“Lucky us.”
“Right?”
A long-haired woman in a black lab coat and a bald man were laughing as they looked at those trapped in the room.
“Ugh…”
“Someone, please help me…!”
The room was filled with bright white spider silk. People trapped in white cocoon forms twisted and turned, trying to escape, but the threads were as tough as orc tendons, rendering them immobile.
Suss.
The culprit behind the transformation into cocoons, a giant spider the size of a second floor, descended from the ceiling, approaching the disheveled cocoons.
“AAAAAH!”
As the giant spider spun the cocoon and spewed more threads, any tiny gap started to disappear completely. The man flailing inside the cocoon felt nauseated, like a ship caught in waves, and he began to retch.
After neatly displaying its prey in an appropriate spot, the giant spider carefully checked the other cocoons. Once all checks were complete, it climbed back up to the ceiling.
Thud, thud.
The quiet sound of small, delicate heartbeats reverberated. It was the sound from the dozens, if not hundreds, of eggs hanging from the ceiling. The cocoons would soon become a delicious meal for the baby giant spiders.
Watching this, the long-haired researcher turned her hair around her finger and remarked.
“Just as I ran out of food, I got a quick fix -… it’s such a pity. I wanted to use them as test subjects.”
“Aren’t there a few left?”
“There are, but… they’re precious test subjects, and they say all will be used in the main experiment.”
She pouted, sounding dejected. Her alluring figure swayed enticingly, but the bald man felt no attraction whatsoever.
“If we used fresh subjects, we could look a few years younger…”
The woman researcher, appearing to be in her mid-twenties, was a witch willing to commit any heinous act for youth. While no one knew her exact age, the bald man was well aware that she was over a hundred. No matter how beautiful a woman may be, nobody would enjoy something rotten inside.
“Can’t we sneak one away?”
As she tilted her head and said that, the man shook his head.
“It would be hard right now; we’re in a crucial time. There’s not much left until the mass production of the ‘weapon’…”
“True.”
The man turned swiftly to gaze at the countless glass capsules.
Inside the capsules was a transparent liquid, and in the center floated a black liquid that looked like melted life. Eyes and mouths would randomly appear and disappear without any pattern.
“We’re really close. The weapon for the massacre is almost complete.”
The man smiled in ecstasy. The woman replied with a disinterested expression, as if she didn’t care about that at all.
“Aah -… I just want to finish the research as quickly as possible and hurry to the city. Living every day surrounded by ugly people has ruined my skin.”
She took a mirror from her pocket and began inspecting her face. The man, composing himself, spoke in a heavy tone.
“No matter how close our goal is, we can’t get too lax. This moment is the most important -…”
“You know chatterboxes aren’t popular, right? It’s totally annoying.”
With a scoff at the man’s words, he could only let out a small sigh in resignation.
“Regardless, the capsule management needs to be meticulous. If we mess up…”
“You mean an ambiguous product might be born? You think I’m an idiot? How many times do I have to explain?”
Rolling her eyes as if disgusted, she turned on her heel and left.
Gurrrgh, gurrrgh…
The man silently gazed at the glass capsules before moving on to find his task.
“…Finally, they’re gone.”
Lian, who had been watching the two, let out a small breath he had been holding. He was peering down from a ceiling vent.
[Is it necessary to move like a thief? Isn’t it more fun to slice through all the fools who charge at you, partner!]
‘It’s cooler to conceal my presence and strike like an assassin, taking out just the boss and leaving.’
[Hah…! I could hear praises like, ‘No way! What is this!’ or ‘When did the boss…!’ That would be amazing! My partner is a genius!]
Gently appeasing the simple magic sword and confirming no presence nearby, Lian quietly removed the vent cover and landed silently in the laboratory.
Suss.
Lian approached the giant spider’s enclosure, where the man and woman had just been looking.
“Ugh, cry…”
“Please, Noah… save me…”
The voices coming from inside were familiar—members of the organization he had heard before.
‘How to rescue them from there?’
Breaking the glass to get everyone out might work, but there were only 26 cocoons. Remembering that 31 people, including Noah, were missing, it suggested that five others were captured elsewhere.
‘I need to rescue them without causing too much commotion and locate the others.’
Hence, it was essential to find a way to save them quietly. Lian quickly scanned the area.
‘..! What’s that..?’
In front of the giant spider room stood a large machine. He swiftly approached the machine like a squirrel, making as little noise as possible.
“Hm…”
Looking at the various incomprehensible buttons and handles made his head dizzy.
“Now, this should….”
After a brief pondering moment, Lian decided that he could just treat this like something out of a gag world and started to fiddle with it without hesitation.
Clunk!
As he pulled down a handle, the lights in the giant spider room turned off.
Beep.
Pressing another button, water began to pour in like rain from inside.
[Kiieeek?!]
The issue was that the water was pouring from the ceiling. The eggs attached to the ceiling became wet and began to droop. The spider looked around in a panic.
Beep, beep, beep.
Clunk, clunk, bang!
Repeating the action of pressing buttons and wildly lifting and lowering the handle, the giant spider room began to descend into chaos.
The lights flickered on and off like a nightclub, and it felt as if he had walked into a car wash, with all sorts of water pouring in from every direction, then stopping abruptly.
“What is this?”
When Lian pressed a red button that looked like it shouldn’t be touched, robots popped out from the walls and began cleaning the room. The spider silk, which had been stretched so beautifully, was swept up into the vacuum cleaner with a satisfying rustle.
[Kiieek! Kyaaaak!]
The angry spider bared its sharp teeth, preparing to bite the robots.
Crack!
When the giant spider bit into one of the cleaning robots,
Bang!
The robot exploded on the spot.
[Kiieeek!]
The giant spider screamed and writhed in agony. By this point, one might expect someone to rush in at the commotion… but since Lian had pressed the ‘noise cancellation’ button, no one caught on to the chaos.
While the giant spider was in distress, the cleaning robots dutifully continued to clean the spider webs. This included the cocoons. As the cocoons were cut open in an instant, the people inside tumbled out onto the floor in shock.
If the webs had remained, they wouldn’t have been able to move at all, but the webs were already getting sucked into the vacuum.
“Eek!”
“M-Monster!”
Terrified people sat cowering on the floor, staring blankly at the giant spider the size of a second floor. They were so afraid that they could not muster any strength.
“Everyone, pull yourselves together and gather here!”
“…!”
At that moment, a firm voice snapped them back to reality.
“Pia..!”
“Aah!”
Those who had been slumped over began moving towards Pia as if searching for light. However, not everyone regained their senses at Pia’s voice.
“Do not ignore the companions who have collapsed near you, you must help them!”
“Yes!”
“Come on, let’s move.”
As if possessed, nine people began to help their dazed or fainted companions and walked towards Pia. Pia also lifted two children who were knocked out nearby, one in each arm.
She had trained enough that lifting two kids was no problem at all.
‘I need to find the entrance, the entrance.’
As Pia anxiously scanned around for the entrance,
[Kiieeek!]
“…!”
The giant spider finally regained its wits and let out a long cry. It stared at its wrecked lair, its black eyes turning a furious red. Its inner magic went wild with extreme anger.
Thud!
The creature leapt from the wall to the floor. Dozens of chilling eyes, thick and hairy long legs, and its magnificent patterned body, along with teeth larger than a person, became prominent.
They trembled like sheep thrown before a wolf.
“Aah… Lian…”
Pia sank to the floor, her legs giving way, and she began praying with her hands together.
‘Please, at least for these children… I don’t mind dying…’
Pia, who took Lian as her god, displayed her self-sacrificial side, praying wholeheartedly like an average devotee. Before she knew it, her face was drenched with tears.
At that moment, Lian.
“I pressed everything I could, but where’s the button to open the door?”
He squinted, still unable to find the button to open the door.
“When it comes to these situations…”
He pulled out the wisdom of his ancestors (his fist).
BANG!
When he smashed the machine’s head with his fist, it caved in as if he had struck it with a bat.
Crackle, crackle…
Sparks flew haphazardly as if it were completely broken.
Woong -..
The door to the giant spider room opened!
“See, machines only listen when you hit them.”
With a bright smile, Lian, sword hanging loosely, headed towards the door.
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