Humming a cheerful little tune, I walked along the path toward Kumoko’s “cute little home.” Heheh, I’m going to see Kumoko again real soon.
This is so awesome!
My heart’s pounding like crazy with excitement, too~
Ahem, BUT!
I actually have important business to attend to this time around.
Yup, I’m not just visiting simply because I missed her!
By the way, the [Super-Thought Acceleration LV.10] skill really is super convenient.
It saved me most of the time I usually spend planning and thinking, and during battle, it effectively speeds up my reaction time in a roundabout way.
While using the skill, that feeling where everything around me slows down is just like having the ability to control time itself!
That guy from before has already dropped the Earth Wyrm egg right in Kumoko’s home.
And during this period, in order to train her [Spider Silk LV.3] skill while constructing her home, Kumoko ended up with a whole bunch of spare spider silk balls.
The main purpose of my visit is to spread the effect of [Greed] onto two items using [Contamination LV.4]—the Earth Wyrm egg and the spider silk balls.
Calculating by the timeline, a group of adventurers will be arriving here very soon.
After setting a fire to burn down the so-called spider nest, they’ll also conveniently make off with the “trophies” inside the nest, and these items will eventually flow into human society.
The news of making a sudden fortune just by strolling through the labyrinth will naturally spread like wildfire, from one person to ten, from ten to a hundred, reaching the ears of every single greedy soul, thereby attracting even more adventurers to the Great Elroe Labyrinth!
Although I haven’t tested “contamination”—something that only exists on a purely mental level—yet, since the root source is Greed, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, the effect shouldn’t be too shabby, right?
Though having said that, I’m still not entirely clear on just how far the spread of [Greed] via the contamination effect can actually go.
Well then, I guess I’ll just wait and see!
…
Is spider silk really this sticky…
Will I get stuck right now…?
I really want to give it a try…
Looking at the spider webs covering the entire passage in front of me, I couldn’t help but have this thought pop up in my mind.
This snow-white spider silk looks super comfortable…
I wonder if it feels all soft and bouncy like marshmallows?
Aha!
I remember Kumoko seemed to have installed some sort of detector mechanism on the webs in every passage.
While a fatal trap for other monsters, isn’t it basically just like a doorbell to me!
Thinking this, I reached out my little claw, tugging on the spider silk a few times and giving it a squeeze.
Not gonna lie, this actually feels pretty darn great…
Just then, I noticed a single thread hanging off to the side, extending deep into the nest, which began to sway after my little stunt.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap…
A burst of brisk footsteps approached.
Looks like the main character is finally making her entrance~
“Waaah—!”
“Today is a bumper harvest~”
“Another prey took the bait…!”
“Eh…?”
Just then, Kumoko spotted me too.
Her mouth agape in surprise.
“H-How is it you again, you guy?!”
“Got my hopes up for nothing…”
Th-Th-This…
How could you say that!
What do you mean, getting your hopes up for nothing by seeing me…
『How can you say that…』
I blinked my eyes, silently looking at Kumoko in front of me, while the tail behind me kept wagging back and forth nonstop.
“What…?”
“What do you want…
again…?”
“I-I’m not accepting visitors here!”
“(Wait, didn’t this guy get a size bigger…?)”
“(His appearance changed a lot, too!)”
“(Could he have evolved…)”
“(Doesn’t that mean…
he became even stronger?!!)”
“(So jealous, so jealous…
I want to evolve too, aaaaah…)”
Listening to Kumoko’s internal monologue, I almost couldn’t hold back a laugh.
Still, I straightened my expression and looked at Kumoko.
『I came to find you this time because I have something to discuss.』
『I found the corpse of an adventurer nearby.』
『Though I don’t know how he died, it’s not a good sign after all.』
『It might attract even more people over, so I wanted to come check out how things are on your end to see if you know anything.』
“Adventurers…?”
…
After a bit of explaining, I finally stepped inside the nest.
Although I already knew Kumoko was remodeling her little home, when I actually saw all kinds of spider silk products with my own eyes, I still couldn’t help uttering a gasp of admiration.
『So amazing…』
『Did you make all of these?』
Hearing my words, Kumoko proudly folded two spider legs, her smugness practically spilling over,
“Of course!”
“This is the little home I put my heart and soul into building!”
“It’s my exclusive sanctuary!”
“If I could, I’d love to stay inside here for the rest of my life!”
Mm-hmm, though it’s probably getting burned down in a while…
After scanning left and right, I finally spotted the “target” of this trip, yet I still feigned a surprised voice,
『What…
is this?』
『An egg?』
Hearing this, Kumoko also looked over in my direction,”Yeah, it is, but…
I don’t know what kind of egg this is either.”
“I originally wanted to taste it…”
“Too bad it’s rock hard!
I couldn’t open it no matter what I tried!”
“(Should I ask this guy to help me open it…)”
“(He’s so strong, opening this egg shouldn’t be much of a problem, right…?!)”
“(But it feels kinda hard to bring up, hey…)”
“(I don’t know how to ask people for favors at all, hey…)”
I slowly walked forward, extended my claw, and lightly tapped it twice, while silently activating [Appraisal LV.8] in my mind.
“Earth Wyrm Hatchling (Unhatched)”
“Nameless (Mirai Shinohara)”
Seeing this, I hesitated no longer, spreading the effect of Greed onto it directly through contamination.
Speaking of which…
Will this affect Fei?
Whatever, forget it!
Just then, my attention was drawn to something off to the side—neatly stacked piles of spider silk balls in the corner.
There’s this, too.
Can’t forget about these…
“Mmm…?”
“What do you want to do now?”
“That’s just silk I spun, you could call it leftover building material for the house.”
Looking at the piles of spider silk balls beneath my feet, I couldn’t resist reaching out to touch them again.
Oh!
So soft and slick!
Hey?
How great would it be if I could take one with me!
『This ball…
can you…
give me one as a gift?』
『Uh, I want it as a souvenir!』
“Eh, eh, eh, eh?”
“G-Give it to you?”
“But it’s just silk I spun…”
『Mm-hmm, in return…
just consider it that I owe you a favor, okay?』
…
“What does this guy want a spider silk ball for…”
“I really can’t figure it out…”
…
It’s so dark here.
What is this place?
Why am I here?
Why can’t I speak…
Just how long have I been here!
Let me out!
Let me out…!
…
Aha!
What’s that sound?!
Who’s talking to me?!
…
『Don’t trust the Hero.』
『You’ll understand in the future.』
…
➔ For 50 adv chapters.