Even though a Queen Taratect might skewer her daughters beneath her legs and eat them like candied hawthorns on a stick.
However, a daughter is still a piece of her mother. Eating your own flesh isn't against the law, and nobody can really criticize it, right?
Besides, the Demon Lord wasn't as open-minded as the Queen Taratect. It could be said that she cared deeply for her daughters.
Because of that, after hearing about the Queen Taratect's setbacks and suffering, as well as her granddaughter's rebellious actions, an indescribable anger appeared on the Demon Lord's gloomy little face.
Still, whether you called it cautious by nature or simply timid, she suppressed her anger for the time being and hoped to solve the problem peacefully.
Although... worried that she might not be able to handle the situation, she had entered the Queen Taratect's mental world through their mental connection.
During that time, three strange consciousnesses accidentally crawled over to her side.
Those three were extremely noisy, constantly talking about all sorts of random things and giving her a headache.
So without thinking much about it, she immediately took off at supersonic speed, rushed out of the labyrinth under the night sky, and headed straight for Keren Territory, where Spider was staying, ready to seek justice for her daughters.
———
On a warm sunny day, sunlight spread across the earth like golden threads.
In a field full of blooming flowers, the pure white Spider chased butterflies dancing among the blossoms like a cat.
The game was obviously childish, yet Spider was strangely happy.
However, beneath this carefree moment, a small worry had quietly appeared in her mind.
She was wondering whether she should learn the Telepathy skill.
As a monster incapable of speech, having a normal conversation with humans was practically impossible.
Even if she couldn't get rid of her identity as a monster, there were still ways to solve the problem of communication.
The first option was obtaining the Telepathy skill. It seemed like the most direct path.
The second option was continuing along her evolution route and becoming a special type of monster. For example... the next stage after her current Zana Horowa at the end of the evolution tree, Arachne, a monster with a spider's lower body and a human upper body.
'If I have a human upper body, I should be able to speak, right?'
But now there was the much more convenient Telepathy skill right in front of her.
During her time in Keren Territory, many people had tried to communicate with her.
Especially the lord's wife, who constantly talked to her and tried to build some kind of connection.
During that process, Spider discovered that her learning ability had become much stronger than before.
She could understand a little now.
Even so, most of the time she was still guessing and couldn't fully understand what people were actually saying.
In that situation, what was the point of learning Telepathy?
Of course, even if she worked hard and learned this world's language, she was still hesitant about learning Telepathy.
Normally there shouldn't be anything to hesitate over, but...
'Don't underestimate loners! Even if I learn the language of another world, talking with people still isn't my strong point. I'm not bragging! If possible, I'd rather never deal with anyone at all, my social skills are that bad! In the end, I didn't become a loner in my previous life because I was forced to. I chose that lifestyle because I liked being alone! That's absolutely true... B-but...'
Spider muttered to herself while stopping her butterfly chase.
After putting on a brave front for a while, she started rolling around in the grass as though trying to release her frustration.
As for the biggest reason behind that "but," it was naturally because recently, her only companion, Ash, would occasionally play with the child Sophia.
Although he wasn't paying excessive attention to Sophia like the first time, Spider still felt a sense of crisis.
She felt that her position was being threatened.
Yet even if she learned Telepathy, she felt she wouldn't be able to start conversations. At most, she'd probably only listen.
And even if she took ten thousand steps back and really did communicate with others, she wasn't sure whether someone with such poor communication skills could hold a proper conversation.
After all, talking to herself and actually talking to people felt completely different.
The difficulty wasn't even on the same level.
'After all, I was a famous ice-cold beauty in my previous life! And now I've been a spider for this long. How am I supposed to talk properly with people? Isn't that asking too much? Why does being alive require communication? Isn't this bullying honest people?'
Spider rolled around in the grass and shouted toward the sky in dissatisfaction, though it wasn't clear who she was complaining to.
At that moment, the peaceful atmosphere was shattered.
A massive cloud of dust suddenly erupted ahead.
Like a black wave, it rapidly spread in all directions.
A loud boom followed immediately afterward, like heavy artillery firing.
The sudden sound rushed toward Spider.
———
The sudden dust cloud, the violent shaking of the ground, and the sound of an explosion were completely baffling.
At least from Spider's perspective.
Normally, even spatial movement should produce spatial fluctuations first.
Even a surprise attack shouldn't have the sound and vibration arrive later.
Yet this time, Spider felt no spatial disturbance at all.
She saw the attack first and heard it afterward.
It was as if something had suddenly exploded out of nowhere.
The speed was unbelievable.
The only word she could think of was supersonic.
'W-What is that? What happened?'
Spider hurriedly stopped moving.
Feeling nervous, she instinctively used Appraisal on the girl who had suddenly appeared within the dust cloud.
At first, the result showed: [Appraisal Blocked]
But Spider didn't give up.
She immediately used her unique title, Wisdom.
With the power of that title, she broke through the obstruction and successfully obtained the appraisal result.
[Race: Origin Taratect, Level 139, Name: Ariel]
After the race and name came a long list of skills.
Then, among the titles near the end, she saw a term that couldn't be ignored, Demon Lord.
'No way? What kind of monster is this? Her stats are basically all close to one hundred thousand?'
The moment the appraisal succeeded, she regretted it.
She couldn't even understand why she had bothered appraising this monster.
The girl before her was clearly the Demon Lord who ruled over all spiders.
The big boss behind Mother.
A being that didn't even exist on the evolution tree.
Yet she wore a friendly smile.
Her lips moved slightly as though she was saying something to Spider, but...
"Are you the child being used by that strange person? Don't worry. I'm your grandmother. If you're willing to return to the right path now and stop your strange attacks on the Queen Taratect and me, I can make an exception and forgive you. I might even let you join my plan."
'I can't understand a word you're saying! What are you talking about? Can you use sign language instead?'
Spider felt like her heart was about to stop.
She had never been this panicked before.
She desperately shook her head, trying to tell Ariel that she couldn't understand her.
Then she pressed her scythes together and prayed toward the sky.
'Ash! Hurry back! I have absolutely no idea what to do!'
"Are you refusing? Do you believe the person you've sided with can defeat me? So you've chosen to betray me and continue attacking me even after learning who I am?"
Ariel had sensed that her appraisal had succeeded.
Watching Spider continuously shake her head, the friendliness gradually vanished from her face.
'This is bad. I can roughly guess a little, but I don't understand most of it! What am I supposed to do?'
Spider felt her legs weakening.
Her body started trembling uncontrollably.
Holding her head with both hands, she kept shaking herself, venting her helplessness.
She looked like a frightened little animal.
Ariel, who likewise had no idea what Spider was trying to express, found her behavior strangely ridiculous.
Yet under these circumstances, it made Ariel suspect Spider was mocking her.
The friendliness she had worked hard to maintain disappeared completely.
A cold look settled over her delicate face.
Dangerous light flashed in her eyes.
Slowly, she raised her hand and prepared to attack.
'Bad! Bad! Bad! Did negotiations fail? Did negotiations fail? But we never even negotiated? I really can't beat her! There's no way I can beat this woman!'
Seeing that the other side was actually preparing to fight, Spider cried out in panic.
Through Appraisal, she had already seen Ariel's strength.
She possessed every skill she should have, and nearly all of them were maxed out.
Her resistances were even more terrifying.
Almost every attack was useless against her.
Realizing victory was impossible, Spider immediately prepared to use Spatial Transfer and escape.
But...
Even though the spell only needed a short amount of time to construct, Ariel's actions were clearly faster.
The Demon Lord Ariel merely raised her hand slightly.
Before Spider even realized what had happened, an invisible attack struck instantly.
The attack resembled countless sharp slashes.
It was somewhat similar to Ash's cutting magic.
In the blink of an eye, it had already reached her.
BANG!
A sharp crash rang out like a blade striking glass.
The sound pierced the air and hurt Spider's ears.
She instinctively closed her eyes.
Yet she felt no pain.
In reality...
Ash had used teleportation and appeared in front of her.
He held the golden Holy Sword before himself.
The blade collided with the invisible attack, extremely thin yet unbelievably sharp spider threads.
A series of sparks burst forth.
"These spider threads are pretty tough."
Holding the sword before him and blocking the invisible threads, Ash smiled at the unexpected visitor.
"Miss, coming here while I'm away and bullying my pet spider. Have you already prepared yourself to get beaten up?"
Although Ash was smiling, the warning in his words was obvious.
'Waaah~ You scared me to death! Was I attacked just now? I would've been chopped into pieces, right? It's so good that you're here! I knew you wouldn't ignore me!'
Spider finally recovered from her extreme fear.
The moment she saw the familiar figure, a bit of relief appeared.
Moved, she instinctively wanted to throw herself at him.
But before she could do that, she came back to her senses.
She quickly crawled behind Ash and only stuck her little head out, watching Ariel cautiously.
———
The moment Ash arrived, he and Ariel almost instinctively used Appraisal on each other at the same time.
However, the results were completely different.
Ash possessed no skill that could block Appraisal, nor any ability to break through such obstacles.
He couldn't see anything.
Ariel, on the other hand, relied on her strength and high level.
She directly saw Ash's status screen.
The moment she saw it, her expression froze.
After all, she herself was an Origin Taratect, already among the highest beings in this world's food chain and power structure.
Yet her opponent was...
"Origin Demon?"
Ariel unconsciously read the race name aloud.
No matter how she looked at it, it was unfamiliar.
As an ancient being who had existed since the creation of the system, she had lived for thousands of years.
She had witnessed countless changes and battles.
She believed herself familiar with every race in the world.
Yet she had never seen this race before.
A strange expression gradually appeared on her delicate face.
Her brows tightened.
Doubt and caution mixed in her eyes.
She desperately forced her brain, which had nearly stopped working from shock, to start moving again.
Trying her best to understand what this suddenly appearing "Origin Demon" actually was.
"Oh? So you saw it? That's kind of troublesome. I got classified as a demon? Even though I don't think I've done anything bad."
Looking at Ariel's cautious expression, Ash shrugged helplessly.
He also wore an awkward smile.
In his view, both his actions and appearance were far removed from the concept of a demon.
The judgment felt rather strange.
His reaction also troubled Spider.
Her gaze kept moving between Ash and Ariel.
Soon, she realized Ariel must have seen something extraordinary.
After leveling up, she once again used Appraisal on Ash.
She even enhanced it with the special ability Wisdom.
The moment the result appeared in her mind, she was stunned.
'No way? This guy's a demon? Doesn't he look human?'
Honestly, she couldn't connect Ash with the image of a demon at all.
In her memory, Ash had always been the companion who stayed with her and protected her.
He had nothing in common with the evil demons from legends.
Of course, nobody could understand Spider's shock right now.
After her brief surprise, Ariel fixed her eyes on Ash and asked seriously, "Who are you?"
Her voice carried unquestionable authority.
Yet Ash replied casually, as though a breeze had passed by.
"Before asking someone's name, you should introduce yourself first. Giving your own name is basic manners, isn't it?"
"Origin Taratect. Demon Lord. Ariel."
After a brief pause, Ariel revealed her identity.
She even hoped the title would intimidate him.
"Demon Lord? That's quite a friendly title. Though... how did a spider become the king of demons? And why do demons look exactly like humans? Just like in my memories, demons don't have horns?"
After hearing her introduction, Ash felt surprised.
As he spoke, he carefully looked Ariel over.
He had long heard that demons and humans were almost identical in appearance.
The main differences were lifespan and talent.
Even so, he couldn't help complaining.
"Isn't that easy to confuse? If you're called demons, shouldn't you at least have one horn?"
"At that point, they'd be devils rather than demons."
Ariel couldn't help replying.
"That's a pretty harsh way of putting it, although it does sound reasonable."
Ash shrugged helplessly.
He knew his existence had broken this world's understanding.
Being misunderstood was unavoidable.
And after this conversation, he finally understood why he was called a demon.
Still, it wasn't a big deal.
It was only a title.
What interested him more was the girl before him who claimed to be the Demon Lord.
The Demon Lord wasn't large or intimidating.
Instead, she was rather short and possessed a unique charm.
She wore black shorts that perfectly outlined her long legs.
A black tube top covered her upper body while exposing her flat, pale stomach.
Her over-the-knee black stockings featured deliberate tears, clearly part of the design.
The style gave her a youthful and rebellious look.
Her face was beautiful, like a carefully crafted work of art.
Her red eyes and short black hair created a clean and neat appearance.
She also carried a sense of steadiness that didn't match her youthful looks.
Pointed ears peeked out from her hair, adding a bit of an elf-like feeling.
And when her lips parted slightly, a pair of fangs longer than ordinary canine teeth could be seen.
Rather than ruining her appearance, they added a touch of wildness.
Like a small beast that was both charming and dangerous.
After letting his gaze linger on Ariel briefly, Ash quickly looked away.
A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Whether you're a demon or a devil, tell me why you're here first. Though it looks like you came intending to fight me..."
"Are you afraid?"
"No. I just think you never had any chance of winning from the start."
The overly arrogant words caused Ariel's brows to tighten.
Anger flashed in her eyes, "Just you? You think being some so-called Origin Demon means you can stand against me? Your stats are very high, but they're nowhere near mine."
"You actually believe those fake stats? That stuff means nothing to me... Though if you insist on fighting, don't blame me for bullying you."
As he spoke, Ash snapped his fingers.
A gentle light instantly enveloped Spider behind him.
The light flashed.
Spider vanished and was sent back to town.
Meanwhile, before the battle even began, Ash, under Ariel's disbelieving gaze, Rose into the sky in an instant, placing himself in an unbeatable position.
'No way! He can fly?'
Ariel's eyes widened.
Her ruby-colored pupils trembled.
She even suspected she had fallen under an illusion.
She blinked hard, trying to clear her head.
Yet Ash floating high above was completely real.
Her mind fell into chaos unlike anything she had experienced before.
In this world, flight was common.
However, aside from races born with wings, all other races were incapable of flying.
'Yet...'
'This man can fly?'
It completely exceeded Ariel's understanding.
A mixture of emotions rose inside her.
Surprise, jealousy, and a bit of fear toward the unknown.
Ordinary flight wouldn't have bothered her.
But Ash flew faster than dragons.
He was more agile than dragons.
He looked more like a natural flying species than dragons themselves.
While the girl was shocked and wary, a smile appeared on Ash's face.
With a wave of his hand, countless ice pillars materialized around him.
They filled the sky and blocked out the sun.
The sight was magnificent.
"What's wrong? Aren't you the Demon Lord? Hurry up and fight me."
His eyes were full of amusement, as though he were teasing a trapped little beast.
"You... Don't think being able to fly means you've already won!"
Ariel growled through clenched teeth.
Although Ash's impossible flying ability left her lacking confidence, she still prepared herself for a decisive battle with him.
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