guardians that occupied the highest hierarchy within Nazarick, besides the Supreme Beings of course, this fact did not change.
 
The reason was obvious. These brats were known to be the ‘clones’ or ‘children’ of the last remaining Supreme Being. Spreading their influence over them was equivalent to committing the sacrilegious act of imposing themselves to a higher standing than the Supreme One.
 
In fact, such thoughts never even crossed the servants minds. They would much rather consider it a privilege to accompany them in their folly. Sadly, only a handful of the servants had come into contact with these brats. 
 
The first was obviously the floor guardian personally created by the last Supreme Being entrusted with protecting the 9th floor, Sophia Keren. She was the aforementioned exception. Their relationship was…interesting? Well, it was ‘interesting’ to say the least. 
 
She had to clean up after their mess before they became a problem. It was her and only her duty as the floor guardian of the 9th floor and fellow creation of the same creator to ensure this. 
 
Thanks to this, she had gotten a role akin to a pet owner looking after a troublesome untrained pet or someone babysitting hundreds of babies. Much to the brats annoyance as she was always on the lookout for the first sign of trouble. Hence, the exception. 
 
Their unusually playful behaviour could be attributed to the rare phenomenon of Sophia's temporary absence. They all shared the same question: ‘Why their usually brash ‘manager’ suddenly begun to show excitement and danced before vanishing?’
 
While she was not busy destroying their happiness, she usually just sulked around, smashed stuff or ‘talked’ with them about the other guardians. She seemed to have some unknown animosity against the guardian named ‘Albedo’ in particular.
 
Obviously, the sudden change was rather jarring for brats whose mental age was akin to babies even if they were dreadful weapons of mass destruction if unleashed on some unsuspecting prey.
 
Sophia aside, another person in contact with them was a member of Pleiades battle maids, Entoma. Being an arachnoid herself, she had very high affinity with the spider babies and was thus assigned by the Supreme One to occasionally look over them. The task was rather easy and enjoyable for her, a vast contrast to a certain vampire.
 
There were multiple humans who came into contact with them and said humans ended up either worshipping them or being slaughtered by them. The latter of which brought the spider babies into contact with multiple elder liches and overlords as well.
 
Finally, there was the insectoid guardian of the 5th floor of Nazarick, Cocytus whose visits had increased as of late. This was due to the warrior obtaining the official position of their uncle or ‘unkie’ as they called him.
 
But let's not dwell on him. To summarise, the only one who could truly control them and stop their chaos was their creator. And the reason for mentioning this is that they had sensed their creator entering the floor and doing something causing the spider babies to stop their shenanigans and act well-behaved.
 
***
Random Horo Neia PoV (Thoughtlessly Named Silky by Shiraori):
 
‘That was close’. Silky thought as it awaited the arrival of their revered magnificent almighty ‘Mother’. Or rather moved towards her location along with its siblings as Silky did not have the patience to wait after the first couple of minutes.
 
All of them barely had contact with her and she rarely came to this floor. The few times Silky had met her recently was limited to when she summoned them to play with those flaming rocks. Since they were planning to hurt her, all of Silky’s siblings collectively decided to punish those baddies.
 
She even made Silky stay back and play with those humans. So Silky and a few of others taught those humans of Mother’s greatness. The humans were so in awe of ‘Mother’ that they offered Silky with food. Though it was not great but Silky felt tempted to say: ‘Mongrels. Kneel, hahaha…’ for whatever reason. 
 
Scurrying through the caves, Silky was finally able to see ‘Mother’ in all her glory. She had her back faced towards them with some sort of yellow doors surrounding her. Silky remembered where it had seen those doors before.
 
It was when that woman named Albedo who their manager seemed to hate had sent them to kill some humans beyond those door. It was rather fun as far as remembered. As those doors vanished, Mother turned around and saw them as she tossed the rectangular box she was holding on the ground out of frustration.
 
It was easy for Silky to know that she was indeed frustrated for some reason. ‘Maybe I should give her some food?’ Silky thought and so did the others present as that was the best solution in their minds.
 
‘Did you see Vampy anywhere?’ Silky heard her voice in its mind as she stroked their heads. It obviously knew that ‘Vampy’ referred to their manager. None of them knew where the manager was so they just shook their heads obliviously.
 
‘Where did she go? I could have just summoned her using [Message] or asked a servant to bring her back but I wanted to fetch her in person. What a wasted effort. My experiment on time using the spare technology obtained from TVA is not going well either…’ 
 
Master started speaking something that Silky did not understand at all. But it was evident that the rectangular box was the cause of her worries. Silky did not know why that was but it felt compelled to remove any worried ‘Mother’ faced.
 
It was not alone in thinking so. Others who shared the same sentiment, joined Silky in heading toward the rectangular box as Mother attended to those of its siblings who didn't. Having a name bestowed by Mother, Silky was one of the de-facto leaders of the group along with others who had a name as well.
 
‘This thing is what’s troubling mother.’ Silky thought as it started randomly fiddling around with the rectangular box.
 
‘Haa, I have to punish Vampy to release my frustrations before we leave. Maybe I will forbid her to fight during our trip if we have to battle someone…?’
 
“…Crack! Boom…”
 
***
Unknown PoV:
 
As Silky fiddled with the elaborate buttons and panels, an unexpected glitch in the TVA’s technology initiated a sudden surge of energy. The atmosphere crackled with an otherworldly resonance, causing the cavernous space to distort and contort. 
 
A subdued, resonant hum permeated the chamber, progressively intensifying into an electronic crescendo of pulsating energy. The auditory experience mimicked a dissonant symphony of machinery malfunctioning, a result of experimental manipulation, unveiling an eerie harmony that echoed the portal's chaotic emergence.
 
The air shimmered with ethereal hues as the portal voraciously expanded. The once stable reality around them now trembled with the uncertain energy of the portal's creation. The portal held no similarity to the stable time-door opened using the TemPad under normal conditions.
 
Those present did not know that this anomaly was caused as a combination of experimentation on the remote and the timelines being thrown into chaos causing an unexpected resonance.
 
With an unforeseen force, the malfunctioning technology began to convulse and shudder, as if straining against the confines of its own design. 
 
Sparks of light erupted from the TemPad, casting an erratic display of colours that illuminated the creatures' surroundings in an otherworldly glow. The rhythmic pulsing of the portal intensified, accompanied by a dissonant symphony of clicks, whirs, and electronic whines.
 
Silky, realizing the gravity of the situation, attempted to retract its limbs from the unpredictable machine. However, it was too late. The portal's voracious pull intensified, creating a gravitational force that tugged at Silky and the malfunctioning TemPad alike.
 
In an instant, the cavernous space convulsed with a blinding surge of light, and Silky along with the handful of spiders and the TemPad surrounding it found themselves drawn into the gaping maw of the interdimensional portal, leaving behind the familiar confines of their underground lair for the unknown realms beyond.
 
Luckily, the Supreme One was able to close the portal quickly but Silky and the handful of other Horo Neia had disappeared into the realm of unknowns that time represented, forever lost. Or were they?
 
***
Silky PoV
 
“Where are we?” Silky spoke as it came to grips with the situation. Its siblings were still unconscious beside it. As for their location, it felt as if they were buried under lots of sand. 
 
They needed to get back home, but Silky, in particular, might get in trouble for what just happened. They might have caused problems for ‘Mother’. First, Silky had to find out where they were and then figure out how to get back. 

Staying alive wasn't a new thing for them. They'd been doing it since they were born. And being scared? They did not fear anything except when it came to not making Mother happy.
 
Thinking so, Silky started climbing out of the sand it found itself under. It would help its siblings afterwards. And upon doing so, the bright sunshine hit its face as if to signify their absence from the caves they lived in.
 
But what caught Silky’s attention more was the giant pyramid in front of its eyes similar to what it had seen near those human’s home but also different. Wherever they were, Silky had to find that rectangular box to go back home as it had caused this mess in the first place.
 
Considering this, Silky once again dug into the sand to help its siblings before planning to leave once more.
 
***
I did say that the space arc will start but I remembered other stuff I wanted to write before that so it is temporarily delayed. Anyway, this chapter was difficult to write as I did not know how to write a Horo Neia PoV necessary for this storyline. 
 
Is there a Horo Neia PoV in the WN or LN that you can refer me to? I don’t remember if there is but I’ll read it if you tell me which one it is so I can fix it in the next chapter I write about them. Also are the pronouns for referring to Horo Neia, ‘it’ or ‘she’? I used ‘it’ as the pronoun but do tell me if its otherwise.
 
 Anyway, this plotline happens at the same time as the main storyline and there will be random dropping related to this plotline similar to the interlude chapters. It will take a while before the plotlines converge. Hope you liked the chapter!

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